FOR SALE! Complete handbook for this blog and its resources

I have recently compiled an Adobe pdf version of this entire Blog site plus some additional materials. The book is 580 pages in length and approx 7.5 Mb in file transfer size. The book spans 2008 - 2012 and covers various aspects of teaching ESL and EFL classes as well as mainstream English. It includes lesson plans, resource links, work sheets, student examples, Exam links (IGSE / IB etc).  I a presently taking pre-orders at € 10 each. The book is printable therefore the resources and examples can be used in your classes. It covers age groups Key Stage 3 -5 / US Grades 8 - 12 as well as college and University under graduate levels. This is a valuable resource for teachers and student teachers.

For more information and how to order your copy please write to me at the below link Thank you

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Shakespeare Study Guides – (Cummings)

For everyone who is interested in excellent Shakespeare guides and materials I really recommend Cummings Study Guides. We have recommended these materials in the past and are pleased to pass along that there have been many major updates and expansions to the original materials.

In their own words……

Plays, Sonnets, Poems

Play Summaries and Analysis: Plot summaries of all the plays, including those of doubtful or joint authorship, such as Edward III, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Sir Thomas More (partly written by Shakespeare), and Cardenio (probably partly written by Shakespeare). Criticism, sources, settings, dates, themes, and other information. 
Sonnet Summaries and Analysis: Definition, origin, and development of the sonnet form. Comparison of the Shakespearean sonnet with the Petrarchan sonnet. Analysis of the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet. Common sonnet themes. Discussion of the "young man," "the dark lady," and the "rival poet" referred to in the sonnets. Sonnets and sexuality. 
Narrative and Complaint Poems: Background information, themes, style, and summaries of Shakespeare's long narrative poems—Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece—and the complaint poem, A Lover's Complaint (with an annotated text). Analysis of The Phoenix and the Turtle.

This is a

A Free Resource Posted by Michael J. Cummings (mcum.mings@mail.com)
Recommended as a Shakespeare Resource by The New York Times

Why Lord of the Flies?

