Beiträge von Benni

America - The melting pot

“The melting pot” is a metaphor for the way in which heterogenous societies develop, in which the ingredients in the pot (people of different backgrounds and religions, etc.) are processed until they lose their discrete identities and yield a final product of uniform consistency and flavor, but which is quite different from the original inputs
The nineteenth century was an era of massive immigration to America. Once the daring America experiment had been solidified and it became clear that there would be a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people," and folks from every corner of the globe began to flock to America’s shores.
America was thought of as "the land of opportunity." It contained vast unsettled territory, unlimited natural resources, and a political philosophy which was aimed at providing justice and freedom for all. There had never been a time or a place in history when people from so many ethnic backgrounds had ever come together. It was during this time when Isreal Zangwill (1864 - 1926) coined the phrase that America was "the melting pot” of the nations.
But is America really only a melting pot?
I think that not every group of all the different nations felt invited to melt together.
Today there exist a lot of “parallel societies”, which consist of different cultures leading their lives in a separated way. People from diverse backgrounds blend together but never lose their cultural identity.
”Chinatown” or “little Italy” are examples of this development. Different ethnic groups isolate themselves in own districts or are forced to live in ghettoes.

Is that a homogeneous nation? People who think of each other in terms of age, gender, race, creed, colour, language, national origin, etc. and have never been more divided in terms of the way that they see each other.
Is it feasible or desirable for America to be a melting pot?
I don't think so. The idea of melting down the multitude of cultures and mentalities into one indistinguishable pile defies the law of multifarious creation.
I prefer the metaphor of tossed salad to a melting pot. In a tossed salad, the ingredients stay exactly what they were. Tomatoes remain tomatoes. Lettuce remains lettuce. Celery remains celery. Yet when the ingredients are brought together and intermixed, they produce something more tasty than they could be if they remained in isolation.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – A Mystery Story

