TESL 6, I officially announce that your vacation is over.
I am going to start semester 2 2011 very much earlier.
This semester in LHE 3211, we are going to look at all the texts prescribed for Literature Component in English Language syllabus.
Please remember in this class we are going to plan activities for secondary school students from various levels of English language proficiency.
Before you plan for classroom activities you need to understand the text from A to Z and beyond. The first text we are going to read, understand, and love is one of the poems prescribed for form 1 students - The River by Valerie Bloom.
You should have no problem in understanding this poem. I forbid you from looking at what other netizens have said about The River. If you discover the meaning of the river through your own interactions with the text, you will be able to plan for many interesting classroom activities - activities that will work in real classroom environment.
2 things I want you to do here.
i) share with us your discovery of The River.
(do you experience difficulties in understanding this poem? if you do then i fear for all those
students in form 1)
ii) please commune with nature - to the rivers- and bring along your phones, digital cameras or
whatever relevant gadgets-
Take as many pictures of the rivers and post it along your analysis.
Due date for this entry: 26 February 2012
no. the vacation won't be over since, well, we're not going down the river to float kayu balak or hunt some crocodiles. we still can read and do those things while we're still in THE vacation.
ReplyDeleteANALYSIS ON THE RIVER by VALERIE BLOOM
ReplyDeleteKhaymalatha Balakrishnan
153271
In the poem The River by Valerie Bloom, the poet gives the river six different personification. She calls the river a wanderer, a winder, a hoarder, a baby, a singer and also a monster. The poet goes on to characterize each of this personification.
The river is told to be a wanderer, and he has no fixed place to call a home. He goes anywhere he likes with no restrictions.
The poet calls the river a winder. The river goes round and round, in twists, turns and is never quiet. He creates various paths, and makes noise wherever he goes. The river is always on the move.
The poet called the river a hoarder. A hoard is something that is accumulated for preservation. The river is a hoarder and accumulates treasures and buries them deep, within himself.
The river is personified as a baby who gurgles and hums and makes the noise of a happy baby who is sucking his thumb. A happy baby that sucks the thumb is a contented baby. The poet might also be saying that the river is contented, thus happy and makes those gurgling and humming noises.
The river is likened to a singer, and said that he dances happily to the sounds of the countryside. The countryside echoes the songs of the river. The river’s sounds are likened to that of a song.
The last personification of the river is the one that describes it to be a monster. It is described when this monster is hungry or angry it can swallow anything on its way, be it big or small, and it can even swallow the reader of this poem.
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DeleteWell, that is the general summary of the poem as I see it. When I saw this assignment that Puan Ju posted, I was a bit shocked because, well, I did not have the poem. But as always, thanks to google, I managed to get the poem. However, I only went to google for the poem, and nothing more than that.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion, this poem is really and truly easy. It easy to understand and straight to the point, and there is no Shakespearean level of difficulty or interpretation in this poem. I love the way the poet is representing the river, an element of nature in this poem. It is simple, yet deep in its own way. It made me, the reader, to look at the river in a different perspective altogether. Maybe the toughest part in the poetry would be, the vocabulary perhaps. I had to look up for some of the words as I did not understand the meaning at first.
The personification that I loved the most in this poem was when the river was likened to a wanderer, a baby and to the singer. The personification that I did not like was the likening of the river to a monster.
In personifying the river as a wonderer, the poet is telling us that the river is like a free spirit that is held by no bonds or restrictions and can do anything it wishes. In likening it to a baby, the poet is telling us, the readers that the river is innocent, and happy as well as contented. Why I say contented is because, when we look at the lines “he gurgles and hums and sounds like he’s happily sucking his thumbs”. Only a contented baby will suck his thumbs and gurgle happily. Thus, the poet is saying that when the river is content, it will make gurgle noises and flow happily.
The river, being likened to a singer shows that the river is cheerful. The river has a song in it’s rhythm of flowing and it allows the countryside to echo it to the people around. By portraying the river as a singer, the poet is also telling us that the river makes people happy.
The description of the river as a monster was scary. The poet wrote that in anger and hunger, it will eat up anything in its way, no matter big or small, even the reader themselves. This is true, because the river does become a monster in storms.
The poet, in her simple but meaningful poem has shown the many different faces of the river. We can apply this to our own selves as human beings, as we too, as humans, have many different faces and we play many different roles, like the river. When we are happy and contented, we will gurgle like the baby, when we are cheerful, we will sing like the singer, when we are angry, we become like monsters, when something is precious to us, we hoard it. Thus, we are like nature in our own way.
sorry i had to make two post, because it wouldnt accept just one...huhu and Puan Ju i dunno how to fit in pictures.... i will make another post in my blog...hope you read it there k :)
ReplyDeleteI would like you to reflect on suitability of this poem for form one students. How would you approach this poem if all the kids in your class do not understand most of the words?
ReplyDeleteTo announce that the vacation is over i guess was a bit too ambitious on my part. But then for most of you, even though semester has started you are still on vacation. And for some you are on vacation all throughout the semester!
ReplyDeleteHai Puan Ju.... Scribbling butterfly here again...no no, i mean, KHAYMA here again....
ReplyDeleteOkay, to answer your questions...:
1) Suitability of Poem :
In my personal opinion, i think that the poem is extremely suitable for Form 1 students. In my time, we did Shakesperae in Form 1, and thinthere has been a major toning fown and in fact, when i checked the source on the net, this poem is classified as a children's poem... So, in my opinion, there is no question of the poem being unsuitable....
In fact, if one were to look back at the poem, the poet keeps personifying the River in simple words and further eloborating each of the personifications.
2.) If the kids don't understand most of the words?
Haha, spank them with a hairbrush and kick em out of the class.....
No no, just joking...hehe
Okay, here is where we use dictionaries. But i know, that is kinda heavy, bringing the dictionaries and so on. Teacher can explain the main words...
Taking this poem for an example, the teacher can explain the words wanderer, winder, hoarder... i don't think words like baby, singer and monster needs explanation. In order to facilitate further understanding, teacher can initiate movements as in asking the students to act out each personification... in my opinion, movements and acting can help them understand the words better.
I hope i have answered the questions Puan Ju,.... Thank you....
Hello, Pn Ju.
ReplyDeleteShiau Yin here.
After I read this poem for the first time, one thing pops into my mind.
Humans.
(or if you want a more scientific terms, then the homo-sapiens)
In this poem, the poet personifies the river as a wonderer, a winder, a hoarder, a baby, a singer, and a monster. In my opinion, humans are a multi-faced creature.
Just like the river, human can be all those things. We can be a monster when we are driven by emotions such as anger or sadness or greed or even gluttony. We can be a diva if we feel extra confident that particular day. We can be a baby when we are with our family. We can even be a wonderer when we hit rock bottom in life. We, humans, can be all those things and more. We change into different personalities within a day, some maybe within an hour. I’m not sure if guys change their personality as much as girls do, but I can definitely say that my emotions runs like the river, ever changing.
I like this poem, because it sort of reminds me of the fact that humans can sometimes be unstable creature when they are driven by greed, lust, gluttony, anger, etc (in short, the seven sins, I guess)
Because of these 7 sins, some humans have turned into monster that brings pains and suffering to other humans. Just look at all those cases where innocent people and cheated into delivering drugs, children being kidnap, unborn child being abort, co-worker back etc.
Is this poem suitable for form 1 students?
Since I too found this poem to be under a children’s poem site, therefore I would say that this poem is quite suitable. Students with moderate English level should have no trouble understanding this poem. Even students with lower English level should be able to understand after explanations are given on the difficult words such as hoarder, winder etc. I think if we were to explain all the difficult words in this poem to the students, they would probably understand and even like this poem as it is quite straight forward.
Thank you.
p/s: a continuation to my 6th paragraph
ReplyDelete~ co-worker back-stabs others to get the promotion etc
so you mean your first activity would be to explain those words. Wouldn't it be a bit draggy? I have found during teaching supervision some of you ended up confusing the students more with your explanation of the words. Say this is your first class of the river, what would you do?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Pn.Ju.. Sharmila Malakar 154744
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this poem is easy to understand and it portrays river as the natural phenomenon and part of the physical features of Earth. On the other hand, it also personifies the river with the nature and behaviour of human beings.
This poem talks about the river as it flows through the valleys and hills. It consists of literal meaning and figurative meaning. Literally the poet talks about the river as it flows through the valleys and hills aimlessly as it does not have a permanent home. It is always moving as it winds and bends from the highland to the lowland. Along the way the river keeps whatever it collects and these things stay in the river bed. The river makes sounds that are peculiar or special as it moves happily and dances swiftly. But the river can cause erosion by pulling down trees and creating floods.
Figuratively the poet has personified the river as a man. Man is like the river as he journeys through life. The man is like a wanderer because he does not stay in a specific place and he tends sway. Here a man is seen as falling into temptation and acting without proper judgement. With no place in mind, a man may choose the straight path or the road less travelled. He can’t make a good decision as his vision is blurred. On his travels, man may collect souvenirs as keepsakes. It also means that as human beings we will encounter many challenges as part of the growing process.
Man can be childlike when he is happy with his station in life. He shows his happiness with joyous acts and the people around him can feel and hear his happiness. It also means that he is brave and not timid to show his feelings as he shares it with the world. However a man can also be a destroyer especially when his anger is aroused. Here man is susceptible in destroying everything and anything that gets in his way. He can unleash his dark side and wreck havoc when he is filled with rage.
This poem is suitable for form 1 students as it is easy to comprehend. I guess the students will have problems with the words but the teacher can explain them. On your reply of it being draggy, the teacher can create an activity whereby to ask the students to match the pictures with the words from the poem. Indirectly she is enhancing their memory with those pictures as well as teaching them the difficult words. She can provide the answers to ease the students in answering.
Besides she can give an activity of matching the definition with the words. In this way the teacher need not waste time explaining the difficult words as she can straight away proceed with the activities.
HAi Puan Ju, Khayma here...
ReplyDeleteI want to answer that question of, if this is my first class of the river, what would i do?
Err, push all those kids into the river?? Hahaha..no no...
okay, if it is my first class, maybe i will do a simple mind map that divides the river's six facades. Importantly, i will ask the class if they actually understood the meaning of the words. If they have a problem, then i will explain the words. Or else, better to simply continue with the class.
For the first class for The River, it would be fun to plan a nature walk or a visit to at least a nearby pond ( schools usually have ponds ) and recite the poem by the water. It will give more feelings towards the poem. after recitation, it would be important to ask them if they understood the words or is they are having difficulties with the words. This is because, if they don't understand certain words and if we still go on teaching, then it would be useless as the students won't understand what they are doing.
I also agree with Sharmila's idea of using pictures to enhance student's understanding. The teacher should use pictures to try make the students understand the poem further.
So far, those are my ideas... I am feeling jammed...
Shiau Yin here.
ReplyDeleteIf this is my first class on this poem…...then I would probably focus on the students general understanding of the poem and the element that pops out the most, which for me would be the characters in the poem (eg: wanderer, winder, baby, singer etc)
After I introduce the poem to the students and reading the poem as a whole with the students, I would ask if the students would like for me to clarify some of the difficult words that they find in the poem. (If they don’t then I’ll move on with the lesson) After that, I would focus on the characters in the poem. I would focus on a whole class activity by asking questions such as:
How many characters did the poet use to describe the river?
What characters can you find in this poem?
Why do you think the poet said the river is a ______ (eg: wanderer, singer, baby etc)?
You have started thinking about classroom activities already. That is good as you are going in the right direction. Next, what I would like you to do is to prepare a lesson plan for this poem. All throughout the semester you are required to write several lesson plans. You are to compile these lesson plans in 1 portfolio and handed it in on week 12.
ReplyDeleteoraite puan ju...noted.....
ReplyDeleteAssignment for portfolio is an individual work. I do not want you to be scratching each others eyes and screeching at each other this semester.
ReplyDeleteI mean this coming semester 2 2011.
ReplyDeleteOkay Puan Juridah,
ReplyDeletedo we have microteachings based on the lesson plan??
One of the evaluations for this course is micro teaching. You will be assigned one topic. You are to write a lesson plan, teach the lesson and reflect on your teaching. Teaching is 10%. lesson plan 5% and reflection is another 5%.
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1GNwXgRMnXbPbR7lScKxYdppAFrubsjElfV1P-4v8sVA/edit?pli=1
DeleteI tried posting a comment more than 20 times, it jus disappeared, even asking Vicky to help. Same thing happened. I hope this gets posted >< - Dorothy
SHARIZAN BIN SARIMAN
ReplyDelete152855
hi puan ju,
since i'm currently taking photos of rivers, well... both pleasant and unpleasant (i can say it's extremely disturbing as well!)rivers, where you want us to attach it? is it alongside our comment here? or you want us to put it in, like... blog, portfolio, scrapbook etc?
and so, here is my analysis of the poem...
so, i think the poem is comprehensible by both the teachers and the students. i will, for sure, use this poem as a starter in teaching the literature component to the lower secondary students.
the poem is interesting because the poet gives the river characteristics that are outside the normality of the river itself, also known as personification, where it is related to a certain human's characteristics to enhance the students imagination about the action and/or function of a river throughout their life. as an example, in the first stanza:
the river's a wanderer
a nomad, a tramp
he doesn't choose one place
to set up his camp
notice that the poet refer the river as a "he", and, in addition, as a wanderer, a nomad and a tramp, which all are of course related to a human being.
besides, the words in the poem are beautiful and comprehensible as well.
