The Jungle Book : Synopsis.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Hi everyone, good morning. In the last entry, *well, a few back actually, I did write a little bit about The Jungle Book, the Contemporary English Literature For Primary School Year 4. CLICK HERE. As for this entry, I will write more on the same book but more to the Synopsis.

There are 5 chapters in the book.

Chapter One    :  Mowgli's Brothers

Chapter Two    :  Kaa's Hunting

Chapter Three :  The Red Flower

Chapter Four   :  Tiger, Tiger

Chapter Five   :   Red Dog

Now, we will go by chapter.

As for Chapter One : Mowgli's Brother, the author told about the characters and the author showed that how Mowgli's ended up with Akeela (Wolf). The author also showed how Mowgli was saved from Shere Khan (Tiger), who also has killed Mowgli's parents. Here the author already showed the reader about the conflict, even though it is the beginning of the story but as we all know,*after reading the book, the first conflict started when Shere Khan killed the human's cow. So, it showed that Shere Khan was no satistified with cows, he started killing human and they were Mowgli's parents.

For Chapter Two : Kaa's Hunting. Mowgli has become a teenage boy who have been equipped with many skills. He was taught by Bagheera, Baloo and also Akela. They also taught Mowgli about the laws of the jungle. In the second chapter, Mowgli was snatched by a group of bad monkeys. Then, Bagheera (Panther) and Baloo (Big Bear) asked a rock snake called Kaa. The monkeys were terrified with Kaa, maybe because the monkeys were Kaa's meals for breakfast, lunch and also dinner.

For Chapter Three : The Red Flower. As for the chapter three, it started with a sad beginning when the Father Wolf died and Akela is getting old. Mowgli is now hunting for Akela's meals. Shere Khan is still wants to kill Mowgli. He has influenced the younger wolves to follow him and also questioned the existence of Mowgli in the pack. Shere said that Mowgli is a human and not wolf. Bagheera urged Mowgli to save his life and go away from the forest, but Mowgli declined. He wanted to stay, then, Bagheera told him about the Red Flower (fire). He said that it can be used to scare off Shere Khan. Mowgli went to the border of the village and saw a young girl carrying the 'red flower'. He took the 'red flower' and scared Shere Khan off with that, then he asked the pack about Akela should lead the pack. Unfortunately, the younger wolves were too influenced by Shere Khan's ideology. Mowgli existence was declined and he with broken-hearted went a new village.

As for Chapter Four : Tiger, Tiger. a woman named Messua recognised Mowgli and he was her lost son. She thought that he was killed by the tiger a long with his husband. She cleaned him up and put on clean clothes. Mowgli tried to fit in with his new life but he had trouble trying to find the rhythm. One day, he was given a job which was to bring the buffalo out to graze the grass. Then, the met with his old family, the wolves. Little did they know that Shere Khan was already at the village and he wanted to kill Mowgli. But then, Mowgli and the wolves has planned to trapped Shere Khan and he was killed but the trampled of the buffaloes. Then Mowgli skinned Shere and he brought the hides to show the villagers about the news and he thought that they would be very happy to see him, little did he know that they did not want Mowgli to live with them. Then Messua asked Mowgli to run away, if not he will be killed by the villagers. He went back to the forest. 

The last chapter was the climax of the book. Chapter Five : Red Dog. Mowgli was not living with the wolves pack but then he was living alone. Sometimes, he hunted with his wolf-brothers, Bagheera, and Baloo. After a few years, Mowgli has grown into a strong young man. Then, the jungle was threatened by a pack of red dogs. Won-tola, a wounded wolf, was attacked by dholes, the red dogs. They were known as the bad dogs. They worse compared to Shere Khan. Kaa helped Mowgli with a great idea but it involved the Little People (Wasps). The Little People can easily kill anybody who came to threat them. After a few days, Mowgli lured the dholes to the little people's place. The place of death. He taunted the dholes and in one incident, he cut the leader's tail as a warning to not to come to their jungle. As planned, Mowglie brought the dholes to a place where the wolves, Bagheera, Baloo, and Akela have been waiting, then, they stroked. They fought all night long and then all of the dholes were killed. Akela, the old wolf was terribly hurt. After a few words said to Mowgli, he died. They were mourning by howling to the sky. Before the chapter ends, Mowgli had a little though about what Akela has said to him, "You will leave the jungle, You will drive yourself out". Mowgli might have thought such thought, but today was not the day. He will stay as long as his pack needs him.

So, that is all for the synopsis. It might be too long but since, the story was beautifully animated, the pictures really helped the readers to think creatively.

Happy reading guy.

I will write more, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: This was quite simple compared the animate Mowgli we saw on film.

I Will Keep On Writing.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Hi everyone, first of all, I would love to say thank you for your comment and for one particular comment, it said that my post has a lot of grammar mistakes. Well, thank you again for the comment.

