Creative Writing Matrix #2

One of the tasks that was on our creative writing matrix in English was a 6 sentence story. A six sentence story is when you write a story using six sentences. In the first sentence we had to introduce the character, in the second sentence we had to introduce the setting, next sentence a talent, in the forth sentence you had to introduce a problem, in the fifth sentence you needed to think of a consequence of the problem and the in the sixth sentence you had to have a solution.


6 sentence story: Once upon a time there lived a tiny blonde princess named Sophie.  She lived up in a big castle with her family. Sophie's special talent was talking to animals through her special necklace she got given when she was a baby. One day Sophie lost her necklace. Sophie was devastated that she lost it as it meant she could no longer talk to all of her animal friends, especially her best friend Cleo the bunny. Sophie spent the rest of her day looking for that necklace until she finally found it and was able to talk to Cleo and all her other friends again.

Creative Writing Matrix #1

In English we have been working through a creative writing matrix. One of the task included pairing up and writing a poem or a story about the picture below with a time limit of 15 minutes. Here is what Stacey and I managed to do in 15 minute:

I stuck by brother to the wall.

Because he hit me with the ball.

My head was sore

I held his top until it tore

I stuck my brother to the wall

Cause he interrupted me while on call

He thought he was so cool

I could of chucked him in the pool

I stuck my brother to the wall

Because my game wouldn't install

I got kinda mad

then got told off by dad

I stuck my brother to the wall

Because he pushed me down the hall

I was on my way to bed

So I hit him on the head

I stuck my brother to the wall

he had a tantrum in the mall

I got tired of his crap

So I gave him a big slap.

Passion Project #2

For my passion project i chose to do community project. We had to get in groups and come up with an and idea that could help the community, my group is making a documentary. In my group there is Gary,Kiera,Jordan,Paige and Neika. We have sent out multiple emails asking for permission to film and we have also sent out a google form to the students asking if they want to speak in the video to help prepare for the documentary. Our documentary is going to be about passion projects and how it is helping the community. We decided to do this because we thought it could benefit the community by making them more aware of what happens at Hornby. Our next step is to start filming what all of the groups are doing.

Passion projects #1

In school we have been doing passion projects. Passion projects is when we chose something we have a passion in and then we do it for the rest of the term. I chose to do community projects. In community project we had to get in groups and chose something to do that will help the community. In my group I have Kiera, Neika, Gary, Jordan and Paige. In community projects we are learning how to plan ways to help the community. A way we are learning this is by making a S.W.O.T chart. A S.W.O.T chart is when you find the Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunites  and Threats. By doing a S.W.O.T chart it helps us see the positives and negatives about our plan. Our group has decided to film a documentary about how Hornby is helping the community.

Settings in a Film

The setting for the movie Dragonheart was set in the tenth century in England but was actually filmed in Slovakia 19th century.

What was life like in the middle ages?

There were peasants, lords, princesses and kings
Threats of famine, disease, war and hunger

Clothing:
Rough wool or linen as they were poor
One set of clothes and was rarely washed
Men wore tunics and long stockings
Women wore long dresses and stockings made of wool
Some peasants wore underwear made from linen that was barely washed
Most common colors were brown, red or grey
They wore clogs made of thick leather
In cold they wore cloaks made of sheepskin or wool and also mittens and hats

Food:
Diets mainly included bread, porridge, veges and meat
Main crops were corn, wheat and beans


How do we see this shown in the film? The peasants were made to live in slavery while the kings ruled over them. The kings lived in castles where as the peasants were forced to live in small and unsanitary houses. The clothes were made to look old and worn.

Explaining the Purpose of Camera Angles, Movement and Shots

This is a screenshot of an birds eye medium close up from the movie Dragonheart. This scene happens in Dragonheart after the dragon (Draco) who shares Einon's heart is being pierced. The camera angles have been used well with the medium close up helping give more effect on the scene. These angles that the director have chosen to use assist us in understanding the excruciating pain on his face which if there was another angle wouldn't be expressed as well. We can share the pain through the look of agony of Enions face as blood runs over his body helping the the audience connect with the pain and understand the connection shared with the dragon. Combined with the perspective and overhead lighting creating shadows it makes the scene more in depth and draws the viewer in. This scene links back to earlier in the film when Draco the dragon suffered through a lot of pain when Enion is stabbed by Kara.