Why ‘Lord of the Flies’/why do you think this is a good title for the novel?
This was a particularly fiendish question that appeared on the paper in 2005. Here are a collection of possible ideas that you could select from and then illustrate.
Don’t forget, it’s not just the power of your thinking that gets you marks, but your ability to support them with evidence, quotation and analysis of language and structure that determines your final grade.
What is the significance of Golding’s use of the word ‘Flies’:
Word ‘flies’ refers to human evil/savagery.
Decaying pig’s head attracts flies like the boys are attracted by savagery.
Jack – flies like the boys attracted to Jack – represents most savage.
Flies are the boys themselves – they follow unquestioningly, and swarm around decay, like the boys/all humans are attracted to evil.
Flies associated with dirt and decay, as are the boys – refer to thc changes in their appearance to support this.
Flies swarm round head like boys drawn to Jack
Represents how human evil is like flies. You can’t brush it off – it will keep returning.
As things decay, flies gather more and more, like evil grows on the island and in the boys.
Flies are ‘prole-like’ – i.c. they represent the masses, unthinking followers – maybe even insignificant figures, but ruled by the ‘beast’ inside them, that is their ‘Lord’.
Why use the word ‘Lord’?
Suggests how evil can rule over us.
Why does the ‘beast’ becomes ‘lord’? Jack calls the Pig a ‘beast’ – to scare them into following him, as he will hunt. So why does Golding start calling the ‘beast’ a ‘Lord’?
Savagery inside the boys controls them, it is their ‘Lord’.
Does the title suggest the novel is Christian* in perspective? * = one where good triumphs over evil, one where there is hope for saving mankind through spirituality?
Simon withstanding the temptation of the L of F alludes to Christ’s temptation by the devil.
Lord of the Flies is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘Beelzebub’, which means devil.
OR: does Golding use this word ironically – to emphasise the fact that there is no hope, no redemption?
Why both words in title?
Lord – civilisation – class system – maybe reference to God but flies too = decay.
Maybe suggests civilisation is breaking down. Title is ironic then?
The title is a metaphor for mankind destroying itself and causing decay.
Flies associated with dirt and so are boys. Led by ‘Lord’ = savagery. Title ironic.
‘Lord’ = sign of a Christian, civilised society. Flies = decay. Title uses words in this order because we begin with a civilised society and move to one that is decayed.
Order of words in title mirrors the structure of the novel and what it has to say about a civilised society that is breaking down.
Schoolboys swarm around female pig which slowly decays, but they are brought back to civilised behaviour at the end of the novel. But the title reminds us this decay is always there – it’s just disguised by civilised behaviour.
Why ‘Lord of the Flies’/why do you think this is a good title for the novel?
‘Lord’ refers to Jack – himself a symbol of evil, and ‘flies’ represents the boys – who swarm and follow him without question – it’s like they are drawn to him, like human beings are drawn to savage behaviour.
The word ‘flies’ suggests that the evil side of some people are overwhelming, and almost feeding on our good sides, like parasites.
We as human beings are the Lords of our own evil, and it’s our own state of mind which destroys us.
Comments on structure of novel you could make:
‘L of F’ not referred to until Ch8, so keeps the reader in suspense as to why novel is called this.
Turning point in novel – when Simon meets L of F. Spirituality meets Evil, good meets evil, and evil wins.
Until Ch8, boys think they are in control of the killing. After this chapter, it is clear that the Lord (i.e. savagery itself) is in control of everyone.
The decaying of the pig’s head is directly related to the boys’ increasing savagery.
Other thoughts and ideas:
Title suggests the horror at the heart of the novel, and of human behaviour.
Lord of the Flies is at once ‘sick and heroic’ – what does this mean? ‘sick’ because it’s a reminder of the savagery of the boys, and ‘heroic’ because it’s what they worship, what they are driven by.
At first, there are pigs that are hunted, and there are the beasts. Jack uses the boys’ fear of the beast to encourage them to follow him. Then, a pig’s head on a stick becomes referred to by Golding as ‘the Lord of the flies’, and it speaks in the voice of ‘a schoolmaster’. So… the symbol of savagery is almost a god, something to be worshipped.
Lord of the Flies is a translation of Hebrew for ‘Beelzebub’ = Devil. Fall of Lucifer matches the boys’ fall from grace, and Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden of Eden.
Island even begins like a version of Paradise, which is destroyed. Title alludes to the notion of original sin – and suggests we are all evil.
The title puts together words representing good and evil, because the novel concerns the conflict between the two – and suggests that evil wins.
Since this novel is a fable, the title acts as a warning.
The only thing we worship, that is our Lord, is the Devil, or evil.
Pigs head on a stick is a physical representation of the savagery in human nature.
Two rituals in novel – hunting, and worship of L of F. Two different ways of controlling behaviour.
Remember: select a few good points, and put them in order – more obvious to most clever would be best. Then, you need evidence and quotations to back up your claims and show your detailed knowledge of the novel.

Lord of the Flies – Historical Content

Golding and World War II

"When I was young, before the war, I did have some airy-fairy views about man. But I went through the war and that changed me. The war taught me different and a lot of others like me," Golding told Douglas A. Davis in the New Republic. Golding was referring to his experiences as captain of a British rocket-launching craft in the North Atlantic, where he was present at the sinking of the Bismarck, crown ship of the German navy, and participated in the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France. He was also directly affected by the devastation of England by the German air force, which severely damaged the nation's infrastructure and marked the beginning of a serious decline in the British economy. Wartime rationing continued well into the postwar period. Items like meat, bread, sugar, gasoline, and tobacco were all in short supply and considered luxuries. To turn their country around, the government experimented with nationalization of key industries like coal, electric power, and gas companies as well as the transportation industry. Socialized medicine and government-sponsored insurance were also introduced. Such changes, and the difficult conditions that produced them, suggest the climate of the postwar years in which Golding wrote Lord of the Flies.

The Geography of a Tropical Island

Although highly romanticized in both Western fiction and nonfiction, life on a typical tropical island is not all that easy. The weather is usually very hot and humid, and there is no breeze once one enters the jungle. While fish abound in the surrounding waters and the scent of tropical flowers wafts through the air, one must still watch out for sharks, and one cannot live on a diet of fruit and flowers. James Fahey, a naval seaman who served in the Pacific islands during the war, concluded: "We do not care too much for this place, the climate takes the life right out of you."

