The End of EDU 3217: Whole Course and Blogging

The whole course really taught us to interpret literature, especially plays and dramas, and at the same time appreciate the literary arts. Before this, I thought that literature was only of boring and dull stuff to be read, but after learning how to read and interpret the message in the plays and dramas, I found that literature is not merely entertainment or leisure, but it is all about understanding how the message in particular literary art connects to the world around us and how it is related to ourselves; of emotion, experience and spreading one’s sight to other part of the world. So far, learning literature field is best learnt from Dr. Edwin himself, I have never experienced this kind of study before with other teachers and lecturers. He taught us how to read and interpret plays, short stories and dramas in an entirely different perspective; not just reading and understanding the message directly, but with the anchor of other concepts, like the Greek mythologies, global issues, history, and also mockeries. I truly like the plays “The Swordfish, Then the Concubine” and “Oedipus Rex”; the storylines and the issues within. The plays are not just about telling stories, but they cater around the ironies of life, and mocking what’s not right.

Blogging is indeed a good way to reflect what we have learnt in the class, it is wide and motivating. Compared to online forum, blogging is freer to write our own opinions and sights, unlike online forum which is more formal and has the actual question to answer. The blog is the medium for us to share with each other. With blog, students would be free to express their judgments and reviews on the plays learned. Besides that, we can learn more by reading our friends’ blogs; learn from their opinions and their understanding of the studies. Well , blogs can be short and simple, it also can be pages long, depend on the mood of the blogger towards the play, in fact. Blogging also teaches us to widen our own our thinking, as different person has different ideas. One may think that a particular play is interesting and amazing (like Dr. Edwin said) and it might be total wreck of head (like most of the students said, haha..) nevertheless, blogging is a new tech of studying, unlike the on-paper reflections (some more, blogs can be edited, decorated and save cost). By blogging, we can also reflect on our friends post by commenting; opposing their judgments or giving supportive statements. Sadly, this EDU 3217 blog will end soon as the course has come to its end.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Dr. Edwin for the help and teachings that he has delivered to us. He has opened our eyes to the new sight of literature, wide and amazingly deep in meaning besides entertaining. I myself have gained the interest of reading literature after attending his lectures, honestly. It is sad that we are finishing the course soon. Thanks again to Dr. Edwin for lending a hand to give us tips, advices and his own experience. He even has given the effort to meet us with the famous playwright, Kee Thuan Chye.

I salute you, Dr. Edwin!

Next Stage: Pre and While

For my pre-reading, I drew some illustrations based on the titles of the chapters in “The Ring Doesn’t Fit”. I did this to explain how sequence of events work as I explained to the students that the illustrations simulated the flow of the play. I pasted the illustrations on the whiteboard, and the illustrations later be used for the while-reading activity. I managed to capture the students’ intention by showing the illustrations and injected the initiative to learn more on the topic.

For while-reading, I asked the students to form 4 groups. I distributed white papers and markers to each group and told each group to work on one chapter each. Each group was to summarize their chapter into short list, representing the significant events in the chapters. Then, I asked the groups to present their graphic form of events in front of the class and pasted them on the board according to the illustrations I pasted earlier. In the next activity, I distributed quiz sheets to the students and to be answered within 1 minute. The quiz was to arrange the events of the play in orders by numbering them. This session, I did not feel the fear of simulating the teaching, and I delivered the teaching with confidence and smooth. The reason: the students were my own friends, why should I be nervous? (hehehehe…)

This simulated teaching us somehow similar to how I was taught in the school. I thought that the activity was a good idea to practice (because we as the students at school liked the activity), therefore, I tried to simulate the idea into my microteaching. It was quite a good idea to do the activity, but since my students were of my own members in the class, therefore it was quite easy because the level of activity was quite low. Using paintings and illustrations are my strength in micro-teaching, because I can draw pictures that can attract the students, intentionally for secondary school students. I would maintain this strategy by using more interactive activities combining illustrations and questions, nevertheless, students in general like to see images, not entirely wordy activities. I have some weaknesses though, as I have the “natural ability” of speaking too fast. Even in daily conversations, my own friends cannot really catch my words, but “I dun rily care!” because it is tiring to wait if I were to listen to slow utterances from someone. I know this would be the major weakness if I were to be a teacher, therefore I should slow the “natural ability” (arrgghh…)