Another type of shot is a long shot as displayed in the picture above. The picture is in the part of film just after Bowen and Draco began to start working together and they were just about to go trick a town into believing the Bowen who is a dragon-slayer killed the dragon, when in reality Draco was faking his death so Bowen could get some money. The camera angles have been used effectively to help demonstrate the size of Draco.The long shot has also been used well to help show the setting of the scene as if the director had of chosen to use a different angle such as a close up we would not of been able to understand the shape and size of the dragon as well we can now with the long shot used. This scene is also similar to another scene in Dragonheart when Draco went and blew fire over one of the villages.

This is an example of a close up and a over the shoulder shot of Draco and Bowen. In this shot you can see Bowen face to face with Draco. This shot takes place on the first night that they spend together and just before Bowen chose to give the dragon the name Draco, Draco being the eighth largest constellation in the sky that forms a shape of a dragon. The use of the shot has been you well as in this shot you can see the size different between both Bowen and Draco and you can also see the frustrated look Bowen got given after Draco made the point that Draco is just dragon in a different way. This scene is also close to another scene in the movie Alice in Wonderland. Here is a picture of the scene:

Here is another type of shot. This shot is a eye level shot. This picture is taken from a scene in Dragon heart where Bowen is teaching Einon some skills with a practice sword. After Einon got cocky Bowen got him and used some of his skills of Einon to show that he is the teacher. The shot helps demonstrate the relationship between the both of them. If there was a different shot used the audience wouldn't of been able to connect as well as you can with the eye level shot. This shot has also been used effectively to show the look of  annoyance on Einons face as Bowen proves to him that power isn't everything. Another shot that is similar to this is one of the movie Harry Potter. This is the eye level shot of Harry walking in to the Forbidden forest about to come face to face with Voldemort:

Watching the Water Cycle in Action

Aim: To observe the basic processes of the water cycle

Equipment: 200ml Beaker, watch glass, ice cubes, Bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat

Method:
1. Fill the beaker with approximately 100ml of water and place a tripod bunsen burner
2. Fill the watch glass with a few pieces of ice and leave it on the bench
3. Light the Bunsen and heat  the water until it just starts to simmer. Do not boil the water
4. Turn the Bunsen burner off and gently place the watch glass and ice ontop

Observations: As the water gets heated it starts to turn into vapor . The vapor then rises until it meets the coldness of the watch glass. It then cools down and condenses back into the beaker

Pictures of the experiment:

Know Your Rights

1 - What is the fair trading act? The fair trading act protects customers from untrue and unfair trades.

2 - What is the commerce commission's goal? the commerce commission's goal is to make New Zealanders better off by making sure markets are work well and consumers and business are good participants.

3 - Who besides the commission is responsible for the act and can take their own legal action?
the people who bought the products

4 - Who are the two types of groups the act applies to?
 producers and consumers

5- What do the acts apply to?
 Anything bought in New Zealand but not by a private seller or auction.

6 - Does it only apply if you intend to deceive? If it is broken or sold for an unreasonable then the act applys.

6 - Whose 'shoes' must the business put themselves into? the business should put themselves into the consumers shoes.

7 - What is the commission empowered to do? The commission is empowered to report irresponsible lending.

8 - How would you report a business? If you ever need to report a business you could report them by contacting the commission who then can take it to court if they suspect the sellers of breaching the act. Other ways to make an complaint include of applying to the high court to stop the act being breached you could also make a complaint through the Disputes Tribunals who are a version of a small claimed court.

