Nice Group of people sharing dinner on a rainy night...

Nice Group of people sharing dinner on a rainy night...

Sunday, November 30, 2014

PASSWORD: Choose one:)




B&B for next class:


  • Prepare a review of a short story to share with other classmates.
  • Choose a song that could accompany it.

VOCABULARY Focus:

Synonyms of HATE:

1.      The idea of killing animals for food was an ………………to her.
Anathema animosity rancor

2.      There was a look of ………….in his eyes
Irritant  hatred odium

3.      Smoking is a particular  …………….of his.
Revenge Bugbear black beast

4.      He’s got an ………….to heights.
Hostility antagonism aversion

Antonyms of HATE:
  1. As a wolf is like a dog, so is a …………….. like a friend —Thomas Fuller
flatterer  blessing fondness
  1. The priest gave them his ……………………..
Like praise blessing.
  1. I have no ………….with such a stupid attitude
Friendship   sympathy   approval
  1. He has always shown a good deal of ……………….towards us.                                        Delight    admiration   goodwill

MELTING POT...of SHORT STORIES

a.        Songs :
       Brothers Four  “Turn around”
       The Beatles  When you’re eighty Four 
 Cindy Lauper Girls want to have fun 
 Bob Dylan  Forever Young

b.      Stories summaries:
Should Wizard Hit Mommy? The title refers to a line of a short story daddy is reading to her four-year-old daughter Jo. She loved being read the same stories at bedtime. The familiarity of the topics and characters made her feel comfortable and reassured. One day, dad changes the happy ending of the story. He wanted to show her daughter about the difficulties and unpleasant realities of life.
The End of the Party: It deals with twin brothers and how fear affected one of them in particular. Having a particular connection one supported the other emotionally, though in the end of the story the brother’s help proved to be not enough.
Poor Little Black Fellow: It deals with the topic of discrimination against black people in America and how a person can find other horizons where he could fit and develop in a comfortable way, away from home.
The Open Window: It is the story of a teenager who has a vivid imagination and creativity and makes no division between reality and fiction. She expresses a series of lies to Mr Framton who because of his poor nerves suffered a lot. And then she lied to her aunt about the poor man. Black humour could be expected from an early age.
Sophisticated Pets The story depicts is a romance between two women of different age and backgrounds. The pets of one of them serve well in the story as metaphors about the sophisticated situation the characters are experiencing.
c.     
      Authors: 
Born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois, he served in World War I and worked in journalism before publishing his story collection In Our Time. He was renowned for novels like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, which won the 1953 Pulitzer. In 1954, He won the Nobel Prize. He committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.

He was born on September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South Wales. In 1953, he published the best-selling story collection Someone Like You and married actress Patricia Neil. He published the popular book James and the Giant Peach in 1961. In 1964, he released another highly successfuly work, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was later adapted for two films. Over his decades-long writing career, he wrote 19 children's books. He died on November 23, 1990, in Oxford, England.

He was born on March 18, 1932, in Reading, Pennsylvania. His famous Rabbit series—including Rabbit, Run (1960); Rabbit Redux (1971);Rabbit Is Rich (1981, Pulitzer Prize); Rabbit at Rest (1990, Pulitzer Prize); and Rabbit Remembered (2001)—follows a very ordinary American man through the decades of the late 20th century. The most recent installment of the series, Rabbit Remembered, centers on characters from the earlier books in the wake of Rabbit's death. He died on January 27, 2009, in Danvers, Massachusetts.

d.      KEY phrases:
·         Each new story that Jack told was a slight variation of a basic tale: a small creature, usually named Roger had some problem and went with it to the wise old owl..
·         What’s the matter?- Peter asked. I don’t think I’m well. I oughtn’t to go to the party- answered Francis.
·         Arnold!- said Grace Pemberton. “I think we’d better go home to America”
·         I don’t want to go- he replied.
·         A most extraordinary man, a Mr Nuttel- said Mrs Sappleton. Could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of goodbye or apology … One would think he had seen a ghost.
·         They shared a fragrant kiss and prepared for the day’s events.
·         The American picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks…..He could not see the train.
·         Two tall glasses, soda water, whiskey. Fresh cubes in the thermos bucket. Mary was waiting for her husband to come back from work.
·         I shall be with you- he told Kathleen-sooner or later. You won’t forget that. You need do nothing but wait.
·         Sandy: He gets on my nerves! I tell people I’ve got me granddad staying because he’s been poorly. And they say: Oh! That’s nice!, just assuming he’s a lovely old gentleman like in the telly advert….

