My Year 8 English Experience

In English, we have received another class novel. This book is called ‘The Dons’, and I have really enjoyed reading this fantastic book!

When I read books, I usually pick up a main topic in them. After reading The Dons, I felt a post forming in my head. This is the very post that I have been looking forward to writing. This post is all about memories.

If there was a house fire, and you got the chance to save a few items, what would they be? This is the question that formed in my head after reading The Dons. I decided to go around and ask a few people this question, feeling very curious about what their answers would be. I have listed their responses below, which I’m sure you’d like to read.

Mum- I would choose my oboe (a woodwind musical instrument) and photographs.

Grace- I would save my pet dog, and some objects that mean something to me like photos.

Mrs McLeay- I would save my computer and the baby photos of my kids.

You may have noticed that all three people have mentioned that photographs would be one of their choices to save. But why photos? Lets find out.

Why were photographs one of your choices?

Mum- You can never replace them.

Grace- They show what happened in the past and you can’t buy them.

Mrs McLeay- That time of my life can never be replaced. It’s a way of talking to my children about what life was like for us then- reminding them of things they’ve forgotten.

If you think about all the things you use a lot in your house, or items that cost a lot to buy, you would probably feel that it is a big loss that you no longer own them anymore. However, the biggest loss would be the things that you cannot buy/replace. These things include:

Your pets- Pets are amazing things. When you first meet your pet, you are unaware of all the mysteries within that very animal. You hardly know the pet, however you are willing to take it back to your home and care for it. You pet gives back what you have given to it, making every second you spend with it something to remember it by. Each time you play with it, look after it, and touch it, you grow closer and closer to that animal. The very same thing happens to it as well, and very quickly the bond becomes so strong that you both need each other. The fact that your best friend has perished in a fire would devastate you so much. Every pet is individual and no other pet that could replace it. Therefore, if you could, you would save your friend that you became attached to so that you can both continue your lives together and share the many pleasures of friendship together.

These three people also mentioned that they would save items that are quite valuable to them. These items include things such as computers. Your computer is like a personal information keeper. Data for work, programs that are quite expensive and other things you have spent ages working on for a reason would all be lost, causing you to become very frustrated. The computer itself would also be a loss as computers can do so many things. Access to the internet, music, blogs and videos can all be found on a computer. I can tell you now, I would be very angry if learnerblogs just cut out on me right now and I lost the whole of this post I have been writing.

Another thing that these people mentioned was special items. Most people have an item which is very important to them, like Grace mentioned above. My mum would choose to save her oboe as it is a special item to her. Besides the value and the use, this item means a lot to her. Her passion for music is expressed through her oboe, and by playing this special instrument, it also brings back memories. The whole side of her family’s all fond of their music, and losing this item would be quite a loss to her. In The Dons, one of the characters called Nonno (Paul’s grandfather), had a collection of aftershave bottles. These were his special items, and each bottle brought back memories of his past. When the bottles were smashed, the loss was so bad because those bottles had become a part of him.

This leads me to the final thing that all these people mentioned. Photos. Experiences, childhood, and other things that have happened in the past cannot be replaced. What you have experienced in the past is in your head. You can’t physically touch them, and you can never turn the clock back to do the whole thing again. What’s in the past, is in the past, but you can still remember many of these experiences in your head. However, not all of these experiences can be remembered this easily. This is where photos come in. Believe it or not, photos are a link to the past. They help bring back all those memories that are fading inside your head. Do you ever look back at your baby photos and you suddenly remember all those memories of when you were little? Without photos, your childhood may seems like a blur.

I remember looking back at all the photos of my early life. The photos of me up a tree, our old car, my pram with the big yellow balloon attached to it… And then I remember looking at the photos and going, “Is that me?” Those memories were fading, and without the photos, I may never have found out what life was like for me back then. The huge 1 year old birthday cake, the bucket of wooden blocks, the people I still know now, but younger… Those photos brought back so many memories of being a baby, and without them, my childhood would just be a blur. All the good times I had need to last, and with the help of photos, I can look back at them even when I’ve finished school and all of the memories will flood back into my head again. This is exactly what Mrs McLeay was talking about above, and this is the reason that photos would definitely be one of my choices to save as well.

Feel free to explain what you would save if there was a house fire through a comment, as I’m curious to see what other people would choose. Also, if you get the chance to, pick up a copy of The Dons book and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!

I’ve just been going through my drafts, and found that I had written about an 8Alive activity that our class did last term. I think it’s a waste of writing not to post it, so here it is. Hope you enjoy reading! 

