E-Learning Day 2(Favourite Poet)

Sylvia Plath is a very strong women. She was born to middle class parents in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Sylvia Plath published her first poem when she was eight. Sensitive, intelligent, compelled toward perfection in everything she attempted. She was, on the surface, a model daughter, popular in school, earning straight A's, winning the best prizes. By the time she entered Smith College on a scholarship in 1950 she already had an impressive list of publications, and while at Smith she wrote over four hundred poems.

However, beneath Sylvia's surface of perfection lies some personal grave discontinuity.During the summer following her junior year at Smith, having returned from a stay in New York City where she had been a student ``guest editor'' at Mademoiselle Magazine, Sylvia nearly succeeded in killing herself by swallowing sleeping pills. She later described this experience in an autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, published in 1963. After a period of recovery involving electroshock and psychotherapy Sylvia resumed her pursuit of academic and literary success and gradutating from Smith summa cum laude in 1955 and winning a Fulbright scholarship to study at Cambridge, England.

The winter of 1962-63, one of the coldest in centuries, found Sylvia living in a small London flat, now with two children, ill with flu and low on money. The hardness of her life seemed to increase her need to write, and she often worked between four and eight in the morning, before the children woke, sometimes finishing a poem a day. In these last poems it is as if some deeper, powerful self has grabbed control; death is given a cruel physical allure and psychic pain becomes almost tactile.

On February 11, 1963, Sylvia Plath killed herself with cooking gas at the age of 30. Two years later Ariel, a collection of some of her last poems, was published; this was followed by Crossing the Water and Winter Trees in 1971, and, in 1981, The Collected Poems appeared, edited by Ted Hughes.

E-Learning Day 1(Figurative Language)

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

"Because it was grassy and wanted wear" is an emphasis on "the road less taken by people.
"ages and ages" is a hyperbole to tell the authors a long span of time.
"I-I ..." shows hesitation in what the author has to say.

I like the poem because the poem is well-written and it is meaningful. It puts across the message that in life, there are choices to be made. Do not follow the crowd, and do not look back, there is still a long way ahead of you.

Is Progress Necessarily Beneficial for Society?

In my opinion, I feel that progress is definitely beneficial to society. Without progress, there would not be lights invented by Thomas Edison, telephones invented by Alexander Graham Bell, etc... Even though technology has made humans lazier, it is undoubtly a fact that it has made our lives much easier and more convenient. Modes of transport and communication have progressed over the years, which helped many countries develop from a third world country to a first world country. Our little red dot is one example. In the 1900s, Singapore was nothing more than a fishing village. However, competitiveness has lead to huge progress over the years. In less than half a century, it has become a metropolis city. This proves how beneficial progress is for the society. People fear that technology may become so advanced that it develops artificial intelligence and take over mankind. Even if it is going to happen, it will not even be in the next millennium. In a nutshell, progress is beneficial to the society and there are no disadvantages in it.

Who is Your Favourite Character in Village by the Sea?

In Village by the Sea, my favourite character is Hari, because of many reasons. Firstly, he is very strong emotionally and did not run away from home. Instead, he was mature enough to take up the role of a parent, which is not easy given his age. Even though he hates his father, he knows that he has to find money to feed the family and pays off his debts. He even leaves his hometown in search of a better job to provide a better life for his family. Secondly, he was bold enough to ask help and even for a job when he was in Bombay. Many teenagers nowadays are very shy when they want to speak, especially at job interviews. They are given time to prepare and compose themselves before the interview but they still screw up at times. Thirdly, Hari has the passion for learning, which helped him gain an extra skill which helped him earn extra pocket money. He has shown to everyone the correct reasons why we are learning: to improve ourselves, to broaden our horizons, and lastly, because we are curious. Many students nowadays study only for: fame and wealth, certs and achievements and rewards from parents. Also, the school has placed so much pressure on the students that they have also forgotton the reason of learning. To sum up what I want to say, Hari is a "model student" that we should follow.

I Rather be the City Rat than the Country Rat.

Being a city rat, my life will always be in peril, looking out for human beings. However, I can have better food, more comfortable resting places, abundance of food, etc... So, to me, being a city mouse is definitely be better than being a country mouse. Even though there is danger whenever I am scavenging for food in dumpsters, I feel that the returns that I get is much more worthwhile. In the countryside, even though there is lush greenery, and it is not s dangerous, I am unable to party at night with my friends and enjoy good food and life. Even though life in the countryside is much safer and peaceful, life in the city will give me exposure and experiences that a country rat will never get to experience. It also makes me more secluded and not as sociable. I would rather live for 5 years in the city than 10 years in the countryside. In conclusion, city life is more preferable than country life.

Which Part in Village by The Sea Do You Like The Best?

I like the part which Hari decided to leave his village with the fishermen to go to Bombay. After all, he is the only male child in the family and should venture out on his own, despite having a heavy burden to carry. As a man, he should carved out a name for himself and be making good money to support the family. I feel that he made the right decision which changed his family and his life greatly. By moving to the city, it gave him exposure which nobody in the village had, and equipped himself with 2 new skills with the help of the boss of the coffee shop and the watchmaker. It has also enable him to plan for his future and made him a more far-sighted person. All in all, I would like to say that I like the city life has improved Hari’s life overall.

My Reflections on My Term 2 Grades

Hurray! The holidays are finally here! This is also a good time for some reflections on my grades. On the whole, I feel that I have made improvments for most of my grades. My MSG has improved by excatly 1.0, which is a good jump from Term 1. The only subject that I deproved in was Infocomm Studies, which is my weakest subject. However, my targeted MSG was 2.5, and that was achieveable if only I had been more careful with my formulae in my Science paper. It cost me a grave 7 marks out of the total 40 marks, and caused me to drop 3 grades. For this term, I will reward myself by watching movies with my friends. For Term 3, I look forward to pulling up my socks for Infocomm Studies and Science. For my strongest subject, I will try and max my ACE and OP points to try and get exemption.