Friday, February 20, 2009

Something New or Interesting

Write a short paragraph that describes something new or interesting you have learned in this class. Write no more than 150 words in a single paragraph, please.
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15 comments:

Brad said...

Poetry shakes people up. That’s what I learned. It may seem simple to read a poem. Poems are short, after all, and although densely written, they at least offer the chance of understanding “something important.” There you go. Szymborska gets in your ear, doesn’t she? Szymborska challenges you every time. A dog’s “warm fur”! Doesn’t stroking its fur sound lovely? But what does it mean to “squeeze inside events”? I imagine a tight place, uncomfortable and unsettling and then ponder conversations with “the lamp switched off.” An old fashioned “lamp” — not the more familiar “light.” The translation is good; Szymborska betrays her age. She has the jaded eye of a long-lived woman. So I noted a look on students’ faces today that seemed to say, does she really mean what she says? As for me, I’m happy to follow her “spark on the wind” with my eyes.

February 20, 2009 at 8:11 PM
LINDA LIU said...

Poetry is magic. It changes my thinking. I have learnt three poems since this term. They are all written by a polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. By reading her poems, my mode has waved from inspiring to stirring then to contemplating. Those poems bring me an impulse of deeper thinking in our life. Trying to figure out what is there behind lines, I feel myself to be squeezed like a sponge: the old easy part is flowing away, while instead, the new inspiration is pouring in. Although the process is tough, it is worthwhile and it raises my spirit. When I did the Internet research, I found an interesting fact: one of Wislawa Szymborska’s work called “ Love At First Sight” inspired my favorite Asian cartoonist Jimmy Liao’s work called “Left and Right”. The English version of this cartoon can be seen at http://
www.site.uottawa.ca/~qingchen/leftandright.htm . if you see this work, you will agree with me that poetry is magic. Poetry inspired Jimmy, Jimmy inspired me and then I am inspired by poetry. What an interesting circle!
--175words, first draft by Linda

February 22, 2009 at 7:23 PM
snow said...

The three poems of “Possibilities”, “Return Baggage” and “A Note”, one after another, lead me to know more and more about the famous polish poet, Wisława Szymborska, only in the first month of the English 11. Savouring the sentences of her poems, I am deeply moved by the mood of the poems. Her poems express the deep thought through image words and vivid examples, which are all from our ordinary life. Like her compact poem “ A Note”, at beginning, I know almost every words, but it seems a big puzzle to me. After reading silently again and again, and discussing with my classmates, I seem to understand that the poem tells people what is the real life. I admire the poet for using wit style to express the deep meaning of life. The poem touches my heart, I ask myself silently, “ What is the important in my life?” Right now, I still ponder over the poem, and try to find the answer of my question.
----167 words

February 23, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Jane said...

I have read three famous Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska’s poems so far in this English 11 class. I thank our teacher for introducing these beautiful poems to us. I found that I was attracted by its atmosphere which her poem made and let me think over and over about life itself. Especially the poem “A Note”, as it is name “A Note”, the author wrote down many moments that it happened in her life. Life is warm--- “to be a dog, or stroke its warm fur”; life is pain---“from everything it’s not’; life is quiet---“dawdle in views to seek the least of all possible mistakes”; life is unforgettable----“to remember for a moment a conversation”; and life is not always like a straight road. Sometimes you may stand in the intersection and doubt which direction you should go. Yes, this is the real life, it is contain every sour, sweet, bitter, spicy things. But the only way you can do is “follow a spark on the wind with your eyes, and keep on not knowing some important.” Her poem gives me a spirit and another way to think about life.

February 23, 2009 at 3:45 PM
molly said...

