This photo is taken on the balcony in my place, it summarises my life this past 3 months. I decided to take this photo for the English photo task because this is the scenery that I see every day.
Category: ELP (English Learner Portfolio)
“You didn’t make good choices. You had good choices.” – Little Fires Everywhere
“You didn’t make good choices. You had good choices.”
Write a personal response to this section of clip 2 on slide 61. You don’t need to just talk about Little Fires. Zoom out and consider our society, the events of the past couple of weeks, and anything else you want to address.
I agree with what Mia has said in this movie clip. Some people need to create choices, while others already have choices created for them. For the privileged, they have the resources and materials they need to make choices, for example, whether they want an iPhone or Samsung is a choice for the privileged because they can afford both. However, for some people, they have to earn money to create these choices for them. The same applies to the scene in Shaker Heights. For Mia and Bebe, they do not have the same privilege as Linda and Elena, Mia and Bebe have to take multiple works and work for countless hours in order for them to sustain their living and the health and wellbeing of their children. On the other hand, Linda and Elena have those already, they are rich, they live in a bigger house, they are able to give their child a good education because they can afford them… These scenarios clearly exist in our communities as well, where some people are privileged enough to choose whatever they what, while others need to work hard to get those options for themselves and their families.
An Open Letter to the International School Community: Our Role in the Black Lives Matter Movement and Anti-Racism Work – Medium
An Open Letter to the International School Community: Our Role in the Black Lives Matter Movement and Anti-Racism Work – Medium
Link to the article: https://medium.com/@rachel.engel/an-open-letter-to-the-international-school-community-our-role-in-the-black-lives-matter-movement-c92ba725d93c
Discussion link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16OD-qB224n8DvbLbGObcwFXj9eSPW5Kg/view?usp=sharing
Bias
Share an image/article or video that you have engaged with or found particularly impactful over the last week and provide a short explanation as to why you’ve chosen it to share or how it affected you.
I have chosen this discussion between Trevor Noah and Dr. Jennifer l. Eberhardt. This is a discussion about bias. People usually associate bias with racism and they are actually two different things. Racism is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior” whereas bias is “disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair”. The conversation brought out the idea of unconscious bias, which Trevor Noah gave an example when your child sees a black man in the airport and he says: “I hope that he doesn’t rob the plane”. But when you ask him why he said that, the child appears to not know the reason. Unconscious biases are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained, universal, and able to influence behavior. And to change this, Dr. Eberhardt suggested, “would take time”. Which I absolutely agree, because unconscious bias is learned by people in a long time in their environment, and to reverse and change that would require a lot of education and mindset change. However, it is definitely not impossible.
Mia Response – Little Fires Everywhere
Chapter 7 Analysis:
Re-read the extracts from Chapter 7 on slides 41 – 45 again and answer these questions:
What does the author reveal about Mia Warren in Chapter 7?
– In Chapter 7, the author revealed that Mia understands Izzy on a very different level from her own mother or anyone else in her life. Mia understands that Izzy’s nonconformity stems from her empathy for others and her desire to stand up for what she believes, and this is often what Mrs. Richardson suppresses. This draws the two together and leads Izzy to admire Mia for her willingness to encourage her to take a stand against injustice. Izzy has previously not been encouraged to behave subversively, and Mia’s take on her suspension underscores how much the two women have in common.
How are we meant to respond to her as readers?
– As the audience, since we have learned a different side in Mia’s personality, further in the story, I believe that readers will often see her as a foil to Elena Richardson’s actions and interactions (especially with Izzy) in the following chapters.
How does she contrast with Elena?
– She contrasts with Elena in the sense that Mia is a working-class black single mother, while Elena is a wealthy suburban white mother with a traditional nuclear family. Additionally, their ways of interacting with children are also very different. As the author says in the novel, it is “a suggestion, not command” when Mia handed the bread to Izzy. However, Elena Richardson often commands her children to dress a certain way or to tie their hair a certain way, without giving them much room to change, their personalities are different. Thus, this is the contrast between Mia and Elena.
Elena Richardson and her friend, Phone call, Little Fires Everywhere
(With this photo from the scene in mind, create a phone call between Elena Richardson and her friend)
(Shawn and I worked together to create this dialogue)
Elena: you have no idea what just happened at the concert tonight…
Friend: What happened? You sound like if you are terrified?
