English Lesson 19

English 5
Lesson 19
SPELLING AND VOCABULARY
Spelling
There are no spelling words this week.

Vocabulary: Denotation and Connotation
Is a word's meaning limited to just its dictionary definition? Not at all. A word will take on different shades of meaning depending on how it's being used. Take the word daybreak. Its literal (factual) meaning is "the hour at which the sun rises." This is called the denotation. (Think denotation = definition.) However, the same word also expresses other things. For example, daybreak can express the idea of being outside, as in, "Let's roll up our tents at daybreak and start hiking." Daybreak can also stir up other thoughts and memories relating to this early hour of the day, for example... dreaming, waking up, facing the new day, starting fresh, etc. These imaginative and emotional shades of meaning connected to a word are called connotations. (Think connotation = connected meanings.)
Oftentimes we gain additional understanding about a word from the way it is used in a sentence, including other words nearby and the general topic, as well as the emotional tone of the writing. In practice, any time we use a word there is a denotation (literal meaning) and and one or more connotations (connected meanings).
Consider another common word: home. Literally, a home is a dwelling place for an individual or family. But what other connotations does this word bring to mind? Perhaps: family, warmth, love, safety, food, neighborhood, community. Can you think of any other connotations?
Now contrast these connotations for the word home with those for the word house. Though house and home have similar denotations, their connotations are quite different. How is it different to say to someone, "Go to your house" if you really meant to say "Go home?"
An author of a poem, story, or article pays attention to connotations of words, because these connotations can sway the reader strongly in one direction or the other. For a creative writer, connotations create a rich association of emotions and images, and therefore the writer can say quite a lot with just a few words. Consider the following sentences:
The girl looked at the dragonfly.
This is a rather plain, factual description.
The girl peered at the dragonfly.
With just a simple change of words, the author now creates an image in our minds of the girl perhaps being frightened or hesitant, maybe sneaking a peek from behind a fence or wall.
The girl stared at the dragonfly.
With another slight word change we get the impression that the girl is almost hypnotized by the dragonfly. We can picture her frozen in place, perhaps holding her breath, leaning forward and with eyes focused intensely. All by just changing a single word!

Assignment

1. Read the following sentences and respond to the questions that follow:
Jaime was puzzled.
Jaime was confused.
Jaime was dumbfounded.
d. What is the basic meaning of the above three sentences?
Jaime didn’t understand something.
e. Do the words puzzled, confused, and dumbfounded mean pretty much the same thing? Yes
f. What additional connotations (words, images, feelings, or memories) does the word dumbfounded bring to mind? A screwed up face, furrowed brows…


2. Which of the words in each word pair below do you feel carries a more negative connotation, and why?
Inexpensive — cheap Positive
fat — overweight Negative
expert — know-it-all Neutral
salesman — sales associate Netural
Just accept this without me telling you why!



English 5
Lesson 19
GRAMMAR
Contractions
Contractions are a commonly-used way of combining two words into one. Many students have trouble remembering how contractions work. Look at these examples of contractions:
can’twon’t (yes, this breaks the rule by adding an o)I’myou’re
Do you know how contractions are made? It’s easy! You simply take two words, remove some letters, and put an apostrophe in place of the missing letters. The contraction must include the apostrophe to be correct. Examples:
cannot = can’twill not = won’tI am = I’myou are = you’re

Assignment

1. Write the contracted form of these words:
that is = That’s
had not = Hadn’t
it will = It’ll
should not = Shouldn’t
did not = Didn’t
I have = I’ve
what will = What’ll
it is = It’s


2. Write the original version of these words which have been made into contractions:
who’s = Who is
you’ve = You have
isn’t = Is not
we’re = We have
we’ve = We have
Doesn’t = Does not
who’ll = Who will
he’ll = He will


3. Insert the necessary apostrophes in the following sentences:
I’d like to go with you.
What’ll happen if we can’t make it?
Its time to go, isn’t it?
You’re going with me, aren’t you?
I’m sure glad you’re here.
It’s certain that he couldn’t have come even if he’d wanted to.



Possessives and Apostrophes
In Lesson 10, you learned about noun forms — common, proper, singular, and plural. Today we will cover another noun form that you should already be familiar with — possessives.
A possessive noun shows ownership or possession.
Add an apostrophe and s to a singular noun.
Example: Bob - Bob’s dog
To show possession in a plural noun that ends in s, add an apostrophe only after the final s.
Example: sisters’ dog (the dog belongs to more than one sister)
To show possession in a plural noun that does not end in s, add an apostrophe and s.
Example: men - men’s
This last one can be tricky. Note that mens' is not a word. Other common plural words that do not end in s include: children, women, oxen, teeth, sheep, feet, lice, cacti.

