LAST SAY

Since my supervisor said that the earliest that she could give back our drafts is by Monday, so I decided to progress with the research paper without waiting for her. I did the editing for my paper by adding more details that I think appropriate and deleting those which are unrelated with the focus of my paper. So far, it has been a nightmare but I would not let that deter my spirit. This is probably the worse experience ever when it comes to negotiating with a lecturer. Nonetheless, I am not one who judges so I think I’ll just forgive and forget. And also to say thanks for all her help before. Hopefully, she will ‘read’ my paper and grade it professionally. I just hope that whatever grade that she will give to me is based on my writing and my ability to reflect critical thinking through my argument on an issue which is dear to me (Society values VS Individual’s self-validation), not according to her whims and fancy.

All in all, thanks for everything.

UNRETURNABLE DRAFTS

I have been sending my draft to my supervisor. As of now, I already sent 4 drafts, including the full final draft which includes Introduction, Author’s Biography, Synopsis, Analysis, and finally Implication in Education/Teaching. I don’t know whether she will read it. She hasn’t returned those previous 3 drafts that I’ve sent to her; I don’t know if she knows where she put it anyway. If I were to wait for her, I would not be able to finish my research paper in a million years. However, if I proceed without getting her feedback of where I should improve and what I should change, my research paper could be on the wrong track. But being wise (I do so hopefully think), I proceeded without waiting for her to return back my drafts which I have sent for almost a month ago. A smart or a deadly move? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

LIMERICK

Today we learn about limerick, which was really fun. We were divided into groups of 3 to 5 and in the group we were required to come up with our own limerick using either of the templates provided in the course book. As for our group, Amanda, Jessie, Sya and me, it took us a couple of tries before we got our limerick right. At first, our limerick didn’t rhyme, so we had to change the third and fourth line in order to make it rhyme. And this is our final result,

There once was a clown from China Town,
All the while he hoped to marry Chris Brown,
So he went to a fortune-teller,
And changed his name to Liv Tyler,
That bloody gay clown from China Town.

YOU'RE JUST TOO DUMB

If life is determined by how much rejection you get, my life would probably be nothing but rejection. Getting rejected feels shitty, especially when you are left in the dark of the reason why you were rejected in the first place.

Doing the research paper was probably the shittiest part of the semester this time around. I sent my second draft three weeks ago (my first was lost by my supervisor) but when I saw my supervisor this afternoon, she said “Why don’t you give me some more time to look at it?”

Unbelievable! What am I supposed to do? The research paper is due next week, and I am still stuck at the outline. I know, maybe I am wrong, but at least could my supervisor explain to me what is wrong, why my draft got rejected, and what should I do next?

Of course she can’t. Why? She does not even know where she put my draft. Unbelievable? Believe it!

MULTIPLE GENRES

I never knew that letters and diaries are considered as a literary text. However, during the previous class with Dr Edwin, we learned Franz Kafka’s and Andy Warhol’s diaries. Also, we read letters from Van Gogh to his brother Theo, and also John Keats’ letters to his fiancée, Fanny Browne.

It is interesting to know that there are other sources of literary texts aside from the usual short stories, poems, novels, and plays. I am sure that Dr Edwin promises to give us more input on other genres of literary texts. At least these fresh genres can give students a different view of literature. Hopefully, I can use this in my future classroom. God willing…

HOPELESS EFFORT

Today, I went to my supervisor’s room for the fifth time. As usual, I knocked on the door, no answer. I called her, the voicemail greeted me. I sent an SMS to her but of course, no reply. She promised to see me at 10 a.m. so at 9.50 a.m. I was already at the front door of her office, and I waited for half an hour, but to no avail.

I am at lost at the moment of how I should proceed. After much consideration, and discussion with my fellow friends, they advised me to carry on with my research paper without the supervisor’s approval. If I were to wait for her, I would miss the dateline and it is my grade on the line.

