Reflections on what I have learnt so far

After about 8 months of language arts lesson, I found out that I had slightly improved on my grammar and vocabulary.As the saying goes,"Practice makes Perfect", I think that I have improved my grammar and vocabulary as I had practiced while writing and doing comprehension assignments.

I had also found out that I had read more books such as Village by the sea, Little ironies and Ten Short Stories.After reading these books and analysing them with the help of my teacher,I had also learnt more on how to describe or write a good setting and plot.This will also help me in my compositon.

Lastly,I had learnt about the poems,their figurative languages and how to analysis them using the ten-step process.

Overall,I felt that I had learnt alot and improved.

Poem Analysis-Snapshotland

Step 2
Things that the title suggests to me:
-An island
-Involving guns
-Cameras
-Photo-taking
-Catapult
-Killing

Step 4
The poem focuses on the happy atmosphere in the beach,and that the people in the photos are enjoying themselves tremendously.
Interesting phrases:permanent delight of passengers,pleasure-boat,promised land,nobody dies,happy all the time,buckets in crisp,gingham pinafores,bonnets on the sea-shore,smile and smile and smile.

Step 5
Metaphors:NIL
Similes:NIL
Personification:smooth sand,pleasure boat,old-fashioned gardens
Alliteration:The and Time,Smooth and sand,Sun and Shine,Stop and Smiling,sandboys and sandgirls and sepia.
Assonance:Lavender and Ever,Right and Sight.
Onomatopoeia:NIL
Symbolism:The vacation at the beach symbolises happiness and relaxing mood.The sepia photo symbolises aging and also tradition.

Step 6
"Smooth sand","sun shines all day long","sandboys and sandgirls","on the sea-shore" and "on the beach" all suggest that the location is on a beach.

Step 7
They all describe the settings of the location.

Step 8
The poem may be talking about photos that are taken at a beach as proved by the dolphins and boat at the sea.It proves that the poet is writing about photos as everything freezes,does not move and never dies.
Step 9
a)An unidentified speaker.
b)It's for those people that appreciate photos and understand the importance of them.
c)It's very carefree,relaxing and soothing.
d)He is being very friendly and open to the audiences.
e)The poem is organised in this way such that a stanza describes and focus on one theme,for example the third stanza is describing about delightment of lovers.
f)It is to help in the description of the importance and the characteristic of photos.

Step 10
The poet is trying to encourage people to appreciate photos that are taken as they can bring to us happiness when we look at the photos.It also encourage people to take good care of our photos as they could bring us fond memories and it can last forever.

Limericks

There was once a man from Boston
whose mind was being flatten
he went into a stable
and told the horses a fable
and end up being beaten

By:Sheng Xiang ^^

Sound-poem

I heard the owls hooting in the dark.
I heard the sheep bleating beyond the hill.
I heard the wolves howl in the jungle.
I heard the dogs barking when I came home.
I heard the cats purring when she received food from me.
I heard the frogs croaking in the night.
I heard the bees buzzing among the flowers.
I heard the ducks quack in the pond.
I heard the roosters crowed in the morning.
I heard the pigs oink in the farm.
I heard the cows moo in the farm.
I heard the pigeons cooing on the trees.

By :Sheng Xiang

Poem on Life

Life is a wrestling match,
tiring and hard.
You strive for all you could,
but the results never show.
Your body wanted to give up,
but your mind refuses.

Again and again your opponent knocks you down,
again and again you recovered.
It was when it struck you,
your efforts,sweat,blood and pain,
forever stained.
You persevered all the way,
summoning all your strength of the day.

With determination and the courage,
you became the winner
once again.
Thinking back now and then,
your face covered
with the tears.
You told yourself that you had done your best,
Looking towards the future.

The day you died,
the story ends.
You gave a pat
on your shoulders,
telling yourself
that's a wonderful match.

By :Sheng Xiang :)

Book Review (A Series of unfortunate events)

The book that I'm going to recommend is "A Series of Unfortunate Events".This story has a total of 13 books,each continuing from the last.This story,I'm sad to say,is very devastating and has very few happy events.

It a story about the three Baudelaire,Violet,Klaus,and Sunny.Their parents died in a tragic fire when they were young and left a huge sum of money with them.In all the 13 books,it depicts the lives of them escaping from the hands of Count Olaf.Count Olaf is a wicked man who would do anything just to get his hands on the money left behind by the Baudelaire.He would disguise himself and had tricks up to his sleeves.

I would recommend this book because it will explain the difficult words to us in a very detailed manner.The story is also very exciting and we can learn about the differents ways the Baudelaire used to escape and to break Count Olaf's disguise.The writer also uses some very good vocabulary words which we can use in our composition.It also reflect the fact that the reality world is dangerous and we need to be on our guard against crooks.It's a wonderful book with unexpected events and I would recommend it to everyone.

Book Review (Inkheart)

The book that I am going to recommend is "Inkheart".It's a really good book with detailed description and can let your imagination run wild.it's a book about Mo,Meggie's father.Mo had this special ability-when he reads aloud,words come alive,and dangerous characters step out of the pages.Mo and Meggie then lives the kind of adventure that they has only read about in books,but this will change her life forever.

I chose this book because this book uses a variety of vocabulary and the writer also uses some very good phrases too.The book is very interesting too and has alot of twist in the story.

After reading this book,I felt that I had widen my vocabulary.The events in this book are also very exciting and full of surprises and awe.The writer uses difficult words which will encourage us to look for the meaning in the dictionary and learn more vocabulary.I love this book because of the detailed description too.It let our imagination run wild and we can really imagine ourselves in the magical world.It's definitely a wonderful book and I would recommend your to read this book in your leisure time.