NUR HANISAH SAFIAN
ReplyDelete152604
THE RIVER
(Valerie Bloom)
Hi Puan Ju! :)
After read through the whole poem, I noticed that the poet was trying to convey the river not just as the ‘normal, typical’ river but also to the other elements which are the wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. River is being referring to the wanderer because of it attitude which is flow without destination, aimless way, and obviously without any ‘pit stop’. As for the winder, it means that river is not static and it is a liquid that flow steadily through hills and valley. Other than that, river is referring to the hoarder because of the precious treasures hidden deep down the river. For instance, all the beautiful fish, animals that rarely found, and not to mention the most important element for human which is the water itself! The next personification given to the river is ‘baby’. It is because the persona thinks that river is such a beautiful place and everybody love to hang out and spend time there which is similar to baby that always capture people’s attention. Furthermore, the other personification in this poem is ‘singer’. It is because the sound and the ‘music’ that was produced by the river are really calm and pleasant to listen to. The last characteristic that was compared to river is ‘monster’. The reason is obviously because river do sometimes become harsh and danger to go nearby where else to swim in. It is the other side of river other than just become an attractive place to visit.
The important aspect that should be aware of is, instead of just describe the characteristic of the river itself, Valeria also adapt the personification to the poem, which is the comparison between river and human. Other than that, the persona also brings variety of emotions to the poem. For example, when the river is refer to baby, it means that the river flow slowly and secure. The emotion is calmness and peaceful. On the other hand, when the river is referring to the monster, it means that it flow harsh and full of danger with that human should not swim in that condition or go near the river.
Just a personal opinion,although there is no right or wrong in interpreting a poem, and as known, this poem can actually be interpret in many perspective but we must aware that the meaning is not supposed to be too draggy, too “indirect perspective”, or even too focus on the underlying meaning as it vanish the actual meaning or message. The reason is because the target students is just a form one students and we are not supposed to make them more confuse about it and indirectly decrease their interest to the literature.
...cont :
ReplyDeleteAs for the activity that can be done in a classroom, I’m thinking of something that not lame, boring (hopefully),can attract student's attention,realistic, and interesting activity for the form one students.
First for most, I will recite the poem as whole to the class, and clarify any difficulties that they might face especially in term of vocabulary. Oh! by the way, in my opinion this poem should be fine to the target students which is the form one students. The major problem here is maybe the vocabulary as I found it is quite challenging for the form one student especially for those students from the rural areas. ( errrr honestly, I just knew the meaning of the several words though) :P
The next step, I will asks students to form six groups of maybe five students in a group and asks each representative to choose one from the six coloured cards which actually contain the six elements in the poem itself (wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster).
For example, if the group of students got a word of “SINGER” written on the card, they need to think, discuss, and describe the motive why the poet actually refers the river to a “SINGER’?, and the same task will be accomplish by the other groups that got the other characteristic of the river. In this situation, students will wisely read the poem to understand the underlying meaning of it. Other than that, I also want them to include their own opinion about it. For instance, maybe they might say that river is similar to a singer because the 'beautiful sound of music' that it produce and we almost barely can’t hear anything at the middle of the jungle, but we can clearly hear the beautiful and pleasant sound of the river.
They can present their findings in any ways they want to. For instance, by doing some sort of drawing, writing, or even acting.
Isolde Hon Pei Sha 152560
ReplyDeleteI find this poem absolutely perfect for beginner poetry students. Though some words are of higher proficiency level, but I think its meaning is overall quite easy to comprehend. Thus, it provides the opportunity for students to learn new words and its meanings.
I am amazed with how the writer described the river. Its traits are almost like us as human beings. Changeable, unpredictable and remarkable.
The river’s a wanderer, just like us humans, never stagnant and always moving around,exploring the world seeking for the truth.
The river’s a winder, twists and turns, just like human beings, they change and adapt according to different circumstances and situations.
The river’s a hoarder, so are human beings, they work hard for what they want, and work hard for what they need, whether if it is possessions, relationships, power or knowledge.
The river’s a baby, just like human beings who can sometimes be naive, happy and or even bubbly.
The river’s a singer, as how human beings are, leaving trails to wherever they are, as they sing their songs and as their voice echoes along the path, others shall hear of it.
The river’s a monster, as horrible as it sounds, so are some human beings who cannot control their temper, anger and emotions, they end up doing doing something terrible that might hurt others and even themselves.
As for class activities, I would use all the traits of the river; wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer, and monster, and ask the students to check for its meaning first with a dictionary. Then students are asked to describe each trait with their own words. We want to see how the students think each of the traits should be like. Then, the teacher may ask the students to think of one or two characters, that share the same traits as mentioned from the poem. For example, wanderer : explorer, forest ranger, tour guide, etc. Then students will start to look for similarities between the river and people(human beings). Last but not least, teacher will ask students to interpret the poem on their own. They will be asked to find the similarities of the poem with people(human beings) and what is their opinion on each of the traits.
laila khalida suberi 154211
ReplyDeletehye pn ju :)
as for the poems the river by valerie bloom
i find this poems is suitable for form 1 students, i have no difficulty to understands this poems. it is simple and easy for them to understands as well.
for me the river that the writer describe here is the like a path of life that someone have to faced.
the river just cannot stands still, the path ao life always changes sometime smooth and sometimes rough just like the river flow.
when someone faced their journey of life, what they will find is the experience for them and that is the treasured moment that the river keep.
the river sound that the writer describes is like a baby happily sucking his thumbs. it make the baby happy and so, the river is making a happy sound. just like that life we had always have the happiness in it.
the river also bring calmness as it flows along the countryside. when the river flows smoothly it bring you calmness just like your life, when something goes smoothly and just like you wanted, everything is calm and relaxing for you.
the river also could be a monster. it mean the river could be dangerous. when the path of your life become extremely messy and not good for you, it will cause you trouble. many of bad sequence you will have to faced. so if we in this situations we need to know how to controlled it.
as for the picture for the river, i make an entry at my own blog..
here is the link for you to see it =)
http://sakuralyla.blogspot.com/
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ReplyDeleteFatin nabila binti jasni, 153451
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of this poem is, “it is rather a short poem to be studied” which is good for Form 1 students. For me length of written text does matter if we want to catch our students attention, otherwise they won’t be listening because I believed that literature is not on their “favourite subject” list.
In my point of view, the poem, The River by Valerie Bloom is actually a human. Meaning that, the river in the poem is a personification of a human. The poem describes a person’s characteristics. As a human, we do share same experiences in life.
In the first stanza, the river here has been personified as a person who lives as a wanderer, a nomad, a tramp who doesn’t choose any one place to set up his camp. Based on the first stanza, we can conclude that a human sometimes is afraid of a commitment. They are sometimes loved to be free and not bound to anything.
In the second stanza, the river has been personified as a person who lives as a winder. In my opinion, a person sometimes love to live their according to its “flow”. This kind of person is a follower not the leader. They love do not like to decide, or to think by themselves, they are normally a lazy person whom are afraid to take chances. They are too afraid to face the risk that might be in front of them.
In the Third stanza, the river has been personified as a hoarder. A hoarder is a person who keeps everything safely. It is mentioned in the stanza that the hoarder buries his little treasures. In my opinion, the treasure is referring to one secret that he/she want to keep from everybody. As a human being, we do keep secret.
In the forth stanza, the river has been personified as a baby who hums , gurgles, and also sound like she is happy while sucking her thumbs. As a baby, human is a pure being. Like babies, we can be happy because of a small thing.
In fifth stanza, the river has been personified as a singer who makes people happy when he is performing. As a singer, human is sometimes capable of make others happy by faking our own happiness. Just like a singers, even though they are sad, they will still perform for their fans. We normally conceal our own problem or discomfort in front of people we love with hope that we will not bugging them with our own problem.
In the last stanza, the river has been personified as a monster. As a human, we all do have our own bad side. We are not a perfect being who can escape from doing mistake. However, the monster in last stanza refers to a person who is evil and maybe has the heart to destroy. Thus, as a human being, we need to bear in mind that we cannot trust everybody and be careful.
Fatin nabila binti jasni, 153451
ReplyDeleteHi again Pn. JU...
In my opinion, i do think this poem is suitable for Form 1 students since it is short and bring us a lot of good message. However, the usage of words in this poem could be difficult to the lower proficiency students. For example, words like wanderer, winder, hoarder, vexed are not common for us as a second language learner. So i think, we need to provide meaning for those words in order to make our students understand the poem and also the messages it brings.
This poem is about the poet’s appreciation and perception of a river. The river in this poem is always written with capital letter as it is a proper name.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is delivered in an admiring and fearful tone, as the river have the potential to be good or bad and humans have no capability of controlling it. A lot of metaphors are being used along with personification in this poem, such as in the line “The River is a wanderer”.
This is more a symbolic comparison with the life of man. The life of a man is like that of a river. At certain parts of his life, he wanders about. This is normally so in his restless youth period. He may want to see the world. He may jump from job to job. As such he is nomadic, a traveler and a wanderer. Like a tramp, he refuses to make home permanently at any one place or even sit at one job long enough to see some promotion and growth. He makes his own decision and move as his fancy takes him.
On his travels, men will collect the 'souvenirs' of his life. We call these experiences. Man can be child-like when he is happy to bask in the sunshine of Mother Earth. He shows this in sheer joy and abandonment such as in singing and in dancing when he achieves something his heart desires. His happiness radiates to those all around him, be it relatives or friends.
However, like the river, man is also subjected to moods and bouts of unhappiness that can unleash uncontrolled anger and violence.This can include the frustration of failure. When that happens, his senses may leave him and he will destroy and kill to relieve himself of pain and sorrow or to get whatever he wants, be it by fair means or foul.
For the first activity, I will show a few pictures of clean rivers to my students. Then, I asked and discuss the question.
1) What can you see from this picture?
2) How do the rivers look like?
3) How do you feel when you see this picture?
Next activity is that I will instruct the students to sit in the group. I will play ask the students to read the poem together in class and I will correct them if they mispronounce any words. Then, I will asks students whether there is any words that they don't understand and I will explain it.
Next, I will hand out the envelopes (one envelopes per group) They need to rearrange the strips correctly to form the poem If one sentence is wrong, students must go back to the corner and try again. The group that hand in the correct arrangement in the shortest time wins.
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets.
River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner.
We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water. I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being.
By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born.
This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSiti Awatif Hamzah (153126)
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about the poet’s appreciation and perception of a river. The river in this poem is always written with capital letter as it is a proper name.
This poem is delivered in an admiring and fearful tone, as the river have the potential to be good or bad and humans have no capability of controlling it. A lot of metaphors are being used along with personification in this poem, such as in the line “The River is a wanderer”.
In this poem, the poet talks about the gentle and harsh facets of the river.
The poem clearly describes the features, functions and the destructive power of the river.
The poet gives the river human characteristics. Some of these characteristics include being a wanderer, a nomad, a tramp, a hoarder, a baby, a singer and finally a monster that will ‘swallow you next’.
The poem also uses a variety of verbs to indicate how the river moves. The river is said to be a winder and thus twists and turns. In addition, it also gurgles and hums like a baby. Interestingly, it also sings, dances, gobbles and swallows.
The poem has been clearly and systematically written because each stanza describes one feature and function of the river as it meanders downstream.
In the first stanza, the poet describes how the river is constantly moving. The poet compares the river to a nomad who does not stay in one place for very long.
The second stanza describes how the river moves through valleys and around hills. It draws a picture in our mind of the winding route that the river takes.
The third stanza reminds us that there are things hidden in the river.
The fourth and fifth stanzas draw our attention to the sounds that the river makes.
The last stanza warns us that the river can be dangerous. It can destroy nature and takes human lives.
For the first activity, I will begin my lesson by showing students a few pictures of clean rivers. Then, I asked and discuss the following questions with students:
1) What can you see from these pictures?
2) How do the rivers look like?
3) How do you feel when you see these pictures?
Then, I modeled the recitation of the poem. After modeling the recitation of the poem, I instructed students to read the poem. The girls will read the first stanza, then the boys will read the second stanza, and so on.
Then, I will hand out envelopes (one envelope per group). They need to rearrange the strips correctly to form the poem. I will check the order. If one sentence is wrong, students must go back to their corner and try again. The group that hands up the correct arrangement in the shortest time wins.
ZULAIKHA KHAIRUDDIN 153465
ReplyDeleteThe River: Interpretations
In this poem, I replace the river with a person. This is because the poet personified the river with human actions. I interpret this poem that in a person’s life, the journey is a very long journey that we have to face. There are also lots of obstacles that we as a human being need to face in order to achieve our goals. I would like to go through the poem stanza by stanza.
