English End of Year Review

1. Of all of the works that we have read and studied this year, which has been your favorite and why?*

*We have read Into the Wild, Catcher in the Rye, Maus, Animal Farm, The Tempest, and Frankenstein

My Favourite has been Maus, because it was an interesting book to read. This book about the World War, was entertaining, but also helped in understanding how life was. One can never know exactly how the soldiers would have felt, however, the pictures and the concept of using Mice, pigs and cats for characters made it all the worthwhile. Another interesting thing was how the story was told by a father, to his son who wanted to publish it.

2. Of all of the works that we have read and studied this year, which has been your least favorite and why?

My least favourite has been Into the Wild, because it was the one that I found least interesting. The book was well written, there is no doubt about that, however, I did not find the story very interesting. Although, the story of Cris McCandless, with the different interviews and stories, made it fun to read, for me, the story and the fact that he died in an unusual way was ok. It was a good book, but I don’t think that I would have read it on my own.

3. As a reader, what have you learned from English 10 this year? What do you still need to work on?

I have learned a lot in English 10 This year, in a lot of areas. I do feel however that the thing that helped me the most was learning to learning to think between the lines and come up with analysis. I need to work on annotating works and highlighting important quotes. Currently I do not annotate as much as I should, because I remember the story pretty well, but I fell that focusing on the themes and quotes can help me.

4. As a writer, what have you learned from English 10 this year? What do you still need to work on?

I have learned in English 10 how to make annotations of different texts that have been given from various books. This has been the most helpful to me this year, because it was something that I never really did in the past. On the other hand, I still feel that I need to improve on my essays in general. I am good at MLA format, but getting words into sentences and onto paper is something I still am not very good at.

5. As a student, what have you learned from English 10 this year? What do you still need to work on? (Here, you can think about such things as academic discipline, participation in class, working together as part of a group, making presentations, etc.)

I have learned to time myself much better, and I feel that I have learned to work much better in groups which has been a good experience. I also feel that the different types of texts and work have enabled me to have a better understanding and be prepared for whatever may come. I still feel however, that I need to try and finish things much ahead of time.

6. Technology has been a major part of English 10 this year. How do you think that your computer skills have grown and developed as a result? What would you still like to learn more about?

I feel that my computer skills have grown a lot since the beginning of the year. Not only did I learn about some great new software/ websites/ tools I learned how to use them effectively. Some of the many tools that we used, include : Animoto, Toondoo, Google docs, Google reader, Blogger, Spidercribe and Diigo. All of these programs were fun to use and made the class more interesting, especially because of the variety of media that we used.

7. What lessons from English 10 will you carry forward into the next stage of your academic journey?

I will carry many lessons forward from English 10, especially when it comes to annotating and analysis.  I feel that by learning to adopt these ideas into my essays and any piece of work that I do, I can see between the lines and write much better. Even now, I feel that I can write much better than I could in 9th grade. Another useful habit is to include lots of Quotes/ facts to back up my argument and make it more concrete.

The Tempest: A Review

The Tempest, a famous play, by English author and play-write, William Shakespeare. This play is the last known play that Shakespeare ever wrote, which is one of the reasons of why people have examined it so closely. Many critics, hope to find out what Shakespeare was going through, and how his plays have changed over time. This play is one of his comedies that has many themes. Some of them include: betrayal, lust, drunkenness, magic, revenge and colonialism. This play is based/inspired from the story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture.

The Tempest has been made into quite a few films, such as the one made by the BBC, and the new one that was released in 2010. The movie version that was made by the BBC  is similar to the play, as it uses almost all of the lines in the play and does not have many changes. Unlike the BBC version, the Hollywood film is more dramatic,  has  better good sound effects and is more suited to the modern audience. But does it reflect Shakespeare's work accurately?

The Hollywood film is made to sell, which means that even though it is based on the play, it has gone through changes. The most prominent change, has to be that Prospero (the main character of the book) has been played by the part of a woman,(Prospera), while the BBC version has the original, male role. Immediately, by changing the role of Prospero, the Father-Daughter relation ship has become the mother-daughter relationship.

Caliban has also changed but in appearance and is different in all three pieces. In the BBC movie, Caliban is a hairy "savage" who looks more like an early man than most men today. Caliban is also very stupid, and constantly puts himself in the same situation. In the Hollywood Movie, he looks like an African who  has white patches on his skin. He looks as if parts of his skin has been peeled off, but it could also be a pigmentation problem. What ever the reason, these characters don't look like Caliban from the book, who is constantly described as a fish. Between the two however, The Hollywood version does a better interpretation because, Caliban is not hairy, and in the book, Caliban is from Algiers.

Although the main plot is the same, the Hollywood film has many cuts and a variety of scenes are not in the same order as in the book. The language of Shakespeare is difficult to interpret into modern English, especially for those people who are listening to/reading it for the first time. Not only that but books are generally longer, than movies. As a result, lines need to be cut, words need to be changed, and certain elements need to be altered.

In my opinion, I think that the Hollywood play is better than the BBC film, because it is more of a film rather than a documentary and appeals to to the audience much better. the BBC film is also much older than the Hollywood film, which can be seen by the many good sound effects as well as better eye-catching  special effects. I still think however, that the play was better than both movies because it is the original and allows you to image what the story would have been like.

Drunk

Is it a feeling or a sensation,

I cannot stop these imaginations;

What has happened to me?

I’ve become really drunk beyond my mind,
Why are individuals so unkind;
Why can’t they leave me be?

