SONGKRAN BREAK HOMEWORK/ASSIGNMENTS...!

TO ALL MY LITERATE GRADE 9 STUDES...

SAWASDEE PHI MAI, KHRAP!

Before anything else, let me wish you and your families a wonderful Thai New Year and a safe and fun-filled Songkran Break...!

Now...down to business...! I have a number of SONGKRAN BREAK HOMEWORK/ASSIGNMENTS for you to work on given the 9 days you are going to "miss" seeing me and/or “miss” being in my class. Start and finish it immediately so you will have more time to enjoy and relax during your break.

FIRST…as soon as we get back, we are going to have another Literary Terms Application Test and another Vocabulary Terms/Words to Own Test. How many? That’s for me to know and for you to find out…what’s important is that you prepare for it…!

SECOND…you have the entire Songkran Break to read and take notes on the novel The Glass Menagerie…at this point in time, if you suddenly stop and ask yourself the question, “What Glass Menagerie?”…then you are in deep, deep, deep trouble simply because despite the number of times I repeated this in class and even wrote it on the board for you to see, you chose not to listen and did not bother checking out the book from the library like I told you to do…!

THIRD…I am going to ask for an update from every group on what you have already accomplished on your ODYSSEY Movie Production when we get back to school. Leaders and members of each group…make sure to take notes of the workers and the slackers in your group for peer rating purposes…I have an Evaluation Sheet you will be filling up when we get back. Please make sure to understand those who cannot make it since they are traveling with their families or going out of town for one reason or another. Just make sure to give them something to do to compensate for their absence if your group decides to meet during the break…!

FOURTH…we will be taking up the following stories from your text when we get back so try to read it over the Songkran Break…Poison, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Gift of the Magi. Take notes if you think it will help you understand it more…when we get back, we will discuss the story gist one period and test the next…that should give you an idea on how much you should know the stories by then…!

FIFTH…on an A4/F12/DS/TNR, write an essay of no more than two pages long for each of the last two class novels we have not taken up yet. Here’s the catch, one essay should follow a “Persuasive Format”…meaning, you have to try to “sell” the book to someone else and convince them that the novel is a good book to read. The other should follow a “Narrative Format”…meaning, you have to tell what the story is all about by simply giving the major highlights of the plot. You have the freedom to choose which class novel, THOMS/TPB/TKMB/WOO, to write as a Persuasive Essay and which to write as a Narrative Essay...as long as it is the last two class novels we have not started in class yet...!

LASTLY…start preparing for your Choral Recitation by first gathering a group of no less than five people but no more than eight people in your class. Then as a group, choose which poem you would like to perform and recite orally altogether. Then, start memorizing and practicing and working on your chosen Choral Recitation pieces. I want the Title of Chosen Piece and the Members of the Group turned in to me through this blog please…first come first serve basis…meaning if a title has already been posted, it cannot be chosen anymore by any other group…I will be posting the titles of the poems to choose from by tomorrow, Thursday, 08 April 2010…stay tuned…!

That’s All Folks! As you can see, I have decreased the number of Songkran Break Homework/Assignments to give you…from a total of 10 down to 6…hence the reason why I am only posting now. Have a safe and wonderful Songkran Break and come back refreshed and ready to Rock-N-Roll for the final stretch of the year. This is it…the end zone…you have to give it all you got since there is no more room for “I’ll do better next quarter.” Be good and get all your homework/assignments out of the way as soon as possible so that you can enjoy your break to the max…CIAO!!!

Mr. A