Drama - Performance

In drama this term we have been practising a performance to perform to the class. To prepare for this we first had to get into groups and then pick a script. The people I was in a group with were Ava, Sharayah and Gary. When it came to choosing our script our group didn't read it as we were just chose the first script that had 4 people since we were struggling to find one. Our script ended up being about a guy who was trying to get with a famous girls sister which was a bit of a weird script but we made it work. I played the famous girls sister who stood up for herself. Some things I did well was learn my script as I was the only one in my group who ended up knowing it of by heart and could say all my words confidently. Some things I found challenging was when members in our group weren't at school when we were practising as it made it hard to be able to practise. To improve my next performance, next time I will spend more time practising my movements and my volume as I am not a big fan on having to stand up and act so I tend to get shy. When we performed it wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be as we had to quickly get someone say Sharayahs line and act them out as she wasn't there on the day. This made it harder because the person that took over her place had to read of the script not making it as entertaining and put together as our group would of hoped it was going to be. I had fun learning and performing my script even if it was a bit out of my comfort zone and I would probably practise and perform again if it was just to my class and not a huge audience.

Camera Techniques

In English we are doing film studies. In the topic we have to study what each type
of camera techniques there are. I created a visual dictionary to show my learning.
The thing I am wondering about this is why are there so many different types of shots?
and How long would it take to make a film if you had to use all of these camera techniques.

Close up:

A close up shot in film is a shot that tightly frames a person or an object 

Medium close up

A medium close up is a tighter shot than a medium shot but still not as tight as a close up 

Medium shot

                     A medium shot is captured at a medium distance making it so some of the background can be seen

Mid shot

A shot taken at a medium shot 

Long shot

A long shot is usually a shot the show the whole object or human intended to place in it some relation to
it surroundings

Eye level

The most common camera angle

Pan

A pan shot is when you swivel a still or video camera horizontally from a fixed position

Tilt

when the camera moves up and down . Used to explore a location or character.

Tracking

When the camera follows a moving subject/ camera moves with towards or away from the subject.

Overhead

Lengthens the dramatic tensions 

Over the shoulder

from behinf the persons shoulder. Gives a sense of involvement

Mise en scene  

Health - Problem Solving

I learnt about challenging our thoughts by making a negative into a positive. When I think I often Try to react positively as it is better for my mental health but sometimes I react negatively. I can use these thought challengers to change negatives into a positive, for an example I if I fail a test instead of thinking negative thoughts I would challenge it by asking a question like "Will I let my results control my thinking?". By doing that it then challenges me to think of a positive outcome instead of a negative one.  During Business and Enterprise I will be able to over come challenges by discussing my problem with my group, explaining why I feel this way, stating what I want to change and stating the positives if we did change it. For an example if no one in my group was listening to anyone and I was getting upset I would discuss and explain why I am getting upset  and then tell my group what I want to change and what will happen if we do change

Matariki & the Six Sisters

In Social Studies we have been learning about Maori culture. The thing I chose to study was Matariki a new thing I learnt about it is what all of the a guardians of and what their gifts are. Here is my poster I made about: 

                                                   

Language of film - Visual sounds and Techniques

In English we have just started film study. Before we start watching the film we have to be able to understand the language to prove I know what the language means I made a cross word with the meaning being the clues to help you.  This work shows my learning because I have to be able to understand the language to write the definition. The thing I am wondering is why it is so complicated to produce a film?

Here is my crossword:

Health - Conflict

In health I learnt about assertiveness and conflict styles. When I am faced with conflict from my parents I am often passive or assertive (depending on my mood). Assertive means to be able to confidently state what you are feeling while still accepting other peoples idea and opinions while passive means to accept/allow what other people do without response or resistance.  During the business and enterprise kete I will be able to reduce conflict by respecting other peoples ideas and paying full attention to what they have to say for an example if someone in my group had an idea for a product that I don't necessarily agree with I would listen to there idea fully and hear what they have to say and not just block the person idea out fully. During the business kete I will be able to keep calm by having time to myself or walking away when things get stressful for a example if no one in my group is listening and I start to get frustrated I could just walk away a try again when I am more calm. 

Proteins

Aim: To test if a sample of food contains protein

Equipment: Test tube, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), copper sulfate (CuSO 4), Food sample.

