This is a blog for my students of ESO and Bachillerato. The idea is to include follow-up on-line materials related to the contents studied in class, to exchange opinions, to carry out projects in common and to receive feedback from students and colleagues, so your suggestions are welcome!
Let´s have a look at some of your alternative endings for Frank Stockton´s The Lady or The Tiger?
"Behind the door was the tiger. (...) Suddenly the king remembered when he was a young man and fell in love with the queen. He didn´t belong to a high social class but he loved her, and she also loved him. They got married and had the princess. When the queen was almost dying she made him promise that he would let the princess marry the boy she loved. Waking up of his thoughts by the shoutings people made, she saw the tiger was ready to jump on the young man. He started shouting the soldiers to close the door to save the man, but it was too late. The tiger was devouring the young man. The princess couldn´t stand seeing how her lover was dying. Because of that suffering she had a heart attack. The king, staying next to the dead body of his daughter, said: 'I betrayed your mother. Poor of me, poor of me, poor of me...'". (Patricia E.)
"The lover went to the right door because the princess told him but nobody saw it. When the lover saw the furious tiger he started shouting 'Help!, Help!', but no one helped him. The princess closed her eyes not to see what was happening there, she thought that his death and a happy memory would be better than suffering when seeing him with another woman for the rest of her life". (Lucía B.)
"He opened the door and sighed in relief when he saw the maiden. The crowd cheered happily that the boy was still alive.(...) But the princess was very jealous and she had decided that if she couldn´t be with him, then no one would. She got up from her throne and ran to the arena, she then opened the other door releasing the tiger. The princess quickly ran away from the arena leaving the lady and her lover alone with the tiger. The crowd stopped cheering and stared in horror as the tiger attacked the lover and the lady". (Patricia A.)
"From inside the door a tiger sprang and killed the lover. Horrified, the princess couldn´t stop watching the scene. Even though she was jealous, she had told him the door with the maiden behind. When she looked at her father, asking for an answer to what had just happened, he said that there was a tiger behind each door because he knew the lover was guilty".(Álvaro C.) "(...)The tiger leaped on the man throwing him to the ground, but he was able to avoid him. Then, the man could immobilise the tiger. Everyone was amazed and started clapping and shouting at him. As the king was as amazed as the rest of the people, he called him and told him to be the new king of the kingdom. He also allowed him to marry his daughter. One week later everybody was having fun at their wedding and they lived happily ever after". (Sarai L.)
"The lover opened the two doors at the same time. The tiger ate the lady and the lover ran through the lady´s door and escaped. Then the king told the princess to go with him, and the princess ran to her lover´s arms. The young man said: "I have chosen the best door, the door of your love". (Alejandro J.)
"(....) Suddenly a huge and hungry tiger appeared, jumping really near the peasant. The peasant kept his cool and opened the other door, thinking he was going to find the beautiful lady, but instead, another tiger appeared. He realized it was a trap planned by the semi-barbaric king. He was surrounded by these two hungry beasts, but the tigers, instead of killing the peasant began a bloody fight between each other. While the king and the people were looking at the fight, the peasant and the princess escaped". (Nacho C.)
"The lover opened the right door and the lady came out. The lady smiled at him and the princess watched them full of jealousy. Suddenly, the lover turned around and ran to the princess and told her he would never leave her. The king, furious, tried to kill him, but the lady opened the tiger´s door and the wild animal killed the king. The tiger and the lady disappeared and the princess and the lover got married". (Alexandra D.)
Presentation topics for the 1.30 min
speaking activity (in pairs) to take place on October 6 (next Tuesday). Choose one, and choose it quickly (topics can´t be repeated,
they´ll be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis!).
1. The best thing that has ever happened to me 2. The worst thing that has ever happened to me 3. A surprise I had 4. A memory from childhood I´ll always remember 5. What is friendship? 6. Bilingual education: pros and cons 7. A problem I have 8. Your most embarrassing moment. 9. What would you like to change and why? 10. Things I can't understand 11. Your most curious dream. 12. High school is the best time in your life. Or not… 13. Things you would change in our high-school 14. Your favourite book 15. Should mobiles be used at school? 16. Your dream job 17. Will robots replace humans? Will robots take our
jobs? 18. Would you want to live on another planet? 19. Social networking sites: pros and cons. 20. What will future houses look like? 21. Sex roles
Juan Carlos Cortés, one of the Nicholas Senn high school teachers who came to visit us with his students, has made a fantastic video with the experience. Don´t miss it (click here).
