The Picture of Dorian Gray by O. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel written by Oscar Wilde in the 1890s, in which art, youth, and beauty are mixed together to develop the sense of the story.
Dorian was a young and beautiful man who captured the artistic imagination of Basil Hallward, a well-known artist. He depicted Dorian as he truly was, but he was disappointed by the painting because it revealed how much he felt about beauty and youth. His friend, Lord Henry Wotton, a famous wit, disagreed with him, saying that the portrait was Basil´s masterpiece. Dorian met Lord Henry at Basil´s studio and got strongly influenced by Lord Henry´s world view in which youth, beauty and pleasures were the main characteristics. Then, Dorian cursed the portrait, because it would remind him of his youth and beauty, and promised his soul if only the painting allowed him to stay young for ever.
Under lord Henry influence, Dorian started a life dedicated to the pursuits of pleasure. He fell in love with a young actress, whom he adored her acting. But, having she found and tasted real love ,she could not pretend to love on stage anymore, giving up acting. Soon after this, Dorian broke his engagement with her and returned home, where he noticed that his face on the portrait had changed. He was afraid that the curse could take place an decided to reconcile with the girl. However, this was impossible for Lord henry Told him that she had killed herself. Dorian hid the portrait in an upper room of his house, where no one could see his transformation, and started to live a life even worse; a life of sin and corruption, with new sensations and experiences, so far away from morality. Over the next eighteen years, he lived this luxurious life, and he remained young and beautiful. On the other hand, the figure on the portrait was wizened and hideous.
Dorian tried to mend his life and all the sins he had committed by destroying the painting, so he picked up a knife and plunged it into the portrait. His servants heard a cry coming from the upper room of the house and found his body stabbed in the heart. He was and old man, horrible and disfigured. Besides him was the portrait, reverted to its original form, in which Dorian was a beautiful young man.

QueenV

“A confederacy of Dunces”

I want to talk about a novel I read last year; its name is “A confederacy of Dunces”. It is an awesome masterpiece, written in the sixties by John Kennedy Toole. A confederacy of Dunces is a hilarious novel, full of bitter black humour and absurd situations, most of them caused by its main character called Ignatius Reilly and his alcoholic widowed mother. Reilly is a scornful beefy man in his thirties, whose repulsive appearance and attitudes draw people’s attention. A tweed cap, and a bushy dirty moustache, together with a pair of chubby cheeks are part of his physiognomy. Ignatius’s abominable behavior disturbs not only the people around him, but also the reader. He is a smart liar, who is constantly spoiling everything in his way, including his future plans of obtaining a good job.

Ignatius Reilly

An interesting film

On Saturday night, I saw a very good film. The name is Freedom writers, it is an American film directed by Richard La Gravense. It is based on a true story that took place in North America by the year 1993, in the classroom number 203 of a preparatory school. In this movie, a young teacher (Erin Gruwell) begins to work as an English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach. At first, she had many problems with her students because they weren´t interested in taking classes at school. They rejected the idea of learning .This preparatory has an integrated program that admit students with serious behavior problems and many of them also have problems with law. So they segregate themselves into social groups in the classroom. School´s authorities believe that students have no chance to change their lives. So they give up teaching them and some teachers treat them as criminals without future. Fortunately, everything changes because, the new teacher has another point of view of teaching, she treats them as human being no matter color, race, and religion or if they have problems with law. Erin Gruwell teaches students the concept of tolerance and shows them that everything can change and everything is possible. She gives them books that tell true stories about people who have suffered from persecution during their whole lives. Books like The Dairy of Anna Frank who is a Holocaust´s survivor. So students fell indentified with some characters from the book. Finally, students collect their own experiences and write down their stories to be published. I do recommend watching this film; it is a very, good message of hope for everybody.

Gocu

Freak accident

One day I was at home with my family, some of them were still sleeping, and others were doing nothing because it was another typical Sunday. It seems like it was just another Sunday but suddenly a great sound of some sort o explosion captured our attention.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my grandfather screaming “a helicopter!!!” and trying to cover himself from what it seems to be a helicopter crushing very near our house, and then bursting into flames. It was just a second, but I thought this helicopter had crashed into our house.
Well, I wasn’t so wrong, a light aircraft crashed very near at the back of our house. Fortunately, the pilot tumbled through the trees in the wooded area of my town and despite of the terrible injures he suffered he could survive from this unusual accident.