The Political Climate of the 1950s

The rise of the Cold War between the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) and the western powers after the end of World War II signaled a new phase in world geopolitics. Actual wars during the 1950s were confined to relatively small-scale conflicts, as in Korea (involving the United States) and Vietnam (involving the French). The nonviolent yet still threatening sabre-rattling between the USSR and the United States, however, reached a peak with the first successful hydrogen bomb test by the United States on November 1, 1952, at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. A second device, hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped over Japan, was successfully detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll. In the United States, public fallout shelters were designated for large cities, allegedly to protect citizens from the rain of radioactive materials produced by such nuclear explosions. Schoolchildren practiced taking cover under their desks during regular air raid drills. Also in 1954, Canada and the United States agreed to build a "DEW" line (Distant Early Warning Line) of radar stations across the Arctic to warn of approaching aircraft or missiles over the Arctic. In short, the atmosphere of the first half of the 1950s was one of suspicion, distrust, and threats among the big powers. An atomic war on the scale that Lord of Flies suggested did not seem out of the realm of possibility during the early 1950s.

Compare & Contrast

• 1950s: Economically, Great Britain was devastated by World War II. Homes, factories, rail-roads, docks, and other facilities had been destroyed by the German air force. Rationing of bread, meat, sugar, and gasoline continued well into the postwar period. Formerly a creditor, or lending nation, Great Britain for the first time in its history became a debtor nation.

  Today: Great Britain has regained economic stability, though not the economic power it had enjoyed before World War II. The discovery of oil in the North Sea and membership in the European Union (despite occasional disagreements) have enhanced Great Britain's economic strength.

• 1950s: Politically, Great Britain was ruled in the immediate post-World War II period by the Labor Party, under which basic industries like coal, electric power, gas, and transportation were nationalized, social security was expanded, and universal health care was made available. With the coming of the Cold War, Great Britain sided with its World War II ally the United States against Russian expansionism, although a strong strain of antinuclear activism arose, centered around the placement of American nuclear missiles on British bases.

  Today: Great Britain remains politically strong, though a separatist movement in Northern Ireland continues to cause unrest. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, Great Britain has been able to focus its energies more on domestic problems and regional cooperation.

• 1950s: Biologically oriented psychologists like Arnold Gesell believe that a child's intellectual development is only marginally affected by environment, while other scientists argue that it plays a dominant role.

  Today: Scientific studies using brain scans have shown physical differences between the brains of healthy children and abused children, suggesting experiences can actually change the circuity of the brain.

Lord of the Flies – Style Notes

Point of View

All novels use at least one perspective, or point of view, from which to tell the story. This may consist of a point of view of no single character (the omniscient, or "all-knowing" point of view), a single character, multiple characters in turn, and combinations or variations on these. Golding uses the omniscient point of view, which enables him to stand outside and above the story itself, making no reference to the inner life of any of the individual characters. From this lofty point he comments on the action from the point of view of a removed, but observant, bystander. Golding has commented in interviews that the strongest emotion he personally feels about the story is grief. Nevertheless, as the narrator he makes a conscious decision, like the British captain at the end of the story, to "turn away" from the shaking and sobbing boys and remain detached. The narrator lets the actions, as translated through the artist's techniques of symbolism, structure, and so on, speak for themselves. Even so dramatic and emotional an event as Piggy's death is described almost clinically: "Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red."

Symbolism

A symbol can be defined as a person, place, or thing that represents something more than its literal meaning. The conch shell, to take an obvious example in the story, stands for a society of laws in which, for example, people take their turn in speaking. The pig's head is a more complex example of a symbol. To Simon, and to many readers, it can have more than one meaning. On a rational level, Simon knows the pig's head is just that: a "pig's head on a stick." But on a more emotional level, Simon realizes that the pig's head represents an evil so strong that it has the power to make him faint. When he thinks of the head as "The Lord of the Flies," the symbol becomes even more powerful, as this title is a translation of "Beelzebub," another name for the Devil. Similarly, the fire set by using Piggy's glasses, when controlled, could be said to represent science and technology at their best, serving humans with light and heat. When uncontrolled, however, fire represents science and technology run amok, killing living things and destroying the island. Simon himself can be said to symbolize Christ, the selfless servant who is always helping others but who dies because his message — that the scary beast on the hill is only a dead parachutist — is misunderstood. Throughout the story, the noises of the surf, the crackling fire, the boulders rolling down hills, and trees exploding from the fire's heat are often compared to the boom of cannons and drum rolls. In this way, Golding reminds us that the whole story is intended to repeat and symbolize the atomic war which preceded it.