"Overreaching can damage yourself and you could pay a deadly price like Frankenstein. An example of overreaching was in the World War II when Hitler wanted to create the Aryan race by killing millions of people. An example of overreaching nowadays could be the bodybuilders. They want to achieve a good and healthy body but they go too far when they start eating those pills and steroids that can harm their health". (Gonzalo P., 3ºA)
"We can reach the possibility of being immortal, but I don´t think that is a good idea. I mean, living for millions of years is boring, all the time the same, and if people don´t die, we will have overpopulation and the natural resources will be consumed". (Ismael F., 3ºA)
"Nowadays there are illnesses that can be cured because some scientists played God in a way. But at the same time, it can also be very negative. I wouldn´t have perfect children, because if they are mine, I want them to look like me not like the perfect model society builds". (Lucía F., 3ºA)
"For me perfection is a myth, but for others is a line that they must cross before they die. The reason I think perfection is a myth is because no one is going to get it or that it is necessary for living because if it was like that we would not be where we are now". (María M., 3ºD)
"I think Frankenstein should have thought more about this before creating the monster. Despite the fact he thought it would be a great scientific innovation, things went horribly bad for him and finally dies". (Adrián M., 3ºA)
"The obsession for knowledge": "In the novel, Victor is keen on creating life in order to go beyond the limits of life itself. His only occupation is finishing the creature without caring about the price he has to pay for it. He goes so deeply into his work that he is not aware of the things which are happening around him. he is not aware he is going too far and afterwards he is going to regret having created the creature. His obsession makes him lose the people he loves most because the monster he creates kills them. Victor played God, and he was backfired".(Alejandro Z., 3ºA)
"I think you can have dreams and fight for them, but you must know how to fight for your ambitions. You can´t devote all your time to a dream and leave your friends and family bacause sometimes you won´t have anything else". (Selma R., 3ºD)
"I think that being eager to learn is great, but just to a certain extent, not excessively. Furthermore, sometimes being too perfectionist, apart from leading you to possible stress and burden, drives you to do things worse. To conclude, I would say that obsession, as Plato once stated, usually backfires". (Inés A., 3ºD)
"Nowadays some scientists are obsessed with achieving unbelivable things. For example, there are scientists who are interested in carrying out a head transplant. This could be a great improvement for modern medicine, but it could have terrible consequences. What if it changes your personality and makes you cruel and violent?" (Daniel V., 3ºA)
"I think humans, in fact, were created to dedicate their lives to finding the way their world, their lives, everything came to be and as I have previoulsy commented, the only way we can satisfy our needs is by being "obsessed" and being determined. I know we will NEVER know everything, it is impossible, but we still try and try, and that makes us become obsessed and even mad. So I would say that knowledge is fantastic but people must know that we will never know everything and that we can try to increase our knowledge but always with control. I guess I should start doing it too." (Ángela A., 3ºD)
"Frankenstein´s friend Walton is also obsessed with something, he wants to discover a way to go through the North Pole, not caring about what happens to his crew, just wanting to fulfill his dreams to be remembered in History. At least, he ends up noticing how obsessed he is, and when he sees what his friend Victor has done, he decides to go back home with his family and forget about all those crazy thoughts that could have killed him". (Laura G., 3ºD).
"Are humans (some of them) born evil or are they made evil by society?": "Frankenstein´s monster was discriminated by society because he was different and as he had killed people they also thought he was evil but no one had told him that killing others isn´t good, so he didn´t understand why people were scared of him, all except the blind man that can´t see him and isn´t afraid because for him is like the rest of the humans". (Elisabet C., 3ºA)
"The creature is alone and isolated, when he finally finds out that it is his appearance the thing that makes him different and that he can´t change that, he decides to take revenge on mankind and specially on his creator". (Ángela C., 3ºA)
"The most noticeable moment of this theme in the novel is when Farnkenstein´s monster realizes he has been evil because he was rejected by society and decides to go North to kill himself". (Lucas S.D., 3ºD)
"The monster wants to be loved so he tells Victor to create a female
monster for him. If you don´t have love in your life, you will become
evil, just like the monster". (Carlos E., 3ºD)
"The creature knew he was a monster, that he wasn´t a normal person, and he felt really bad because of that. He had feelings, he could understand what was happening around him, but people just watched him as a grotesque creature that just wanted to kill people." (Verónica T., 3ºD)
"All that glitters is not gold (and viceversa)": "We shouldn´t focus just on the appearance because it creates delusions on us. Many times, beautiful images are used to attract us and buy things that we don´t really like, we just do it because of its appearance".(Aroa M., 3ºA)
"It´s a bit sarcastic that, the moment in which the monster is created we all think that the monster is going to be the bad character in this story, when actually the bad character is Frankenstein due to the fact that his attitude looks more like the one of a monster than the one of a human, while the only thing the monster wants is to form part of society and be accepted". (Javier M., 3ºD)
"The monster is not such a bad person. He feels sad because he is rejected by everyone, also by his creator. During the book we can see strokes of humanity in him, a real monster wouldn´t have them. (...) At the end, signs of sanity come back to him. (...) Despite the fact that the creature was ugly and his behaviour was terrible, he had a good heart". (Andrea G., 3ºD).