This evening Dorian Gray had been invited to a party at eight o’clock by Lord Henry’s aunt Agatha. After staying in the club in the afternoon and having some superficial conversations with a young dandy about some curious incidents of some interesting female members of London’s society, he left his house at half past seven and drove with his carriage to his host’s house.
When he entered the sombre vestibule he could already hear the familiar, melodic voice of his ??? friend talking to his aunt and the sounds (lute= Musikinstrument Laute!) of the other guests. The Lady’s butler took his coat and showed him into the dining room. He entered the room and looked round: Lord Henry was sitting next to Lady Agatha, who had taken her seat at the top. He recognized Lord Salisbury, an elder, conservative gentleman, who was talking to the Duchess of Harley, a lady of admirable good-nature and good temper. Sitting opposite was Sir Thomas Burdon, a Radical member of Parliament, who was engaged in a serious discussion on the current reforms created by his party and resolved by the Queen. Next to him sat Lord Faudel and Mrs Vandeleur.
Dorian knew each one of them, either from the club or from former dinner parties he was invited to.
“Dorian! What a pleasure to see you!“ Lady Agatha suddenly cried when she recognized him. “London’s most beautiful bachelor! Your good looks never seem to change!”
Her shrill words directed the party’s attention to Dorian. Everybody became silent and looked at him. He smiled kindly and greeted the other guests. The people's reactions were different Most of them returned his welcome, but some ignored him and turned back into their conversations or looked disgustedly at him.
He went to Lady Agatha to have a chat and to thank for the invitation. Then he took his seat next to Lord Henry and fell into an intimate conversation with him.
During the meal Lord Dartmoor, a most intelligent elder gentleman, who was sitting at the end of the large table, asked Lord Henry loudly about his uncle’s health. While Lord Henry was telling him about Lord Fermor’s mood, Dorian turned his attention to the young pretty lady sitting next to Lord Dartmoor. The only person Dorian Gray didn’t know this evening.
She had long blond hair, blue eyes and a perfect dream (?) smile. Dorian was so fascinated by her innocent beauty, that he could not avert his eyes from her face. Sometimes, when their eyes met, she smiled embarrassed and looked down to the ground. Dorian found that childlike behaviour charming and one could notice a little smile on his mouth every time she did it.
After the dinner Lady Agatha invited her guests to get something to drink in the drawing room. While the people followed the Lady, Dorian requested Lord Henry to wait a moment in order to ask him, who the young beautiful lady, sitting next to Lord Dartmoor, was.
“My dear fellow,” Lord Henry replied. “This is Lord Dartmoor’s daughter Juliet. She is one of the most popular young ladies in London. But her strict father keeps always an eye on her. He is an eminently respectable member of society and a member of the royal family, as you know. But he only pretends always being reputable, however, he has got a cruel secret: Juliet is not his only child. There is also a boy, whose existence is quite unknown. He is the product of an affair with a mistress. To keep his good reputation, the Lord forced the mistress to kill the baby, but she didn’t do it. He killed her, so that she never will uncover his secret. “
“Dreadful! But how do you know about that? Perhaps, it is just a rumour?”
“No, it is quite true, Dorian.” Lord Henry answered. “Lord Dartmoor himself, who was a close friend of my uncle, asked him, whether he knew anybody who could do such a deed. That fool really trusted him.”
“Terrible! Such an elf like person is the daughter of a cruel monster.
Harry, she is really fascinating me! You must introduce me to her!”
Lord Henry consented and leaded him to the cruel father and his wonderful daughter, who were standing in front of the chimney, talking to Lady Agatha.
But Lord Henry didn’t need to introduce Dorian, because his aunt was faster. “Harry! Dorian! Join in our conversation!” she cried when she saw them coming. “George, Juliet, do you know Dorian Gray?” the old lady asked Lord Salisbury and his daughter.
Lady Agatha introduced them to Dorian and raved about him in admiration and Lord Henry started a discussion about the American lifestyle with Lord Salisbury.
Dorian took the chance to chat with Juliet. He spoke to her very charmingly and told her, that he was very bored by the party. So she agreed to go out for a walk through the park. Dorian really was struck by her beauty.
While they were going through the foggy night, Dorian overwhelmed her with compliments. The more compliments he made the more embarrassed she got and more appetites rose in him.
In the park they sat down on a bench and looked into each other's eyes intensively. Dorian felt that she was not loath to him and so he approached to kiss her.
When they were kissing his sexual appetites rose constantly. Dorian arose, she stepped up to him and he pressed her body to his. At the beginning Juliet liked it, but then Dorian got out of control. He pressed her more violently and left her no chance to escape.
Juliet tried to speak to him, but he gave no answer. When she recognized, that she was in danger, she began to cry. Dorian stifled her crying by covering her mouth with his left hand. With the other one he tried to open her dress.

Voices in the fog approached before Dorian committed a crime.
Juliet’s clamour led a group of men in their direction. They saw the couple and hurried to them to prevent the violation.
“Juliet! Juliet!” one of the men cried. It was her thoughtful father, Lord Salisbury, who had missed his daughter at the party and had recruited a search party.
“Dorian? What is going on here?” a familiar voice shouted - Lord Henry Wotton appeared in the shine of a lamp.
The other men were Lady Agatha’s butlers, who tried to capture Dorian.
The fearful Juliet Salisbury ran into her father’s arms and began to tell him hysterically what had happened. Lord Henry went over to the lad and ordered the unwilling butlers to let him go. Having heard the story of Dorian’s brutal attempt to enforce his daughter’s love, Lord Salisbury started to abuse and to accuse him.
“I have yet heard some rumours of your immoral and indecent lifestyle Mr Gray, but when I saw you the first time today, I couldn’t believe it. Now I see which cruel monster is covered by your innocent beauty.
I will go to Scottlandyard Mr Gray, and I will take you to prison for what you tried to do!”
“Stop, George! Wait a moment before passing a sentence.” Lord Henry interrupted him.
“Before judging other people, one has to look into one's own mirror.. I go along with your opinion, that here exists a cruel monster, but it is not Dorian! I suppose you know what I mean George?”
Lord Salisbury was quiet. The colour of his face turned white and he tried to catch his breath.
“We don’t know what had happened, because we were no spectators of that scene. We only have the statement of Juliet Salisbury, but no evidence.” Lord Henry continued.
Juliet tried to raise an objection indignantly, but her nervy father calmed her down.
Lord Salisbury was afraid of uncovering his secret in front of his daughter and loosing his good reputation in society. He decided to overlook Dorian’s deed and to forget that night.
Dorian knew, that he almost committed a crime, but when he saw the helplessness in the eyes of his victim, a smile appeared on his lips.