Last term my class went rock climbing as part of the 8Alive program. I really enjoyed it and I’d say it’s one of the best activities I’ve done this week!

The minute I stepped into the centre, I was already staring at many walls covered in coloured rocks for climbing. No, the walls were not small, nor medium. They were gigantic, and the height of them was unbelievable! We stared up at them in astonishment, many of us already scared from seeing the height of those unbelievable walls! Few people were looking confident and I heard cries of fright coming from around the room. However, I felt very different to most people. I stared up at the walls and my heart was already beating fast. Not from fright… but from excite! When I first caught sight of these walls, the first thing that came to mind was seeing me perched at the very top of one of them. I’d set myself I goal. A goal to get to the very top of that wall without falling off once! No one was going to stop me getting there, and nothing was going to get in my way. I was planning to get to the top no matter how hard it was. To reach the top just like a mountain climber.

The centre was just like a cave, and we all got led off to some walls out the back. They looked so miniature compared to these huge walls out the front that I just wanted start climing straight away, but first we needed to get trained how to put on a harness and manage the rope while climbing. It took a little while to get everything ready, and even longer for me because I had picked up a dud harness. After a while though we finally got the chance to start climbing the small walls. They seemed pretty tiny just looking at them, but when I reached the top they didn’t seem so small!

Down below our partners were handling the rope. Many terrifying thoughts loomed around my head such as, “What if the rope wasn’t done up properly, and when I let go, I end up falling?” and, “What if my partner lets go of the rope and lets me fall?”. All these thoughts were starting to scare me, and I stared down at my partner who told me to let go of the wall. I wasn’t sure whether I should trust her or not; just about anything could go wrong! Slowly, I took one leg off the wall and then the other, making sure I was still hanging onto the wall with my hands. I couldn’t feel my weight, so I knew that things were going all to plan so far. I removed my hands from the wall and dangled from the end of the rope while my partner pulled me down. However, I kept lightly grabbing the rocks on the wall just in case anything went wrong. All this came down to one thing… trust.

As I reached the ground, I got a second go at climbing the wall. It was so easy that I just raced up there, but the hardest part was still letting go of the wall when you reached the top. Slowly, I began to trust my partner more as I climbed more walls.

This time it was my turn to manage the rope while my partner climbed the wall. Many thoughts and worries raced through my mind such as, “What if I do something wrong and my partner falls off the wall?” and, “What if I can’t hold her weight?” I felt much safer when an instructor was nearby incase something happened. All my worries were answered in the end though, because I left it up to my partner to tie the rope up, the intructor taught me how to handle the rope while my partner was climbing, and I found out that you didn’t have to hold anyone’s weight because the rope was hooked in the ground (which held their weight for you).

Next up was those huge walls sitting out there in the other room. My partner wasn’t so keen on them, but I was fully charged! I wanted to get onto them as soon as possible and start climbing!

I think seeing other people have a go at something gives you more confidence. Well, I know it does for me. When I’m scared of doing something, or trying a new challenge, it often helps me to know that a friend or a sibling has been through the same thing. When my partner and I saw others who had started climbing the walls, I think it gave her the strength to have a go at it. However, this didn’t change the fact that I was going to challenge the walls, even if everyone had a go, or no one.

When I was ready, I grabbed hold of the first rock and pulled my self up. Seemed easy so far… well maybe I was wrong. When I got about half way up the wall, the nerves suddenly became obvious. I thought I would never get nervous. Well, I decided that this would not stop me from getting to the top. Nothing was going to stop me, because I had decided I was going to get up there, and nothing could change my mind!

Well when I reached the top, the sight was amazing, yet terrifying. All those bumps and difficulties along the way tried to stop me, but I got passed them. Now was the big issue of letting go.

The trust for your partner was extreme here. There were so many things that could go wrong when I let go of the wall. I sat up there for a while, and finally came to the conclusion that if I had to let go sooner or later, or I would be stuck there forever. I slowly let go of the wall, and found that I didn’t fall. As my partner let me down, I still kept hands near the wall, just in case!

Well, this sure was a game of trust! I think all those practice walls really helps build up the trust between you and your partner. I also learnt how important goals were to success. I also have a deeper meaning which I got out of today, which I would like to share with you. On the walls, the bends in the wall represent the things that get in the way of you completing your goal. The key to getting through these difficulties is determination. The rocks are what help you get to the top of the wall. These rocks represent the people that you love, who will help you and support you throughout your determination to complete your goal. If I wasn’t so persistent, I don’t think I would have kept going. It was my determination which led me up those walls, and it is that experience which I wanted to tell you about today.