The first stanza, the poet personified the river as a wanderer. So, what I can interpret is, a human being we need to walk and travel around the world in order to learn lots of things. We surely will face lots of problems in the journey. Meeting with people that have many attitudes either it is a good one or a bad one. Along the travel, we will learn how to be strong like river and how to choose the right path for us because in a journey, there must be an end.
In the second stanza, the river was personified as winder. The winder here we can say that, a person is the one who make the move in order to achieve something. It might be something good or something bad. But for sure, we hope that it would be for something good. So, we can say that, in order to achieve something, we cannot just stand still because we need to do something in order to get it. We must put an effort so that if let say we failed, we would not be regretted because we know that we already try so hard. We can relate this with Malays proverbs, “Masakan dapat sagunya kalau tidak dipecahkan ruyungnya” and also, “Yang pipih takkan dating melayang, yang bulat takkan dating bergolek”.
Next stanza, the river is a hoarder. In this world, each person has a thing that very precious to him or her. So, they will keep it very carefully with all their hearts. So, we can see this action through the river because the river will cover the treasure with the sand in it. So, the poet wants us to appreciate whatever treasures that we have. We must appreciate and take a good care of it so that it will not fall to the bad hands.
Then, the poet personified the river as a baby. We can say that, sometimes a person even though she or he already an adult, they want to be pampered. A wife wants to be pampered by her husband and vice versa. An old father wants to be pampered his children and many more. So, they will be very happy because they feel that they are loved like a baby.
The fifth stanza, the river was personified as a baby. People will go to the countryside, so that they feel calm and ease as they heard the river’s sound. This one is a bit different but still related to a person. When people get stressed, they will search for something that can calm them such as a soft music like a river or they can find a listener that they can tell their stories as what the river always does when people go to it and express their feelings as if the river could hear them.
Last but not least, the river was personified as a monster. This one we can tell that in this world, there are many bad people that can be very harsh to us as the river become chaos. So, we need to be careful. But sometimes, even though we are being careful, the bad things still occur and we need to take it as a lesson that we learn through experiences. So, as a reminder, in this world we will and surely meet with bad or not so good people especially their attitudes.
I think that’s all my interpretations; if it was wrong, please correct me, thank you so much. =)
Continue
ReplyDeleteZULAIKHA KHAIRUDDIN 153465
The River: Suitability
For me, this poem is suitable for the kids, I mean the Form 1 students. This is because they poem is quite easy to understand even though there are a few words that are a bit difficult to understand even me myself has to look into the dictionary. So, the difficult one is just the vocabulary. Overall, I think this poem is okay because it talks about a journey or a story about a person’s life.
The River: How to make the students understand the poem?
How to teach them in order for them to understand, we need to look at the levels of the students. But as a whole we still need to make sure the students know the meaning of each word and we have to ask them which words that they do not understand. Then we have to give the meaning in English not in Malay. If they still do not understand, we can simplify our words for them to understand and last but not least, we can use gestures or actions to make sure they understand. After they understand each meaning, then we can start teaching them to understand the deeper meaning.
That’s what I think because that was how I learn this poem when my first time reading it. =)
The River: The activities
Set Induction : I’ll give the sound and ask students to guess what sound it is.
First activity : Reading aloud and vocabulary session.
Second activity : Ask them what they understand from the poem and ask them to form six groups and each group will get each stanza.
Third activity : They will present their works. The presentation is up to them and they are forbid to the usual presentation like just speak in front. (Whole class discussion.)
Conclusion : Moral values and homework. They have to draw the occupations that they want to be in the future. In the next class I’ll relate the drawings to the poem.
thank you Madam Ju...sorry for the lateness... =
siti awatif hamzah 153126
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about the poet’s appreciation and perception of a river. The river in this poem is always written with capital letter as it is a proper name.
This poem is delivered in an admiring and fearful tone, as the river have the potential to be good or bad and humans have no capability of controlling it. A lot of metaphors are being used along with personification in this poem, such as in the line “The River is a wanderer”.
In this poem, the poet talks about the gentle and harsh facets of the river.
The poem clearly describes the features, functions and the destructive power of the river.
The poet gives the river human characteristics. Some of these characteristics include being a wanderer, a nomad, a tramp, a hoarder, a baby, a singer and finally a monster that will ‘swallow you next’.
The poem also uses a variety of verbs to indicate how the river moves. The river is said to be a winder and thus twists and turns. In addition, it also gurgles and hums like a baby. Interestingly, it also sings, dances, gobbles and swallows.
The poem has been clearly and systematically written because each stanza describes one feature and function of the river as it meanders downstream.
In the first stanza, the poet describes how the river is constantly moving. The poet compares the river to a nomad who does not stay in one place for very long.
The second stanza describes how the river moves through valleys and around hills. It draws a picture in our mind of the winding route that the river takes.
The third stanza reminds us that there are things hidden in the river.
The fourth and fifth stanzas draw our attention to the sounds that the river makes.
The last stanza warns us that the river can be dangerous. It can destroy nature and takes human lives.
For the first activity, I will begin my lesson by showing students a few pictures of clean rivers. Then, I asked and discuss the following questions with students:
1) What can you see from these pictures?
2) How do the rivers look like?
3) How do you feel when you see these pictures?
Then, I modeled the recitation of the poem. After modeling the recitation of the poem, I instructed students to read the poem. The girls will read the first stanza, then the boys will read the second stanza, and so on.
Then, I will hand out envelopes (one envelope per group). They need to rearrange the strips correctly to form the poem. I will check the order. If one sentence is wrong, students must go back to their corner and try again. The group that hands up the correct arrangement in the shortest time wins.
Amir Suad Bin Asari, 153442
ReplyDeleteThis poem showed the river as human being or living object. It has the personality and desires for things.
The river's a wanderer, like us going to all the places along our life travelling.
The river is a winder, keep changing its path, just like humans keep changing their personality or their path in life.
Those are the examples of characteristics of the river in this poem that represent us humans. I love it how in this poem beautifully represents river as humans.
Besides, this poem also shows how the river have both good and evil personality like human being. We started being good, and once harassed, we start losing control and be mean. it is stated in this poem where when is vexed, the river will destroy the trees or nature.
For class activities, i fully support this poem to be teach in form 1 class because the word is not so hard to understand. Plus, i can put the activity where i will ask the students to find the meaning of the words in the poem, and match the meaning to a human being's characteristic.
-Amir Suad Bin Asari, 153442-
Che Mohd Nazrin 153914
ReplyDeleteThis poems is suitable for form 1 students, it’s easy to understand despite of a few difficult words. I believe that every student has their own experience pertaining with river, so there are no problems for them to imagine a river and analysis this poem. Every stanza of this poem reflects the nature of the river that can be reflected with human. I can say that this poem contains lots of life lesson, based on my interpretations of course; I see this poem as something that brings lots of meaning. I personally relate it with our life.
Let see the first stanza, the rivers’ a wanderer, a nomad. Nomad is actually a person or a tribe without places to stay. Just like river, it keep flowing and flowing, down to the sea, up in the sky and back into the stream again. For me personally I believe this stanza show us that we should not get easily comfortable with ourselves, we tend to be in our safe zone for as long as possible, we do not dare to step out and try something new. We tend to “set a camp” to ourselves. Be just like river; keep flowing, and the rest left to the god.
For second stanza, the 3rd lines really grab my attention, he twist and he turns, he just cannot be still. Based on this line, its bring lots of meaning, I reflect it to ourselves, in life we face so many difficulties, we met many type of people with different attitude and behavior, instead of giving up, and take a step backward, the river show to us that we need to cope it, go around and tackle the problems. Giving up is not an option, always find a way to penetrate the problem, we just cannot be still and hope for the best while we ourselves don’t do anything.
The 3rd stanza, based on my interpretation reflects that everyone should be like a river, someone that can be trusted, especially with secret. Everyone has their own secret, and everyone know someone secret, be like a river, treat a secret as part as their own life, especially secrets among friends.
River itself have lots of characteristics, sometime river can be very rough, sometime it can be very calming, this can be seen through stanza 4,5,6.
On stanza 4 and 5 river can be interpreted as something that so calming, it can sing and dance happily, calming the whole village, same with people around us, there are time that we can see them smile, singing and dancing, but as a normal human being, human like us can sometime turn into monsters, when the rage is to high and conquer our conscious, anything can happens, this reflected on the 6th stanza, the rivers; monsters, hungry and vexed.
Based on my interpretation above, I believe this poem is suitable for form 1, it easy to understand, and easy for teacher to explain the deep meaning of the river. Moreover there are lots of activities can be plan because most of the students familiar with river and I think all of the students had experience swimming in the river.
Hello Puan Ju,
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this poem, I find it very cute in a sense that the way the poet describes how a river can be. Generally, it may only be a source of life but through this poem we can see that it can be among many other things as well. A nomad, a tramp, a winder, a hoarder, a baby, a singer and even a monster.
In understanding the poem it is not that difficult since the language the poet use is simple and straight forwards. Personally, it almost felt like a pictorial since I can see the pictures from the way the poet describes the river. Hence, when teaching this poem, i may adapt to a more visual approach. I may begin with showing graphics of many rivers and possibly in a cartoon-ish ways. Proceeding with the lesson, reciting the poem by impersonating the character in each stanza. for lower lever, I may recite the poem first to set example to the students. In understanding the content of the poem and its underlying meaning, I may encourage students to discuss in groups according to each stanza so that they may represent each character and followed by presentations. As closure, I would like the students to play the role of many other elements of mother nature and describes how they see each element.
As for this assignment, I took the initiative to try and be connected to the river back in Terengganu. What I did was i took the various boat rides along the river of Terengganu and i discovered a different view. At one point, as i sat at the jetty waiting for my next boat ride, looking at the restless flow of the ocean into the river of Terengganu, i noticed that this is the river that has witnessed the glory and changes of the Terengganu's development. A river may not only be located on high mountains or deep in the forest but also in midst of a growing city.That river has become the life of the people there, be it fishermen, boatmen or even ordinary people just going through their daily lives.
I went through the experience with my father. He said that "I have grown up with this river, live my childhood and now an old man, the river still manage to make me feel connected to my past" makes me realize that a river is not only an element by itself but it may also represent part of our lives.
I have recorded a video on the river cruise along the Terengganu river and will pass up the CD as soon as compiled it.
The end.
NURUL DINIE ALIAS
152665
ABDUL SALAM BIN MOHD RABI 154595
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this poem give the form 1 students lots of lesson if they are really study on those lines in the poem. For me the river reflects most of us into the real life situation where people always faced. There is no problem for a students to imagine the air of a river, so it is really helps with the imagination and vision of the students towards river. Life is not about the destination but it is all about the journey of their own life.
River as a wanderer in the first stanza means the river just go on with the flow of a life. One can plan to do anything in his or her life but they will never for sure stick with the plan. Like the river flows down to the sea without knowing where actually they are going to.
Next stanza personified river as a winder which never be still. The most far things from us was the time that we have left. We can’t even go back to a second passed. We as a human wherever we are and whatever we are doing in our life we will never be still and have to move on with life. Although we have to go through so many challenges.
3rd stanza personified river as a hoarder. Which is really true because the flowing river will only drag everything when it flows fast and furious but became hoarder to keep everything in the sand. What they want to keep they just keep it in their hearts.
The river’s a baby, just like human beings who can sometimes be naïve.
Nobody can stop the river from singing their songs echoing from the long distance from the river as for human they also like the river sing their song dancing all along the streets.
The river’s a monster, as horrible as it sounds, so are some human beings who cannot control their anger and emotions, they end up doing something terrible that might hurt others.
FARAH NABILLAH MIOR YUSUP (154096)
ReplyDeleteassalamualaikum and hello madam..=)
One thing appears in my mind when I read this poem is the memories of our trip to Sungai Congkak... hehehe… Actually, on that day I used the river as my subject to create my poem. Well… as I read and go through this poem line by line, my personal interpretation says that this poem is about the humans’ behaviors and feelings. hurm… this poem is not really difficult for me to understand and interpret it in my own thought and I think it will be ok for teachers to use this poem to teach form 1 students.
I think this poem is describing about someone who very special. For me, the river can be interpreted as a unique and very special human... When we say a river, we know that it is not an ordinary thing. It is very strong and very mysterious one… so the word river can be related to a very special person. Words like “wanderer”, “winder” and “keeper” give the idea of a very strong, tough and mysterious person. Since the writer used the word “he” to the river, I would say that the river is actually symbolize a male character like father for instance. So... here are some reasons why I said the river can be referred as a man.
In the 1st paragraph, it said that the river is a wanderer… as we all know; men just love camping and the outdoors so much... They don’t bother about where to sleep, where to take a bath, as long as they can have a vacation (I am sappy... huhu). And then in the 2nd stanza it says that a river is a winder. Men are just like wind. Compare to women they are more brave, tough and active like a wind. Men are also like hoarder which means a keeper. I assume a keeper here is a keeper of secrets. Actually, men can be trusted more than women. When they know something, they just keep it within themselves. Not only on secrecy, if they have some that they like and love so much, they will surely keep it well no matter how.
