Gender portrayal in musicals (Critical Literacy)

Focus-representations
Vocab-stereotypes, construction, bias, gender, masculinity, femanity

Masculine:
woodcutting/lumberjack
barbeque, rugby, alcohol

Feminine:
the colour pink
raising children, cooking and cleaning


LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS: (1960s) Somewhere Green (interpretation)
 How does the text depict age, gender, and cultural groups?
In 'Somewhere Green', the woman is portrayed as soft, pink, delicate - a complete stereotype of women and femininity. It's almost as if she wants everything to be perfect, 'somewhere green' after reading a magazine where everything is perfect, and she longs for a life like that, a future just slightly out of her reach. 

Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?
It's the woman's views who are privileged in this text, the man and children are mentioned only very briefly. As this is a song written purposefully to depict the emotions many women in the 60s maybe felt, it is only natural for the woman to sing it. The men and children's perspectives have been left out purposefully. 

What if this text was told in a different time period?
If this text as told in a different time period, or if it were made now, it may have seemed that the director was challenging gender stereotypes back in the 60's, by making it 'satirical' or emphasising the stereotype that now seems very wrong in modern-day society. 

Why has the composer of the text presented certain people in certain ways?
The director composed the woman to be very stereotypical as it is how women were viewed, or had to be like, in the 60's. Women often had to cook and clean and raise the children whereas men had the high-paying jobs and owned the fancy cars and houses. Women were literally there to do the work only. 

LEGALLY BLONDE (2010's) I'm So Much Better (interpretation)

In Legally Blonde the woman's goals are much bigger and better, and they are achievable because of how the world has changed in contrast to what stereotypical women were actually able to do. 
Back in the 60's, women definitely did not go to law school, whereas in Legally Blonde, times have changed and so this woman is able to achieve her dreams. 
The women from Legally Blonde and Little Shop of Horrors each have goals, but they are very different.

Gymnastics unit mega blog

For the past few weeks we have been doing gymnastics in PE. I genuinely hate gymnastics so much because I'm really not good at it. But I've been actually trying at this and it's gone well so far. I'm focusing on the floor routine as I am most confident in this area, as well as the beam and trampoline routine. I'm not as confident on the bars. 

What have I done well?
I've done well because I asked for help when needed and learned how to do a side mount onto the beam because of it. I'm also kind of okay at the floor routine, gotta give props to my year of gymnastics I did as a child. I became more confident when I was able to lift myself on the bars. 

What do I need to work on?
Maybe work on learning my routines more rather than playing around on the equipment. I also want to learn how to do a flip on the bars. 




23.09.19
I'm practising my routines on the beam and floor, and I'm doing well so far. I've asked for help when needed and I'm improving on the beam as well as on the floor.

I'm having trouble with the final dismount on the beam, for my chosen routine I have to do a tuck jump dismount. To give you an idea of what that is:


As for the floor routine I'm pretty much doing well at it. I think the floor is the thing I'm strongest at, but I need to work on gaining more momentum so I can do the 'trick' I want to do: standing up immediately after doing the forward roll. I also want to try and finish off with a strong stance and not just on the floor after the final roll. 

However, since I'm strong at the floor I'm wondering whether I should try a harder routine or make my own up. 

Here are some photos of me in action on the beam

Here is the video of me on the beam

Home economics: cultural unit recap 🍒

This term we have been working on our cultural unit where we explored the preparation, cooking methods and equipment of different meals from different cultures such as Japan, Greece, NZ and Thailand. 

During this term I not only learned how to manage my time, equipment and food portions efficiently, I now know how to cook foods from different cultures. 

My favourite dish we made was the Pad Thai which originated in Thailand but made its way to New Zealand through immigration and is now found commonly in New Zealand as we have such a diverse population. The Pad Thai ingredients could be altered to suit our individual tastes. I like my food sweet with some kick which we were able to achieve. Pad Thai, by the way, is noodles with some sort of protein, with a really flavorful sauce. 

The skills were helpful to learn because as time progresses, more people migrate to New Zealand and bring their delicious food with them. Last century, meat and 3 veg was the common way of eating meals whereas nowadays we have a better selection and diverse range of foods to choose from, and learning to cook these foods are really helpful. 

Working with other people in a group has been a good learning experience. I didn't know some of the people in my team that well but we worked together and were proud of how all of our dishes came out. We were definitely good at finishing on time. 

Overall I really enjoyed this cultural unit. I will definitely use these skills in the future, in fact I've already cooked sushi from Japan for my family. 

Roman and Maori mythologies

Bartholomew and his Mushrooms (creative writing)

1. Your first sentence begins with ‘Once upon a time’ and introduces the main character.
2. The second sentence describes where the character lived.
3. The third sentence describes the character special talent.
4. The fourth sentence describes the characters problem.
5. The fifth sentence tells us why the character felt that way.
6. The final sentence tells how the character solved the problem.

Once upon a time there was an undertaker named Bartholomew. He lived in a tiny apartment above a baker's shop. There was just one tiny problem in Bartholomew's life, that problem being he was addicted to mushrooms. Bartholomew had felt this way all his life, but in the recent years the problem had gotten worse, and he felt terrible about it. So, off to mushroom rehab he went, but in a horrific turn of events, he died of a mushroom overdose.

Mexican Nachos and Zebra Art (creative writing)

• Alphabet Story

  Write a story about sitting in the food court of a busy shopping mall. 
• Each word must start with the consecutive letter of the alphabet
• If you run out of letters, go back to the start of the alphabet.