Dear Sibyl,

I do not really know how to start these lines.
Yesterday I told you dreadful things, which cannot be excused. I hurt and insulted you like nobody before. I acted selfishly and I treated you inhumanly.

I fell in love with you the first time I saw you act. You played your roles so perfectly, impassioned and theatrically. Every time when I watched your performances, my admiration rose permanently and finally changed into adoration.
My worshiped Sibyl, you were a kind of genius to me.
But yesterday I suffered a dreadful disappointment: the girl of my dreams, the acting genius, seemed listless and artificial. I could not understand this; I stood lonely in a cloud of grey fume.
There was also the fact that I disgraced myself in front of my friends, to those I enthused about you. I told them about your fascinating beauty and your perfect kind of acting. They are the most familiar friends of mine and I entrusted them my intimate wish to marry you. You must admit that it had to be totally embarrassing to me, that our stainless picture of you was destroyed by your failure.
The disappointment changed into rage..
I was so furious and confused when I entered the greenroom. I expected a plausible explanation for your strange behaviour. I hoped that you just felt sick or that you were ill. But that reason you told me shocked me immensely
You told me that you can no longer act because you have found true love in real life.
Today this (Sinn unklar) me, but yesterday in my anger I thought you killed my love.
Oh Sibyl, please don’t throw away your great talent. I implore you to stand on the stage and to bewitch me with Juliet, Imogen and Rosalind!
I need your esprit! You are the inspiration of my life!

Yesterday I thought a lot about the whole situation and I decided to apologize to you.
I hope this letter will soften your heart and will bring you back into my arms.

You asked me to take you away so that we might begin our life together.
My sweetheart, if you can forgive me, I would take you to any place in the world to live together forever.

Always Yours,

Dorian

Interpretation of “Daffodils“

The poem “Daffodils” written by William Wordsworth consists of four stanzas of equal length. Each stanza contains six lines. In each stanza the first four lines contain a cross rhyme (ABAB), while each fifth and sixth line contain a pair rhyme (CC).
Wordsworth’s poem deals with the beauty of nature.
He describes a poet’s intense experience of nature by wandering in the open countryside.
In the first stanza the lyrical I describes his walk, when he suddenly discovered a group of “golden daffodils” close to a lake. The second and third stanza continue with a description of the daffodils, whereas the third stanza also deals with the feelings and thoughts which are risen in him by the flowers. The last stanza concentrates on the poet’s reminiscences of his experience and the positive emotions he connects with them.
In the beginning, the poet is in a very sad mood. In the first line the author uses a comparison to express this: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”.
A cloud is a shape consisting of no solitude substance and flying miles above the earth.
This suggests that the poet is wandering in absolutely solitude, detached from the world or reality without structured thoughts.
The description of the surroundings (vales and hills) creates a peaceful and a nearly melancholic atmosphere.
The peacefulness of the first and second line of the first stanza is interrupted by the group of daffodils the poet beholds immediately next to the lake.
Besides the beauty of nature, the time of the “Romantic Revolt” was also dominated by literary treasures of Greece. In Greek mythology the daffodils were associated with the death and the underworld. According to the saga, they grow on the waterside of the river Acheron, over which the souls of the dead were ferried by Charon. The flowers shall “delight” the dead. Therefore, they also were/are planted on graves.
In line six, twelve and thirteen they are “dancing in the breeze”. This creates a jocund mood, which is a sharp contrast to the sad mood of the poet and the reason for the twist of his emotions. So, they give hope to the lonely poet and delight him, too.
“Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way, they stretch’d in never-ending line along the margin of a bay” (l.7-10). In the beginning of the second stanza William Wordsworth compares the daffodils with continuously shining stars which symbolises eternity. The “never-ending line” repeats and emphasizes this point consequently.
In the third stanza the twist of the poet’s emotions entirely become evident. The flowers which symbolizes hope and glee, overtrump the waves that stand for the “negative energy” surrounding him. Thereupon he recognizes that he “[cannot] but be gay” (l.15).
(Besides, in line fifteen the reader finds out that the lyrical I is a poet.)
He seems to be very fascinated and astonished by the sight of the daffodils:
He “gazed-and gazed-but little thought”.

