My favourite poet Elearning Lesson 2

"In what country did your poems first become famous in?" A boy from an elementary school during the 20 th century once asked Robert Frost upon seeing him. " England." He answers, full of pride and respect. However, now his poems are not only famous in England, but all around the world.

My favourite poet is Robert Frost because he grasps the literary techniques and uses the figurative language very well, such as symbolism and personification. Although he does not use them too often, but there is a large impact on the readers when they read his poems which ae full of figurative languages. Some examples are that in the poem " Birches" by Robert Frost, Frost portrays the images of a child growing to adulthood through the symbolism of aging birch trees. Through these images readers are able to see the reality of the real world compared to their carefree childhood. The image of life through tribulation is the main focal point of the poem and the second point of the poem is if one could revert back to the simpler times of childhood.

This is a quote from a website called www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=52640. They said that "The language of the poem is entirely arranged through images, although it contains some diction it lacks sound devices, metaphors, and similes compared to other published works by Frost."

After having done research on Robert Frost, I think that his works can be compared to those who have published various famous poems such as Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and much much more poets. Robert Frosts has published many poems and they have received good claims about them such as the poem on "The Road Not Taken". He has a good grasp of English and is able to use them to his advantage and this is what I like about him.

He has published a lot of poems but I am going to share with you three of those that he had written, they are Birches, A Patch Of Old Snow and An Old Man's Winter Night.

Here are some of his background and important events that he had been to.

Robert frost moved to Massachusetts after his father died of tuberculosis. He shortly attended collage but dropped out and married, Eleanor White. He then took up collage at Harvard but again dropped out before receiving a degree.

His first book established Frost as an author and was representative of his lifelong poetic style: sparse and technically precise, yet evocative in the use of simple and earthy imagery.

In 1961, at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, Frost became the first poet to read a poem—"The Gift Outright"—at a presidential inauguration.

Frost's poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England, and the language he used was the uncomplicated speech of that region. Frost’s work has lots of emotion, with dramatic shifts from humorous to tragic.

He ended his poems with, “And miles to go before I sleep” to indicate Frost's philosophy of continual and productive work—whether it be work on his New England farm, or the written work required to create his poetry.

Cites:

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215687/robertfrost.htm

IT Home Learning: Lesson1

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

1)The figurative usage of language in this poem includes symbolism and hyperbole. The words in which symbolism is used are "Two roads diverged" while the words in which hyperbole is used are " ages and ages" as it is an exaggeration.

The poet chose to use symbolism and hyperbole is beacause by using the hyperbole, it represents that it is unreaslistic and he is immortal and since this entire story tells the stopry of how he would heve liked it to happen, thus by using the symbolism. it would mean the different desicions that we must make in life or maybe even him wanting to make a different decision in life to probably a much improved way of living if he had taken the other path.

2)I like this poem because he tells the story or the poem in a way which he wanted and not how it actually happened, thus, it creates a sense of desire and longingness to want to know his side of the story. Not only that, but in the last stanza, it turned out to be a twist and he created a delibrate personal myth by creatig a persona in front of us. "A sigh", it could be regret or relief which is ambiguous and the last word " difference" is it positive or negative which makes me wonder. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference." With the punctuiation, it creates a sense of hesitation and suggests a moment of uncertainty, momentarily pausing as if he is contemplating what to say just before he lies

Thank You.

Experience working in a restaurant

I had a very different holiday this time. I was forced by my parents to go to work in the restaurants instead of staying home playing my favourite Dota and watching Dvds. I was reluctant to work at first because I had certain degree of pride in me that I could not bring myself down to be humble enough to serve people. But now, I have equipped myself with this valuable experience in these two restaurants which I promised my mum that I will definitely want to work in there again in next vacations. Let me share with you how I spent my days in these 2 restaurants working as an illegal underage waiter!

20^th June,2009—

I entered the restaurant which is located in the heart of red light district in southern tip of Malaysia. That morning, I saw more than half of the restaurant packed with customers. It seemed to be a rush hour and a busy lunchtime. The tables were full of dishes and people sitting around joyously, eating the food while chatting away happily, and seemed oblivious to the noisy surroundings. The waitresses and waiters holding trays each full of sweet potato porridge and side dishes, rushing here and there to meet the customers’ satisfaction and requests. I saw my mum busily doing her networking with the customers around and wasting no time, she assigned one of the senior and experienced waiters to teach me how to serve. I saw my friend as he waved to me with a dirty palm. Then I realised that he was working in here too. I was delighted to see him and he taught me how to take orders and basic serving manners and clearing the tables for next customers.

