The Fruitcake special

The fruitcake special

            Moral values learnt from the fruitcake special.  From the story , I think students would learnt a lot  as the situation may be happen to female nowadays.

            Nowadays female also work very hard. They are no longer in the past years times prefer spending their time at home and worked as a housewife. Time changes, as many female are capable in their work.  Female status in the society indeed play important role nowadays.  World leader mostly are female nowadays. Therefore, men should not look down on the women. They deserve the equality of services, work, and promotion and so on.  Women’s’ in fluency has been increasing every year.

           

Single capable women share the same problems nowadays as their capacity and their ability keeps them busy and forget about marriage.

            As they are very capable, most men would scare as they may not be as capable as the girl.   The girl also selective as they think they are capable enough to find  better man for her marriage. As they have their demand, men would run away from them.

            Caring and helpful.  As you can see the Aunt Mimi in the story may  looks like a meddlesome and nosey but she is actually a caring and helpful person. She tries  her best to find a nice man for Anna so that her niece could get married and settle down. She means well when she is constantly trying to be a matchmaker for Anna. It is the Aunt Mimi who buys the special  fruitcake for Anna which causes men to fall hopelessly in love with her.

            One should be humble not vain and proud.

Both Amos and Sabrina are vain and proud as they think that they are wealthy. They thinks that they are good looking and look down on people who looks plain. Amos thinks that everything can be solved by using money. For example the fight in the restaurant.

            True love needs time

            Indeed, love is not being like to each other or having sexual activities would considered as love. Anna being stressed by Aunt Mimi about marriage. She hestitates to go out with David Amos just to show that she is trying to look for perfect men. David Amos asks her out just because of the perfume not his true love to Anna. Surprisingly, Anna finally meets his man, Mr. Armstrong.

 

answer for online task 2

Do we have a canon for Malaysian literary works? Let's say we do, who do you think are in it? Consider the fact that their works are well-known and most importantly included as part of the school syllabus- (both in BM and English)

A.Samad Said, Muhammad Haji Salleh, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim,
 Latiff Mohidin

981 : Kamaluddin Muhamad (Keris Mas)

a.) Jungle of Hope

1983 : Datuk Dr. Usman Awang

a.) Mother’s grave (poem)

b.) Father Utih (poem)

c.) Little Girl (poem)

1986 : Datuk A. Samad Said

a.) The Dead Crow (poem)

1991 : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh

a.) words for father (poem)

b.) on a dry bund (poem)

c.) three beserah fishermen (poem)

d.) seeds (poem)

e.) the traveller (poem)

f. ) si tenggang’s homecoming

The poems by Erica Jong raises some feminist issues. What are they?

            Love root, Love Comes First, On the First Night, Fruits & Vegetables

Do you think they are suitable to teach at the secondary school level? Explain.

In my personal point of view, some might not be suitable to teach at the secondary school level as  most of her poems are related to feminist issues, female students might be very interest, however, not all will show interest in her by the male students or female students.   For girls’ school, it should have so many problems I think.  Male students may feel awkward and embarrassing as mostly the poems are related to the male and some may feel uncomfortable. Some may protest and bring up the issues of discrimation. Poems should be vary, variety and various. It should not focus on the same poet. While learning poems, students need to learn from different poests and their ways or feelings towards certain topics.  

Therefore, it is better to select the poems that are mutually include male and female, regarding certain topics that closely relate to them or their lives and experiences, I think, they will start to like the poems as it is easy to understand and  it imply their personal ways of life.  Teenager s has their own personal view regarding the topic learned. They may agree or disagree to the poets.

Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?

Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?

In my personal opinion, Hillary Tham’s poem are more suitable for teaching at secondary school as her poems are vary, variety and most importantly easy to understand. Her poems indeed easy and direct to the convey message. Therefore, students are able to understand better if compared to Erica Jongs’ poem.  Her poems are mostly multiracial cultures which are interesting. Through her poems, we are able to learn different culture of multiracial in Malaysia and so for the other countries. For example “Becoming a woman” is a very good poems that related to personal experiences from child to adulthood. Men actually can learn that how is the feeling of becoming a woman, their ways of thinking, their emotions of sadness and happiness throughout from child to adulthood. This is a way for providing messages to men that men need to understand woman.