If I were to deliver the similar lesson again, I probably would use the same technique. This is because I found this strategy really works, especially for younger students. I would use more picture references for my teaching and prepare more interactive and interesting activities. Well, there might be some changes because students are made up of different levels and proficiencies, so the variety of activities depends on the classroom levels. I still have some questions in my mind regarding the simulated teaching though, like “Was my teaching really influential?”, “Have the students really understood what I was teaching?” and “Were my activities good enough?” Well, I think I would be able to solve these problems soon, there are times for improvements and learning from other people. For example, observing my colleagues presenting in class really opened my sight that there are varieties to prepare class activities and better ways in delivering the lesson. Other solutions; guidance from the lecturers and also prior knowledge of previous simulated teachings. The Internet as well, why not?

D Fe@R BeG!Ns! Activate and Initiate!

Simulated teaching is the most fearful progress in the field of studies. This is where our personalities and confidence are tested. Nervousness is a must, no one can and ever escaped from the feeling of uneasiness of presenting and simulating the teaching in class. And I myself, too, experienced these for every simulated teaching we had. I chose the short play “The Ring Doesn’t Fit” by Tan Kee Aun for my simulated teaching. I felt very nervous to present in front of the class. Well, it was not the first time, but as always, “What if it doesn’t work?” and “Will I be able to speak, not stuttering?” questions kept ringing in my head. The set induction was the vital part to initiate students’ interest of the teaching, so I thought of showing a line of comic strip to the students. I took the wedding pictures from the Internet and arranged them in Powerpoint slides, making the pictures as a strip of events more like the play itself. It showed the bride feeling nervous of her wedding ceremony and ran away. Later the bride was being consoled by the minister and the bridegroom. Together with the comic strip were talk bubbles to show what the characters were talking and thinking about. The students were very excited to read the comic from the slides especially about the “marriage is just like choking a banana, it’s huge, but you still eat it.” The dialogue was unintentionally written, it was actually spontaneously thought, but the students thought there was something fishy about it. Then, I asked what the students had in opinion of the comic strip, and they hastened to answer. Well, that proves my set induction was a good idea. I also explained about what I would teach for the lesson-of-the-day to the students so they would have the gist and scheme for the topic. And since there will be pre-reading and while-reading stages after this, the comic strip is a good idea to teach sequence of events!

KeeThuan Chye On the House

It was a great experience meeting the writer of the play The Swordfish, Then the Concubine. He is a playwright actor in fact. Well amazingly, I got to meet and speak to the person whom to me only appears as an image before. We had the session (more like a conference) with Kee Thuan Chye on Monday, March 30th 2009, thanks to Dr. Edwin for bringing him to us.
As a warmup, Kee Thuan Chye told us about his background; the school he attended, how he started writing, and what influenced his writings. Along the session, Kee Thuan Chye talked about Malaysian issues, from before independence until recent time. Although it was quite sensitive, what he talked about was in fact true, we do not really living the true “Malaysian” vision, and this was what he stresses in all his artworks. One of his saying that should be thought, “We do not really know what happened in the history”. Politics are dirty, politicians oppress not only among themselves, but entirely on the people of the country themselves. How far is our history true? How much truths are there in the history that we learnt formally? Who wrote the history? Do those writings really reflect what have happened to us? Why do we have to trust the history? Is the history that we learned reliable to be taught to the next generation? These were the questions he asked us to think about. He also talked about the politics in Malaysia; the case of Anwar Ibrahim, and the conspiracy before the process of Independence Day. All these made me think; while we are coming to lectures and other people live their daily routine, there are people on the institutions mocking, manipulating and oppressing others. These opened our mindview about what really happens around us; peace is in disguise.

At the end of the conference, we had the bookselling session with him, together with taking pictures, signing autographs, shaking hands and humoring. 4 books of his were on sale: “1984, Here and Now”, “March 8, The Day Malaysia Woke Up”, “We Could **** You Mr. Birch” and “The Big Purge” (this one I have read before for MLIE).

