The Final Exam

Hehehe.. Didn't think I did well for the final exam.. I was having a bad fever and the condition of the hall made it worse. I can't seem to sit still. Hmph... I hope my result won't be THAT bad.. The next day, we went home... Tadaima, Okaasan!! I think I will continue posting in this blog.. It's been a fun experience.. Hope that me and my friends would continue keep in touch this way, though friendster can take care of that already.. Jaa.. mata ne!!

"Passionate Dancing"

We watched a play entitled "Passion" last night at KL Performing Arts Center. It's a dance performance with no dialogues at all. But the thing that I found most interesting is that even though there are no lines whatsoever (except for the narrations at the beginning and at the end of the play), I can still manage to understand the story line. The lighting is what I looked very detail on. It is very nice, indeed especially when there are few spotlights on the characters that the director wants to give emphasis on. Even though the place is not as nice as at Bangsar Actor's Studio, it is okay. It is more to a dance performance, so we couldn't actually understand the moves and their meaning as we're not art students. It is a bit boring too as all we can see are people dancing and dancing. But, it is fascinating at the same time as we can really see the passion in the way they move. The theme that the director tried to convey is betrayal and bisexuality. The man is very desperate for love and attention but the sad thing is that he falls for a lesbian and a bisexual. I don’t know whether I can call this a tragedy but the main character is a really pathetic, sad man in the end. The only line that really gets into my mind is "Life is strange". Yes, I do agree with him, now. There are a lot of things in life that are really a challenge for the mind to comprehend. I think we should all go watch a musical theatre next where we can actually hear people conversing in a language that we understand (even though in a form of melodious dialogues). I’d like to say I’m going to really miss attending this course as I like to watch plays a lot. Just hoping that I’ll do well in theatre next semester. Good Luck in final exams, everyone!!

Evaluated

Hello again. Okay, on the 13th of March 2008, I did my simulated teaching on Oedipus the King. The reason why I chose this play is because it is the play that most of us are most familiar with. I did this simulated teaching on my own without having a partner because I want to really prepare and train myself to become an independent teacher. If I get too dependent on others, how am I going to teach students after I graduate later, which is just 2 years from now? I also need to build my self-confidence to be a really respected teacher. After finishing this simulated teaching, Miss Siti Norbaiti explained to me why my first exercise (worksheet) is rather not appropriate for the pre-reading stage. It is because I asked students to underline Oedipus’ speech that ends with a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (?). This kind of instruction will make students to not listen while I read as they can see the punctuation marks clearly on the worksheet. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think of it that way when I create that task. I guess I wasn’t that aware of the students’ point of view. That is the only one comment I got from her. But the most fun thing about this experience is when I got back the evaluation sheets from my fellow future teachers. This is when all the stuffs that I didn’t realize before come into realization. Hmm. Does that make sense to you? Well, anyway. Some people say that my set induction is very clear which is a very good response. But, some also said that although it is clear, I could’ve find for another alternatives instead of using pictures to attract student’s attention. True, I agree. Because I did it very last minute (the night before), my source is only the clip-arts from Microsoft Word. Yeah, everyone says that I’m lazy and now I finally begin to agree. Thank God I managed to photocopy everything before the class starts. During my set-induction, some say that it is a short one and that it could have been better if I explained it in a detailed manner. I did explain my best but maybe some people couldn’t understand. There are a lot of people who commented on my pre-reading activity. They said that it is a rather long extract and like I said earlier the task is not suitable. I only found out about the extract being lengthy when I read the extract that day. I should’ve been more prepared but there’s no point in me dwelling on the past now, is there? They also said that I read the extract quite fast. Hehe. I guess I didn’t really realize that it was rather time-consuming and that is why I hasten my reading. My fellow future teachers also commented on my voice projection. They said that it was very clear when I start but towards the end, they can barely hear me. This is something I really didn’t realize at all. This reminds me of Johari’s window (blind). To me, I spoke in a loud voice but I guess maybe only to the front rows. One person said that I spoke monotonously which I don’t quite agree. Thank God nobody commented on my gestures or body movements. I bet that is something they can comment a lot on because in another subject, the lecturer stated that I move too much and it seems like I’m dancing. I didn’t believe it until I saw my friend’s recording. My language is comprehensible for all and is grammatical with very few errors. Grammar is really something I take good care of while speaking and that is why sometimes I take longer time to make up a sentence and articulate it. I surely will take these comments seriously and do a self-reflection so that I will learn to become a better teacher. It is really nice to hear comments from everyone in the class. Everyone, let’s work together now, shall we?