A man can also be as spoil as baby... this is happening especially when they are in love… just like women when men fall in love, everything in this world seems to be very nice in their eyes… they sing happily and even they could be a good poetry like Shakespeare when they are in love. After that, men can also be singer. They know how to entertain people around us with their jokes and sweet song. They could make someone surrounding them happy. And last but not least they could be a monster. Don’t ever mess with guys. When they are in the angry mood, they will do anything to release their anger.
Since I am teaching form 1 students and I think it is not really suitable if I only ask them to create their own imagination of a river. That’s why I think I should bring a small, portable radio into my class. Then I will turn on a music which has a peaceful sound of a flowing of a river. I will provide a power point slide that has some pictures of beautiful rivers. This is as stimuli for them to create their own imagination as if they are really having that pleasant condition although they are only in the classroom. I also agreed with what Khayma said where she suggested that teacher could bring the students to the school pond or maybe let them visit the school botanical / science garden for few minutes so that they could really feel the real freshness of nature. And for group activities, I will ask them to draw a picture of river on the mahjong paper that will be provided. After that they have to show their drawing to whole class and create a simple short poem to describe about their drawing.
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets.
River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner.
We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water.
I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being. By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born.
This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
Nor Faizahaishah Bt Othaman
ReplyDelete152319
In my opinion, this poem is quite easy to understand because the words use is easy and direct. The words also give hint to the reader to guess what the poet tries to convey. I think this poem suitable to teach form 1.However, there are few difficult words such as wanderer, nomad, winder, hoarder and etc but students can learn new vocabulary from this poem. I do not take much longer time to interpret this poem based on my opinion.
The first stanza, the poet describes rivers as a wanderer or a nomad. The rivers never have fixed flows, it has move away to different condition, has up and low, so do life. Sometime we been drift away from our path but still in the end we follow the right path. We never sticks to one path in a life, as a human we tend to tried many options and we will find the right path after we going through most difficult path. Sometime we have to make many choices or make a change. The second stanza, the poet describes rivers as winder. As I know, winder is device used to winding something. Winding is a twisting movement or course. In this stanza, based on my opinion, the poet describes life never been easy. There always something is wound around everyone life. It has twist and turn which I think it mean life can be sometime happy sometime not, sometime it may turn to be just what we wish for or maybe sometime not. But life can never been easy to anyone. Everyone must have tasted pain and gain in their life. The third stanza describe river as hoarder. A “hoarder” that store valued things. Rivers has secret buried down deep and so do life. In my opinion, there valued things that life keep which sometime we never appreciate. I think,”those little treasures” is a memories, experiences, and those people we love in life. All these are the valued things we have in life.
In the fourth stanza, the poet describe river as baby. Gurgles are a sound from the bubbles and rivers never quiet because there is a harmony sound. River as baby also describe that, life also has a calming phase. In my opinion, baby also represents young. So sometime life can be so wonderful when we at young age, we are blessed with healthy life, ambitious and etc.
In the fifth stanza, the poet describe river as singer. Rivers flows with a sound, and there is different sound created as a result from the rivers flow. These make a melody to the nature. In my opinion, river as singer represent that in a life, sometimes is about to please other people, or to entertain people just like the singer does.
The last stanza, the poet describe river as monster. Rivers are described as “hungry” and “vexed”. This refers to real life; sometimes life can be mean and full of misery. If we do not be careful, we might become a victim to the life desperation.
Nor Faizahaishah Bt Othaman
ReplyDelete152319
In my opinion, this poem is quite easy to understand because the words use is easy and direct. The words also give hint to the reader to guess what the poet tries to convey. I think this poem suitable to teach form 1.However, there are few difficult words such as wanderer, nomad, winder, hoarder and etc but students can learn new vocabulary from this poem. I do not take much longer time to interpret this poem based on my opinion.
The first stanza, the poet describes rivers as a wanderer or a nomad. The rivers never have fixed flows, it has move away to different condition, has up and low, so do life. Sometime we been drift away from our path but still in the end we follow the right path. We never sticks to one path in a life, as a human we tend to tried many options and we will find the right path after we going through most difficult path. Sometime we have to make many choices or make a change. The second stanza, the poet describes rivers as winder. As I know, winder is device used to winding something. Winding is a twisting movement or course. In this stanza, based on my opinion, the poet describes life never been easy. There always something is wound around everyone life. It has twist and turn which I think it mean life can be sometime happy sometime not, sometime it may turn to be just what we wish for or maybe sometime not. But life can never been easy to anyone. Everyone must have tasted pain and gain in their life. The third stanza describe river as hoarder. A “hoarder” that store valued things. Rivers has secret buried down deep and so do life. In my opinion, there valued things that life keep which sometime we never appreciate. I think,”those little treasures” is a memories, experiences, and those people we love in life. All these are the valued things we have in life.
In the fourth stanza, the poet describe river as baby. Gurgles are a sound from the bubbles and rivers never quiet because there is a harmony sound. River as baby also describe that, life also has a calming phase. In my opinion, baby also represents young. So sometime life can be so wonderful when we at young age, we are blessed with healthy life, ambitious and etc.
In the fifth stanza, the poet describe river as singer. Rivers flows with a sound, and there is different sound created as a result from the rivers flow. These make a melody to the nature. In my opinion, river as singer represent that in a life, sometimes is about to please other people, or to entertain people just like the singer does.
The last stanza, the poet describe river as monster. Rivers are described as “hungry” and “vexed”. This refers to real life; sometimes life can be mean and full of misery. If we do not be careful, we might become a victim to the life desperation.
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets. River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner. We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water. I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being. By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born. This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets. River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner. We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water. I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being. By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born. This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
I personally think this poem is much nicer and much better than the ones we had when we were in high school. Comparing this to the Dead Crow, this is much better and much more interesting especially if teachers know how to develop student's interest in poetry through creative ways.
- Dorothy Ting 153071
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
I think that this poem suitable for form 1 student because it short and easy to understand. I think that the river in this poem can be referring as people or human. It is because the real nature of the river in this poem is the same as human nature.
ReplyDeleteI think that the river in this poem is a symbol human nature and action. In the first stanza, the river has been referring to as a wanderer. It also means that we can refer the river as people who have free spirit, who always do their own thing freely.
As a teacher, to teach the poem to my student I have to create activity that can make it easier for students to understand the poem. One of the activity that I can create is students have to make a painting of the river based on their knowledge and they have to explain about their painting. This activity can test student’s creativity and their understanding.
I also can create activity where students have to find the symbol or the theme of the poem. This activity can test student’s knowledge of the poem and their understanding.
I think that this poem suitable for form 1 student because it short and easy to understand. I think that the river in this poem can be referring as people or human. It is because the real nature of the river in this poem is the same as human nature.
ReplyDeleteI think that the river in this poem is a symbol human nature and action. In the first stanza, the river has been referring to as a wanderer. It also means that we can refer the river as people who have free spirit, who always do their own thing freely.
As a teacher, to teach the poem to my student I have to create activity that can make it easier for students to understand the poem. One of the activity that I can create is students have to make a painting of the river based on their knowledge and they have to explain about their painting. This activity can test student’s creativity and their understanding.
I also can create activity where students have to find the symbol or the theme of the poem. This activity can test student’s knowledge of the poem and their understanding.
I think that this poem suitable for form 1 student because it short and easy to understand. I think that the river in this poem can be referring as people or human. It is because the real nature of the river in this poem is the same as human nature.
ReplyDeleteI think that the river in this poem is a symbol human nature and action. In the first stanza, the river has been referring to as a wanderer. It also means that we can refer the river as people who have free spirit, who always do their own thing freely.
As a teacher, to teach the poem to my student I have to create activity that can make it easier for students to understand the poem. One of the activity that I can create is students have to make a painting of the river based on their knowledge and they have to explain about their painting. This activity can test student’s creativity and their understanding.
I also can create activity where students have to find the symbol or the theme of the poem. This activity can test student’s knowledge of the poem and their understanding.
I think that this poem suitable for form 1 student because it short and easy to understand. I think that the river in this poem can be referring as people or human. It is because the real nature of the river in this poem is the same as human nature.
ReplyDeleteI think that the river in this poem is a symbol human nature and action. In the first stanza, the river has been referring to as a wanderer. It also means that we can refer the river as people who have free spirit, who always do their own thing freely.
As a teacher, to teach the poem to my student I have to create activity that can make it easier for students to understand the poem. One of the activity that I can create is students have to make a painting of the river based on their knowledge and they have to explain about their painting. This activity can test student’s creativity and their understanding.
I also can create activity where students have to find the symbol or the theme of the poem. This activity can test student’s knowledge of the poem and their understanding.
Adiba Zailan, 152111
ReplyDeleteThe River by Valerie Bloom has a lot of personification. Personally, I think the poet tries to tell us many things about what human can do but she used the river to portray it. The poet used different words or personification to be exact for each stanza to describe the river such as the words wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. These words can actually describe both the river and also human behavior.
In the first stanza we can see that the poet said that the river doesn’t stay in one place, it continues to flow. The same goes with human being, we can also choose not to stay in only one place or even a character. People change and we will not stay the same like we were yesterday or even last year.
In the second stanza, the poet talks about how river flows everywhere through valley and hills and it doesn’t stop anywhere. Being human, we have to work in order to be successful. We can’t stand still and hope for a miracle to come. For instance as a student we need to work not only hard but also smart so that we can achieve the best in our study. We need to find the knowledge and work for it.
In the third stanza, the poet talks about the river as a hoarder. How the river buries down all the treasures that he wants to keep. It is the same with human, we treasure all the things we love and care for. We will keep it save no matter what, for example, not only our belonging but also relationship and also secrets.
Next, the poet describes the river as a baby, gurgles and hums, sucking his thumbs. When we were born we are like a blank slate, pure. We didn’t worry about anything. Baby does not have to think about anything. There are not affected by the world yet. So by saying the river is like a baby, it means that human are as happy as a baby.
In the fourth stanza, the poet talks about how river as a singer and dance along. It means that human being can spread the happiness to everyone around him. If we enjoy in whatever things that we are doing, then people around us will also feel the positive vibe.
Last but not least, the poet also talks about how a river could be a monster. Being human, we will not be spared from doing bad things. We have our own temper, anger, and personality. Different person carries different personality. We can’t aspect a person to be nice and kind all the time. Do not judge a book by its cover.
The first time I read through this poem, I can see some difficult words for form 1 students such as hoarder and vexed, but other than that I think this poem is quite easy to understand and I don’t have any problem understanding it. But in case the student didn’t understand some of the words from the poem, teacher will first need to explain some main words that can help them understand the poem better. No necessarily each word in the poem since it will drag your time. For activities, I think for set induction teacher can show the students pictures of river and ask the student their experience about river. I am sure all of them had been to at least a river before. Then teacher can then recite the poem and after that the student can follow the teacher. Teacher then needs to divide the class into 6 groups with 5 people in each group and ask them to draw a picture of condition for each river in the selected stanza for each group. The students will also have to find the similarity that a human being have with the trait of the river in the poem and explain it in one sentence.
ReplyDeleteNor Faizahaishah Bt Othaman
ReplyDelete152319
In my opinion, this poem is quite easy to understand because the words use is easy and direct. The words also give hint to the reader to guess what the poet tries to convey. I think this poem suitable to teach form 1.However, there are few difficult words such as wanderer, nomad, winder, hoarder and etc but students can learn new vocabulary from this poem. I do not take much longer time to interpret this poem based on my opinion.
The first stanza, the poet describes rivers as a wanderer or a nomad. The rivers never have fixed flows, it has move away to different condition, has up and low, so do life. Sometime we been drift away from our path but still in the end we follow the right path. We never sticks to one path in a life, as a human we tend to tried many options and we will find the right path after we going through most difficult path. Sometime we have to make many choices or make a change. The second stanza, the poet describes rivers as winder. As I know, winder is device used to winding something. Winding is a twisting movement or course. In this stanza, based on my opinion, the poet describes life never been easy. There always something is wound around everyone life. It has twist and turn which I think it mean life can be sometime happy sometime not, sometime it may turn to be just what we wish for or maybe sometime not. But life can never been easy to anyone. Everyone must have tasted pain and gain in their life. The third stanza describe river as hoarder. A “hoarder” that store valued things. Rivers has secret buried down deep and so do life. In my opinion, there valued things that life keep which sometime we never appreciate. I think,”those little treasures” is a memories, experiences, and those people we love in life. All these are the valued things we have in life.
In the fourth stanza, the poet describe river as baby. Gurgles are a sound from the bubbles and rivers never quiet because there is a harmony sound. River as baby also describe that, life also has a calming phase. In my opinion, baby also represents young. So sometime life can be so wonderful when we at young age, we are blessed with healthy life, ambitious and etc.
In the fifth stanza, the poet describe river as singer. Rivers flows with a sound, and there is different sound created as a result from the rivers flow. These make a melody to the nature. In my opinion, river as singer represent that in a life, sometimes is about to please other people, or to entertain people just like the singer does.
The last stanza, the poet describe river as monster. Rivers are described as “hungry” and “vexed”. This refers to real life; sometimes life can be mean and full of misery. If we do not be careful, we might become a victim to the life desperation.
