Friday 29 August 2014

PSLE COMPOSITION -- METAPHORS

Over the last four weeks, we have covered the description of the four main emotions: fear, anger, sadness and happiness.


From this week onwards, we'll be covering other themes besides emotions; we'll be going through writing techniques as well as literary devices that make your writing more interesting.


This week, we'll talk about metaphors. Like the previous weeks' format, the first video will discuss the picture and come up with a relevant and interesting storyline.

Video 1: Storyline





In the second video, we go through the sample story.

Video 2: Sample Story




We will explain what metaphors are in the third video. At the same time, we'll show you examples of metaphors, from a famous poem, from the sample story and common metaphors. We'll also explain to you why metaphors are important.

Video 3: Metaphors




Note:
In Video 3 from 9min 46" onwards, there are a couple of typos in the last question on the worksheet. The last question reads:

Can you list some metaphor those that you have come across?


This question should read:

Can you list some metaphors those that you have come across?


I've corrected the typos in the Resources. My apologies for not amending the video -- it's a lot more difficult and time-consuming to re-record the video and re-edit it again.



Resources

Assignment

Metaphors

Wednesday 27 August 2014

TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY By John Steinback


John Steinbeck is one of USA’s literary giants. Yet I’ve never read any of his works. I know, I know. My only excuse is that Singapore is an ex-colony of Britain and my own reading tastes tend to veer towards British writers. Another reason is that I tend to be sceptical of American claims which tend to be larger than life.


I read about this book somewhere on some website and out of idle curiosity, while I was in the Jurong East Regional Library one day, I decided to check to see if the library had a copy and they did. I checked the book out, out of the same idle curiosity.


Right from the start, Steinbeck’s writing blew me away. His writing was brilliantly original, witty and sharp, and deeply American, which I realise is not a bad thing when done properly — it adds an authentic flavour to the book.


Travels With Charley was published in 1962, the same year in which Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was based on his four-month journey around the States in the late fall and early winter of 1960. He travelled in a mobile home — a truck with an attached cabin that contained the comforts of home — that he christened Rocinante after the hero’s horse in Don Quixote. Although his wife joined him at certain short segments of the trip, his only constant companion was his dog, Charley, hence the title of the book.


At the start of the book, Steinbeck explained that he embarked on the trip because of travel lust, a restlessness that had plagued him since he was young. He kept putting it off, think that age would temper the urge, but upon realising that even at the grand old age of 58, he was still possessed by this compulsion, he decided to give in to it. He set off with the intention of learning the truth about his country, though he cautioned the reader that truth is always subjective, focused through the lens of the person experiencing it.


The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 is the introduction in which he explains his rationale for the trip as well as his plan and preparations.


Part 2 plunges into the start of his trip. He set off from his home in Sag Harbour, New York, and travelled north to Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. He stopped in Maine before heading north to Canada briefly and then returning to USA, passing through Ohio, Michigan and Illinois at high speed. He stopped briefly in Chicago where he was joined by his wife.  And that concluded Part 2.


In Part 3, Steinbeck describes his journey through Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Oregon before he reached California, where he had spent his childhood. After spending some days there, he left for New Mexico and that concludes the third part of the book.


The last part of the book covers Steinbeck’s journey to Texas (where he again met up with his wife) and New Orleans before he finally turned round and headed for home.


What makes the book interesting is Steinbeck’s detailed observations of his country’s landscape and his keen insights on his countrymen. Some of his observations remain relevant, and are even prophetic, some fifty years after he had penned his sojourn. There are many reasons to read this book: to gain a better understanding of that vast and complex superpower, the USA (USA is too complex to be succinctly described in a thin book, but Steinbeck’s travels give us a relevant perspective); it’s a good way to pass time (his wicked humour is highly entertaining); Steinbeck’s sharp understanding of human nature is enlightening; and to see how the English language is wielded by a master.


As a teacher, during writing lessons, I would explain to my students that to describe a place, they need to use their five senses as much as possible. And because humans are highly visual creatures, the most important sense that needs to be described is sight. If they should be stumped about what to describe, they can always fall back on colours.


There is no better way to illustrate this than to see how a master wordsmith does it. A couple of examples here:


In the Bad Lands
Steinbeck initially found the Bad Lands foreboding and unwelcoming. But he discovered that as day turned into night, the passage of time drastically transformed the Bad Lands into the ‘Good Lands’.
[…] And then the late afternoon changed everything. As the sun angled, the buttes and coulees, the cliffs and sculptured hills and ravines lost their burned and dreadful look and glowed with yellow and rich browns and a hundred variations of red and silver grey, all picked out by streaks of coal black. It was so beautiful that I stopped near a thicket of dwarfed and wind-warped cedars and junipers, and once stopped I was caught, trapped in colour and dazzled by the clarity of the light. Against the descending sun the battlements were dark and clean-lined, while to the east, where the uninhibited sunlight poured slantwise, the strange landscape shouted with colour.


In Oregon where he visited redwood country to pay homage to the ancient trees
The trees rise straight up to zenith; there is no horizon. The dawn comes early and remains dawn until the sun is high up. Then the green fernlike foliage so far up strains the sunlight to a gold green and distributes it in shafts or rather in stripes of light and shade.


