“I have a dream”…by Martin Luther King, Jr

We have studied the speech of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” today. The speech is said to be one of the best speeches spoken in the world before. Martin Luther King Jr, one of the Peaceful Warriors in the world, who uses non violence approach of freedom, listed along with Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and etc had given a speech on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. This speech “I have a dream” is about the plight of his people, talking about the liberation of the African American, to unite the whites and blacks in America and this speech is to motivate them to work and live harmoniously together in American. This speech is one of the best in the world as this speech is of good and suitable content to motivate its citizen to act unitarily. This speech is also worth to be studied as it contains a lot of literary elements such as binaries, imageries, symbolisms, and metaphors. The examples of binaries used in this speech are the use of shadow and light, daybreak and night, island and ocean, poverty and prosperity and many more. It is impressive that the binaries are used in a same sentence. Moreover, binaries such as now and gradualism, dark and sunlit and lastly, quicksand and solid rock are used in order to show the comparison and how things differ from one and another. There is also the repetition used of the word “must” which shows the obligation of the citizen to their country. The stylistic writings of this speech made this speech a great speech, one that has power to move the people to take action and act according to the speech. If you have not heard any speech that is so powerful and charismatic before, listen to this one and I am sure that you will be impressed. Dr Edwin had also showed us the a Youtube video clip of Martin Luther King Jr giving his speech years ago at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. According to our lecturer, if Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I have a dream” is a good speech and Martin Luther King Jr is a powerful speaker then, in our country, Tunku Abdul Rahman with his speech of “Declaration of Independence” in our country would be the most powerful speaker and speech. None of us in the class have heard of the speech of “Declaration of Indepence” by Tunku Abdul Rahman before and none of us know the content of the speech but Dr Edwin had read the speech before in a hotel in Malacca and he hoped that everyone of us could get to read the speech ourselves if we were to do our practical in Malacca. I am really interested and look forward to speech by Tunku Abdul Rahman. I am just so proud that our nations once have had a powerful and good speaker such as Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Research paper submitted to Dr Jaya!

I have submitted my research paper to my supervisor, Dr Jaya today. After months of hard work, finally, I have come out with my very own and first research paper and have submitted it to my supervisor to be graded. Dr Jaya told us that he will grade our research papers as soon as possible, possibly by this week and will directly send our marks to Dr Edwin. Hopefully my research paper will get a good grade and I can get a good grade for my course, EDU 3234. Through my process of producing my research paper, I have learnt that they are many scopes and aspects that we can research on in the literature field and we can gain deeper insights and knowledge on certain literary texts when we carry research on certain literary texts. I have also learnt that once we have deeper understanding about a text, then we will have interest in reading the text deeply and this will further interest us to indulge ourselves in reading literary texts. Although I have to work very hard in producing this research paper, but I have felt a lot of joy and fun too. I find the experience of producing this research paper interesting as I learnt a lot of new things and widen up my knowledge in the literature field. I am glad that my research paper is completed and submitted to Dr Jaya. I just want to keep my fingers crossed and hope that my research paper is a standard and good one!

Yahoo!! It’s my full and complete research paper!

Yahoo!! Finally, I have completed my research paper! After months of toils and sweats, at last, I have my full and complete research paper. I am so happy and proud that I have managed to produce my very first and own research paper. I enjoyed doing and completing the very first research paper of mine as I found that I have learnt a lot of new things through my process of carrying out this research paper. I gained a lot of new insights on both the literary texts that I have chosen to study for my research paper and found joy in reading these two texts in a different perspective-the perspective of the men. At first, I thought that my effort of trying to read both texts through the perspective of the men would be a challenge for me but after much trying, not only that I did not find it difficult to read the texts from the view point of the men, instead I found joy in reading them in the new perspective as I found that both texts are much more interesting to be read now-in the view point of the men compared to reading the texts as they are years before. I learnt that I have missed out a lot of interesting points when I first read both texts years ago. Now, I learnt that both texts are more meaningful and I understood the real messages underlying each story that the authors may want to convey to the readers. As the saying goes, “Do not judge the book by its cover”. In this case of mine, I would say that do not judge the story but it surface. What we read from the story, usually, are only the surface of the story. We should read deeper into the story to find the true meaning of the story. Before this, I have done a lot of deep readings on different stories, whether to analyze the characters, the settings, plot or other literary elements but I have never found so much joy before than this time when I tried to read the stories from the perspective of the men-the type of reading that is different than the usual we read the story. I find it interesting and exciting reading both stories from the perspective of the men and go further into men’s study. Although many people had told me that it is risky for me to read both texts from the perspective of the men as the topic for my research paper but I am willing to take up the challenge and tried on something that is new for me. I am really glad that I have managed to find enjoyment and widen up my knowledge through my research and be able to tap on something new which I find fun and suits my interest of study.