Thanks for the autograph, Kee Thuan Chye, and thanks to Dr. Edwin for taking so much trouble to let us meet the famous writer ;)

CoNTeNt Le@Rn1Ng

I have learnt that through the lectures and tutorials, I now am able to discover the messages and context of plays and dramas. Before this, reading or watching a play was never of my interest; in fact I would close the text or turn off any programs on plays if I see one.

It all started with the play Oedipus Rex that we read for the course. I found that the play created by Sophocles has a deep allegories and agendas although we merely imagine the play when we first read it. Well, I did search for Wikipedia information on Oedipus before I read the play itself, but when I have read the play all the way through, I find that the play has more variety and also mysterious compared to the synopsis from Wikipedia. Therefore, now I will try to read the actual plays before I searched the translated versions; in case the play is totally cracking my head. The most important aspect from the lectures and tutorials is the discussion of the storyline of the drama. This is because when the lecturer (Dr. Edwin) and tutor (Mr. Harold Poong) review the dramas, we learn that the meaning of the drama itself does not entirely lie on what we read on the surface; there are ironies, hidden agendas and mysteries propelled in every sentence. The discussion is very useful in our studies on dramas; as the interpretations are subjective, we can voice out our own opinions and interpretations because everyone thinks differently towards the play being studied. All these are related and helpful as we are major in English and minor in Literature, therefore, we could be the only ones having the widest thinking sphere in these field ;p Although we have learnt much of conventional term of interpreting and use the dramas from our lecturer and tutor, that will not just restrict how I would look at play with the schemata and skills I have. I could come with any new alternatives, new interpretations undiscovered before perhaps? Or new ways to teach students how to look at dramas and plays from a different perspective and easier way to understand and decipher the texts.

From what and how I have studied drama in this course, I am confident that I would be able to adopt and adapt the skills that I have learnt for future lessons if I were a teacher. I would adapt Dr. Edwin’s skills of interpreting dramas. He does not just depend on delivering surface messages lay on the paper; he also connects the elements of the drama with other aspects, like relations to religion, history, society and myths. The way he relates them mesmerizes me, as I thought reading dramas is just about how to act them. Indeed, there are more than meets the eye with dramas and plays. The more we relate and discover, the more wonders and awesomeness we could find how unique the writers have created their masterpieces. I would adapt these skills while teaching literature lessons, even though the text might be simple, but I would try my best to look on the text by any alternative way, widening the horizon of reading.

Anyway, I still have some questions in my head even after the lectures and tutorials: would I be able to study and interpret dramas and plays to the full extent? (coz y’know, Shakespeare’s masterpieces are totally head-cracking, I prefer those of Greeks arts and contemporary issues like Kee Thuan Chye’s. oh, by the way, I also enjoyed reading The Big Purge by Kee Thuan Chye) Hahaha… or lol… well, that does not matter. I am sure that I would be able to solve these problems when I really get to it; as the sayings say “practice makes perfect”. I believe I can learn pace by pace, as knowledge will always expand. Yes, I would need input from anyone, I am not perfect, but I can improve myself. There will always someone better where I can learn from. Maybe when I further my studies, or learn from other colleagues at school, or the fastest source, the Internet. Why not?

Macbeth

When Dr. Edwin said that we were to watch the movie version of Macbeth during our class, I was thinking of the movie version we had watched in the Student Access Centre (SAC) in IPTI. I thought it would be the same movie, but instead it was a totally different version of Macbeth play. The first version that we watched earlier in the teachers institute was more to stage-like performance, whereas the second version that we watched in DKAP B3-08 was more to a real outdoor setting. The first movie version was more to shadowy and dark setting; and showed only the speaking characters at once, whereas the second version that we watched was in ‘daily-living’ setting where any characters could appear at the time a character speaks or uttering soliloquy. Although both movie versions were made in about the same era, the first version appeared to be clearer and better in production although it was more like stage performance. And the most memorable thing is that the first version was easier to understand than the one we watched in DKAP B3-08. The second version, although made in a real living setting and dynamic-moving character, the characters seemed like they failed to show accurate expression according to the scripts, utterances and soliloquy. Only Lady Macbeth seemed to quite impressive of the way she feared the ghost and sleepwalking. The main character, Macbeth himself looked quite static in movement and I would say, “this man is not a good actor”. The fighting and war seemed fake as well. I mean, what were the other warriors doing merely standing like trees watching Macduff and Macbeth fighting to their death? The fighting and war (in my opinion) was supposed to be very deadly, full of hatred, revenge and intention to slash the opponent’s head! The soliloquy and aside were not directed well too, as the soliloquy and aside were in slow paces while the characters who were acting them did not quite follow the flow of expression. The three witches, however, were quite fine in the way they were performed and portrayed, but it was out off because they were supposed to disappear in the air, not walking on the beach. Moreover, the language in the movie was quite difficult to understand as it was entirely linguistically reversed, what more if uttered. It is more convenient to read the scripts from the book itself; better in presentation of intentions and actions. I would say, reading the play is better compared watching the play. No offense, but for me, it truly is ;p