The last line of the third stanza introduces the fourth stanza. The lyrical I tells the reader about his thoughts in these recurring moments that are characterized by "solitude" (l.22) and lethargic motionlessness ("when on my couch I lie", l.19) - he is overcome by that same melancholy feeling and lacking in drive which marked the beginning of the poem. And when his mood is the same as in the moment he saw the daffodils, they would emerge again as well.
They give him hope again and delight him in situations of solitude.
The poem can be divided into two parts: The first three stanzas might build the first one which mainly focuses on the poet’s experience of nature and the description of the flowers.
The second one might consists of the last stanza. It contains the poet’s memories of the daffodils and the remedy they bring to him.

“Daffodils” is a typical poem of the time of the “Romantic Revolt”. William Wordsworth integrates the conceivability of this century (return to nature, “back to the roots”) and dissociated from the classical ideal of form of the “Age of Rules and Reasons”.

Mr. Keating’s future

“Keating looked into Todd’s eyes, then into the eyes of all Dead Poets. He nodded, then turned and walked out the door, leaving them standing on their desks in silent salute.”

After taking leave of Wellton Academy, a new part in Mr. Keating’s life began.
Realizing his current unemployment and the fact that a student implemented his carpe diem by committing suicide, made him suffer from a big depression. He knew that Neil’s father bore the blame for his death in a moral way, but nevertheless, he felt guilty.
He was the one who taught the students the carpe diem and consequently made them break the rules, defy their parents and act like little rebels.
He withdrew for a long time in order to think about his meaning of life, his strange situation, his mistakes and his teaching methods.
At this time he did not really know whether he would ever teach again.

Having passed one year living in a absolute loneliness, he concluded that his sense of life was to teach young, inexperienced students to be individual and independent persons.
He brought himself to look for a new defiance: he applied for a job as a teacher at a public high school.
Although Mr. Nolan attempted to soil his reputation, John Keating was allowed to take over this job.
The headmaster of the high school was a woman. She was severe but just.
She granted him a probationary period for a half year.
Before he started teaching, he decided to do a “normal kind of teaching”. He still wanted the students to behave as individuals, however, he introduced the subject not as fast and directly as in former times at Wellton Academy.
During the probationary period he taught the students things from the textbooks. If he did not agree with an author’s theory, he skipped it and went on with the next one.
A similar scene as once in his English form at Wellton Academy (ripping out the page of Mr. Pritchard’s theory of analysing poems and jumping into the garbage can) did not happen anymore.
He was able to convince the headmaster of his abilities and abolish the prejudices against him.
Carefully but efficiently, he made his students query the things they had to learn and differentiate between them on their own.
Because of the headmaster’s open-mindeness towards new teaching methods, he got the possibility to reach his aims.

Mr. Keating’s teaching methods were accepted and taken over by most teachers of his school.
He overcame Neil’s death and never was a witness to such a tragedy again.