The Making Of “My Research Paper”

I have been working on my research for days, hoping that I can get more information and details for both of the literary texts that I have chosen for my research paper so that I can add in more information and points into my first draft of my research paper in my effort to produce a complete, good piece of my research paper on reading the literary works through the perspective of a man. Although Dr Jaya commented that every one of us who are under his supervision for the research paper did a great job in our first draft, yet, I am still not satisfied with my very own first draft. Hence, I surfed on the net days and nights, hoping that I can gain more relevant points to be included into my research paper. In the process of looking for the suitable points and details for my research paper, I found out there are a lot of websites out there that provide the students with lots of crucial information on the literary works that they are studying in the secondary schools. There is this one website on the net which is published by “Just English” really impressed me. In this website, students can get all the information they wanted on the literature component that is being introduced in the secondary schools. Everything is arranged neatly and nicely on the web and only by one click on the selected icon, one can assess to the required section. I log on to this website for quite a number of hours as I am also looking for information for the literary text that I am studying for my research paper which is “The Drover’s Wife”. Besides, I also surfed on numerous websites on “The Drover’s Wife” which prove to be a great help to me in my process of completing my research paper. I get all thrilled up surfing the net for these few days. Before this, I have always thought that looking for information and completing a research paper would be a painful experience but it proves to me that I am wrong as I found joy in completing my research paper. Although I just managed to obtain information on “The Drover’s Wife” but I will not give up in looking for more information for my the other literary text that I am studying for the research paper. Keep it girl!

Limerick and Parody

What is limerick? My first impression of what limerick is is that limerick is the sibling for lime juice, some sort of juice that is similar to lime juice. Silly me! Limerick is actually a kind of poetry. Just like any other kind of poetry such as sonnet and all but limerick has its own set of system. A Limerick rhyme is aabba. Limerick consists of five lines with a couplet and a triplet. What is important in a limerick is its rhymes and beats. Limerick is usually funny and should not sound serious. Therefore, today, Dr Edwin assigned us to create 2 limericks in group of 5 with the stems given in the handbook. It was fun sharing and brainstorming ideas with other group members. It is really true of what people say, “2 minds are better than 1”. In only about 5 minutes, we can already come out with 2 limericks. Thanks to the cooperation given by all the group mates. They were creative and so do I-therefore “2 minds are better than 1” concept did really work in this context. I would to share with you guys on the limericks done by my group :

There once was a boy from Ruanda,
All the while he hoped to drive a Honda,
So he went to the showroom,
And he could just afford a broom,
That poor boy from Ruanda

I once met an old lady from New York,
Everyday she eats with a fork,
But whenever she eats with a spoon,
The lady will become a balloon,
That strange old lady from New York.

It was really interesting to be in the group and came out with these 2 limericks. It was really fun to be in the process of finding words which rhyme the same. In the end, Dr Edwin discussed with the benefits of using limericks and having this activity in the classrooms. I have learnt that the benefits of using limericks in teaching can promote language development, vocabulary, grammar and rhyming systems as all these aspects are very much put into emphasis in limericks. Besides, this activity can also foster creativity, responsibility, teamwork, tolerance and respecting each other among the students. Students will not see themselves as one whole person only but will work in a group. That’s what we want to instill into our students.
Lets us look at parody now. What’s a parody? Parody is a form of satirical criticism or comic mockery that resembles the style of the meaning of the original writers. Parody is a funny definition of a certain noun that is different from the meaning provided by the original writer. The language used in parody is beautiful as the words needs to give a vivid image to the readers of its true meaning.
Today’s class was fun and interesting! It tap on my creative and critical thinking skills. Bravo limericks!

First draft had been approved!

Today, while we were watching the movie “Dangerous Minds” at Bilik Seminar, Dr Jaya came into our class and told us that all the 8 of us who are under his supervision for the EDU 3234’s research paper are allowed to continue our work on the research paper as he is very satisfied with all of our first draft which we had submitted on week 7. Dr Jaya said that all of us did a great job in our research paper and he would like us to continue on our work so that we can submit our research papers to him on week 13, just after the Hari Raya’s break. I am so glad and happy to hear Dr Jaya’s comments. I still need to work on my research paper so that my real research paper which I am going to submit on week 13 can gain me better and higher marks. Thank you, Dr Jaya!

