Learning Log 7

Since April, we are given the assignment of acting out Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Scene 5 after our September holidays. The time given for this assignment was enough and the effort needed for this assignment is extremely high. This Assignment requires the Teamwork of all team members. Without teawork, the assignment cannot be completed. As this assignment would take up 70% of our final year results, we need to put in our utmost effort to complete the assignment.

From this assignment, I learnt many things. Other than teamwork, I have also learnt time management and organisation skills. Talking about time management, it is also the highest level of difficulty we have come across in this assignment. Because we have to find a time slot that everyone in the group that can attend. Including the Props and Costumes management in charge, because the person have to choose the costumes that suits every member in the act. In my opinion, the person needs knowledge on the characters in Romeo and Juliet. Secondly, the director in the play is extremely important. It has the responsibilty to arrange meetings and rehearsals for the team members. The director also has to teach the actors when and where to come in from. In my opinion, my director, Yee Lin has done a great job in this act. When it comes to organisation, it is also opinion. Because without organisation, some props may be missed out and maybe some props may be redundant as some team members thought that they must do something, while didn't know that someone has already done that thing. Teamwork comes in when all of us have to know our roles, when are where to come in. Somethings can only be done with teamwork.

The second difficulty that we faced is the remembering of lines. I, the servingman although has only one line, but I have to know when and where to come in, and what to do when i come in. I will have to take note of my body posture and my facial expression because we are being filmed. But I think that the four main characters, Romeo, Juliet, Capulet and Tybalt are the most important in this act. They have the most lines and they have to spend much time on memorising the lines. They have to also take note of their body postures and facial expressions because they might be nervous in front of the audiences and the camara. They might also forget they lines throughout the play, but in my group, Romeo(Jia Yi), Juliet(Faisha), Capulet( Kae Chuan) and Tybalt(Ken) have done a great job in this act. The nurse(Rui Yun), and cousin(Kaiyisah) have done great as well. Although Benvolio( Chung Seng) have only one line, but i think that he have performed well in the act as he projected his voice clearly and with tone. I am looking forward to a positive feelings when we know our result for the act.

I have learnt many things in this assignment. Teamwork, time management and organisation as well. There are also times we joke around with each other, which have also somehow boosted our friendship with each other.So with all these benefits, I think that our fellow juniors should have this assignment as well. I honestly think that the juniors this year can handle this assignment well. They can, they should and they must have this assignment, so their fellow seniors can watch them perform next year.

Learning Log 6

In Secondary 1, we learnt many different Literary Devices. This year, we will learn more. Like Rhertorical Questions, Paradox, all these are new to us, at least to me. There will be a section where we will be tested on our knowledge of the many different literary devices. We would have to memorise them by heart. I guess it would not be easy.

Literary Devices would not only be tested on that particular section, it also links to our Unseen Poem section. The writer is going to use as many Literary Devices as possibe and could ask us why did the writer choose this particular Literary Device. Because of this, we would have to memorise it by heart. Or else we are not going to only fail the Literary Devices setion, the Unseen Poem section, we may even fail our whole paper.

Literary Devices are confusing. They have so many devices that contained 'questions' behind. We may get mixed up with how each device is used. Therefore, the more we have to memorise the devices by heart. I don't wish to fail my Literature paper...

Learning Log 5

We have attempt Unseen Poems in Secondary 1, but i bet Secondary 2 Poems are going to be much more harder... And therefore, we need to have better analysing skills to score for Unseen Poems.

When we come across Unseen Poems, we have to read through the whole Poem thoroughly to understand briefly what the Poem is trying to tell the readers. But for the first step, we have to read it without reading between the lines, reading word by word or even reading in our hearts. We have to just scan through the passage first, neither noticing the tone of the Poem and the various literary devices used. In that way, we can briefly know what the Poem is about.

In my opinion, the next thing we have to do is to read through the questions, know what the setter is asking and why is the setter asking in that particular way. After that, read through the entire Poem again, but this time, we have to take note of the different expressions used, the literary devices and their purpose of using these devices.

This is also the reason why i suggest to read the question before reading it thoroughly. So that when we are looking at the entire passage for the second time, we can also look for the answers within the Poem.