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Last two weeks, we watched the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a movie made based on the history of England. From what I have observed, the story is written based on the Brechtian plot. Being the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth was seemingly the same as Oedipus, having the pride before she falls. Yet, in the end, she regained her strength and rose again against the Spanish conquerors and enemies. There is one thing that attracts me about the Elizabeth character. Her pride indirectly seemed to have protected her in all situations, including the attempt to shoot her dead. Yet, she survived and regained her stance. Also, her plans had made England achieved the victory although her kingdom was totally at weak. She used the elements of the thunder storm as the contributor of England’s victory against the huge Spanish Armada. Another is, although she had been very proud of her position, she treated everyone well (except when she was dipped in anger); of her assistant maid, Elizabeth (Bess) and voyager, Raleigh. The movie has a strong implication that one shall rise again despite the fall he suffers. Another unique implication said by Elizabeth was, “I am the Virgin Queen, but I am your mother, the mother of England”. She was also a determined and brave queen, willingly to join the war to defend her country, together with all her minute field of armies. Although she had assistants for ruling and war missions, Elizabeth was an intelligent planner as her plan of using the thunder storm worked well against the Spanish enemies. The language of the movie was of old British spoken language, and a little bit of Spanish conversations. Eventhough the language used was quite confusing as it was of reversed structure, but the meaning and content could be understood well. Overall, it was a nice historical movie; interesting and deep in meaning.

Teiresias

I like the way the Greek myths are presented; full of mystic power of the Gods, Kings and prophets. Teiresias is a prominent character in Greek mythology, a blind prophet born of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. There are lots of myths that include Teiresias in the episodes of oracles and prophecies, for he is the one as the messenger and also predicts the future. One of the plays that we have learnt, Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus) by Sophocles, also has Teiresias as one of the characters who injected the turn in the Oedipus’ fate. Teiresias had known that Oedipus was the murderer of King Laius, previous King of Thebes; and for he was sighted for the prophecy, he did not want to tell King Oedipus of this. After being forced to reveal the truth, Teiresias showed the downfall of Oedipus to the King himself, fulfilling the prophecy.
Teiresias, though never really appealed to be the main character, had been foretold as very wide in knowledge and sight, although he was blind physically. A phrophet of Zeus, Teiresias had participated in the seven generations of Theban. The facts of Teiresias really amaze me; of how he lived and events he had encountered before he becomes the great prophet. One myth is that he was blinded by Athena after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. From this myth, Teiresias was said to gain the ability to understand birdsong, after his mother begged for mercy and Athena sympathized by giving him the ability. Another unique myth is that Teireias was the only human who actually had transformed into a woman after being punished by the goddess Hera after harming the mating snakes. The continuum of the event gifted Teiresias the foresight and seven lives; a gift of pity from Zeus after Teiresias was blinded by Hera, accusing Teiresias of lying. Although it was hurting for him, he had been upheld for his gift.
Teiresias was the only person who had lived the life of man and woman, sighted and blind, therefore he had the vast knowledge and experiences. Although he was given the ability to see the future, Teiresias never directly told his visions, but rather were foretold in riddles, like his prophecy of King Oedipus. This reminds us that although we might see a person as a weakling, he might have things that we are not capable of having and doing. Teiresias can be a good example of a strong character; he does not have any properties in hand, blind and old, but his knowledge is beyond everyone, thus he is very well-respected and not to be offended.