Here's my story
Abandoned by caregivers driven eccentrically feral, Grace hides-away in June's Kebabs licking Mexican nachos obnoxiously, pessimistically questioning reality. She's tried understanding Vera's weird, xerocopied, yellow zebra art, but couldn't. 

SEEL paragraph on technology and change

Paragraph planning

Basic idea: the impact that technological advancements throughout history has had on the human population

Impacts include:Since 400,000 years ago when humans began to develop, the human race has only increased in population, size, density. This is because we advanced up the food chain and so there are less of us being killed by predators, but also because technological advancements have made it easier for humans to thrive in their habitats. Examples include: 

• 
  
• the creation of the wheel: transporting resources and people has never been easier. 
• The invention of weapons allowed humans to make their way up the food chain, thus increasing the population as the number of predators decreased. 
• Paper makes it easier to document information, 
• the Internet allows information to be shared across the world and communicate with many people. 

Since early humans first began to develop and advance up the food chain roughly 400,000 years ago, the population has only increased, and it is the technological advancements throughout history that we have to thank for this.
The creation of tools such as the wheel, paper, weapons, and even the Internet just 20 years ago has impacted the population in such a way that present Earth is even on the brim of becoming overpopulated. To illustrate this idea, the creation of stone tools and weapons, first used in Africa in the early stages of human development, helped humans advance up the food chain.
Instead of climbing up trees to escape, humans now had stone weapons to fend off predators. Humans quickly advanced, thus increasing the population as habitats were better defended and less humans were being killed. As time went on and technology became more and more advanced, the population only got larger.
Notable inventions include the wheel by the Macedonians around 3500 B.C. The wheel allowed humans to move resources faster, travel at greater speeds and for longer distances. Later in history, we now have the Internet, aeroplanes, and of course, a much greater population, and we only have the advancement of technology to thank for it. 

Self-directed learning assessment

1. Pick one yellow task to work on for the next five weeks. 
I picked 'manage my learning time so I complete all tasks' because I feel like this is something I've been slack on for the past few weeks, I haven't completed tasks to the best of my ability lately and I'm a little behind on some of my work. 

What do I want to get out of this course? I want to be able to tick off all of these boxes because I know I can do it, I've met all of this criteria in the past.
 I also want to be up to date with all of my work in not only English but my core subjects like Maths and Social Studies. 

Figurative language course (mega-blog)

MIX AND MATCH

Figurative Language		A phrase common to people who speak the same language- saying one thing but meaning another.
Literal Language		Meaning exactly what you say.
Simile		Comparing two unlike things using the words like or as
Metaphor		Comparing two unlike things not using the words like or as.
Personification		Giving human qualities to non-human things.
Imagery		Writing with detail to arouse one or more of the 5 senses.
Idiom		Saying one thing and meaning something else.
Hyperbole		An exaggeration of the facts.
Alliteration		Repetition of consonant sounds in a piece of writing.

What am I learning?

I am learning the definitions of these words as they will come up a lot in the figurative language course. 

How does this work show my learning?

This work shows that I am able to match the correct words to their definitions and know the difference between similar meanings. 

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SIMILES AND METAPHORS

a: Copy these sentences onto your blog and highlight the simile in each:

1. My bedroom was as black as a cave in the depths of the earth.
2. The classroom after school became as noisy as a gaggle of gabby geese.
3. The cat capered along the fence top like a tightrope walker on the hire wire. 
4. My anger crashed into me like waves against the shore. 

b: Use a word from the box to complete each simile

1. The cloth was as black as coal
2. The wet ball was as slippery as an eel
3. My little sister is as playful as a kitten
4. The top of this table is as smooth as silk
5. I’ve been as busy as a bee
6. The lamb is as white as snow

c: For each of these sentences is it a simile or a metaphor?

1. As slippery as an eel. (simile)
2. Arnie was a man-mountain. (metaphor)
3. He was a lion in battle. (metaphor)
4. She is as pretty as a picture. (simile)
5. The striker was a goal machine. (metaphor)
6. The torch lit up the room as if the sun had already risen early. (simile)
7. The moon was a misty shadow. (metaphor)
8. My friend has a face like thunder. (simile)

d: Have a go at writing some Similes and Metaphors of your own:

Must Do - 3 (of each)

Should Do- 4-6 (of each)

Could Do- 6-8 (of each)

METAPHORS

He was a true savage beast

Kyle drank the Monster™ energy drink as if it were the nectar of the gods

Elmo burned with the rage of a thousand rhinos

SIMILES Natasha's rage was as wrathful as Mr Stokes during the teacher vs. students games

The ledge was as unstable as my finances

The hypebeast was a lit as a cigarette

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Alliteration is when a consonant sound is repeated over and over. 

E.g The time ticked tediously by. The warm wind wafted across the window.

Highlight the alliterations in each of the following sentences: The sun sizzled the swimmers skin. I accidently ate an awful apple. Beth borrowed Barry’s books before biology. Slipping and sliding, I stumbled in the snow and slush. Many mysterious men mumbled messages. The gallant goat gobbled gobs of garbage greedily. The rapidly rising river rushed rampantly.

Finish these sentences with your own alliterations:

1. Red roses…
2. While wandering… the wind whistled wildly.
3. The tired traveller... told tales tediously.

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Personification is when you give qualities to non-human things

E.g The house watched me closely. The trees reached out to me. 

In each sentence, an object or idea is personified.  Identify the object or idea that is being personified and explain which human trait or action is applied to the object or idea.