Today in English the final fishbowl took place. Here are some of the important questions asked:
“Why do you think Beah’s talent for the arts, speaking and singing, is so important in the book?”
Student’s reply: “While dancing and rapping within the rehabilitation center it really made the workers realize that the soldiers could be helped and be announced to society once again.”
2. “When Esther gave Beah the cassette with the Bob Marley song, Everything Is Going to Be Alright, what does this symbolize?”
Student’s reply: “I think the song symbolized a message that Esther was sending to Beah, that everything will eventually be okay.”
3. “If you were in the position of the hunter, what would you do?”
Student’s response: “I think that the point Beah was making in the book was that he would kill the monkey so another hunter wouldn't be tricked, this surprised me because I thought he was going to say he was going to shoot himself to avoid the question.”
Another response: “At first, I didn't think much of this because I didn't think it was significant, but you would really have to think of this in order to find an answer.”
4. “One of Beah’s friends were sent back to the front line, how would this affect a child further?”
Peer response: “Just as I was beginning to get better, I think it would upset me going back to the war, because I would feel like my second chance was taken from me. I think the soldiers would be extremely frustrated.”
5. “Couldn't Beah take his family with him to escape the war, and why”
Student reply: “I think Beah didn't bring his family to escape because they would bring along the burden of remembering the war and all the bad things that occurred in Sierra Leone.”
Another Student reply: “Also, Beah could have known that his family would refuse if he did ask because there beloved Uncle is buried there but Sierra Leone is their home, despite everything.”
6. “As Beah’s Uncle dies, he mentions the lost of hope in his eyes, how may this affect physical health?”
Student response: “Once a person looses hope, they don’t have anything to fight for anymore, so it doesn't really matter to a person if they do die or not.”
Another reply: “There is nothing to do when a person loses hope, they don’t want to eat, walk, talk, there is basically nothing for a person to do without hope, so there is nothing to do but die.”
Student in Online Discussion: “I think that if you lose hope, your entire drive as a human being disappears.”
7. “Why do you think Beah ended the book the way he did?”
Student reply: “I think it is the significance of his answer, so he could show that nobody really knows what it is like to be a child soldier and he knows who he is and he accepts it.”
8. “Why do you think that like the lady at the airport, no one in America knows of the war in Sierra Leone or about Africa’s hardships?”
Student response: “Americans main concern is what is going on with America and we build a wall around ourselves and we are concerned with our own matters.”
Student: “Our lives are so fast paced that we don’t sit down and try to discover the atrocities being committed around the world.”
Student: “I think the media is a major reason why Americans are not aware of Africa’s troubles.”
The homework this evening is to read over the outline and synthesis explanation: setup synthesis essay, outline. Also come with 3-4 topics for thesis statements. If tomorrow is a busy day and you know there is no time in your schedule start preparing essay tonight. The essay is due November 4th. In addition, SAT 9 exercises, due Friday. The vocab test will be on Friday, so study throughout the week. Another reminder with exercises is to complete exercise 5 identifying sentence errors and improving sentences.
