Language Arts

ELA:

My Story

TASK: I was to create an organized piece of writing that tells my story. My story is made up of details and memories that construct who I am.

INTENT: Everyone’s story begins the same way but from that moment on our “stories” become unique. Many people and many events are a part of our stories. The purpose of this assignment was for me to tell my story focusing on key events, people, and experiences that helped shape my story.

CRITERIA: My final piece has three paragraphs and a reflection:
a) How my story began (5 marks)
b) A specific memory or event that had a meaningful impact (5 marks)
c) My future self – Who do I see? What goals do I want to attain? (5 marks)
d) Reflection on my final piece of writing (5 marks)

Word of the Day

Word of the day
Ruction
/ruk-shun-/ (noun)
Definition: disturbance, up roar
Example: The ruction outside the door prompted to investigate what was going on.
There was a ruction downstairs while I was trying to sleep and I became megrim because I knew I wouldn’t go back to sleep.

Colloquial
/Kuh-loh-Kwee-ul/ (adjective)
Definition: 1) of or relating to conversation: conversational
2) Used mainly in informal conversation
Example: Colloquial language is quite acceptable in writing emails to friends.
On the computer I like to talk colloquial to my friends if I am in a hurry.

Wardrobe
Wor-drohb/ (noun)
Definition: a collection of wearing apparel (as of one person or for one activity)
Example: over the years, Sandra has managed to acquire a large and varied wardrobe.
My sister Emily has an extensive variety of wardrobe that go from tight long skinny jeans to a bright white elegant dress.

Doughty
/Dow-tee/ (adjective)
Definition: marked by fearless resolution: valiant, brave, courageous
Example: When little Lisa saw the bullies picking on one of the younger boys the doughty girl marched up to them and demanded that they stop.
The firefighter was doughty when he jumped into a burning apartment and saved a five year old boy from a burning stove that was on fire because someone did not turn it off but the little boy was very megrim and did not believe he could make it but he did just in time.

Obsequious
/ob-SEE-kwee-us/ (adjective)
Definition: marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
Example: The executive brought with her an entourage of obsequious assistants who would do anything she asked of them.
The singing superstar had obsequious entourage that did anything she asked of them, but they didn’t like her one bit because she was always thinking of herself.

Prosperity
/praw-SPARE-ih-tee/ (noun)
Definition: the condition of being successful or thriving
Example: The result was panem, a shinning capital ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens.
In Asia they do not have prosperity because how they lack necessities and the effects of child labour.

Corroded
/Kuh-RAYD/ (Verb)
Definition: to wear or crumble away through a abrasion, scraping off wearing away by rubbing
Example: Over the years, the rushing waters have corroded the river banks.
In 2010 Winnipeg was going to have a flood and it flooded the forks and trees were in water and sandbags were being a barrier for a drink store and corroded everything.

Mnemonic
/nih-MAH-nik/ (adjective)
Definition: assisting or designed to assist memory
Example: To help remember the levels of biological classification, Jim taught his students the Mnemonic sentence “ King Philip came over for good spaghetti “ ( Kingdom,phylum,class,order,family,genus,species).
In social studies I learned the mnemonic device to remember “never eat soggy wieners” for N, E, S, W, North, East, South, and West when locating places on a map.

Divine
/dih-vyne/ (verb)
Definition: to discover by inuitonor in sight, to locate or discover
Example: Turning in to the park, I stumble upon a man using a long stick to divine a source of water.
When Columbus was sailing the ocean he was diving for India but instead found America (the new world).

Numskull
/num/skul/ (noun)
Definition: a thicker muddled head; a dull or stupid person
Example: “Don’t be such a numskull,” my mother shouted as I slammed on the breaks. “We can’t afford a new car!”
I was a numskull when I put my clothes into the wash but forgot I had playing cards in my pocket and ruined the clothes.

TASK: Each day we were given a word and its definition. We then had to write the word in a sentence that showed we understood the meaning of the word.

INTENT: The purpose for learning a new word each day is to enrich our vocabulary in our own writing and expand our knowledge of the English language.

CRITERIA: We were expected to:

Keep our notebook up-to-date
Share our sentences with the class
Use the word in a context related to our subject areas

Thank you Ma'am
We read the short story, “Thank you, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. This story shows the consequences a young thief faces after attempting to steal a strong, yet compassionate, victim’s purse. Rather than punish the young thief, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones empathizes with him and takes him into her home for a hot meal. She teaches him a valuable life lesson.

I chose to draw the scene in the story where …..

Iqbal

My class read the novel, Iqbal, by Francesco D’Adamo. This story is about a real boy named Iqbal Masih who is sold into a life of slavery at a carpet factory in Lahore, Pakistan. We learned about the working conditions of overworked and abused children who are forced to make carpets all day long and are denied many of their basic rights. Iqbal knows that this kind of life isn’t right and he tries to make a difference in the lives of many.