Some of her poems are related to Chinese culture which is worth to learn by other races from other countries. Indeed, her poems are more suitable for our education system , secondary school levels, colleges as well as universities. This is what she said :"Poetry does so much for kids," Mrs. Goldberg told The Washington Post in 1996. "Especially the teenage year is when they need to make sense of authoritarian figures. Poetry gives them control, that sense of power. It's an outlet for frustration as well as self-expression."
The short tale from the Native American group is about a girl who is unsatisfied with her life. How is this a universal experience? Can it teach our students anything?

Therefore, I believed that her poems that pass the message to the teenagers indeed are more suitable for our education system and syllabus.

The short tale from the Native American group is about a girl who is unsatisfied with her life. How is this a universal experience? Can it teach our students anything?

Nowadays, many people are not satisfied with themselves about their lives. Not only the girl that is not satisfied with her life but also boys and teenagers and of course old man and old women also has the tendency of dissatisfactory with their lives.  Personal dissatisfaction arises when he or she could not meet the requirement or what he or she wants in his or her life.

Through this simple short tale, proud is the main factor due to the faults
 
in making the decision. Through this short tale, students learned to be self-satisfaction.  Be satisfied what you have and don’t grumble. Let students know about there are lots of people who are suffering from sickness, family problems, financial problems as well as natural disaster.  Students need to look and watch from television, world news as well local news, visiting old folks home and so on to let them understand about the truth of the life. It also teaches students to make decisions. There are a lot of choices but making decisions is not easy and simple things. Once you have made your decision, there will be no regret for it and ones need to pay for his or her own decision making. There is no way to grumble, too blamed on somebody and so on. This story also teaches us to be humble and rational. The girl just look at the man’s’ appearance and leave her house with the man and be his wife without knowing his background. This shows that she is irrational.

She has made a mistake and decision making, therefore, she needs to pay for it and solve the problems on her own with the help of the God. She strive hard and succeed in the end from escaping the man.  This story also let us knows that physical appearance is not important, what important is the inner beauty. She realized in the end and managed to marry the man whom she loves to.

From your findings about his background, tell me about the dilemma he conveys through the poem CROSS.

He likes to write poetry however, his father discourage him as he treats writing poetry is irrational or can’t stand alone to survive in the society. He drops out from the engineering and writing poetry.

"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain". It spoke of Black writers and poets, "who would surrender racial pride in the name of a false integration," where a talented Black writer would prefer to be considered a poet, not a Black poet, which to Hughes meant he subconsciously wanted to write like a white poet. Hughes argued, "no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself."  That’s’ why he expressed his dilemma through the poem  CROSS. He wants to be equality of the social status. He is African-American. He wants the equality of the social status. He wants to write like white poet, but after all he is Negro.  He finally make up his mind and be black poet. No matter black or white writer, as long as he or she is talented, they are called writer, poet. Writing poetry should not be considered about racial discriminations.

I find "Dinner Guest: Me" laden with irony and sarcasm. Briefly state if you feel the same.

"Dinner Guest: Me" by Langston Hughes is full of irony and sarcasm because of the following lines:-

Stanza 1, Line 1 & 2

I know I am

The Negro Problem

Stanza 1, Line 9, 10 & 11

Of darkness U.S.A.--

Wondering how things got this way

In current democratic night,

Stanza 1, Line 14

"I'm so ashamed of being white."

I personally think that this poem is about Langston Hughes being invited to a fancy restaurant by a white person and the two of them were discussing race. You can tell by the way he says 'Asked the usual questions' and how the white person is embarrassed to be white. A black person in a fancy restaurant was a big deal back in those days. Not only do they have to wait for service in the restaurant but their discussion is about the answer to race relations and in the end of the poem he says; the answer to the problem is to wait.

This can be seen through “Dinner Guest: Me” here means that white man is inviting him to a restaurant that may be black can’t step in.  Next, many white men will look differently to him in the restaurant, and therefore, the services through white man and black are different. White man serves quickly and let the black wait.