Water!! That’s what I am!

After viewing the movie “The Road Home” last week, today, Dr Edwin asked us what we have gained from the movie. Basically, all of us learn that the profession of the teacher is very much respected and appreciated by the societies that encourage us more to be good and dedicated teachers. Then, Dr Edwin asked everyone to think of a metaphor or an image that we can see in ourselves as a teacher. Funny and cute answers were given by each of us. Some say they were the sun, some say compass, candle, fire and many more. I will say that I am the water! I would say that I am the water as in my opinion, water is an important, perhaps, it is the most important element in my life. Water not only makes up 70% of my body but it is also an element that completes my life. I use water to clean myself, to freshen up myself, to drink and many more. Without water, my life won’t be complete. Therefore, I would say that I am the water when I see myself as a teacher. I am the water as I am the knowledge provider to the students. Students are thirsty for water(knowledge), therefore, I will be there to quench the thirst. I am the water(knowledge provider). Hence, as a teacher, I see that my main objective in teaching the students is to provide the knowledge to the students. Water!! That’s what I am!!

"The Road Home"

‘The Road Home’ is a movie about a girl who has fallen in love to a teacher who taught in a little hut in her village. The girl, who was played by Zhang Zi Yi, is a young and innocent girl who falls head over heels to the teacher who taught in her village. As the story took place in the ancient time, it shows how difficult it is for the both of them to be together. The movie also shows how the society back at the ancient time respect and look highly upon the profession of a teacher. The society respects the teachers very much and sees teachers as something that is very precious. The movie was in mandarin and was quite slow moving as it emphasizes on the love story of the teacher. In the end of the story, the body of the teacher was bought back to the village. Although the teacher has already passed away, yet he is still very much respected by the villagers and all his former students. As the saying goes, “Once a teacher, always a teacher”. Although he is already dead, he is still “the teacher” that the villagers have always respected. This movie inspires me to be a good, great and dedicated teacher like the teacher shown in the movie. The teacher in the movie tells me that we must be dedicated in our profession and always put our profession as our first priority. What inspire me the most is that a teacher is always respected and appreciated by the societies. This movie made me believes that the saying “Once a teacher, always a teacher” do really exist.

He is the Man- Nelson Mandela!

I had been hearing and listening to adults talking and chattering about a person named “Nelson Mandela” since my high school days. I still remembered that at that time, I was only in my Form 2 and rarely read the newspaper. Therefore, this person- Nelson Mandela was still an unknown to me (although I have heard of his name daily) as I did not read the newspaper and he is still not in the history yet as I could not find his name in the history textbook when I was in Form 2 nor Form 3. But I did know something about this person-that he is some sort of a politician and is fighting for something for his people in his country. But I wasn’t sure what he was fighting for. I just knew that he could be someone with power and of high authority, if not he would not have been in the newspaper. Nelson Mandela remained to be a mysterious person to me, for many years, perhaps, for 8 years until recently, when Dr Edwin assigned all of us to read the autobiography of “The Long Walk of Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela” in the hand book. Only now, I knew who Nelson Mandela was and what he was fighting for years ago.
Through his autobiography, I know Nelson Mandela is an African and yes, I am right, he is a politician and he is fighting for something for his people- he is fighting for the rights of his people. Not only that, his autobiography tells me that he was held as a prisoner before in his movement of fighting for the rights of his people and all the pains and hardship that he had gone through years ago. It is also mentioned in the autobiography that “they”, the African prisoners were treated as children as they were only given shorts and slippers to put on instead of trousers and shoes as the authority wanted them to feel small and as “a boy”. This is one of the scenarios where apartheid had taken place in the past in Africa. I salute Nelson Mandela for his courage and bravery in fighting for the rights and freedom for his people, for his strength and spirit to go through all the sufferings and hardship and lastly for the sacrifices that he had made for his people- his people and not for himself when he stated that “But before putting them on I checked to see if my comrades had been issued trousers as well”. Nelson Mandela is indeed a man of courage and honor.

Submitting the first draft of the research paper.