Setting

In the setting for Lord of the Flies, Golding has created his own "Coral Island" — an allusion, or literary reference, to a book of that name by R. M. Ballantyne. Using the same scenario of boys being abandoned on a tropical island, The Coral Island (1857) is a classic boys' romantic adventure story, like Johann Wyss's The Swiss Family Robinson, in which everyone has a great time and nobody dies or ends up unhappy. Golding, however, has quite different ideas, and he has used the setting in his story to reinforce those concepts. Yes, the island can be a wonderful place, as the littluns discover by day when they are bathing in the lagoon pool or eating fruit from the trees. But at night the same beach can be the setting for nightmares, as some boys fancy that they see "snake-things" in the trees.

Golding builds a similar contrast between the generally rocky side of the island that faces the sea, and the softer side that faces the lagoon. On the ocean side of the island, "the filmy enchantments of mirage could not endure the cold ocean water. On the other side of the island, swathed at midday with mirage, defended by the shield of the quiet lagoon, one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the ocean one was helpless." Thus the setting reinforces Golding's view of human nature as a struggle of good intentions and positive concepts like love and faith against the harshness of nature and human failings like anger.

 

Source:  http://www.answers.com/topic/lord-of-the-flies-novel-4

Lord of the Flies – the Big Allegory!

The Big Massive Allegory

Before we get down to the details, we should address the fact that Lord of the Flies is one big allegory. Symbols aside, the boys as a whole can represent humanity as a whole. You can see where the pieces fall from there; the island is then the entire world, the boys’ rules become the world’s varying governments, two tribes are two countries, and so on. The boys’ fighting is then equivalent to a war. The only time we pull out of the allegory is at the very end of the novel, when the other “real” world breaks through the imaginary barrier around the island. Yet this is also the moment when the real message of the allegory hits home, when we can ask ourselves that chilling question, “But who will rescue the grown-ups?”

The Conch

The conch is used in many scenes in Lord of the Flies to call the boys to order. No boy may speak unless he is holding the conch and once he is holding it, he cannot be interrupted. They boys have imposed this “rule of the conch” on themselves, and thus the conch represents society’s rules, politics, and speech. The conch is a big part of the boys choosing to vote for a chief, and it also allows anyone to speak when they hold it. Notice that, after the conch is broken in to a thousand pieces, Jack runs forward screaming that now he can be chief? The reason he couldn’t be chief before, at least not his kind of chief, is that the conch still allowed Piggy to quiet all the others boys down and demand they listen. With no conch, power is once again up for grabs, and Jack is feeling grabby.

The Fire

Fire is used in several ways in Lord of the Flies. From the very beginning of the novel, Ralph is determined to keep a signal fire going, in case a ship passes near to the island. That’s fine until the first signal fire the boys light begins burning out of control, and at least one boy is missing (read: burned up). The fire thus becomes a symbol, paradoxically, of both hope of rescue and of destruction. Ironically, it is because of a fire that Jack lights at the end of the novel – in his attempt to hunt and kill Ralph – that the boys are rescued. What could that possibly mean, the fact that rescue equals destruction? It brings us back, as all these symbols do, to The Big Massive Allegory of the novel. If the boys’ world is just an allegory for the real world, then they’re not being rescued at all; they’re just going on to a larger scale of violence and, yes, that’s right, destruction. Hence, rescue equals destruction.

The Glasses

While the boys on the island revert to primitive ways with their hunting, nakedness, and face painting, there is still one symbol of advancement, of innovation and discovery. Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about Piggy’s glasses. The boys find themselves at an utter loss for a way to start the fire. Jack mumbles something about rubbing two sticks together, but the fact is the boys just aren’t wilderness-savvy enough to do this. Because they aren’t equipped for roughin’ it for real, they have to rely on some remaining relics of their old world. So, of course, the glasses breaking mean they are in danger of losing touch with the civilized world they’ve left behind. With one lens broken, they’ve got one foot over the line.
But let’s also remember that the glasses are, in fact, a pair of glasses, primarily intended for looking through. Looking = vision, and vision = sight, and sight = a metaphor for knowledge. Piggy knows things the other boys don’t, like how to use the conch, and the necessity for laws and order. Part of the reason he gets so upset when they take his glasses is that, without them, he can’t see anything. “Seeing” is Piggy’s greatest attribute; it’s the one reason the boys don’t ostracize him completely; it’s the one way he’s useful. Without his glasses, then, he’s useless, something that no one wants to be.