Isabella

Ibiza

The beautiful Mediterranean island of Ibiza is situated in the southwest of Mallorca.This island has a population of 88.000. But in summer two million tourists visit the island. Why? Because Ibiza is the clubbing capital of the world. It is called the party island. Top DJs play the latest dance music in 400 clubs and bars situated around the island´s two main towns , San Antonio and Ibiza town.
Ibiza has been a party island since the sixties when hippies first started coming to this place. But it became famous for clubbing with the arrival of Acid House in 1987. Since then, DJs have been playing dance music for all taste: dance , trance,techno ,garage, pop, rock and funk. Would you like visit "the party island" ?

Mamushka

Buenos Aires is the city of Tango

All around the city you can hear "milongas" , "tangos" and "valsecitos criollos".
Lots of people grew up hearing different stories about those popular dance clubs("tanguerías") in the centre of Buenos Aires , near the imposing Obelisco where inmigrants and "criollos" used to spend their nights dancing and drinking . They would work too many hours a day but they would make their lives enjoyable before going to bed.
Tango is inextricably linked to the dreams of Italians inmigrants who arrived in Argentina in search of a better life. They brought nothing but their hopes.
However , their tales, emotions, and experiences have provided an inspiration for many writers. For instance, they were witnesses of brilliant colours , unending couples of dancers and populated "conventillos". All of them you can find while you are walking in "Caminito" , listening to the everlasting "bandoneón".
It is the city of everyone who wants to feel the unique rhythm of Tango played by Discépolo, Homero Manzi , Cadícamo or Gardel in any ancient corner of the city.

Mamushka

The rain came

This short story, written by the Kenyan writer Grace Ogot, tell us about the customs and beliefs of the Luo tribe which was settled in Kenya near the Lake Victoria. The village was facing a severe drought and was in desperate need for rain. Most of the members of the tribe, strongly believed in the role of their ancestors as being Gods. One day, the chief of the tribe was told by his ancestors that the only way to save the village from the drought was to let his own daughter, Oganda, offer herself a sacrifice to the lake monster and, with this action, the rain will come down in torrents. On the one hand, the chief didn´t agree with his ancestors because he refused to loose his only daughter, but on the other hand, it was the life of all the members of the village which were taking risk. Of course everybody in the village approved the idea except for Oganda, her mother and father. Finally, Oganda accepted her fate and left the village, but when she was walking to the lake, she was rescued by a young man, Osinda. As soon as the couple fled, the life-giving rain fell at last.
What I find interesting about this story is the fact that sometimes, people are so selfish and cold that have the capacity for closing their minds and accept such a terrible thing as, in this case, human sacrifice without caring about the damage it may cause to a whole family. I think, these things occur because of the strong cultural influences on social groups.

Bryana

“TELLING STORIES” BY MAEVE BINCHY

This short story written by Maeve Binchy is about a couple who had some conflicts before their wedding. The thing is, that the evening before the day Andrew and Irene were due to be married, he arrived at her house and told her that he wasn´t ready and he wanted to cancel the wedding. He apologized for not talking to her before, since he had just realized that it wasn´t the right time for him to get married. Irene didn´t show any anger when she heard those news. On the contrary, she was calm and thoughtful listening to him. Besides, she respected his decision and she made him promise to her that he wouldn´t tell anyone about what was going on. Finally, thanks Irene´s strategies towards Andrew´s fears, they managed to solve the problem and lived happily for the rest of their lives.
I like this story, because it reflects the fears and doubts that any person has to face when taking a major step in his/her life such as starting a new job, moving to another country or even getting married. Sometimes, fears and doubts mixed with nerves make us hesitate about doing the right thing, at the right time, place or with the right person, but then, you decide and your life goes on differently because of the decision you´ve made.