Method:

1. Place about 2ml of the sample into a test tube and add 5 drops of sodium hydroxide

2. Add 5 drops of copper sulfate

3. Shake the test tube gently from side to side

Results: If the solution remains blue, then no protein is present. If the solution changes to a purple colour then protein is present in the sample

Conclusion: The one with milk turned into a purplish colour and the one with egg stayed blue

Heath - Mindfulness

During health I learnt about body cues and being mindful. Being mindful taught me to be more aware of how people react to situations. Being aware of my body cues can help understand what emotions I am feeling. None of the work I did was challenging to me as it was pretty basic to understand.  When communicating with my partner I noticed how excited they were to talk about their hobbies and the things they love. I could tell they felt this way by their facial expressions and the motions they gave. During the business and enterprise kete I will be able to apply being mindful by making sure to listen fully to whatever my group members have to say. I will do this by stopping what I am doing and fully averting my attention to who ever is talking. 

here is the slide I made about being mindful

My picture of someone of showing body cues

Are you Introverted or Extroverted

Miss Richardson/Handley our teacher gave our class the task to take a test seeing if we were more extroverted or introverted. My definition of an extrovert is someone that gets energy from other people and my definition of an introvert is someone that gets energy from being alone. Before doing this test I thought that I was a bit of both depending on my mood but mainly introverted. The test was ten questions and had questions such as "How many friends do you have?" or "What job interests you the most?". 

Here are the results of the test:

The results were not any different than I expected them to be as I already figured out that I was probably more introverted.  I like being more introverted than extroverted because I think that if I was more extroverted I would probably struggle with keeping focused but I am also glad that I at least have a decent amount extrovert in me because otherwise I think that I would struggle with my social skills.

The Merchant of Venice - Act 5

lWhy do Lorenzo and Jessica remind each of the stories of classical lovers? Because they have a great relationship.
What are Portias feelings as she approaches the house? Happy that she one the argument and probably a bit cheeky as she was about to mess with Bassanio
What is the first argument to break out? Nerissa getting mad at Gratiano for giving the ring away
How do Gratiano and Bassanio try to justify parting with the rings, are they successful? They try to justify it by saying that they saved Antonio's life and that they would not take anything but the ring
Was Bassanio right to give away the ring, give reasons for your thinking.? No because when he first got the ring he made a promise to never give it away so it was just unloyal and disrespectful to give it away
How can the newly-weds threaten to sleep with the men who took their rings- and mean it? Because they promised to the person who had the ring that they were theirs so now that someone else has it they are technically theirs.
What effect do these arguments have on Antonio? He thinks that Portia slept with the Doctor
Portia and Nerissa have the rings. What does this prove to Antonio, Gratiano and Bassanio? That they were in the courtroom and Portia was the doctor and Nerissa was the clerk.
How do Antonio, Lorenzo and Jessica benefit from news that Portia brings? Portia told Antonio that the ships that supposedly got lost came to shore and he now has all his money and Lorenzo and Jessica benefit from the fact that when Shylock dies they get half of his money

Vocabulary Find the meanings of the following words:

Vehement: Showing Strong emotion

Riveted: Fix or Fasten

Zeal: Great passion and enthusiasm for a cause or objective

Stockish: Stupid

.Quiring: A collection of leaves of parchment or paper, folded one within the other, in a manuscript or book

Elopement: To run away and not come back to the point of origin

Quarrel: An angry argument or disagreement

Void: Completely empty or not valid or legally binding

Create Make a timeline of the events in the story. Keep each point brief but concise. Think about the different characters and how their timelines overlay. Do they all come to a satisfactory end?

Health - Resilience

I learnt more about resilience and what the meaning is. One of the main things I learnt was that changes can be good and that you shouldn't let changes affect you. Another thing I learnt was that if I kept trying I could overcome anything. My favourite saying connected to resilience is "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become". I like this saying because it is easy to relate to and it is motivational. I can apply this saying to my life by trying to have a positive attitude no matter what happens to me and by trying to have good mindset in all situations. I didn't really find anything difficult about the subject of resilience because I already knew a lot about it and everything was put in a concept that was easy to understand. I related to the video "Who Moved My Cheese" because it was about never giving up and keep going and it is what I want to do. I can apply my new knowledge on resilience to the business kete by keep on trying to overcome the challenges that get throwing in our direction instead of giving up.