A few days ago I watched another great film called Nowhere in Africa. The film tells the story of a Jewish family who flee Germany not long before World War 2. The mother and her daughter’s life in Germany is compared to their new life in Africa. A less wealthy country, new people, new surroundings… at first the mother cannot cope with this new lifestyle. However, as we get further into the story, things begin to change. New friendships flourish, exciting experiences face the family, and sad news arrives. This film shows the good times, and the bad times that face people in life.

The first thing I would like to talk about from this film is friendship. The friendship in this film is simply amazing, and proves that someone’s looks has nothing to do with a strong friendship. People may say that good friends have a lot of things in common, but I have learnt that this is not always the case. Sometimes the differences are what brings two people together. When the mother and her daughter first arrived in Africa, one of the first people they met was a kind, African man called Owuoa. When the daughter and Owuoa first met, you can tell they will form a very strong relationship. The bond between these two people was so strong, that anyone could think that they had known each other for a long time. If you compare these two, you would notice that they are quite different. They come from different countries, are different ages, have different coloured skin and much more. However, these two remain close friends throughout the story. Their looks did not matter at all. Their skin colour did not matter at all. It brought me great delight to see the trust, and love between these two people all the way through the story.

I noticed that the characters physically grew throughout the story as well. When this kind, African man first met the daughter, she was very young. Because she had met him at such a young age, she became very close to him. He actually became like a father to her!

Well, the delights of friendship were lovely to see, but there was also some issues in the story which weren’t so nice. These issues also hit us today. Racism. Back in Germany, it showed that this family was often left out, made fun of and hated. It hurts me to think that this happened to them, because everyone in this world is different. We have different looks, different beliefs, and different skills that make each and every one of us unique. Because this family had a Jewish background, they were considered Jewish themselves. People in Germany were against Jewish people, and treated them differently to most people. One part of the film showed the little daughter being teased by the other kids. Racism is a cruel thing, which no one deserves. We cannot change our colour or our race, and people just have to accept us for who we are. When the daughter first met Owuor, it was the very first time she had seen another person of this colour. Her responce was just lovely to see, as she did not turn her back on him. Owuor welcomed her, and they embraced. What she felt then was not a feeling of hatred because of the difference in skin colour, but a feeling of comfort and love. This man was a kind person just like her, and this is how we should imagine these people. Just because someone’s looks are quite different, doesn’t mean we should treat them any differently to how we treat others. We should get to know the person, and find out what they’re like inside. The daughter did just this, and this was the beginning of a strong, secure relationship.

However, when this family arrived in Africa, the mother treated the black African people exactly how she got treated back at home. “Do not go near them,” I remember the mother telling her daughter in Africa. “They’re dirty people who carry disease!” Betraying her mother’s words, the daughter took the chance to see what she thought of the dark-skinned people herself. This wise girl was pleased to find out that the other kids were friendly, encouraging people, and she did not avoid them because of their colour. She soon made friends with them all, and enjoys spending time with them.

There are many, many more topics that are mentioned in the film, and these are just a few of them. ”Nowhere in Africa” is a great film for older viewers, and I would say that this film really gives you a feel of what has been going on in our world. It shows that we are all different, and that our difference in backgrounds should not stop us from forming a friendship with someone. Although this film is in German, with fast, English sub-titles, it does not affect the love that is shown within the story.

Right now I feel quite embarrassed. No, nothing extremely embarrassing happened, it’s just that I’m in year 8, and I don’t even know the names of different words. Verbs, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns… you probably know the full definition of these words. Not me though! It is expected that you can identify these types of words by high school, but I don’t even know what a verb is! I feel a bit embarrassed telling you this, and felt even more embarrassed when Mrs McLeay said that adverbs describe a verb, and I replied, “What’s a verb?”

Well, luckily, Mrs McLeay has found an interactive website that helps people learn these grammar skills. This sounds like the perfect thing for me, seeing as though I’m a kinaesthetic learner, which means I learn better while doing something.

I started off on the ‘Adverbs’ section, where I was quizzed on adverbs. I started off really badly, and even mistaken adverbs for words that describe nouns. When I was corrected, I began the whole quiz again, and this time I did much better.

Now, onto the games. I started playing a game which was on personal pronouns. I enjoyed playing the game much more than doing the quiz, and felt that it was much easier.

I think this site is a great way to learn grammar skills! It will take some practice, but by spending a bit of time on this site everyday, I think I will learn these grammar skills in no time! I won’t give an age limit for this site, because I believe that there is none! I recommend the site for anyone who wishes to improve their grammar skills.

Click here to go to the site

Click here to go to the games