Bryana


On the evening before the day when Andrew and Irene are due to be married, he arrives at her house with terrible news. Irene is surprised to see Andrew and she knows something is wrong. He is very nervous and tactlessness. He says that he isn´t ready, he doesn´t feel old enough to settle down, he isn´t certain enough that this is the Right Thing. In other words, he is not going to marry her. While Irene keeps massaging her hands with cream, she listens to him, calm and thoughtful, but says nothing. She shows little emotion in response to Andrew´s shocking news.
Andrew only concerns with how they are going to tell everybody that the ceremony would not take place. At that point, Irene stops creaming her hands and finally speaks. She is very careful to say the right thing and asks him to let her handle the situation. So, they agree to pretend that she would be the one who has changed her mind about getting married, leaving him waiting in church.
The following day, when Andrew is standing at the church suffering from nerves and thinking about Irene would never come, he listens the familiar chord “Here Comes The Bride” (indicating that the bride is entering the church). He turns like a groom turns and sees Irene, perfectly at ease on her father´s arm, smiling to the left and smiling to the right.
The fact that they are still married, years later, proves that Irene was right and there is no point in talking about it at all.
“Telling stories” by Maeve Binchy is a short story, which shows us how people react when they have to take decisions in their lives. It´s natural to have doubts but sometimes it´s just a moment´s nervousness. Anyway, whatever decision we take, life goes on. But I think that a close relationship like marriage demands complete honesty between the partners, and any relationship can´t survive when based on a deception like this. Sometimes people accept small lies and deceptions as necessities. Irene loves Andrew and she can´t see herself marrying anyone else but him. Perhaps she has an unhealthy obsession with him because in spite of everything, she is completely sure that marriage is the Right Thing.

Butterfly

A lovely place to visit

San Pedro is a city situated 164 km to northwest of Buenos Aires. Its wonderful attractions and vast countryside make it a fascinating place.
Anyone lucky enough to be able to visit San Pedro will find plenty of things to see and do. To begin with, the most famous place is called “El Indio”. It’s an important tourist attraction where the visitors can see enormous lakes which have many different kinds of fish. There are a lot of animals, for instance: hens, sheep, cows, bulls, goats and many others. A popular pastime in El Indio is fishing in its various forms – Fly fishing, spear fishing... etc. Visitors can also take part in other activities such as horse riding along very old and narrow streets, or if they prefer, they can ride a bicycle. El Indio was built within a vast countryside and it offers a fantastic view of the city.
Another thing to see is the magnificent Museum, one of the oldest attractions in San Pedro, where they even have dinosaur fossils.
San Pedro’s nightlife is exciting and varied. Visitors can have a drink in Barrio Alto, the ancient “pulpería” of the city. They can also enjoy delicious seafood at first class restaurants. For those who like to dance the night away there are also many lively nightclubs in the area.
San Pedro is a wonderful city. If you want to experience the beauty and fascination of a great place, it would be the perfect holiday destination for you.

Milkyway

The most frightening day of my life.

Last year I spent my summer holidays in the popular resort of Entre Rios. The hotel was comfortable and beautiful. The people were very friendly and talkative. In fact, I was having a marvellous holiday until the storm.
It was Saturday evening and everybody was relaxing by the swimming pool of the hotel. Some of us were listening to music, some of us were reading books, and others were playing in the water. Everything was calm and tranquil, but then all of a sudden, we heard an explosion! There was a terrible hush, and then a whisper of panic went around the place. An employee tried to appeal for calm, but he was drowned out by the sound of the swimming pool being struck by lightning. A strong wind blew, and suddenly all the things around us were in the air. I could hear people crying and shouting as we all saw trees, cars and bicycles flying through the sky. Then, against all odds, the strong wind stopped and rain began to fall. One of the men at the swimming pool announced that the situation was under control. I was very frightened. I suppose it only lasted a few minutes, but to me, it seemed like a lifetime.
Two years have passed since then, and to be honest, I don’t think I will ever be able to go to that place again. It was the most frightening experience of my life.