So, this is what they call independent learning, huh??

SECOND DRAFT

During the holiday, after coming to terms with the fact that my first draft is lost forever and ever, I started working on my second draft; new thesis statement and new supporting details. The only mistake that I did when submitting my first draft was that I did not keep a copy with me in case the usual happened. I guess its destiny, haha, for me to come up with new draft and new stories and new ideas.

So, instead of doing poems like I intended in the first place, I moved on by selecting short stories; 3 short stories, Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, Sara and The Wedding by Karim Raslan, and Territory by David Leavitt.

To me, all three of these stories is connected with how the individual has to submit to the bigger and more dominating force of the society around them. Although they have different perception of themselves as individuals, but due to the societal strain placed upon them, they have to re-evaluate themselves in order to fit into the society.

I will, again, dutifully, try to contact my supervisor to set up an appointment with her. And hopefully, my draft would not be lost into oblivion again. And of course, this time, I am not taking any chances, I have a back up copy of my draft in my pen drive, my external hard disk and my laptop.

ARTIST GALLERY

Today, on a sunny Sunday morning, I went to the Artist Gallery in Malacca. Last couple of weeks, Dr Edwin mentioned about the artist, Mr Tham Siew Inn, whose works have been known locally and globally. At first, the plan was to organize a class trip there, but after too much hassle and bureaucracy, the plan was cancelled.

But this does not stop Lukman and I, Bahira to find out for ourselves about the artist and his gallery. I asked Dr Edwin for the artist address and during the last class, Dr Edwin gave us the address and showed us some postcards of the artist’s paintings. So, deciding that the trip to Malacca will be an educational and fulfilling one, we both agreed to rent a car and went there on our own today (1st March).

In a red Viva, I drove from UPM to Malacca, while Lukman took over when we arrived to the city of Malacca. It took us quite some time, Lukman navigating the car, while I was the dedicated sign board reader. We were going round and round in the city of Malacca, looking for Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, where the gallery is situated. After many turns, u-turns, and confusing sign boards, we finally spotted the gallery at the area of Jonker Street.

It was a very humble house shop, yet the owner, Mr Tham is much humbler. Clad in a simple white shirt and trousers, we were amazed at the hospitality shown by him towards us. We were treated like a special guest. He patiently answered all of our questions as we were very curious about the intriguing paintings. He uses water colour as his medium on paper, and not canvas like other artists normally do. He explained that the paper will absorb the water colour better than canvas. When asked about how long he takes to finish a painting, he said that it depended on his mood (guess we have some resemblance there…hehehe).

After viewing his painting, we took the opportunity to take a tour of other parts of the shop house. We went to the backyard, where I got to meet Yumi, Mr Tham’s cat (a chubby and cuddly cat indeed). Other than that, we found out that Mr Tham is not only talented in painting, but creating seal engraving and opal jewellery as well. His son, Mr Tham Ze King, follows his footstep as he is talented in portrait painting.

After almost 2 hours at the Artist Gallery, we decided to make a move. Nonetheless, going to the gallery was a sweet and educational experience, only made richer and memorable by the kind and warm welcome of Mr Tham Siew Inn. Thank you Mr Tham for the generous hospitality and thank you Dr Edwin for opening up another branch of art and literature for us to explore and appreciate…

P/S: Hope you like the gift that we bought you :)

NELSON MANDELA'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

After much discussion on Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, I realized that my life is nothing compared to the life that he had. 3 decades being imprisoned and fighting for a cause larger than himself. I don’t know whether I have the ability to be as selfless as him who out aside his personal gain to be a prison bound martyr and tirelessly fight the war of apartheid. What I am interested in the autobiography is that clothing can symbolize a person stature and the power that he possessed. For instance, like what Dr Edwin said, short pants was for those from the lower ranks and a long pants was worn by those from the higher ranks. That is why Mandela insisted on having long pants for all African prisoners, and when the prison warder gave him long pants but did not give the same pants to other prisoners, he refused to wear it. He said that “…if he was willing to give me long trousers, why couldn’t everyone else have them?”. Here, it shows that he is not fighting a personal war, but a war to represent every discriminated people out there. His sacrifice and willingness to suffer for a cause that he believes in makes him the symbol of resistance against racism.