e.     QUOTATIONS:
“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die
 so that you may live as you wish.” ― Mother Teresa   

“I am the Love that Dare not Speak its Name” Alfred Bruce Douglas




Seasons of Love (HD)

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

PASSWORD: Choose a stanza

                                                        "The Ballad Of Love And Hate"

Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
My vacations ending. I'm coming home late.
The weather was fine and the ocean was great 
and I can't wait to see you again. 

Hate reads the letter and throws it away.
"No one here cares if you go or you stay.
I barely even noticed that you were away.
I'll see you or I won't, whatever."

Love sings a song as she sails through the sky.
The water looks bluer through her pretty eyes.
And everyone knows it whenever she flies,
and also when she comes down.

Hate keeps his head up and walks through the street.
Every stranger and drifter he greets.
And shakes hands with every loner he meets
With a serious look on his face.

Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow.
Carrying with her the good things we know.
A reason to live and a reason to grow.
To trust. To hope. To care.

Hate sits alone on the hood of his car.
Without much regard to the moon or the stars. 
Lazily killing the last of a jar 
Of the strongest stuff you can drink.

Love takes a taxi, a young man drives.
As soon as he sees her, hope fills his eyes.
But tears follow after, at the end of the ride, 
Cause he might never see her again.

Hate gets home lucky to still be alive.
He screams o'er the sidewalk and into the drive.
The clock in the kitchen says 2:55, 
And the clock in the kitchen is slow.

Love has been waiting, patient and kind.
Just wanting a phone call or some kind of sign,
That the one that she cares for, who's out of his mind,
Will make it back safe to her arms.

Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door.
Weary head hung, eyes to the floor.
He says "Love, I'm sorry", and she says, "What for?
I'm yours and that's it, Whatever.
I should not have been gone for so long.
I'm yours and that's it, forever."

You're mine and that's it, forever.

B&B for next meeting: WEDNESDAY 26th NOVEMBER

Write down a possible conversation about Comradin
between two speakers. Choose from:

·         Shredni Vashtar and the Houdan Hen
·         The maid and the gardener
·         Mrs De Ropp and the doctor
·         Munro and a close friend

VOCABULARY Focus:

SHORT STORY Topics:

  • imagination and reality, 
  • bullying, 
  • interpersonal relationships, 
  • religion,
  • love and hate, 
  • revenge, 
  • rebirth, 
  • anger, 
  • war, 
  • fate, 
  • good and evil, 
  • friendship, 
  • heroism and cowardice, 
  • rebellion, 
  • fear, 
  • failure and success, 
  • life and death,
  • any other?

Sredni Vashtar

'The Ballad of Love and Hate', Live at Memorial Hall

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

PASSWORD: Choose one:)


B&B for next class:


  • Read pages 176 and 177 up to Conradin's chant / hymn.
  • Highlight the following words on those pages and look them up in the dictionary: 
pottering   qualm   boon   litany   ransacked   pursed
  • Answer the following questions:
1. Why is Conradin’s imagination the mainstay of his life?
2. Why do you think Conradin hates his guardian? Give two examples to support your answer.
3. The tool shed is a refuge for Conradin. But he keeps it a well guarded secret. Why was this so?
4. Saki employs ironic humor in Sredni Vashtar. Pick out any two examples.
5. “Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar.” Why does Conradin implore Sredni Vashtar to help him?

H.H. MUNRO's quotations

VOCABULARY Focus 1:

antagonism 
succumb  
to thwart a person  
to lavish 
to dub a person 
nutmeg  
Anabatist
Houdan hen   
polecat ferret
tool shed    



VOCABULARY Focus 2: ANGER