EF67 Class 29 Using quotations, Dead Man's Path

 

EF67

 

Today’s agenda

·      “Reading Strategies”

·      Continue “Using Quotations”

·      Continue “Dead Man’s Path”

·      IF TIME Continue complex sentences- adjective clauses

 

Wednesday

·      Continue complex sentences- adjective clauses

choose vocab for the quiz on adj cl Thursday

·      Continue “Dead Man’s Path”

 

 

Thursday

·      Test#4  Paragraph on “Dead Man’s Path” with quoted material “ “

·      Continue complex sentences- adjective clauses

·      Listening exercise

 

Friday is a Professional Development Day

No school for you

 

TWO WEEKS LEFT!

-essay writing

-presentation project

 

Monday

·      Quiz#4 on adjective clauses

·      Begin presentation project

 

 

Reading Strategies

 

EF7/11/12 – high level class

-expectation that students will read texts and prepare for class

-check your notes from your reading- comments, key points, quotable words

Evidence that you are prepared for class

I will check for notes every time.

 

Focus on reading for class-

Some people find reading for school to be challenging. They may not read much in their personal life. It seems like video is replacing books for information delivery and entertainment.

Video is a pale comparison to a book.

Personally, I strive to be a daily reader.

 

In high school and expecially post-secondary, you will have to read large amounts of content daily. In college and university you will be reading and processing large amounts, dozens and dozens of pages a day.

 

 

MY TECHNIQUE – may be helpful to some of you

This has worked for me over a dozen of univesity and college.

 

For school, I read a book or a text at least twice. (3-4 times ideally)

 

FIRST READING – “armchair reading”

- relaxing in a comfortable chair, cup of tea

                               - quiet place, wear earplugs, helps with concentration

                               - Turn off the phone! – hurts your concentration

                               - minimize the distractions

 

*** multitasking is a lie-       You cannot do two activities that require brainpower at once. i.e. listening to music and studying at the same time

 

First reading – read for basics of the text:

FICTION- setting, characters, conflict, plot

NON-FICTION- the main ideas, the argument

 

The first reading is a relaxed reading.

 

SECOND READING- “desk reading”

- school or work desk

- with a pencil or laptop

-making notes

- make notes as you read, make notes on what you read.

- something interesting or noteworthy? make a note with page #

                               - seems important? make a note with page #

                               -confused, difficult? definitely make a note with p#

                               -interesting phrase, unusual wording, vocabulary

                     **- possible quotable words and phrases

 

 

- jot down key words and ideas as you read them

-find quotable words and phrases

**big part of academic work is quoting from texts

 

BONUS: Prepared for class. Good feeling.

 

BONUS: Make notes as you go because you will forget if you don’t.

You can refer to your notes ten years in the future, and the main ideas will come back to your mind.

 

 

Keep your notes in a safe place. You can go back and refer to your notes many years later. The notes will jog your memory of what the content of the book was. You can use text notes or mind maps. Mind maps are visual representation of information.

 

Notetaking is a very powerful tool. It will really help you get through courses and school feeling organized and prepared.

 

Our class blog is just a collection of notes from the daily class.

 

My school reading routine is first reading and second reading. Then I feel like I am ready for class. It takes time, but you get faster and better at it with practice.

 

ADVICE:

First reading- armchair and tea.

Second reading- desk and pencil.

 

 

using quotations

 

Here are some key points to remember when using quotations:

 

1)   Incorporate quotations into your sentences.

 

2)   Keep quotations to a few words.  Quotations are like salt in food: a little bit gives flavour; too much ruins the dish.

 

3)   Use quoted material to support your points.

 

4)   Don’t use too many quotations.  Pick two, three four quotations to support your brainstormed points and leave the rest.

 

5)   Make sure the quoted material is exactly as written in the story.  Use ellipsis … and square brackets [ ] to make minor grammatical or stylistic changes.

 

6)   Avoid repeating quotations.

 

7)   Avoid ending paragraphs with quotations.

 

 

Continuing on from yesterday

 

quotation- citation- borrowing from a text

“ “

 

Using quoted material

Focus on using ellipsis …   and square brackets [  ].

 

EXAMPLE

“a young woman in the village dies in childbed”(3)

 

Mr. Obi’s school was destroyed the day after “a young woman died in childbed.”(3) XXX

Mr. Obi’s school was destroyed the day after “a young woman … died in childbed.”(3)

… ellipsis – shows that some words were removed from the quotation

**Important: The quotation still has to be grammatical.

Mr. Obi’s school was destroyed the day after “a young woman … died in childbed.”(3) Good sentence- complex sentence, adv cl

 

Mr. Obi’s school was destroyed the day after “a young woman … childbed.”(3) XXX Not a sentence.