Evaluating

The simulated teaching for this course (EDU 3217) started on the 13th March 2008 and I was one of the first few chosen ones to present or shall I say, teach. “The students” were given evaluating sheets for them to comment on each teacher’s performance. I had a hard time commenting on others as I do not wish to hurt their feelings because I know for a fact that there are some people who can’t take criticism well. I admit that I’m one of those people so I empathize them. So, my way of criticising them will always start off with good qualities and gradually I move on to the bad comments. For most of the teachers including myself, we have a tendency to swallow our words. So, instructions are not clear because of the soft voice projection. Only students at the front rows can hear the teacher and so they are the ones who gave a lot of attention and participated in the lesson. Another weak point that I noticed is that teachers failed to get hold of students’ attention and so, I saw a lot of students not being co-operative and starts disrupting the lesson. Teachers also didn’t manage to get a good control of the class and this is one of the things that we must take into account in order to become a well-respected teacher. The language of most of the teachers is fairly fluent which is alright and they are using simple vocabulary which suits the students’ level of proficiency. This will bring down students’ anxiety level and improves their condition of learning. The set induction for most of the teachers is appropriate for students and suitable to continue with the pre-reading stage. I would have to advice my friends to not display a video of violence, racism or anything that is inappropriate even though it is parallel to the lesson. Almost all the tasks that the teachers ask the students to do are rather simple and so, the students really enjoyed completing them. But, sometimes the teacher gives a very vague instruction for the students to comprehend. For example, the teacher asks them to underline phrases that “indicate” something. This is a rather hard task to give students in the pre-reading stage as they didn’t get the whole picture of the play yet and so it is easier if teachers ask them to identify words such as adjectives and modals. Teachers can also re-phrase the instruction by making it simpler for the students to understand. The while-reading activities are all in line with the set induction and the pre-reading stage. Good job, friends!!

Shakespeare Voila!!

안녕하세요!! We were asked to watch a few movies throughout this course to get a better understanding of how a play is staged and to get a clearer picture of the stage itself. On the 21st of February, at 8.00p.m, we watched a movie starring Shashi Kapoor entitled “Shakespeare Wallah”. It was filmed in 1965, so there’s practically no Technicolor yet. Hehe. Watching a black and white movie reminds me of Charlie Chaplin (I don’t know exactly why) but thank God it’s not a silent movie. The first thing that caught my eye was the costume they were wearing at the beginning of the movie where (I don’t know whether they are practicing or actually performing) in front of a group of students. It was of British aristocrats where the clothes comprise of big buttons and tight white pants. The women on the other hand wore big, heavy and over accessorised gowns. Both male and female wore one thing in common that is white and curly wigs like a judge or lawyer might wear in court these days. The first few minutes were a bit blurry to me as I can’t get used to the thick English accent yet. I guess this has something to do with me never really being exposed to English movies or television series enough. Maybe it is also because of our television station airing too much of American mass media instead of the English ones. Therefore, understanding what they are saying is rather hard for me and the sound system of the room did not help as well. That is why I would rather have the help of subtitles (English, that is) to assist me in understanding the dialogue. Lizzie (or Lucy, I don’t quite know which one is the correct name) the leading lady, went to India to perform a few of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. The first one that she and the rest of the players (or actors which includes her parents) acted out was Antony & Cleopatra (one of the play that is subscribed in this course). It is fun to see how it is staged though the scene only lasts a few seconds. Here, I can see the “chamber”, which functioned as a balcony or as the second floor of the setting. The stage here is nothing special as the audiences sit just in front of the stage. During another performance, (Macbeth if I’m not mistaken) I can see that the stage is a “thrust stage” where there are seats on three sides of the stage area. I also think that only wealthy or well-known people can sit at the box which is located at the top of the seating place (kind of reminds me of Phantom of the Opera). Sanju and Manjula sat at this box whereas people of lower class sit at the bottom seats. There’s one part that I found hilarious. Lizzie’s father, I think was in character but he suddenly broke out and asked audiences to keep quiet and enjoy the performance. The audience went out of control because of the sudden appearance of the movie star, Manjula. I find this movie interesting as it also keeps the tradition of Indian movies which is, including songs and dances to complete the movie, though there is only one scene for that. There’s a lot more I’d like to talk about this movie but I’m already tired now. I’ll leave you with the last one. I don’t understand the ending. Hehe. My interpretation is Lizzie went to France to send her parents while she goes back to India to her beloved Sanju. My friend’s interpretation of the ending is different from mine. She said that Lizzie is leaving her parents in India while she goes somewhere else because of an acting offer. I thought I heard the announcement in French then English and that’s how I came up with my interpretation. Anyway, it was overall a nice movie with a few scenes that I bet many of my course mates really enjoyed. (cheers!!)

