Thursday, March 26, 2009
Characterisation in Stories
Dear Class Witty Genius,
Do you still remember what we have discussed in previous class? People, such as author, scriptwriters and directors, often use stereotypical physical attributes to create powerful story characters that their audience/reader can identify with. Thus, basketball players are often thought as tall, dark, handsome, popular etc, but never short. On the other hand, old people are often associated with weak, poor, wrinkles, white hair, walking sticks etc.
Similarly, you can and should use this technique, known as characterisation (UK), to add more details to your stories and make them more interesting. Nonetheless, as discussed in class, it is important for us to remember that we should never stereotype people in reality. Who says an elderly woman cannot be pretty and wrinkle-free!?
Characterisation: the way that people are represented in a film, play or book so that they seem real and natural.
1:38 PM
It has been quite a while since I last blogged.
I would really like to do this more often. However, due to my relatively hectic schedule, I often find it hard to keep blogging on a regular basis.
During our last lesson, we were discussing the word "throb". According to Cambridge Dictionary, there are two meanings.
throb
1 to produce a strong, regular beat
e.g. Both songs have a good throbbing bass, which is great to dance to.
2 If a part of your body throbs, you feel pain in it in a series of regular beats
e.g. His head throbbed, and his body ached. The throbbing pain in his leg was becoming unbearable.
I believe you still remember that I use Zac Efron from High School Musical as an example to elaborate on the meaning of “heartthrob”. Both “heartthrob” and “heart-throb” are acceptable. Cambridge Dictionary defines it as a famous man, often a singer or an actor, who is attractive to many women. To put it simply, your heart “throbs” when you see a heartthrob. This is especially true for his fans.
I happened to see an article describe Andy Lau (your parents might know him) as the heart-throb.
So, we do not describe any female as a heart-throb. =)
1:31 PM
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Hi children,
I have uploaded the two videos that were shown during class.
6:41 PM
Sunday, January 11, 2009
As the pupils were very excited and eager to learn about sexual reproduction in human, we started with chapter 3 first. I guess the beginning of a life has always been a fascinating topic that intrigues every one of us. I have found the following videos that further supplement their learning. I have gone through these video in class
Video 1 – How does fertilization take place?
Video 2 – Development of a baby
7:02 PM
Friday, December 19, 2008
East Coast Park Outing
For the past few days, it had been raining incessantly. I was rather worried that our trip to East Coast Park would be affected by such gloomy weather. Fortunately, it didn’t rain at all when we were there. In fact, the sun shone brightly and intensely that all of us got some degree of sunburn. We had a great time enjoying the simple fun in life, such as cycling, playing with sand, throwing stones and pebbles into the sea, etc. Check out our video story.
There were some interesting moments not caught on camera or not included in the video story.
Fun Fact 1: Kushbu's Magical Stones Kushbu randomly picked up two stones and them into the water. Magically, they both bounced twice on the water surface before sinking. That was really cool!!! However, when we tried to record it on the camera, it didn’t work anymore.
Fun Fact 2: Benjamin's Lucky Day During cycling, something fell onto Ben’s head. At first, we thought it was Ben’s lucky day to have bird’s dropping on his head. Subsequently, we ruled out the possibility as the bird’s dropping are normally white in colour, whereas the soggy thing on his head was greenish brown. Nevertheless, we all laughed. I was very proud of Benjamin who was able to laugh at himself too.
Fun Fact 3: Puppy Love While waiting for the girls to finish showering, we saw dogs. They were really cute! Ben tried to play with the dog with white fur but it was too timid. Hence, we have to keep a distance from it.
10:58 AM
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Gifts
Today, I was surprised to receive a Christmas gift from Benjamin and his family. It is a Nike sports bag.
Kushbu also got me souvenirs from her Australia and Hong Kong trips. I really appreciate their thoughtfulness.
10:32 PM
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
In Anticipation for Our ECP Outing...
It is still some time away for our outing to East Coast Park. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to it. I’m just wondering what sort of fun activities the kids can be engaged in, other than volleyball, Frisbee and cycling. Hence, I went online to do some research. Below are some activities that we can consider if we are bored of the original plan.
- Getting buried in the sand.
- Dig a channel to the sea.
- Make a dam (use sand, pebbles and other beach finds).
- Dig a hole and try to fill it up with water!
- Have a go at sand sculpture. What about making a turtle or a mermaid?
- Award a prize - real or honorary - for the person who can bring back the most interesting "find".
- Build a boat or a car in the sand big enough to sit in. Great for imaginary journeys.
- Design pictures using pebbles, rocks, seaweed and shells - whatever you can gather.
- Build a "sandman" - the sand equivalent of a snowman. He should turn a few heads!
- Make footprints in the sand. They don't have to be your own .. why not try some dinosaur footprints instead?
- Ping Pong Ball Race: Dig a series of sloping channels wide enough (and smooth enough) to take a ping pong ball. Make them equal length, or have slightly longer channels for older children and adults. Place a ping pong ball at one end and then race each other blowing the ball down the channel to the finish line.
- Beach Mini Golf: Make your own mini golf course in the sand. Players take turns with a plastic golf club and ball - or whatever you have to hand that you can improvise with.
I found these activities at Activity Village , except the first activity is from Kids Outdoor Activities (click to access the website). Hmmm… Personally I think getting buried in the sand seems fun. The beach mini golf game could be fun if we use a coconut branch for golf club and Damian's volleyball as a golf ball. Haha… I have always loved the beach.
Any other ideas?
2:22 PM