The Pighunts

The pighunts are used throughout Lord of the Flies to symbolize not only man’s capacity for destruction and violence, but the basic idea of bloodlust, mass hysteria, and ritual. In the most important pighunt scene, we are given a vivid description of the slaughter of a mother pig, and we see that the boys have taken on a new viciousness in their desire to hunt. This is no longer about just having meat to eat – the boys are obviously enjoying the power that they feel over the helpless animals and are excited by the blood spilling over their hands. Many critics describe this as a rape scene, with the excitement coming partly from the blood and partly from their newly emerging feelings of sexuality. As the story continues, we see the boys acting out this pighunt over and over, in a sort of ritual, using various boys to act as the pigs, and this “play-acting,” takes a horrifying turn when, in a frenzy of violence, Simon is beaten to death by the mob of excited boys.

The Beast and the Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies, the beast begins as a product of the boys’ imaginations. The smaller boys are afraid of things they see at night; rather than be blindly afraid of The Great Unknown, they give their fear a name and a shape in their minds. You can’t defeat a "nothing," but you can hunt and kill a "something."
The next evolution in the myth of the beast is the dead parachuting man. It’s no coincidence that the boys catch a glimpse of a dark, UNKNOWN object and immediately call it the beast; we wouldn’t be surprised if they were relieved to finally have seen the thing. It’s kind of like how the masters of horror films don’t actually show you the horror, because what you can imagine is worse than anything you could see. Of course, it’s interesting that Golding chooses to make this manifestation of the boys' fear a man -- and not just a man, but a solider coming in from the war. Not only that, but the parachuting man flies in, in response to Piggy’s request for a “sign” from the adult world. It’s ironic that the best the adults can come up with is a man dead of their own violence, and it hints at the allegory and the end of the novel.
This is the point where we start getting some real insight into the beast, via Piggy, who says the beast is just fear, and via Simon, who insists that the beast is “only us.” This is an interesting comment, since the beast is literally “only us:” it’s a person that fell from the sky. In fact, when the twins list off the horrible attributes of the creature they saw, they reveal that it has both “teeth” and “eyes.” Yes, that’s right, most people have teeth and eyes. So Simon is correct in more ways than just one. Even more interesting yet is the moment when Ralph and Jack discover the dead man and think of it as a “giant ape.” What have the boys started to prove except that man is nothing more than a giant ape himself?
But while the beast is in fact literally a man, that’s not what Simon means when he says that it is “only us.” He’s talking about the beast being the darkness that is inside each and every one of us. If this is true, then, as the Lord of the Flies later suggests, it is absurd to think that the beast is something “you could hunt and kill.” If it’s inside all of us, not only can’t we hunt it, but we can never see it, never give it form, and never defeat it.
When Simon has his meditation-scene with the pig’s head, the Lord of the Flies says to him, “I’m the beast.” This makes his other words literally true; you can’t hunt and kill the beast, because they’ve already hunted and killed the pig and it’s still talking to you. Even later, when Ralph smashes the skull, he only widens its smile, “now six feet across” as it lies “grinning at the sky.” This thing just won’t die, and it torments Ralph so much because it “knows all the answers and won’t tell.”
Now to Ralph, that’s a rather silent devilish pig’s head, given that four chapters earlier it was talking with Simon. It seems that the Lord of the Flies gave over its knowledge to Simon, but only to Simon. In his death, then, Simon took that wisdom with him. What wisdom are we talking about? Simon already knew, it seems, that the beast was simply the darkness of man’s heart, but the talking pig’s head actually confirms it, telling him “I’m part of you […] close, close close.”

Ralph’s Hair

All right, we told you we could blame Ralph’s moments of savagery on his hair. Well, we were lying. What we meant to say was that Ralph’s hair was a symbol for his growing savagery. That shaggy mop eventually has a life of its own. The narrative always makes a point of telling us that it’s in Ralph’s face, that he wishes he could cut it, that it makes him feel dirty and uncivilized. We know the hair has to be a big deal because the very first words of the novel are, “The boy with fair hair lowered himself down…” Getting your hair cut is one of the perks of civilization, many of which Ralph and the others have had to give up. It also reminds us that the boys have been on the island for quite a while now; this is no mere weekend getaway. Lastly, there’s something horribly disturbing about his hair just growing, growing, with no way to stop it and the assumption that it will simply go on forever, much like the boys’ growing violence and the increasingly savage occurrences on the island.

