Butterflies by Patricia Grace - Reflection Section

 Text title: Butterflies

Text type: Short story

Text creator:  Patricia Grace

Text purpose: To evaluate that people have different perspectives.

Date: 09/29/21

Summary:

In this short story, the author begins with a girl getting her hair done by her grandmother. The girl was recently started living with her grandparents and this morning she was getting ready for school. Both of her grandparents are caring for her and wanting the best for her school. As she arrives home from school, her grandfather was hoeing the cabbages and her grandmother was picking up some beans. Both stopped their work to go to their granddaughter and ask her about what her story was about. She began reading. It was a story about a girl killing some butterflies. Whoever, her teacher wasn't so pleased with the story since the teacher thinks that butterflies are beautiful creatures. As the girl gaze in confusion, the grandparents answered "because you see" the grandfather said, "your teacher gets her cabbages in the supermarket". This means that they view butterflies as pests towards their vegetation.

Critical literacy question:

What does the author want us to know?

The author wanted us to know that everyone has different perspectives. For instance, the teacher's response towards the girl's story was the opposite of what the little girl's perspective perceives. Meaning that the teacher sees butterflies as elegant creatures whereas the grandparents see them as pests towards their garden.

Killed By a Knife by "Tom Ensor" - Reflection section

 Text title: Killed By a Knife

Text type:  Short story

Text creator: Tom Ensor

Text purpose: To show the understanding of figurative languages through the use of a short story.

Date: 21/09/21

Summary

In this text, the narrator talks about how he felt through slitting through the neck of an old sheep. This sheep was on their farm for years now and he was given the opportunity to kill it. At first, he felt as he was a candle melting away with nervousness. looking through the sheep's eyes at it trembles with calm fear, the narrator held it and quickly slit its trough. At the end of the short story, the narrator talks about regretting what he has done to the old poor sheep.

Critical Question - How are children, teenagers, young adults, and adults constructed in this text?

In the text, "Killed By a Knife" by Tom Ensor, young adults are portrayed as if they were sensitive killers. For instance, in the last two sentences of the short story, the narrator talks about how the blood came running down from its trough and the last sentence "I rose in a dace, hardly believing what I had done". This means that the narrator was ordered to kill the poor old sheep, and hesitated so to do it. However, at the end, he still did it but regretted it.

Poem Analysis - Unfamiliar text practice.

 Today we've read the poem "Sad Joke On A Marae" by Apirana Taylor and coming with an analysis at the end. Link

Write the following questions, with their answers, in your English book:

• What senses does the poet mainly appeal to?

- Sight and sound

• Which images are most powerful or striking?

- The carvings, the teku teku rage.

• Which sounds are particularly memorable?

- The teku teku sound

• Which words do you find most striking/vivid/disturbing/moving?

- The tongue being ripped out,

• What are your first impressions of the speaker of the poem (if there is one)?

 -  Angry about not being able to remember urban Maori because of the decline of the Maori language back then.

1. Why do you think the Māori language is used in this poem? - Emphasizing that it's all he knows. Even lots of Maori people have lost their urban language but there's still hope.
2. Is this a rhyming poem, or a free verse poem? Why do you think that is? - Free verse because the man is just a simple man.
3. Who are:”Kupe Paikea Te KootiRewi and Te Rauparaha”? - They're all famous figures. 
4. In the third stanza, the poem uses a pepeha style. What is a pepeha, and why would it be important in this poem. It's to make sure that he knows more about his culture.

Find examples of the following techniques and explain why they have been included:

1. metaphor - I saw them, grim death and wooden ghosts. That something was gone.
2. personification - Above me, the Teko Teko raged. He ripped his tongue from his mouth. - Teku teku was disappointed because he doesn't really know the Maori language.
3. strong verbs - Teku teku raged, more impact.
4. the first-person pronoun - I, to show that this poem was about himself. 
5. repetition -Tihei Mauriora, to emphasise the knowledge he holds towards his urban language.

Author's purpose: The tragedy of a young Maori who can't speak his urban language and wants to learn more.