Year 10 Writing Portfolio | English

For English, we have been tasked to make our writing portfolio, which we need to include the three pieces of writing we did this year. 

In term 1, we were looking at creative writing and had to write an essay about anything we like. I wrote my version of the movie, The Day After Tomorrow. However, I hadn't finished my essay, I hadn't much ideas and there wasn't enough time. Also, the story was at its climax.

Here is my creative writing essay.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Jack Hall, an American paleoclimatologist, with his colleagues Frank and Jason, is penetrating the ice-core samples in the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica for the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). An ice shelf abruptly splinters from the rest of the continent, and Jack almost succumbs to death.

A few months later, UN Conference, New Delhi.

Jack admonishes world leaders. "From my research, finding that 10,000 years ago, global warming changed the Earth's climate to an ice age. If humans don't stop polluting the atmosphere, this might again happen in estimated 100 to 1,000 years from now."

"What nonsense!" Shrieks the U.S. Vice President Robert Hayward, repudiating his solicitudes.

Jack continues speaking.

"As we can see, the AMOC or the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation could collapse. Numerous intense storms could wreak major global cities, massive temperature variations would occur, and the northern hemisphere would be left frozen - our planet could trigger a new cataclysmic ice age."

At the conference, Professor Fraser Thomson, an oceanographer of the ECRC (European Climate Research Centre) in Scotland, keeps track of the world's ocean currents. Professor Thomson befriends Jack over his views of an impending climate shift. Fraser tells Jack that the melting of the polar ice caps has poured fresh water into the oceans and diluted the salt level balance, which has provoked the temperature of the ocean currents to drop 13 degrees.

Professor Fraser showed Jack by placing two buoys in the North Atlantic simultaneously, displaying a massive drop in the ocean temperature. Then concludes that the melting of the polar ice has begun disrupting the reconstructional data of the climate change that caused the first Ice Age; to predict what will arrive.

Due to this concern, both Jack and Fraser team up with NASA meteorologist Leeann Takada and build a forecast model based on Jack's, Fraser's and Leeann's data. 

Fox 11 Presents: "Breaking News: All over the Earth, the climate system is screwed; the violent weather causes mass destruction. U.S. President Blake has authorised the FAA to suspend air traffic due to severe turbulence after learning several tornadoes are decimating downtown, Los Angeles. 

Tokyo just got hit by softball size hail, and it starts to snow in New Delhi, and Los Angeles is predicted to be hit by many massive tornadoes. This map shows the three supergiant tornadoes on Canada, Siberia, and Scotland."

https://imgix.bustle.com/inverse/55/90/5e/73/05e9/4207/a1a2/608158a965b4/canada-scotland-siberia-all-screwed.jpeg?w=349&h=233&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress

White House, Washington D.C.

Jack meets the President and gives him the distressing news that his estimate of years has now turned down to days before the planet enters the new Ice Age. He urges the President to evacuate the southern states and Mexico because it's too late to evacuate the northern states.

ISS (International Space Station)

Three astronauts delay their return home after seeing a storm system spanning the northern hemisphere.

Siberia, Russia

Fox 11 reporter in Novosibirsk, Russia: "This has already started; the area of Eurasia is frozen and is spreading to the southerly areas of Asia and Europe." 

Tokyo, Japan

No one knew what swift weather variation could cause chaos in the populated metropolis of Tokyo. Unexpectedly, countless softball size hail storm the city, transmitting damages and several dead and wounded. 

A scene from The Day After Tomorrow
Credits: http://media.forumcinemas.ee/1000/Event_3433/gallery/021d68d6c4.jpg

New Delhi, India

This unexpected weather brought everyone to shock, the change from the blazing summer flame to the freezing snow descending. It becomes the coldest weather ever recorded in India. 

New York, United States

BREAKING NEWS:

"Warnings from the European Climate Research Centre have stated that the North Atlantic current had completely changed due to imbalance of salt and fresh water from the melting polar ice caps", shares a news reporter.

The sky turns black, 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

During term 2, we moved on from creative writing to visual text study. In this unit, we had to study a visual text, a movie. We watched The Power of One, as our text we had to write our essay on. This is another essay which I hadn't finished, which was not good. We had to write three body paragraphs for this essay, but I wrote one and a half paragraphs. 

Here is my visual text essay.