Secondly, English is my second language. Yes, some said that even though it's just second language, it does not mean that I have to commit such mistakes. I am here not trying to stand for my mistakes, no. I really want to let people know that, mistakes can be corrected but guide me please.

I am not a perfect human being, but it does not mean that I need stop writing after such comment. NO. I will continue my writing and hopefully everything is going to be a lot better. 

Thirdly, I have several posts that I need to write due to some demands. Yes, they asked me to write about several themes, and whatnot. So! Yasss...

I have tried to make it as formal as I can but it seems that formality is not just my thing, I guessed.

Lastly, yes, I will keep writing and thank you for that comment, I will keep reading and practising my grammar.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Love.

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Student's Edition.

Assalamualaikum wbt,

How do you do my dear readers?

Hi everyone, I would love to share with you about this book entitled The Jungle Book, Student's Edition by Rudyard Kipling. This book is the textbook for Year 4 Contemporary English Literature For Primary School. 

I just read this book and to be honest, the illustration by Gerardo Sandoval is amazing. It really helps the pupils to read and be creative. The illustration is amazing. I love it. It helps the learning process. Lovely.

Now, it is mentioned by the Ministry of Education that the pupils need to have Higher Order Thinking Skills ( HOTS ). Well, these pupils need to learn more on how to think like that. To  be honest, the expectation is quite high for rural area students. We need to have more classes to help these pupils. We need to work more on that.

As for now, I will write on Literature elements.

Characters:

Shere Khan

A matured old tiger who have killed Mowgli's parents and left Mowgli alone in the jungle. Trying to kill Mowgli but saved by Akela.

Mowgli

A boy who parents killed by Shere Khan. Saved by Akela, a wolves-pack leader and raised him to be a good man. 

Akela

A matured old wolf. A wolves-pack leader, who raised Mowgli as his own and saved him from Shere Khan the Tiger. Love Mowgli very much.

Bagheera

A black panther, friend of Akela and also helped Mowgli to be a good man.

Kaa

A grown snake who always helped Mowgli in helping other animals.

Balbo

A full grown grizzly bear, who loved Mowgli very much. 

Setting:

In a jungle in India, near to a village.

Next time, I will write more on other things such as how to explain the answers, and there are several questions that I would love to ask and explain them too. 

So, that is all for now.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: It is a good story, though.

MUET 800/2 : SPEAKING TEST.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you folks? It has been a rough week for me last week. It was tiring and I am drained to my last energy. All the hectic schedule really affecting my performance. Tiring indeed.

Now, I am going to write about the incident happened to me last week *obviously.

Here is the chronology.

12/02/2017 (SUNDAY)

In the morning of 12 February, it was great day but unfortunately, my feet were not. As you all already knew that I have gout. It stroked me for quite good hours. I really thought I would recover after taking painkillers, but it really did not. I had to suffer from it for the next day.

13/02/2017 (MONDAY)

The morning of my Speaking 800/2 MUET examination. I studied the night before the exam and I had several points remembered to make the test smooth sailing. Now, due the fact that I did not be able to walk to the school *not really walking, but I need to drive myself to the school, I was ready to move on from the exam. Meaning, I was ready to move on and take it again on May session. 

14/02/2017 (TUESDAY)

I tweeted English Jer on Twitter because he is good English moderator and he knows things too. So, I asked him and he said that I need to ring the Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia to ask about it. I rang them and got answered by the person in-charged. He said that I need to email to the MPM using, tukartarikh@mpm.edu.my along with FORMAL LETTER with concrete reason for not be able to attend the exam. Now, I wrote that I have gout and alhamdulillah, praise Allah, they accepted my email and they gave me a new date for the speaking test.

15/02/2017 (WEDNESDAY)

I studied more on Speaking with pointers given by my teacher. Thank you teacher Junaidah. You helped me a lot.

16/02/2017 (THURSDAY)

The day of exam. Before that, I went to my Uncle's house in Bentong *because the exam was in Bentong, SMK Sulaiman. I had a sleepover. In that morning, after (LAST NIGHT) I went to do hijama aka cupping (bekam) at Janda Baik, my gout got a lot better. At 10.00 am, I went to SMK Sulaiman and waited at the Quarantine Room. There were two more people who had trouble like me. They too had trouble attending the examination. One was from Rawang and another was from Shah Alam, originally from Perak. YES! PERAK and SELANGOR. And I am just an English tuition teacher from Raub. WOW. 

Now, at first, we were asked to put our signature on a three-piece of paper. Then, my name was not there. My number was 3028 and line up started at 3030. How 's that? Later, I asked the head of examiner and he took the letter that we have to bring along to the examination room. They accepted the letter and we were able to take the exam. *fuh! thanked God for that opportunity.