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy Ting 153071
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Testing testing. Somehow I posted my comments like 20 times it won't get thru!
ReplyDeleteSomehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem ofthe river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River byValerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, Ipersonally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word ofpoetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite directrather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such asmetaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in thebeginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetrythat might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry butafter helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literarydevices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting andintriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used inthe poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a shortdocumentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling inbrooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast overstones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then lateras they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem alongwith the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so thatthey have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the wordsthat they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a briefdescription as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting tothe description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, aperson who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time.Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on,even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place andmove on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through thecharacteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder,baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. Awanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a windertwisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, ahoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender andharmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. Theriver is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, ifwe were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them theliterary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification andrhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would beteaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs andadjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps Iwould try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristicof the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
testing 1 2 3
ReplyDeleteSomehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem ofthe river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River byValerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, Ipersonally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word ofpoetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite directrather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such asmetaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in thebeginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetrythat might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry butafter helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literarydevices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting andintriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used inthe poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a shortdocumentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling inbrooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast overstones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then lateras they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem alongwith the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so thatthey have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the wordsthat they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a briefdescription as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting tothe description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, aperson who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time.Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on,even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place andmove on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through thecharacteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder,baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. Awanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a windertwisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, ahoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender andharmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. Theriver is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, ifwe were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them theliterary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification andrhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would beteaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs andadjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps Iwould try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristicof the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem ofthe river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River byValerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, Ipersonally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word ofpoetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite directrather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such asmetaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in thebeginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetrythat might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry butafter helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literarydevices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting andintriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used inthe poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a shortdocumentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling inbrooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast overstones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then lateras they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem alongwith the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so thatthey have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the wordsthat they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a briefdescription as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting tothe description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, aperson who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time.Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on,even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place andmove on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through thecharacteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder,baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. Awanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a windertwisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, ahoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender andharmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. Theriver is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, ifwe were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them theliterary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification andrhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would beteaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs andadjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps Iwould try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristicof the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Emily Yoong (154565)
ReplyDeleteHi Pn Ju,
After reading this poem, I can say that the author is trying to connect the river with living object or in another word, human. The river is personified as a human being who has both positive and negative sides or good and evil. Human can be sweet when in good mood and can be vexed in bad mood. We could not say that the negative side is bad because this is the balance of natural order. We need both to complete each other such as human has male and female and even earth has day and night. So, the river is just like human. It can be a wanderer, a winder, a hoarder, a baby, a singer and a monster. The author also uses the words such as ‘twists’, ‘turns’, ‘buries’, ‘gurgles’, ‘hums’, ‘dances’, ‘gobbled’, and ‘swallow’ to describe the movement or the river. Hence, we could see the different aspects of the river in each stanza.
Stanza 1 tells us that the river is a wanderer. From my point of view, the river never stops its flow to go beyond until it reaches the ending which is the sea. Same goes to human. We wouldn’t stop exploring the world till our mission in life is achieved.
The river is said as a winder in stanza 2 which shows the difficulties that human faces in life and they are sometimes unavoidable, that is why it just cannot be still. Life is not straight or smooth all the time. If we meet valley or hill, we have to twist and turn to fix the circumstances.
Stanza 3 is the matter of wealth. River is a hoarder who hides and keeps the treasures deep down. As for human, we keep our properties secretly without others’ knowledge. On the other hand, it tells me how human preserves relationships between family, friends and colleagues.
‘The river’s a baby’ makes me feel that human is sometimes innocent and can be childish too when they are happy. They just ignore everything that pissed them and like a baby enjoy their days.
We could hear the sound of the river and see the movement of the river when it flows. We can feel the calmness and freshness when we sit at the countryside with the echoes of gentle waves. Human can be stressed especially facing problems at workplace. So sometimes they need to sing, listen to music or dance to release their stress.
Now, the river is a monster. This is the negative side of the river. The river is dangerous when it is ‘hungry’ and it could just eat up the trees and even human. This stanza tells us to beware of people surround us and don’t easily and fully trust others because they would back step you one day even our best friends. There’s no guarantee in friendship because human can change in a second.
Overall, the poem is easy to understand (from the surface meaning) but I doubt there are some difficulties for intermediate and low proficiency students to comprehend this poem due to the usage of some of the higher proficiency words in this poem such as wanderer, winder, hoarder, and so on. This poem is about journey of life. Thus for the suitability, I don’t think this poem is suitable for Form 1 students because most of them are still consider as teenagers and they don’t really expose to the real world which would stop them from getting the deep meaning of the poem. Based on their life experience, they have no idea on what is adult doing. However, if we were to teach the students to get the surface meaning, it should be no problem then. Depends on what we are going to teach. The structure is suitable for form 1 students as it is not lengthy and this poem is very good in teaching vocabs.
In order to solve this problem, I shall prepare some vocabulary activities for both intermediate and low proficiency students. First and foremost, I would like the students to show the words that they do not understand and I shall act out the meaning of the words. Once they get the idea, I would give an activity on the vocabulary. I would provide 3 synonyms for each difficult word and jumble them together. Students need to choose the correct synonyms and fill in the mind map provided.
As the second poem in A Collection of Poems, Shorts Stories and Drama for form 1-3, I think literature is still something fairly new to the students. Previously they might have been exposed to nursery rhymes and so, but nothing near enough which requires their own interpretation as a resource. Therefore, in order to make it more accessible for the young students, I think we can take a more subtle approach- We can start by making the students realize that, in the River by Valerie Bloom, the characteristics, apparently, are very similar to a human’s character, in addition, I would provide them with Glossary for the terms they can’t understand.
ReplyDeleteFor a start, the river is a wanderer, signifying nothing is permanent, whether it’s the water itself or the things which have fallen into it, will be washed away in seconds; as human being, we change from time to time, making decisions and taking different turns but never remain stagnant…
Secondly, the river is a winder, many things can take a twist and change; as human, every experience can mark a huge difference in our life by changing our perception and direction…
The river is a hoarder, he buries down deep, there are many things drowned and sank in the bottom of the river and never be found; like human, along the way we tend to make mistakes, and some becomes secret and we bring it to the grave…
The river’s a baby, acting like an ornament to the nature, pleasant; no matter how old we get, at times we tend to be as happy as a kid…
The river’s a singer; and when we’re happy, we are a ‘singer’ too, spreading the happiness to our surroundings…
The river’s a monster; yet, being human, we can be uncertain, at times we can be taken over by emotions and temptations, causing much regrets and damage to ourselves as much as others.
In my own interpretation, the literal meaning of the poem describes the river, and the figurative meaning describes the nature of human being. I am not very sure about the theme of this poem but from my personal point of view it is about growth and uncertainty in life. Students will not find this poem too complicated once they get the big picture- Uncertainty takes place unpredictably as we grow, jus like a river, initially calm, but when it reaches a waterful it becomes fierce and forceful, and when necessary, it burries, and it can be a beautiful accessory to the nature, yet it can cause death and destruction when it floods.
Choong Yar Hui- 151673
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Choong Yar Hui- 151673
ReplyDeleteAs the second poem in A Collection of Poems, Shorts Stories and Drama for form 1-3, I think literature is still something fairly new to the students. Previously they might have been exposed to nursery rhymes and so, but nothing near enough which requires their own interpretation as a resource. Therefore, in order to make it more accessible for the young students, I think we can take a more subtle approach- We can start by making the students realize that, in the River by Valerie Bloom, the characteristics, apparently, are very similar to a human’s character, in addition, I would provide them with Glossary for the terms they can’t understand.
For a start, the river is a wanderer, signifying nothing is permanent, whether it’s the water itself or the things which have fallen into it, will be washed away in seconds; as human being, we change from time to time, making decisions and taking different turns but never remain stagnant…
Secondly, the river is a winder, many things can take a twist and change; as human, every experience can mark a huge difference in our life by changing our perception and direction…
The river is a hoarder, he buries down deep, there are many things drowned and sank in the bottom of the river and never be found; like human, along the way we tend to make mistakes, and some becomes secret and we bring it to the grave…
The river’s a baby, acting like an ornament to the nature, pleasant; no matter how old we get, at times we tend to be as happy as a kid…
The river’s a singer; and when we’re happy, we are a ‘singer’ too, spreading the happiness to our surroundings…
The river’s a monster; yet, being human, we can be uncertain, at times we can be taken over by emotions and temptations, causing much regrets and damage to ourselves as much as others.
In my own interpretation, the literal meaning of the poem describes the river, and the figurative meaning describes the nature of human being. I am not very sure about the theme of this poem but from my personal point of view it is about growth and uncertainty in life. Students will not find this poem too complicated once they get the big picture- Uncertainty takes place unpredictably as we grow, jus like a river, initially calm, but when it reaches a waterful it becomes fierce and forceful, and when necessary, it burries, and it can be a beautiful accessory to the nature, yet it can cause death and destruction when it floods.
Hello Pn Ju..
ReplyDeleteWell I personally think that this poem is just nice for form one students. My sister is doing her lower secondary now. When i asked her how she felt with the poem she said it was ok compare with other poems. Well many had commented that there are few new words and difficult words .For me I see that as an opportunity for the students to learn new words to enhance their vocabulary.
As for set induction I would probably play a soft music of water flowing like the river and ask them to imagine their surroundings and ask them few questions regarding it. It would excellent if I could make a class trip to a river and let the students to wet their feet with nice cold water. At the same time I would show them some pictures from the newspapers, pictures from internet and so on how the river is being polluted by these days.
Students will be asked to interpret their poems by themselves with the teacher’s guidance. As for the literary device I would emphasize more on personification as it is easy to be detected in the poem. The poem personified the river as a living object, which has attitudes and wants. The poem also shows the river as a thing with two nature, good and evil, just like humans. This understanding is the referred back to the poem, as the river is personified to be as what it chooses to be. Human do not have the capacity to control the river. It is up to it whether the river wants to be a baby or be a monster.
For form 1 students this will be their first year getting involve with literature, therefore they should be handled slowly to gain confident in learning literature and to have interest to the subject.
Hello Pn Ju..
ReplyDeleteWell I personally think that this poem is just nice for form one students. My sister is doing her lower secondary now. When i asked her how she felt with the poem she said it was ok compare with other poems. Well many had commented that there are few new words and difficult words .For me I see that as an opportunity for the students to learn new words to enhance their vocabulary.
As for set induction I would probably play a soft music of water flowing like the river and ask them to imagine their surroundings and ask them few questions regarding it. It would excellent if I could make a class trip to a river and let the students to wet their feet with nice cold water. At the same time I would show them some pictures from the newspapers, pictures from internet and so on how the river is being polluted by these days.
Students will be asked to interpret their poems by themselves with the teacher’s guidance. As for the literary device I would emphasize more on personification as it is easy to be detected in the poem. The poem personified the river as a living object, which has attitudes and wants. The poem also shows the river as a thing with two nature, good and evil, just like humans. This understanding is the referred back to the poem, as the river is personified to be as what it chooses to be. Human do not have the capacity to control the river. It is up to it whether the river wants to be a baby or be a monster.
For form 1 students this will be their first year getting involve with literature, therefore they should be handled slowly to gain confident in learning literature and to have interest to the subject.
VIKNESWARY THIAGARJAN
152214
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets. River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner. We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water. I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being. By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born. This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
Chong Wei Sam 151654
ReplyDeleteThe River
About Valerie Bloom
She was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956. She is a poet and a novelist who writes poems and stories for children. She loves teaching children. She conducts writing courses and visits schools to share her experiences and talents in writing. Her poems have been published in more than 200 anthologies.
Analysis:
The poem has 6 stanzas. Every stanza starts with “The River”. It is referred as ‘he’. It is being personified into several human qualities. It carries out actions that human beings perform. Several characteristics are being portrayed by the river.
Stanza 1: Wanderer
The river is like a homeless man, who wanders aimlessly from place to place and does not have a fixed or permanent place. It does not settle down.
With the mobility we have, humans travel from places to places and this ability is being portrayed in “The River”. The river does not stop flowing. From the drain to the river to the sea, it just won’t stop for anyone.
Stanza 2: Winder
The river is never in a straight line. It bends and meanders as it flows from highland to the lowland.
As mentioned earlier, the river does not stop flowing. It does not stay static. This can be compared to a traveler who cannot stay still in one place; he or she is constantly moving.
Stanza 3: Hoarder
The river collects things and they sink to the bottom and settle on the river bed. Things that he keeps are his treasures and he is determined to keep them.
Humans collect things as a hobby. We collect stamps, magnets, key chains, coins etc. I just started a hobby which is collecting ang pows. Just like the river, these things that we collect, we treat them as our treasures and keep them for life.
Stanza 4: Baby
The river is like a baby who makes noises like gurgling and humming when it is happy. It sounds like he is happily sucking his thumbs.
Stanza 5: Singer
The river is a singer and also a dancer. The sound of the flowing river along the countryside is liken to the notes of a song and the flowing movement of the river as if the river is dancing.
The sounds mentioned in stanza 4 and 5 are the music of the nature. When the water flows, when the water hits the rocks etc, these are the music the river creates. One has to experience himself/herself to know what the music of nature is. Sg. Congkat trip gave us such experience.
