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Monday, January 23, 2012

New Literature Component for Form 4 and 5


Nature at its bests
Source:  Google
 
Poetry captures our spirits as we see the inner beauty of our surroundings
 
The novel to be learnt in Form 5- Selangor
 
Students should be encouraged to take up reading- all sorts of reading materials are good  as long  as they broaden up our minds and made us think critically...
(Source of picture: Google)

It is heartening to be able to outline the New Literature Component for Form 4 and 5. I found it to be encouraging that some teachers and students out there have been referring to my humble blog, just to enquire on the texts to be learnt in Form 1, 2 and 3. Previously, I have written a post on the New Literature Component for the Lower Secondary level. The latest news is that there is a novel to be learnt in Form 3- I will update on the post later on....
    All right, there are several poems and short stories to be learnt in Form 4 and 5. A drama to be practised in Form 4 and there is definitely a novel to learn in the Form 5 level. Based on my experience, students refused to read the novel "Step by Wicked Step", they would only refer to the synopsis and a whole range of reference books. Teachers on the other hand, succumbed to the pressure of finishing the syllabus by June and keep giving out handouts to students - making sure that these students read the "papers" given and paste them in their Literature books. I am telling you this, these students do not really learn the hard way. They have been spoon fed by their poor teachers- thus, they end up not reading the novel at all. Therefore, what is the purpose of learning literature any way if we do not digest the words and sentences in the novel? I will touch on this issue on my next post. 

Below are the texts to be learnt in the Upper Secondary level;

Form 4

Poems
1) In The Midst of Hardship - Latiff Mohidin
 ( a translated version of the original poem in Malay)
 ~ Here, the poet presented a whole new idea of poverty and contentment, of how the poor react  with mishaps in life. I told my students that this poem probably stemmed up from the  simplicity of the life of a farmer and  his family, they probably came from the East Coast of Malaysia or the Northern states of Peninsular Malaysia. We could derive on the fact that these states are prone  to floods and there are still farmers working on their paddy fields using buffalos albeit the machines  i.e the  line found in the poem " they desperately looking   for their son's albino buffalo that  was never found".
2) He Had Such Quiet Eyes - Bibsy Soenharjo ( an Indonesian poet)
   ~ This poem is quite tricky as well. It brings about the issue of not trusting the opposite gender. It is a good poem, considering the moral and social issues of today's youths. There are lines such as " And to render him paradise" and "With pleasure-seeking guys". Apparently, the poem is an advice to the young women out there, that there are certainly men or guys who are ready to take advantages on their vulnerabilities.
Note; These poems are to be tested in the SPM 1119 English Language paper.

Short Stories
1) QWERTYUIOP - Vivien Alcock
    ~ The haunted typewriter and the deceased ex-secretary, Miss Broome are the highlights of this  short story. Lucy Beck, the unlucky new secretary is determined to beat all odds to hold on to the job at the solicitors' office- Ross and Bannisters. Anybody who uses the typewriter, will  end up having  the word QWERTYUIOP being typed up on the paper. Hence, the title of the short story.


2) The Fruit Cake Special - Frank Brennan
   ~ Anna, the chemist in this story  accidentally created a perfume with the smell of a Fruitcake. She wore the perfume and suddenly found herself being the centre of attraction as the men in this story fought over her. We learn that a love potion-- in this case " the perfume" will not last long in terms of attracting people, it is the heart that matters...



Drama
1) Gulp and Gasp - John Townsend
  ~ The melodrama about life, love and destiny. Who would have thought that Percy, the hero   was actually the lost heir of the Gatsby Gold. The drama unfolded as the key he was wearing  since birth was the actual answer to the hidden treasure. This is a good drama to be dramatized  as we have Lord Septic, the villain, Rose, the blind heroine and Crouch, the cunning and unsrupulous servant of  Lord Septic.
    
Notes; Drama and short stories are not to be tested in the SPM English 1119 Paper.
Form 5


Poems


1) Nature- H.D Carberry
 ~ The poem is a beautiful recollection of Carberry's appreciation of his home country, the island nation of Jamaica. It tells about the rich nature of Jamaica, being in the Carribean, despite the occasional  heavy rain storms  or desruptive weather or the non-existence of four seasons climate as found  in temperate countries.  Jamaica, on the other hand,  is definitely a beautiful country with its   own beauty . The poem  is rich in language  and style as seen from  the lines  "When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest  breath of air", "When  the buttercups have paved the earth   with yellow stars". These lines are  definitely imagery examples as they use  vivid, clear  descriptive language that appeal to one or    more of the senses ( sight, hearing, touch, smell   and taste). In my lessons,  I have made the fifth formers read out the poem with actions and   movements. They were a bit apprehensive at first but readily to admit that they understood the poem  better, at last.