The two late comers and I were placed at the last session. Meaning, we had to wait for the non late comers to finish their session then us. Now, did I mention that it was like 5 years ago, I practiced my English language? YES. Fully. Fullstop. Haha... 

This is analysis of the 800/2 SPEAKING TEST.

The question was to explain about THE MOST INTERESTING job.

CANDIDATE :

A: a career in music

B: a career in sports and recreational

C: a career in art and design

D: a career in Multimedia

For the task A, I was the Candidate B, so, I was assigned to give my opinion on a career in sports and recreational. It was quite tough to talk about something that you know nothing about. But, anyhow, the two minutes given used by me quite well. 

Then, the task B, where we need to interact with each other and give our opinions on the given topic. I let candidate A and C first because obviously, they agreed on my points which, I did not interested in agreeing.  Now, after they talk about agreeing with my points, well, I refused to agree with my point and I change my stance by agreeing with having a career in art and design. Art and Design to me have vast paths. Everything with art nowadays sells. Yes. So, I talk about quite a good amount of time and I really hope that I could score good marks for it.

So, that is all for last incident.

Moral of the story :

1. Do not give up.

2. Study hard.

3. Be natural.

4. Speak with ease (good choice of words)

5. Study hard to score for the next 3 other papers. *Listening, Reading Comprehension, and Writing *nervouse!!!)

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Waaahhhh

MUET My Way. Thanks Madam Audrey.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Good afternoon everyone,

Today, since this morning the SPM candidates were facing the English papers. *see, I used FACING, why? Because its a war. Hahaha.. but the real war is after you got your SPM result. Where you want to go and what path you choose to walk. Whatever it is, you have to walk your path, you cannot walk others because they too have to walk theirs

Now, you might read this blog or the other might read this blog too, know this, all the knowledge that I have written here, you may use it to your own good. I really do not mind.

Now, I have been reading this one blog, which to me is very helpful indeed.

MUET MY WAY

This blog really has done a lot good deed to its reader, Including ME!

Madam Audrey Wiles is the author and she is a MUET teacher is Sabah. I do not need to know her because I know she is on amazing person. By looking at her blog and her relationships she had/has with her students, well, her students are very luck to have her as their MUET teacher, I could say that. Amazingness.

Keep it up Madam Audrey, you have done a lot and I know, your students are actually all around Malaysia and the world. Keep on writing teacher.

That is all from me and to SPM candidates, good luck for your remaining subjects and go nuts over the answers. Haha, go nut to me means, you have to write smart, just do not waste your time thinking too much about the answers, ok?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Best of luck dears.

SPM Literature Component : Short Story : Tanjung Rhu by MinFong Ho.

Assalmualaikum WBT,

Have you read about Tanjung Rhu by MinFong Ho?

If you haven't, please do. Why? It was one of the short stories in the Literature Component for SPM and one most important thing is, that short story was amazing. I read it and I admit that it took me quite a few readings to understand it, but I managed, so, please, you still have time to read it before the SPM. Hihu...

But then, since I have read the story, I will write about it here, through my understanding of the short story. Tanjung Rhu was written by MinFong Ho and the version that we are using is the retold version by Clare West. Tanjung Rhu is about a family lived in Tanjung Rhu, Singapore. The main character is Mr. Li, who own a big shipyard and he was very rich man. Mr. Li had a mother and his mother died at the beginning of the story. Helen was Mr.Li's wife and Ying is Mr.Li and Helen's daughter. There were on four characters in the short story. 

If you read the story, it was quite intense but you really need to understand what is the gist of the short story. You have to read to understand the story, do not just read the synopsis, no. You have to read all the way. 

I will write more on the about all the things that you need to know about elaborating a short story. Okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: I am so sorry, I was too busy with things. 

Dreams are made to be embraced.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

I, once heard people said,

"Dreams are made to be crushed".

"Dreams are made to followed"

and

"Dreams are made to be wasted".

Hahaha, from three sources. I am like, hahaha, I laughed. 

Now, what does it mean with these three? The first one, I think, it was uttered by a person who have their own dreams but they want others to not follow their dreams and obviously, their dreams are crush peoples' dreams.

The second one, these people believe in their dreams and they ought to follow their dreams. They will work hard for their dreams and they will consider what might come in their ways are challenges to challenged themselves in the road of pursuing their dreams. Got that?

And the last but not least, "Dreams are made to be wasted". I think, this uttered by a person who happened to have a dream/dreams but determination is not in their heart. They might have half-hearted in pursuing their dreams.

But, you have to remember, dreaming is as important as working. If you choose not to make it work, then, you will end up like the third quote, so, I have my own quote,

"Dreams are made to embraced; embrace your dreams and help others".

Assalamualaikum WBT,

p/s: Keep sleeping. hehe...

