Questions for Last Lesson of the Afternoon

1a. What are the persona's feelings described in the first three stanzas of this poem? Explain how the poet described these feelings through the use of alliteration, metaphor and pun.
1b. How is the tone of anger in this poem illustrated?

1a.
The persona is feeling angry, impatient and desperate in the first 3 stanzas. He used some literary devices to describe this, including alliteration, metaphor and pun. In the first stanza, the persona was feeling impatient about the student's lack of interest in learning. This can be seen from: “Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt.” This uses the device pun, where quarry in this case is used to describe the variety of knowledge. The persona feels that the students hate to hunt for the great variety of knowledge out there. So, the persona is impatient, that the students do not wish to learn in this sentence. The persona also thinks that the students are very rude. It is shown in the sentence: “My pack of unruly hounds! I cannot start.” This shows that the students are very rude. Metaphor is used in this sentence, the word hound. Hound is the meaning of dogs. In this sentence, the persona is angry at the students for being so rude and wild.

In the second stanza, the persona is impatient about what these work would do good for him. It can be seen from: “I am sick, and what on earth is the good of it all?”This shows that the persona does not understand what good all these work does for him. The sentence uses pun. The word sick is a pun, where another meaning is where a person is ill. In this case, the meaning is a person cannot stand a certain thing anymore, and here, the persona cannot stand the students anymore.

In the the third stanza, the persona is emphasizing that he will not take the lack of concern from the students anymore. It can be shown from: “Their dross of indifference; and take the toll, of their insults in punishments?-I will not!-” This shows that the persona does not want to punish himself with the student's lack of concern and their insults. Pun is used with the word toll, where the meaning is punishment in this case.

1b.
The persona use three types of illustrating the tone of anger: Personification, Literary devices and choice of words. Firstly, the persona uses personification. An example of personification is: “Goes down the same abyss.” This example gives a more powerful impact on the reader as the learning of theirs goes lost fowever, infinitely, not just forgotten. This lets the poem become more interesting and lets the idea get through through a more proffesional way. This also lets the reader know that the persona is feeling angry, that what he had taught had all gone into total waste.

The second type is literary devices. Literary devices such as pun is used in this poem. An example is : “I am sick, and what on earth is the good of it all?” This example used the pun sick. Puns give a poem a special feeling to it, and sometimes, different meanings could be used. In this case, 'sick' has few meanings, including being ill, and in this case, being unable to stand it anymore. Puns can make the poems interesting.

The third type is choice of words. The choice of words is very important in imprinting a solid meaning into the poem. An example is: “Of several insults of blotted pages, and scrawl.” The choice of words is the use of blotted pages. Blotted pages can create the image of messy work done and poor work quality. This is the impression when someone sees this. So, this is very important as it creates an image of the poem and imprints an impression. In this case, it imprints the impression that he is angry at the messy work done by the students.

Article review

Article
Typhoon slows down Internet

SOME Singapore Internet users may be experiencing slowdowns on the Information Superhighway, especially when trying to access websites hosted in the United States and Taiwan.

Typhoon Morakot, which has triggered Taiwan's worst flooding in 50 years, has damaged the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 submarine cable system through which bytes of information travel.

This means that people trying to connect to gaming servers in the US or trying to instant message friends overseas may find it difficult to connect.

A SingTel spokesman said that restoration works on the cable system have begun.

'Our engineers are in the process of diverting Internet traffic to other cable systems. We expect the situation to return to acceptable levels within the next 24 hours,' he said.

The last time a major outage happened was in December 2006, when quakes off Taiwan severed several cables at once, causing the Net to go down.

Review

The typhoon at Taiwan is very serious and has caused many lives. Now, the typhoon has even caused the internet to slow down due to the the damage of wires. I think that the wires at the Taiwan area should be more well protected as Taiwan is a earthquake and typhoon-prone area and damage are often caused to these wires. This will be a big influence to the world, by letting the internet go down at United States and other countries because of a natural disaster at the other end of the world.

I have a few suggestions to prevent this problems from occurring again. They can protect the wires by either enhancing the covering of the wires or adding additional wires somewhere else, to let diverting of the signals fast if something happened to the others. They can also change the place where these important wires are situated, like changing them to places where natural disasters are rare, so that the chance of damage to them can be minimized. Although the damage this time is only slowing down the internet, the last time in December 2006 has caused the net to go down.The next time, the same thing may happen, or worst, something worse may happen.

Favourite Food

Ramen

Ramen, is a type of Japanese soup noodle originated from China. The noodle is often topped with seaweed, sliced pork or corn. The reason why Ramen is my favourite food is because of its fragrance, taste and its delicious noodles.

The smell of the ramen itself is enough to let you drool. The pure fragrance of the miso or soya soup from afar is still as rich as ever and would taste even better than you smelled it.

The soup is so rich and well-flavoured that it would still leave the rich taste in your mouth even after hours. I like the soup even more if it is made from pork bones and is cooked slowly fors hours into its rich taste. You would surely remember the so fragrant taste 0f the soup.

The noodles are so chewy and has absorbed the rich soup into itself and contains the richness of the soup. The noodles can be drawn into various sizes and my favourite is the straight, where the noodles has the best texture and taste.

These are the main reasons why I like ramen so much and why it is my favourite food. I will add some pictures on the ramen.


picture sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

Elearning 31/7

3. Why is it important for students to keep up to date with the news? Share some tips on how students can keep up with what is happening around them and around the world.

What if one day, a mutated H1N1 virus has been discovered. It spreads through any body contact and is lethal. We would NEED to know right? But without a clue of this, we will still go through body contact like shaking hands. Without knowing it, you may be infected. This is an example on how important keeping up to date with the news is important.
Keeping up to date with the news is easy. Just spend maybe half an hour reading today's newspapers and know of of the world's news. Or you can watch the daily news telecast on television.

Elearning 30/7

2. What are some tips you would offer fellow students to stay healthy?

Hi guys. Nowadays, lots of people are getting sick, and H1N1 virus is spreading like wildfire. In fact, my class was one of the few where we are suspended from school. Now that that the situation is so serious, we must contribute by keeping a clean and hygienic environment. Also, protect your self from getting sick. Here are some tips:

1)Avoid crowded areas
2)Cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing
3)Where a mask if feeling unwell or has flu-like symptoms
4)Do not go out of you are feeling unwell or has flu-like symptoms
5)Drink lots of water and stay healthy!

Elearning 29/7

About:
1. What are your thoughts about home learning? Is it more effective than learning in school?

Home learning, it is as stated, learning from home. Home learning may sound fun, staying at home, but it can be tiring too. You have to continue sitting on the chair in front of the computer, for straight 6 hours or so. Even though there are time for breaks, the thought of returning to the computer is...bad. But opportunists will take the time to slack off, or play computer games while doing at the same time. Discussions are mostly empty, with uncontactable people busily enjoying themselves.
I think that learning at home is not as effective as learning in school. In school, the teacher can specifically explain the questions that we do not understand. However, at home, all we can do is email the teacher and have a written and unspecific explanation. Also, as stated before, the students will take the opportunity to slack and play computer games. No one will know if someone is not doing their work seriously.
Conclusion: It is better to learn in school, with approachable teachers and watchful eyes, better than at home slacking the time off.

Lesson 3: Analysing and Composing a poem

Analyze this:
The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa'at


My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A's
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

Analyze:

This poem is a free verse poem. It has no regular rhythm or rhyme, which makes the poem sound more natural. It some gives the reader and author more freedom, where the reader can choose how to read and the writer will not be restricted to a rhythm or rhyme only, which will let the the writer express more on the topic.