The Midnight Satay Vendor

"at home in the kampung a wife and children

await the meagre day's collection:

some ringgit and a few sen

that go nowhere

in these days of inflasi; and the election

too, with its promise, come and gone"

Extracted from The Midnight Satay Vendor 

This extract from the poem the Midnight Satay Vendor shows the vendor and his family is in a poor social class as described in " at home in the kampung " as only people in low social classes lived in " kampungs " or villages. Next, this extract also shows that the vendor only earn enough to pay for the basic needs of the family as described in the line " some ringgit and a few sen that goes nowhere " This shows that the vendor has only enough profit to cover the essentials like supplies, electricity and water. It also shows that the vendor has no money to spend on luxuries as mentioned: " in these days of inflasi " During inflation, prices of the commodities go up, thus the vendor has only enough to pay for basic needs. Lastly, the extract shows that the government makes false promises as shown in the line " and the election too,with it's promise, come and gone " This clearly shows the the government in the poem had made false promises such as pay rises and cheaper commodities to win seats during the election and were never actually carried out. In a nutshell, this extract demonstrates that the satay vendor is currently living in hardship and can barely support in family in a fast pace developing world.

Learning About Poetry

On Friday, we did a few exercises to learn on the terms used in poetry. We had to list down words into two categories, TERMS I 100% UNDERSTAND and TERMS I DON'T 100% UNDERSTAND. I was quite surprised I did not understand most of the terms, as I came from a government school. Then Miss Abena divided us into pairs and teach each other meanings that we did not understand. If there was a word we could not understand we would highlight it. Afterwards, we would write them on some paper and stick them on the board. Afterwards Miss Abena told us to get three cards an look for them on the internet.

Afterwards, we played a little game where we would tell each other the meaning of the words and quiz each other on them. Then we would trade cards and the cycle starts again. This was a great activity to stimulate our minds to learn on the terms of poetry, much better than the mundane way of the teacher teaching us on the board and asking us to memorize them by heart.This method was much better in the fact, it made the learning process easier and more enjoyable. I didn't feel any part of the lesson was bad, and it was a really great time.

I guess in my opinion, to reinforce the terms we have leaned, some practice exercises would be a great to to reinforce the terms that I have just learned.

Ng Wi Kiat