After a hectic day of serving customers, I then realised the importance of teamwork and how hard it is to be a waiter. The importance of teamwork cannot be emphasized more. When the customers leave the tables and it is time for us to keep the dishes and clean the table, we must always do it in duos or even trios as the customers who are queueing outside needs to be satisfied. We must also lay out the table with chopsticks and wet towels, menus and appetizers before we can lead the customers to be seated .

During rest time, my friend and I sat down to rest but the others waiters and waitresses still continued their jobs and ignored their rest time. After the restaurant closed after midnight, my friend and I walked home together. I asked him,” How much is your pay per month?” and he answered ,” 1000++” I was so shocked. This was in Ringgit! It was about S$400++.Even though their pay is so meager, they still respect their job and try to make the most out of it by slogging their guts out until about 3 am per day. They do not have the mentality that we have that is” Pay less, Work less” .They have free accommodation and food served to them every 3 hour. What can they do with this amount of money? I really wonder…

21^st June 2009 Sunday-Father’s Day.

I put on restaurant ‘s uniform early morning at 10am. I was told by my parents that I needed to go to the 2^nd restaurant which is double the size of the first one to help up today. It consisted of 28 tables and it was a Sunday, also Father’s Day. We expected big crowds to turn up at the restaurant to celebrate Father’s day.

As it was only busy during lunchtime and dinnertime, thus we could sit down and slack from about 3 pm to 5.30 pm. Other than that, we had to make our leg muscles work and hold up trays with one hand while serving with the other. Not only that, but we also had to clean up the rubbish and dishes after every customer leave, making our hands dirty. However, this is part and parcel of the life of a waiter in our restaurant.

Also if customer does not want the towels and peanuts, we have to tell the cashier and she will then have to take note and not to charge the amount in the bill. If we do not and we pass the bill to the customer with the money for the peanuts and towels included in the bill, we will be admonished and the only thing that we can do is to humble ourselves down and apologise, which a person full of pride will never do, like me. However hard I forced myself not to do it, I still had to do it as I did not want to lose this customer. This was what I had to do on the second day that I was working as I met a drunkard. Wonder what happened to me…

Never judge a book by its cover is a phrase that I have learnt in this holiday. Those staff, be it the waiters or chefs, are mostly transmigrates, this means that they are people from other states of Malaysia, and Burmese. They leave their hometowns and families to come to JB to find a living. They are either below 20 or early 20s with very little education and simple background .However young they are or where they come from, they are able to speak perfect Mandarin and they are full of life experiences and are unselfish to share with me. From them, I can see that they respect their jobs so much that some slog their guts out and work to their fullest capacity. Their loyalty and diligence is really an asset to the restaurant and these are virtues that we have to instill in ourselves. Some even work 2 shifts in order to make their ends meet. With the meager salary, they spend little on their necessities and send the rest of their pay back to support their families. I take my hats off to them! Of course, there are some black sheeps too. Due to their ignorance, they spend their hard earned money in inappropriate ways.

These are what I have learnt through these two days of training. I thank my parents for this valuable opportunity for learning what life is out of the box and books. I treasure everyone I met in the restaurants, including the ‘frontline’ waiters and waitresses and the ‘backstage’ chefs and assistants chefs and most importantly, the customers. They add spices to my routine life. Thanks for making my Father’s Day so meaningful and educational.

Book Review on Nothing But The Truth

Q1)New Ideas of Myself
Book Read: Nothing but The Truth by AVI

After reading the book, I realized one important character that all of us must have, that is to stand up for your own rights when others think that you are in the wrong and stop doing something that you feel is right.

People are always against somebody who feels that whatever he does is right. People always think that the person who does whatever he think is correct as stubborn and thus, they stereotype him and they have a bad impression about him, thinking that he is one who does not listen to other people’s opinion. In reality, he has a character of standing up for his own rights and voicing out his own opinion.

