The Power of Music

An update on the required work for successful completion of English this term:

- Two short writing tasks (most of you have submitted these)

- Three Common Place Diary entries.

- Class work and one writing task on the novel, Holes.

Now here is an extraordinary video interview about the power of music.

Building becomes canvas

Building becomes canvas as part of a projection festival in Russia.

A Mosque in Manhattan

For anyone making Common Place entries on the issues faced by Islam in the Western world, this clip is excellent:

Ban the burka?

This issue was raging in the French media last year, and then became a topic for debate in Australia earlier this year. Should the burka be banned in Western countries? Here is an example of a commonplace journal entry:

Article title: Burkas not welcome in France: Sarkozy, date: June, 22, 2009


For: Sarkozy, French politicians, Western women's rights groups.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy claims that the burka is "a symbol of subjugation" (subjugation - tobring under control; to make submissive). Sarkozy's claim that wearing the burka undermines French secularism and women's rights received support from some politicians. In response to "pro-choice" perspectives, Sarkozy argues that "civil servants must not wear any outward sign of their religion, whether they are Catholics, Jewish, Orthodox, Protestant or Muslim." Women can wear headscarves as long as it their decision to do so.

Against: French Council for the Muslim Religion, Barack Obama:
Mohammed Moussaoui has called the banning of the burka a way of "stigmatising Islam and the Muslims of France" (stigmatise - to brand or mark in a negative way). There are several thousand Islamic women who wear the burka living in France today. American president Barack Obama has defended Muslim women's choice to wear the headscarf if they want to. French politicians have been accused of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon.

Kiwi

Isn't this fantastic...



And an excellent archive of material, video, audio and advice on how to make a digital story:
http://generator.acmi.net.au/

While my guitar is gently personified

I couldn't help myself. If you discover other examples of Personification, please shoot me an email. I will post them here.

Okay so we are nearly half way through term 3. Term 3! That is crazy talk. And I want you guys to complete three writing tasks for me before we get to the end. Notice how I use the full word "three" when referring to the number of writing tasks, and the numerical "3" when referring to the term... I don't know what that means - but I'm sure it means something good.

Now... we've got to do a bit of work on the novel. There will be some class work, a few minor exercises, and one extended writing task, but let's worry about that next week. For now, I want to start having a look at different perspectives on current events. So, start collecting articles from newspapers, magazines, the internet, television... wherever.

When you find an issue interesting, the first thing to do is to briefly describe what the issue is - it could be a school issue (should the school buy a rhinoceros), a local community issue (should rhinos be allowed to start and own small businesses in Glenroy), a political issue (would a rhinoceros be a better prime minister than Julia Gillard?) or a world issue (what can be done to help prevent imminent extinction of the African rhinoceros?). Once you have done this, identify and describe two different points of view (perspectives) on the issue. Note: This is the really important part. For example, identify who thinks that a rhinoceros would be a good prime minister and why, then identify who thinks Julia Gillard would be a better prime minister and why.

Dedicate about half a page to each issue. Not much, right? Like three lines to describe what the issue is, where it is taking place and who it concerns, then no more than five lines to describe each perspective. That is sweet bugger all.

Here are a few issues to get you started:

Ex-PM Rudd to PM Gillard: "I'll Save you."

Australia's mean-spirited handling of refugees

Sense and sensibility about our fellow creatures

Plagiarism in schools in the digital age

And now lets get a different perspective

Near Space Balloon Flight, shot with HD HERO cameras from GoPro from Kevin Macko on Vimeo.

Taking a closer look

Hey guys - I often rabbit on about how big the world is and the fact that it is full of interesting stuff, but here is a little video that reminds us about the beautiful intricacy of even the most ordinary of things.


Zoom into a Tooth
Uploaded by Weird_Weird_Science. - Explore more science and tech videos.

Enjoy!