Travelling

As an old Latin saying goes, Navigare necesse est.  Bearing this in mind, write a blog entry (yes, this is an exam-oriented task, but with a slightly different mindset) in which 

- you will tell your readers about your latest journey/trip;

- you'll mention something surprising that happened at the station or at the airport;

- you'll reccommend a way of packing that proves successful and convenient in your case (pun!);

- you'll ask your readers how they choose - or find (another pun!! :)) - their travelling destinations as well as how they plan their journey/trip.

The word limit: 120-180

Hunting For Meaning

We're going to read "The Hunt" - a short story by Steven Nightingale, and hunt for different things as we go.

First, jot down a handful of associations connected with the title: hunt. You can include its derivatives, too: hunting, and hunter / huntress. Choose one idea, word or picture and underline it or write it down on a separate piece of paper and put it aside. We'll use it later.

Now, what do you expect the story to be about? Can you foresee some elements of the plot? Maybe the whole possible story line?

Read the story. Then look at the possible directions to go around it.

1. How do you find the story? Did you enjoy it? Was it lukewarm? Did you get disappointed?  Does it still linger in the air? 

2. If it disappointed you, try to find out why - or where. If you admire it - say what you admire. 

3. In your opinion, what is the most important part (a paragraph, a couple of sentences, a single sentence) of the story? Why?

4. Write a few questions concerning the plot or the characters. What would you like to know or clarify? What intrigues you? Where would you be willing to go further?

5. To make the story fuller, check up the images incorporated in the story. Proper names, names of species, etc. Landscapes. Can you read it with your senses?

Also, guess the meaning of the new words or look them up in a dictionary.

Now, let's pay attention to the story structure:

1. What hints, warnings or promises did the writer place in the first paragraph?

2. How do you understand the very ending: "...we must hunt what no one can kill"?

The story is an example of magical realism. What characteristics of this genre can you notice?

You can read an interesting article about magical realism here:

https://writers.com/what-is-magical-realism-in-literature

Now, here are three creative writing tasks to choose from:

1. Get back to what you noted down - an idea, word or image. Use it as a seed for a new story.

2. Answer the questios that you've written down concerning the plot or the characters as if you were the writer. You can incorporate your "findings" into the story.

3. What is this something that no one can kill? Make a few hypotheses.

Do you think this story matters nowadays? Why / how? Or - why not?

A Literary Collage

Everyone knows what collage is as an art form - a whole made of pieces that once belonged to other wholes. In other words, pieces that don't necessary belong are gathered on one page and made into a particular entity. Or, a particular entity arises from the bits&scraps.

A literary collage can be more than one thing. 

If you are in a group, let everyone write some sentence on a scrap of paper. Then, put the scraps randomly one under, over or next to each other, face down, and turn them to read the text. Allow room for small adjustments of forms, e.g. tenses or pronouns.

Or, choose a topic and write a few short pieces about and around it. They may differ in character, tone, and length. Then, put them together in one text. You can number the parts.

For a famous example, see Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45236/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-blackbird

Choose whether you'd rather go for poetry or prose.

Bothies

Lately, we've done an exam task based on the text about bothies. 

You're not sure what they are? Have a closer look at the pic above and/or visit the website 

www.mountainbothies.org.uk

The creative writing task, emerging naturally in these circumstances, is to write a text incorporating bothies.

You can choose btwn a story, a blog entry or an article. Feel free to do some research.

As always, I encourage you to share the piece of writing with me.

Message Exchange

It's just happened to me - and so I encourage you to do the same. 

I will explain.

I was in the midsts of trying to choose the right text for the English specialisation group, reading E. A. Poe (not my favourite, but matching our latest attemps at Big Ben), William Blake's Tyger roaring behind my back, and D. H. Lawrence's Snake hissing, "it'ssss time you took me into the classsssroom...". Oh, and there there was Padraig O'Tuama's newsletter nestling Edward Lear's runcible spoon (now, what on Earth is this? And will they want to know?).

The phone ting'tinged. It was a message from one of the students saying he won't be coming to the class today as he's caught a cold. I started clicking a usual response when - out of a sudden - it gained a life of its own and turned itself into a poem.

And what it has to do with you, you wonder? 

Well, next time you're reading something a n d get a text message, try to answer it in the rhythm and melody, mood and tone of what it is you have been reading. Or, if you weren't reading at all, pause, choose a piece, read through it (it can be the lyrics of your favourite song, or news lines) and follow with your message back to the sender, letting it turn into whatever it feels like turning.

You don't need to share your writing with that original person but you definitely can - and are welcome to - share that with me as I'll share with you in a moment.

Thx, N. It came just in time :).

Message Exchange

Thanks for the 

message. Hope 

it'll pass soon - this

cold. But take

your time.

        It's autumn, after 

all; the time so apt, so

suitable

to feel one's way 

into the rains. the 

chills will try

their best to chase 

away from us the 

remnants of 

the summer suns 

that we

had gained

when it was time - when

summer seemed

untouchable by death;

some time will pass

until we lose

the very last

of rays.

There is no need to 

rush -

- it just takes time

to get back

to oneself, recovering

from too much

sunshine,

yielding the joys

and happiness

to moistures, letting in

howls      and    gusts

  of wind               of rain

to hush

oneself

at last, and have

some rest

before 

another spring

A Horse in Space

The other day we had an interesting conversation in class. We watched a short film about living at ISS (= International Space Station) and then we were talking about how it would be like to actually go and stay there for a given time, or what we would or would not be allowed to do - or even take there with us.

If I'm not allowed to take my pets with me, I'm not even going, one student said with such a strong conviction that it would, perhaps, be a thing worth trying to let her go cuddling her dog on the way up there, or talking to her horse.

So, here's the task:

Write a short story that happens in space: on the Moon, on another planet, inside a spaceship - or outside of it, that includes at least one animal.

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/03/02/02/21/space-89132_1280.jpg

A Regularity Among Irregularities

Unlike most of the tasks here, this entry is about practising writing for Matura exam.

Choose one of the topics and write, in a suitable form, a piece consisting of 200-250 words.

1. Is it better to set realistic goals or ambitious goals for ourselves? - an opinion essay 

2. Which of your achievements are you particularly proud of? Why? - a blog entry

3. If you could live in a given epoch/ era, or belong to a particular generation, what would that be? Why? 

Write an article exploring that era. Share your opinions but also include facts from a given time and/or about a given generation.

4. I've recently heard someone say dogs are not intelligent (and, this is an euphemism compared to what it was he's said). What would you say in response to that? In this case I'll grant you some freedom in choosing the form* out of the following possibilities: an opinion essay, a for and against essay, a blog entry, a letter to a friend or an article.

* in the exam paper the genre will be stated in the task