Reading views: June 2014

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

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.