Link to "Who Moved My Cheese?"

Shylock Study #2

Shylock makes his last appearance in A4S1

How does he behave when he thinks he is winning? Shylock acts quite childish
Is his behaviour what you expected of him based on the story so far, look carefully at his one-ine answers, as well as at his longer speeches. Look too at his reply to Gratiano L 139-142. Yes Shylock is quite confident and cocky about how he is going to get the pound of flesh owed.
Why do lines 40-46 offer a particularly chilling comparison. What is Shylock saying. Compare L67.
How does Shylock react when he becomes the victim? He asks them to be merciful even though he wasn't prepared to do that to Antonio when he was the victim

The Merchant of Venice - Act 4

What does the Duke believe Shylock intends to do? He thinks he will show mercy
What does Shylock intend to do, and what reasons does he give for his decision? Kill Antonio. Because its apart of the law and Antonio has never treated him well.
Why must the law be allowed to stand (why can’t the judge dismiss this case)? Because of the bond that Antonio and Shylock made.
Shylock is very clear about the restrictions in the wording of the deed, how does Portia use these loopholes? because the deed says that he can only take a pound of flesh so if anything such as a tiny bit of blood or if he takes a little bit less or a little bit more flesh then a pound he is breaking the bond
What penalties does Shylock now have to pay? Are they fair? Why/why not. Shylock now has to give half of his money to the state and the other half to his daughter then he has to become a christian. I don't think that having to become a christian is very fair because if you believe in something else you probably wouldn't want anyone to tell you that you had to change religions.
How do Lorenzo and Jessica gain by the result? Because they get half of Shylocks money
What reward has Portia claimed and why is this significant? Bassanio's ring because he promised to never take it off or to give it away
Portia tells Shylock ‘The quality of mercy is not strained’. How does she try to persuade Shylock to show mercy, how much mercy is she willing to show him (line 345-362)? She tries to persuade Shylock to show mercy by trying to appeal to his better sense

Act Four, Scene One
A4S1 L 70-80. Antonio gives us three short images of how useless any attempt by Bassanio to save his life will be
What are they? Standing at a beach and asking the ocean to get smaller, Ask the wolf why it killed the lamb and made it's mother cry, Pine trees on the mountain to stop waving their treetops when the storm blow through them
What do they tell us about one of Shakespeare's interests? That he likes to compare things and that he likes to give different option.
Do you think this is an effective way of demonstrating the problem? Yes because it shows how impossible he thinks the situation is going to be to overcome.
Each example is an extreme and impossible, what influence does this have on how you expect the rest of the scene to develop? The influence this has on the rest of the scene is that is going to be hard to win the case
A4S1 L90-100, Shylock uses vivid comparisons when he wants to make a point.
What example does he use to illustrate the fact that the pound of flesh is his: ‘tis mine and I will have it’
It is much longer comparison than the three used by Antonio  but do you think it is more striking/effective/convincing? I think that this is more effective than the three used by Antonio be cause it is sharp and simple and he says it confidently.

Can Dos:

Rigorous: extremely thorough and careful
Remorse: Regret or guilt for wrong committed
Malice: The desire to harm someone
Abject: completely without pride or dignity
Epitaph: Something that a person,time or place will be remembered.
Inexecrable: Deserving of being cursed or execrated
Impugn: dispute of the truth, validity or honesty

Research In the Shakespeare court we have a judge. Which system do you think is fairer, that in the play, or that of modern day? I reckon that modern day is fairer because it gives more of a chance for both sides and since now more things have been updated since the older days they have been able to take things that worked well and ditched the worse things to improve the court.

Technology - Wood structure

In wood work with Mr Rees we have been making structures that we can hang things from. This project has taken our class a term to complete as we only have Mr Rees one hour a week. The first thing that we had to do was draw out a plan of how long each of the three parts were going to be.The structure was aloud to be 450mm long at the max but I could be smaller if you wanted it to be  My first part was the upright and it was around 150 mm long. My second part was a support that helps keep the joint and the upright together and it was 85mm long. The last part was the joint which was 200mm long. All in total my structure ended up being 335mm long if you put it side by side. The hardest part was probably cutting and attaching the support to the structure because we had to cut it on a angle and when we went to attach it we had to nail it in on a angle. My favourite parts of making the structure was measuring,oiling and planning making it because I really enjoy making all my sizes organised and all my work looking as neat as possible.