Milkyway

The solipsist

The other day, while I was looking for some piece of information, to write about on the blog, I found something that surprised me. According to some experts, a solipsist person is someone who believes that himself is the only thing that really exists, and that other people and the Universe in general exist only in his imagination, and if he quit imagining them they would cease to exist. It s very difficult to explain, isn´t it? .Anyway, Fredric Brown who is a famous writer, wrote a short story about a solipsist person. In this story Walter B, Jehovah, who is the main character, had been a solipsist person all his life but he didn´t know it. One day, he became in a practicing solipsist and within a week he had lost her wife and his job. So he decided to end his life. He tried to kill himself, but he couldn´t. On the contrary, he had to be at the Hospital many weeks. There, He considered end it all. Looking out the window, staring up at stars, he wished them out of exist, and they weren’t there anymore. He wished that everything could disappear, The Hospital, people, and the world itself .After that, he found himself suspended in a void. Finally He wished he could disappear too, but nothing happened. Strange he thought, can be a limit to a soliptisism? Suddenly he heard a voice, and Walter B, Jehovah asked, who are you? The voice said, I am the one who created the Universe which you have just willed out of existence. And now that you have taken my place, I can finally cease my own existence. The voice said. But how could I cease to exist? Jehovah asked. And the voice said, wait until somebody really believes what you believed, and then, you will be able to cease your existence. Then voiced disappeared. Walter, B, Jehovah, was alone in the empty space and there was only one thing he could do .He created the heaven and the earth, it took him seven days.
Gocu

Waiting for the Police

Waiting for the Police, by J. Jefferson, is a short story set in a boarding-house where nothing ever happens to make life more exciting for the people who live there. Until one day, one of the guests was found dead in his room. What happened? Who killed him? Shocked, the guests started to discuss their alibies. All of them mentioned what they were doing. They were considering who could have killed the man when a knock on the front door made them all jump out of their chairs. They heard footsteps approaching and saw someone entering the room: the dead man.
I chose this story for three reasons. First, because I really like mistery stories and to guess who the guilty person is. Second, because I think it is really well written, full of well-balanced dialogues. And finally, because it keeps the mistery of who the culprit is until the very end. It is at the end of the story when we find out what really happened.
Taken form a book called 20th Century English Short Stories.

Sun

What true Education should do by Sydney J. Harris

"Education is the central word in the text. It is about true education or the ideal education in other words what true education should do.
There are two points of view about education in one hand, many people think of a
student as a sort of animate sausage casing. Into this empty casing , the teachers are supposed to stuff " education ".It is inserting the stuffings of information into a person. This is the traditional view of Education.
On the other hand , we can find a new perspective where pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The role of the teachers is very important because the job of teaching is not to stuff them it is to help them open and reveal the riches within.
To finish Sidney Harris says " there are pearls in each of us , if only we knew how
to cultivate them with ardor and persistence " .

Mamushka

The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops is a science fiction short story written by E. M. Forster in 1909. In the story, human beings can not live on the surface of the earth, which is only dust, so they have created an underground world in order to survive. The two characters of the story are a mother and her son, Vashti and Kuno, who live in opposite sides of the world and have very opposed lifestyles and way of thinking.
In the story appear technological devices such as, a round plate that projects images and sounds of people (screen), switches and knobs that open, close, turn on and off, for instance, such devices. Also, there are buttons and switches everywhere, buttons to call for food, music or clothing, as well as to have a conversation with many people, at the same time and from different places (internet). Surprisingly, by the time the story was written, none of these mechanisms even existed. Therefore, this is one of the main characteristics of the story that have impressed me the most. So, if you are keen on science fiction stories, I totally recommend this particular one.

Isabella

Overcoming differences

Searching the Internet I came across this article which I found very interesting. It is taken from BBC News and it’s about different cultures and religions in British schools. One day a week, two West Yorkshire junior schools are swapping students to help them learn more about different cultures and religions. The purpose of this initiative is to enable children to interact with children outside their own religion and to experience other cultures.
I think it would be interesting to implement this, here, in Argentina, to stop the discrimination that exists nowadays in our schools. Children tend to discriminate other children from a different culture, religion or nationality. Sometimes, they can be really rude and offensive. But not only children do this, adults can have more prejudices than the children. So, one way to start correcting this behavior would be this one, to expose children to a different culture and to a different nationality and to make them realize they are very much alike.
Taken from BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk

Sun

A piece of advice

Hi people:

remember to use the spelling and grammar checker included in Word to improve your postings. Also, edit your piece of writing before sending it; this will help you to detect and correct mistakes.

