english@kkc

Fans of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels will know that they are not written in any main sequence but in several interrelated series that follow the lives of many different characters and subplots. Each book does stand alone, and they all incorporate major characters from other lines as minor characters in their own, which makes the whole thing interesting and fun to read.

It does make it difficult for new readers to know where to start but the Discworld Reading Order Guide, maintained in several languages by Krzysztof Kietzman of Lspace.org makes things a little easier. Go to boingboing to get the link.

There is no more to be said really.

I came across an interesting article today from The Associated Press about the popular novel The Outsiders and its enduring popularity. A 40th anniversary edition has just been published and according to Viking, a division of Penguin Group USA, The Outsiders has sold more than 13 million copies and still sells more than 500,000 a year. In the article the author S.E. Hinton reflects on her novel and why it hit such a chord with young readers. As a writer she was able to tap into teenagers lives in a way few writers were able to at the time. Hinton wrote in the novel, “I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better.”
She also explains how she feels when a people discuss the impact of her book on their lives, “I get letters from all over the world, saying,`It changed my life.’ Who am I to change somebody’s life? It’s not me. It’s in the book,” she says. “If people want to find me, they can. They’ll see a middle-aged woman wandering around the grocery store, looking to see what to buy for dinner.”

Read the full text of the article by following the link below.

S.E. Hinton reflects on The Outsiders

I know the Geographers love Google Earth but I think this video points out its all too real dangers.

Next term some of you are going to make a static image as part of your Year 11 English studies. Check out these examples of static images made by your classmates.

Here is a taster for the next series of The Simpsons.

Best opening sequence. Ever.

At last I have got The Kite Runner trailer to show you. The quality isn’t great but follow the link to watch a far better quality version. I know I shouldn’t really comment but from what I saw in the clip the film looks like a faithful adaptation of Hosseini’s novel. Do take a look at the high quality version - the landscape and kite flying scene is breath-taking.

High Quality Kite Runner Trailer

I don’t know the show this clip comes from but … eeew!

As part of their English coursework students in Years 12 and 13 discussed the texts Schindler’s List and Hotel Rwanda and their representations of genocide. When comparisons were made to the situation in Darfur many students had little or no knowledge of the conflict and they wanted to know more. This post will give some information about Darfur as this September the problems in Sudan are being highlighted around the world.

The crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable, including systematic and widespread murder, rape, abduction and forced displacement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have died as a result of both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, and more than 2 million civilians have been forced to flee from their homes.

The situation in Darfur is the first genocide of the twenty-first century and it has been going on for over 4 years in the Darfur region of Sudan. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert. The country’s major economic resource is oil. But, as in other developing countries with oil, this resource is not being developed for the benefit of the Sudanese people, but instead, for an elite few in the government and society. As much as 70 percent of Sudan’s oil export revenues are used to finance the country’s military.

Darfur, is an area about the size of Texas and it lies in western Sudan and borders Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic. It has only the most basic infrastructure or development. The approximately 6 million inhabitants of Darfur are among the poorest in Africa. They exist largely on either subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times, the Darfuri people face a very harsh and difficult life.

The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect, drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel groups - the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - mounted a challenge to Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent farmers who are mostly non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President al-Bashir’s response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements, the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, which have come to be known as the Janjaweed. Their members are composed mostly of Arab black African Muslims who herd cattle, camels, and other livestock. They have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and systematically murdered, tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfuris. These attacks occur with the direct support of the Government of Sudan’s armed forces.

The Janjaweed (”devils on horseback”) aim to systematically destroy the livelihoods of Darfuris by bombing and burning villages, looting any economic resources, and murdering, raping, and torturing innocent civilians. Though government obstruction has prevented the international community from finding concrete statistics on mortality, we know that hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced as a result of the conflict. In just the first few months of 2007, over 140,000 more Darfuris have been displaced according to the United Nations Mission in Sudan. As a result of the massive displacement and violence, refugees have fled en masse to the neighbouring countries of Chad and the Central African Republic, where they face additional sources of violence. The violence has not only been targeting Darfuris but also the humanitarian convoys that have been working tirelessly to try to deliver aid.

Compounding the problem is that the numbers of at-risk civilians continue to increase. The Janjaweed continue to undertake attacks against villages, prey on IDPs, and obstruct aid activities. Many Janjaweed have been integrated into the army and police; no one has been charged with any crime, and their actions are not being challenged. There remains a state of total impunity.

Not since the Rwanda genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement.

Image from The Epoch Times

For more information try:

Save Darfur

Genocide in Darfur

If the recent exams were all a bit depressing and you need cheering up - take a look at these exam bloopers from around the world. I am not sure of the original source of the quotes - so sorry, no acknowledgement!.

• Syntax is all the money collected at the church from sinners.
• The blood circulates through the body by flowing down one leg and up the other.
• Iron was discovered because someone smelt it.
• Most of the houses in France are made of plaster of Paris.
• The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 opossums.
• The spinal column is a long bunch of bones. The head sits on the top and you sit on the bottom.
• The parts of speech are lungs and air.
• The inhabitants of Moscow are called Mosquitoes.
• Water is composed of two gins. Oxygin and hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.
• (Define H2O and CO2.) H2O is hot water and CO2 is cold water.
• Mushrooms always grow in damp places, which is why they look like umbrellas.
• Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun, but I have never been able to make out the numbers.
• When planets run around and around in circles, we say they are orbiting. When people do it, we say they are crazy.
• You can listen to thunder and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don’t hear it, you got hit, so never mind.
• There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be discovered.
• Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let people know they’re there.
• The cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things, like when people forget to put the top on.