Body paragraph 1:

In the Going for a Run scene, the director uses the tracking shot completely. For example, the director, John Avildsen uses the tracking shot when Gideon and PK were running from Alexandria to Johannesburg. The purpose of this tracking shot used by Avildsen was to get the audience on board with PK and Gideon running and showing the life of the slums in Alexandria. This created impact on me by seeing the daily life in the slums and how difficult it is living there; for instance, it is seen when Gideon talks about the government allowing only one toilet for every 200 people and the law saying that only 2% of black people can go to school enough to be maids, street sweepers or mine slaves. This scene of the slums can be juxtaposed to Maria’s father’s (Marius Weyers) mansion emphasises a contrast in the living environment between the blacks and the whites.

Body paragraph 2:

In this scene, the director uses mise en scene adequately. This is demonstrated during PK and Gideon’s run, a Bantu, black African, was running towards the loading truck and a white Afrikaner kicked him off harshly. This was intended to show the harsh treatment the Afrikaners did to the black Africans. This technique created an impact by helping me see the struggles of black people during the time of Apartheid by the mistreatment and gruesome acts the English and Dutch were doing on them. This aspect can be related to when the Americans treated the black Africans during the Slave Trade, they faced brutal physical punishment, psychological abuse and endless hours of hard labour without compensation.

I didn't start on my third paragraph. But I'm happy with what I've done with my work. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Mid-term 3 and mid-term 4, we were looking at short text study, in this, we had to read several short texts and choose one text for the essay -- I chose the short text, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber. We had to choose one topic question that we need to answer in our essay. I feel that this is the best piece of writing I did this year because I had finished the essay, which I am proud of. Here is my essay.

Describe at least one memorable idea in the text. Explain why this idea was memorable to you. 

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber

Introduction:

In the short written text, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, the narrator portrays the mysterious life of Walter Mitty as a man in his own concealed world, where he mutates into a figure with immeasurable attributes and abilities. As he drives through the streets, he defies five daydream adventures, with some of them memorable for me. One memorable idea in this text is how Walter Mitty confronts chivalrous scenes with absolute assurance throughout the text. Walter Mitty has journeyed from a navy pilot to a surgeon to fighting in Germany. This key idea was memorable for diverse reasons — being brave and calm in troublesome circumstances and being fearless. 

Body Paragraphs

Hydroplane

One memorable idea incorporates the initial paragraph where Walter Mitty is in a crucial position. We see this when Mitty, a naval commander, directs his crew for technical modifications to the eight-engined aircraft. For example, the narrator first expressed with the dialogue, “We’re going through!” Another example is when the commander says he isn’t alarmed; the narrator remarks, “The Old Man ain’t afraid of Hell!” It explicates that the commander can do anything to fly the aircraft; this indicates that the commander isn’t afraid of anything and is prepared to fly the plane at any cost. The author wants us to ponder that we should be courageous when encountering a situation. It makes me understand how firm the commander is and can take risks no matter what. This reminds me of a later part in the text where Walter Mitty is a surgeon and resolves the situation by being brave and calm. The message I take away is to be brave when subduing your aversions and vulnerabilities.

Surgeon

In another daydream, Mitty is a renowned star surgeon, where he unravels the perplexity calmly and without any impediment. We see this when a trainee screeched, “The new anaesthetizer is giving way!” “There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!” At that moment, Walter Mitty calmly replied in a calm and confident voice, “Quiet, man!” He began fingering the dials and then asked for a fountain pen. The author shows us that Mitty is calm, even when there is an error during an operation. It made the reader feel relieved because he knows how to fix the machine but was also worried. After all, the patient might wake up during an operation. In the real world, this idea is important because we should always be calm in situations where we feel stressed, sad, or angry. Staying calm allows you to think logically and make decisions logically. 

WWI Captain (Germany)

Lastly, the third memorable idea, where Mitty is up for the mission of bombing a depot. We see this during his daydream in World War I, Mitty is a captain for an army and volunteers to bombard the enemy ammunition depot. For example, when Mitty is talking with the sergeant and knows that the plane is frequently piloted by two people, Mitty speaks, “With the others. I’ll fly alone.” This means that Mitty is fearless in attacking the foe. The author wants us to consider that we should be fearless when facing our foes. This made the reader feel worried about Mitty, because it was a precarious job. In the real world, we should be courageous when challenging our weaknesses.