TICK...TOCK...TICK...TOCK...

Writing a research paper, as I expected is much, much harder than writing a position paper. Aside from selecting the appropriate texts that you can dwell upon and write 3000 words about, it is a big issue when you have to wait for approval from your supervisor. I send my selection of texts two weeks ago and until now, I am yet waiting for the approval of my supervisor. I sent her messages and called her many times but still no reply. I went to her room but she was not in. right now, I am at lost as to how to proceed with my research paper. Time is ticking and I know I haven’t had much time. Should I carry on and write whatever it is that I want or should I wait and wait? Why life is so difficult?

THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE

After reading Nelson Mandela autobiography, I learned one lesson; the virtue of waiting. I have been made to wait my entire life, for things as simple as getting service at McDonalds and for things as complicated as waiting for my first love. Some people had it easy; they keep getting lucky, getting things they don’t even wish for. For others, including me, I had to wait for things to happen, things that I yearn for, things that I wish I could have, every day, every moment.

Looking at Mandela, how patiently he waited for 3 decades for his freedom, how he never surrendered at defending his protest against racism, I was inspired to learn the fact that patience has its rewards. Even though at times, I wish I could surrender and said that “I’m tired” or “I want to quit”, but patience is what holding me back from saying so. In all facets of life, either in study, friendship, relationship or even my faith, patience plays a dominant role.

So, every time I wish for something but I don’t get it, every time I had to wait for somebody for a date, every time I want something so bad but I couldn’t have it; I will remember the virtue of patience and hopefully I can patiently wait for those things to happen.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Last Wednesday, we had to submit our position paper and do an oral presentation of the position paper. I prepared my power pint presentation the week before, in case Mr Omid wanted to do the oral presentation sooner than expected. It was a simple power point slides, I think, even though I took the effort to make it more interesting by inserting pictures relevant to my position paper which is on The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant. Mr Omid asked us to voluntarily presented our oral presentation, so the first that presented was Jessie. After that, Wadhiha, Jowie, Amanda, Jasmit and finally it was my turn. I knew the class was not listening as everybody was busy minding their own business but I continued with my presentation anyway. Sadly, after I have presented, I received not so encouraging comments from Mr Omid. He said that I have to work on my voice projection and also my interaction with the audience. I was totally bummed throughout the day. Nevertheless, I did my best and hopefully in the future, I will improve my oral presentation.

MARGINALISED LITERATURE

During our previous class with Dr Edwin last Monday, we discussed about some of the marginalized writing. The first section is one feminist writing, among those written by Erica Jong, Hilary Tham, and Shirley Geok-Lin Lim. Dr Edwin explained that feminist writing is considered as marginalized writing as women’s problem are presented in this kind of writing. Furthermore, women writers were not taken seriously during that time causing them to use male pen name, such as George Eliot who wrote The Mill on the Floss. It is interesting to learn that these female writers wrote poems concerning issues that are related to women’s life such as menstruation (Becoming a Woman), marriage (For My Husband) and also love (The Rose).

Secondly, we learned about Ethnic Minority Groups: Native American Story. We learned something new outside the scope of literature that people who are natives are now called “The First People” as they were the first to open up a settlement in a certain place. We studied the poem Harlem, about “a dream deferred”, where the poet compares “dream” to “a raisin in the sun”, “a sore”, “rotten meat”, “syrupy sweet” and "a heavy load”. The poet uses the literary device of simile to provide a description to the readers about the “dream”.

Both of the writings are interesting to discuss as it opens up a new horizon for me, learning something outside the typical literary texts that I have been studying.