Computer Blogging: The “Subtle Instructor”



Blogging on the computer can be a powerful teaching tool. By means of it I have learned to know my computer, improved my typing skill, learned other peoples views, learned from others’ writing, and become literate with computers. The computer has always been one of the things I despised. For some reason I thought the bad part out-weighed the good part of it. For example, finding out that an estimated $5 billion is lost to computer crime each year and devotion to the computer can cost much in terms of time, sleep, health, and even money, is something I find hard to comprehend. But, my English 11 class made me have a different view of this master tool of learning. For the 3 weeks I’ve been in this class, I have noticed that I am getting to know a lot about computers that I didn’t know before. My typing skills have improved; I am learning from others’ opinions which is helping me write better, and most of all, I am no longer ignorant of computers. Computer blogging is definitely an important tool in learning. It is worth getting the hang of .

Computer Blogging: The “Subtle Instructor

February 23, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Frank Jin said...

The poem, the life

So far in this term, we have learned three poems written by Polish famous poet Wislawa Szymborska. These three poems all express her attitudes to life from different angles. The poem, Possibilities, shows her thirsty for beautiful things. The poem, Return Baggage, embodies her deep thoughtfulness of life and fate. And the poem, The Note, describes her limitless attachment to the life. Her poems look literally easy and plain to understand. However, when I read it again and again, I always feel that all in the letter just like a tip of the iceberg. All her strong feeling submerge under the water. It somewhat loomed out form the sea but I need to feel it carefully in my heart. These are just the successful and absorbing points of her poems. Her poems never let the audience to follow her views and feelings. What she wants is to evoke the resonance of the audience and arouse the deep consideration along her poems. Everyone, according different experiences and thinking, may gets the very different considerations and reflections. Whatever, life is compared to a voyage, everyone has his/her own sea route.

192 words

February 24, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Qin said...

I was held tightly by three poems in the past three weeks. Wislawa Szymborska, who is a good poet, has been branded into my mind. Her poetry touches a chord; yet, my spirit was stirred to undulate intensively. The poem, “Return Baggage,” led me to ponder our short human life compared to the vastness of the universe. The poem “A Note,” draws me back to a carefree life with “Mislay your keys in the grass; and to follow a spark on the wind with your eyes; and to keep on not knowing something important.” I wandered in her poetic stanzas and tried to hold Szymborska’s poetic pulse; yet, I was captured by her rhythm. I wonder how to understand deeply her poetry and imagine the poetic conceptions simultaneously. I racked my brains about these questions. So, these poems will always remain a maze for me.
145 words, by Qin

February 24, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Wazhma said...

Blogging is very much helping me to improve my English both writing and reading. It is something I learnt in English 11 course.
Blogging is one of my favourites. After reading the instructions on homework and Brad’s example which is orienting us on how to do the homework, I start looking for the postings of my classmates. It is inspiring me to write because I see the effort they put to work.
Plus, by blogging classmates are able to know each other better. It is like networking. If it was not for the blog, I would think and write something I thought was fine, and bring it the next day to class. I would never know what my classmates write about. Now, I read at least five or six home works, and write and read one my own which is really helpful. Blogging makes me read more, and then write something better than my usual writings.

156 words

February 24, 2009 at 9:30 PM
suzie said...

Student Blog

This semester I learn to use Student Blog in English 11 cource study, and recently I get used to log on class blog reading my classmates' articles before writing my assignment. That doesn't mean I want to copy somebody's meteral although they are really good; I prefer my own "VOICE" very much, and I prefer to do a little bit different work with others. However, reading other's openions really help me to open my mind. For example, if I do a question, I get only one answer, but commonly a question has more than one answers. Even a Math question with only one answer still has vary solving methods to reach that sole answer.The Student Blog provide me chances to study other's solving methods. In addition, those post articles have nice sentences and vercabulary which I admire very much. So in brief the Student Blog is a new,interesting and useful way which I appricate very much for my English study.

February 24, 2009 at 9:45 PM
maria said...

English 11
#50963
February 24, 2009




NEW POETS AND NEW PEOPLE


Since I began English 11 class, I have had the opportunity to know my classmates. This class has been very interesting because of the interpretation of poems, we make in groups. We are not just explaining what we understood, but helping each other to comprehend what the writer wanted to express. In this course group, I can interact with people to whom I can learn about their point of view and their lives. Furthermore, I can practice my communication skills, and my understanding in different accents. One of the reasons I registered in English 11. During this time, I have been talking more in class, and definitely, I expect to speak more fluent at the end of the semester. Besides, I am more attentive about follow instructions: At the beginning of this class, I used to read just the first part of the instructions, then I began to write by own. This course has been interesting in the way that we know different writers and new people, perhaps good friends.