The experience in the poem Harlem is one that is true for many people. Do you agree?

Yes, I totally agree with the statement. It is about the unequal treatment among the blacks and the whites. The blacks are marginalized and they are treated like second class citizens. In 1951–the year of the poem's publication–frustration characterized the mood of American blacks. The Civil War in the previous century had liberated them from slavery and federal laws had granted them the right to vote, the right to own property and so on. However, continuing prejudice against blacks, as well as laws passed since the Civil War, relegated them to second-class citizenship. Consequently, blacks had to attend poorly equipped segregated schools and settle for menial jobs as porters, ditch-diggers, servants, shoeshine boys and so on. In many states, blacks could not use the same public facilities as whites including restrooms, restaurants, theaters and parks. Access to other facilities such as buses, required them to take a back seat, literally, to whites. By the mid-Twentieth Century, their frustration with inferior status became a powder keg and the fuse was burning. Hughes well understood what the future held, as he indicates in the last line of the poem.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution–approved in the post-Civil War era–granted black Americans basic rights as American citizens, as did the Civil Rights Act of 1875. However, court and legislative decisions later emasculated the legal protection of blacks. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson) that it was legal to provide "separate but equal" accommodations for passengers of Louisiana's railroads. This ruling set a precedent that led to segregated schools, restaurants, parks, libraries and so on. Meanwhile, hate groups inflicted inhuman treatment on innocent blacks including brutal beatings. Lynchings of innocent blacks were not uncommon. Many so-called "enlightened" or "liberal-minded" Americans looked the other way, including law-enforcement officers, clergymen, politicians and ordinary Americans. By the mid-20th Century, black frustration with white oppression formed itself into a potent blasting powder.


Langston Hughes fights for the voice of his people. What is the movement called?

“New Negro movement”

bpteslupm: my answer for online task 1

bpteslupm: my answer for online task 1: "1. List some of the well-known folktales from Malaysia.1. Sang kancil and the crocodiles.2. Sang Kancil helps the Kerbau3. Bawang Putih Bawa..."

my answer for online task 1

1. List some of the well-known folktales from Malaysia.

1. Sang kancil and the crocodiles.

2. Sang Kancil helps the Kerbau

3. Bawang Putih Bawang Merah

4. Badang.

5. Si Taggang

6. Mat Jenin

7. Paddy That Turns To Gold.

8. Greed Does Not Pay.

2. List some of the possible issues found in The Son of the Turtle Spirit.

 Are those issues universal in nature or are they only relevant in the Chinese culture?

1. Spiritual and magic.

2. Love

3. Power

4. Adventurous

5. Hardworks pay.

6. Danger

7. Mysterious

These issues mentioned above are universal in nature which can be applied to all countries around the world. For example are “Rumpelstiltskin”, “The Curse Mahsuri”. Different countries have different tales and all the folktales can’t separate from the above issues mentioned. It is not just limited to the Chinese Culture but also culture around the world. It’s just different in ways and techniques and symbolisim. For example, first impression for dragon normally would think of Chinese dragon. However, actually Europe country also mention dragon in their tales. The meaning and the symbol behind is different, therefore, it is easy to differentiate as dragon in Chinese Culture should brings joy, happiness and peace, on the other hand, dragon from other countries may be perceived as evil creatures that always making troubles and guards for the treasure.

3. What are the other morals that can be gotten from the other fables by Aesop? List at least two

1. Hardworking pays fruitfulness of life. It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. (The Ant and the Grasshopper)

2. Greed often overreaches itself. (The Goose with Golden Eggs)

3. Kindness affects more than severity. ( The Wind and the sun)

4. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. (The Milkmaid and her pail)

5. One bad turn deserves another. (The fox and the stork)

6. It is easy to propose impossible remedies. (Belling the cats)

7. Union gives strength.(The Bundle of Sticks)

8.   It's easy to despise what you cannot have.(The fox and the grapes)

9. Little friends may prove great friends.(The lion and the mouse)

10. People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.( The Dog in the Manger)

4. One well-known literary figure from the Elizabethan age used Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe as a model to one of his famous plays. Who is he and what is the play?