Today I have submitted the first draft of my research paper to Fifi, the librarian who are working at the Pusat Sumber as Dr Jayakaran had already informed us to submit our first draft to him on the last day of week 7. After the first meeting with Dr Jayakaran, I have been working on the first draft of my research paper for about 2 weeks. Yet, I still could not find sufficient information to be included in my first draft. Basically, I have found enough information for the story “Paul’s Case” but I could not find sufficient information to support the title of my research paper for the story “The Drover’s Wife”. Both stories that I have chosen are short stories and I find it hard to find information for the story “The Drover’s Wife”. I wrote and included as many information and my own ideas as I can, hoping that all the points that I have included could support the area of research that I am working on. Altogether I have submitted 10 pages of my first draft to Dr Jayakaran, hoping that all the points I have submitted in my first draft could support my field of research.

What has happened to Lulu, mother? What has happened to Lu?

“What has happened to Lulu, mother? What has happened to Lu?” These two sentences are so fresh in my mind and remind me of the wonderful time we had with the two beautiful poets from the British Council. Dr Edwin had invited two beautiful ladies from the British Council to the class to carry out some interesting activities with us- the TESL 7 and Cohort 4. The very first thought on having 2 poets to the class, at first, was very discouraging as all of us thought that the class would be boring as we expect the poets will just give us a talk on how to write poems and solely telling us their very own experiences in writing poems. But this was not what it actually turned out to be! We had lots of fun with the 2 beautiful ladies in the class. “Lulu” was the poem that we had worked on in the class with the 2 ladies. “Lulu” was a simple poem but they created several activities that were so fun from the poem. We had a lot of fun indulging ourselves in the activities. We wrote a poem as a group as the reply to the poem “Lulu” and we managed to come out with cheeky yet funny versions of poems. It was fun listening to all the different kinds of replies to the poem “Lulu”. Only through this activity, I realize that we can very creative when the grammar or the language items are not taken into consideration. We are not afraid of making any grammatical mistake in our poem as the lady told us that it is okay to have mistake as long as we come out with our very own version of poem as the reply to the poem “Lulu”. Never before I felt so enjoyable and fun indulging myself in group work when comes to working on poem. Normally, when we are doing group work on poem, we usually need to understand in depth the meaning of the poem and everything about the poem will be very serious and no play at all. But in this class, all of us had so much fun and it made us love the process of learning and writing poems. I, personally love the two great ladies from the British Council very much. They were so charming. I really hope that Dr Edwin will invite them to come to our class again in the future as I am really looking forward to spend some fun time with both the beautiful ladies!

Presentation on My Position Paper

Today I have presented my position paper “Dissatisfaction of life and the desire to live an idle life lead Paul to a disastrous end” in FPP 219A at 12.20 pm. I was the third to present my position for this first session of Position Paper Presentation. I presented my thesis statement to the class and I supported my thesis statement with around 9 supporting details. First and foremost, I gave supporting details that show Paul dissatisfy with his present life and then I gave supporting details on why Paul’s dissatisfaction with his present life and Paul’s desire to live an idle life can lead to such a tragic death. Mr Omid was observing from behind of the class while I presented my position paper using Power Point Presentation in front of the class. In my opinion, my presentation was clear and precise as I included all the main points in the Power Point Presentation. I had also elaborated on each of my points on my own without reading the elaboration from the Power Point Presentation as I did not included the elaborations of points in my Power Point Presentation as I only wanted to emphasize on the main points in my slides. After my presentation, Mr Omid did not comment or say anything regarding my presentation and I am just keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that my presentation can earn me a high score and a good grade!

Andy Warhol- The Great Artist !

Today, Dr Edwin assigned us to watch a video clip on Andy Warhol. All of us were not sure who Andy Warhol is before we watch the video clip but after spending some time watching the video clip, at last, we knew that Andy Warhol is a great artist that had drawn a lot of great paintings such as the portrait of Marilyn Monroe, The Campbell’s Soup’s label, The portrait of Elvis Presley and even the painting of “The Last Supper”. The video clip is basically about the biography of Andy Warhol on what he had drawn when he was alive back then 1969. Most of the visuals or illustrations shown in the video clip were his paintings from year to year according to chronological order. Much were the paintings of The Campbell’s Soup’s label on different flavors of Campbell’s soup. The video clip on the biography on Andy Warhol was okay as it was in colour and not so dull as in black and white but it was not really that interesting as it only show pictures of Andy Warhol’s painting from year to year. Not much elaborations or moving pictures. But his paintings were very beautiful and impressive and through this video clip I learnt that Andy Warhol is one of the great artist in those days