"It is a real fact that beautiful and attractive people succeed more in life than ugly or fat people, which in my opinion is a shame for mankind. Actually a beautiful person will get old and ugly, but an intelligent, kind and good person will always be that way despite of the passing of the years". (Raquel L., 3ºD)
"Nature vs Science": "From my point of view science is not that bad. It helps us to carry out our daily activities in an easier way, as well as helps us to fight illnesses, or at least to undergo them with less suffering. However, we should all bear in mind that nature shouldn´t be modified and we must assume that death is part of life, and nothing will ever change this. To conclude (...) we should all trust human beings a bit more... ". (Sara S., 3ºD)
Some questions that may help you with your essay on Frankenstein:
-On the topic "Playing God":
-Why is Victor an "overreacher"? What is the price he has to pay for that?
-Are cloning or genetic engineering current examples of man´s overreaching?
-Is it ethical to design human beings? If you could, would you want to have perfect children? Would a perfect human being still be human? What is perfection?
-On the topic "All that glitters is not gold (and viceversa)":
-Who is the only person who doesn´t reject Frankenstein´s creature? Why? (think of Javier A. in his team´s film)
-Is appearance important? Do we prejudge people just because of it?
-Beauty is far more than skin deep. Do you agree?
-On the topic "Are humans (some of them) born evil or are they made evil by society?"
-If Frankenstein´s creature hadn´t been rejected, would he have killed so many people?
-Can education change a person for the better? Does our background determine our future completely?
-Are you aware that you can create "monsters" when despising or bullying others?
-On the topic "Nature vs Science":
-Is man in his quest for improving our existence on Earth going too far? Can progress mean the destruction of the Earth? When should progress stop?
-Do we really need so many energy-consuming machines and electronic devices?
-Why don´t we just accept life as it is and assume ageing, illness and death as natural stages in that process?
-Would you like to live longer? Maybe forever? Why?
-On the topic "The obsession for knowledge":
-What do Walton and Victor Frankenstein have in common?
-"Curiosity killed the cat", they say. Do you agree?
-What´s the point in learning so many things at school?
-Can knowledge be fun?
(Some questions can be used in several topics)
“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that
man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who
aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.”
(Mary Shelley,
Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus)
Next Tuesday at 1.30 pm we´ll have the visit of Jacqueline Lesko, a film-producer you´ll be able to learn a lot from. She is in Spain to take part in the Muestra sobre Cine y Emprendimiento (to be hosted by La Casa de América in Madrid), where the documentary Spinning Plates, co-produced by her, will be shown. More info:
-On Spinning Plates
-On Jacqueline and other documentary crew members.
Follow-up for the Romantic period lessons. The Gothic novel:
I.
Introduction
"Gothic" has come to mean quite a
number of things by this day and age. It could mean a particular style of art,
be it in the form of novels, paintings, or architecture; it could mean
"medieval" or "uncouth." It could even refer to a certain
type of music and its fans (do you remember Tom,
Sid, the Goth and the Ghost?). What it originally meant, of course, is
"of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their
language" ("gothic").
A. Brief history of the Goths
The Goths, one of the many Germanic
tribes, fought numerous battles with the Roman Empire for centuries. According
to their own myths, the Goths originated in what is now southern Sweden. They
separated into two groups, the Visigoths (the West Goths) and Ostrogoths (the
East Goths), so named because of where they eventually settled. They reached
the height of their power around 5th century A.D., when they sacked Rome and
captured Spain.
B. Connection to the Gothic Novel
Centuries
passed before the word "gothic" meant anything else again. During the
Renaissance, Europeans rediscovered Greco-Roman culture and began to regard a
particular type of architecture, mainly those built during the Middle Ages, as "gothic"
- not because of any connection to the Goths, but because the “Renaissance man”
considered these buildings barbaric. Centuries more passed before
"gothic" came to describe a certain type of novels, so named because all
these novels seem to take place in Gothic-styled architecture - mainly castles,
mansions, and, of course, abbeys. The gothic
novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole, whoseThe Castle of Otranto (1764) contains
essentially all the elements that constitute the genre. Walpole's novel was
imitated not only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced the novel, the short story,
poetry, and even film making up to the present day.
II. Elements of the Gothic
Novel
The Gothic novel took shape mostly in England from 1760 to 1830 and falls
within the category of Romantic literature. It acts, however, as a reaction
against the rigidity and formality of other forms of Romantic literature.
The Gothic novel could be seen as a description
of a fallen world. We experience this fallen world though all aspects of the
novel: plot, setting, characterization, and theme.
