Your responses

Hello 2E4!

First, I apologise for setting up this blog late.

For most of you, encountering poetry is for the first time but no worries! You can connect your experiences to poetry. Remember the word association activities I did in class with you (connecting ideas with "Red" and "Poems"), and writing the "cloud" poem? Word association is an activity that you can use when reading poems. These activities are all about connecting your experiences to what you read.

Your holiday assignment is to write a response to the persona of "Spaghetti" about how you would play with your favourite food (between 50-200 words).

Here is an example of how I would write it:

1. (introduction)

Dear Frank (using the poet's name),

2. (background for writing a response)

I read your poem "Spaghetti" and I love it! I love how you imagine the spaghetti to be like worms, twizzling and woozling before they slide down your throat. I laugh when you say you look like a clown because I would also say that I look like a clown, with so much sauce on my face! You are having so much fun! I totally know how you feel! I want to share with you how I enjoy my favourite food.

[Notice that I use the present tense.]

3. (give new information)

My favourite food is Char Kuay Teow. This is a local fried dish. There is a mix of broad and thin noodles, fish cake and bean sprouts cooked in a thick serving of black soya sauce.

Every time I eat this dish, I imagine the food going down my throat like little fish. Like you, I suck them in my mouth head first and watch their tails flap against my lips and cheeks as they wriggle down my throat. When I am done, I have eaten a large plate of Char Kuay Teow! My mother would clean my mouth and cheeks. She does not call my a clown, though. She calls me a "messy cat"!

[If you are introducing a local dish, remember to tell the reader what it is, like how I did with Char Kuay Teow]

4. (conclusion and sign off)

I really enjoy your poem and it reminds me of how I eat my favourite food. Thank you for this wonderful poem.

Yours Sincerely,
Keh

My word count is 223. It has overshot the word limit, but this is still okay.

You will notice that in my response, I have tried to connect my experience of eating Char Kuay Teow with the persona eating spaghetti. This is not always successful because there are still some differences in the way the persona and I view our favourite food. He thinks spaghetti are like worms and I think the Char Kuay Teow are like little fish. He calls himself a clown but my mother calls me a "messy cat".

However, Spaghetti is about his favourite food. It reminds me of my favourite food. Hence there is a connection. Through this connection, we can share our experiences when eating our favourite food.

This holiday homework is to allow you to build connections with what you read. I think you can do a better job than me!

Notes on the holiday homework:

1) It is to be handed in on Thursday (26 March 2009)
2) It is individual work. Do not try and copy from your friends.
3) If you have any questions, please leave a comment. Please leave your nme so that I can respond. If there is no name, I would not respond. If you leave inappropriate comments I will delete the comments.