Anahí

MULTI RACIAL BRITAIN by Diane Abbott MP, 5-11-2009

While reading the BBC site I came across this interesting article about different races and cultures coexisting in Britain. Diane Abott, an African descendent British MP, provides a brief and clear background of multi-racial Britain. British history shows that the country has always been composed of different races due to many invations. The thing is, that the variety of nationalities of the invasors had the same white skin colour and for centuries it was believed that this white race should be dominant. Black people also took part of the British Empire though they were usually disregarded and treated as slaves. Along centuries all these races have been mixing up. So, though there is many people who claim to be purely British, because they are white, blonde and blue-eyed (an stereotypical Briton appearence), we may be quite sure that they possibly have black generations back in family.
Nowadays, Britain is a much more open-minded country, which is composed of many different cultures.
But the question is... do they all have the same opportunities and rights? if so, what is going on in our own country that there is still a lot of discrimination when speaking about cultures, races and nationalities?

Izzie

The Chaser by John Collier

The Chaser is a story about a young man, Alan Austen, who is deeply in love with a woman called Diana, and wants her to feel the same about him. Apparently, she is indifferent to him. For that reason, Alan decides to go and see an old man who has an unusual job, he sales magic potions. When they start speaking about the potions, the old man shows him a liquid named glove-cleaner or life-cleaner, a potion of five thousand dollars. But Alan says that he needs a love potion. The old man tells him that there’s a love potion which costs only one dollar. Before giving the liquid to Alan, the old man says that the effects are everlasting. He assures Alan that only with a tiny measure; she will only want to be with him, to know everything about him, and to devote her complete life to satisfy him with overwhelming love. Finally Alan takes the liquid and leaves the place.
In my opinion, the principal character, Alan, who claims to be in love with Diana, is completely obsessed with her. He doesn’t take into account the way she feels about him, and neither has he tried to gain her love by his own means. I believe that we should try to accept how things are, without forcing things to happen. Besides the fact that he wants her to live only to love him, makes me think that a healthy relationship is the one in which both persons have the right to keep certain things for themselves, to have their own privacy and to be ordinary people as well as lovers. That’s the reason why I consider this an “obsession’s story” instead of a “love’s story”.

Sunshine

Sons and Daughters

The story is about a man, Merchant Moy, who wanted to have sons boys to carry on his family name. He was about forty years old and he had spent all his life building his business.
He was in Chinatown waiting for his wife, Madame Moy, who was in China, to cross the ocean to be with him. Once she arrived to Chinatown, she gave birth to two twin girls. But Merchant was not so happy because he wanted son boys, otherwise his family name would disappear. So, he decided to bribe the midwife and told her to register the birth of twin sons. After that, he told a servant to tell Chinatown that would be a great party in order to celebrate the birth. Then, he went to China with his two girls.
When he got there, he told his servant to look for two boys and he would pay anything to have them. Finally, he got the two boys. His wife realised what he had done and she felt very sad but she brought them up as if they were her real sons.
The years went by and when the boys were eighteen, Madame Moy sent them to China to look for wives. This is where they met a pair of two twin sisters and finally the boys married them.
Two years passed, and they had no children. Merchant took the girls to the doctor because he thought they could not have babies but the doctor said that they were in perfect health. Then, he decided to go to a temple to pray for them. In the temple, he met a temple-keeper who knew that Merchant had done something wrong with his children. So, he left the temple and he knew that he alone had placed a curse on his children.
A few years later, Merchant Moy died. When he was dead, there was a will that had to be read. In the will he had instructed that all his fortune had to be divided between his sons but they must change their family name. The boys obeyed the instructions.
Soon the daughters gave birth to a boy and to a girl. The name was lost, but the family would live on.
I think this story shows how ambitious people are in order to get everything in life no matters the consequences it would take. I realised that you do not have to be such a terrible person to have what you want to have because people would feel that you have no feelings doing the things you do. So, we need to be very careful when we try to get more and more money and everything and have to take into account not to harm nobody.

