Description of my assigned picture

The sun set behind the clouds, giving out a fresh marigold bloom as of an arrogant sunflower, colouring the the clouds gold as well. The last rays of the evening sun shone on the water's surface, much to the delight of fishermen and tourists on boats. As the day came to an end, all the boats were heading back home, with boutiful catch, as everybody on the boats exclaimed,"What a spectacular sight!"

LA Home Learning Comic Strip

Main theme: Identity


- Why did you choose the different pictures or background(s)?

Each different background of each small grid shows the setting where the character was or even what he was doing. For example, the backgrouds like Sentosa, the Merlion, all show that the character was sightseeing at that point of time.

- How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterisation) of your narrative?

The main idea of this entire thing is that the character is someone who have not been to Singapore for 30 years, returns on a leisure trip and he thus sees all the difference from 1980s Singapore. The settings are just the usual places tourists go to whenever they come to Singapore. The comic also tells the reader that the character is quite an active person as he was sightseeing and enjoying himself for the entire 3-day trip.

- How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?

All those places depicted in the comic, including the food represents what is Singapore and a Singaporean should be proud of himself/herself for being a Singaporean. The character's personality, which is quite playful, active, allows me to put in more different pictures showing Singapore's tourist attractions.

Have you ever been in the company of a group of which you clearly were not included?

Strictly speaking, I did not have any experience relating to being clearly not included in a group, but, I have an encounter when I am not truly included. So, it is kind of half-half thing. Once, I was in a project group for a subject which I am seriously BAD at it. Probably, my group members knew it that I am not good at it, and so, they did not include me much in the entire process of the entire project research, presentation. I do not know whether they are being nice to me by doing it well so all of us get good grades or they are just simply afraid of me screwing up their entire project. So, I kind of contributed a little by doing most of the powerpoint presentation slides. I thought that doing the presentation slides was a way of relieving the guilt of not doing much in the project process. This matter remains etched securely in my mind and thus, I made up my mind to try to participate and any project no matter how bad I am in that particular subject, till now, I have not regretted that decision even by a bit.

A poem which left a deep impression on me

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

After reading the poem above by Robert Frost, let me proceed by explaining why and how it left a deep impression on me and what I learnt from it.

The main idea of this poem is that the speaker is in a dilemma in front of two different roads which could lead to two different places or even to somewhere unknown to the speaker. As the speaker tried to look down the road as much as he could, he saw nothing as it was going down slope. Upon looking at the other one, which was grassy and 'wanted wear', he chose the grassy one at last as the leaves on the ground told him that nobody returned after venturing into any of these two roads. He decided to leave the first for another day if he returned. However, he is doubting his ability of returning so that he could try taking the first road. In the end, the speaker chose to take the one less travelled by others and believes that it made all the difference. I admire Robert Frost's description of the speaker at that point of time, the activity going on in his heart as he ponders over which road to choose and after choosing, still a little worried of what will result from this decision and whether will he make it back successfully. This is the reason why this particular poem left a deep impression on me.

Both Robert Frost and the speaker in the poem have many places for me to learn from. Let us talk about Robert Frost first, I really like the way Robert Frost describes the scene right in front of the speaker in the poem. I can literally picture the diverged roads in the middle of a forest. I can learn from his way of describing things so that I can also do it in my essays. Next, let us talk about the speaker of the poem. Being in such a situation in the forest, the speaker still has his own way of thinking and chose the road less travelled instead of the one more people travelled. The speaker thus has his own thinking and will not follow the crowd. This is something very good and I myself will also try hard to think in my own view instead of following everybody.

In conclusion, The Road Not Taken has indeed left a deep impression on me and I also learnt much from it.

Prejudice

Ms Huang, my new LA teacher gave us a word, 'Prejudice'.

Next we were told to think of any definitions or ideas about this word.

Personally, I do not know anything about the word 'Prejudice', only the book 'Pride and Prejudice'.

I hope that at the end, I will get to learn the actual definition of it and also get to use it in real life dialogues and even in my essays.