Stanza 6: Monster
The river is a hungry and angry creature that greedily gobbles up trees and it may get you too someday.
This is the only stanza that describes river in a negative way. It tells us that one has both good and bad sides. Just like the river, a person can be good but once provoked he/she is capable to turn into a monster. The river can destroy trees and drown people when there is a flood. There is a Chinese saying that, “bully the mountain but not the water”. It is a direct translation from the Chinese saying. Water here can be referred as river. From the newspaper, we know that rivers/seas take up human lives. This is where river is a monster.
Easy or Difficult (Me):
It is comprehensible. I can understand upon first reading. But for further analysis, I did to search for the meaning of certain words.
Easy or Difficult (F1 Students):
I would not use either of the adjectives to describe the level of this poem. It really depends on the proficiency of the students. I did have a little interview with my cousins who are still in their secondary school. They had problems in words like nomad, tramp, twist, hoarder, gurgle, hum, echoes, vexed, gobble etc. The lack of vocabularies stop them from comprehending the poem what more enjoy reading about it. If I were to myself into the shoes of a form 1 student, lack of vocabularies is the main obstacle for me to understand the poem.
Chong Wei Sam 151654 (continue)
ReplyDeleteClassroom Activities:
I think pictures will really help lower proficiency students at least for general understanding. My idea is that to provide students with pictures that are based on the stanzas. Students are required to match each picture to the stanza. To enhance further understanding, helping students in vocabularies is a must. By explaining each difficult word or translation by the teacher should be the last resort. There are a few ways to help students in vocabulary. We can provide 2 columns with Column A filled with the difficult words and Column B filled with the meanings. Students are required to match words in Column A with their meanings in Column B. If the students’ level of proficiency is really low, I would again make use of pictures. Instead of only words in Column A, I would also provide pictures. With the help of the pictures together with the words given, students can make guesses to match them to the meanings in Column B.
Another suggestion would be providing the meanings of words from each stanza and students search the suitable words from the poem. The activities suggested are all literal comprehension. Students work closely on text.
Another activity: At each stanza, ask students who is the river compared to and ask why they say so. For lower proficiency students, we definitely need to show an example and provide help.
Example: Stanza 1
WHO: ____________________
WHY: He does not have a fixed ______
“True or False” can also be used. We can list down the statements that describe or do not describe the river and students have to identify whether it is true or false.
For activities that are away from text, we can students’ opinion whether the river is more of a friend or an enemy and why do they think so. We can also ask students which actions of the river that like the most and why. Students can also discuss how a river can be useful to human beings. These activities can be done as individual, pair or class. By discussing about the usefulness of a river, we also indirectly instill some moral values such as ‘Love our river’, ‘Do not waste water’, ‘The river is useful’ etc.
Chong Wei Sam 151654
ReplyDeleteThe River
About Valerie Bloom
She was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956. She is a poet and a novelist who writes poems and stories for children. She loves teaching children. She conducts writing courses and visits schools to share her experiences and talents in writing. Her poems have been published in more than 200 anthologies.
Analysis:
The poem has 6 stanzas. Every stanza starts with “The River”. It is referred as ‘he’. It is being personified into several human qualities. It carries out actions that human beings perform. Several characteristics are being portrayed by the river.
Stanza 1: Wanderer
The river is like a homeless man, who wanders aimlessly from place to place and does not have a fixed or permanent place. It does not settle down.
With the mobility we have, humans travel from places to places and this ability is being portrayed in “The River”. The river does not stop flowing. From the drain to the river to the sea, it just won’t stop for anyone.
Stanza 2: Winder
The river is never in a straight line. It bends and meanders as it flows from highland to the lowland.
As mentioned earlier, the river does not stop flowing. It does not stay static. This can be compared to a traveler who cannot stay still in one place; he or she is constantly moving.
Stanza 3: Hoarder
The river collects things and they sink to the bottom and settle on the river bed. Things that he keeps are his treasures and he is determined to keep them.
Humans collect things as a hobby. We collect stamps, magnets, key chains, coins etc. I just started a hobby which is collecting ang pows. Just like the river, these things that we collect, we treat them as our treasures and keep them for life.
Stanza 4: Baby
The river is like a baby who makes noises like gurgling and humming when it is happy. It sounds like he is happily sucking his thumbs.
Stanza 5: Singer
The river is a singer and also a dancer. The sound of the flowing river along the countryside is liken to the notes of a song and the flowing movement of the river as if the river is dancing.
The sounds mentioned in stanza 4 and 5 are the music of the nature. When the water flows, when the water hits the rocks etc, these are the music the river creates. One has to experience himself/herself to know what the music of nature is. Sg. Congkat trip gave us such experience.
Stanza 6: Monster
The river is a hungry and angry creature that greedily gobbles up trees and it may get you too someday.
This is the only stanza that describes river in a negative way. It tells us that one has both good and bad sides. Just like the river, a person can be good but once provoked he/she is capable to turn into a monster. The river can destroy trees and drown people when there is a flood. There is a Chinese saying that, “bully the mountain but not the water”. It is a direct translation from the Chinese saying. Water here can be referred as river. From the newspaper, we know that rivers/seas take up human lives. This is where river is a monster.
Easy or Difficult (Me):
It is comprehensible. I can understand upon first reading. But for further analysis, I did to search for the meaning of certain words.
Easy or Difficult (F1 Students):
I would not use either of the adjectives to describe the level of this poem. It really depends on the proficiency of the students. I did have a little interview with my cousins who are still in their secondary school. They had problems in words like nomad, tramp, twist, hoarder, gurgle, hum, echoes, vexed, gobble etc. The lack of vocabularies stop them from comprehending the poem what more enjoy reading about it. If I were to myself into the shoes of a form 1 student, lack of vocabularies is the main obstacle for me to understand the poem.
Chong Wei Sam 151654 (continue)
ReplyDeleteClassroom Activities:
I think pictures will really help lower proficiency students at least for general understanding. My idea is that to provide students with pictures that are based on the stanzas. Students are required to match each picture to the stanza. To enhance further understanding, helping students in vocabularies is a must. By explaining each difficult word or translation by the teacher should be the last resort. There are a few ways to help students in vocabulary. We can provide 2 columns with Column A filled with the difficult words and Column B filled with the meanings. Students are required to match words in Column A with their meanings in Column B. If the students’ level of proficiency is really low, I would again make use of pictures. Instead of only words in Column A, I would also provide pictures. With the help of the pictures together with the words given, students can make guesses to match them to the meanings in Column B. Another suggestion would be providing the meanings of words from each stanza and students search the suitable words from the poem. The activities suggested are all literal comprehension. Students work closely on text.
Another activity: At each stanza, ask students who is the river compared to and ask why they say so. For lower proficiency students, we definitely need to show an example and provide help.
Example: Stanza 1
WHO: __________________
WHY: He does not have a fixed _________
“True or False” can also be used. We can list down the statements that describe or do not describe the river and students have to identify whether it is true or false.
For activities that are away from text, we can students’ opinion whether the river is more of a friend or an enemy and why do they think so. We can also ask students which actions of the river that like the most and why. Students can also discuss how a river can be useful to human beings. These activities can be done as individual, pair or class. By discussing about the usefulness of a river, we also indirectly instill some moral values such as ‘Love our river’, ‘Do not waste water’, ‘The river is useful’ etc.
Chong Wei Sam 151654
ReplyDeleteThe River
About Valerie Bloom
She was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956. She is a poet and a novelist who writes poems and stories for children. She loves teaching children. She conducts writing courses and visits schools to share her experiences and talents in writing. Her poems have been published in more than 200 anthologies.
Analysis:
The poem has 6 stanzas. Every stanza starts with “The River”. It is referred as ‘he’. It is being personified into several human qualities. It carries out actions that human beings perform. Several characteristics are being portrayed by the river.
Stanza 1: Wanderer
The river is like a homeless man, who wanders aimlessly from place to place and does not have a fixed or permanent place. It does not settle down.
With the mobility we have, humans travel from places to places and this ability is being portrayed in “The River”. The river does not stop flowing. From the drain to the river to the sea, it just won’t stop for anyone.
Stanza 2: Winder
The river is never in a straight line. It bends and meanders as it flows from highland to the lowland.
As mentioned earlier, the river does not stop flowing. It does not stay static. This can be compared to a traveler who cannot stay still in one place; he or she is constantly moving.
Stanza 3: Hoarder
The river collects things and they sink to the bottom and settle on the river bed. Things that he keeps are his treasures and he is determined to keep them.
Humans collect things as a hobby. We collect stamps, magnets, key chains, coins etc. I just started a hobby which is collecting ang pows. Just like the river, these things that we collect, we treat them as our treasures and keep them for life.
Stanza 4: Baby
The river is like a baby who makes noises like gurgling and humming when it is happy. It sounds like he is happily sucking his thumbs.
Stanza 5: Singer
The river is a singer and also a dancer. The sound of the flowing river along the countryside is liken to the notes of a song and the flowing movement of the river as if the river is dancing.
The sounds mentioned in stanza 4 and 5 are the music of the nature. When the water flows, when the water hits the rocks etc, these are the music the river creates. One has to experience himself/herself to know what the music of nature is. Sg. Congkat trip gave us such experience.
Stanza 6: Monster
The river is a hungry and angry creature that greedily gobbles up trees and it may get you too someday.
This is the only stanza that describes river in a negative way. It tells us that one has both good and bad sides. Just like the river, a person can be good but once provoked he/she is capable to turn into a monster. The river can destroy trees and drown people when there is a flood. There is a Chinese saying that, “bully the mountain but not the water”. It is a direct translation from the Chinese saying. Water here can be referred as river. From the newspaper, we know that rivers/seas take up human lives. This is where river is a monster.
Chong Wei Sam 151654 (continue)
ReplyDeleteEasy or Difficult (Me):
It is comprehensible. I can understand upon first reading. But for further analysis, I did to search for the meaning of certain words.
Easy or Difficult (F1 Students):
I would not use either of the adjectives to describe the level of this poem. It really depends on the proficiency of the students. I did have a little interview with my cousins who are still in their secondary school. They had problems in words like nomad, tramp, twist, hoarder, gurgle, hum, echoes, vexed, gobble etc. The lack of vocabularies stop them from comprehending the poem what more enjoy reading about it. If I were to myself into the shoes of a form 1 student, lack of vocabularies is the main obstacle for me to understand the poem.
Classroom Activities:
I think pictures will really help lower proficiency students at least for general understanding. My idea is that to provide students with pictures that are based on the stanzas. Students are required to match each picture to the stanza.
To enhance further understanding, helping students in vocabularies is a must. By explaining each difficult word or translation by the teacher should be the last resort. There are a few ways to help students in vocabulary. We can provide 2 columns with Column A filled with the difficult words and Column B filled with the meanings. Students are required to match words in Column A with their meanings in Column B. If the students’ level of proficiency is really low, I would again make use of pictures. Instead of only words in Column A, I would also provide pictures. With the help of the pictures together with the words given, students can make guesses to match them to the meanings in Column B.
Another suggestion would be providing the meanings of words from each stanza and students search the suitable words from the poem. The activities suggested are all literal comprehension. Students work closely on text.
Another activity: At each stanza, ask students who is the river compared to and ask why they say so. For lower proficiency students, we definitely need to show an example and provide help.
Example: Stanza 1
WHO: _______________________________
WHY: He does not have a fixed __________
“True or False” can also be used. We can list down the statements that describe or do not describe the river and students have to identify whether it is true or false.
For activities that are away from text, we can students’ opinion whether the river is more of a friend or an enemy and why do they think so. We can also ask students which actions of the river that like the most and why. Students can also discuss how a river can be useful to human beings. These activities can be done as individual, pair or class. By discussing about the usefulness of a river, we also indirectly instill some moral values such as ‘Love our river’, ‘Do not waste water’, ‘The river is useful’ etc.
Chong Wei Sam 151654
ReplyDeleteThe River
About Valerie Bloom
She was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956. She is a poet and a novelist who writes poems and stories for children. She loves teaching children. She conducts writing courses and visits schools to share her experiences and talents in writing. Her poems have been published in more than 200 anthologies.
Analysis:
The poem has 6 stanzas. Every stanza starts with “The River”. It is referred as ‘he’. It is being personified into several human qualities. It carries out actions that human beings perform. Several characteristics are being portrayed by the river.
Stanza 1: Wanderer
The river is like a homeless man, who wanders aimlessly from place to place and does not have a fixed or permanent place. It does not settle down.
With the mobility we have, humans travel from places to places and this ability is being portrayed in “The River”. The river does not stop flowing. From the drain to the river to the sea, it just won’t stop for anyone.
Stanza 2: Winder
The river is never in a straight line. It bends and meanders as it flows from highland to the lowland.
As mentioned earlier, the river does not stop flowing. It does not stay static. This can be compared to a traveler who cannot stay still in one place; he or she is constantly moving.
Stanza 3: Hoarder
The river collects things and they sink to the bottom and settle on the river bed. Things that he keeps are his treasures and he is determined to keep them.
