The Department Of Education in New South Wales have a budget of more than 8 million dollars, controlling over 2240 schools, and almost 1 million students enrolled in NSW, they have a lot of power, no doubt. There is a lot of debate about the curriculum in schools, what should and shouldn’t be taught. One thing that I think they’re definitely getting right is the encouragement of the study of Shakespeare.
But is this subject really relevant to today’s society? Does his work stand the test of time? Should children really be studying poetry written more than 400 years ago? The answer is a plain yes to all of them.
Shakespeare's works are most definitely relevant today. His portraits of the human soul make you realise that people are the same after 400 years. The way he writes about human emotions such as anger, love, jealousy, betrayal, jubilation talks directly you.
Shakespeare wrote so much and about so many different things, there is something for everybody. He writes about life from so many perspectives: comedic, dramatic or romantic. His stories include war, religious conflict, racial prejudice, class division, love, death, and betrayal.
Listen to these words from Macbeth
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing
Some people say that Shakespeare’s wording is silly. They complain that he writes the pieces in a cryptic way, making it a chore to read it, and his verses a longer than they need to be. In fact, his original audiences had no trouble understanding his plays. They were for common enjoyment of everybody, like going to a movie for us today.
For us now his work takes more time and effort to understand. We read it in a way that slows us down so we have to think slowly, allowing us to appreciate every word, every idea.
TS Eliot once said that “Shakespeare’s primitiveness is what made him truly modern”.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Reading or TV by seth gabrielsson
Reading or TV.
This idiotic, worldwide addiction has been in our world for many years now. This outrageous household object has been rotting children’s minds every day. I’m talking about television.
Television should not be allowed in houses. Because of tv people are getting fatter, the environment is geting worse, children's imaginations are unfortunately becoming miniscule, and viewers money is becoming wasted.
Scarily Australia is the fattest country in the world, no debate. Imagine if all the time you've wasted on TV and think if you spent those hours playing, and doing exercise. No doubt you would be the extremely fit. No doubt you would be healthier and happier. Unfortunately many kids these days come home, finish their homework and then sit for hours infront of the tv. If you are worrying about your weight at the moment then simply dont watch TV. Swap the screen for fun activities which involve movement and exercise.
It is a chilling thought that so much electricity is used just for entertainment. The environment suffers every time you press the ‘on’ button. Species are lost, trees are cut down, forests are being demolished for electricity. You easily help by just not buying a television! Humans are damaging the planet, only to watch television, and the planet is our home. Ask yourself, would you ruin your home for tv?
Books are wonderful things, it lets you use your mind and imagination. there is no moving pictures, no talking people, its all in your head. Books make you smarter, more knowledgeable of the world, and actually books help your spelling, and vocabulary. the best writers in the world dont watch tv, they‘re reading enthusiasts. Writers are smarter, and have a much wider vocabulary to people who watch tv all the time.
My last point is the fact that your money is being wasted. Your money that you’ve earned is buying endless DVD’s, countless tv show series, bigger and more expensive tv’s, dvd player’s, game consoles, and soon your electricity bill will scarily be more than double the person that doesn't own a tv.
So next time you think of watching TV, could you be doing something better? No doubt if you think this every time you will be smarter, fitter, more imaginative, and of course richer.
This idiotic, worldwide addiction has been in our world for many years now. This outrageous household object has been rotting children’s minds every day. I’m talking about television.
Television should not be allowed in houses. Because of tv people are getting fatter, the environment is geting worse, children's imaginations are unfortunately becoming miniscule, and viewers money is becoming wasted.
Scarily Australia is the fattest country in the world, no debate. Imagine if all the time you've wasted on TV and think if you spent those hours playing, and doing exercise. No doubt you would be the extremely fit. No doubt you would be healthier and happier. Unfortunately many kids these days come home, finish their homework and then sit for hours infront of the tv. If you are worrying about your weight at the moment then simply dont watch TV. Swap the screen for fun activities which involve movement and exercise.
It is a chilling thought that so much electricity is used just for entertainment. The environment suffers every time you press the ‘on’ button. Species are lost, trees are cut down, forests are being demolished for electricity. You easily help by just not buying a television! Humans are damaging the planet, only to watch television, and the planet is our home. Ask yourself, would you ruin your home for tv?
Books are wonderful things, it lets you use your mind and imagination. there is no moving pictures, no talking people, its all in your head. Books make you smarter, more knowledgeable of the world, and actually books help your spelling, and vocabulary. the best writers in the world dont watch tv, they‘re reading enthusiasts. Writers are smarter, and have a much wider vocabulary to people who watch tv all the time.