THE ROAD HOME

It was a heart-wrenching story that Dr Edwin asked us to watch today. It is a movie entitled The Road Home, starring Zhang Zi Yi and Honglei Sun. Dr Edwin hinted that the story is about a teacher and his teaching experience. However, after watching the movie, it turned out not to be a story about teaching but a story of the female protagonist’s determination, Zhao Di to wait for her love, the teacher, Mr Luo Changyu.

The story started in the present time, when the son of Mr Luo and Di, Yusheng is called back to his village of Sanhetun due to his father untimely death. The mother, Di persisted to follow the old tradition of carrying his husband’s coffin along the way home so that the spirit of Mr Luo would not forget his ‘road home’. The movie then progressed with Di’s flashback on how the two lovebirds met and fell in love.

I don’t know where the teaching aspect in the movie is because the movie focuses mostly on the love story between Di and Mr Luo. What I admired most about the character of Di is her determination to get what she wants. How she stood in blistering snow all day to wait for Luo to come back to the village and how she fought her way to get the funeral that she wants for her husband. In other words, she is my kind of a lady (although she seems kind of naïve and stupid to fall sick waiting for her love to come back to her).

I guess what I can say about a teacher from the story is probably Mr Luo’s passion towards teaching the village’s kids even though he is a “city gentleman” who comes from East Gate. He is willing to do anything for the school; in fact he dies from being sick as he braces himself to go through a blizzard to look for fund to rebuild the old school. He leaves his city lifestyle and teaches the kids in the village (even though I think his stay is motivated by his love towards Di).

So, to me even though one day I might get posted in a rural area, maybe it won’t turn out to be that bad if I had some motivation to stay there a.k.a. cute, tall, handsome man to love and fool around with…hehehe…

MY SELF-IMAGE AS A TEACHER

When I was asked by Dr Edwin to come up with a metaphor to describe myself, I was thinking of songs. That was the answer that I gave when Pn Johana, my lecturer back in Institut Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim asked us to draw an image that represents ourselves as teacher. Songs because there are songs that we hate while some other songs just would not find their way out of our head. It stays with us and we remember them; in other words those songs are timeless and evergreen. The same goes to teachers, a teacher will always be a teacher and some of them stay with us throughout our lives; not in person maybe but definitely in our memory.

However, I chose not to give the answer of songs because I already did back then, so I decided to use GPS or global positioning system as a metaphor for a teacher. When Dr Edwin mentioned that a teacher is supposed to assist students in their journey, and not to determine the students’ destination, I think GPS best sum up the description in one term. GPS is a technology boon that can help you to find you way when you are lost. It will lead you the right path and give you the directions to go to your destination. A teacher in today’s context is not the provider of knowledge but rather a facilitator that help students to unleash their potentials and lead them to the right path in life. So, GPS and a teacher bear the same characteristics; as an aid to support and help students to grow to their optimal performance.

I guess who you think you are depends on how you define a teacher. As for me, I know there is less than a year for me to prepare myself to be a teacher, but the very reality is surreal even though I know I have to accept the responsibility to be a teacher. I just hope that I would follow the footsteps of those teachers that I enjoyed studying with instead of being the teacher that students can live without.

BRAIN FREEZE

It has been 2 days since I came back home for the Chinese New Year holiday. So far, I have fun at home (like always) but my mind is still boggled with writing a thesis statement and finding 5 supporting details for my position paper. I don’t even know what stories, let alone what genre of literary texts that I want to do yet.

I really want to get the most out of those 30 percent allocated for the position paper. But God help me, I still could not figure out what story to do. Should I write about a poem? If I write about a poem, would there be enough points to talk about to fill in 3 to 4 pages? Or maybe I should write about a short story? How about a novel? Would it be hard to find those 5 supporting details for my thesis statement?