SPM Literature Component : Short Story : Leaving by M.G. Vassanji

Assalamualaikum WBT,

As promised,  I am going to write more about the Short Story, Leaving for the SPM English Literature Component.

Now, since I believed that you all readers, SPM candidates have read the Short Story, you are now know what its all about, right? Yes, its about a young boy named Aloo who wants to pursue his dream in becoming a doctor.

First of all, I am going to write about the characters in this short story. First of all is Aloo.

Aloo was the youngest in the family. Gifted student with great, brilliant mind and he got straight A's in his result. He was inspired by his teacher to go outside of his country and study abroad. He was a loving son and he cried when his mother expressed her fear that she might lose him. Happy when his mother approved his leaving. He was happy to see London and he wrote to his mother. All and all, he just want to change his and his family's lives. He wanted to be someone and he really thinks that medicine would change him as a person.

The Mother

Lost her husband at 33, had to look after 5 children. Refuses to re-marry as she did not want the children to be sent to children's home. *Foster home. She was a very hard-working woman, she raised 5 children and gets 2 daughter married off, elder son worked at supermarket. She was concentrating  on improving the lives of the younger two (Aloo and the Narrator). Moved to a little bit rural area so that the two can focus on their studies. Loved her children to death. She was very sensitive as it was shown in the scene where she was very concerned on Aloo leaving her behind. A very good mother, so relents finally to Aloo going abroad. She was a very proud mother, independent woman and she is a woman of substance.

Mehroon
Lives with her husband in town.

Razia
A rich housewife, lives in Tanga on the coast north Dar es Salaam.

Firoz
The older brother, drops out of school. Worked in the office of a big shop.

Mr. Datoo
Aloo's ex-teacher, returned from America to pay a visit. A favourite of the boys, has inspired Aloo to apply to an American university.

Mr. Velji
A school officer and he was very impressed with Aloo's ability in education and advised him to take up the offer to study in America. Warned the mother that she might lose him.

The Narrator
The youngest daughter in the family. It is from her point of view. Smart, studying at the university. She was very caring and saw her mother's pain and understood what she had through. She was very supportive and loving too. She was observant and sensitive and she knew that her brother really wanted to go to overseas and he was not keen to study locally.

Themes

1. Grab the opportunity
2. Making sacrifices for the fmaily
3. Not losing one's values and beliefs
4. Family, heritage and traditions matter in every home
5. Conflicts arise but can be overcome with rational thinking and consideration

Setting
Physical Setting
Upanga, Tanzania. Closed to wild land. It is a lonely, frightening place, as the narrator said.

Social setting
Aloo's family was interested in education and self-improvement. The mother was a very hard-working mother and she wanted nothing but the best for her children. People were generally poor and the mother believed that they can achieved great things through education.

Time

It is set in the present times.

Now, I will tell more about Moral Values, Point of View, Tone and Mood, Language and style and also Literary Devices on the next entry.

That is all for now. Keep reading various sources guys.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Keep reading and please understand the concept.

Stop Spreading Fault News, Morons.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

What are doing people? Have you heard about the incident happened in Makkah? It was a very sad event. My dad is there to perform his Hajj and we were worried about his safety. On the night the incident happened, we did not call him yet, but early the next day, we rang him and just to know that he picked up the phone and said that he is safe from the incident, we were so very happy. So happy, more to relief, I guess.

Now, as we all know, there were several Malaysian pilgrims involved in the incident and if I am not mistaken, five of them were dead. Innalillahi wa innailahiroji'un, may Allah graces your existences in Earth and keep you all by His side till forever. Amen. 

As I read through several blogs on the internet, I cam across this blog telling that the family of Cikgu Nuroshlizan were disappointed with the news circling in the social media. There were people editing and telling people that the late Cikgu was found in sujud position. And the family has confirmed with the Tabung Haji and also the responsible people, it was not. They denied the news. To me, it was a faulty. A faulty mistake made by fools.

Stop spreading news that is not even a news. Do not hurt the family. What happened if the children of Cikgu Nuroshlizan see those stupid news? What would they feel? Happy? Excited? To those people who happened to have shared this news, please. Stop it. Ok?

That is all from me, May Allah protect that pilgrims and grace them with provision and support and help them complete the Hajj and 'umrah that You have made incumbent upon them. Amin.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Need to gather my strength to write about SPM English paper.

Life Planning.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Today is *still Monday and today was the day for to teach my English tuition students at GiatMARA. Today, I had 5 students attended my class. It was fun and today, I was able to make them think about their future.

I started my lesson with the previous lesson from last week which is SPM clone questions and I had the session going to one hour. It was fun and considering that they have a long way to go in UNDERSTANDING English language, well, most of them, it was a wonderful yet interesting session indeed. 