Hallo Richard!
Danke für deine Antwort, doch leider hast du 'nen Fehler beim Eintragen deines Links gemacht. Den Pfad kann man nur auf deinem PC abrufen, aber nicht aus dem Netz(C:\ ...) .
Wäre toll, wenn du die Datei als Anhang oder mir eine URL, die auf 'nem für jedermann zugänglichen Server liegt, zuschicken könntest.
Danke

Hallo!
Wir lesen z.Zt. "Dead Poet's Society" und schreiben auch darüber die Kursarbeit.
Ich habe vergeblich nach verschiedenem Material für das Thema gesucht (google & co.), bin aber leider nicht wirklich fündig geworden.
Hat jemand von euch 'nen guten Tip, wo ich Summaries (am besten der einzelnen Kapitel / Lesetagebuch) und / oder Interpretationen finden kann?
Schön wäre es, wenn mir jemand direkt etwas Brauchbares zu schicken könnte.
Danke!

My Dream Vacation

Travelling to the Netherlands, a two weeks holiday at the “Ballermann” on Majorca, a sightseeing-tour in Rome, sailing down the Côte d'Azur or lying at the beach of Sylt.
All these “ordinary” kinds of vacation become boring after a while.
There must be something extraordinary … New Zealand.

New Zealand's spectacularly beautiful landscape includes vast mountain chains, steaming volcanoes, sweeping coastlines, deeply indented fiords and lush rainforests.
Nowhere in the world are so many different landscapes, environments, and ecosystems so close to each other.
The vast open spaces filled with stunning rugged landscapes and gorgeous beaches are fascinating me. The island has a population of only 4 million which makes it one of the world's least crowded countries.

I would like to discover New Zealand for one till two months. The length of a general vacation like three weeks do notsuffice to travel through New Zealand due to the many sights and attractions.
Because I love wild places and outdoor adventures, I would begin with the geothermal attractions of Rotorua and Taupo and get close to the volcanoes of the Tongariro National Park. Then I will continue with embarking on a river adventure in Wanganui and cruise down the beautiful Whanganui River on the way to Wellington.
In Wellington, the capital of the island, I would stay a few days in a luxury five stars hotel (or better). During the day I would visit the sights, at night the bars and discotheques.
If I am saturated by the city life, my journey goes on.
From Wellington I will travel to one of the great white beaches of the North Island at the Pacific Ocean. There I would stay for a while and take a villa for rent near to the beach. I will go swimming, diving, sunbathing and just relaxing.

I will decide on-site how my journey would go on.
I might admire the architecture and gardens of Christchurch or explore the walks around Mt Cook village and enjoy the high life in Queenstown.

“How are you?
Alright in here?”
“Yeah, of course. The business booms!”
In the lunch break Marcus visited Will in his record-shop he bought six years ago. It was the one he entered almost daily before the previous owner sold it. Buying it, was the most difficult decision in Will’s life he had ever had. The big responsibility he had to take over in his first job and his inexperience in this trade were factors which made him doubt.

Will is forty-six. For ten years some things happened to him.
One year after the start of the relationship with Rachel, they recognized that there weren’t enough things they had in common. So they split up and Will was a single again.
Soon, he tried to find a new girlfriend - but his favour for single-mothers didn’t change
Although he “developed to an adult” and became more responsible, he couldn’t resist the temptation to imagine Marcus as his own son. When the woman he had lied to, l learned the truth, their reactions were so frustrating that he gave up this tactic. So his single-life began.

Marcus is a twenty-two-year old guy. He still lives in London and studies law at the Kings-College. When he was nineteen he finished school and got a scholarship because of his excellent marks.. The little weird “twelve-year-old grownup” developed to a humorous, kind and responsible guy with a strong will.
At the college he got to know Jessica. A twenty-one-year old nice, beautiful, not superficial girl, who studied law, too. She was very involved in serious things like environmental protection and different political subjects. She is Marcus’ third girlfriend.
Marcus’ mother Fiona fell in love, too. This was the best thing which could happen to her. Now Marcus doesn’t need to worry about her. If she becomes depressive and tries to commit suicide again, someone will be there to look after her and can prevent her from doing it.
He is fifty years old and works as a journalist (Times). Fiona met him at the New Year’s Eve party of Suzie, where Marcus got to know Ellie in 1995.
But Marcus isn’t sure whether they will stay together forever. Sometimes he remembers the situation when his mum split up with Roger.