With the example given above, that is why in real life, people who stand up for their own rights is getting lesser and lesser as most people think that by standing up for your own rights is an absolute waste of energy, effort and time. Therefore, most people prefer to listen to other people’s advice and follow as they do not need to waste their time voicing out their own opinion.

We must be able to stand up for what we think is correct and not let others control over what we can do and what we cannot do. We must voice out our opinion so that others would not think that we are weaklings and thus, think that they are able to control what we do and our thoughts of what is correct and what is incorrect.

By being able to stand up for your own rights, when you grow up, your boss will start to like you as he thinks that you are one who comes out with your own ideas instead of other workers who just follow what he says. He will think that you are capable and a born thinker and leader and thus have a good impression on you.


Q2)Two characters in the book
Book Read: Nothing but The Truth by AVI

The two characters in the book that I am about to compare is the two main characters that are described very well in the book, they are Miss Narwin and Philip Malloy.

Miss Narwin is a homeroom teacher who teaches in Harrison High School. She teaches Philip Malloy.

Miss Narwin is also being too strong-headed against Philip. She is always against Philip, such that every time when she hears humming in the class room during the national anthem, she will always pinpoint Philip as the person who was humming and he is always her main target. When there is humming in the class, she would ask,” Philip, is that you singing again?” without even getting enough evidence to pinpoint Philip as her main target.

When Philip is humming or even singing the national anthem, she will ask him if he was singing and when Philip continues singing without heeding the advice of his teacher, Miss Narwin will lose her temper and she will scold him and ask him to get out of this classroom to meet the principal in his office so that the principal would be able to deal with Philip without her needing to waste her time to berate Philip.

Philip is a boy who stands up for his own rights and says that by humming “ The Star-Spangled Banner”, their national anthem is to show his patriotism towards the country and show his loyalty towards his country. He does not follow what other people says and voices out his own opinion to let others reflect upon.

Philip is also a boy who does not want to let others control over him on what is correct and what is incorrect. When it was the last straw for Miss Narwin who knew that it was Philip who was humming, she scolded him and asked him to stop humming. However, Philip did not want others to control over what he can do and what he cannot do, thus he voiced out his own views and said that America was a free country and that he could say anything that he wanted.




Q3)Radio Announcement
Book Read: Nothing but The Truth by AVI
Are you timid and you do not have the courage to speak up? Then read Nothing But The Truth! It is a story that will allow you to stand up for your own rights and learn the true meaning of courage. Buy it now at any book store nearby!



Q4)Title
Book Read: Nothing But The Truth by AVI
I think that the title” Nothing But The Truth” is a good title because this book is all about the reality and the truth when Philip was being dismissed from school for two days for breaking the school rule which said to maintain respectful silence when the national anthem in school was being played.

Philip Malloy was only humming to the national anthem to show his patriotism and his loyalty towards his country, America. He was trying to show that America is his country and that he would not pledged loyalty to any other country by humming “ The Star- Spangled Banner”. Miss Narwin, his homeroom teacher then said that they should abide by the school rules and thus, requested for Philip Malloy to get out of the class room and go to the Principal’s office to let the principal deal with it.

The truth is that Philip was only trying to show his patriotism towards America to pledge loyalty and not trying to go against Miss Narwin or to try to break the school rules. Thus, when it was the last straw for Miss Narwin and she could not take it anymore of Philip’s singing, her anger rose and she asked of Philip to get out of the class. However, Philip voiced out his opinion of Miss Narwin and stood up for his own rights, saying that in America, it was a free country and that he could say anything that he wanted to say. He also said that it was not wrong of him to hum the National Anthem, “ The Star- Spangled Banner” during class as it was a free country.

His parents also said that they had been training him since young to sing the National Anthem as his whole neighbourhood has been doing since young. They are very supportive of him and with the reporters and the whole of America behind to support him, he believes that he is correct in singing the National Anthem.

Book Review on The Little Prince

Q1)New Ideas of Myself
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

After I had read the entire book in one seating, I realized that we people are always too busy to care about others or even about ourselves. In the novel, the little prince visits six other planets and the narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone on their own planet and are overly consumed by their chosen occupations. Such strange behavior both amuses and perturbs the little prince. He does not understand their need to order people around, to be admired, and to own everything. With the exception of the lamplighter, whose dogged faithfulness he admires, the little prince does not think much of the adults he visits, and he does not learn anything useful. However, he learns from the geographer that flowers do not last forever, and he begins to miss the rose he has left behind.