We discussed about the questions. Some of them understood the questions and some didn't. But, I do not mind, they are willing learn and that made me care enough for them. But today was a little bit late in term of motivation. They had their motivation at the middle of the session. Well, not to blame them but the haze really took the toll on everyone, including me. Hate that *the haze.

Then I conducted a one hour activity, it was leisure activity, where they got the write and we discussed about a few things. Objective? Just to let them think about their own future. Take charge of their own future. Be brave and embrace their own take on fate. 

I asked them to write about their personal information. Yes, I did that a few month ago, which, one of them called it out, but I said, its going to be a revisiting. Meaning, I really want to see the differences between, they were at the first month and now. I want to see the development, well, most of them really have quite good command in English language but not near to the standard, but its still quite okay. They had open my eyes about learning. We, in this world, have different ability. Ones might not the same with the others. Same with learning language. Some might find it difficult and some might think its an the easiest think in the world. Difference? Of course. 

Then, next week, I will focus on how to make report because next month they will be having their internship with various shop. Now, before I ended the class, I did tell them about the life. Yes, I drew a chart and I put present year and five years to come. I made them a 5 years plan. I asked them, what they want to do with their lives.

Some answered, they want to study, some said they want to work. Then, I said, "If you want to study, where it would be? then, if you want to work, what kind of work that you want to do?". I asked. It made them think more and one of them stood up, "I do not want to plan teacher, I am afraid that if my plan did not work, then I would disappoint myself and my family".

Well, I did pause for while and answered,

"You need to plan for yourself, even though you are not planning, you actually have constructed a plan in your mind. Though its not visible but still, only you know your plan. Disappoint or not, that is risk that you need to gamble in life. Life is fair for being unfair to people and reality is the harsh-est thing ever. You cannot get what you want immediately, but you can work for it. So, no harm done in planning your own life, okay? you can plan but it depends on your efforts to make your plan works!, go for it".

She nodded and she understood where I was going with the advice.

Then, I told the class that if you are not going to study, then work. Work you arse off and get money as much as you can. *I did not use the word 'arse'. Yup, I did not. Then. I advised them to gain as much experiences in the field, so, they could open their own business one day. And, all of them really interested in that, and one of them said about online business.

I said, "Online business is easy to start but its hard to maintain'. She nodded.

I told them about I have my own company and what not. One of the stood up and asked," Own company? Like, real office?".

I said, "Nope, but more like SSM certificate. Now, if you want to open your own company and start all the way with real office, do you really think about the consequences? Now, if you have you own office, yes, the image has change but can u sustain the capital? Let say, you have to have like 10k per month just to pay salary and what not and you are making cakes as for the income. How many cakes do you really think that have to be sold in order for you to get 10k? U need to think about the competition, you are a new company that just started the business and you have to compete with the others. Can you manage that?"

She nodded and seemed thinking about my explanation. I said, "No one would tell this because most of the people think that you are very young to understand this thing but it is better for me to tell you this before someone tell you about it right?". Everyone nodded.

I felt relieved.

Now, That is all for now, I will be back with a few SPM Literature Component entries later on, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Luv ya/

SPM English Literature : Short Story : Leaving by M.G. Vassanji.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you do my dear readers? I really hope that you have read my previous entries because I really do believe that when you have read something, things will be played on your mind for quite some times.

Now, for this entry, I will write about another short stories for the SPM Literature Component Form 4 which is Leaving by M.G. Vassanji.

For those who have read Leaving, you will know what it is all about but for those who have not read yet, you need to know this. Read it with open mind and heart because once you have opened your mind and heart, then, you will able to extract all the information that you will need in answering the questions.

Now, Leaving is a short story about a teen boy named Aloo. He is a very bright young boy who happened to have this ambition of studying abroad. Leaving took place in Tanzania, Africa. But then, Aloo's mother is reluctant to let his son go. Why? It is because his mother is afraid to lose her son. She have seen a few people got back from abroad and lost their culture. She does not want that to happen to her son. Aloo is offered by the local university to study agriculture but he refused. He wants more, he wants to go abroad and study medicine in America, to be exact. 

Aloo's mother refuses to let him go and she also does not have money to buy the air ticket. She also feels hurt because its like, Aloo wants to go away from her and that makes her heart dismayed and she feels betrayed by Aloo's consideration for not considering her feeling as a mother. 

But then mother's heart is the best ever. Seeing Aloo's eagerness, she decides to talk to Aloo's school officer ; where he studies. Mr. Velji tells her that Aloo will get good education abroad but he is afraid that Aloo might lose his identity but Aloo states firmly that he will not get lost.

Aloo's mother advises him that not to give up on his values and beliefs before she allow Aloo to go. Aloo is excited and he also write to his mother who is wondering if he is going to comeback home or not. 