Will and Marcus don’t spend time together as much as in the past. They are still best friends, but their activities have changed. Now they meet in pubs and drink together after working.

Ben Ross’ diary entry

My mind is full of different thoughts. This day was one of my strangest and most instructive I ever had.

Yesterday a few people tried to convince me to finish The Wave.
At first Christy requested me to go to Mr Owens in order to tell him about finishing The Wave.
Subsequent David Collins and Laurie Saunders surprised me with their visit. They told me about the dissension The Wave creates and tried to convince me to destroy this community of students, who think they are better than the others and act like this.
Before the arriving of both, I had an idea to open the pupils’ eyes. But if David and Laurie know my plan, maybe they would tell the other students about it. So I decided to request them only to trust me.

Today in the Principal’s office Mr Owens was very angry with “my Wave” and me because it got out of control! I am very sorry about this and I feel so ashamed for having been so irresponsible and naive to think students are not suggestible so quickly.
He wailed about teachers complaining and parents who call him up every time. I understood the pressure he was under.
So I told him about my decision to finish The Wave.
I wanted to arrange a rally with only Wave members in order to open the pupils' eyes.
I preconceived putting up two TV screens on a stage in the auditorium to show them something they would never forget. I was sure that this idea would break up The Wave.
After telling my planto the Principal and leaving his office, I tried to find Alex Cooper and Carl Block, the last two students who were not joining The Wave (apart from David and Laurie). I let them arrange important and secret things for the rally, which Wave members weren’t allowed to do.
Then I went into my history class and told them that The Wave wasn’t only an experiment at Gordon High, but also a students' movement of the USA against unemployment and crime by practicing discipline, community and action.
I announced to my students that a rally only for wave members was organized in the auditorium at seventeen o’clock. There the national leader and the founder of The Wave would deliver a speech on TV.
While I was speaking, David and Laurie interrupted me in order to boycott my plan. Now they were thinking I didn’t want to finish.
I had to act quickly; they weren’t allowed to reveal too much. So I escorted them to the Principal’s office. I was a bit disappointed that David and Laurie didn’t obey, but it was my fault; I hadn’t told them to trust me without expecting this.
When I entered the auditorium I marvelled at the many students who were carrying Wave banners and signs and two students who were checking membership cards.
Christy was there, too in order to wish me luck.
I went on the stage nervously and Robert appeared next to me. He told me that all doors were secure und locked. So I could start.
After finishing the salutes “STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE, STRENGTH THROUGH COMMUNITY, STRENGTH THROUGH ACTION”, I announced to them that our national leader would appear in a moment. Then I let Robert turn on the television sets, but they were blank. The crowd was looking for their leader ,squirming and murmuring and I realized how easily they would let a leader decide for him. It was frightening.
Then I gave Carl Block and Alex Cooper the cue to reveal a large movie screen and to flick on a projector: “Yes, you have a leader!“
A big tumult started and the faces were frightened when Adolf Hitler appeared on the screen.
This was my plan: I showed them how easily they are to manipulate and how the life in Nazi Germany was.They might have follwed any leader. Probably they would follow Adolf Hitler, too.

The Wave was destroyed.
When the auditorium was empty, I saw Robert, tears running down his face. I commiserated him and tried to buck him up. Sure, he will be the class loser again.

hi richard!
thank you for your correction!
no, i´m not a teacher, i´m a pupil/student (Oberstufe)
and have to write a ficticious diary entry of Ben Ross (The Wave).
thank you once more!

