Assignments for 5th year students (A and B)

jueves 4 de junio de 2009

Welcome to English B - 5th A-B - First assignment
Dear all
This is going to be our communication channel for the next few days. I will be giving you some assignments, I will set a deadline and expect your replies at my gmail address, which is danieruferreyra@gmail.com

Here goes your first task for Topic Options: I would like you to go to page 91 in your booklets and check the vocabulary unit on Leisure Activities. I am sending you the key, so do the excersise and if you have any queries, send me an email to the gmail address I included a few lines above. 5th B students: you did this already in class when I had go go to 5th A on Monday, June 1st.Once you have done the exercise, your first assignment will be to send me 15 sentences of your own making using the vocabulary exercises 2, 3 and 6 in this unit, to practise it and to see if there are any queries.

This homework should be submitted on Monday, June 8th.
KEY:
Exercise 1: 1-C 2-A 3-C 4-D 5-D 6-B 7-A 8-C
Exercise 2: a-horse and bars b-flippers and mask c-bait and rod d-ruchsack and compass e-lens and tripod f-spanner and hammer g-goggles and armbands h-pump and helmet
Exercise 3: 1-took part 2-appeal to 3-cut out for 4- beneficial 5-rraise 6-sponsor 7-gasping 8-stragglers 9-crossed 10-suffering from 11- personal record 12-broke 13-on standby 14-stations 15-catch up with
Exercise 4: a) expectations b) handful c)remarkable d) invariably e) exception f) equipment g) accessible h) distinguish i) increasing j) foreseeable
Exercise 5: 1-c 2-d 3-a 4-a 5-b 6-bExercise 6: a-oar b-draw c-lap d-fan e-dive f-whistle g-board h-round i-referee j-runner-upExercise 7: a) took b) board c) low d) tread e) bout

Here is your first task for Literary Text Options:
5th A students: Read Act 5 scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and focus on the following extracts.
5th B students: read below.

a) lines 45-48 show Romeo entering Juliet's tomb. Notice the imagery associated with "food and eating": "maw" - "gorged" - "morsel" - "jaw" - "cram" - "food". This semantic field reinforces the idea of the Death as a DEVOURER, of the tomb as a greedy mouth that ends up consuming, eating up and destroying the lives of the lovers.

b) lines 84-86 show Juliet's tomb as being bright and full of light. This is of course due to the fact that Juliet is still alive. Once again, as in other parts of the play, Juliet is compared to SOURCES of LIGHT.

c) lines 91-96 show Romeo's surprise that Juliet still looks so fair. The semantic field is one of BATTLE, between DEATH and BEAUTY. Words such as "ensign", "flag", "conquered", " advanced" , " power", support this idea. This is a good example of dramatic irony, since Romeo cannot explain why BEAUTY seems to be triumphant in this battle but we do: it is simply that Juliet is alive.

d) lines 119-120 show Romeo toasting to Juliet and to his Death, just like Juliet did in Act 4 scene 3 line 58. Potion and Poison are ambiguous vehicles of death and Life: through them the lovers DIE, only to be REBORN and REUNITED, in this life or in the next one.

e) lines 169-170 show Juliet's suicide. She refers to Romeo's dagger as a "happy dagger". This is an example of HYPALLAGE or a TRANSFERRED EPITHET. The adjective "happy" actually refers to Juliet, not to the dagger. She is happy, not the dagger. Why is she happy? Because through her DEATH, she will attain LIFE with Romeo. A very everyday life example of HYPALLAGE is "a crazy day" or a "sleepless night". Neither the day nor the night were crazy or sleepless, but the person.

Your assignment for Monday, June 8th is to reread lines 295-310 and to write around 250 words on the following points:
-To what extend is this ending anticipated in the Prologue of the play? Which words show this?
-Why does Capulet refer to Romeo and Juliet as "poor sacrifices of our enmity" (line 304)?
-Could anything have been done to prevent this ending? Is this a tragedy of character (in which the characters do something that leads to their ultimate doom) or of fate (in which the characters' doom is beyond their power)?

5th B students: for Monday, June 8th, I would like you to read chapter 1 of Paul Auster's City of Glass. You should then choose two quotations that you feel are relevant and write a brief commentary on them of around 100 words each.
For Thursday, June 11th, I would like you to read chapters 2 and 3 and do the same activity.

As you read it may help you to consider the following aspects of the novel to make a sound choice of quotations:

a) What kind of character is Daniel Quinn?
b) How relevant are the names of the other two novels within the trilogy (Ghosts and The Locked Room) in the events depicted in the first three chapters?
c) What is the role of chance in the novel? Remember that the novel begins with a wrong phone call that triggers off the whole story.
d) How important are William Wilson and Max Work in Daniel Quinn's life? Saying that Quinn is a DUMMY and William Wilson is the ventriloquist, places Quinn in a certain position regarding the world and life: who seems to be more alive? Who seems to be a ghost in a locked room?
e) What kind of character is Peter Stillman? What observations can you make regarding the theme of IDENTITY in the novel?
f) "My name is Peter Stillman. That is not my real name". How relevant is this to understand the novel and Daniel Quinn's situation in it?
g) What kind of character is Virginia Stillman? What does she tell Quinn about Peter Stillman Junior's condition?
h) What possible meanings of the word "glass" can you think of? To what extent is DUPLICATION an important element in the novel? Which characters come in twos?
i) What role do changing clothes nakedness play in the novel? To what extent are they connected to changing personalities?

The aim of the exercise is to get you to read and have first impressions on the novel.
My email address to submit your work is, once again, danieruferreyra@gmail.com

I will be looking forward to receiving your work.

Regards
Daniel Ferreyra