Well, that was a little bit about the synopsis about Leaving. To me, it was a wonderful yet inspiring short story. It was about family conflict but in a good way. To us Malaysians, if its about studying, everything is ok. We really put education ahead of everything. Yes, we are. That is why sometimes, we happened to overseen the important of politeness and respect in our everyday lives. How that?

Now, tha is all from me, I will write about the Characters, Plot, Setting, Time, Theme, Moral Values, Point of View, Tone and Mood, Language and Style and also Literary Devices. 

But, you have to read this story first, in order to understand what I will write here. You have to read it. It is not that hard to understand because, the language used in the short story is quite easy understand. No bombastic words used. So! Read on.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: One by one.  

SPM English Literature : Poem : The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

As promised, for this entry, I want to write about Themes, Moral Values and also, Language and Style for the poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

Themes :

1. Heroism and courage

According to the poem by Tennyson, the soldiers knew that they were up against a better armed enemy (Russians), yet they charged into battle with great courage. Now, this is where everything come across very doubtful in the modern days where we have lots of opinions and ideas. Logically, we were NOT going to charge at any battle, IF we know enemy has better guns and bombs, right? But, that was not modern days, they were not asked to think about them but the country. That was the vow that they took. But, what can do, right? Some were just bluntly followed the ruler WITHOUT analysing anything. Too bad.

2. Patriotism

This poem was written in the heyday of extreme nationalism and patriotism. As mentioned above, people during the war were thinking 'the other way'. Meaning, they were always agreed with their ruler without having 'the other thoughts'. In modern days, people are more questioning and critical in their concept of patriotism. 

3. Duty

From the poem, even though the soldiers knew that 'someone has blundered', still they had a strong sense of duty. It almost like, its their duty to protect the country of their own. They had this thought of they need to protect their families, their friends, their parents and they had to. Why? because they obeyed the order given to them. 

4. The tragedy of war

As we all know, war is not the best thing ever created by Man. We tend to think that by having war, we could solve many problems, but do really think that Iran has Nuclear powerplant? What has happened to those Middle East countries? And yet, those people believe in war? The same concept can be applied in this poem. How many loved ones had been sacrificed just for the sake of war? Yes, Tennyson wrote about the six hundred soldiers who involved in the charge, but with a little bit of common sense, we could just easily think about the counterpart, the Russians. They too must have been suffered from loss, didn't they? Tragedy indeed.

5. Leadership failure

Now, my friend once said, if we want to kill the snake, we need to smack the head first. So, in the failure of the charge by the 600 British soldiers, from what we understood from the poem, that 'someone' needed to be blamed. Why? because he was the caused of the unfortunate ambush. Now, the poem tells us that leadership is a serious responsibility which should be exercised with care and sensitivity. 

Moral Values

1. Patriotism

We nowadays lack of patriotism. Why? I do no know what made the cause of lack of patriotism, but we really need to change the attitude on that. We need to love our country like we love ourselves. The poem tells us that the spirit of self-sacrifice shown by the soldier even though they knew they might not survive the battle. 

2. Duty

We need to be responsible person at all time. Why? because we are our own responsibility. We need to have a sense of duty and obligation in our work. By doing the best at any time, we have a step closer to a better person. As the soldiers in the poem, they had to go the battle because its their duty. That came from the sense of obedience that those soldiers had. 

3. Anti-war Sentiment

This is actually one of the moral values. Anti-war sentiment, have you ever heard of the war in Vietnam? Thailand? Iraq? Syria? Iran? What would be benefits for BOTH parties? Answer? Nothing. It only brought benefits to one party. We as human, who happened to have great minds need to think about our environment. Wars did not just effect the Man but also the nature and wars killed humans. The poem can also be seen as subtle attack on the wastage of lives in war.

Language and Style

When we talk about language and style, we need to refer to the literary items that I believed you have learned from your teachers at school. If you have trouble understanding it, please, refer to your teachers, ask them about the literary items.

Repetition

The poet makes intensive use of repetition (refrains) to create a hypnotic effect. Examples of such refrains are half a league (repeated thrice) and Rode the six hundred (repeated four times). The refrains also give us the impression of an army marching forward.

Anaphora and Rhyme

Anaphora means 'backward reference'. There was one stand out example is the repeated use of 'Theirs' in the opening lines.

" Theirs not to make reply,

  Theirs not to reason why,

  Theirs but to do and die. "

Imagery

Now, imagery means giving adjective to the situation. For examples, 

'the mouth of Hell', 'jaws of Death' and also 'the valley of Death'.

With these images, we sense the poet's underlying unease about war even though he glorifies the heroism of the soldiers. The equation of war with the 'jaws of Death' suggests that war is a predator that feeds on human lives.

So, that is all on the explanation on the selected sub topics.