Elena: Izzie, that girl…
Friend: Oh, about Izzie, what happened to her? Is she ok?
Elena: Something’s wrong with her. She took a blank marker and wrote on her face… “I’m not your puppet” What does that even mean?
Friend: What’s wrong with her? Have you had conflicts? A child would not do that…
Elena: No, I just told her to dress properly
Friend: Perhaps she doesn’t like the way you tell her to dress? You are such a great mother! How can she refuse you!
Elena: She has no choice, if you want to be successful, you have to dress well. I don’t know how to tell her that.
Friend: Phew.. children are like this. They fight back to whatever their parents say to them. Izzie is just amongst the worst of them.
Elena: But my other children don’t fight back. Normal children won’t draw on their faces….. She has no friends at school too!
Friend: I am sorry to hear that Elena.. Have some rest and hopefully everything will be better.
Elena: Bye, thanks for the support.
Friend: Bye, you will get over it soon.
Little Fires Everywhere – questions regarding the real Shaker Heights
What are your thoughts on some of the issues raised in the article and in the video? Are there any clear solutions? Where does responsibility lie?
Some of the issues raised in this article are often those related to racial inequality. As many people know, Shaker Heights was built with the aim to achieve racial equality and social diversity. However, after 60 years of trying to tackle this problem, many people thought that: “Maybe trying isn’t enough”.
In some schools in Shaker Heights, teachers often get asked questions regarding racial inequality, for example, one asked: “why did you say that my child needs to be moved down to a lower algebra class, but you have never mentioned how to use the resources to help her stay in the current class?”
Clearly, after 60 years, although racial inequality has been drastically improved in this region, it is not eliminated. As some people say: “There is still a long way to go.”
With a problem there often comes solutions and responsibility. I believe the best solution is to change everyone’s mindset because clearly some people think that people with other races can’t fit into our race’s environment, but it turns out that those people never tried. Thus, by changing our mindset and believe that everyone is equal with now awkwardness between each other, it is a good start on the road to equality.
Little Fires Everywhere – To what extent do you agree?
Rate each from 1-5: 1 is “strongly disagree” and 5 is strongly “agree”.
1. People are happiest when they follow rules. – 3
2. Rules are meant to be broken. – 4
3. Children should only be raised in families that mirror their ethnicity. – 2
4. The best community is one in which racial and cultural differences are eliminated. – 2
5. A good mother will not make serious mistakes in raising her children. – 2
6. Women with more financial resources make better mothers. – 2
7. Teens in high school should not be parents.-2
These questions are answered and rated before reading the book. I am looking forward to reading this book!
What Students Are Saying About Humor in Tough Times, Expectations for Summer 2020 and Apologies – The New York Times
Is It OK to Laugh During Dark Times?
Humour is power.
Humour, is an important element of life. It’s OK for us to laugh in these times. “Levity does not diminish tragedy”, one said. Laughing is one of the best mechanisms that our body have to cope with the dark and painful situations like what we are currently seeing. Laughing gives you power, humour gives people power. When people laugh, this activity stimulates the motor region of the brain to become active, and that’s what produces the physical reaction of laughing and the vocal expulsion of sound. Laughter also boosts heart rate and the production of certain antibodies, which strengthens our immune system. Thus, laughing is never a bad thing. During dark times like this, laughing can encourage people to become more enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is what we truly need, for now, and forever.
How Can You Tell a Story About Your Life Right Now Through a Few Simple Numbers? – The New York Times
What does your life look like right now by the numbers? Choose at least five aspects of your daily or weekly routine and tell the story the way the Times article does. You don’t have to do percentages but can simply give a number with some context. For example, you might write, “Number of relatives I have seen on Zoom in the last week: 14. Before the pandemic, I’d never seen anyone on Zoom, and I talked to my aunts and uncles only a few times a year. Now we have meet-ups online every Saturday.”
# of times I have been out of my house per week: before the circuit breaker: 5-6
after the circuit breaker: 1-3
# of ZOOM/GOOGLE MEET sessions per week: before the circuit breaker: 0-1
after the circuit breaker: 20+ (including school classes)
# of times I have had exercise outside of my house (including tennis/swimming within the condominium):
before the circuit breaker: 6-9 times
after the circuit breaker: 1 (facilities are closed)
These numbers can tell a lot about my current situation during the lockdown/circuit breaker which is very interesting. As it represents your activity as well as time spent on certain things (e.g. computer).