Ben Ross’ diary entry

Last night I found out very interesting and useful information about the “Third Reich” and Hitler’s regiment. Enough information in order to give adequate answers to my students who were so interested in the movie I showed them. Besides I got the idea to make an experiment with my history class in order to involve them in and confront them with a nearly equal situation of being part of an extreme group/community or party like the “NSDAP”. Maybe then they will understand the behaviour of the Germans better.
I decided to introduce my experiment with a general behaviour pattern: Discipline.
So I began my next history lesson with writing “STENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE” across the blackboard. As the students noticed it, they started groaning. I expected that they won’t be enthuse about it but their opinion about these strict words changed quickly…
I added an explanation and gave examples which occur in their everyday life:

-Discipline has to do with power and success

I told them that David’s football team needs discipline in order to win and that Andrea has to do hard physical work because she is a Ballet dancer.

I wanted to impart to them that they can create power through discipline.
After my examples I suggested to prove it in the classroom. I expected a wisecrack, but my students were becoming curious and interested. So I started the experiment.
I put my chair in front of the room and requested Amy to sit on it. “Discipline begins with posture,“ I told them.
I made Amy sitting straight by instructing her to place her hands flat across the small of her back and force her spine straight up. So she could breathe more easily.
A lot of the students imitated Amy and sat straight in their chairs.
Then I looked around to check the pupils’ posture and saw Robert. Robert Billings, the class loser, sat in his chair very straight with parallel legs. I called the others’ attention to Robert. On the one hand I chose him because he did his job very good and on the other hand because his classmates could accept him - and it worked. The other students tried to copy him.

The key to success is organization I think.
So the next step for the pupils was to walk around the classroom and they had to sit down on a chair next to them in this position I had taught them, when I shouted out “Take your seats!“
At first, it was chaos. The students ran into each other and needed a long time to take their seats. Nearly twenty minutes I let them trying it again and again until David had a good idea. He suggested forming a line to get to the chairs faster and more organized.
I stopped the time with my stopwatch and was surprised that they needed only sixteen seconds now. The class was very happy and cheered. I calmed them down and the sudden silence was strange for me. The only time the room was that still, was when it was empty.

After this little game I added three more rules they must obey:
1. Preparation (they must take paper and pencils with them)
2. Style of answering (when asking or answering a question they have to stand at the side of their seats)
3. Correct address (they have to start the answer or question with the two words “Mr Ross”)

I asked the students questions, but at first they didn’t answer in that correct form I told them.
Either they forgot to say “Mr Ross” or to stand up at the side of their seats.
Besides they had to answer in short sentences, punctual, precise and with punch. So our “conversations” became louder.
It was amazing to see how involved the students were, who normally are bored.

When the bell was ringing, the students didn’t go out into the hall. They expected finishing the lesson by me. I gave them the homework and they left the classroom.

This experiment is not only a new experience for my history class.
I felt the power of unity and the feeling of togetherness, too.

Interpretation of “Some Say”

The poem “Some Say” written by Emily Dickinson consists of two short stanzas.
Each of the stanzas consists of three lines and they have an identical layout. The nearly
equal number of words, which the lines contain, gives reasons for this fact.
This poem contains the opinion of Emily Dickinson about all kinds of communication basing on spoken or written words.
The first stanza deals with the special opinion of some people. They say that a word is dead when it was already spoken or written down. This group of people wants to say that the words have not any importance for the future behaviour.
However Emily Dickinson contradicts this opinion in the second stanza. She claims that spoken or written words begin to live and not to die. She wants to tell us that these words make each kind of communication between human beings possible and can have (great) consequences in the future. Maybe a discussion or a dispute starts.

Emily Dickinson was one of the most important American poets. She wrote more than about 1.700 poems.
Words are necessary for each author. Without them, they could not write any kind of story, poem or information (newspaper). So you can comprehend Emily Dickinson’s notion about the “life” of spoken words. If her works have not had any distant echo, she would have written them in vain.

In the age of thirty, Emily Dickinson retreat from the social life. Even her best friends were only able to communicate with her through the closed door.
So, I only understand a bit of her notion, because somebody who locks himself in, does not make any communication and does not use many words.