Oedipus Rex

Greek mythologies entirely have their stories with the connection between the Gods and their people. We have studied the play by a pioneer writer of Greek, Sophocles, entitled Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus). Based on the Aristotlian plot, the story is about Oedipus, an heir of a Theban king, returned to his own kingdom and being the King after murdering the previous king, his father, King Laius. A prophecy had stated that Oedipus himself would be the murderer and husband of his own mother, although through all the events, Oedipus was blurred as he thought that he was from the line of Polybos, King of Corinth. Towards the end, he realized all the prophecies were true, after he was revealed as Laius’ son himself. One great impact from the story tells that one shall fall from the pride he has. Sophocles had made a good but rather a taboo expose of the Oedipus complex; a son would dream of taking the role of the father and become the husband of his own motherIn the play, Sophocles had shown that the taboo was not impossible, by showing Oedipus marrying the queen, his own mother after killing the king. Another is the appearance of Teiresias, a mystical blind prophet of Greek mythology. In the play, Teiresias appeared as a prophet who reveals to Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the murderer of the king and he actually had already married to his own mother. Sophocles has also used the theme reversal of fortune and element of fate (moira) to illustrate Oedipus’ pride as king and downfall as the blind beggar. The use of the character Teiresias had a strong impact on Oedipus’ life, bringing his pride to face downfall. At the end, the queen, Iocaste, killed herself after realizing that the king was her own son. Oedipus too, blinded his own eyes, unwilling to bear the sins he had done as the king.
Although the storyline is interesting, one would feel that the language of the play is entirely confusing. This is because the sentences are of reversed and look like riddles rather than direct conversations. Also, the choices of words used are of dual meaning, true on the surface meaning as well as the deep meaning of it. For example, Oedipus says, “I know that you are deathly sick; and yet, sick as you are, not one is as sick as I”. Here, Oedipus knows that the Theban are suffering of the plague; physically sick, but not sick as he feels; sick of the burden as the king to see his country facing the plague. Also, there are ironies in the play, such as when Oedipus says, “Until now I was a stranger to this tale, as I had been a stranger to the crime.” He states that he is not involved in the murder, but in the end, it will be revealed that Oedipus himself is the murderer. The name Oedipus itself means “swollen foot”, as Oedipus once a baby was tied at his foot ready to be killed but survived. Throughout the play, we can see lots of terms from the Greek language, like the prologue, antigone, ode and exodos, representing the stages of the play.

Working on the Drama Script

When we were assigned to work on writing a script for our course, I quickly browsed my mind for any attractive and creative ideas for the short drama. I had never written a script before, especially for a merely fifteen-minutes-long drama. Together with my group members, Ziham and Amir, we discussed about a suitable short drama for the lower secondary, but in the end, we could not finalize any ideas.
I was pacing back and forth in my room at one night, and suddenly (if not luckily), I got an idea of a story of a kampong boy. The story was like this: a boy is raised in a poor family; the father has passed away and lives with his mother. He gets to join the school football team (as he is active in sports) and asks from his mother to buy a new pair of football boot. His mother, who depends on the selling of kuih and nasi lemak cannot afford to buy one, tells him he would not get one in an instant. The boy sulks, and does not talk to the mother for days. One day, after he returns from the school, he finds a football boot bought for him and he joys; he wants to thank his mother but he cannot find her. He was sleeping in the evening when his uncle comes and tells him that the boy’s mother was hit by a hit and run accident. They rushed to the hospital just for the moment witnessing the mother exhales the last breath. Typical Malaysian story, isn’t it? First, we put the name of the boy as Jason, but after revising, a typical Malay boy should not be named an English name, and we called him Karim. Other characters were also changed into very archaic, ulu characters. There were some errors made, but those did not matter because we wanted to focus on the storyline, and editing could be done later.
There are some criteria that we have considered for writing the short drama. First, the drama is for only fifteen minutes. Secondly, it is meant for the lower secondary level, so the language should be simple and the story should not be complicated for them to comprehend. We tried this first draft, and duhh… the response we got was “Yawnn…” from Dr. Edwin.
Therefore, we tried to work on a new script. This time, we did a story that centers on the theme of remembering one’s family root. The story goes like this: a family who always went for vacations in foreign countries decides to go back to the village, for the next vacation. It is the wife’s suggestion, as they have never returned to their village since they got married. Besides, it would be a new experience for the children to enjoy a kampong life. The father shows the things he played and did during his childhood, and the kids like them very much. One day, the father shows his children how to play the wau; a kite in Malay language. While playing, the children ask him why they have never returned before. He explains that he wants to return to where he was raised, his own root, and says to the children that they should never neglect the importance of the family. One important significance in the drama is that the wau represents oneself; no matter how high the wau flies, it is still tied to the string that holds it. The wau signifies the bond in a family, no matter where we are, we should never forget our family root.
Writing a shot drama really teaches us to work on the plot and theme very well; too simple would be dull and too complicated would be de-motivating to read. Now that we have learnt the tips, we tried to make the second story consequential and capture the readers’ eyes to the end. Well, at least there are some twists in the second script, and we hope we would get positive responses so that we could continue without any rejections.