I really hope that you could understand a few points I have written. If you were to have any question, do not hesitate to email me at akmall_kiut@yahoo.com

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Know the concept then apply it with your own sense but do not astray from the original topic. *that's my advise.

SPM English Literature : Play

Assalamualaikum WBT,

I am still having quite a hard time with analysing the previous poem, which I want to study more on Language and Style. For this entry, I want to write about Play. Yes, play as in drama. In SPM, the students were given quite a lot of book for the literature components, one of them is Five Short Plays by Martyn Ford. This Five Short Plays by Martyn Ford is for Form 4 students, but still the students who are taking SPM need to study these plays.

According to the teachers whom I have been referring to, they said that, there are certain poems for certain places in Malaysia. *whut? One of the plays entitled, The Right Thing to Do is for the East Coast area. Okkkk? hahaha... well, I just follow what she said. Now, I will explain more on the creative aspect of the play, but for now, I will tell you quite in depth of what is Play.

What is a Play?

A play is essentially a story that is meant to be acted out [staged] in front of an audience. It can be prose form or poetry but it is meant to be heard and seen, and will have to be staged in a theatre to be enjoyed. A play will have the following main characteristics:

1. Character

The character means the role that the actors and actresses have to play in the play. Got that, right? In every play, the most important rose is protagonis. What is protagonist? Protagonist is the main character mostly, everything happens in a play, revolves around him/her. The we have minor characters, which serve specific function and once that is done, he/she exists. They may convey some messages, provide laughter or carry out a specific duty. For example, have you watched Spy by Melissa McCarthy? She was the main character and Rose Bryne, Jason Statham and Jude Law are somewhat not so main but almost main characters, got that? ok?

2. Plot

Now, plot tells you the story line and it is structured according to the particulars in story. It revolves around a conflict in which hero struggles against all odds to win heroine or to achieve something or to prove a point. It usually starts with Exposition, then Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and lastly Denouement. 

3. Theme

Theme tells audience what the play or drama is all about. As for the plot refers to the body of a play, the theme has been called its soul. Its like the life of a drama. Its like without great cake, colourful icing would not do any good. Right? 

4. Dialogue

Dialogue is what the characters speak, which carries message of the play. Usually, the script writer would add a lot language style in it. Without properly written, the dialogue would lost its sparks. Plus, the language and style of the dialogue will reflect the period and the social background of the characters. It is actually according to the  story line itself. If the story line is comedy, then usually the dialogue will have lots of comedic input in it.

5. Audience

As for the audience, if its a play at the school hall, then we would have no problem trying to understand the input given, or listening to the dialogues by the actors and the actresses. But, what if, the play is in the television? Would it be called a play? From my view, yes, it is. It is still a play, but the audience is not in front of them, in fact, it is recorded and be played in the television. Would they have the direct reaction from the audience? well, no but now with amazing role of social media, using  hashtag (#) we would have immediate reaction right away. 

6. Stagecraft.

Now, stagecraft is more on the technical issue. Traditionally, if a play is about Cinderella in the Red Queen's garden, we would have cardbord that painted in green colour, and have this painted red rose on it. But, have you ever heard of CGI? Yes, CGI makes things better. Hahaha,,, have you ever watched Harry Potter? *I am fan!! Avid Fan indeed. The effect in Harry Potter done by amazing CGI specialist made it one of the most expensive film ever in the world, therefore, do not underestimate the power of computer people. Hehe..

That is all for Play, later on I will write about this one play that I taught my students. The Right Thing to Do. It was a great play and I believe we all can relate to it but first you have to read it, so that you will have a clear understanding on that play. Ok?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s; Luv yals.

SPM English Literature : Poem : The Living Photograph

Assalamualaikum WBT,

This is the first poem that I want to share with you all.

Poem 1 : The Living Photograph

The Living Photograph

My small grandmother is tall there, 

Straight back, white, broderie anglaise shirt,

pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,

a kind, old smile round her eyes.

Her big hand holds mine,

white hand in the black hand.

Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye.

It was true, after all, that look.

My tall grandmother became small.

Her back round and hunched.

Her soup forgot to boil.

She went to the awful place grandmothers go.

Somewhere unknown, unthinkable

But there she is still,

In the photo with me at three,

The crinkled smile is still living, breathing.

Jackie Kay

Now, interpreting other's poem, we need to study the poet background first, then we can relate with what he or she was trying to convey. 

Poet

As you can see there, the poet's name is Jackie Kay which was born  November 9 1961 in Edinburgh, Scotland to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father. Her parents gave her away for adoption to white Scottish parents (John and Helen Kay) who brought her up in Glasgow with great affection. The grandmother in the poem above was her adoptive grandmother who also loved her as much as her biological parents. Thus, from an early age, Jackie Kay was often baffled by her ethnic identity as she looked "coloured" compared to her adoptive "white" grandmother and adoptive parents. This poem, like many other by Jackie Kay, reflects her generally happy, childhood, as well as her concerns about her true 'biracial' ethnic identity.