Hmm, I am going to bed now (that’s what I do when I have brain freeze), hoping that when I wake up tomorrow some angel of brilliant thesis statement maker would drop by in my dream and lend me a hand (or perhaps a thesis statement…)

A GREAT INJUSTICE

Back in Institut Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim, I had to learn Expository Writing. Before this, when I wanted to write something I just grabbed a pen pr paper, or sometimes my laptop and just pour everything that I had in my head. But things took on a different road when I was introduced to thesis statement and supporting details. I never knew that writing could be that complicated.

We had to write a position paper for EDU 3234 and now, I started to feel that writing is such a dread when I have to think of a thesis statement and supporting details. At first, I chose the story A Great Injustice by Heah Chwee Sian. I wanted to write about how social prejudice leads the main character, Ah Nya to abort her baby. I already came up with my first draft but I was disappointed when Mr Omid told me that I had to rephrase my thesis statement.

As of now, I am really truly clueless about how I will go about to write my position paper. I have no idea which text should I choose, let alone what topic I’ll be writing about. Hmm, I hope the holiday will bring me some idea on how to proceed with my position paper.

SACRIFICE & LOVE II

It was a Saturday and I was in my room, with nothing to do (even though there is much I should be doing; assignments and of course, choosing a text and coming up with a thesis statement for my position paper). So, I try to go online and this time luck was on my side (the wi-fi connection at my hostel block is as inconstant as the petrol price in Malaysia; sometimes I can get online, sometimes I want to smash my laptop and you know why).

I did the usual, responding to forums and writing my blogs. Then I visited Dr Edwin’s blog and I just finished reading two short stories by Dr Edwin; The Kiss and Husband Material. Although I know these two short stories got nothing to do with the prescribed texts for EDU 3234 Readings and Project Work for Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts (which I should be blogging about), but still I would like to blog about the short story Husband Material as I find it interesting.

I try putting myself in Shanti’s shoes; how she is torn apart between social obligations to get married and her own feelings of love towards Indran. In fact, I pity Ravimama too, as he is in the same situation like Shanti, I think Ravimama is in love with Anand but coming from a traditional society, love like that is unheard of and frowned upon.

The situation in the story is complex. Living a life; even your own life in complicated when your life is not your own to live and enjoy. When every decision you make has to be referred to and approved by those people that you respected and called family. Look at Indran for instance, he loves Shanti but in the end since he is indebted to his relatives, he has to oblige and marry their daughter.

One lesson that can be learned from all this is, when you have no career and have to depend on others to make a living, that is when you have to submit to their whims and fancies. If only Indran were a professional with his own career and money, things might have been different for him and Shanti.

I pity Shanti, not only because my feminine side relates to her feelings of rejection by Indran but because I have heard and read many stories like hers before. Trust and love hurt when it is not repaid. Worse, when those trust and love went down the drain, unappreciated and thrown away like a withered rose that won’t bloom anymore.

I wonder whether what Shanti and Ravimama did is what you call love or sacrifice? Is it sacrifice when Shanti still waits and loves Indran even when he is already married and going to America with his wife to further his studies? Is it sacrifice when Indran pretends to be happy with his wife when his heart always belongs to Shanti? Is it sacrifice when Ravimama remains a bachelor even when he knows there is no way for him and Anand to be together?

Marriage and love, rejection and acceptance, social acceptability and individual choices; those are intriguing concepts that bug my mind. I wonder how are we, as future teachers going to teach all these in our literature class…

P/S: If you want to read the short story, please follow this link http://edwinvethamani.com/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=27

SACRIFICE & LOVE

After learning The Mahabharata the other day, I was looking for the answer to Dr Edwin’s question; what is the difference between sacrifice and love? I think it would be easier to talk about love first. So, here it is.

