Autobiography

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s Autobiography

‘Robben Island: The Dark Years’ was written when Nelson Mandela was convicted the second time with life time prison where he and other convicts were transferred to Robben Island and became the world’s most famous political prisoner. This autobiography is definitely not a light-hearted one.

When he talked to the warder, his tone wasn’t with hatred though the warder was of different colour and treated him with lousy manner. Rather, he used wise words and made the warder had no point of argument about the long pants. At this point, I learn that it is not the fierceness and the loudness of voice that make a point but wisdom.

I particularly like the part when he jumped up to help Kathy with the wheelbarrow. It shows that his heart is at the right place and that’s what leads him on this struggling destiny. The other part that I like is when he worked cooperatively with his other friends to fulfill the duty of filling the big bucket with gravels. Their perseverance reminds me of a Chinese proverb, ‘the man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.’

His patient, his sense of struggling, fighting and declining to surrender is the spirit that I should learn when dealing with difficulties in life.

Speech

King’s I Have A Dream

“I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King is recognized as one of the best speeches ever given. It was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on the 28^th of August in 1963 and more than 200,000 people witnessed the inspirational speech.

            The purpose of the speech was to encourage the enactment of change amongst the American people, and government, in relation to their improper views towards different races or ethnic groups in their society. In my opinion, this speech can be used in the classroom to promote unity among multiracial nation in Malaysia. It is mostly true that all people are created equal and it should be the case not only for now but for all time, not only in Malaysia but the entire human race.

           Unfortunately, he was assassinated at the age of 39 and his last speech was ‘I’ve Been To The Mountaintop’. His assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities.

            Compared to King’s dream, my dream seems selfish. My dreams are all about what I want and what I wish, related to my family and friends. The highness of spirit in what he fought for is the role model spirit to me, to us. 

This is the song that King requested a musician named Ben Branch to play in a meeting on the night he was killed.

Novel

The Curse

Actually, this novel, The Curse written by Lee Su An, is the novel I use for script writing for the subject of Theater In TESL. Since I love the story, so I would like to keep it in my blog. See, “MY BLOG”, the sense of ownership. (Giggles…)

This novel is in Form 5 English syllabus. The main theme of the story is love, parental love, forbidden love and unrequited love. Both Saleh Abdullah and his wife love Madhuri dearly like their own biological child indicates parental love. Mohd. Asraf and Madhuri secretly loves each other that eventually led to Madhuri’s death is forbidden love. While unrequited love is Azreen had a crush on Mohd. Asraf during school days.

There are some other themes but I want to focus and talk about the theme of love only. Love is all around us and it is a force of nature. It happens to anyone without any notifications, like I fell in love with my children right at the moment I learn that I conceived them. There are different types of love. Security love can be described as the type of love parents have for their children. Friendship love is between friends. Romantic love goes to all lovers on earth. And unconditional love is the kind which cannot be destroyed and this love overcomes everything. What do you think it is?

When you don’t love, the word ‘love’ is still there. See? Love is a topic that you can never place a full stop for it.

Position Paper

Roald Dahl’s Lamb To The Slaughter

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html 

 I have chosen Roald Dahl’s “Lamb To The Slaughter” to do my position paper. I have read the story before and I read it for more than a few times (certain parts) to try to discover the thesis statement I can draw from it. So I misunderstood and thought that to write a position paper is as if I’m Mary’s attorney. Not attorney then. It is just me defending my belief about the story and my belief is that Mary Maloney is not as weak as she seems.

My heart fell out for Mary Maloney each time I read to the part where her husband told her that he’s having an affair and wanted a divorce. For, me too, is a mother, and just imagine how it feels when your husband declares a divorce while you are six months pregnant with his child! Mary Maloney is doing herself a favor by killing her husband, not only for herself but for her soon-coming child good too. She is losing her husband by hook or by crook, so better lose him with dignity. (sounds cruel?) I’m not encouraging people to kill their unfaithful spouses, but if I look from Mary’s perspective, since she has killed him and he’s dead, so better look at the bright side and look forward. She gets to inherit her husband’s property and she managed to get away from the law which will bring her a peaceful life with her baby in the future. I doubt if a part of her will always feel guilty for killing her husband. She’s such a strong woman, both mentally and emotionally.

Legends

Legends:   Le Mort d’Arthur

The language used for Book 1 of Malory’s Arthurian legend “Le Mort d’Athur” in the module is archaic and I do not quite understand it until I get the modern English version of the story from the internet. So it’s The Legend of King Arthur and it is about the rape of Igraine by King Uther. Then, King Arthur is born, fostered by Sir Ector, draws the sword from the stone and his coronation.

The main characters in the legends are King Arthur, Uther Pendragon, Igraine, Merlin the magician, Sir Ector and Sir Kay.

            Uther Pendragon and Igraine are King Arthur’s parents. Sir Ector is King Arthur’s foster father and Sir Kay is Sir Ector’s son and therefore he is King Arthur’s foster brother. Merlin the magician was the one who magically made Uther assume the likeness of Igraine’s husband, in disguise, Uther visited Igraine and became Arthur’s father.

            Legends are valuable in teaching and learning as they are usually structures chronologically making them easy to follow and understand. Legends also provide a safe place for students to experience fear, hope and magic. They can be used to enhance many skills such as listening and oral comprehension (listen to the story and demonstrate their meaning through texts, pictures or animations), reading (practice reading aloud, drama or spoken interpretation of text) and writing (fundamental themes relevant for all kinds of readers).

Some of the Malaysian legends that I can use in literature classes are like “Legends of Mahsuri” and “The Origin of Malacca”. Click the links below to check out the stories.

a)      The Origin of Malacca

http://ceritarakyatnusantara.com/en/folklore/50-Mentiko-Betuah-Aceh#

b)      Legends of Mahsuri

http://www.neosentuhan.com.my/langkawi/support/le001.htm

http://www.tourismmalaysiany.com/legendfiles/legend_of_mahsuri.pdf

AESOP'S FABLES

Aesop's Fables

Why are Aesop’s Fables called Aesop’s Fables? Why Aesop? I wondered about the word ‘ Aesop’ and googled it. Oh, so Aesop is a person. So they are his fables then. Could Aesop be Usop?

Aesop Fables is a collection of tales from the Greek story teller, Aesop. So, Aesop has nothing to do with Usop. Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. He was a keen observer of both animals and people. Most of the characters in his stories are animals personified in ways of speech and emotions. His stories focus on human traits and wisdom with one or more moral values to be learned.