170 words

February 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM
sherry said...

I have learned some new things so far in this term. The BLOG is very fresh, interested, and challenged for me. Also I feel it’s very helpful because I could learn the teacher’s example and peer’s views that give me some enlightened to understand the assignments well. On the other hand, I have learned three publish poem by Wislawa Szymborska. These three poems have different peculiarities. Usually the poetry tells people the truth in the poem about our life. Like A Note, the poetry tells us her point about the life. It’s complicated because everyone has deferent opinion and apprehension, and I feel most is the essence in our life. I am very like this poem so that I will recommend this poem to my son and my friends.

February 25, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Maryann said...

Maryann Chung

Blogging is definitely a new thing I have learned in this class. At first, I felt vulnerable to post my unpolished writing on the blog. However, soon after, I see the benefits of blogging. It’s certainly helpful to read the teacher’s writings with the same topics. Through his sample writings, I have been learning new and different skills, styles, and techniques of writings. Also, it’s fascinating to read other students’ writings; diversity in views, ideas and approaches. Small group discussion is another interesting method I’ve learned in this class. Through sharing, we, the class mates, not only enhance our English skills, but also get to know each other better. I’m absolutely enjoying each class- so far so good. I look forward to have lots of fun while learning the English skills.

-134 words

February 25, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Rita said...

For me the new things that we have learned in this term were poems. To compare with other two poems which were written by the same poet, Wislawa Szymborska, I really like the List Poems, because I can easily write my own poem by following the “rules”. It is also fun for reading the list Poems’ examples that Brad gave us. The other two poems let me think again about life. Reading the poems in the group and sharing our understanding to each other really help me to comprehend the meaning of the poems. Although we read the same poem at same time, different experiences and culture backgrounds let us think in many different ways. It is hard for me to learn poems, but I feel that it is necessary to understand this part of English.

-136 words-

February 25, 2009 at 11:19 AM
taruna said...

I have learned three things in class on 20-Feb-09 that has interested me. First, of all was the poem “NOTE by Wislawa Szymborska” that we did in class on 20-Feb-09. This poem really inspired me by telling me that life can challenge you by all means now matter how or when. For example , “life is the only way to get covered in leaves, catch your breath on the sand, rise on wind” this stanza told me that life is such a beautiful thing that god gave us and we should not waste it by doing or thinking about wrong things. Secondly, in class I got really inspired by the way Brad (the teacher), teaches. His English is so fluent that I wish I could speak like him. Lastly, in class the thing that was really interesting was the amount of students we are in. We are such a small group that we could learn lots of things and have fun at the same time. In addition to that Brad likes to make small groups when we are having any discussion question and the best think about that is the same group will not stay together the next time, we have a group question .In that cases we can learn lots of things from other people too. I thing I will teach lots of new thing this team in English 11 class.
TARUNABEN PATEL
46846
20 February 2009

February 25, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Najlaa said...

Something new is required from me in English 11. Computer was always an absurd, idle screen for me. I had never tried to learn how to use .Even though it is obvious that computer is very important and useful in our cycle, I had never been attracted by its existence. Since I have begun English 11, our teacher told us that homework is not accepted without typing.Also, homework must be posted on the blog before coming to class. In the first week I was very disturbed and annoyed how to accomplish my homeworks. I had some help from my husband, my son and my friend to know how to use computer. My friend who is a pharmacist taught me how to create a blog and post my homework. It took me more than two hours to type my first essay homework on computer. After a few weeks of using computer, I can admit that it is an interesting and valuable invention. I have learned lots of things in a very short time. I enjoyed my time while I am sitting enthusiastically in front of it. It’s a great opportunity for me to be one of the used computers. I have amused my time to learn a new thing in a short time.

February 26, 2009 at 10:47 PM

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