Bookworms. I don't even like the word. Still, it applies to me - I have been one as far back as I can remember and I cannot imagine life otherwise. The truth is that very few things match the pleasure of a good book and the joys, the knowledge it gives you. Don't tell me you don't have time to read. Don't tell me book lovers hide in books and forget to live; comfortable with second-hand experiences. Book lovers live a thousand lives, they write a thousand books, they travel in time and space. Book lovers are scary. They know so much, they have seen the depths of human souls, they have seen the light and touched the darkness, they have an understanding of things other people will never have.

"A good book should leave you slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it."
William Styron

Saturday 15 November 2014

SOS (Save our sons) by Benjamin Zephaniah

Short video on Zephaniah's poem. The images used portray racism in the past to show that while some things might have changed, much remains the same.

Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

The students presented the writer giving particular relevance to her TED talk on the dangers of a single story and created a short video based on that single story idea.


The refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah

The video is part of a larger work project which involved a role play and a story about a parallel universe, but the poem is there recorded by the students and illustrated using pictures from the Internet.


Monday 2 June 2014

Poetry month


And here's the result of all the work students from class 10B at Emídio Garcia Secondary School in Bragança did during poetry month. Apart from everything that can be seen in the posts below there were oral presentations in class where students had to show their work, explain their options and discuss the poems they had been working on. It was hard work but it was also worth it and they did a great job. Congratulations, class!

Poetry month at Emídio Garcia on PhotoPeach

I'm nobody by Emily Dickinson

The students created several posters using their own photographs to illustrate the poem or parts of it.





Work by Inês Trovisco and Rita Trovisco

Tonight at noon by Adrian Henri

The students read the poem and created a video to present it to class.


Then they used images from the video to create some posters which can be seen in this slideshow:

Tonight at noon on PhotoPeach



The students also worked the text in different ways. They rewrote the text beginning with Tonight at midnight...


Then they tried to expand the poem keeping the meaning and style...


And they adapted the original poem into Portuguese...


Work by Inês Trovisco and Rita Trovisco

Autobiography in five chapters by Portia Nelson

The students created a Prezi to present the poem to the class.



They also created several posters to display on the school grounds...





 ... as well as a visual presentation and story cubes as can be seen in the photos.





Sit, by Vikram Seth

The students created a Prezi based on the poem.


Sit, drink your coffee here; your work can wait awhile.
You're twenty-six, and still have some life ahead.
No need for wit; just talk vacuities, and I'll
Reciprocate in kind, or laugh at you instead.

The world is too opaque, distressing and profound.
This twenty minutes' rendezvous will make my day:
To sit here in the sun, with grackles all around,
Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away. 


Work by Ana Rodrigues and Marina Vaz

Sunday 1 June 2014

Antilamentation by Dorianne Laux

 You can find the original poem here.

Then the students created their own version of it.

Regret nothing
The moments you spent with him
The nights that left you sleepless
The feelings that he caused on you
The arguments and smiles you had together

Regret nothing
The strange jokes that you made
The times you were upset for no reason
The night he cuddled you to sleep
All the smiles on his face

Regret nothing
The days  you didn't follow her advice
The days you came home crying and she just hugged you
All the times you yelled at her
All the times that you told her "I love you"

Regret nothing
The days you fell asleep with him
The moments when you didn't want to see him
Everything he taught you

And don't regret being proud of him.

Work by Ariana Fernandes and Daniela Galvão 

The magic box, Kit Wright


This is the original poem (also to be seen in glogster)...


This is a mind map of the poem (which was used when explaining the poem to the class)

Mind map

and this is the magic box of our class...



Work by Ariana Fernandes and Daniela Galvão

Dead thick by Brian Patten

One of the students recorded the poem and the other mimed it creating a short video.




Then they attempted a translation into Portuguese.

Como uma porta



Não. Não tenho acompanhado as coisas modernas.
Não leio um livro há anos.
Livros de estudo? Alguns, mas nada de novo.
Reparem, não é que eu não
Tenha vontade, só que
Nada captou a minha atenção.
Mesmo assim, eu gosto do que li: Hardy,
Golding, folheio 
Graham Greene se tiver de ser.
Mas não, nada de novo. Reparem
Eu leio as críticas. Elas contêm
Muitas observações.
Após ler algumas vejo que
Posso criar a minha própria opinião.
Estou muito ocupado para a literatura, é esse o problema.
Estou à espera de uma promoção. Idealmente o que eu gostaria
Era um trabalho em administração.
O que é que eu faço? Ensino. Inglês.
É cansativo. Os alunos são burros.
Não têm nada entre as orelhas.
Sabe que mais? Alguns deles

Não lêem um livro há anos.

Funeral blues, W. H. Auden


Based on the poem below by W. H. Auden the students created a visual presentation that was displayed on the school grounds.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.


Work by Maria Beatriz and Filipa Pizarro

Neighbours by Benjamin Zephaniah





Here's the poem the students read and made into the video below.



Totally like whatever you know? by Taylor Mali

After reading the poem the students recorded their own voices and used the audio for a short video. Later on they decided to create a similar poem in Portuguese criticizing the way teens speak in their country.






Tipo bué de swag só que não

Não sei se já reparaste, mas, tipo
Perdeu a pica toda falar como se, sabes,
Soubesses o que tás a dizer..
Ou acreditares nessas cenas que acabaste de dizer..
Porque um gajo nem nota o que diz..
E, tipo, ya, fica mal, mas a gente tá tipo..
LOL quero lá saber..

Mas, tipo, esta cena fica bué mal..
A gente pensa que a falar com bué SWAG..
Mas no fim, é fatelas.. Toda a gente consegue ver..
Mas eu nao sou o primeiro a dizê-lo,
E apesar de falar da mesma maneira..
Sei que está errado.. E que fica mal..
Por isso peeps.. Acordem... Essa cena já passou..
Mas, olha, se curtes, continua, LOL, importo-me bué..
Só que não.


Work by Eduardo Afonso and Ali El-Zein

The British by Benjamin Zephaniah

The poem can be found here.

And this is the video with the whole recipe!



Work by Mariana Quina

The book of life based on a poem by Hilaire Belloc






http://issuu.com/anasoraia1235/docs/the_book_of_life.docx

Work by Ana Paula and Ana Soraia

Dreams by Langston Hughes






Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow. 






Work by Ana Paula and Ana Soraia

Poison tree by William Blake


After reading the poem, here's a short video.


Work by Rafaela Barata

Definition by May Sarton



Short video on this poem by May Sarton.


Work by Maria Inês Rito and Ana Vilela

The wife of Bafa, by Patience Abgabi

The students read the poem and tried to impersonate the character in a video.





Work by Maria Inês Rito and Ana Vilela

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Back in business

And here we are again, after one year full of good intentions to do something more, but never quite up to it. Still, our reading project is very much alive and here we are showing you what these great kids have been doing. This year we decided to tackle poetry. Not easy, I know, but the kids loved it and there was some amazing work going on.
I'll be posting the poems each group was working on and, whenever possible, the ideas / activities that were developed.
Hope you enjoy it!