Teiresias the Great

Dr. Edwin asks of us to google Teiresias (one of the characters in Oedipus the King) and read more about him. I found out a lot about him with Wikipedia being my number one source of information as always. Now let me tell you what I’ve learnt about him. Teiresias, as what I knew from “Oedipus the King” is a blind seer also known as a soothsayer. He was not born blind like I thought he was but there are several stories as to how he ended up being blind. The first one was simply because he reveals too many of God’s secrets to the people of Thebes. The second is from poems by Pherecydes and later Callimachus. It is said that Teiresias was blinded by Athena (goddess of wisdom and useful arts and prudent warfare) after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. Athena could not undo the curse but she cleaned his ears to make him understand birdsong (augury). The third story is where Teiresias hit a pair of snakes making love with his stick. Hera (Queen of the Olympian gods) was not pleased, and she punished Teiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Teiresias became Hera’s priestess, married and had children, including Manto (who also possessed the gift of prophecy). Lady Teiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Teiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time or trampled on them. As a result, Teiresias was released from his sentence and regain his masculinity. In a separate episode, as Hera and her husband Zeus (The supreme god of ancient Greek mythology) was arguing, he was asked the question “who has more pleasure in sex?”: the man, as Hera claimed; or, the woman, as Zeus claimed, because Teiresias had experienced both. Teiresias revealed that “she” receives the greater pleasure. Insulted, Hera instantly struck him blind for his impiety. Zeus could do nothing to stop her, but he did give Teiresias the gift of foresight and a lifespan of seven lives.

There are a few works in which Teiresias appeared. He is most famous in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King where he is the one in charge of telling Oedipus about King Laois’ murderer. He refused to tell at first saying that the killer is someone Oedipus really does not wish to find. Oedipus accuses Teiresias of not having the gift of foresight and even accuses him of the murder. Teiresias finally said that Oedipus is “the murderer whom (he) seek”. Oedipus got mad and chases him out of the palace, but then afterwards realises the truth. Other than Oedipus the King, Teiresias also appeared in The Bacchae, by Euripides where he appears with Cadmus (the founder and first king of Thebes) to warn the current king Pentheus against denouncing Dionysus (god of wine and fertility and drama) as a god. On the other hand, Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes recounts the story of the war which followed the quarrel for throne between Oedipus’ two sons Eteocles and Polynices. In it, Eteocles and Polynices kill each other, and Megareus kills himself because Tiresias prophesised that a voluntary death from a Theban would save the city. This shows how much people believed in Teiresias and his ability to see the future. Tiresias also appears in Sophocles' Antigone. Creon, now king of Thebes, refuses to allow Polynices to be buried. His niece, Antigone, defies the order and is caught; Creon decrees that she is to be buried alive. The gods express their disapproval of Creon's decision through Tiresias. But it was already too late. Antigone hanged herself before she was to be buried alive. Creon on the other hand was attacked by his son, Haemon who was engaged to Antigone and the latter then kills himself. When Creon's wife, Eurydice, is informed of her husband, son and Antigone's deaths, she too takes her own life. This is really awful. All I can understand about tragedy is that it involves a lot of blood spill. Owh, Tiresias and his prophecy are also involved in the story of the Epigoni (I don’t know much about his role in this story though).
Tiresias died after drinking the water from the spring Tilphussa, where Apollo’s arrow struck him. After his death, Odysseus (a famous mythical Greek hero) visited him in the underworld, to whom he gave valuable advice concerning the rest of his voyage, specifically concerning the cattle of Helios (Ancient god of the sun), advice which Odysseus' men did not follow, to their jeopardy.
Tiresias is still remembered by a lot of people mainly poets and fiction writers even after his death. His name and role appeared in a lot of literary works and this shows that he has a really big influence in the literary world. Go, Tiresias!!

MacBest!!