Humans collect things as a hobby. We collect stamps, magnets, key chains, coins etc. I just started a hobby which is collecting ang pows. Just like the river, these things that we collect, we treat them as our treasures and keep them for life.
Stanza 4: Baby
The river is like a baby who makes noises like gurgling and humming when it is happy. It sounds like he is happily sucking his thumbs.
Stanza 5: Singer
The river is a singer and also a dancer. The sound of the flowing river along the countryside is liken to the notes of a song and the flowing movement of the river as if the river is dancing.
The sounds mentioned in stanza 4 and 5 are the music of the nature. When the water flows, when the water hits the rocks etc, these are the music the river creates. One has to experience himself/herself to know what the music of nature is. Sg. Congkat trip gave us such experience.
Stanza 6: Monster
The river is a hungry and angry creature that greedily gobbles up trees and it may get you too someday.
This is the only stanza that describes river in a negative way. It tells us that one has both good and bad sides. Just like the river, a person can be good but once provoked he/she is capable to turn into a monster. The river can destroy trees and drown people when there is a flood. There is a Chinese saying that, “bully the mountain but not the water”. It is a direct translation from the Chinese saying. Water here can be referred as river. From the newspaper, we know that rivers/seas take up human lives. This is where river is a monster.
Chong Wei Sam 151654 (continue)
ReplyDeleteEasy or Difficult (Me)? :
It is comprehensible. I can understand upon first reading. But for further analysis, I did to search for the meaning of certain words.
Easy or Difficult (F1 Students)? :
I would not use either of the adjectives to describe the level of this poem. It really depends on the proficiency of the students. I did have a little interview with my cousins who are still in their secondary school. They had problems in words like nomad, tramp, twist, hoarder, gurgle, hum, echoes, vexed, gobble etc. The lack of vocabularies stop them from comprehending the poem what more enjoy reading about it. If I were to myself into the shoes of a form 1 student, lack of vocabularies is the main obstacle for me to understand the poem.
Classroom Activities:
I think pictures will really help lower proficiency students at least for general understanding. My idea is that to provide students with pictures that are based on the stanzas. Students are required to match each picture to the stanza.
To enhance further understanding, helping students in vocabularies is a must. By explaining each difficult word or translation by the teacher should be the last resort. There are a few ways to help students in vocabulary. We can provide 2 columns with Column A filled with the difficult words and Column B filled with the meanings. Students are required to match words in Column A with their meanings in Column B. If the students’ level of proficiency is really low, I would again make use of pictures. Instead of only words in Column A, I would also provide pictures. With the help of the pictures together with the words given, students can make guesses to match them to the meanings in Column B.
Another suggestion would be providing the meanings of words from each stanza and students search the suitable words from the poem. The activities suggested are all literal comprehension. Students work closely on text.
Another activity: At each stanza, ask students who is the river compared to and ask why they say so. For lower proficiency students, we definitely need to show an example and provide help.
Example:
Stanza 1
WHO: ______________________________________
WHY: He does not have a fixed __________________
“True or False” can also be used. We can list down the statements that describe or do not describe the river and students have to identify whether it is true or false.
For activities that are away from text, we can students’ opinion whether the river is more of a friend or an enemy and why do they think so. We can also ask students which actions of the river that like the most and why. Students can also discuss how a river can be useful to human beings. These activities can be done as individual, pair or class. By discussing about the usefulness of a river, we also indirectly instill some moral values such as ‘Love our river’, ‘Do not waste water’, ‘The river is useful’ etc.
hanis illyani bt mat johari
ReplyDelete154027
hi pn ju,
In my opinion, the poem, The River by Valerie Bloom is really suitable for form 1 students since it is easy to understand. The title itself is simple and direct.
I am sure that this poem will attract student’s attention in learning literature. The words used in the poem are beautiful and comprehensible as well. Besides, the poem is not too long. The poem is just perfect for form 1 students because of the length and also has lots of moral values
For me, the poem is interesting because it use lots of personification. The river is given human qualities so it acts like a human. For example, in the first stanza, the river has been personified as a person who lives as a wanderer, a nomad, a tramp who doesn’t choose any one place to set up his camp.
From my understanding, the poem is about the faces of a river. The river is a wanderer where he moves all over the place. He does not sit still and is always in motion. He is also a winder where he twists and turns. He meanders. He is also a hoarder where he keeps things deep down in his river bed. Sometimes, he is a baby when he is happily flowing along. At times, he is a singer as seen through the happy sounds of the water. Finally, he is also a monster and can devour trees (most probably referring to a flood)
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way.
ReplyDeleteFor a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult.
To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.”
Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified.
Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
- Dorothy 153071
Well I personally think that this poem is just nice for form one students. My sister is doing her lower secondary now. When i asked her how she felt with the poem she said it was ok compare with other poems. Well many had commented that there are few new words and difficult words .For me I see that as an opportunity for the students to learn new words to enhance their vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteAs for set induction I would probably play a soft music of water flowing like the river and ask them to imagine their surroundings and ask them few questions regarding it. It would excellent if I could make a class trip to a river and let the students to wet their feet with nice cold water. At the same time I would show them some pictures from the newspapers, pictures from internet and so on how the river is being polluted by these days.
Students will be asked to interpret their poems by themselves with the teacher’s guidance. As for the literary device I would emphasize more on personification as it is easy to be detected in the poem. The poem personified the river as a living object, which has attitudes and wants. The poem also shows the river as a thing with two nature, good and evil, just like humans. This understanding is the referred back to the poem, as the river is personified to be as what it chooses to be. Human do not have the capacity to control the river. It is up to it whether the river wants to be a baby or be a monster.
For form 1 students this will be their first year getting involve with literature, therefore they should be handled slowly to gain confident in learning literature and to have interest to the subject.
VIKNESWARY THIAGARJAN
152214
Dyg Nurul Ezzarina bt Abg Zainal Abidin
ReplyDelete153006
After reading this poem over and over again, I figure out it is not really difficult for a lower secondary student to learn. I mean, sure, there are some extravagant words in the poem, then again, isn't it's all part of learning a language ? Whether we like it or not we are going to come across new words every day, that's the deal. There's going to be many unfamiliar words for the students to encounter, even me myself as a university student.
Well, I found this poem comprehensible. Not that it is too easy to ponder, yet, though there's going to be some difficult vocabs, the students or the audience could still understand the message the poet try to convey.
In my opinion, this poem could be relate to life itself. Life, it seems harmless, yet, if we're not careful enough, it could hit us so hard that it's going to be hard for us to back up to our feet at some point.
When I try to interpret this poem, when I went through it word by word, line by line, I come think of it as life as a whole. All the struggles that being metaphors with the journey of the river itself, are the symbols of our own journey, all the hurdles and the difficulties that the human being are facing themselves.
This poem can bring such deep meaning to the audience, even though it uses simple plot and understandable vocabs. I don't think students are going to have much difficulties studying it.
Nik Musaini Nik Mustapha 153730
ReplyDeletehye pn ju =)
After reading this poem, one thing that pops in my mind is human being..
i think Valerie wants to portray a human through a river. A lot of metaphors are being used along with personification in this poem, such as in the line “The River is a wanderer”. Ok, lets us go stanza by stanza..
For stanza one, the poet describe river as "a nomad" and "He doesn't choose one place to set up his camp". This is to show that the river will always flow and will never make a stop. The same goes to us, human. We will live our life forward and never makes a stop.
Stanza two, the poet describe river as a winder that will never stop or be give up no matter how difficult the obstacle that he has to face. This also describes a very strong person that will face his difficulty in life without fear.
In stanza three, the river is portrays as a hoarder; which take and keep anything that it wants in the riverbed. As for human, we tend to keep something important to our self. For example, keep an important secret from others.
In fourth stanza, the river is being perceived as a baby. By saying that “he gurgles and hums”, the poet clearly tells us that the river is happy; but as the River is a baby, it is always unpredictable. The poet also wants to characterize human or people that just do something without worrying what other people might think. Just like the baby that sucking his thumb and didn’t care about the situation that he’s facing.
In fifth stanza, the river is portrayed as a singer and a dancer, which is happily and freely enjoying himself. And the line “the countryside echoes, the notes of his song “shows that he also brings joy to every place that he go.
In this last stanza, the River is being perceived as a monster. A hungry and vexed monster. The poet warned that “he” gobbled up trees and he will also swallow people, too. This shows the sheer destructive power the River has.
I think this poem is suitable for form one students because Valerie uses a simple language and students can easily understand this poem. This poem brings a theme of life’s journey where there is good and bad days. There is also some uncertainties in life and people just shouldn’t take things for granted.
Difficulty level:
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, I think this is an easy and simple poem that is advised for F1 students. In this poem there are some new words that can be introduced to students to enhance their vocabulary as well. Teaching poem is not only teaching the literary devices but also improve our language by add new words into our vocabulary knowledge.
My interpretation of the poem:
1st stanza:
In this stanza the poet have personified the river as a wanderer (human qualities). Basically, wanderer means “people who wander from place to place with no permanent home”. Yes, the fact about the river is that it does not have permanent place to stay. They always flow from one place to another place each and every second. A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. The second and third line “He doesn’t choose one place to set up his camp” means that river flows all the time and never stops. If it stops then it is no more a river, either it could be a lake (good) or drainage (bad).
2nd stanza:
In this stanza, the poet personified the river as a winder. Winder means something which is swirled with a great force. As so, the river swirls around the valley and hill. As mentioned earlier, river cannot stay at one place and always flow from highland to lowland. Even if someone lost in the woods, he also can follow the river path and will reach the way out. From the very beginning as a stream, accumulate the water and grow into river, wind with the flow and finally reach the sea.
3rd stanza:
In this stanza, I felt that the poet used cynical element in the third and forth lines. At first the poet said that the river is a hoarder. Hoarder means one who accumulates, collects and stores. The question is, does river really do that? Irresponsible so called human being throw rubbishes and wastes into the river, so that they will become clean and vandalize the river. While river will bring the rubbishes along and until it joins the sea. At the same times, wastes which have higher density then water will goes down and remain there. Does the river try to keep the wastes? Absolutely not, somehow it will try to flow the wastes away from it. Is the garbage a treasure for the river? I don’t think so.
continues-
ReplyDelete4th stanza:
In this stanza, the poet described the river as a baby. What I understand from this stanza is that the river always calm, running smoothly and beautifully. It never harms anyone when it is small. This is why the poet compared the river to a baby- harmless creature. The gurgles and hums just the sound of the river flowing and hitting the rocks when it runs slowly. Does the river remain the same characteristics when it grows bigger, wider and stronger? This stanza is a direct opposition with 6th stanza.
6th stanza:
This stanza brings the idea, what are the river’s characteristics when it grows bigger. The poet compares the river with the monster. The monster is hungry and vexed. The river is hungry? Vexed? Yes, the river will hunger for revenge when it loses it patience because the irresponsible people as mentioned in stanza 3. The river annoyed by them, irritated by unlimited wastes dumping and distressed because when human cleaning themselves, unintentionally they contaminate the river.
5th stanza:
The poet personified the river as a singer in this stanza. He also claimed that the river also a dancer. Singer is meant by the sound it gives when they flow through the rocks and woods; while dancer is meant they flow with a rhythm whish not lying on a straight line. It swirls, twists and turns all the way till it reaches its destiny.
By using this poem as a core material, I could design activity such as forming the students into small groups and write out what are the positive side of a river and negative side of river?
The students may give variety of answers, which some may be unexpected like they read from magazines, newspaper article or in national geographical channel. This will allow the students to put their feet in the shoes of the poet who has described the river with human qualities such as baby, singer and dancer.
Another activity is using this poem to teach vocabulary for the words ‘wanderer, winder, hoarder, vexed, gobbled and etc. the teacher either can give the meaning directly or use pictures to show what is the exact meaning. When a river is said as wanderer while the picture definitely will show a picture of a homeless man walking with his clothe pack… The students will tend to relate the poem with the pictures and generates new interpretation too.
FATIN ZAHIRAH MUSTAFA, 153143
ReplyDeletehello Puan Ju.
First of all i think this poem is quite nice for form 1 students. I left form 1 about 10 years ago, i almost forget how it feels and it is a new syllabus some more :) however, for low proficiency students, i think it is quite difficult to understand. Some words used and the message(s) behind it maybe could not suit our low proficiency malaysian students. For example, hoarder, gurgles, vexed etc. Maybe the teacher should help them to understand the meaning than mere dictionary.
Interpretation:
My interpretation of this poem, as i read and looked at it generally, it describes the nature of the river in all stanzas. For instance, the river always move like a nomad (1st stanza), it twists, turns and cannot be still (2nd stanza), the river has something secret or treasure in its 'tummy' (3rd stanza), the river does have sounds like a happy baby and it sings-giving echoes to the world nearby (4rd & 5th stanzas), and the river will also be fierce and cruel as it can gobble anything without think of it first.