My last point is the fact that your money is being wasted. Your money that you’ve earned is buying endless DVD’s, countless tv show series, bigger and more expensive tv’s, dvd player’s, game consoles, and soon your electricity bill will scarily be more than double the person that doesn't own a tv.
So next time you think of watching TV, could you be doing something better? No doubt if you think this every time you will be smarter, fitter, more imaginative, and of course richer.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Ben Shvarts Task 2
The Invention of Music
March 21st 200 B.C, life was boring. There was no passion or excitement what so ever. Until one day, one sad day, a young true musical soul was born. His name was Joseph Passion. He was a strange child to the elders he kept making a sound which was unique it had a rhythm, a beat and a meaning to celebrate.
Ten years later 210 B.C March 4, 2011 Joseph was older and wiser. The other children thought he was an outsider and a freak, but at least he had support from his family. Well, at least his father who hated the rhythm he played. Every time he saw him playing he would hit the rhythm out of him. Even so, Joseph believed that one day everyone would love the rhythm he played.
One day something just clicked inside of Joseph. He had an idea to get everyone to love the rhythms he would play. So, on Tuesday, the ceremony of the dead, he would perform a piece of rhythm that was sad so someone would feel some passion.
When Tuesday had come, Joseph brought some containers that he could tap on. He knew that a tune could project from these containers throughout the ceremony. One hour later everyone gathered across the floor, this was his time to shine brightly to the other villagers. He got out his containers and brought them out. Every one stared at him and was wondering what he was doing. Then he hit it once then twice and he made history!
The villager’s first reaction was nothing. Joseph was nervous at first but then someone came out and started to tap the floor. Then another and another person stood up. As soon as one, two, and three at least half of the village started to tap, clap and make funny beats with their mouths. It was quite magical. Joseph felt so great. Even the others who had never heard of a tune or sound before started to dance, sing and jump.
Joseph saw his father just sitting there just like all the effort he made was pointless. Joseph started to tear. He was blinded with his cries. He couldn’t believe that his own father, the man he looked up to, had no interest what so ever. So, he ran off like the speed of light. Everyone was clueless as to why he just ran off. He was having so much fun with the others.
Joseph’s mother chased him to where he was going she caught up to him and asked what happened, “What is the problem?”, she asked. “It is father he never has looked up to me, never been proud of me. I am getting annoyed!”
Then his mother said, “You are not right about that Joseph. You are deeply not right. You were just too blind to see that every time you made music he couldn’t move. He was shocked that a little one could be so talented in so many different ways”, she said. Joseph replied, “You’re joking right?” Then mother said, “No he has always loved you, just in a very weird way.”
Then right from that moment Joseph went back to the ceremony. He went back to the containers and called his father to the stage. His father didn’t move at first. Then, stood and walked up step by step until he reached his son. Joseph asked him to play music with him. Then he took one step closer and whispered, “let’s do it Joseph.”
So from that moment he knew that music was his one and only passion.
March 21st 200 B.C, life was boring. There was no passion or excitement what so ever. Until one day, one sad day, a young true musical soul was born. His name was Joseph Passion. He was a strange child to the elders he kept making a sound which was unique it had a rhythm, a beat and a meaning to celebrate.
Ten years later 210 B.C March 4, 2011 Joseph was older and wiser. The other children thought he was an outsider and a freak, but at least he had support from his family. Well, at least his father who hated the rhythm he played. Every time he saw him playing he would hit the rhythm out of him. Even so, Joseph believed that one day everyone would love the rhythm he played.
One day something just clicked inside of Joseph. He had an idea to get everyone to love the rhythms he would play. So, on Tuesday, the ceremony of the dead, he would perform a piece of rhythm that was sad so someone would feel some passion.
When Tuesday had come, Joseph brought some containers that he could tap on. He knew that a tune could project from these containers throughout the ceremony. One hour later everyone gathered across the floor, this was his time to shine brightly to the other villagers. He got out his containers and brought them out. Every one stared at him and was wondering what he was doing. Then he hit it once then twice and he made history!
The villager’s first reaction was nothing. Joseph was nervous at first but then someone came out and started to tap the floor. Then another and another person stood up. As soon as one, two, and three at least half of the village started to tap, clap and make funny beats with their mouths. It was quite magical. Joseph felt so great. Even the others who had never heard of a tune or sound before started to dance, sing and jump.
Joseph saw his father just sitting there just like all the effort he made was pointless. Joseph started to tear. He was blinded with his cries. He couldn’t believe that his own father, the man he looked up to, had no interest what so ever. So, he ran off like the speed of light. Everyone was clueless as to why he just ran off. He was having so much fun with the others.