The Dancing Beast

Held on the celebration of the Chinese Lunar Year, the lion dance, unlike other dances presented by individual dancers, is played by 2 to 3 person aggressive and at the same time whirls to the beat of the drum. The dance itself comprises two or three lions performed at the same time. What fascinates me is that the dance is actually martial art moves performed to the drumbeat and not for fighting. Moreover, the dance is performed as resemblance to moves of the mystic Chinese lion roaring and balancing on wooden stances to reach tied vegies, angpow or placards. Not only to mimick an animal’s stride, but the dancers have to have an eye on their steps on the stances and lifting the lion’s head performer. The front player also has to deal with the dance moves as well as controlling the lion’s eye and jaw expression. The dance costume itself is set with red colors, wavy stripes and tribal linings to exhibit furious looks of the lion.

Lookin' Forward to Drama and Literature y'all..

Nothing can be more boring than listening or read the word LITERATURE in the eyes of modern society nowadays. Look at the literary books and novels, how the selling is in the market. One would think that it is a waste to print and publish those thick, so called fantasy, mythical, adventures and love story books while we can just watch them in real life action of movies. One would say only students read literary stuffs, those who are bookworms to the extent of geeks. Why should we read and study through the works of those authors and poets dead long ago? Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Wilfred Owen to name some.

Yet, we do forget from where literature comes from and what it brings. Shakespeare, who is famous for his works like Macbeth and King Lear, has brought the new meaning to live plays. He mesmerizes anyone with his poems and stories. But how? Through his flair of manipulating language and emotion. Though we do not entirely understand what his texts about at a first glance, but in time, we would realize the message is simple. Only that play on words could confuse and conceal. Wilfred Owen, as we see, creates literature from his own experience of war and torment. He showed the sight of killing to the eyes of the readers who are sitting, sipping hot coffee at home. Emily Dickinson, wrote her dark poetries from her depression and the sorrow side of the world that she saw. As linguistic and education researchers say, literature is “authentic and genuine”, of a person’s expression and emotion.

I remembered the first class meeting with Dr. Edwin this semester. He talked about the history of the drama, where it originates from and how it expands. It did quite mesmerize me though. I thought drama is merely for entertainment, well, the source says it deals with tragedy too. The history of drama correlates to the real history; religion, gender, morality and invasion. Christianity and morality brings in the retold of biblical anthology. By the way, his story of the biblical anthology of Abraham and Isaac was staggering as he told us that that fable is also called “the barbeque party”. After all, it does a little bit of impersonating a barbeque, but it is supposed not to be named that way as it was for holy sacrifice. It is surprising that early performances forbade women from acting. The history of invasion also takes place in the plays with the action of ancient wars, myth and heroes. Yes, we can see that from the plays of Greek’s gladiator, Chinese opera and those kabukis as well. Why not of our wayang kulit as well isn’t it?

Stage drama has become oblivion to the eyes of audience of this since the creation of radio, television and internet. The technology advancement has kept them at home watching filmed movies and modern drama. Well, the cinema is the most popular for paid public viewing of course, and the least people would do is attending theatres.

And, oh yes, 2009 brings in spectacular movies. Dragonball Evolution, Transformers 2, Wolverine: Origin, Street Fighter: Chun Li, The Fast and Furious 4, Underworld 3 and Terminator 4: Salvation to name some.