Poly

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about a young pregnant woman, Mary, who is married to a policeman, Patrick Maloney. One night, after her husband arrives from work, she gets to know that he is going to leave her. In a shock, and without analysing her actions, she hits him in the back of the head with a leg of lamb which she intended to cook for dinner, killing him. After that, Mary notices that she has to hide her crime, and prepares the lam leg to be cooked. Then, she decides what she is going to do in order not to be caught. She goes out to the grocery to buy some vegetables, and after that, she calls the police. When the police arrive, they question Mary and they all deduce that somebody had broken into the house while Mary was out, and killed Patrick with some object which was not around. While they are searching the house, they realize that the oven is still on. Mary offers them to eat the cooked leg, and they accept. While they are eating, they speak about the weapon without noticing that it is right under their noses.
This is a story that shows very clearly some features about human cruelty, perversity, and coldness when facing an extreme situation. Trough the description the author makes, it’s noticeable to see how this, loving, passionate, and kind wife becomes a calculating, cold-minded and violent person. Something that I consider attractive about the story is the way in which the author presents the characters. He describes the way this woman feels in such a vivid way that in many occasions he induces the reader to justify Mary’s actions.

Sunshine

Spirits of the Railway

The story took place in two different places. First, it was in China where hevy floodwaters swept and farmer Chu and his family lost everithing because of this unfortunate event. So, he had to look for work and he heard there there was work acorss the ocean in the New World.
Chu went there. Many months have passed and no one had heard anything about him again. That was the reason why his eldest son, Young Chu, went to the New World to look for his father.
Once he arrived there, he asked everybody about his father, but nobody had seen him. The days went by and Young Chu couldn’t find his father. So, he decided to get a job and he joined a work gang of thirty Chinese. It was a very hard work in a railway.
One afternoon, Young Chu andthe workers reached a mountain with a half-finished tunnel. Chu shouted his father’s name but some workers came running from the tunnel saying that the tunnel was hounted because they heard footsteps approaching but never arriving. Young Chu said that they had not to be afraid because ghosts were harmless and they had no reason to harm them. So, as Chu and the workers had to work there, he decided to spend the night and sleep there. During the night, he awake and heard a murmur. It was his father’s voice. He realised that his father was dead. As his father could not rest in peace, he asked Young Chu for a favor. Chu had to take chopsticks, straw matting, wrap them together and tie them, take the bundles to the top of the mountain and cover them with soil. Once he could do that, his father would finally sleep in peace and spirits never again disturbed the workers.
I think the story tries to explain us how difficult is being in a place where the weather is very dangerous. That’s why people have to look for other ways of living in other places, but doing this they would probably find some difficulties because it is not as easy to find a job in other countries as in ours. So, people have to think very well in order to get the better for them and for their family.

Poly

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel written in 1886 by Robert L. Stevenson. The plot of the novel develops and shows the inner and dark sides of human beings.
Dr Jekyll, the main character, is a respected and decent doctor, who knows how to do experiments, and is through them that he transforms himself into Mr Hyde. Mr Hyde is completely the antithesis of Dr Jekyll. He is a repugnant, violent and cruel man. He also is ugly and deformed, and he seems to have no conscience of his acts. Mr Hyde is Dr Jekyll´s dark side.
Dr Jekyll used to manage the potion and control himself when he became Mr Hyde, but there was a time in which he could not control and stop being Mr Hyde anymore. He needed large doses of the potion to avoid the transformation, and despite all the efforts he could not prevent it to happen again. He suffered from spontaneous metamorphoses that led him to think that he would be Mr Hyde permanently.
The end of the novel shows that all the human beings have a dark side, and that are desperately trying to keep that side under control. In my view, if we could not control our acts and our dark side, we all would be delinquents, or killers, or at least, we would be acting immorally.