Joseph’s mother chased him to where he was going she caught up to him and asked what happened, “What is the problem?”, she asked. “It is father he never has looked up to me, never been proud of me. I am getting annoyed!”
Then his mother said, “You are not right about that Joseph. You are deeply not right. You were just too blind to see that every time you made music he couldn’t move. He was shocked that a little one could be so talented in so many different ways”, she said. Joseph replied, “You’re joking right?” Then mother said, “No he has always loved you, just in a very weird way.”
Then right from that moment Joseph went back to the ceremony. He went back to the containers and called his father to the stage. His father didn’t move at first. Then, stood and walked up step by step until he reached his son. Joseph asked him to play music with him. Then he took one step closer and whispered, “let’s do it Joseph.”
So from that moment he knew that music was his one and only passion.
Task 2: Kenny Wong
It was nearly the end of my time at Connells Point Public but there were three more things I would remember forever. They were: the Year 6 Fete, Year Six Day out and our farewell.
The first of those events was the year 6 fete. Year 6 held stores for Kindergarten to year 5 to spend money. That day was a fun fundraising day with the money donated to the school. My friends Jacky, Louie, Daniel and I held a store with the name of ‘Ping Pong Mania ‘. The aim of the game was to move thirteen ping pong balls from one container to the other using only chopsticks in the fastest time. There were three prizes, all of them were large jars of lollies. One was for the primary winner (year 3 to 5), the second was for the infants winner (Kindergarten to year 2) and the last was for the winner of the guessing competition. For the guessing competition rules were to guess how many lollies were in the prize jar.
At the start of the fete, we had little customers, most of them lost to the food and drink stores. Luckily, after they had finished eating, we had a massive influx of customers, barely managing our store. At stages of the fete, my friends from other stores had to help our to keep our customers happy. It was an amazing day which all the 2010 year 6 learnt how to manage their own store.
The second instalment of the three-part series was our day out. That day we had four activities: Laser Tag, Bowling, Video Games and Karaoke. It was very similar to our Reddam seminar day but each activity was twice as long. Laser Tag was the best part of that day, shooting my friends who many I wouldn’t see again. Bowling was also exciting but there was one slight glitch. Everybody had gutter walls so nobody could bowl a gutter. But whenever bowled, the walls went down. Even though that happened, I still managed a reasonable score. The final two activities were combined, karaoke and video games at the same time. I sang a few minutes of karaoke then headed off to the video games.
The last event was our year 6 farewell. It was a whole night of dancing and partying. Every boy danced with each girl once in a rotational dance and then we at a ‘child-friendly’ dinner of chicken schnitzel and chips. Then we continued dancing to the music. My friend Daniel had already earned the title of Mr Chicken Dance Man with his amazing chicken dances. That night he made new dances: the emu, the penguin and many others thus giving him the name of ‘Animal Dance King’. After the dancing, my principal Mrs Hewson, handed out our year 6 graduation awards. She would have been sleeping if it weren’t for the coffee. That night was the best night of my life, staying in my mind longer than the others.
Those three days are binded to my memory and I will never forget any of my school mates.
The first of those events was the year 6 fete. Year 6 held stores for Kindergarten to year 5 to spend money. That day was a fun fundraising day with the money donated to the school. My friends Jacky, Louie, Daniel and I held a store with the name of ‘Ping Pong Mania ‘. The aim of the game was to move thirteen ping pong balls from one container to the other using only chopsticks in the fastest time. There were three prizes, all of them were large jars of lollies. One was for the primary winner (year 3 to 5), the second was for the infants winner (Kindergarten to year 2) and the last was for the winner of the guessing competition. For the guessing competition rules were to guess how many lollies were in the prize jar.
At the start of the fete, we had little customers, most of them lost to the food and drink stores. Luckily, after they had finished eating, we had a massive influx of customers, barely managing our store. At stages of the fete, my friends from other stores had to help our to keep our customers happy. It was an amazing day which all the 2010 year 6 learnt how to manage their own store.
The second instalment of the three-part series was our day out. That day we had four activities: Laser Tag, Bowling, Video Games and Karaoke. It was very similar to our Reddam seminar day but each activity was twice as long. Laser Tag was the best part of that day, shooting my friends who many I wouldn’t see again. Bowling was also exciting but there was one slight glitch. Everybody had gutter walls so nobody could bowl a gutter. But whenever bowled, the walls went down. Even though that happened, I still managed a reasonable score. The final two activities were combined, karaoke and video games at the same time. I sang a few minutes of karaoke then headed off to the video games.
