Acrostic Poem

[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson,  Retold by C. Kingsley Williams and A. G. Eyre

Summary: Dr. Jekyll hypothesizes that independent goodness and evilness exist within the human body, and through using a chemical liquid that he made, he succeeds in isolating the 'evilness' within himself, 'Edward Hyde.' However, fulfillment of proving his hypothesis and successfully conducting his experiment, and the moment of guilt-free pleasure he experienced as Hyde, are fleeting. His evilness, represented by Hyde, grows uncontrollable, reaching a point where Dr. Jekyll cannot even control it, which ultimately leads to his demise.

Chosen character: Jekyll

Reason for choosing this character: The core of this book emphasizes that avoidance, exploiting the duality of human nature, can never free humans from their responsibilities as human beings and their moral obligations. And Jekyll guides the reader through his innovative ideas, complicated anguish, and pain, and the increasingly intertwined internal conflict that makes this entire story possible. Therefore, I chose him, the one who can make this whole story possible.

Length of the book: This book has 60 pages, it is a level 5, which is upper intermediate, and has approximately 2300 words in it.  Published by  Penguin Readers

Poem meaning: 

Jekyll tries to separate the evil inside him into a separate man, Hyde. Since he succeeded at his experiment, he, Jekyll, can be a purely gentle person, making Hyde the most terrible criminal in the world. As time goes by, the contrast between them gets bigger and bigger, which eventually makes Jekyll unable to control Hyde anymore, feel more anguish than before, and take his life with his hand.  I tried to convey the reason for Hyde's existence, highlight Hyde's traits contrasting to Jekyll, and the result of his experiment, being erased by himself.

[The Tragic Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice - Brendan Pelsue]

Author/Video by: TED-Ed

Summary: Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, died because of the snake. Since he loved her so much, he tried to save her wife, going Tartaros, the world of dead souls(simply, underworld), and with his skill at playing the lyre, he was able to impress the gods and spirits of the underworld and gain the opportunity to resurrect his wife, but at the end of their journey to world of life, he broke the taboo of never looking back and failed to resurrect his wife.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhaepLsP5eg

Chosen character: Orpheus

Reason to pick him: He shows the critical vulnerability of humans that can ruin everything, 'doubt'. The more he wanted life with her again, the faster the doubt grew, and the heavier his fear of losing her pressed him. As a result, he accidentally chose to solve immediate anxiety, rather than wait for bliss right in front of them, which led him to a heartbreaking separation again. So, I chose him, the one who leads the whole story and makes us be immersed in the whole story by questioning minor but crucial things that can change his destiny.

Length of video: 4 min 41 sec (about 5 min)

Poem meaning: 

Firstly, when he got permission to bring dead Eurydice to life again, he was so happy to be with his wife again. However, he broke the rule at the end of the process, which led to separation again. So, I tried to convey his high, growing hopes with 4 lines, fear that he felt with 1 line, and the frustration of losing everything with the last line. And, at the same time, I also wanted to paraphrase his story, like one of the processes of comforting him. So, I wrote it as if I were talking to him through a poem.

Sketch It!

Sketch It! Anne of Green Gables

A.  The title of the book that I read this week is "Anne of Green Gables". It is written by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and is retold in a graded readers book by Anne Collins. The length of the book is around 40 pages, and it has 600 words in it.

B. The book is about a girl whose name is Anne Shirley. She was adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, has red hair, and never stops walking forward. This book only contains day to day events that have happened in her life. In the book, Anne learned to make friends, attend school, and get to know what family is.

C. 

D. This scene is the aftermath of when Anne tried to dye her hair 'black', but it turned out that the hair dye she used was actually green. She dyed her hair because she doesn't like her natural red hair colour and would get mad whenever someone pointed out her hair colour, thus she wants to dye her hair black, but unfortunately, the dye is a mislabelled green dye. The dye won't come off after multiple rinses, so Anne resorted to cutting her hair short and saying, 'I'll never hate my red hair again".

 I chose this because, in some ways, after this event, it made Anne start to look more positively at her hair and made her realize again that there are more important things than just being beautiful.

My Emoji Story

Turkish Coffee - By CompassMedia

    This story is written by CompassMedia. The genre is factual, but to be specific, it falls under the cultural sub-genre. The level of this story is 16.70, but it's not very difficult for me, and I could read, understand, and enjoy the story well. There are 267 words in the story text, and it took me around one and a half minutes to finish it. To recap the story,  it introduced us to Turkish coffee, the way it is made, the ingredients, some traditions related to it, and the significance of those traditions. It mostly tells us about how in the past, Turkish women needed to know how to make and serve coffee well. The reason for that is marriage, where women would showcase their skills as a wife to parents-in-law so that they would be accepted.

    After reading the story, I felt a little craving for coffee. Thus, the reason why I chose a coffee emoji out of all things to describe my feeling. The way the text describes the process of making a Turkish coffee, the ingredients in the coffee, and the way it's served.  All of that just made me want a cup for myself. Sure, other aspects of the story still amuse me, but the coffee itself is the thing about the story that sticks with me the most.

Good Dog - By ELLLO

    This story is written and told by ELLLO. The genre of it is once again factual, but the sub-genre is love and relationships. The level of this story is 15.70, and for me, it was an easy listen. There are 204 words in this story, the duration is 1 minute, and it took me 1 minute and 36 seconds in total time to catch everything about the story. To recap, it is about the conversation between 2 people, James and Todd. In the story, Todd asked about a picture of a good dog on James's desk, and then James began to talk about his dog. James talked about his dog's name, how he found it, his dog's breed, the tricks his dog can do, and his dog's behaviour.

    After reading the story, I can feel just how much James loves Piper, his dog. For someone who loves dogs and has 2 dogs myself, I can relate to James and his story. I can also understand why he doesn't want puppies, even though it would be fun. After searching for a minute, the emoji that I have put is the one that could really describe my feelings after listening to and reading the story. All dogs are good boys and girls.