2) Are You Still Playing Your Flute- Zurinah Hassan
   ( A translated version of the Malay poem- Masihkah Kau Bermain Seruling)
 ~ At a first glance it seemed like a romantic poem, as the poet is longing to the one who  is still playing the bamboo flute in  her village. However, the poem is not really a love poem-  it is discussing on the need to  prioritize what is important in one's life and the whole world.  The poet feels that is is unwise to   think about her love of the arts, her selfishness- where else  the Muslims at the other side of the world are fighting for their country such in Bosnia and Palestine.  I would have said that this poem is written circa 1990s (as the Bosnians were fighting for their   lives back in 1992-1995).



Novel


1)Step by Wicked Step- Anne Fine
   Set in the UK, this is actually a novel which has been shorlisted for Sheffield Children's Book   Award in 1996.  It also received the same billing for Lancashire Children's Book Award in 1996.  Therefore, there is   a need to clarify to the fifth formers that they are reading a book meant  for children. The characters in this story are children who suffer from the complexities of different family  arrangements. Each character  has his or her own step mother or father, all of them have step siblings. The missing   elements of natural,  real parents i.e fathers and mothers are quite rampant in the  six stories   of the novel. My former students used  to tell me that there were just too many stories  to remember. I told them to forget the stories, there  were actually six characters with one main theme- DIVORCE AND SEPARATION.  Richard Clayton  Harwick, may come from the past but he has one common similarity with the other five   characters- Pixie, Claudia, Colin, Ralph and Robbo - all of them come from  Broken Family set-ups. You can read more on this by going to (click ) Anne Fine's Notes.




    To conclude, the New Literature Component for Form 4 and 5 has a wide range of literary works to be covered. However, in our quest to prepare students for their SPM, I truly hope that the purposes of learning literature in the first place-  to enrich our students minds and make them think critically on life issues- are not to be reckoned with. Literature is not about giving hand-outs and synopsis to students, it is about delving and discussing issues and themes, and not forgetting to digest the richness of words and sentences found in the text.  Therefore, it is wise to say that it is IMPORTANT that students read the text i.e the novel, drama and short stories- so that they would have better understanding on the literary works. As said by Carl Sagan, "Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom. But reading is still the path".


 

Life's got to go



(Source: Google)

   I have been abandoning this site for ages.... now it's already 2012. I have never intended to leave this blog unattended for more than one month, but due to unforeseen circumstances- I did not manage to update it. For the past half of the the year, I had to adapt to a new environment, my set of clientele has definitely changed. I no longer had the privileges to teach an eager-to-please set of 13 to 14 year old teeangers. To tell you the truth, I missed teaching those 13 year old kids. They are full of questions, some made me laugh, some made me shudder. Many teachers seemed not to enjoy teaching those young teenagers, they said that  it was difficult to think of fun and attractive lesson plans, however,  I beg to differ on this.
    During my 12 year stint of English language teaching, I had the chance of teaching these young teens for five and half years. The experience made me creative and I was always on the look out for fresh new ideas. I was not pressured to get those  exam marks up to the par, it was fun all the way. I have enjoyed teaching those kids, and they readily embraced my teaching albeit those low-end classes. This was when I explored songs to be used in my teaching. But, as they say, nothing lasts forever- in June 2011, I was asked to teach Form 4 and 5. Imagine my horror of  having the free, creative way of teaching- and suddenly being pushed to cover the syllabus of SPM. I scrambled through all related books, looking for new ideas and facts to deliver as this time I had to cater to a new pool of clients- those hormone wrecking set of teenagers.
     Luckily, being IT savvy helped. I improvised along the way, finding information from the net, giving a lot of tips to my students as they prepared themselves for their SPM. Sometimes, my fifth formers would ask me many questions that I did not even know the answers, but I made sure that I gave the most logical answers, oblivious to the fact that I was learning as well ( For example; STEP BY WICKED STEP by ANNE FINE). Having to adapt to a new environment was one big task to me as I had to sharpen my rusty mind. The last time I was teaching fourth formers was in 2004 and MUET in 2003. But being a teacher, there will always be a YES, for  CHALLENGES in teaching. Yes, I did screw up at first but I think my students deserve credits as well- for believing in me. They did not compare me with their former teacher as they believed I deserved a chance to prove myself. Therefore, it could be said that no matter which level you are teaching, if you enjoy teaching English, that's all that matters. Now, I could say that I enjoy teaching my 13 to 17 year olds, they made me think why teaching English is truly my calling, despite some headaches or occasional misadventures...