The last event was our year 6 farewell. It was a whole night of dancing and partying. Every boy danced with each girl once in a rotational dance and then we at a ‘child-friendly’ dinner of chicken schnitzel and chips. Then we continued dancing to the music. My friend Daniel had already earned the title of Mr Chicken Dance Man with his amazing chicken dances. That night he made new dances: the emu, the penguin and many others thus giving him the name of ‘Animal Dance King’. After the dancing, my principal Mrs Hewson, handed out our year 6 graduation awards. She would have been sleeping if it weren’t for the coffee. That night was the best night of my life, staying in my mind longer than the others.
Those three days are binded to my memory and I will never forget any of my school mates.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Connor Kents Task 2
Maths is seen by many as the most evil of subjects. Many of us can relate to the teacher’s continuous drone as she spouts math equations like a water fall. Or the poor little kid with glasses who just managed to pass on the info to his friend about the answers being in the back of the book, before being yelled at to be silent. Or the kids starring at the clock wishing time would go faster but in truth, despairing as there is still ages to go. My own maths experience might have been similar if it were not for Mrs Shanfield in year 5.
My vivid memories of maths in Year 5, is it of being inspiring and fun. Just the pleasure of being in her class made me a better maths person. She helped me to achieve the levels of excellence in Maths Olympiads when the year before I was in the bottom maths class. And the once boring formulas came alive and have in fact become very useful from time to time. One such occasion is when my parents took my sister and me to a new Sunday school.
I was short for my age in year 5 and was occasionally picked on because of my size. I remember one certain proudly tall girl at this new church who picked on me in front of everyone exclaiming that, I was too small to be in year 5. So I repeated pie to her. 3.1415926535897932384626433832795022884197. Unfortunately see couldn’t grasp the concept but there was one older high school kid who knew the significance of it, as he had seen the movie, ‘Night in the Museum’ where the curator needed it to bring the evil dead to life. He was further impressed when I repeated the Fibonacci code which was in the Davinci code, 0,1,1,3,5,8,13,21. He decided to be my friend and told me all about the movie. As you can guess, the girl didn’t bother me again.
My current teacher’s class in high school has returned to the standard, ‘open to page 5 and write out all the questions’, which is more than pointless. But what can you do? The teacher knows best! It is only early in the year, however, and it may pick up. Actually I was slightly astounded when I was placed in lower group E for maths this year but I realized that I never had been very good at writing exams straight after 2 months of holiday and hence my results were probably below my usual marks. At the moment I am content to stay where am. My new math’s teacher was slightly amazed when I completed all my homework in one night when it was due the next weekend. I was rewarded with 14 mini merits. It just shows a little work at the right time will bring in the results.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Task 1: Kenny Wong
“Wake up Kenny, Wake up!” was the first thing I heard on the first day of high school. That morning was all a rush. I got dressed faster than I had ever dressed before. Then I ran down the stairs and rushing to eat my breakfast. My breakfast of Cheerios was devoured hungrily in no less than a minute.
I ran as fast as I could and just got on the train on time. I had been stuck in Cairns because Cyclone Yasi had cancelled flights. Therefore I had missed one whole week of school. I was nervous that I would be the only Reddam student who didn’t know what to do.
When I reached the school, I immediately walk up the stairs to reception. My nerves were settled when I was told I would be given a ‘tour’ by a teacher. As I was heading to my first P.E class, I met my preschool friend Kenneth Koon.
When we got back to school, it was recess. While Kenneth and I were eating, he asked “Where’s your diary?” I told him I did not have one so he led me up a flight of stairs to Mr Johnson who handed me my 2011 diary. Recess ended quickly and all the students rushed to their next period. I followed my timetable and found my way to my next period.
At lunch break, I found myself playing with some soon-to-be friends, Maxmo and Sam. We talked about ourselves throughout the break. They are really good friends who I can trust.
Reddam House is very different to Connells Point, my old school. At first, it was hard to understand the timetable, and when I finally found out which room I was in, finding it was a problem. I guess you can’t be a success in life if you do not face some difficulties. After a few days I had solved this problem. It was a good challenge for me and now I will never get lost in Reddam again.
The first few days in Reddam, I came unprepared as a result of not having the stationery sheet. I had to get paper off my generous classmates and share textbooks with them. I asked my friends for what I needed and in one day, I had everything apart from the textbooks which were out of stock. That meant I had to wait for them to order and receive the textbooks.