About the poem

The persona captured two images of her adoptive grandmother -one seen in the photograph when the persona was three years old and another image of her grandmother as the lady became older and finally passed away. The persona resonates with the memories of many young people who have lost their beloved grandparents. 

Theme

1. Appreciation and affection for a grandparent

2. Search for the persona's identity

3. The mystery of ageing and death

4. Filial piety ( Virtue respect for one's ancestor )

Moral Value

1. Filial piety

2. Inter-racial harmony

Tone/Mood of Poem

The poet used childlike voice but with confident and optimistic despite her reference to the grandmother's death.

Persona or Speaker

The persona in the poem is a child who grows from the age of three in the photograph to a more mature age.

Point of View

It was narrated by the persona in the first person

Language and Style

Persona and Child Talk

Contrasting Imagery

Descriptive Details.

Now, that is all for now, I will include more information from time to time and this is not the last entry you see from me. Yes. I have the Charge of the Light Brigade that I need to tell you more on.

Yes,

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Hope you could find something here, love.

SPM : English Literature Components.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you my avid/loyal readers. *is there's any? hahaha

Now, firstly, I would love to apologise for not being such a good blogger cause, I have been neglecting this blog with no English Grammar Entries. I am so sorry, please, forgive me for being such a jerk, okay?

Therefore, for today, because of I have been teaching my students, form 4 students a few things on Literature Components. I want to share with you one of two poems that I taught them.

But before that, I want to let you know what poetry is.

Poetry is a creative literary piece made up of specially-arranged words in metre or free verse. It is often written with rhyme and rhythm in a group of lines called stanza or verse.

What are the key elements of poetry?

Theme, Moral Value, Persona or Speaker, Setting, Tone and Mood, Point of View, Language and Style

Now, I will explain briefly on each of these.

Theme : The theme is the idea, point of view or perception expanded upon in the poem. It expresses a message, issue or feeling that the poet wishes to highlight. In simple words, theme is about how the author wants to convey. The idea that the author or poet want us to know.

Moral Value : These are lessons that can be learnt from the poem. Meaning, the goods and the bads that you can identify from the literature piece that you studied and you relate that with the moral value that you know. This is more like you understanding towards the piece itself.

Persona or Speaker :  The persona is the speaker or 'voice' in the poem. This is a person created by the poet to convey his message. Well, sometimes, the poet used "I, or We" as the pronoun, but there are poets chose to use names other than theirs just to tell the story.

Setting : The place where the poem takes place and the time when it is written.  It is also denotes the social environment of the poem.

Tone and mood : The tone is the poet's/speaker's attitude towards the subject, audience, or towards himself/herself. Mood refers to the general feeling created in the poem. It is connected with inner feelings and state of mind.

Points of view : This relates to theme a bit, but it more to the person who speaking in the poem. It may mean the persona or someone else. It can be conveyed in the first person point of view where the words 'I' or 'We' are used. This means that the persona and poet are the same person. It can also be written in the third person point of view where the words 'she', 'he', 'it' or 'they' are used. This persona is someone else other than the poet.

Language and Styles : Styles refers to the way a poet uses language to express his ideas. These are the commonly used styles in literature.

Imagery
Metaphor
Simile
Personafication
Sound Device
Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Symbolism
Repetition

These are the literature devices that usually used by the poets.

So, that is all for now, in the next entry, I will tell a bit on a poem entitled The Living Photograph.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: It is actually fun learning literature. Yes.


source : Modul Menguasai SPM Form 4 ( Kamala Ganehsan and Louis Rozario Doss ) from SASBADI. ISBN 978-983-59-7349-9

Little Laugh.

Assalamualaikum WBT

I have this cute joke that I want you to know, hahaha..

What is the answer?

Well, you got the punch line right? GUMMY BEAR. Gummy... hahaha...

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Little laugh wont hurt.

Be You.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Be you. Be yourself.

Sometimes, being ourselves is not what people want to see and they prefer we being someone else. How weird, they said to be yourself but then when we showed our true colours, they defied it.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: What is your colour?

Be Creative!!

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Our education is not creative, so! we have to be creative in order for us to fit into the education.

Be creative.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: your needs, your creativity, broaden your mind and accept the possibilities and apply it.

Treasure.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Do not ever give up when doing something because we do not know the hidden treasure.

Dont ever!

Assalamualaikum wbt

p/s: sometimes you just need to push a little bit more.

Be A Good Person..

Assalamualaikum WBT,


Do what you do best. Why? Because you will feel most likely to be very happy with everything.

Be it.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: okay.