It is a bringer of self-confidence,
Euphoria and without temperance;
It has to be the key.

However, I’m faced with accusation,
Why not any fair consideration;
Who to question is she?

I tried to cleanse myself, like a monk;
But it didn’t work out.... I’m still drunk.

Lost

A group of people stranded on a deserted island, with limited resources; what goes on in the mind of a survivor?

There are many types of people with many different personalities, but there are two categories that distinctively sets every one apart. Of all the people, there are those who are calm, and those who are not. It depends from person to person, however, I feel that there is no need to dwell worrying, because you are already in the situation and so need to act. The best thing to do would be to formulate a plan, give every one orders and set plans into action. After the situation has been assessed and all the survivors are rounded up, here are a list of basic things that need to be done:

• Gather any and all supplies
• Tend to the injured
• Scout and secure the perimeter
• find ways to send for help

and anything else that is necessary. 

Going into the Expressed Subconscious of Aaron and Chris

Similarities arise when one looks at Aaron Ralston and Chris McCandless, that not only define who they are but also are what led them to do what they did. These People were both adventurous and highly over confident, thinking that they could overcome any obstacle that came their way. Being over confident has helped them in a way; they kept on believing and managed to try and achieve their goal even when there was no hope.

If one moves away from the personalities just a little, and focuses on how prepared they were, it doesn't take much effort to see that Aaron was more prepared and more conscientious.  On the other hand, some people could argue that Chris lived in a time period much before that of Aaron.  This would have Aaron to benefit from the technological advances that occurred during the almost 11-13 year time difference.  even though there was a time difference, both people recorded their journey using a digital camera, but Aaron also had a video camera. Another difference ,was that Aaron wanted to tell people what happened and where he was, so his entries were of more detail. Although this is correct, one must go deeper into their minds as well their subconscience to find the real answer.

Aaron went on his expeditions as a leisure activity and did not take it that seriously; he would have never expected himself to be put into some kind of danger.  Chris on the other hand,  put himself in harms way to 'cleanse himself '. This spiritual undertaking, allowed him to connect with nature and the cosmos, however, bringing his personal affairs into the equation was not a good idea. When something enters an equation, something else must leave to balance it; it seems that Chris lost his common sense in the process. Chris also became addicted to proving himself, but to Who? That's the real question.

Was Chris was more prepared though as he knew exactly what he was getting himself into? Danger, loneliness, harsh conditions and constant travelling, all the attributes of his journey. If you were to ask me, I would say both of them made mistakes and took risks they shouldn't have. Aaron's first and foremost mistake was not telling anyone where he was going, this was followed by a series of chain reactions that in turn caused their consequences to unfold . Some of these include the neglectfulness of better equipment such as the Swiss army knife, the scarcity of supplies  as well as  the limitation of Communication.

In the end Chris died and Aaron escaped but why exactly? A reason to escape; one of most important factors in Aaron's survive. Chris was at a feud with his family and did not want to go back, Aaron later realized that  he longed for his family and friends."Once you begin to go crazy, sooner or later you will get bored of that  and start to learn." This is exactly what happened to Aaron. At first his mind played tricks on him and he began to hallucinate, but then when he got a hold of himself, he used all of his mental capacity to break free. He drank his urine, reduced his chances of Hypothermia by kept himself warm and eventually broke his arm then cut it free. "All you need is will power, commonsense, determination and hope. If used correctly, they become the ingredients to your eternal freedom."

Up...Up... and Away..

By the end of this year I hope to achieve what I now perceive to be unaccomplished. These are my goals to help me rise up:

1.  Loose weight

2.  Take risks and achieve more

3.  Be more competitive in SAISA events

4.  Manage my time more effectively

5  .Be able to speak fluent French

6.  After French, start to learn Spanish

7.  Improve my writing skills

Me, Myself and I

I was born in Lahore,Pakistan and I have two younger brothers called Ghanim and Mahad. At the age of almost 3, I moved to Saudi Arabia for 2 years with my Mother and Father. I did not like it as much as some of the other places I have lived; but it was pretty good nonetheless. After Saudi Arabia, me and my family moved to Dubai where my  brother Ghanim was born. I have lived in Dubai for 10 years and have attended 3 different schools.

When I was in Dubai, I didn't really like sports and so my interest became the arts. I loved Drama, Music and I also enjoyed art nevertheless, I still played sports outside of school regularly, and I am grateful that I got to experience many different things. I liked many other subjects as well,such as: Maths,Science, English, History Computers etc. I learned three languages at school: English, French and Arabic as well as one at home: Urdu.

When I grow up, I hope to do something important in life that is meaningful and that is beneficial to the community. I like helping people and I have decided that I would not take a job in a field that I find boring; I have to enjoy what I do.I enjoy hands on field work and would not enjoy doing lots of paperwork or spending all day stuck in an office.

I don't have a favorite movie or a book though I can say that I like detective stories along with fantasy ones. Some of the fiction books I enjoyed reading are: The Harry Potter series, The Da Vinci Code, The Nostradamus Prophesies and the Dreslin files. Occasionally though I read non-fiction books as well. My hobbies are reading books, playing board games, exercising and playing video games among others.

I am learning something new every day and I am starting to discover the values of things. I realize the importance of certian things and I want to learn more and more with the beginning of each new day.

My favorite thing to do is Scuba Diving. I love the ocean and so I Scuba dive at any given opportunity where ever I am. I am currently a rescue diver and I hope to get even better and increase my qualification overtime. Who knows I might even take Scuba Diving as my career and live in some exotic place.