Conclusion

In the text, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", a memorable idea was how Walter Mitty confronts chivalrous scenes with absolute assurance throughout the text. This idea was memorable to me because it teaches a lesson of being brave and calm in troublesome circumstances and being fearless. Of all these reasons, I think the most important is being calm in troublesome circumstances.  If we don't, we won't focus on what we need to do and won't get much done. For example, when the new anaesthetizer wasn't working, Walter Mitty becomes calm and solves the problem calmly.  This text confronts us to be calm and to think logically.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Red Sari - (Post-Reading Questions & Language Features) | English

Welcome to another post. For English, we, as a class, read a short story "The Red Sari". Following reading the story, we had to answer some post-reading questions. 

This post is from 21/10/21

Look up one new word from the story you don’t know the meaning of, and re-write the definition in your own words.

Concertina

Meaning to extend, compress, or collapse in folds like those of a concertina - a small instrument played by stretching and squeezing it.

In “The Red Sari,” the narrator experiences a very different world to NZ. What is a quote from this story which shows this?

"There are no formal road rules."

In New Zealand, road rules are followed.

"High above in the smog-filled sky a jet climbs away from it all."

New Zealand has really good air quality compared to India.

What do you think the author, Apirana Taylor, wanted us to understand about experiencing different cultures?

Apirana Taylor describes how India and its people are beautiful.

Does Apirana Taylor encourage us to appreciate people who are different to us? How so?

Apirana Taylor encourages us to appreciate others who are different to us because in this text, it shows poor people, beggars and that's the way how they would survive. Their life is hard because they never know when they could get crushed by a car.

The way to appreciate them is to show kindness to them, respect them, build their happiness - this will improve their self-esteem and relationships between them.

How Perl Button Was Kidnapped? (Post-Reading Tasks) | English

Welcome to another post. In English, we have to read the short story, 'How Perl Button Was Kidnapped?' and then answer the post-reading questions by breaking down the story. 

This post is from 27/09/21

Who were the main characters and how they've been described?

• Perl Button
• Blond hair
• Blue eyes
• White shiny teeth
• 
  
• 2 Māori women
• One wearing red and the other dressed in yellow and green
• No shoes and stocking on
• Pink handkerchiefs over their heads
• Carried big flax basket of ferns
• Police
• Little men dressed in blue

What happened to Perl?

• It seemed to the readers that Perl was kidnapped because of how the author wrote the text. But at the end, it was the two Māori women taking Perl to a beach.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Pre-reading Questions) | English

Welcome to another post. Yesterday for English, we've started a new short story for English, 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'. In this post, I am sharing the pre-reading questions relating to the story.

• Is it normal for a person to have secrets?
• Yes, basically, everyone has secrets.
• Even from their spouse?
• No, I don't think so. 
• What sort of secret of Walter Mitty hiding?
• About their life
• Magic
• A big dark secret
• What kind of person do you think Walter Mitty will be in the story based solely of off the title?
• A lonely and secretive person, who doesn't want to share their secrets.
• Make a prediction about what will happen to Walter Mitty in the text.
• He might be lucky and something good will happen in the text.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Adapted from: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty-1

The Lake - Language Features

Welcome to another post. For English, we moved on from looking at the Yellow Brick Road to another short story, The Lake. After reading the short story, we were given a few language features and give their own definition and an example from the story.

This is a post from 16 September 2021 (last week).

The Lake by Ray Bradbury
Adapted from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18068093-the-lake

Listing

Definition: A grouping of three or more things.

Example: "Then the wave gave me back to the sky, the sand, the children yelling."

Figurative Language

Simile

Definition: Comparing two things using like or as.

Example: "It was like nailing summer into a series of coffins."

Metaphor

Definition: 

Example: "There was a moment of green silence."

Personification

Definition: Metaphor giving a human characteristic that is not human.

Example:

Dialogue

Definition: A conversation.

Example: "Wait'll I watch my goose-bumps".

Emotive language

Definition: The usage of emotive words to influence the reader. Ex. joyful, happy, sad, exciting, cheerful.

Example: "All of the hot-dog stands were boarded up with strips of golden planking, sealing in all the mustard, onion, meat odors of the long, joyful summer."

Allusions

Definition: Indirect reference to another well-known text.