Morever, when i think of the meanings of it deeply, i guess the river reflects the characteristics of human. Human are the creature of God, they are natural but they also have good and bad sides (based on 4th,5th and 6th stanzas). Human can be nice, but at some points human are dangerous. Like the river, they can be nice- singing, humming happily but they can be evil and 'eat' anything and also each other. Human are complicated and complex, they do have treasure in themselves like the river did (based on 3rd stanza). Human are also unpredictable, they are subject to change, like the river they cannot be still- they are wanderer, they twist and turns (based on 1st and 2nd stanzas)..
Suggestion in teaching this poem:
The teacher could ask students about the benefits of river and then ask them about unexpected harms that caused by a river for example drown, flood etc. Maybe the teacher could bring students to a river and ask them to observe the physical characteristic of a river from their point of view. After that the teacher can proceed to deeper meaning.
That's all from me. Thank you.
This would be my third attempt to post this comment here, the last time i posted it is there but well, i just have to do it again.
ReplyDeleteNurul Dinie Alias
152665
In understanding the poem, i find amusing on how the poet describes how the a river is. The use of personification on the river itself can give us a clear picture and thus make it less complicated to unwind the meaning behind the poem.Hence making this poem very suitable for form 1 students. I can see myself using pictorials when teaching the class later on.
As for this assignment i really take the word seriously by trying to connect to the river. I went on a river cruise and also give a try on the one of the mode of transportation.
the experience(joined by my father) was exciting. all this while we've been using cars and motorcycles but going around on a bot gives a different perspective. Once, while waiting for the boat to arrive,i sat by the jetty looking towards the restless flow of the sea into the river of Terengganu. I noticed that there are much more to the river than just as what have been portrayed by the poet. The river of Terengganu has become the life of its people and has witnessed the ups and downs of the growing city. Its stream has become the source of life to the people be it the fishermen or boatmen. As for my father he said " since i was a kid, this river allow me to know people and even now as an old man, i still can go back to my past and see the people that has grown up with me and make me reminisce back to the good old days"
There is so much more of a river than just a water source but could also be a source of life too.
p/s: i hope this comment will not dissapear again :/
This would be my third attempt to post this comment here, the last time i posted it is there but well, i just have to do it again.
ReplyDeleteNurul Dinie Alias
152665
In understanding the poem, i find amusing on how the poet describes how the a river is. The use of personification on the river itself can give us a clear picture and thus make it less complicated to unwind the meaning behind the poem.Hence making this poem very suitable for form 1 students. I can see myself using pictorials when teaching the class later on.
As for this assignment i really take the word seriously by trying to connect to the river. I went on a river cruise and also give a try on the one of the mode of transportation.
the experience(joined by my father) was exciting. all this while we've been using cars and motorcycles but going around on a bot gives a different perspective. Once, while waiting for the boat to arrive,i sat by the jetty looking towards the restless flow of the sea into the river of Terengganu. I noticed that there are much more to the river than just as what have been portrayed by the poet. The river of Terengganu has become the life of its people and has witnessed the ups and downs of the growing city. Its stream has become the source of life to the people be it the fishermen or boatmen. As for my father he said " since i was a kid, this river allow me to know people and even now as an old man, i still can go back to my past and see the people that has grown up with me and make me reminisce back to the good old days"
There is so much more of a river than just a water source but could also be a source of life too.
p/s: i hope this comment will not dissapear again :/
This would be my third attempt to post this comment here, the last time i posted it is there but well, i just have to do it again.
ReplyDeleteNurul Dinie Alias
152665
In understanding the poem, i find amusing on how the poet describes how the a river is. The use of personification on the river itself can give us a clear picture and thus make it less complicated to unwind the meaning behind the poem.Hence making this poem very suitable for form 1 students. I can see myself using pictorials when teaching the class later on.
As for this assignment i really take the word seriously by trying to connect to the river. I went on a river cruise and also give a try on the one of the mode of transportation.
the experience(joined by my father) was exciting. all this while we've been using cars and motorcycles but going around on a bot gives a different perspective. Once, while waiting for the boat to arrive,i sat by the jetty looking towards the restless flow of the sea into the river of Terengganu. I noticed that there are much more to the river than just as what have been portrayed by the poet. The river of Terengganu has become the life of its people and has witnessed the ups and downs of the growing city. Its stream has become the source of life to the people be it the fishermen or boatmen. As for my father he said " since i was a kid, this river allow me to know people and even now as an old man, i still can go back to my past and see the people that has grown up with me and make me reminisce back to the good old days"
There is so much more of a river than just a water source but could also be a source of life too.
p/s: i hope this comment will not dissapear again :/
As the second poem in the collection of poems for form 1 to 3, I think The River is quite an interesting choice. Despite the students might have been exposed to other poems earlier, I believe a poem such as The River is still something fairly new for them as it requires their own interpretation as a resource. Hence, in order to make it more accessible to the young students, I will make them realize that the description of The River is very much like a human’s characteristics. In fact, I think providing them with a Glossary would be helpful too just incase they don’t understand most of the words.
ReplyDeleteI am not very sure about the theme of this poem but from my personal point of view it’s about growth and uncertainty.
The River’s a wanderer; anything including the stream or anything that has fallen into it will not remain stagnant, just like human constantly move, change, under difference needs and circumstances…
The River’s a winder; like human, we change, we evolve, any experience can ‘twist’ and change our lives forever. Our situations don’t remain the same, just like the river cannot be still…
The River’s a hoarder; like human, as we grow, we tend to make memories, make mistakes, sometimes we keep it a secret, and bring it to the grave…
The River’s a baby; like human, when we’re doing fine we rejoice…
The River’s a singer; and when we rejoice we often spread our happiness to the surroundings…
The River’s a monster; but there are negative sides to things, like human, when we are taken over by temptations or emotions, we tend to do something regretful and damaging.
Therefore, comparing the characteristics of the river to a human’s characteristics will enable the students to perceive the difference of the literal and figurative meaning of the poem. Like the river, everywhere but not permanently at one spot, can be fierce and forceful when it comes to a waterfall, most of the time plesant and act as a beautiful ornament to the nature, but when it floods it can take away life and causing unmendable destruction. In fact, by asking the students to strike off the word ‘River’ in every stanza and replace it with ‘The man’, they will find it less abstract than they fear.
Choong Yar Hui- 151673
This would be my third attempt to post this comment here, the last time i posted it is there but well, i just have to do it again.
ReplyDeleteNurul Dinie Alias
152665
In understanding the poem, i find amusing on how the poet describes how the a river is. The use of personification on the river itself can give us a clear picture and thus make it less complicated to unwind the meaning behind the poem.Hence making this poem very suitable for form 1 students. I can see myself using pictorials when teaching the class later on.
As for this assignment i really take the word seriously by trying to connect to the river. I went on a river cruise and also give a try on the one of the mode of transportation.
the experience(joined by my father) was exciting. all this while we've been using cars and motorcycles but going around on a bot gives a different perspective. Once, while waiting for the boat to arrive,i sat by the jetty looking towards the restless flow of the sea into the river of Terengganu. I noticed that there are much more to the river than just as what have been portrayed by the poet. The river of Terengganu has become the life of its people and has witnessed the ups and downs of the growing city. Its stream has become the source of life to the people be it the fishermen or boatmen. As for my father he said " since i was a kid, this river allow me to know people and even now as an old man, i still can go back to my past and see the people that has grown up with me and make me reminisce back to the good old days"
There is so much more of a river than just a water source but could also be a source of life too.
p/s: i hope this comment will not dissapear again :/
Maal Fikri Jelani
ReplyDelete151913
In my opinion the River is actually reflecting us as normal human beings. We all have the same experience like the River such as happiness, anger and also secrets. River portrays a different understanding of what a person really is and by viewing the current society, we tend to forget who the real human beings are. The River is a big symbol to teach us humans to share and connect ourselves with others to show our expression or feelings in different form of manner. We dance to show our happiness as the River did that too to show it is clean and nice. We keep our secrets in diaries and safe locks such as the River keeps its own treasures deep in the water. We tend to get angry and rage war upon others as how the River would do when it overflows with treacherous amount of water. I believe the River is teaching us all to look back and reflect ourselves into knowing our true nature of a human being. By knowing the truth to who we really are will uncover the many possibilities in life such as the River portrays by having the same nature with human beings. I would say that the author is actually using the force of nature to educate human and in a sense put a higher value towards nature itself. In a way, educated human beings will know who they are and thus with the help of nature, a whole new community of good quality people will be born. This poem would be suitable for form 1 students in a way the poem is closely related to them who are growing up and needing the knowledge of how nature has much more to offer than just being a simple river. This poem would open the mind of the young ones and teach them the human qualities and let them be exposed to the real world using an environmental friendly way.
I think that this poem suitable for form 1 student because it short and easy to understand. I think that the river in this poem can be referring as people or human. It is because the real nature of the river in this poem is the same as human nature.
ReplyDeleteI think that the river in this poem is a symbol human nature and action. In the first stanza, the river has been referring to as a wanderer. It also means that we can refer the river as people who have free spirit, who always do their own thing freely.
As a teacher, to teach the poem to my student I have to create activity that can make it easier for students to understand the poem. One of the activity that I can create is students have to make a painting of the river based on their knowledge and they have to explain about their painting. This activity can test student’s creativity and their understanding.
I also can create activity where students have to find the symbol or the theme of the poem. This activity can test student’s knowledge of the poem and their understanding.
Dyg Nurul Ezzarina bt Abg Zainal Abidin
ReplyDelete153006
After reading this poem, I found that this poem is not too difficult for lower secondary students to comprehend and digest. Although there are several words that they may not understand, I do not think that is an issue. Well, I mean that is the deal when learning a language. Whether we like it or not, we are going to encounter new words every single day.
About this poem, I see this poem symbolizes life itself as a whole. The struggles, the hurdles, the challenges encounter by the river in this poem, it all actually resembles for challenges that all human being encounter in the real life.
Life, as we move on, if we are not careful enough, it could fails us, like the poet mentioned in the last stanza of this poem. Hence I thought that this poem is basically about a journey, about life, which is good to teach to the students at this age. So that they would understand that life is not that easy, life is not just plain and simple.
That life is more than that.
hanis illyani bt mat johari
ReplyDelete154027
hi pn ju,
i think the poem is suitable for form 1 students since it is easy to understand. Its not too long and i think it will attracts students to learn literature. The words use in the poem is beautiful and comprehensible as well. the title itself is simple and direct. Besides, the poem have a lot of moral values.
In my opinion, the poem is really interesting since it used lots of personification. For example,In the first stanza, the river has been personified as a person who lives as a wanderer, a nomad, a tramp who doesn’t choose any one place to set up his camp.
From my understanding,the River is about the many faces of a river. The river is a wanderer where he moves all over the place. He does not sit still and is always in motion. He is also a winder where he twists and turns. He meanders. He is also a hoarder where he keeps things deep down in his river bed. Sometimes, he is a baby when he is happily flowing along. At times, he is a singer as seen through the happy sounds of the water. Finally, he is also a monster and can devour trees.
Somehow I loved the river. I personally wrote a poem of the river reflecting what I felt. It just flowed. This poem of The River by Valerie Bloom also flowed in its individual unique way. For a student who has never read a poem in their life, I personally think that this poem is a good poem to introduce them to the word of poetry as this poem is quite simple in terms of symbolism as it is quite direct rather than having hidden meanings and it is rich in literary devices such as metaphor, rhyming, imagery and personification. Although perhaps in the beginning we as teachers do not bombard them with the technicalities of poetry that might freak them out and then enhance their phobia towards poetry but after helping them understand the poem, we can introduce them basic literary devices which are “things” that make poetry beautiful, interesting and intriguing rather than confusing and difficult. To help students who might find the vocabulary used in the poem challenging, I will first show them a video, perhaps a short documentary of a river, how a river flows, how the water travel, trickling in brooks from high up a mountain, diving down as a fountain, flowing fast over stones, nooks and turns of the river pathways then to a low valley. Then later as they are going through the poem, I can connect those words in the poem along with the imageries in each line to the video of how the river flowed so that they have prior knowledge and understanding to connect to. As for the words that they might not understand such as nomad, tramp, I will give a brief description as we go through the poem with the whole class while connecting to the description of the river like this, “A nomad is the same as a tramp, a person who travels a lot and never stays at the same place for a long time. Just like what you see in the video, the water in the river flows on and on, even if it gets trapped in some corner, soon it will move from that place and move on and on.” Basically the writer describes the river through the characteristics of six different personalities – a wanderer, winder, hoarder, baby, singer and monster. Each personality has distinct characteristics. A wanderer keeps wandering and never stopping at one place for long, a winder twisting and turning everywhere through nooks and turns and never stopping, a hoarder digs and dives, carries and buries things, a baby gentle and tender and harmless, a singer full of songs and a monster dangerous and threatening. The river is personified. Depending on what we want to teach through this poem, if we were to want to teach Literature with the big “L”, I would teach them the literary devices apparent in this poem such as imageries, personification and rhyming. If I am to teach this as literature as the small “l” I would be teaching the vocabulary and other language elements such as verbs and adjectives. If I were to teach on the perspective of personal growth, perhaps I would try to connect student’s personal lives to the poem, which characteristic of the river reflects theirs and who in their lives are similar to the River.
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