From the book, it can be seen that people are always too busy and occupied with their own jobs and the things that they are going to do later on. We are always too overly stressed with our jobs and we do not take any time off to rest and relax or even stay at home to sleep. This accurately draws an image of what people are: Running here and there to get a business deal sealed, run to the train station to catch the train or even work overtime so that your boss will be happy.
I learnt to put my mind at ease sometimes after I had accomplished something or had done something very stressful. I will either read a book or catch the movie in the cinema. These few actions that I had just brought up are stress-relievers and I will be able to temporarily put my mind at ease and forget all my holiday homework so that I will be able to enjoy that moment.

Q2) Compare two characters in the book
Book Read : The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The two characters in this book that I have chosen are the fox and the rose of the little prince on his planet. Although the rose appears only in a couple of chapters, she is crucial to the novel as a whole because her melodramatic, proud nature is what causes the prince to leave his planet and begin his explorations. Also, the prince’s memory of his rose is what prompts his desire to return. As a character who gains significance because of how much time and effort the prince has invested in caring for her, the rose embodies the fox’s statement that love comes from investing in other people. Although the rose is, for the most part, vain and naïve, the prince still loves her deeply because of the time he has spent watering and caring for her.

Much has been written comparing the little prince’s relationship with his rose to the relationship between Antoine de Saint- Exupéry and his wife, but the rose can also be read as a symbol of universal love. In literature, the rose has long served as a symbol of the beloved, and Saint- Exupéry takes that image in good stride, giving the prince’s flower rose human characteristics, both good and bad. It is because of the rose that the prince learns that what is most essential to him is invisible, that time away from one’s beloved causes a person to better appreciate that love that was experienced between both of them, and that love engenders responsibility—all of which are broad morals that obviously extend beyond the author’s personal history.

The fox appears quite suddenly and inexplicably in Chapter XXI when the prince finds out that his rose was lying and that his rose was not the only one of its kind while the prince is mourning the ordinariness of his rose after having come across the rose garden full of grown roses together. When the fox immediately sets about establishing a friendship between himself and the prince, it seems that instruction is the fox’s sole purpose. Yet when he begs the little prince to tame him, the fox appears to be the little prince’s pupil as well as his instructor. In his lessons about taming, the fox argues for the importance of ceremonies and rituals, showing that such tools are important even outside the strict world of grown-ups.


Q3) Make a radio announcement for this book
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery

Sarah: Hey, what book are you reading? You look so engrossed in that book.
John:*silence*
Sarah: Are you going to answer me?
John: Yes, yes. Oh, there you are, I was just reading The Little Prince.
Sarah: Oh!From the looks of your face,it must be an intriguing book to read? Who is the author? What is the storyline?
John: Should I tell you the storyline? Buy it and read it for yourself!
John and Sarah: Buy The Little Prince today and you shall enjoy 20% discount off the actual price!

Q4) The Title
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery

After reading this book, I feel that the title “ The Little Prince” is a good one and it is very significant in the course of the entire story.

Just by looking at the title, you will be able to infer that The Little Prince is either very small and tiny in terms of physical size or his knowledge of the world is tiny or little. However, after finishing the book, you will be able to understand that The Little Prince comes from a very tiny planet not from Earth and thus, his knowledge and experience of Earth is still very little as on his planet, there are only a few volcanoes, a sheep and a rose. On his planet, he is the only human there and thus, he is not able to share his experiences and thoughts with anyone else. Thus, the knowledge of anything is still very little as there is no discussion between him and any one on his planet. Therefore, he comes to the planet Earth, to find people to talk to and to share his thoughts and ideas of Earth to. He also travels across different planets on his way to Earth so as to find out more about humans and what they do. He finds out that humans are very weird and they are overly stressed, such that they do not even have any time to rest. He also realizes that his beloved rose on his planet lied to him that she was the only rose in the galaxy, but after coming to Earth, he then realizes that his rose is not special and that there are many roses on Earth, thus showing that his knowledge of Earth is still very limited. He also realizes that humans make very good companions such as him and the narrator. They understand each other’s character and personality very well that the narrator does not want his friend to leave to return to his planet.

Having fun Vs Studying

Will having fun make you happier than studying?

