06 Extensive Reading Questions for Chapter 6, What’s happening out there?
Living in a World of Fear
Pre-Reading
Do you feel safe in school? You can consider safety from either physical abuse or verbal abuse or both.
Yes I feel safe.
During-Reading
Why did a stranger deem Kelly ‘the crazy girl’ in Basha High school?
She shot some teachers and students in her school.
Why did Sarah, the author of the article, respond with anger by correcting her that it was ‘Kelly’ and not ‘the crazy girl’?
She felt that Kelly had a reason for doing what she did.
What was the school’s reaction to the plans made for a school shooting and anything related to it? Why do you think they reacted so?
Do you think Kelly was fairly treated? Give reasons to support your answer.
No,she did not have a chance to explain why she did that.
Post-Reading
When people have fear of what they don’t know or don’t understand, they tend to over react or at least make decisions. Is this a justifiable reaction?
No,they should find a counsellor and talk to them instead of making rash decision.
Students snap under pressure and sometimes they act this out violently against other students and teachers. In Singapore, there is little possibility for carrying a gun to school but there are other acts of violence that happen. What are some of them and how can you prevent them?
Fights occur quite often.I can help by finding a teacher and inform them about the fight.
The Day We Lost So Much
Pre-Reading
Do you have any fears? What are they if you have them? If you don’t have any fears, what are some fears you know your friends or other people have?
During-Reading
What were the reactions of the following people mentioned in the article when the Twin Towers were attacked and then when it later collapsed and during the aftermath:
Teachers were trying to clam us down before the building crashed.
Jane; the author of the article; her parents; students in school in general; the girl in her school whose mother was in New York then; the teachers in school; and some other people in general.
Post-Reading
- Towards the end of the article, Jane suggested that we should not spend our energy looking for people to blame for something bad that had happened. She instead, suggested a proactive approach to help people affected by the bad incident, remember the good in their glorious moments and smile in the face of despair. She believes this might change the future. What do you think of Jane’s stand? Give reasons to support your stand.
Looking Back
Pre-Reading
Have you ever thought of or have been involved in raising funds or helping out in any voluntary situations for disaster relief?
Yes.
During-Reading
How is the author of this article, Paulina, different in her reaction to the 9/11 tragedy from the Jane, the author of the previous article? In particular, what sort of feelings does she have?
Why is it that every time an airplane passes by, Paulina’s mood changes as quickly as the plane passes?
She is reminded of the incident that happened in 11th September.
Post-Reading
Do you think Paulina’s fears are rational? Why or why not?
Recovering from My Own Epidemic
Pre-Reading
What do you remember (you were probably 6 or 7 years old then) or know about the SARS (Avian bird flu pandemic) scare?
We had to take our temperature almost daily.
During-Reading
What were the steps taken by the teachers and school for the prevention and the spread of SARS?
We had to wash our hands daily.
How did the SARS epidemic change the author of this article, Eri’s life?
She learned that she cannot be reluctant about what she wanted to do.
What were the thoughts that motivated this change?
She wanted a freedom on earth,and especially happiness.
Post-Reading
How appropriate do you think the title of this article ‘Recovering from my own epidemic’ is? Give a reason(s) to support your answer.
I do not feel that it is appropriate as the author did not recover but learned and gained something from it instead.
6. Prejudice
Pre-Reading
-Why do you think students are constantly asked to recite the Singapore pledge? We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build democratic society so as to achieve happiness, prosperity for our nation.
The government wanted us to be a Singapore citizen that is aware of our country’s vision and culture.
During-Reading
What is meant by ‘Difference is the brother of inferiority’?
It means that people who are different are inferior.
Why is it that when the dark skinned girl is saying the same words that came out the author, Brooke’s mouth yesterday, it will be disregarded?
As nobody care about what she say.
Post-Reading
- Universities and educational institutes with a global focus strive to have a 10-20% percentage of foreign students. What are some of the advantages of having classmates from different races and different countries?
Essay Question
The following are description of three types of teenagers who cope with disastrous or changing world and local events, and they can be natural and human made disasters:
Type A: Teenagers who are affected by the things out there in the world. World, local, natural disasters and human made ones, political changes, issues like religious disharmony, racial prejudice affect them. However, they know and feel that they have power to make a change and will take the opportunity to exercise that power whenever possible. In doing so, they know that they actually help to make small or huge changes to their world.
Type B: Teenagers who tend to take a passive approach even though they feel disheartened by what is going on in the world. They are interested in making a difference but don’t seem to know how or where to begin. They wouldn’t mind getting involved in something that interests them.
Type C: Teenagers who prefer to avoid all these issues that plaque the world and their own countries because they feel powerless to make any difference so do not do anything about them. However, if they were given the chance to pick a cause and get really involved in it, it might actually empower them.
Which type of teenager are you closest to? Support your answer with reasons and examples. Share how you dealt/ deal/would deal with some of the local or/and world issues that could be natural or/and human-made problems.
To help you further,
If you are a Type A teenager, you might want to share some proactive projects you have done or are doing or plan to do, share what motivates you to do what you do.
If you are a Type B teenager, you could share how it would be made easier for you to get involved in projects to make your contribution. Think of including some projects you would really like to get involved in if you were given an opportunity. You might have to ‘google’ for some existing but meaningful projects to consider.
If you are a Type C teenager, you could share why you feel you cannot do anything and why the situations out there are too big to handle. Share what it would take to get you involved in any project. You might have to ‘google’ for meaningful projects to consider.
You could consider a range of issues like environmental issues of global warming, deforestation, pollution, human trafficking of women and children, rebuilding of Haiti after its earthquake, aftermath of a tsunami or volcano eruption, health issues, children’s lack of access to education, poverty, forced arranged marriages, gangs, racism, piracy, homeless people, abortion, nuclear power, water availability, human cloning, animal conservation, animal rights, internet fraud/hijacking of email accounts, terrorism, landmines, unemployment, gambling addiction, abandoned old folks, orphans, etc.
Note: I have not given a type D of ‘I can’t be bothered with anything’ teenager because if you insist you are one, then I wonder why because certainly at the interview for direct admission to the school, the school must have seen the potential in you to be an agent of change and for each of you to develop the 10 Cs.
Your answer should be at least 250. The maximum should be about 400 words and seriously not more. Structure and organization, ideas and language are important elements to consider in producing a good essay. A good guide for length is that you write a little more than half a page to a page of words. I am using Calibri, font size 11 as a guide.
In your organization/structure of the essay, there should be an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The structure should be clear (if you can’t think of a structure to use for the body of your essay, consider any relevant ones from the graphic organizers provided or impromptu speech structures introduced in your Oral Communication and Presentation Skills classes).
Ideas should be well expanded and supported with reliable information, solid reasons and appropriate illustrations or examples.
Language used must not be informal, and has to suit the purpose of the task. It should be fluent and clear, preferably with little or hardly any grammatical errors. (Please refer to rubrics for marking blog questions in your students’ Google site under English, then Extensive Reading).
This blog is assessed for your CA assessment so please try to do a decent essay.
No comments:
Post a Comment