QueenV

"ME" by Karen Jo Shapiro. With apologies to Joyce Kilmer ("Tree")

A teacher gave me this poem to work with in order to develop a sequence of classes, and I liked it very much. It is oriented to work with sixth form in a primary school. It is written in simple present. Though it has a complex vocabulary , its message is quite clear to understand. It mainly refers to "egocentrism" in adolescents and to this concept or feeling of being "unique". Throughout the reading, it's easily seen character's thoughts about how difficult would be for her to find someone who shares the same features or likes as hers.
I recommend it to you because it's an interesting reading, and also because I consider it is a useful resource to work with. It allows us, as teachers, to explore different contexts such as children lifes at school, at home, in the society, etc. Besides, the topic motivates learners to identify themselves with it and hence, to get involved during the whole class in a meaningful way.
Click HERE to read the poem.

Kelro

Song: “Spending my time” by Roxette

After listening to this song many times, I looked for its lyrics to read them because I was really interested in the song´s topic. The fact that it tells us about a solitary woman, who has fallen completely in love with a man, who doesn´t care about her, makes me feel sad and dissapointed because more than once, I felt in the same situation in which this woman feels. Besides, I can´t stop thinking about how powerful love is, it has the ability to make someone feel so small and miserable, as this woman says she feels after spending her time waiting for him to come. I also like this song very much because, like the message it transmits, I think that, the majority of the times, when people feel frustrated because of love matters, they tend to become depressed and close their minds without letting anyone help them, instead of finding a solution or at least try to change their views.

Bryana

Misery

Misery is a novel written by Stephen King. It´s an interesting, sad and terrible story, about an obsessive fan called Annie Wilkies. She is the number one fan of a writer called Paul Sheldon. He is an important novelist who wrote some pulp fiction novels in which the main character is Misery Chastein. After rescuing him from a terrible car accident, Annie discovers that he had decided to kill her favorite character and discontinue the series. So she confines Paul in remote cabin and forces him to rewrite his last book. Paul Sheldon used to write for living, but now, he was writing to stay alive. Nobody knew anything about him, she had kidnapped him. He tried to escape many times but he couldn´t. Finally, he went away.
This story shows how obsession could influence on people mind. Some experts talks about `` obsessive-compulsive disorder´´, that is a mental illness in which a person experiences recurrent, intrusive thoughts (obsession) and feels compelled to perform certain behaviors (compulsions) again and again. This obsessive- compulsive disorder usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood. There are many types of obsession, fan obsession, love obsession are the most common ones. But there are many others that are not so frequent, so be careful if you have some of the following symptoms, you can be an obsessive person.
Obsession about germ´s contamination, for example, people with this obsession may avoid shaking hands with other people because they fear contamination.
Obsession about injury someone, for example, people who may avoid driving because they fear injure someone in a traffic accident.
People with checking compulsion, they check and may sure they locked doors and windows or turn off water faucets.

Gocu

Bridge to Terabithia

This novel written by Katherine Paterson, is the story of two lonely children, named Jess and Leslie, who create a magical forest kingdom called Terabithia. This is an imaginary land of monsters, ogres and giants, which these childen, ruled as king and queen. Leslie is a newcomer to Jess´s school and despite many differences between them, including that she´s rich and he´s poor, she´s a city girl and he´s a country boy, they become close friends. The creation of the new land is the way they find to escape from home and school, where they aren´t well treated. This unreal world lets them forget for a moment about their parents, sisters, teachers and classmates. That´s why in Terabithia they set up their own rules. I think that what makes this novel interesting is that, although it´s written for children, it covers many issues related to adult´s life such as love, depression, loneliness, friendship and admiration. In my opinion, it´s really a fascinating and entertainig novel and I´m sure you´ll enjoy reading it.

Bryana

Beware of the Jabberwocky… and the traditional teachers.