When attempting the questions, they should not quote long sentences from the Poem unless necessary. Meaning to say, they would have to summarise if the question did not require them to 'state the sentence' or 'state the phrase'. That way, it will save them much time to attempt other questions. The format to answering the questions should be mentioning the Point first, then Explain on the particular point. Next, we would have to state the Evidence of where we get these points and if possible or required, we would also have to state the Link to the passage. This format has its acronym, PEEL. Like all teachers said, if a question is too difficult, do not ponder over it too long, attempt other questions first, or else you all wasting your time. But we must also remember to go back to the questions that we skipped.

This is the method to attempt Unseen Poems i guess. Like the section suggests, it's unseen. So it is least likely that we would encounter these Poems in our everyday lives. Therefore, practicing to attempt Unseen Poems is the perfect way of acting as a revision for Literature.

Many students nowadays thinks that examinations for Literature Writing are tiring because we have to write many things down, which in turn, thought that they require a lot of time. And because of this particular reason, they tend to rush in their writings. Therefore, they could miss out many crucial points and that would affect their scores. Its better that they do it slowly and with a good state of mind.

Learning Log 4

The most important thing i have learnt through the preparation of the Three Witches Presentation was that,
Time Management was essential for the presentation to go on smoothly.
We must have a schedule or time table to remind us about the things we are supposed to do during a particular meeting with the group members.
Or else when the time comes,
we don't know what to do and end up wasting precious time.
I also learnt to put other stuffs aside to make time for meetings,
because it is very hard for us to meet as everyone has their own activities.
At first, i thought it will be very very hard to meet up,
but after today, i think that its was way easier,
Because Romeo and Juliet is a mass production,
and it takes way more time than Macbeth..

Learning Log 3

I haven't acted for the three witches yet and could not feel the fear when standing up there...
But as i practiced within my group,
i felt embarassed even though there were only 3 of us.
How would i feel when i am facing the whole class?
I myself doesn't know that....

When Mrs Woo told us that Act 1 Scene 1 was tested for Common Test,
i was shocked and appalled....
The whole scene have so many things to remember,
I was very afraid that i will fail...
That lesson was boring though...
We only sat there and listened to Mrs Woo explaining the words...
If only there is a better way to make us learn it in a fun way...

Although i liked drawing somehow, but i'm not good at it..
So it turned out that i don't like it at the end...
For the drawing of the three witches, i got 5/10.
And for this..
I have not much confidence in myself....
Although this allows us to remember the storylines easier,
but i still don't like it.....
I wonder if we could draw stickmans.....

Learning Log 2

We drew three witches for our homework and we were only given two days...
Many people completed it but some didn't....
I done it in the last minute before i went to sleep...
There was a drawing with two witches which seems like cartoons...
I copied them from my drawing book...
I hope that they are acceptable cause the marks are counted into CA marks....
I pray for the results now.....

The superstition discussion time was fun!
Cause we get to talk with our friends=].
Initially, we wanted to choose the shortest superstition in the group,
but we were afraid of being scolded so in the end,
we chose the five most unique superstition in our group...
But only 5 groups managed to present...
Maybe it was because the time taken to explain each superstition was long,or maybe the time left for presentation was not enough...
i suggest that we could take that remaining time to do other things,
like doing the practice for macbeth Act 1 Scene 1 or Act 1 Scene 2.
Then the presentation, we will leave it till next week.....

Learning Log 1

Cinquain,
is a French word, known as a Five-line poem.
With one word as the title,
and two words for describing the title,
three words on regards to the actions of the title,
four words for the feelings for it,
and lastly, a word to summarise on the title.
An example will be:

Literature,
Life,Death
Writing,Reading,Acting,
Important Philosophies towards life,
Light.

Having Literature is a great thing to enjoy.
Be it doing in groups, in pairs or even individually,
Literature is always fun...
The thing that i don't like about this year,
is that acting is a part of our Exam marks...
I just hope that i can score well for my Literature this year,
because no matter how, i have decided to take literature.
And i hope that, acting is not part of Literature for next year.

I have learnt that being commited in our groups,
we are not only cooperating, but we are in a test,
a test of our humor between one another.
Although some people contributes less to their group,
but they are still rewarded for their efforts in participating.
More group work like these can improve the bonding of the class,
and try to put us in different groups when there is group work.
That way, we can learn more from other people,
know their strengths and use it in our work,
and literature, will always be our friend.

But i never thought that,
I am deeply in love with Literature,
and what shocking is,
I never knew why....