You are the Author

Throughout the novel, the chapters were only labelled with a number. I took on the role of being the author and I came up with chapter titles that I thought described the events of that chapter. I then summarized the chapter with 3 points of information.

Simile cards

We learned that a simile is a figure of speech that uses the words “like” or “as” to compare two different things. The novel had many examples of similes and as we read we had to identify, record, and explain the similes. Once we had a large selection of similes, we created a simile card for a comparison of our choice. We had to explain the simile and draw an illustration that represented both parts of the comparison.

Explore Response

We wrote an EXPLORE reading response after reading the first 5 chapters of the novel. Our response was 6 paragraphs each focusing on a different area. (Ex- Example, P-Purpose, L- Language and Key Lines, O-Organizational Features, R – Relate, E- Evaluate)
I received a mark of /35. (Explain what you did well and/or what you can do better next time)

Visual - chapter 6-9

I chose to draw the scene where …. I chose to draw this scene because…

Hut and Water Jug reflection

In chapter 13 of the novel, we learned about the working and living conditions of children who have to make bricks all day long. After reading this chapter, we tried to experience a small example of their daily life by taking part in two activities. We then had to reflect and describe what we learned.

Chapter 7 Quotable Passage Quiz

There are many quotable passages in the novel. We had to identify important quotes and explain why they were significant. After reading chapter 7 we wrote a quiz where we had to respond critically to certain passages. After the quizzes were marked, we then had to go back to our quiz and make corrections to our answers.

Child Labour Essay
What Children in Child labour Go Through
Wendy, a house hold mother went shopping for a brand new carpet for her living room. Wendy sees a beautiful designed carpet and decides to buy it from the sales person. The seller tells her the carpet is only forty dollars so she decides to buy another one. If Wendy knew that the carpets she bought were made by children working in poverty to pay off a debt, I do not think she would have bought the carpets even if they were beautiful. Children do not get paid as well as they should. Second thing I will be talking about will be the children’s health and what happens to them if they disobey their masters, and how they are forced to do dangerous jobs. Lastly I will talk about how we can stop child labour from happening in countries. Child labourers in the world are beaten, neglected, and crying for help; we need to help these children by being determined to make a difference.
Most people in the world get paid maybe more than fifteen dollars an hour, well child labourers get less than one dollar a day.” This is your debt. Every line is a rupee; I will give you a rupee for everyday you work” (D’Adamo, V). The child labourer’s masters promise to pay them to get their debts removed, however in reality they do not even earn enough for clothes and necessities.” The debt is never erased…. no matter how good you are” (D’Adamo, 20). Children are put into child labour because their parents have taken money from money lenders and can not pay them back “When families are in debt, they “rent” or bond their children (D’Adamo, VI). Children are then forced to work in an unhealthy environment for long hours with little or no food at all everyday until the debt is paid. “Six million children are working in conditions of forced and bonded labour” (D’Adamo, V). We need to get these children back to their families because without them they will not have a chance to survive with our without money.
Children are not only hurt mentally but physically hurt everyday of their lives as child labourers. Child labourers are malnourished because their masters do not care about them, but their masters get to eat like a king. “The children often unfed, work from dawn to dusk squatting for long hours “(D’Adamo, VI). Child labourers in brick factories have to walk miles just to get water and some of them have a black callus on the bottom of their feet. “ The sides of his feet had two inch black callus all cracked” (D’Adamo, 105). Children get blisters all over their hands and they gets so bad that children cut them open with a knife they use for working. “Everyone else knew all you had to do was take the knife we used for working and cut open the blister” (D’Adamo, 3). Children are suffering and because some of us do not care they can get worse and may die. However it does not have to be this way.
These things that happen to the children do not have to happen; there are many ways to stop child labour. We can donate money to those that are in debt and give the money so their children will not have to leave their families. We can donate necessities such as food, clean water, and clothing in case the people do not have any and they can become healthy. For thechildren that are already in child labour we can find ways to stop their masters and get the children to school for education. If we do these things there can be a better chance for these children to survive.
I wrote about most parts in child labour that are most important to me and now it is time to take action. We all need to help these children and there are many ways, but we need to feel like we can do something about child labour and not doubt that we can not do it because we can. We need hope to save these children from a dark future and make it bright with a loving family that we all need in our life. Now that you have read what I needed to write, it is time to make this dream into a reality because children need freedom!

TASK: After completing our novel study, I then had to use my knowledge of Iqbal to write an essay on child labour
INTENT:

To make my reader aware of the issue of child labour
To inform my reader about the oppression that children like Iqbal face
To empower/encourage my reader to take action in support of children’s rights

CRITERIA: We were evaluated based on:

Strong thesis statement
Clear Introduction
Evidence from the novel with clear citations throughout the body paragraphs
Organizational structures and Use of Transitional Words
Strong Conclusion
Conventions and Language Usage
Followed the steps of the writing process including revising, editing, and proofreading