The middle segment of the book lags a little, so some readers may find it dreary, and all the place names can be confusing for a non-American. But as an introduction to Steinbeck’s writing, it is a superb initiation and I can’t wait to start reading his famous works of fiction, The Grapes of Wrath and  East of Eden.







Sunday 24 August 2014

Round vs Around

A conversation between my sister and me some time back.

Me:  I turned around and saw…

Sister:  Shouldn’t it be ‘turned round’?

(I looked at her blankly.)

Sister:  I mean, if you turn around, you would have turned a complete circle, 360˚,      and you would be facing where you were originally facing, wouldn’t you?




Me: I think they mean the same thing.

Sister:  Are you sure?


I wasn’t, and as an English teacher, I should know better, shouldn’t I? So I took it upon myself to check.


Short answer for those who couldn’t care less: There is not much difference between the two words and generally, they can be used interchangeably.


For the grammar Nazis amongst us:

According to the 11th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, ‘around’ is both a preposition (3 definitions) and an adverb (6 definitions). In the exchange above between my sister and me, it is used as an adverb and it means ‘to face in the opposite direction’.

The same tome explains that ‘round’ can be an adjective (6 definitions), a noun (7 definitions), an adverb (5 definitions), a preposition (4 definitions) and a verb (also 4 definitions).

So ‘round’ can also be used correctly in the exchange above. Used in the context above, it would be an adverb and it means ‘to rotate and face in the opposite direction’.


The good dictionary goes so far as to explain that in British English, the words ‘round’ and ‘around’ are interchangeable in many contexts. There is, however, a general preference for ‘round’ to be used for definite, specific movement (I turned round; the red car came round the corner), while ‘around’ tends to be used in contexts which are less definite (I wandered around for ages; a rumour circulating around the cocktail bars).

In US English, the normal form is ‘around’. ‘Round’ is generally used in certain fixed expressions such as all year round and they went round and round in circles.



So now you know. And if someone questions you on your usage of ‘round’ or ‘around’ in the future, you can confidently say that they are interchangeable.   ;)

Friday 22 August 2014

PEA OF HAPPINESS

This week's composition is based on a recent PSLE question, probably from 2013 or 2012.  Can't remember which.


Again it's the picture-based question. My personal preference is usually question 3, the one whereby you have to continue the story given a opening scenario. Even as a PSLE candidate many many moons ago, I never chose picture-based compositions, whether it was in the actual examination or during practices.


My preference for open-ended questions simply stems from the fact that such questions usually give you more rein for creativity than picture-based ones. However, I've noticed since I began teaching that more than half the students prefer picture-based ones, mainly because they find it easier to stick to a story based on the picture, and also because it's less likely that they will go out of point when they do picture-based compositions.


I've also noticed that in the last 2-3 years, the picture-based composition is getting more difficult. This is because the picture presents a very simple event like birthday celebrations. Such events may be simple to describe but that is also their main problem -- they are too simple. How are you going to score high points for content when describing a birthday celebration?


The idea is to make the story more complex by:

1. adding emotional depth (like what we did here)

2. putting obstacles into the story (perhaps there were some difficulties during the preparation of the party - hence the lack of a birthday cake and dishes?)


This week's format is the same as the previous week's. The first video will analyse the picture and present the storyline we are doing.


Video 1 - Storyline




The second video will go through the sample story.


Video 2 - Sample Story




In the third video, we'll present a list of words and phrases that can be used in the description of happiness.

Video 3 - The PEA of Happiness




Notes:

1. In Video 2, Paragraph 3, second last bullet, 'packed' should be 'pack' because of the modal 'would' in front of it. If you remember, a verb after any modal (can, could, will, would, etc) must take the base form; that means no past tense, past participle or singular form.

2. In Video 3, Action -- one of the actions people do to express their happiness is to pump their fist in the ear air. Sorry for the typo in the video. And it's really tough to re-do the video, so I'm putting the correction here instead.


Resources:

Assignment

PEA of Happiness

Friday 15 August 2014

PEA OF SADNESS

We've done anger and fear.


This week we're doing sadness.


I've divided the video this week into three parts.


The first video will analyse the picture and see what storyline would be suitable for the picture. (Do note that this is not the only acceptable storyline. In writing, creativity and imagination are paramount.)




In the second video, we will go through the sample story. Once again, the sample story is not cast in stone. It is only meant as a point of reference. Feel free to explore and use your own ideas.




In the last video, we cover the theme of the week: the PEA of Sadness. You'll learn how to describe sadness in your writing here.





Resources for this week:

Assignment

PEA of Sadness

Friday 8 August 2014

PEA OF ANGER


This is this week's composition. I've split it into two videos as it came up to almost twenty minutes despite my best efforts.


The first video will go through the outline of the story, and in the second video, we go through how to describe anger.


The first video (I tried to embed the video, but being rather technically unsavvy, I'm having problems, and I'm in a hurry, so will leave it as a link instead, and come back to fix it later). Edit: Embedded already. Whoo hoo! Learnt a new trick today. Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?