Example: "I stood there, watching the sun take away the water beads on my arms. I replaced them with goose-pimples."

Yellow Brick Road (Post-reading Questions)

Welcome to another post. For English, I've read an interesting story, "Yellow Brick Road". In my previous post, I've answered pre-reading questions before reading the story. But in this post, I will be answering questions after I've read the story, post-reading (as mentioned in the title). 

Adapted from: https://mrstupaeasays.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

1. Why does the narrator (speaker) believe they are moving to Wellington?

As stated by the narrator, Matiu states that "Wellington is where the money is. And you have to go where the money is, ay Dad. No use staying in Waituhi and being poor all the time, ay Dad."

2. On page 1, what big difference between Waituhi and Wellington does the narrator mention?

Matiu says to their dad that, "We'll make lots of money and be rich as anything because Wellington is where the money is. And you have to go where the money is, ay Dad. No use staying in Waituhi and being poor all the time, ay."

3. On page 3, we find out that Dad told Uncle Sam they were moving to Wellington because…?

Matiu's Dad said to Uncle Sam, "No more jobs back home." He added with, "Plenty of the seasonal work, yes, but me and Hine had enough of that. We had enough of shearing, the fruit-picking and the going down South to shear some more. No, plenty of work in Wellington. Plenty of factories."

Furthermore, Matiu's Dad said, "I want us to have a good life, a new start, Dad tried to explain. A new start for my kids. Me and Hine, we've always had nothing. But my kids? They're going to grow up with everything. I'll fight for it, because they must have it."

4. How does the narrator’s attitude towards moving change once they draw nearer to the city?

This is due to the signs. Before and during the trip, Matiu was feeling exciting and curious. But as they get closer to the city, Matiu sees many signs making him scared and bewildered. 

5. Emerald City, Yellow Brick Road, Flying Monkeys, scarecrow, tinman and cowardly lion, are all allusions (references) to what famous book? Why do you think the author made this comparison?

The Wizard Of Oz. I think Witi Ihimaera made this comparison from the Wizard Of Oz to show the journey of people into a different place, where they will face problems with lots of twists. 

The Wizard Of Oz
Adapted from: https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/wizard-oz

Yellow Brick Road (Pre-reading Questions) | English

Welcome to another post. For English, we've moved on towards a new interesting topic, "Yellow Brick Road" (as mentioned in the title), and answering some pre-reading questions (also mentioned in the title). 

Witi Ihimaera
Credit: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/62911.Witi_Ihimaera

Witi Ihimaera is a Māori author, novelist, short story writer, anthologist and librettist. He was born in Gisborne, the east coast of the North Island. Ihimaera was the first Māori to publish both a book and a novel; a few of his novels have been adapted into films; Whale Rider (2002), Kawa (2010), White Lies (2013),  Déwé Gorodé: Écrire Le Pays (2015) and Mahana (2016).

Adapted from: https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/witi-ihimaera

In my opinion, I think the story Yellow Brick Road by Witi Ihimaera is about a cool and exciting journey. I don't have much to explain, but I think it's going to be an interesting story.

The Danger of a Single Story | English

Welcome to another post. Today, for English, we were given a task to watch the Ted Talk, "The Danger of a Single Story", and then reflect on the questions in a blog post.

Chimamanda Ngoozi Adichie on the danger of a single story

1. How does Adichie describe herself at the beginning of her talk?
• She firstly described that she grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
• Her mother told her that she started reading at the age of two - but she deems that it was four.
• Adichie was an early reader, she read British and American children's books.
• She was also an early writer, she began to write at about the age of seven - stories in pencil with crayon illustrations.
2. Later in the story, we learn how other people view her. How do those views differ from how she describes herself? 
• 
  
3. According to Adichie, what dilemmas can arise when others view us differently than we view ourselves? 
• 
  
4. What does Adichie mean by ‘the danger of a single story’?
• 'The Danger of a single story' means the perspective of one person, can be dangerous, this can be dangerous because you only know only one person's perspective and not the rest.
• One person's perspective is not the whole story. 
• Adichie has also given some examples of what she meant by a single story;
• "All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor. Their poverty was my single story of them."
• "My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe."
• Her single story about Mexico and "...endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort of thing." She said, "I had brought into the single story of Mexicans and I could not have been more ashamed of myself."
• "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story."
• "The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar."
• Literature of Africa was from 
5. How do you think this video might relate to the film The Power of One, based on the pre-viewing work and discussion we have done so far?
• Not sure?
6. Has someone ever made an assumption about you because of some aspect of your identity? Was it positive or negative? How did you respond?
• I don't think 

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!.