Clothing

Clothing is another relic of the old world that falls by the wayside in this new one. Clothes can be ominous, as when Jack and his choir boys appear to be one long, dark creature as they travel in a pack wearing their black choir robes at the beginning. At first, the boys need to wear their clothing to avoid getting sunburned (meaning they’re not yet ready for the full island lifestyle), but they’re soon running around in loin-cloths or less, their skin and their minds having adapted to the surroundings. We even see Ralph go from “the fair boy” to being downright “swarthy.” Change is in the wind, as is a dead parachuting man from the skies above.

Imagery of Wounds

From the moment the boys land on the island, we begin to see signs of destruction. Over and over we are told of the “scar” in the scenery left by the plane. The water they bathe in is “warmer than blood.” The boys leave “gashes” in the trees when they travel. The lightning is a “blue-white scar” and the thunder “the blow of a gigantic whip,” later a “sulphurous explosion.” Now, if you’re trying to answer the big question of whether the boys are violent by nature or were made violent by their surroundings (the island), you could argue that 1) because the island is already so steeped in violence (think the thunder and lightning), the boys couldn’t help but become part of its savagery when they arrived; or that 2) the boys put scars and gashes in the land from the get-go, suggesting they are inherent bringers of destruction and the island is the Eden they destroy.

 

Source:  http://www.shmoop.com/literary-device/literature/william-golding/lord-of-the-flies/symbols-imagery-allegory.html

Lord of the Flies

 

by William Golding

Background :

The book begins following a plane crash that left the pilot dead and a bunch of young boys, aged five to twelve, scattered throughout a tropical island. The boys were being evacuated from England where an atomic war was taking place. When they were escaping, the plane is attacked, and the pilot parachutes away. Ralph meets up with Piggy, and they find a small conch shell. Ralph blows into the conch shell and and the boys assemble at a central point. There are choirboys and boarding school boys. They congregate to elect a leader and decide to start a fire and begin to explore the island.

Setting:

Lord of the Flies takes place on an island, which Golding never gives an exact location. Although he does not tell us where the island is, he describes it in detail. He says that it has a jungle at one end, with a rocky mountain above it. At the opposite side is the lagoon where the boys go to bathe and where they first met after the crash. Near there, up the mountain, is a platform where it was decided a fire would stay lit in hope of rescue. This was in the ideal position, having a view of the ocean, therefore allowing any passing planes or boats to spot them and rescue them. It was on this mountain that the parachutist was also spotted by the boys, and mistaken for a beast. Inland, the jungle served many purposes. In the dense jungle, food was plentiful, and the plants served as a means of escape for Ralph during his run from Jack. Simon stayed there during his stage of insanity, and the used the plants to build shelter.

The boys plane was shot down during an atomic war. This set the stage for the problems that would arise on the island among the boys. Their behavior reflects their surroundings, as they acted just like they were participating in the war. The island is a very isolated place with absolutely no contact with the outside war. The only way that they could contact an outsider was by chance, if a plane or boat happened to spot them. These boys from boarding school were in some respect lucky to land on this island, for it did have its advantages. There was food, wildlife, and fresh water. It was not their surroundings, but themselves that led to the downfall of their civilization.

Characters:

Ralph
The protagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is 12 years old, tall, blond, and attractive. Ralph is a natural leader and after discovering the conch shell, he is elected as leader of the boys. Throughout the novel Ralph tries to establish order and focus on rescue. He decides that a boy can only speak at the meetings if he is holding the conch shell. He wants to keep the fire on the mountain going so that is a plane passes, the boys can be saved. He also encourages the boys to build huts. He is very much a true human because although he tries to maintain order, he is often tempted by the indulgences of the other boys. He occasionally makes foolish mistakes, such as joining in with the hysteria of the other boys and killing Simon. When Jack forms a separate, rival group focus in on hunting and savagery rather than rescue, Ralph fights against the superstition and the terror of the other boys. When the numbers in his party begin to diminish, Ralph is left to survive on his own in the forest being chased by the transformed savage boys.