First meeting with my supervisor, Dr Jayakaran

This afternoon, at 4 pm, we had our meeting with our first meeting with our research paper’s supervisor, Dr Jayakaran, at the FPP’s Pusat Sumber. All the eight of us, arrived early at the Pusat Sumber and waited for Dr Jayakaran. Soon, Dr Jayakaran arrived and we started our first meeting regarding our research paper. We wrote down our names on a sheet of paper as the proof of attendance and each one of us took turns to tell Dr Jayakaran the title for each of our research paper. Through this meeting, I knew that Dr Jayakaran wanted us to write and tap on something that is more direct and simple compared to writing something which is complicated and broad. Several course mates’ topic of research paper need to be revised as Dr Jayakaran commented that their topics are too complicated and broad. I showed and told Dr Jayakaran the title of my research paper and Dr Jayakaran approved my title for my research paper but he asked me to be more specific in my title. My meeting ended at around 5 pm and I went straight home to revised the title for my research paper so that my title for the research paper can be more focused and specific.

It’s all about “Paul’s Case”...

For my position paper, I have chosen to write about the short story “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather with the thesis statement, “Dissatisfaction of life and the desire to live an idle life lead Paul to a disastrous end”. In this paper, I would like to focus on the point that it is Paul dissatisfaction in his life that leads him to end his life in a tragic end. Paul refused to live the life that he had at the present so he chose to end his life by committing suicide. It is also his desire to live a glamorous and classy life that made him to steal and to commit suicide as Paul did not want to go back to his real life back in the Cordelia Street. I would have supporting details from the two major points which are Paul’s dissatisfaction in life and Paul’s desire to live an idle life to support my thesis statement. All the points in the paper will center on the thesis statement. In order for me to write a good position paper, I would have to have strong and reliable supporting details in supporting my thesis statement. Like what said by Mr Omid, “There’s neither right or wrong nor good or bad thesis statement, it is just how you support your thesis statement that make your thesis statement and your position paper a good one”. I personally think that what Mr Omid said is so true that only thesis statement which is supported by good supporting details can make a good thesis statement and a good position paper. Hence, I am going to work very hard to find the valid, reliable and good supporting details to support my thesis statement so that I can produce a good and excellent position paper with a brilliant thesis statement.

First draft on my Position Paper.

Today we had our tutorial with Mr Omid at usual at FPP 219A. We were supposed to submit our first draft of our thesis statement today to our tutor. Mr Omid started the class by discussing various thesis statements presented by my course mates and myself and we learned on how to create a good and specific thesis statement through the examination of the various thesis statements presented in the class. What is important in writing a thesis statement is that the statement must be supported with not one, but many supporting details. A good thesis statement also needs to be specific and not general. Mr Omid told us that it is not a must that a good thesis statement will guarantee us a good grade in our position paper as a good position paper depends very much on how far and how well we can elaborate our supporting details in supporting our thesis statement and on how strong we can convince the readers on our thesis statement. I had presented my first draft today in the class and I know that there is still a lot of things that I need to improve on my position paper.

My new experience in reading tales

Tales, I have been reading tales, I mean fairy tales, since I was young. I still remembered that the first fairy tale that I have read is the Aesop Fables. The very first Aesop Fable that I read was about the dog, the butcher and the bones. If you ask me now, I can frankly tell you that I enjoy reading tales, those Aesop Fables, bedtime stories, Blyton’s tales and many more. I, personally think that reading tales are interesting and fun as reading tales are stress-free and light. I will deem reading tales as light reading. What different between tales and other genres of writing is that tales always promote moral values that inhibit in the stories. Hence, I can understand why my mum always exposed me with tales. But to me, reading tales in this course, EDU 3234, is really my new experience. I said so as in this course, the tales that I am reading is really different from the tales that I have read when I was young. Although both are tales, but somehow, the tales I read in this course are more unique and special as I think the tales are very intellectual and the moral values inhibits in the story are deep in meaning. It is not just simply teaching the readers on moral values like “Do not cheat” but it has a deeper meaning and more authentic-things that really happen in the real world. I love the story, “The Son of the Turtle-Spirit” the most as I think that the story is set in a very unusual way and the moral values or the main meaning is very deep in meaning. I have never come across a tale or story with this kind of way in conveying the message neither did I come across a moral values which is so true and authentic. Thus, tales are not just tales when you are talking about tales assigned in EDU 3234.

Tales & Painting- How are they related? Tink! There’s a connection!