I have been pondering over this question for the past few days. Am I really having fun when I play computer games, loiter in shopping centres aimlessly or even go to the cinemas? By doing the above activities, do they really make me happier than studying?? I think none of us will enjoy this- studying for the sake of examinations. This happened to all of us for the past 6 years in primary school and I believe we still have another 6 years in IP and another 3 to 4 years for our basic degrees or tertiary studies to come. All these studies come with targets and that is to achieve our certificates. We not only face peer pressures but also have to meet our own expectations. This makes studying less fun if we under-performed.

On the contrary, studying for the sake of our hobbies and at the same time having fun with our good friends, will be totally different. Like for me, I love golfing. You may be wondering what kind of “studies” I have to go through as a golfer? Well, there are books and theories for us to cover in the talent squad. I have to learn and memorize the basic etiquette of being a golfer, the rules and regulations on the greens, the difference in calculations of strokes, etc. I also have to practice hard in the golf range in order to be consistent in every golf ball I hit and get used to all the golf clubs that I own. Theories and practical are both equally important in playing golf and I have to sit for tests too in order to promote to another level. I have gone through tough training since young. I sit for tests in every golf camp in order to play well and maintain in the squad. But it never brings me boredom or stress, instead I enjoy every lesson, every stroke and every games that I have with my golf buddies and coaches. There are more things for me to master in golf which I am eager to go for it if time permits. I intend to study about the sports psychology in order to control my mood swing during competition. My bosom golfing buddy plays well in golf .He is almost a single –handicapper in golf and he is of the same age as me. He always corrects my strokes and tells me which direction the wind is blowing from and how I should angle my clubs and towards which direction should my ball land in. All these are strategies in golf and lessons to study in life. But it never bores me, instead I have fun with my peers through all these studying and discussions. So I think I can have fun too while studying something that I enjoy most.

Susan Boyle Vs Diversity!

I followed through the Britains got Talent! This is because I simply enjoy Les Miserables song- I dreamt a dream- and I supported Susan Boyle. I admire her courage and confidence to pursue her dream. She isn’t glamorous nor has elegance or beauty but she has an angelic vocal and admirable courage that causes her to become my idol. She turned out to be 2nd despite her improved stage performance and outfits. She lost to a dancing troupe-Diversity. I should say I had to take my hat off to this united dancing group. Not only did their unique and stylist chorography win the judges’ and audiences’ applause but also the team work that made them win champion! I kept repeating the two You Tube video to analyze the reasons for Susan’s defeat. However I can only conclude that although Susan didn’t win the title, she gained a lot of supporters’ hearts especially brought pride to her little ‘kampong’-Blackburn, Scotland.



I had learnt some lessons through this issue too-

Susan Boyle- Her relatives and friends and supporters in Scotland shared with the news reporters that they didn’t even call to vote for her as they thought she was the definite winner, surely the title would be win by her! In real life, there isn’t anything for sure that you will win. You put in your best in everything you do and hope that you will gain glory, but in actual fact, luck plays a part too! I had a very sour experience during my Inter-school Tennis competition when I was in Primary 4.I was leading 5-1 during the match with a so-called greenhorn, according to my personal coach. Thinking that I would bring pride to my beloved primary school and win the match and get them into semi-final, I started to play recklessly and this greenhorn, a neighbourhood school player, had a very strong fighting –spirit in him that he turned the table around and defeated me by 5-6!
I think Susan would have a bad night, like me, before. Life moves on and I learnt an ‘expensive’ lesson - never be too complacent in life! Blessing in disguise, I picked up golf and I got to meet lots of young and adult golfers from all walks of life, sharing the same hobby and most importantly, get exposed to lots of scenic courses.

So Susan Boyle, although she had lost the competition and did not have the chance to perform in front of the Queen of England at the Royal Variety Show, I believe she has already made her name. The next stage will be Broadway! She will be earning cold, hard cash in Broadway or London theatres.

Winning team Diversity are a 10members dance troupe aged 12-25. Their act won praise throughout the competition. TEAMWORK and UNITY helped them to win the title. It also reminds me of our class-1P1. We are ranked 2nd among all the 15 classes in Term 2 announced by Mrs Giam. This is due to all of our teachers’ contributions and our hard work. Lets continue to strive harder and live the 1P1 spirit!