The setting is greatly
influential in Gothic novels. It not only evokes the atmosphere of horror and
dread, but also portrays the deterioration of its world. The decaying, ruined
scenery implies that at one time there was a thriving world. At one time the
abbey, castle, or landscape was something treasured and appreciated. Now, all
that lasts is the decaying ruin of a once thriving building.
The Gothic hero becomes a sort of archetype as
we find that there is a pattern to their characterization. There is always the protagonist,
usually isolated either voluntarily or involuntarily. Then there is the villain,
who is the epitome of evil, either by his (usually a man) own fall from grace,
or by some implicit malevolence. A lonely, pensive,
and oppressed heroine, usually in distress, is often a central figure of the
novel. The women suffer all the more because they are often abandoned, left
alone (either on purpose or by accident), and have no protector at times.
The plot itself mirrors the ruined world in its
dealings with a protagonist's fall from grace as she falls into temptation from
a villain. In the end, the protagonist must be saved through a reunion with a
loved one.
The metonymy of gloom and horror: Metonymy is a
subtype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for
something else (like sorrow). For example, the film industry likes to use
metonymy as a quick shorthand, so we often notice that it is raining in funeral
scenes. Note that the following metonymies for "doom and gloom" all suggest
some element of mystery, danger, or the supernatural: wind (especially
howling), rain (especially blowing), doors grating on rusty hinges, sighs,
moans, howls, eerie sounds, footsteps approaching, clanking chains, lights in
abandoned rooms, gusts of wind blowing out lights, characters trapped in a
room, doors suddenly slamming shut, baying of distant dogs (or wolves), thunder
and lightning…
In addition to the standard
gothic machinery above, many gothic novels contain elements of romance as well.
They include obviously powerful love; tension between true love and father's
control, disapproval, or choice; lovers parted (some obstacle arises and
separates the lovers, geographically or in some other way); illicit love or
lust that threatens the virtuous one (the young woman becomes a target of some
evil man's desires and schemes), etc.
Have a look at the trailer of a film based on another famous Gothic novel, The Monk (1795), by C.S. Lewis, set, by the way, in Madrid...
Ten students of the Nicholas Senn high school, our twinned school in Chicago, have been in Madrid for an exciting fortnight. They have departed for Chicago today but they have left behind a good bunch of great memories, it´s been a really fantastic experience having them around. Here you are some pics:
With Rosa working on a group rendering of Picasso´s Guernica
Josoe (aka Chino) and Alin working on their drawings
Juan Carlos and Marta, chaperone teachers of the American students
Putting all the pieces together
And now at the Reina Sofía Museum with their partners to see "the real McCoy"
In San Juan de los Reyes (Toledo) with Adolfo and their partners
Another pic in Toledo
In the Jesuit church
Michael showing off his basketball abilities in the Forus sportscentre (Coslada)
In Music class with Paloma
Our language assistants also were with them: here Jade and Oliver
The Manzanares castle
Ismael helping at a difficult pass on the "Camino Schmid"
In the "Collado Ventoso" with 4º Diversificación students. Notice Ayo´s stick
So, these are the guidelines for the project of this term: a film based on Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley:
-This is a group activity. You are free to organize your team as you like.
-Unlike with Much Ado About Nothing, where you were free to deconstruct Shakespeare (and OMG, you did it with all your heart and soul), you must now stick to the original plot and characters, without changing any features.
-You must choose a chapter (or several) to work with. In order to choose it, go to a summary of the novel chapter by chapter (you can use the one here). Once you have chosen your chapter/s, look for it/them here and read it/them carefully.
-Now you must organize the task each member of the team must do. These are the tasks to be covered:
1. Director: is primarily responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the film.
2. Scriptwriter: the one/s in charge of writing the script for the actors to learn.
3. Storyboard artist. S/he must elaborate the storyboard, that is, the story in "comic" format that will be used as a model for the shooting of the scenes. You can do it online if you like (try here).
4. Production designer: creates the visual conception of the film and is in charge of the sets, locations, costumes, special effects and make up (this role is critical in this film).
5. Director of photography: S/he records the film and supervises photography.
6. Sound designer/Composer: chooses (or, why not, creates) the appropriate music and sound effects for the scenes. Ask Paloma for advice...
7. Actors, obviously.
-Each team member must assume several tasks. Teams should range between 3 and 6 members.
-Deadlines: Give me your teams and the tasks carried out by each member by April 24. Deadline for the project: May 20. That day you must present the following items:
1.The storyboard
2.The script
3.The film itself (in a common format, please). We´ll watch them all in class.
-Evaluation: 2 points. For the mark I´ll take into account all the tasks mentioned above.
As a warm-up, try watching the trailer of the version by Kenneth Brannagh. Btw, does the protagonist ring a bell with you?