Musical Performance - Aotearoa

Yesterday we performed the song Aotearoa by Stan Walker in front of the year 7,8,9s and some year 10 classes. We had been practising for the performance since the start of the term. Everyone had to sing the chorus of Aotearoa but some people who were confident in sing a solo got a part of the verse to sing. The teacher choreographed most of the dance but she did ask for our input on how we are going to perform it and what we are going to wear on the day. We chose to perform it live seeing as it is more of a Maori culture and seeing if the performance was to celebrate the Maori holiday Matariki we though it fit quite well. On the day we chose to wear the old Branston Intermediate Kapa Haka uniforms. I was wearing a light blue skirt with a belt kind of thing because all of the other things we could wear were much to big for me which was a bit of a struggle because I didn't know what I was going to wear until the last day we had of rehearsing. On the day of the performance everyone was nervous either because we thought that we were not going to as well as last term,because there was a whole other coming to watch, We were going to muck up or just because we were nervous about getting up on stage in general or possibly because the only practice we had on the day didn't go as well as it could of. We were up first out of all of the performances so we had to get changed as soon as the bell rang for last period we had to go a quickly get changed while the others were getting seated. When we performed I was a bit embarrassed because I am not really big on performing in front of lots of performing and especially in front of my younger brother and my sister. My favourite part of song was when Kaela and Stacey sung the National anthem because I personally think that they are great singers and they sing really we together. The performance went better than I expected but I think I could have done a better job of acting like I enjoyed doing it because I was to busy worrying about not laughing because of my nerves. I think that we could of been a bit louder and brung more energy to the performance because I think that at times we were a bit quite. Next time I perform I am going to worry about my facial expressions and being a bit louder so it can fix that problem.  Over all I think the performance went quite well but we could of been a little bit better.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday in home economics we made Chocolate chip cookies. The people I worked with were Ava and Jay. The positives of yesterday were that we were really good at our clean up and we were also good at our personal hygiene. The negatives of yesterday were that it was a bit hard to get everyone in our group to listen because we were so keen of getting the food into the oven. Next time I would try and make sure that the butter is exactly the right amount because it was 1 gram off and even though it didn't really impact the final result of the cookies it still annoyed me. One thing that went really well was that we washed the dishes as we went which helped us finish really quickly.

Here is the recipe:

200g butter
1 cup Chelsea White Sugar
1 cup Chelsea Soft Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups chocolate chips
• Method

Melt butter, and add both sugars and cream these together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla then mix in the dry ingredients. Roll into medium sized balls, making sure the mixture is not too wet! Put on a well greased baking tray. They shouldn't spread too much so flatten slightly. Bake at 180° for 8-10 minutes.

Tip: you can easily half this recipe. Or roll half into a log, wrap in cling film and freeze. Cut into 15 pieces while still frozen and bake.

Shylock Study #1

Make a list of the insults and names Shylock has been called in the text so far. Dog, Lair and a Villon
Find lines/quotes in the text that show Shylock’s hurt, his rage, his loneliness.

Hurt: My own flesh and blood to rebel

Rage: He hath disgraced me and hindered half a million

Loneliness: I have always just shrugged and put up with it because Jews are good at suffering
Do you think he cares more about losing the ducats or his daughter? Shylock seems to want the money back more than his daughter
Shylock is powerless to get back his daughter or his ducats but Antonio is now in his power. Find the first mention of revenge. Do you think his thoughts of revenge are justified, give reasons. Shylock mentions revenge first when he finds out the Antonios ships have been lost at sea. I think that his thoughts of revenge are justified because of all the bad things Antonio has done to Shylock but I think that if he just stopped thinking about revenge the whole situation might turn out better in the end
A3S1 lines 54-62. What sentiment is Shylock trying to express here, do you find sympathy for him here? Shylock is trying to express that just because he is a Jew does not make him any different and that you should not judge someone for what they believe in because they are still humans.
Choose one ‘Hath not..’ quote and explain it. Hath not a Jews eyes - Doesn't a Jew have eyes