Assignment

4. Write the possessive of each of the following plural nouns.
Her two friend’s intentions were great.
Both of his parents’ songs were beautiful.
The three squirrels’ nuts were hidden in the tree.
The children choir sang beautifully.
The boy’s soccer team won by a huge margin.
English 5
Lesson 19
LITERATURE
An Introduction to Drama
Drama is a story that is performed by characters on a stage, in front of a live audience, or by actors in a movie. Live characters bring a story to life for an audience or moviegoer.
A play is a story, and like any story it contains a plot, theme, setting, characters, conflict and resolution. A play brings a story to life as the characters speak and act out their roles. Plays were (and are) written to be acted, more than studied. The action is what is most compelling. Think about the game of charades as an example. In charades, you bring a word or group of words to life by animating them, by acting them out. Mimes, whom you may have seen in street theater or outdoor festivals, do the same. They exaggerate (hyperbole in action) a character or situation by using gestures and body language (called pantomime). In order to do this effectively, the actor or mime must have a clear understanding of the character or event to be acted out. Then, after the character or event is read and understood, it can be acted out for an audience.
We will give you just a tiny bit of historical background so that you can understand the ancient traditions from which drama arises. The Greeks were the first people to introduce drama to the western world. The ancient Greeks held ceremonies where they worshipped the gods. One such god they worshipped was Dionysus. His death and rebirth was played out and celebrated in what was much like an outside theater production. The first actor to actually speak from the chorus of celebrants was called Thespis (and therefore actors are often called thespians. He was drama's first protagonist or hero. When he spoke and introduced conflict, drama was born. The Greek playwright, Aeschylus, introduced a second character (the antagonist).
The actors in these early dramas were always men who changed costumes to fill the role of women. There was always a chorus who narrated the story. Greek drama was either very sad or very funny (a tragedy or a comedy). Tragedy was always told in verse form (as a poem). The stories in Greek drama came from myths or legends that involved a hero and gods (or goddesses). Themes involved suffering of a group or tragedy related to a particular individual. Actors in these early productions wore masks with fixed expressions to help define their characters. But these masks also froze the characters' expressions.
Today, plays are created from all sorts of real life and imaginary situations. We are going to look at an Indonesian folktale that has been adapted into a play. As you read, pay close attention to what the characters say and do.

Cicak and Kancil
(see: http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.curriculum.edu.au/accessasia/catalog/readers.htm )
Narrator: This is a story about Cicak and Kancil. Cicak is a gecko. A gecko is a type of lizard with sticky pads on its toes. Kancil is a small animal like a deer but only the size of a dog. One day, Kancil was resting in his house. He was fast asleep when Cicak, the gecko, tried to catch a spider on the wall. Cicak jumped. ***Cicak missed the spider *** and knocked a picture down. The picture hit Kancil on the head.
Kancil: Ow! You stupid Cicak! Look what you've done!
Cicak: Oh Kancil, I'm sorry to disturb you. If you hadn't been so big and slow you could have moved out of the way in time.
Kancil: Slow! Me! I'll have you know I'm much faster than you, Cicak. Your silly legs couldn't run fast at all.
Cicak: I'm not slow! I'm sure I'm much faster than you could ever be.
Kancil: All right then. I challenge you to a race to prove who is the fastest. We will race to the big mango tree and back here at sunrise tomorrow. The winner will have the right to do anything he likes to the loser, even kill him! *** (drumroll) Do you agree?
Cicak: Oh, oh, um. Yes, yes I do.
Narrator: Kancil went off to rub coconut oil into his legs and to rest for the night. But Cicak was in a state of panic. ***
Cicak: Oh, dear. What have I done? Kancil is much faster than me. If he wins he will probably kill me. *** I must think. (He walks up and down.) I've got an idea! *** I'll get my friends to help me.
Narrator:First Cicak called one friend, *** then another. *** They decided to trick Kancil by hiding along the track of the race, so that instead of one cicak, three cicaks would run parts of the race like a relay. But Kancil would think it was one gecko. *** (Geckos leave.) The following morning when the sun rose *** Kancil and Cicak lined up next to Kancil's house.
Kancil: Are you ready? Are you steady? Go!
Narrator: They both started running and Kancil sped off ahead. *** (Cicak and the house drop back.)
Kancil: Ha. Ha. I'm going to beat Cicak easily. Then I might not kill him, but I'll make him my slave forever. *** (During this time several coconut palms go past.)
Narrator: Kancil ran along and passed a tourist who wanted to take his picture. *** (Kancil skids to a halt and there is the flash of a camera.) Then he saw Cicak run around a corner ahead of him. It was really Cicak Number Two.
Cicak Number Two: You'd better hurry if you want to beat me, Kancil. ***
Kancil: I'd better run faster. *** There goes Cicak. (He runs faster, more coconut palms go past.)
Narrator: Kancil raced faster. *** He passed a bemo full of people going to the market. ***
Kancil: I'm going to beat Cicak now.
Narrator: But as Kancil sped up to the mango tree at the halfway point in the race, he saw Cicak Number Three, running back from the tree. ***
Cicak Number Three: You're pretty slow today, Kancil. *** (He runs off.)
Kancil: Cicak is really fast! I'd better speed up. ***
Narrator: So Kancil raced as fast as he could. *** (Trees and buildings go past.) His little house was in sight!
Kancil: I'll win now for sure! Puff! Puff! Oh no! There's Cicak just running into my house. *** Oh no! He's won!
Narrator: Kancil did not know that this was not the gecko he had seen earlier.
Cicak: Well, Kancil, I have beaten you and I'm not even puffing!
Kancil: You win, Cicak. What are you going to do with me?
Narrator: Cicak had decided not to be too nasty to Kancil, because if anyone found out how the cicaks had tricked Kancil they would be in big trouble. So, he said:
Cicak: Kancil, I don't want everybody to know that we cicaks can run so fast, or all the animals would be challenging us to races all the time. So my reward for winning will be that you let us cicaks live inside your house to catch insects there, and you mustn't tell anyone about the race.
Narrator: So from that day to this, cicaks live inside houses in Bali and catch insects, while kancils are very shy and don't like to talk much to other animals.