All Summer in a Day | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another task for Engish. First, we had to read a short story, "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. After reading the story, we had to answer a few questions:

1. Find 3 words you don’t know the meaning of. Look them up and write the definitions in your post.
• Gush - Flow out something in a rapid and large stream.
• Concussion - A violent shock as from a heavy blow.
• Tatting - A kind of knotted lace made by hand with a small shuttle, used chiefly for trimming.
2. Discuss the Exposition of the story -- what are the characters, setting, and mood?
• Characters - 9-year-old students
• Setting - Venus
• Mood - Margot was sad when no one accepted her and what she knew about the sun. She remembered the sun, the way the sun was, and the sky when she was four in Ohio.
3. List and label one metaphor, one simile, and one example of sensory language from the story.
• Metaphor -  It had been raining for seven years
• Simile - The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun
• Sensory Language - "It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again."
4. List and label an example of show not tell from the story.
• "They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of fleshlike weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. It was the colour of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun."

Setting: Activity 1 | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another activity for the Narrative unit. For this exercise, we had to choose different settings and write 3 short, opening descriptions that show the reader when and where the action is taking place. We had to use sensory language in our descriptions. 

It was a city of decay, filled with ashes.

The dead lying across the unpopulated area.

Darting across the area, slaughtering the region.

Gazing over the downtown, observing the landscape.

Examining tall skyscrapers, orange glowing lights illuminating the area.

Cars dashing across the road, covering the city.

Writing Our Own Narrative Opening | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another activity for the Narrative unit, which is writing our own narrative opening. The task was to use 'show don't tell' to write 3-5 effective narrative openings. Our narrative could be about absolutely anything, and you don’t have to finish it!

The flaming house was burning, feeling the splashes of warmth by me, escaping my melting heat. Depressed after losing his house, remembering the memories related to the house. 

As the dark setted, two sisters saunter outside on the field, holding a lamp. Seeing an unknown blurry character in the distance. Passing through the fogs. As the character closens. We move backwards and run.

Looking left. Then right. Sneaking the bacon into my bag. Looking again, right, then left. Making sure no one looks and catches me. As I lurk out of the shop, I see two giants in uniform, running behind me. As I run through I...

Show Don't Tell | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. After finishing the introduction of the Creative Writing unit, we move on to a new unit, the Narrative. The first activity I chose to complete was, 'Show, Don't Tell'. For this activity, we had to answer a few questions relating to the activity. 

Task:

What do you think “show don’t tell” means?

How can we re-write these sentences to “show” and not “tell”?

    The buildings were tall.

    Sarah was really upset.

    She was so happy to see him.

    The lake was beautiful.

My re-written sentences:

     Tall skyscrapers, covering the sky, leaning and looking up

     Sarah tears slowly tearing down waiting for someone to meet her. 

     Overjoyed Sarah running towards him got swung up in the air.     

     The gleaming blue lake was surrounded by towering glaciers. 

Critical Literacy - Extension | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed the extension work for the Creative Writing unit. Also, this is the last post for this unit. The task for this activity is to watch four of the ads given, then note down for each:

• The intended audience. Who is this ad targeting? Age? Gender? Nationality? People with particular interests? Etc.
• What the ad implies about the product (it may not SAY it makes you more attractive and a better dancer, but does it imply that?)
• How does the ad make the audience feel?

The four that I watched were;

1. One Direction Pepsi Commercial with Drew Brees
2. Garret Ryan & Maxwell Perry Cotton - Jif Peanut Butter Commercial (2006)
3. Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
4. NEW Dream Liquid Mousse - Maybelline Commercial - Adriana Lima 

The One Direction Pepsi commercial shows one Pepsi between two famous people, Drew Brees and the One Direction. This is telling the viewers how both famous people like Pepsi.

The Jif peanut butter commercial targets children and parents. This wants children to eager to ask their parents to purchase the product. This also targets parents for their children to have nice peanut butter bread. 

The Old Spice commercial targets women who want their partner to smell nice by using their product.

