Weekly Reflection 19/11/12-25/11/12

This week, we had a language session which we discussed collocations. Unfortunately, Miss Abena either didn't explain what a collocation was or I wasn't listening properly as I still don't know what a collocation is. We were given a worksheet where we had to match a noun with a given verb. This exercise seemed easy at first, but as the words we filled in I doubted whether my answers were correct as the remaining nouns didn't match the verb. I was also surprised to find that several collocations that I used to thought was right were actually wrong for example you can't "give someone a compliment" you can only "pay" and there were some which I presumed were wrong but was actually right for example, "cut a tooth"

Then came the second round of literature circle which went smoothly as last time. There was much talk about Madame, significance of the student's artwork, whether they were clones etc. We were able to keep track of this information via a shared Google Doc as it seems that these questions would aid us in examination preparation. I'm really satisfied with the group's overall effort and I know that with this dynamic effort we can give meaningful and insightful knowledge into our class study guide that we are currently creating Overall, Never Let Me Go was far better than I expected and it really showed to me that you should never judge a book by it's cover.

Later in the week, we analyzed a poem called Base Details. When I was analyzing the poem some stanza's in the poem gave away the what the entire poem was talking about in general. Basically, the author who is a solider imagines himself as a bad general and how he loathes the comfortable lifestyle that they live. I have learned through this activity that you should have some background knowledge on a poem beforehand, this allows us to read between the lines much more easily. Also, I have learned that there are just as equal interpretations of a poem. When we were doing the mat circle, I tend to easily shoot down opinions that contradict mine. I learn that analyze poetry is like looking at a piece of modern art, each person is entitled to their own opinions.

Overall, I feel that I have been successful in analyzing poetry this week. It's really quite interesting cracking the insides of a poem, revealing meanings and interpretations that give you that sense of awe and wonder.

Weekly Reflection 12/11/12-18/11/12

This week as we only had one English Class, we did quite a lot of individual and team assignments outside of class. This week, we began looking at our exam text, Never Let Me Go. At first glance, it seemed like a dull book, but after reading up to Chapter 4, the story has grown on me a bit and I'm interested to see where the story will develop.

During presentation time for our pre reading topic, disaster struck us all. Chua could not make it due to an eye infection and he had the actual presentation with him and what he left us with was a sloppy presentation that he made up in 10 minutes. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, we had no choice but to go impromptu. At the end of it all, we learned a lesson that we had to come prepared for any mishaps like this in the future.

This week, we began work on the study guide on Never Let Me Go that was planned last time. There was quite a lot of work ahead of us as we had to do various elements for our study guide.We were divided into lit circles and thankfully I got Brenon, Syahirah and Chua as teammates. Before we began working, we made a solemn "vow" to make sure that we all worked our hardest at any time. Then became the first session of many literature circles and unlike other groups we had a face to face discussion at the discussion room in the boarding house and I had to say I was quite pleased with the progress we've made so far. Everyone was very open minded and flexible and agreed to take on any task that we set as a group.

Hopefully during our second literature session, we can achieve the same kind of seamless discussion among group members either face to face or online.