Just Below the Surface, virtuel d. 18. dec. 2012

You may answer the following questions in pairs, groups or alone - it's up to you. Write your answers in a blog post with your name(s) as the title. Give it the label (etikette) 'Just Below the Surface'. Remember to post when the lessons end (15.35).

IMPORTANT: Please remember to support all your answers with quotes from the text.

A rat in a London drain.

1. Divide the text into 10-15 sections and give each section a title. Write the titles in your answer along with references to pagenumbers and line numbers, example: Proof of mice (p. 128, l. 38 - p.129, l. 11).

2. What type of narrator (fortæller) does the story have?

3. Characterise Indrani – what is her cultural background and what kind of person is she?

4. Comment on the story's physical setting (hvor foregår historien?) and its social setting (hvilke(t) social(e) lag foregår historien i?).

5. What do you think the rats symbolise in the story? Remember to argue (kom med gode argumenter).

6. Interpret the title of the story – what significance does it have?

7. Write at least 4 themes that you think this story deals with.

See you Thursday :) TL

Dusk Over Atlantic Wharf, Part Two

In groups, pairs or on your own write a blog post with all your answers to the questions below. Remember to give it the labels 'Dusk Over Atlantic Wharf'. Give the post the title 'Dusk: [Name of groupmembers]'.

Post your answers when the three lessons are over (15.35).

1.     Characterisation of Lata (continued).

Describe her
a) development, and
b) relationship to Anuj.
Use at least two examples from the text to support your answer (write the entire quote + reference - the reference alone is not enough).

2.     Integration in the text.

a) Write down how many times the phrase ‘you alright?’ is mentioned in the text and what situations it appears in (also write down which page and line you have found the phrase).
b) Can you see any development in the way Lata uses/understands the phrase?
c) What does this development symbolise do you think?
d) Can you find a tie between the way the phrase is used in the text and integration?
e) In what other ways does the text deal with integration? Find at least two examples in the text to support your answers (quote + reference).

3.     The ending (p. 10, line 122-50).

a) Describe in maximum two lines what happens at the end of the story.
b) How do you interpret (fortolker) the ending? For instance you can look at the way Lata and Anuj’s relationship is pictured in the end (development or not?), how the integration issue is developed/explored in the ending (development or not?), or something else which has relevance to the story.

Listen Mr Oxford don: Virtuel undervisning

In groups listen to the following reading of the poem by John Agard himself. Afterwards read it aloud to each other and look up any words you do not understand. The poem is written in non-Standard English (Caribean dialect) so you may have to guess the meaning of some words.

In your groups: 

1. Rewrite the stanza you are responsible for into Standard English (using no contractions, slang or any kind of ‘oral’ language).
2. Afterwards find between 1-3 grammatical errors in the stanza you have been assigned and try to explain in Danish what the problem with each error is (so, remember you grammar book).
3. Answer these three questions:

a) What facts are we given about the I? Try to characterise the I briefly based on the facts.

b) I'm a man on de run, the I says. What is his offence?

c) Human breath / is a dangerous weapon. How does the I threaten British society?

 

Write all your answers in a post here on the blog under the label (etikette) 'Listen Mr Oxford don'. The title of your post should be what stanza your are responsible for and the names of your group members. For instance 'Stanza 6: Tina, Christian, Jan, Kristoffer'.

Post in the blog by the end of business Tuesday (that is 15.35 by the latest).

 

Groups

Stanza 1: Jakob, Morten P., Henrik

Stanza 2: Kamilla

Stanza 3: Signe, Luna, Line S., Jeanette

Stanza 4: Morten A., Jesper, Philip

Stanza 5: Alexander G, Alexander H., Villy

Stanza 6: Tina, Christian, Jan, Kristoffer

Stanza 7: Vicky, Line P., Lene, Martin

Clash of Cultures-vocabulary

The words on the vocab-list we started in class on Thursday 15 November.

Caucasian: a person with 'white' skin

Preserve/preservation: to keep something the way it is (bevare)

Cultural inheritance: cultural traits like language, customs, religion, tradition etc. (kulturel arv)

Xenophobia: a fear of people and groups of people who are somehow different than yourself
(fremmedfrygt/fremmedhad)

Assimilation: to become part of a distinctly different cultural group and take up their culture, traditions, language etc. (assimilation)

Integration: to become part of something else (often a society) but without losing your own cultural background (integration)

Prejudice: opinions about and attitudes towards something or someone without having met them before or knowing anything about them (fordomme).