The Books!

1) Quick snapshot/list of novels, plays, poetry, characters, settings:

Death of the Salesman

The Reader

Lord of the flies

Macbeth

Charlotte’s Web

Charlie in the Chocolate Factory

The Witches

Nardia

Matilda

Of mice and men

The Twelfth Night

2) Reflect/Respond to this exposure

-       What was your experience?

-       What did you learn, feel?

-       Effects? (noun.)

-       Affect (verb.)

Matilda

Matilda is a book that I’ve read for many times when I was in elementary school. I didn’t really like to read. However, I started to like it when I first read it. Matilda is a genius and brave girl. She has started reading since she was two. Her family thinks she is a freak and idiot because she read books every second, everyday. I wanted to be the same as her because I didn’t like to read books. I felt like I wasn’t being a good student and not smart enough2. This was the first book I read that I really liked. I always feel proud of myself that I’ve started reading book because of Matilda, and proud of myself that I’ve read Matilda. It made me started like to read stories and novels.

Of Mice and Men

This is a book that I read in Grade 10. It is a touching, sad and adventureful story. I’ve learnt the friendship between the two men that are suffering from poverty. I felt really bad when I saw them having living difficulties and when one of them died. It affects me a lot because I put a high value on friendships.

3) What is the value of this exposure? Why is English the only mandatory course throughout all grades in high school?

First of all, English is a international language. Everyone needs to know English so to communicate with people from other countries. Secondly, by reading English books, we can find out themes that the authors want to show us that are connected to our life. Students can understand more about lives by the stories even some of them are not real, but sometimes things can happen like the stories dramatically. English books are easier to show the feelings of the characters. Most of the characters from books are human beings like us. We can always feel the same. That can also affect us to know how others lives can be.