Romeo and Juliet: Act 1 - Scene 5: Reflection Section | Wānanga

Welcome to another post. Last week, our class continued reading the play, Romeo and Juliet - Act 1, Scene 5. I'll be using that text for my reflection section for today.

Text title: Romeo and Juliet - Act 1 (Scene 5)

Text type: Play  

Text creator: William Shakespeare

Critical Literacy Question: What kind of person, and with what interests and values, authored the text?

Date: 21st June 2021 

Act 1 - Scene 5 Summary

In the great hall of the Capulets, all is a-bustle. The servants work feverishly to make sure all runs smoothly, and set aside some food to make sure they have some enjoyment of the feast as well. Capulet makes his rounds through groups of guests, joking with them and encouraging all to dance.

From across the room, Romeo sees Juliet, and asks a servingman who she is. The servingman does not

know. Romeo is transfixed; Rosaline vanishes from his mind and he declares that he has never been in love

until this moment. Moving through the crowd, Tybalt hears and recognizes Romeo’s voice. Realizing that

there is a Montague present, Tybalt sends a servant to fetch his rapier. Capulet overhears Tybalt and

reprimands him, telling him that Romeo is well regarded in Verona, and that he will not have the youth

harmed at his feast. Tybalt protests, but Capulet scolds him until he agrees to keep the peace. As Capulet

moves on, Tybalt vows that he will not let this indignity pass.

Meanwhile, Romeo has approached Juliet and touched her hand. In a dialogue laced with religious

metaphors that figure Juliet as a saint and Romeo as a pilgrim who wishes to erase his sin, he tries to

convince her to kiss him, since it is only through her kiss that he might be absolved. Juliet agrees to remain

still as Romeo kisses her. Thus, in the terms of their conversation, she takes his sin from him. Juliet then

makes the logical leap that if she has taken Romeo’s sin from him, his sin must now reside in her lips, and so

they must kiss again.

Just as their second kiss ends, the Nurse arrives and tells Juliet that her mother wants to speak with her.

Romeo asks the Nurse who Juliet’s mother is. The Nurse replies that Lady Capulet is her mother. Romeo is

devastated. As the crowd begins to disperse, Benvolio shows up and leads Romeo from the feast. Juliet is

just as struck with the mysterious man she has kissed as Romeo is with her. She comments to herself that if

he is already married, she feels she will die (1.5.131). In order to find out Romeo’s identity without raising

any suspicions, she asks the Nurse to identify a series of young men. The Nurse goes off and returns with the

news that the man’s name is Romeo, and that he is a Montague. Overcome with anguish that she loves a

Montague, Juliet follows her nurse from the hall.

What kind of person, and with what interests and values, authored the text?

Romeo, one of the main characters in the play, is seen as a lover in this part of the text. When Romeo and Juliet first meet, Romeo first holds Juliet's hands and talk about kissing and later they both kiss. 

English Assessment

Welcome to another post. For the past few weeks in English, our assigned task was to organise and create a short film based on the written play, "The Merchant of Venice".

Our short film is about two friends discovering a map and tracking this map around the globe, little did they know that there was danger lurking in the distance, one of the men decides to take the treasure all to himself with greed but the intruders who tracked these men stopped him and took the treasure for themselves.

Our story retells the trial scene of the merchant of Venice using the saying, "you reap what you sow" which also relates to "karma". 

The one additional film techniques that we used was "tracking shot" for this shot we used it to hook the viewer in, and makes the viewer see and experience the side perspective of the characters.

Some challenges that we experienced whilst making this film was organisation and lack of time because on some days not all of our group was here, and whenever we would start filming we would get a little off-task, Our learnings gained from these challenges was that we should have put more depth and more techniques in the film to make it feel more alive, also we learnt to stay on task and focus on what our assigned task was so that we can conquer the challenge of making the film.

What I would do differently next time is using more intriguing film techniques and focusing on completing all of the film techniques that were meant to be used and extra. Also, I would focus more on the editing part of the video and make it more dramatic!.

Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workspace: Reflection Section | Wānanga

Welcome to another post. Today, in Wānanga, we watched an interview by Simon Sinek. 

Text title: Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workspace

Text type: Interview on Youtube (Inside Quest)

Text creator: Inside Quest

Purpose: To help understand Millennials and improve wellbeing through reducing screen time.

Critical Literacy Question: How does the text depict age, gender, cultural groups?

Date: 10th June 2021

How does the text depict age, gender, cultural groups?

This video only depicts the age group of millennials (born 1994 onwards). Sinek introduces his point by first talking about millennials and breaks down the interview into four parts:

• Parenting
• Social media/Technology
• Impatience
• Environment

He states that "The generation that we call the Millennials too many of them grew up, subject to not my words failed printing strategies, you know where for example, they were told that they were special all the time, they were told that they have anything they want in life, just because they want it. Some of them got into honours classes, not because they deserved it but because their parents complained and some of them got A, not because they earned them, but because the teachers didn't want to deal with the parents. Some kids got participation medals, they got a medal for coming in last.

World's Only White Giraffe Tracked via GPS: Reflection Section | Wānanga

Welcome to another post, for today's reflection section in Wānanga, I've chosen an article that I've posted about yesterday in Social Studies.

Text title: Rare white giraffes killed by poachers in Kenya

Text type: Article

Text creator: BBC News

Critical Literacy Question: What does the author of this text want us to know?

Date: 4th June 2021

What does the author of this text want us to know?

Earlier last year, two white giraffes (female and her calf) have been killed in Garissa County, north-eastern Kenya. The conservationists said that the third giraffe is alive and is thought to be the only one in the world. The colour of the giraffe is due to a rare condition called leucism, which causes skin cells to have no pigmentation. 

All data and info, from BCC News.

Source: BCC

The author has also informed their viewers what leucism is.

• Leucism inhibits pigmentation in some skin cells.
• Animals with leucism may have darker pigment in their softer tissue. 
• Giraffes with leucism retain their darker eyes, whereas animals with albinism have pink eyes
• Birds, lions, fish, peacocks, penguins, eagles, hippos, moose and snakes have all displayed traits of leucism

Later on in the article, the author has informed more about white giraffes.

• White giraffes have been first spotted in Kenya in March 2016.
• Two months earlier, a white giraffe was spotted in the neighbouring country of Tanzania.
• Approximately, 40% of the giraffe population has been disappearing in the past 30 years and the poaching for meat and skin continues.
• According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population dropped from 155,000 in 1985 to 97,000 in 2015.

GPS Tracker Fitted to Help The World's Only Known White Giraffe

GPS Tracker Fitted to Help The World's Only Known White Giraffe

BBC | Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy
Rangers fear the unique white skin of the giraffe may be make the animal vulnerable to proachers

The world's only known white giraffe has been fitted with a GPS tracking tracker to help protect it from approaches as it grazes in northeast Kenya, conservationists say.

A conservation group said rangers could monitor the lone male giraffe’s movements in real-time. The giraffe has a rare genetic condition called leucism, which causes the loss of skin pigmentation.

Rangers fear the giraffe could suffer the same fate as his relatives, a female and her seven-month-old calf with similar white skin.

The non-profit group said the tracking device would give hourly updates on the giraffe’s whereabouts, enabling rangers to “keep the unique animal safe from poachers”.

Giraffes have been designated as a vulnerable species on The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, with an estimated population of 68,293 globally.

Source: The Happy Broadcast | BBC