Learning Log 7

I felt that the 'Romeo and Juliet' performance which my group and I had prepared for a long time for was a very interesting experience and I am glad that we had the chance to have something like this. First of all, the procedure, was very enjoyable as most of the props that we made were interesting. We also had a window made by our group mate but it broke apart on the day itself and we could not use it despite having worked on it for a very long time. Even though that happened, it did not affect our performance much. Most of our group rehearsals were never complete, due to matters such as lack of time or having to keep improving on a certain scene. Only in the week when the performance was going to start, we had managed to complete the entire scene. Even so, we still had problems controlling our laughter whenever we said some of the lines in the scene. On the day itself we started to panic and rushed through our props. I felt that our performance had been quite smooth compared to what I had thought it would have been like. I strongly encourage the next batch of Secondary 2 students to have this kind of performance as it was an enriching experience and let us know how important it is to have teamwork in the group.

Learning Log 6

I have learnt many things about the literary devices used in the poems or passages. These literary devices can be classified as imagery and figurative language, sound devices, diction and sentence structures. In these categories, some of the devices were new whereas some where those that we already knew and were revising it again. In the imagery and figurative language category, we have learnt some literary devices such as simile, metaphor and symbol which we learnt last year, but also a few new ones, such as visual, kinesthetic and auditory. In sound devices, we learnt literary devices such as tone, rhythm and many others. Finally, for diction and sentence structures we learnt devices like oxymoron, paradox and hyperbole. We have learnt the various meanings of these literary devices, which allow us to know how the poet or author uses them in the prose or poem, allowing us to understand the prose or poem better.

Learning Log 5

After reading the unseen booklet, I have learnt a few tips on how to approach an unseen poem or prose. Read the poem twice, pay more attention to the words the second time and allow your imagination to flow. This will allow a better understanding of the poem and also allow you to analyse the poem in detail. Short notes can also be made by the side of the poem. We should avoid rushing through reeading the passage or poem as this may cause us to misunderstand the poem or passage. We should also avoid answering before reading the question or instructions because we will give the answer that we want, rather than to answer the question. There are also a few ways to organize our answers, such as the IBC model, "Introduction, Body and Conclusion". There is also the PEEL model, "Point, Explain, Evidence and Link". The ABC's in quoting are, "Attention, Brief and Context". Following all these will allow one to organize their answers and understand the poem.

Learning Log 4

I felt that the Macbeth performance was a good experience for me. It is not just acting only. It requires us to plan out our performance, coming up with creative props to use in the performance and be able to work with each other properly. The Macbeth performance was a good time to learn from how the other groups planned their performance and also how we can improve on ours when it is our turn to perform. After seeing all the groups perform, I was amazed by their creativity in making the props. When my group was performing, we did not do as well as I thought we would have. I realised that what I was thinking of in my head would not always go well and one of our mistakes is that we would say the lines either too quickly or too late. At some point of the performance, we were slowed down and could not perform properly because the person who was playing the music was too slow and we ended up waiting for the music to play before we could say our lines. This performance made me laugh non-stop because of the comedy factor that some of the groups had and it has also let me know what I can improve on and hopefully do better in when we are having our next performance, "Romeo and Juliet".

Learning Log 3

Predictions are a forecast of the future which are usually given by fortune tellers. I learned quite a lot about my classmates experiences in the past with predictions given by people during the group work. Usually when it comes true people always make stupid sounds which annoy me especially since some of them go screaming. However, most of this predictions given are just suggestions given will not come true in real life but can happen because the person might be thinking too much about the prediction and worry about it, and doing many things which can actually cause it to happen. I now know that some of my classmates actually have encountered many events predicted by other people. Some stories were fake and made up by my classmates which really disappointed me since I was looking forward to more incidents which had actually happened. However, I personally do not believe in predictions and even if it does come true, it would probably be just a coincidence. A suggestion to improve the lesson would be that every member of the group would be allowed to relate their own incidents to the class, rather than one member's incident only, so that everyone has a chance to talk in front of their classmates.

Learning Log 2

I felt that the superstitions lesson was very fun since we could have group work and presented it in front of the class. Everyone could share what they knew about superstitions and we learned more about other new superstitions. I really look forward to this kind of literature lessons throughout the year. It could be improved by playing games with the superstitions so that we could test our knowledge of superstitions. For example, we can do certain actions and get our classmates to try and guess what superstition we were trying to act out. We went through the first part of Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 1, which involved the three witches. It was very interesting and we got to see our classmates act out the three witches. We also learned why Shakespeare used the three witches in the first scene. It is because witches usually remind people of curses and since they are normally dressed in black, it usually means bad luck. We saw our classmates act out the scene and we all laughed as it was hilarious to see some of them trying to make their voice high pitch for the voice of the witches. It let us experience how it is like to act in front of an audience and how to attract them to your performance.

LEARNING LOG 1

I feel that the lesson on cinquains was really interesting and that i can express my views when doing the group work. Now i know that cinquains are made up of 5 lines with each set of rules for each line.The lesson was not as boring as i had expected it to be because we could be in groups, talking with each other. I do not have much to suggest about improvement of the lesson as it is very good and i actually enjoyed the lesson, especially when we had different ideas of the cinquains we were going to use in the group work. The only suggestion is that we have more of this kind of group work as we get to express our views freely without problem.