I spent my night looking at a poster of the theater “Passion” directed by Joe Hasham which shows a picture of a man and a woman, both of them eyes closed probably lost in the land of lust and of course, passion. I asked myself, is this love? I never knew what love means, romantic love that is, until I was 21. That is when I was first defeated by the power of love. Although I do think that love nowadays is really, really over-rated, but still I hope there is love out there that requires sacrifice. To me, I think that loving someone is not necessarily means to have someone. Loving someone is when you are happy when he is happy, and you are contented when he gets what he wants. Sounds stupid? I think so too, because as human beings, I think it is quite impossible to be that selfless.

As for me, love and sacrifice intertwined. When you love someone, you are willing to give and do everything for him. You put his needs and desires above yourself. His happiness means more than your own. The number one priority in your life is not yourself but him. In a cliché kind of way, he is the last person you think of when you go to bed at night and he is the first person that you think of when you wake up in the morning. All day long, you think about him and wonder what he is doing and whether he is thinking of you too. Although sometimes this feeling and sacrifice are not mutual, but who can help it when you become that “stupid” and willing to give your all even at the expense of your own bliss?

Even though what I have written above is in the context of romantic love; but it can also be applied to Devavrata’s actions to his father, Shantanu. Devavrata obligingly assumes “a fate worse than death”, which is to be sonless in order for his father to marry Satyavati. Devavrata put his father’s happiness above himself and that I think is the best manifestation of sacrifice; when you are willing to be selfless and put the person that you love above everything else, even your own life. It takes a lot of courage to do that, especially in the world that we are living right now; where love and sacrifice has lost their meanings and values.

THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING

Today I finally learned thoroughly about the three stories that Dr Edwin had assigned us to read last week. First, let’s talk about Ovid’s Daedalus and Icarus. I got the painting wrong, which is such a shame because before this, I was contemplating of printing the right one which is Brueghel’s painting, Landscape With The Fall of Icarus. Nonetheless, I found out that the story or rather the character, Icarus symbolizes the fall of a free spirit that once soared the sky. Although the wings was supposed to be wings of freedom but in the end it becomes Icarus’s wings of death.

Next, is the story The Son of The Turtle Spirit. Dr Edwin gives us something to ponder over. Even though the son is obedient, following his mother’s instruction without questioning her, he is doing it at the expense of deceiving other people. So, what is the real moral behind the story?

Lastly, The Mahabharata where Dr Edwin asked us the same question that I recalled he asked during our last course with him, which is The Teaching of Drama. The question is “What is the difference between love and sacrifice?”Well, for me when you love someone, you want him to be happy and have everything that he wishes for. That includes sacrificing what you have for him. Yes, love is stupid in a certain sense and yes, it has make me melancholic over and over again. But seeing the fact that love has been the most favourite theme of all time, I figured that is must have significance in our lives as human beings. With that note, I end my posting this time with one confession; even though I look like a tough cookie, but inside I am a sucker for love :P

THESIS STATEMENT AND THE LIKES...

The first class with Mr Omid Akbari was scary as it dumped me with the gravity of what is expected out of my position paper and of course, the research paper. It took me back to my semester at Institut Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim, where I studied Expository Writing where I became sicken at the mention of thesis statement and supporting details. Now, the nightmare haunts me back….

I started to realize that thesis statement could make or break your whole paper. A thesis statement should be simple, yet at the same time it should sum up the whole paper. Hmm, sounds puzzling enough?

I just hope lady luck and lady-good-idea-for-a-thesis-statement is on my side this time around, as I look for topic to write for my position paper and research paper.

BLEEDING LOVE

In our last class, Dr Edwin has instructed us to read 3 stories from the handbook for EDU 3234. The Son of The Turtle-Spirit, The Mahabharata, and Pyramus and Thisbe.

I didn’t quiet understand nor like the first story as it’s too much of a fairytale to me. I mean, I like some of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales as the story could be really twisted and cruel at times. Nevertheless, there are always some lessons and values to be learned at the end of the story. However, for The Son of The Turtle Spirit, I couldn’t see the message behind the story except one; always listen to your mother (the maiden’s mother is the smart one as she asks the maiden to sew the thread to know the origin of the young man), and two; be confident in your true ability (although everybody thought that the son of the turtle-spirit couldn’t dive into the river and put the bones inside the dragon’s mouth, still he succeeded as he believes in himself).