 

 

“this path was here before you were born and before your father was born.”

“this path was here… before your father was born”

 

“this path was here before you were born and before your father was born.”

“this path was here before you were born”

 

ellipsis …

 

“the white Supervisor came to inspect the school and wrote a nasty report” TOO LONG

“white Supervisor… wrote a nasty report”

 

Mr Obi got what was coming to him when the “white Supervisor… wrote a nasty report”(3) about his failure to coexist with the villagers.

 

 

 

·      “Dead Man’s Path” module

·      Chinua Achebe- African writer, Nigeria

English 12- very popular novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

 

·      Big question:

Surface level question: Does a teacher from away have to respect the culture of the local students, even if the teacher isn’t part of that culture?

 

Bigger question:

Deeper level question: Does a person in a position of authority who comes from a different culture have to show respect for the local culture?

 

Story about colonialism on a deeper level

A powerful group or person moving in and taking over.

Canada’s relationshipp and hisotry with Firist Nations Peoples

-thematic similarity

 

SURFACE LEVEL -story about Mr. Obi, a headmaster, principal of a school

BIGGER, DEEPER LEVEL- metaphor for colonialism, one country colonizing another- taking over, not respecting the existing culture

 

ANOTHER READING – progressive thinkers bringing about destruction and violence

 

the village- a metaphor for any colonized place

Mr. Obi- represents colonizers

 

Canadian context- First Nations Peoples

 

unprogressive (negative-sounding)

conservative, traditional (positive-sounding)

 

Chenua Achebe- student – educuated in English, British style schools

history- British

poetry-British

literature- British

 

-became a writer, wanted to write about Nigeria, Africa

-give voice to his people

themes of colonilaism and oppression are all though his work

 

Notes from the text:

“young” “energetic”- positive words to describe Micheal Obi (ironic)

physical description is not positive-

physical description on Micheal – not impressive

“sat folded up in a chair”

“he was not unhandsome”

“stoop-shouldered and frail”

“deep-set eyes”

“only twenty six, but looked thirty or more”

Achebe is using Nancy as his way of expressing his feeling about Micheal.

 

Mission –  church, Christian church establishment

missionary – someone who shares information about their religion, often travel to other countries

proselytize(v) – teach about religion

 

 

“wonderful ideas”

sound-strong(adj)

 

pivot- change direction

 

“narrow views” – limited, judgemental vocab

 

Nancy’s fantasy about her role and position p1

“Nancy was downcast.”

 

IDIOM “A penny for your thoughts.” say to someone who is lost in thought

“imitating the woman’s magazines she read”

“queen of the school”

 

 

 

backward – undeveloped, not modern- negative meaning

 

lack of respect of the Obis- comparison between beautiful garden and “rank” ugly local plants

-         similar to Micheal’s opinion of the existing school and teachers

 

 

“you people” insulting way to address somebody

Micheal does not respect the locals, feels superior to them

 

big row- big fight, big problem

 

 

Chinua Achebe is an amazing writer, in full control of word choice.

 

pagan – religion, but not monotheistic

 

monotheistic- mono-1   the-god  belief in one god

polytheistic – poly-many

 

 

Micheal put up barbed wire- used in farms for animals, and prisons

 

 

priest – slight stoop, like Micheal Obi

Micheal Obi – young and misguided

priest – old and wise

 

cordialities- greetings, welcomings

 

Obi “highway” “thoroughfare” exaggerating for effect- hyperbole

 

Priest “Look here, my son.” establishing his authority as an elder

-         explains how the life of the village is based on the path

 

Mr Obi -satisfied smile- smug face

arrogant, self-satisfied

Obi “eradicate” VERY STRONG WORD- kill completely, destroy\

Recall’s Canada’s historical policies about First Nations Peoples

 

“fantastic”(3)- like a fantasy, like a childish dream

 

“teach your children to laugh at such ideas”

 

priest “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.”

birds of prey- hunting birds

priest trying to talk sense into Mr. Obi

 

You can see hundreds of eagles in Brackendale which is close of Squamish.

 

Priest is asking for tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence.

Obi is unwilling to allow that.

 

Obi was inflexible. He paid a big price.

The villagers tried to negotiate, meet in the middle, make a deal, give and take, compromise, etc.

 

IDIOM When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

 

TOMORROW

Thought Questions- small group discussion

 

Today and tomorrow-

Prepare to use quoted text.

Go through the story and find good words and phrases that can be used for quoting.