This poem called “Jabberwocky” written by Lewis Carroll narrates the story of a young man who faced the monster called Jabberwocky, killed it, and returned home where he celebrated.
Particularly, it made me remind of what my Spanish teacher told me once. She said that English as a language was a cold set of structure that couldn’t be used to create good poetry. Whereas Spanish was the most romantic language, alive as a human heart, that allows the writers to create lots of resources to create whatever they want in different genres.
But the first time I read this poem, I realised how wrong she was. This “non-sense” piece of writing – as some authors have defined it – showed me that English permits the possibility of creating new words and new resources that are different ways of making poetry.
English is as alive as Spanish, but they’re different in many senses. It doesn’t mean that one of them is better than the other. We know differences are a treasure to be valued.
So, I suggest you read this poem bearing in mind what my teacher and some grammarian had said before, and try to see another face of English. Try to find out how wrong is the idea of considering a language better than others, and appreciate the resources you can gain from the different genres of literature in order to compare and contrast them. I strongly think I will help you in your classes.
Click HERE to read the poem and a glossary of terms.

Evan

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Folwers for Algernon is a science fiction short story of a mentally disabled man who eagerly awaits to be operated in orded to increase his IQ.
"I hope they use me", are the sad words of Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man who wants to be chosen to undergo this complicated surgical intervention. The thing is that it has just been practiced on a laboratory mouse,Algernon, and Charlie would be the first human being to experiment on. Throghout Charlie´s daily reports (which doctors asked him to write to analize his progress), we come to realize not only his medical evolution but also his inner feelings. While doctors just think in terms of a successful operation, Charlie innocently shows the reader how difficult to fit society is for him, even when he has reached a high IQ level.
I asked myself when I first read the story, how´s that ambitious doctors could take advantage of an innocent man who was clearly not aware of the risks of the operation? Was it worth doing it? Why did Charlie think that being smart was the only way of being accepted?
Though quite controversial, I think it is a nice story to reflect upon our society values.

Izzie

The Last Night of the World by Ray Bradbury

This story is about a conversation between a couple that had dreamed about the end of the world. In their dreams the Earth would stop that night. After talking for a long time and realizing that every one in the city had had the same dream, they discuss some ideas such as the reasons, or how is going to happen. They wonder what everybody else will do during their last night. They just choose to act as always do. They'd drink some coffe, wash dishes, put their girls into bed,read the papers, get into their bed and say goodbye.
Was that the last night of the world? I don't know!!! It's an opened-ending story. Don't you hate that kind of text? I do. Anyway, I invite you to read it because it develops some ideas to reflect on for example, the way in which we live, or maybe to discover what things we are missing in our lifes.

Kelro

Little Red Cap goes Rap!

This rap-like poem called “Little Red Rap” written by Tony Mitton narrates the classical story called “Little Red Cap” or “Little Red Riding Hood” in the form of a rap.
I think of it as a didactical resource in my class. It presents many features that we as teachers should take into account to use it.
First, it’s more or less the same story that the children might have already heard or watched – you know there are many versions of it nowadays. So it may be easier for the children to establish a link between the poem and the classical story.
Second, the use of rhymes may allow children to have fun while they read and work with the story. And the pun of the title would help them to make predictions about what the story is going to be.
Finally, the vocabulary and the way you present this rap would create a suitable atmosphere where your students could feel comfortable and ready to exploit this piece of writing in different ways.
For those reasons, I recommend the use of this poem in our primary school classes.
Click HERE to read the poem.

Evan

Endless Night. Auguries of innocence by William Blake

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

Well...these are my words on this beautiful words from William Blake. Everytime I read this poem (this is an extract though), I feel mesmerised by its powerful images and the messages it conveys to the reader. Full of imaginary passages, the text takes us to a world in which many maxims may leave a deep timeless message. I have the thought, the first lines give the expression of capturing simple things and, reading them "between lines", we can make new interpretations about them. "Hold eternity in an hour"... Gosh! So nice...At first sight it makes no sense, but thinking on that premise, an hour might be an eternal moment in our minds. "Every night and every morn, some to misery are born"; "Every morn and every night, some are born to sweet delight"..."Some are born to endless night". Once again, so much powerful words, loaded of pictures and sounds. Of course, I think this kind of poetry, it's very likely to be interpret from a persona point of view, with own-thinking perspective. With respect to the last lines, I dare to say they're great. I think it tries to recapture life in the world, and the aftertimes every person has to experience. It's like a mystery of fate in which we can find some many contrasts. I think this is very worthy of read. As the poem says...a sweet delight.

Slavonic