The Merchant of Venice - Act 3

Act Three, Scene One

Why does Shylock assume Solanio and Salerio know of Jessica’s flight? because they are friends
What is the second suggestion of misfortune for Antonio? The rumour is that Antonio ships with all his money and valuable things were in a ship wreak
Who has been looking for Lorenzo and Jessica, how do we know? Shylock because he wants his money back
Where do Shylock and Tubal arrange to meet and with what purpose? they arrange to meet at the synagogue and so they can arrest him

Act Three, Scene Two

Why does Portia want Bassanio to delay his choice? so if he is wrong she would have at least spent some time with him

What makes Bassanio choose lead over the silver and gold caskets? Because he doesn't want to judge a book by its cover

What does Portia’s speech A3S2 L166-174 reveal about the expected roles of a woman in marriage.

What did Gratiano’s and Nerissa’s wish to marry depend on? if Bassanio chose the right casket

How does Portia know that the letter contains bad news? Because it is making Bassanio turn pale

What help does Portia offer straightaway? twice as much money as they owe him

Why do we not expect this help to be successful? Because Jessica (Shylocks daughter) over heard him say that even if he was offered 21 times as many ducats he would still take a pound flesh

Do you think Portia would still be in love with Bassanio if she knew he had lied about his wealth? yes because she likes him better that any of the other men

Act Three, Scene Three:

Antonio is now convinced that he knows the reason for Shylock’s insistence on claiming his bond. What is it? Because money doesn't matter to him anymore as long as he get the pound of flesh
Why can the Duke not ‘deny the course of law’ according to Antonio? because it will be a threat about how people make money
What does Antonio seem resigned to his fate. What two important realisations is this based on? Because Shylock really wants the pound of flesh and money doesn;t seem to matter to him anymore
Do you think Antonio’s feelings towards Bassanio have changed since the beginning, why? No because they still seem to be best friends still
Shylock refuses to consider the idea of Mercy, but demands Justice. Consider the following ideas:

Is mercy the same as forgiveness? No
Is it easier to show mercy or look for revenge? For me it is easier to show mercy as you get a better result out of it
Is justice the same as fairness? no just because their is justice does not mean that it is fair
Is true justice possible in this case? Justice is possible for some people but not to all

Act Three, Scene Four
What is Lorenzo’s opinion of Antonio? he admires him
What does Portia tell Lorenzo she intends to do? Go and be a Nun
What does she ask Lorenzo and Jessica to do for her and why? Look after her house and because she trust them and she wants to go save her husband
Why does Portia think Antonio and Bassanio must be alike? Because she belives since they are best friends they mjust be alright
Why do Portia and Nerissa intend to travel dressed as men? Because woman can't get into court
In A3S4 L 60-78, how does Portia describe the behaviour and attitudes of young men.
Does it seem likely that Portia is going to follow the expected  behaviour of a wife? no

Act Three, Scene Five
In his jokey conversation with Jessica, why is Launcelot against the conversion of Jews to Christianity? he thinks that the prices of pork will go up
What is Jessica’s opinion of Portia? I think that Jessica seem to respect her

Can dos:

Tainted: To contaminate or pollute something

Ecstasy: An overwhelming feeling of happiness or excitement

Converted: change the form or function or something

Vantage: A place or position affording a good view

Oration: A formal speech

Constitution: The composition of something

Envious: A feeling or showing envy (Jealous)

Forfeit: A penalty of wrong doing

Mee Goreng - Home economics

Yesterday in home economics we made an Asian dish called Mee Goreng. The students I worked with were Tanaya and Tana. The positives of yesterday that we finished on time and that we managed to follow the recipe without making any mistakes. The negatives were that we accidentally left a chair out making it a health and safety issue. Next time I would spread the jobs out more evenly so that people are not standing and waiting around not entirely sure what to do.  The Mee Goreng turned out better than I expected considering I do not like noodles very much.