I started to read tales this semester when Dr Edwin assigned us to read about four tales that were printed in the new handbook that we received early of this semester. We were assigned to read on the tales “The Son of The Turtle-Spirit”, “The Mahabharata”, “Ovid- Daedalus and Icarus” and “Ovid’s Metamorphosis- Pyramus and Thisbe”. Through the reading of these tales, I found out that reading tales can be quite an enjoyable and stress-free activity for the readers. Reading tales provides less anxiety to the students and at the same time, reading tales will be more engaging to the students as the students can connect to the story of tales more than other genres of the literary works. The tale of “The Son of The Turtle-Spirit” is seems to be more engaging to the Chinese students as most of them have watched similar Chinese dramas and movies of tales that resembles the tale “The Son of The Turtle-Spirit”. Language and sentence structures used in these tales are also much simple compared to other writings. I can understand and comprehend the tales very well. Reading of the tale “Ovid-Daedalus and Icarus” is like an eye-wash to me as this tale is very nicely and beautifully narrated. Moreover, it has a painting to come with the story. The painting was a beautiful one and very impressive. In this painting which entitled “The Fall of Icarus”, although only Icarus’s legs and feet were sticking out from the water, it has clearly portrayed to us the significance of Icarus’s fall to the audience. It portrayed to us that Icarus’s fall is only significant to his father alone and insignificant to others as no one bothers or cares for Icarus when he fell into the water. Life still goes on for others no matter what happens. It is my first experience of reading of a literary work that comes with a painting. Painting which is a visual aid helps a lot in giving the readers a clearer idea of the whole story. Reading tales is indeed a very fun and exciting experience as it is very engaging to the readers while provides the readers to look closely at the paintings which are connected to the tales that they are reading. Reading tales not only provides the opportunity to the readers to appreciate the writings of the authors but also exposes to the readers the work of arts-paintings and later having them to appreciate the masterpieces of painting.

First EDU 3234 Tutorial Class..

Last Friday, 11th of July, 2008, we had our first tutorial session with our tutor, Mr Omid. The tutorial began with Mr Omid giving us some handouts on the example of good and bad thesis statements. He also explained to us the reasons on why certain thesis statements are deemed as bad thesis statements and certain thesis statements are deemed as good thesis statements. He explained to us what a thesis statement is all about and the purpose for writing a thesis statement. He stressed on the importance of writing a good thesis statement which provides a clear and specific statement on the subject that we are studying about. In order to make us all to work on the thesis statements, Mr Omid divided us into groups of 5-6 people and come out with a thesis statement on the tale “Pyramus and Thisbe”. We did as instructed and we found out that all the groups came out with different thesis statements and we were asked to comment on each thesis statement before Mr Omid gave us his opinion on each thesis statement. We learned that many statements can be deemed and used as thesis statement but the main problem is to produce a good thesis statement which is clear and specific. A too generalized thesis statement is said to be a bad thesis statement. A good thesis statement also means that the statement can be supported by many supporting details and points from the work itself. From this tutorial, I gained a clearer image and explanations on what exactly a thesis statement is about. The next step is to work on the supporting details that we will work on, on the next tutorial session.

Musee des Beaux Arts By W.H. Auden.

Musee des Beaux Arts
By W.H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

This is the poem by W.H. Auden on "The Fall of Icarus".

The painting of "The Fall of Icarus".

The painting of "The Fall of Icarus"...the painting that Dr Edwin asked us to search. Nice painting...but can you see how is it related to the story "The Fall of Icarus"?Try to look closely or perhaps zoom into the painting and you can see two legs jutting out from the water at your bottom right of the whole painting. Can you see it? These are the legs of Icarus who had just fallen into the water. Can you now see it? The implication of this painting is people carry on with their lives no matter what happens around them. Get it? As those people still doing their daily routines and not helping Icarus although he fell into the water. What a cold yet a realistic society portrays in this painting. A nice painting but a cruel one- to me.

A Brand New Semester with EDU 3234.

My first class of EDU 3234 began on the 10th of July, 2008 at DKAP B3-10. Dr Edwin started off the class by distributing the course outlines to us and explained to us the assignments and course works that we need to attempt for this course. For this course, there will be no mid-sem exam and final exam as we will have to attempt a position paper as the mid-sem exam and a research paper as our final exam. The very introduction of the position paper and research paper to us made us all feeling very nervous and blur as this is the first time that we are exposed to writing a position paper and a research paper. Hence, we listened carefully to every details explained by Dr Edwin on both the papers. Dr Edwin does talked about the thesis statements and supporting details which we will deal on more, later with our tutor. A few tales were assigned to us to read so that we can do an early reading before study the tales in more detail with our lecturer and tutor. What worries me the most is the position paper and research paper that I have never deal with before before this course. I am going to work very very hard and work extra hard so that I can produce a good position paper and research paper!!!