Today (February 25, 2008), we watched yet another movie for this course. It is also one of Shakespeare’s which is “Macbeth”. It was filmed in 1976, if I’m not mistaken so there’s colour in the movie!! Yippee!! Compared to “Shakespeare Wallah”, Macbeth is a rather heavy movie as it deals with war and the consequences of it. The first scene that I think is brutal is when one of the soldiers finishes off one of their enemies that is still moving while lying almost dead. There is no mercy at all because he strikes his back with a weapon that has a chained spike ball at the end of the handle. I think there is a special name for this weapon but I forgot what it is. It’s been too long since I last played war games. Hehe. Moving on, the story evolves around Macbeth, a warrior of Scotland in early 11th century. He has helped the King to win a lot of states - or lands as they call it. In a journey, he together with Bourdou went through a place and come across three women (ugly and scary looking) who I found out to be witches. They told both him and Bourdou of their prophecy that Macbeth shall be king but Bourdou’s grandson will be continuing in that line (again, if I’m not mistaken). Watching the movie in the screening room is really inappropriate. We’ve watched movies in the lecture hall before and I found out that it is much more convenient there. I think it is because of the seats going higher over distance and the sound system is much clearer. In the screening room, people who get the worse seats (back of the room) can barely see the movie. Even I, sitting on the second row had a hard time watching through the backs of the people in front. The nice thing is that this movie has subtitle though I prefer it to be in English. Oops, how did I get here?

Okay, as they continue on that journey, news came to them in the form of messengers saying that the owner of Condor (if I’m not mistaken) is caught and that the land now is Macbeth’s. This is also in the three witches’ prophecies of Macbeth. I am so sorry that I have a very vague understanding of the plot and rather weak memory of the names of the people in this movie. The naming of whom the king’s successor is going to be at that particular night and as the first prophecy has been true Macbeth is rather confident that he will get that position. So, he sent a letter to his wife to inform of the news. When the king announced it, it was to Macbeth’s shock that Duncan got the position and the king announces that the troop will go to Macbeth’s house to celebrate him being the master of Condor. Then, he quickly dismisses from that occasion to his house. When told of the news, his wife (I really don’t know her name) came up with an idea to assassinate the king on his stay there. Macbeth blindly agreed to that suggestion. So, they prepared for the king’s arrival, and at the party Macbeth re-thinks about it and said to his wife that he would rather be liked as the master of Condor rather than being hated as the king’s murderer. The wife cried and accuses Macbeth of having a weak heart. After so much persuasion, Macbeth gives in and killed the king with daggers. This is another brutal scene though I found it to be funny at first because of the exaggeration of movements. But, it shows that Macbeth still had some human in him before the king awakens but had to kill him to shut him up. This scene shows that women are a bad influence on men and men can be easily manipulated as well. This is also portrayed in one of his other works, “Antony & Cleopatra” (in which we are learning in this course) whereby Cleopatra is the one who causes Antony a lot of trouble. This visualises that people would do anything for power.
Wow, there’s actually so much more I can talk about this movie. The costumes are appropriate with the time setting and the environment setting is also at accordance. Hmm.. Now, I’d like to be mad at Macbeth for killing his sidekick, Bourdou and trying to kill his son as well. Thank goodness Phillian managed to escape. On the night of celebration (don’t remember for what) where Bourdou was killed, Macbeth nightmare came to him even when he’s awake. He is seeing Bourdou with blood all over his face and is coming after him. It serves him right. The people who killed Bordou are also killed so that no information of the king’s ill-doing will be spread out. Sedemon, his sidekick now is in the position Macbeth was also in beginning of the movie. He would do anything to get recognised and given power. He went to see his sister, wife of Macduff who fled to England, for the last time so that he will give way for soldiers of his to get that land and give it to Macbeth. There’s a scene that is really gruesome where the soldiers satisfy their lust by raping the women all at once. The scene goes on showing a woman dead and covered in blood with clothes torn apart. He thought he’ll be next in line but to his dismay it was given to someone else. Sedemon then go straight to the other side to join Macduff, to whom his wife was killed due to Sedemon’s doing. The queen also gets worse and is mentally sick. This is an irony because she is the one protecting Macbeth of his mental illness and now she is dead because of it. Then “Life’s Brief Candle” is recited by Macbeth when he goes to see her. The image of the queen is also not pleasant.

When everything is normal to Macbeth, suddenly ‘the pale skin boy’ said that there will be war against England soon. Some fled, and Macbeth mocks them of their coward ness. Still, Macbeth is laid back because the prophecy said that he will be fine until the Benem (Birnam) Forest come to him which to him is unlikely. Then one day, the people in charge of the tower said that the forest seems to be moving. Everyone fled leaving Macbeth all alone. He fought for his life and we can see that he is a better warrior than Macduff who falls a lot during that one-to-one battle. Still Macbeth is confident while saying out another prophecy which is ‘no man of born woman shall kill me’. Macduff said that he was born Caesarean way and hold on to the belief that he might be the one who can kill Macbeth. He did and he slashes out Macbeth’s head and show it to the rest of the kingdom. This scene is the most horrific as it really does seem real. I was sick to my stomach, all right. Then, the crown is given to (Malcolm??) which again fulfils the prophecy of the witches.