sábado, 30 de octubre de 2010

The Awakening by Kate Chopin


Hi class!! Did you like the novel? I really enjoyed the analysis we did in class.
Now, here's a final question for you:
"The text leaves open the question of whether the suicide constitutes a cowardly surrender or a liberating triumph." What do you think? Take a stand and back up your choice.

domingo, 17 de octubre de 2010

KATE CHOPIN

You have read a novel by Kate Chopin: The Awakening, and a short story: The Story of an Hour.

Let's lear more about the author and her context.

I've taken great material from a webquest:


I've assigned one question to each of you. We will deal with them soon, so please, start working.


The Life and Times of Kate Chopin

Use the following hyperlinks to discover information about Kate Chopin and answer the questions that follow:
http://www.angelfire.com/nv/English243/Chopin.html
http://www.katechopin.org/
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-bio/bl-kchopin.htm
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/fiction/cultural.asp?e=2c
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/fiction/cultural.asp?e=1b
http://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html

1. On what topic do Kate Chopin’s works focus? Sofia S.
2. What reaction did her two novels, At Fault and The Awakening, receive? Bibi L.
3. When did Kate Chopin live and write? What were the social, political and legal realities for women of her time? Cintia A.
4. When did critics/scholars finally begin to accept The Awakening? After viewing a timeline of the women’s rights movement, suggest a reason for that acceptance. Florencia D. S.
5. Are Chopin’s own life/family background/beliefs evident in “The Story of an Hour”? Cristian P.
6. Who were some of Chopin’s female contemporaries with whom she shared similar concerns? Lorena B.
7. Compare/contrast the following quotes taken from two of Chopin’s stories:

"Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had
apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life
which questions." Description of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening.

"There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There
would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe
they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature." Description of Mrs. Mallard in
"The Story of an Hour." Valentina P.

8. Choose a few lines from Chopin’s own words (her diaries or journals) and explain how those beliefs/concerns make her “a woman ahead of her times” and how they are reflected in “The Story of an Hour”. Fabiola S.
By reading we discover different worlds! Hope you enjoy the activity in spite of the effort it calls for!

domingo, 3 de octubre de 2010

"The Things They Carried": further discussion.

Here's something for you to think and write about.


In the story, the description of the different items in the soldiers' backpacks serve to humanize and individualize the soldiers. By listing their various belongings, O Brien helps the reader identify with the characters.


Are you what you carry? Does it reveal who you are? If your house was on fire and you could only carry out 10 items of your most precious belongings, what would you take?


Let's share our ideas. I'm looking forward to reading your comments.

lunes, 27 de septiembre de 2010

"MAD MEN" Episode 6: Babylon

Hi everyone!! Let's start this week with some interesting questions Brian has sent.

1) Pick one of the following characters and describe that person'sfantasy life. What dreams, desires, or wishes does he or she have?Then contrast that fantasy with the reality of the character's life.
- Joan
- Roger
- Betty
- Don
- Rachel
- Peggy

2) Of the characters listed above, which one is the most likely to have his/her fantasies come true in the future. Why?

Have a great week!!

lunes, 30 de agosto de 2010

"My family and other Animals"...last question!

How do you imagine the characters' life back in England after their experience in Corfu? Choose two of the characters: Larry, Leslie, Margo, Gerald, mother.
Let your imagination fly!

domingo, 29 de agosto de 2010

"Mad Men" Episode 3: Marriage of Figaro

Hi guys! These are Brian's questions for this week's episode. Answer them, please.

1) How do the different characters relate to the idea of marriage?Compare/contrast the opinions of at least two people.

2) Based on all the three episodes we've seen so far, which behaviorsor vices do the characters find unacceptable? Which behaviors have weseen that are taboo or shocking by today's standards?

3) Why do you think the housewives feel so threatened by Helen Bishop?

sábado, 28 de agosto de 2010

Interesting facts about the movie "My Family and Other Animals".

Hi guys! I hope you all enjoyed watching the movie. I did!!!
We are dealing with the ecosystem and I found this quotation by Gerald Durrell. Isn't he absolutely right?!



We have inherited an incredibly beautiful and complex garden, but the trouble is that we have been appallingly bad gardeners










I also found this info about the production of the movie which I would like to share with you.


Production Notes
"Living in Corfu was rather like living in one of the more flamboyant and slapstick comic operas..."

from My Family and Other Animals, 1956

My Family and Other Animals was shot on the Greek island of Corfu over a five-week period, but it wasn't much of a holiday for the cast and crew."Although considered a 'sunshine island,' our filming on Corfu was plagued by rain to the point where, when we filmed out at sea, we got caught in a massive electrical storm," reveals producer Simon Lewis. He adds that, ironically, when the weather was good, "none of the actors were allowed to sunbathe on their days off as this would have affected story continuity. The film was shot out of sequence and the cast get browner as the story progresses so real suntans were banned. Everyone had to stay in the shade and tans came out of a make-up bottle.


"The location did have its positive aspects though, especially for the younger members of the cast. "On a trip into Corfu Town on her day off, Imelda Staunton bought a catapult as a present for Eugene Simon (who plays Gerry). When he received it he was so delighted that he rushed off into the garden of the house where we were shooting to look for a stone to try it out. The first 'stone' he picked up turned out to be a tiny baby tortoise! Eugene christened it "Slingshot," he became the unit mascot and appeared in the film."


"We could only film with 13-year-old Eugene for four and a half hours a day. So wherever possible we substituted a double. But Greek education laws are also very strict and it was difficult to get permission for local boys to come out of school to film with us. In the end, five different boys doubled for Eugene at various moments in the film."

With animals being so central to the program, there were bound to be some mishaps on set: "My favorite moment (probably unrepeatable) came when we needed the dog who played Roger to do a very specific look. Understandably, and frustratingly, this didn't go too well. The director (Sheree Folkson) was heard shouting something angry and expletive-laden at the canine actor. To which one of the crew replied 'But Sheree -- it's a dog!'"


"Many weeks were spent training a pack of dogs for one scene. In rehearsals they had been perfect. On the first take, they were released and all ran away. It took half an hour to round them all up again. Disaster!"


"We had trained some magpies to sit on top of a typewriter plucking at its ribbon. But on the day of the shoot, the director asked one of the actors to raise a cricket bat above his head as if to hit them. Magpies are far from stupid. They flew back to their cage and refused to perform for the next hour. The script required us to film a gecko preying upon a mantid. It took a whole day to film!"


One scene showed sea slugs off the coast of Corfu. "Although real sea slugs are to be found in the waters around Corfu," reveals Simon, "we had rubber ones made so as not to disturb their natural habitats."


Sadly, not everyone has the same concern for nature as the production team or Gerald Durrell himself: " The heavy use of insecticide to protect the olive crop on Corfu has killed off much of the insect and small mammal population -- many of the animals in the film had to be specially imported from the UK," explains Lewis.


Corfu, Greece




Corfu is is the most northern of the Ionian islands, lying to the west of the Greek and Albanian mainland, at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. The Ionian islands include many uninhabited rocks and islets as well as four large islands -- Corfu (Kerkira), Leucas (Levkas), Cephalonia (Kefallinia), and Zacynthus (Zakinthos). Altogether, the Ionians make up just 1.8 percent of Greece's total land area.Mountainous, especially to the north, with notable landscapes and dense vegetation, the fertile southern lowland is cultivated rigorously to grow olives, figs, citrus fruits, and grapes. Today, tourism is a major attraction -- traditional villages, Byzantine churches, museums, Venetian fortresses and a variety of golden beaches lure visitors.