Thomas Bulfinch. The Age of Fable, second edition, 1856). It appears in   Giovanni Boccaccio's On Famous Women .

Geoffrey Chaucer is the first to tell in English then later adapted by William Shakespeare. The plot appears twice in the play of “Romeo and Juliet”.

5. List some of the popular legends we have in Malaysia

1.         “Langkawi's Legendary Brawl”

2.         “Magical Lake Of Pregnant Maiden”

3.         “The Seven Magical Wells”

4.         “The Legend of Mahsuri”

5.         “Mystical Cave of Stories”

6.         “Kedah's Legendary Fanged King”

7.         “Sri Rambai, The Magical Cannon”

8.         “The Mysterious Giant Footprint”

9.         “Perak Royalty Rituals”

10.       “The Legend of Princess Sa'adong”

11.       “The Dragon Of Lake Chini”

12.       “The Kinabalu Dragon’s Gem”

6. Legends.

1. Who is Thomas Malory?

2. When was Le Mort d’Arthur written?

3. How many books/ parts are there in LMDA?

4. What is book 8 about?

5. Who were the two people who had an affair?

6. Book 6 has a strong connection to a popular modern fiction which is now a movie. What is the title of the popular modern fiction?

7. State three well-known facts about King Arthur/ his time as a King

1.      Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1405 – 14 March 1471) was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland(1506–1552) as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G.L. Kittridge in 1894,^[1] assume that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, who was a knight, land-owner and Member of Parliament.^[2] The surname appears in various spellings, including, Mallerre, Maillorie, Mallory, Mallery, Maelor, Maleore, and as it seems he may have spelled it,^[3]Malleorré. The name comes from the Old French adjective maleüré (from Latin male auguratus) meaning ill-omened or unfortunate.

2.       Le Mort d’Arthur was written while he was in prison in the early 1450s and completed it by 1470

3.      There are 8 books or parts in LMDA.

4.      Book 8 is about "The Death of Arthur" (Caxton XX–XXI)

5.      The Lancelot and Guinevere

6.      “The Noble Tale of the Sangreal” 

7.       

1) Arthur was the son of Uther and Igraine 
2) Arthur was raised by Ector, who had a son named Kay 
3) Arthur was ignorant of his birthright as he grew up 
4) Arthur had three half-sisters, the daughter of Igraine and Gorlois: Morgause, Elaine and Morgan le Fey 
5) Arthur married Guinevere and got the Round table as a wedding present from her father Leodegrance 
6) Arthur's sword was called Excalibur 
7) Arthur would never sit down to meet at high feasts until he had seen or heard of a "great marvel" 
8) Arthur was betrayed by his greatest knight, Sir Lancelot 
9) Arthur and his son Mordred killed each other in the battle of Camlann 
10) Arthur was taken to Avalon to have his wounds healed and he is Rex Quondam et Futurus 

Think of 2 ways in which you can use folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom. Explain briefly.

1.      Story telling. First, get learners to read and understand the folktales/fables/myths or legends.  Teacher then gets them to read them as a whole-class activity. Teacher then gets pair to read them. Teacher then further explanations. Teacher gets learners to form in two of groups. Each group will need to jot down their ideas on the manila card about what they know about them in the form of mind-mapping.  Each group then presents their answers. After that, every groups are given time to learn in storytelling. Teacher assists when necessary. Story-telling competition may be held to promote learners’ interest in learning English. This indirectly helps and improves their communication skills as well as writing skills.

2.      Role-playing. Learners are divided into groups. Learners need to divide and act out different characters based on the folktales/fable /myths or legends. It can be class activities or inter-class competition. This can be done during English months or Yearly activities for learners. Learners need to prepare themselves with suitable scripts, costumes and stage for practices. Certain period of times being given as teacher may assists when necessary as advisor or facilitator. It helps learners to understand the fables/folktales/myths or legends better as well as develop learners’ confident, self-esteem, cooperation and their talents. This also arouse learners attention and make English learning more fun, interesting and most importantly, meaningful.