For the second story, The Mahabharata, I think the message is quite clear; sometimes, you have to sacrifice for other people’s happiness, especially your loved ones. Devavrata chose the most terrible oath to be sonless so that her father can marry Satyavati. That is a big oath, if you ask me as it is a very big price to pay for somebody else’s bliss.

The last story that I read is heart-wrenching yet it is my most favourite stories of all three. When I read it, it reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, where two lovers ended up being dead over some misunderstanding. Weird, why do we like to hurt so much over love? Love, love, love. An issue that has been repeated over and over again by writers ever since the beginning of time. In the story, it tells about the forbidden love between Pyramus and Thisbe, so they decided to run away and live together. Unfortunately, they both ended up dead together due to some misunderstanding. Sad, sad story but still I like the melancholic and romantic air that surrounds the story. I am not a soppy person myself, but this story is something that I would definitely read for the second time. One memorable quote from the story is “Love made her bold”. True enough, love can make people do crazy things.

THE ART OF GOOGLING

The other day, I went to a cyber café to google something about Fall of Icarus. Dr Edwin asked us to find out a painting and also a poem about it. I googled the painting first, and there were quite a few versions of the paintings. How to know which is the right one? So, I googled the painting once again, this time in wikipedia. And I saved the correct one.

Next, I look for the poem. Once again, many versions of the poems. So, what do I do? Once again, wikipedia is the answer. And, once again wikipedia saved the day.

If there is one true virtual saviour for students who are unsure about the materials that has to be googled, I would certainly say wikipedia is the answer. It saves me a lot of time and it is easy to use.

And, one more thing that Dr Edwin asked us to google is about Ovid and Pygmalion. And guess what saved the day once (or maybe twice, or should I say thrice?) is yes, you guess it, wikipedia!

Ok, enough about wikipedia already. I found out that the painting Fall of Icarus is a picture of two men who seems to have wings falling from the sky. Sure enough, the painting reflects the title. Later, when I read the handbook, there is a story written by Ovid, which is Daedalus and Icarus. Icarus fly too close to the sun so the wax that binds his wings together melted and he fell down to earth. Tsk,tsk…I wonder what is the message of the story. Don’t get too close to danger? Is the sun a danger? Maybe yes, sun can give you skin cancer if you sunbathed too much. Hmm, either way, I will wait for Dr Edwin to discuss the story so that I can understand it better.

MY FIRST TIME

Literature has always been my passion for the past four and a half years (ever since I started to know that literature is fun and not some depressing story about “The Pearl of The World”). So, every time I had to study a subject which has something to do with literature, I always expect a time in class filled with fun and new reflection on all things connected to life.

During my first class for EDU 3234, Readings & Project Work For Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts, I was expecting the same thing; whole loads of discussion on literary aspects and critical analysis of the literary works. I got what I expected but with a little extra surprise; which is writing a position paper and a research paper.

Back in Johor Bahru, where I studied in a teachers’ training institute, I was taught to write critically and creatively. How to be analytical yet open to interpretation of a particular piece of subject. Now, I think that I have to utilize my knowledge and understanding so that I will be able to not just write a paper, may it be position paper or a research paper; but able to do an organized research and clear outline of my assignments.

Other that those two assignments that I have to submit, Dr Edwin has given us a handbook which contains other forms of literature works aside from poems, dramas, short stories and novels. He asked us to read three tales from the book; The Son of The Turtle-Spirit, The Mahabharata, and Ovid’s Metamorphosis. We have to google information on Ovid and Pygmalion, plus Dr Edwin asked us to find a picture and a poem related to Fall of Icarus. Although I have no idea about tales, I am looking forward to know and learn more about it!