The Dream Liquid Mousse commercial targets women who have flawless skin, Maybelline wants the viewers to purchase their new product for people who have flawless skin. It says that it is 100% poreless.

Creative Writing Reflection | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed the last activity for the Creative Writing unit for English which the reflection of this unit. 

Credit: Monash University
https://www.monash.edu/rlo/assignment-samples/medicine-nursing-and-health-sciences/reflective-writing-and-critical-incidents

The task was to:

Reflect on your learning about Creative Writing so far in English. Think back to our learning around Haiku, our discussion about what makes “good” creative writing, etc. What new things have you learned? How have you learned them? What activities in particular did you find enjoyable, interesting, or fun? What specifically was interesting to you, and why?

Haiku Poems

Looking back at the Haiku poems, I had to write four haiku poems which can be from one season or different seasons. I wrote about Summer. It was really fun making the poems.

My favourite poems are;

The ocean is bright

Spectacularly it shines 

And shimmary too 

I love summertime 

The sun on the beach is warm 

The water is cold 

 

Sensory Language

This activity was the one which I liked and learnt the most. Sensory language is a paragraph or scene that connects the five senses without using the words: saw, heard, smelled, tasted, felt. I wrote about the lupin flowers which I saw on the trip from Christchurch to Queenstown. 

Language Features

This was the first activity of the Creative Writing unit. This was also the one which I liked and learnt. In this activity, I had to choose three out of five language features that I had to write about - with their meaning and two examples. The three I wrote about was personification, anaphora and allusion. This was a fun and interesting activity to do. 

Slam Poetry | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another activity for the Creative Writing unit in English. This activity is about Slam Poetry. What we had to do was watch three or more videos of the previous New Zealand Slam Poetry champions. 

The Slam Poetry task was:

Which was your favourite performance? Why?

Write two thoughtful opinions about your favourite piece and support these opinions with specific evidence (quotes) from the text (at least 2) in your discussion.

Out of the videos I watched, I liked the video from Sam Stokes named 'Place To Be'. This was New Zealand's 2014 National Poetry Slam Champion.

Ben Stokes explains about New Zealand as a Place To Be. He talks about the positive things about New Zealand and the Māori tribe, "warrior tribes we run through our veins on the inside". The history, Maui capturing the sun "fear the fire the first men stole from the sun". War, stating about the ANZACs and World War 1, how New Zealand bled for their spot in the world, "between the Aegean and the Black Sea we made an ally out of an old enemy this nation bled for its place in the world willingly as the Turk baptised in fire" and "great-grandparents who died on the beaches of Gallipoli against machine guns". Also, the tragic events which occurred, talking about the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, "our army as students with spades in Christchurch Cathedral". This slam poetry mixes the tradition, history, and New Zealand in brief and who we are as New Zealanders, which turns back to the title, well, it is really a Place To Be. 

Sensory Language | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another activity for the Creative Writing unit for English. This fourth activity is Sensory Language, I had to create a paragraph/scene that connects the five senses without using the words: saw, heard, smelled, tasted, felt.

The tall spire lupin flowers, with a vivid contrast of purple and pink, capture my eye. Bees fly from one to another. People chatter, capturing photos and observing the picturesque flowers. The melting sun was shining and the breeze was light. 

Haiku Poems | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, I completed another activity for the Creative Writing unit for English. This third activity was about Haiku Poems, we had to create at least four haiku poems which can be from one season or different seasons. I chose to write on the current season, Summer. Here is haiku poems I created.

Metaphors & Similes | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. Today, in English, I completed another activity for the main topic that we are working on, Creative Writing. For this activity, I had to write in my own words what are metaphors and similes, with two examples each. 

Both metaphor and similes are used to make comparisons. 

Metaphors: Are directly state a comparison.

    Example 1: The classroom was a zoo.

    Example 2: He is a cat.

Similes: Use the words like or as to compare things.

    Example 1: You are as fast as a cheetah.

    Example 2: You are as strong as a gorilla.

Language Features | English

Welcome to another post on my blog. For the next few weeks, in English, we are learning about Creative Writing and we are given activities to complete. Today, I've completed my first activity which is about Language Features. 

Firstly, I had to choose three out of five language features to explore. Then, write a definition and example for all three language features and lastly, publish our work on our blog.