| Last month | Last 3 months | All time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed lessons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Attendance rate | 100% | 100% | 100% |
- BOOK REVIEW: GRAMMATICAL ERRORS Hi! I've recently written a book review, and grammar is not exactly my thing. If you could possibly highlight my errors and make suggestions it would mean the world to me! Thank you! Here goes: Northern California at the violent end of the 1960s. Evie, consumed in the rush of adolescence is lulled to The Girls. Particularly enchanted by an older girl, Suzanne, who feeds Evie's desperation to be loved, needed – wanted. But nothing gold can stay, and soon horrible violence unravels, changes Evie's world as she knows it. Never has a book sent me into such a deep spiral of confusion. This book repulsed me, drove me away. Yet it pulled me further in, deeper into its twisted and cruel reality. Cline's writing is enthralling, and evoked emotions and reactions in me I didn't know I was capable of. The Girls is memorable. I've never read a book that thrilled me, scared me in a way that I couldn't explain. Why should I relate to and understand Evie? A girl who chooses to join a violent and erratic cult out of pure and pathetic desperation? The plot-line of this book drove me insane, the cult - The Girls, and their way of living. The vicious murders conducted with no hesitation. It put me off, hardcore. Yet there was something else - something indescribable that attracted me to it, which kept me turning the pages. Cline's writing is so vivid, she weaves together words that flow with such ease. There's something about the truth, that's written in her words that draws us to it more. She confronts us. She shows us the world through lenses we are too afraid to look through. She connects to the part of us that is too afraid to feel this way, confronts our flaws, our insecurities. Reminds us of how mundane life is. How someone you idolised as a child, someone you thought was special – someone who once ignited a spark in you can cease to evoke that reaction after time unfolds; how they end up being as mundane and boring as everyone else, and just become nothing more than a passing face. All in all, I've never been left in such conflict after reading a book. Though I despise it for it's haunting storyline, I have to say I enjoyed it for it's harsh reality, and how Cline crafted it to highlight issues within society and ourselves. It's definitely something to read if you're ready to commit to it in it's full twisted, exotic and enthralling glory.December 12, 201600
- To Kill A Mockingbird Essay - Paragraph 1 Hi! I'm writing an essay for my English class, but wanted someone to help me peer-check it. This is only the first paragraph. Thanks a lot! CLAIM: In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” Harper Lee demonstrates the destruction of innocence through racial injustice, in childhood as well as in good intentions. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” Harper Lee demonstrates how innocence can be destroyed through racial injustice. In the story, Tom Robinson, an African-American man is accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, whom the townsfolk call “white trash.” During Tom’s testimony we learn vital facts, such as his left arm is “useless” and is described as “rubber-like.”(p254) Additionally, the court finds out Tom was simply helping Ms Ewell, and denied payment, stating he “knowed she didn’t have no nickels to spare.” (p256) All these extracts are an indication towards the basis that Tom is an innocent man. However, his testimony proved to be in vain, as he was later imprisoned and shot whilst serving out his sentence. From his testimony, it’s easy to see how Tom is an innocent man. Harper Lee has constructed a man that is incapable of the crime both mentally and physically. However, a turning point in the case is when Tom is questioned about denying payment, as he replies that he “felt right sorry for her.” (p264) Which is met with a negative reaction. From this particular extract we can see an unspoken social hierarchy announce itself. Admitting to feeling sorry for somebody is equivalent to saying they are worse off, or less fortunate than yourself. Though the Ewell family is regarded as “white trash” and are located at a lower tier of the social hierarchy, they are still held in higher regard than African people, or “Negroes,” who hold the lowest social position possible. From this extract we can see how this society does not function on the basis that all people are innocent until proven guilty, but all African people are guilty until proven otherwise. Tom was sentenced to prison as he was the first man to truly challenge the court, and thus challenging this hierarchical society. The court, obviously afraid of a shift or a change in the hierarchical society in which they control, sentence him to prison, not based on whether if he is guilty or innocent, but because he is black and not white. From this we can see how Harper Lee demonstrates the destruction of Tom’s innocence and good intentions through racial injustice.March 14, 201610
Reading to write better
When I was a child I was very good in scientific subjects and not so good in literay/humanities subjects. To be specific, I was quite terrible in writing what we call "tema" in Italy, which is basically a short text about a given subject the teacher gives you... for example writing about your family or global warming.
I wasn't good at that, I lacked the imagination and the vocabulary to do that, therefore my temas looked more like a list, a subject like "talk about your last trip" would come out like this:
"last week i went to paris ,we left on sunday morning around 8.15am we arrived at the airport at 10.15 etc" Basically a list of numbers and places with no single reference to feelings.
I guess I improved a bit later on thanks to reading, which kind of shocked me at first... How was I improving in something active like writing by doing something as passive as reading?
But that's not the whole story, I guess you all know the Harry Potter series right?
Well, as impatient as I am, I couldn't wait for the seventh movie to come out so I bought the book (in English) and read it. That was my first english book ever.
After that one many more came, mainly books that had a movie, like "The Hunger Games", "I am Number Four", "Divergent" and so on.
Now I'm on a journey to learn German and I started reading "Kinder und Hausmärchen" by the Grimm Brothers do you think reading will help to learn the language structure and to acquire new vocabulary?
Anyone else applied this technique to language learning?0 votedDecember 30, 20151
