Learning Goals for this year in LA

My goal for LA this year is to improve the way I answer my comprehension questions. I hope I can learn to summarise all my points in to one full sentence efficently. Another goal for LA this year is to improve my planning skills for my compositions, I find myself taking quite some time to think of the plot and plan my story. I hope to be able plan my composition more orderly so that I will have sufficent time to complete my composition and check my work during an exam.

Most valuable thing I learned last year in LA lesson

The most valuable thing I learned last year was the ability to analyze poems. I feel that learning to analyze poems is very important and fun. Learning to analyze poems allows us to understand what the poet wants to tell us. There are many different poetic devices used in poems to bring the message across to the reader, I find that really amazing. I want to learn how to write a good poem with these poetic devices. I hope I will be able to learn more about poems this year!

My Favourite Book: The BFG

My favourite book is The BFG written by Roald Dahl. I like this book because there is so much imagination in it. Roald Dahl uses so much funny and silly words in the story that never existed, it gave me a good laugh of how the BFG spoke in the story. In the story, the BFG is a giant who uses his “dream blower” which is like a trumpet to give little children dreams. I really enjoy the way Roald Dahl describes the whole story, it brings me to an imaginary land! I hope everyone will read this book as the story line is really full of imagination!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6319.The_BFG

In class online lesson #2 task 2

2. I have been in a group of people who were unkind to a person. It was because he was quite a weird person and many people didn't really like him. He had an awkward way of behaving and he was born with some natural problems. He always gave off a bad scent and most people avoided him, he didn’t have many friends either. I was playing a board game with some people and he decided to approach us. He asked if he could join the game, right away they started telling him to go away and insulted him a little. I could see that he felt really sad and rejected. I felt very uneasy and guilty for not standing up for him. I thought about it and tried to out myself in his shoes. I knew it was definitely not right of us to just ignore him and poke fun at him. I think we should learn to be more understanding and mature to put ourselves in his position. If I were ignored like that and being made fun of I would obviously feel downcast and unwelcome. I feel everyone should respect each other and accept people’s natural features. It wasn’t a very nice experience seeing someone being treated so unkindly but I hope I’ll learn to stand up for a similar person the next something like this happens.

In class online lesson #1 task 1

To the sky
by Owl City

Shipwreck in the sea of faces,
There's a dreamy world up there,
Dear friends in higher places,
Carry me away from here,
Travel light let the sun eclipse you,
'Cause your flight is about to leave,
And there's more to this brave adventure,
Than you'd ever believe,

Birdseye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you,
Wide eyes will always brighten the blue,
Chase your dreams, and remember me, speak bravery,
'cause after all those wings will take you, up so high,
So bid the forest floor goodbye, as you brace the wind and,
Take to the sky... you take to the sky

Dada, dada, dadadadadadada
Dada, dada, dadadadadadada

On the hills of lore and wonder,
There's a stormy world up there,
You can't whisper above the thunder,
But you can fly anywhere,
Purple burst of paper birds this,

This song is by Owl city, one of my favourite artists. I feel most of his songs have meanings in them. This song talks about chasing your dreams. I feels that he is trying to say that don't be afraid to chase your dreams, be brave and take to the sky. You will never know how high you can go, keep trying and don't look back.

Answers to questions on movie "Big Fish" and poems by Sheil Silverstein

Big Fish

1. It means someone who is important in a certain community.

2. He wanted to show that he was mighty and could catch a big fish.

3. He feels that his father’s story was incredible and amazing when he was young. When he got older he felt it was just an old fiction story that only was used to amuse people.

4. He thought that everyone loved the story and would respect him

5. It reveals that Edward and William were very close when William was younger.

6. Stories that exaggerate what happened. The people who listen to this story will not believe parts of the story.

7. Yes, telling a tall tale affects the trust of a person when someone learns the truth. We should tell the true tale so that the listeners will respect you for truthful.

The Little Boy and the Old man

1. 1. The underlying message is that when you grow older into an old man, you start to face things a child does.

1. 2. He used repetition to bring out the message.

Messy Room

1. Yes, I can say it is humorous. The persona is saying that the owner’s room should be ashamed, but he is actually talking about himself.
2. The habit of telling someone off when he is talking about himself has been highlighted in this poem.

Cloony The Clown

1. The irony in the poem is that when Cloony the clown tries to make people laugh he is not able to, but when he makes them laugh unintentionally he does not acknowledge it.
2. Yes, he managed to convey some harsh realities. He showed that people didn’t try to help when someone was suffering, instead laughing at their suspense.
3. He used repetition, onomatopoeia, assonance and rhyme to convey his message.

Learning Reflections

I have learnt many things during my Language Arts lessons so far. Learning literature has been very interesting to me and has taught me certain things. I have learnt to organise my thoughts and put them down on paper in a neat manner, I feel this will help in any writing assignment as this allows the reader to have a clear idea of what I am writing about. Another thing that I feel that is useful is summary writing. Summary writing enables me to write a short paragraph which helps the reader find out about a book or passage quickly. What interested me most was the poems and the different techniques a poet could use to write a poem. Some poems are easy to understand while some need some thinking to find out what the reader is saying. I think it is fun to try to figure out what the poet is trying to say and write it in literature. These are some of the things that I found which made an impact on me. I hope to learn more interesting things during Language Arts lessons.