In this simple play, we meet a Narrator who knows and explains what is happening in the story, and introduces the characters, Cicak and Kancil. We don't have a clear picture of the Narrator. This narrator has a similar role as the narrator or chorus in Greek drama. Cicak appears as a clumsy lizard while Kancil is smaller than a deer (but just as fast). We might also notice that Kancil is mean while Cicak is dishonest. The action takes place in places that are marked with three asterisks (***). Conflict arises after Cicak accepts Kancil's challege to race, and Cicak decides to choose a dishonest way to win.
Notice that the character's name appears on the left followed by a colon. Then, the character says his or her lines. This kind of presentation makes it easy for the characters to read their lines. If the story tells that the character laughed, cried, yelled, or whatever, then these directions are put in with the character's lines, often in italics or parentheses. Features of the setting are also placed apart from the characters' lines to give an impression of what the set or stage might look like. These elements that describe action or setting, and are not spoken by the characters, are called stage directions. A play's setting doesn't have to be described, but it does need very specific technical details so that it can be seen. At the end of a play, the audience should have a clear sense of what happened, and have a clear idea of what kind of people the characters are. The audience should understand the characters' actions, speech, motivations, and why the story turned out the way it did.
Since a play is meant to be performed instead of read, the finished product involves more than just what is written down. Someone who writes a play is called a playwright, and the written play is called a script. The playwright sets down the script, including the characters' lines and stage directions to explain what is happening on the stage, but the play isn't finished. The script is like a blueprint, or plan for the finished play. Before it can be performed, other people have to help out: Actors learn their lines and decide how they want to play their characters. Designers build sets, costumes, and lighting for the play. The director makes sure all of these elements come together seamlessly. Everyone has an important job to do in putting on a play. In some scripts, you'll see lots of stage directions where the playwright tells you how the characters talk, or exactly how the stage looks. Other playwrights leave all that stuff up to the director, actors and designers.
We will continue this discussion in our next lesson.

English 5
Lesson 19
QUIZ


1. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
A denotation is a specific definition, a connotation is the feeling that a word brings to mind.

2. The sentences below could be completed by either of the words in parentheses. Choose the word that has a more positive connotation.
The thrifty old man saved his money. (thrifty, stingy)
The researcher was overjoyed with the experimental findings. (pleased, overjoyed)
The strange animal made unusual noises. (weird, unusual)
The foreman requested that his crew speed up their work. (requested, demanded)


3. Write sentences using contractions for the following words:
is not
I am
can not
they are
do not
will not
we are
it is
I will
do not
“Don’t do that! It freaks me out!”
“That’s the Pentagon. They’re some sort of navy group…”
“I’m going to the grocery store.”
“Molly decided that she isn’t going to play today.”
“I’m not going out either.”
“And I can’t.”
“I won’t either.”
“We’re going to, suit yourself”
“It’s 6:00! You’re crazy!”
“Well, I’ll go with them.”
“Seriously, don’t!”



4. Write a sentence which uses each of these nouns as a possessive. Be mindful that some are singular and some are plural.
Woman’s
Men’s
Car’s
Dogs’
Story’s
Mice’s
Deer’s
Foxes’


5. List at least one way in which a play is like a story, and at least one way in which it's different. A play is a story, but live actors are performing it on a stage.


6. Where did drama begin?
With the Greeks. They practically invented everything!

7. What did actors use in these early plays to help the audience understand who their characters were?
Masks. With one, imprinted expression on them.