One of my favourite sports is basketball so I signed up immediately. On my second week of school, I had basketball training on Tuesday. I made some new friends and the training was fun. On Saturday I had my first game. Even though we lost, I still enjoyed it. I learnt how to play a zone defence.
Everyone at Reddam can be a friend. That is why I enjoy it very much and why I look forward to another six years at Reddam. I definitely won’t miss year 8 camp after missing year 7 camp!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
task 1 Josh Broyda
My first two weeks at school (task 1) By Josh Broyda
“Ima Slap you……..” were the first words that my friends said to me as I stepped into school on the first day back. I’m not new to Reddam so the whole experience wasn’t that frightening for me I knew all the same people and all the staff. Basically, I knew everything about the school and how boring it can be...I started to mingle as you would on the first day back but then i heard shouts “CLASS TIME GET TO YOUR CLASSES” and then i began to panic. I did not know what to expect...fortunately for me nothing happened.
As I was getting ready to go to bed that evening, the phone suddenly rung. I soon found out it was Jordan who called me because he wanted me to help him DJ at the Swimming Carnival. The next day was just awesome, it was one of those fun school days because we had the Swimming Carnival. I was very excited because I had been training for this day for a long time. Overall, I was happy because I came 3rd in Freestyle and 2nd in Backstroke for my year group.
The next 3 days were one of the most funnest in my life. The reason for this was that it was the Reddam Year 7 camp. But this was no ordinary camp, it was the best 3 days of my life with many, many fun events. One such activity was the Flying Swing, which I highly recommend to anyone. Basically, i was attached to a harness and the entire group had to pull me up 15.6 m high into the air. As I reached this level, i had a decision to make. I had to either pull the rope causing me to quickly swing down towards the ground or stay at 15.6m for the rest of my life. I decided to tug on the rope and for a few seconds i was flying in the air. It was just an unreal feeling...
On Monday, it was time for school to really begin. We were given a 10 day sheet with all our classes and we had to follow it like it was our leader. One such class was English, a subject i was a little scared of and when the teacher walked into the classroom, my whole class was nervous. However after a few minutes, it became obvious that this man was in fact one of the most epic teachers that i had ever met in my life. He taught our class many cool ways to use things in context, for example “I went to Woolworths yesterday and guess what the near queue was just ridiculous so I had to go to the far queue“. When the class first heard him say this, most of us didn't understand what he was talking about. However a few minutes, after much discussion we all began to laugh.
So far, Reddam in 2011, has been very exciting and enjoyable. I hope the rest of the school year can be as good as the last two weeks have been.
“Ima Slap you……..” were the first words that my friends said to me as I stepped into school on the first day back. I’m not new to Reddam so the whole experience wasn’t that frightening for me I knew all the same people and all the staff. Basically, I knew everything about the school and how boring it can be...I started to mingle as you would on the first day back but then i heard shouts “CLASS TIME GET TO YOUR CLASSES” and then i began to panic. I did not know what to expect...fortunately for me nothing happened.
As I was getting ready to go to bed that evening, the phone suddenly rung. I soon found out it was Jordan who called me because he wanted me to help him DJ at the Swimming Carnival. The next day was just awesome, it was one of those fun school days because we had the Swimming Carnival. I was very excited because I had been training for this day for a long time. Overall, I was happy because I came 3rd in Freestyle and 2nd in Backstroke for my year group.
The next 3 days were one of the most funnest in my life. The reason for this was that it was the Reddam Year 7 camp. But this was no ordinary camp, it was the best 3 days of my life with many, many fun events. One such activity was the Flying Swing, which I highly recommend to anyone. Basically, i was attached to a harness and the entire group had to pull me up 15.6 m high into the air. As I reached this level, i had a decision to make. I had to either pull the rope causing me to quickly swing down towards the ground or stay at 15.6m for the rest of my life. I decided to tug on the rope and for a few seconds i was flying in the air. It was just an unreal feeling...
On Monday, it was time for school to really begin. We were given a 10 day sheet with all our classes and we had to follow it like it was our leader. One such class was English, a subject i was a little scared of and when the teacher walked into the classroom, my whole class was nervous. However after a few minutes, it became obvious that this man was in fact one of the most epic teachers that i had ever met in my life. He taught our class many cool ways to use things in context, for example “I went to Woolworths yesterday and guess what the near queue was just ridiculous so I had to go to the far queue“. When the class first heard him say this, most of us didn't understand what he was talking about. However a few minutes, after much discussion we all began to laugh.
So far, Reddam in 2011, has been very exciting and enjoyable. I hope the rest of the school year can be as good as the last two weeks have been.
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