Jack
The antagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is tall, redheaded, and emerges as the leader of the choir boys. When Ralph becomes the initial leader, Jack becomes upset, for he wanted that position but instead becomes the leader of the "hunters." Jack leads the boys from civilized young men into savages through the novel. He is malicious and animalistic. As structure breaks down, Jack forms his own separate sect seperating from Ralph and the rest of the group. Jack is a cruel bully, who is constantly violent and threatens those below him. Jack is always ready to fight. Jack constantly attempts to weaken others. He breaks Piggy's glasses and leads the others towards Piggy's murder. He brings the boys into mass hysteria and eventually hunts Ralph down like an animal.

Piggy
Fat, asthmatic boy with glasses, a typical "sissy," he is scientific and skeptical. He quickly befriends Ralph and recognizes that he can express his views through Ralph. Piggy is an orphan who was brought up by his aunt. He constantly refers to the old way of life. Piggy builds the sundial. He doesn't believe in the beastie. Because Piggy is an intellectual who lacks social skills, he is an outsider. The boys ridicule him over and over again. He can not do anything for himself and constantly tries to get out of work while relying on Ralph. He is the voices of reason and the link to the adult world. The taunting by the boys, escalates to beatings and having his glasses stolen. Eventually, piggy is killed by Roger.

Simon
Simon is the Christ like figure of the novel. He was skinny and had black hair. Simon was a loner who often experienced fainting spells. He would wander into the jungle to think by himself. Simon sees beyond the surface of things. The other boys were indifferent towards Simon for he was not extremely social. He helped others with necessary chores, such as building the huts and taking care of the littleuns. As the novel goes on Simon is gradually alienated. Simon becomes brave in the face of danger. He is the only character to confront the beastie and find out the truth. He believes that the beastie is only controlled in their minds. With Simon's new found knowledge of the truth he goes to explain his findings to the others. When he does, he is sacrificially killed by the boys. Simon, the selfless and harmless boy was beaten and stabbed to death by the horde of boys.

Roger
Initially a shy, quiet boy, but his taciturn nature swings in the opposite direction into a malicious murderer. He takes a liking to throwing rocks and boulders and spears at the fellow boys. Roger has no regret or sympathy after he commits his violent acts. Roger was the most savage of the boys. He engages in sadistic torture of the pig, of Piggy and the littleuns. He supports Jacks leadership in the same way Piggy backs up Ralph.

Plot:

In the beginning of the novel, a plane was shot down in an atomic war carrying boys from a boarding school, on their way home. Ralph and Piggy are introduced to the reader as they meet in the lagoon. Piggy finds a conch shell and shows Ralph how to make a noise with it. Ralph uses this to call the other boys and have a meeting, setting down rules that they would live by for the remainder of their stay on the island. Ralph was declared as the ruler and Jack and the other choir boys went hunting for something to eat. This reflected their priorities, Jack hunting, while Ralph thought more rationally, and ruled the boys on the island, trying to maintain some remnants of civilization.

Some of the younger children believed that they saw a "beastie" on the island. This beast scares all of the younger children and most of the older children as well. They had many fears on this island, but needed to remember that they could not let them get in the way of what was important to them. They all decided that they needed a fire to survive on the island and came to the conclusion to use Piggy's glasses as a means of starting it. They get the fire going, but their carelessness in containing this fire burnt half of the island. This reflected their inexperience and immaturity when dealing with this serious situation that they were put into. Even though they meant well, their actions ultimately had a bad outcome.

Jack had focused on the hunting aspect of survival, while Ralph concentrated on building shelter so that they could be safe from nature. So later on, Jack went to hunt a pig while Simon and Ralph were busy building huts. Ralph and Jack argue over the importance and priorities of what had to be done. This issue began the feud that would follow throughout the novel between Ralph and Jack. While Simon is picking fruit for the younger children, he comes across a place in the jungle that he finds very tranquil. This place would later provide the place where Simon's character would develop.

A ship passed by the island one day when the signal fire was out. This carelessness was due to Jack's irresponsibility. He argues with Ralph, not taking blame for the mishap. He says that hunting is more important, and that it was not his fault that the fire had gone out. In doing this, he demonstrates his immaturity and lack of responsibility, arguing with Ralph, because of the jealousy he had for his authority. A fight breaks out and Piggy's glasses are accidentally broken by Jack. The hunters had killed a pig, and so the boys roast it and feast on it.

The next day, a meeting was held where many important issues were discussed. One of these was the validity of the beastie's existence. The point was brought up that the beastie was in fact only themselves. At this meeting, Ralph emphasized the importance of the signal fire. After this, Jack becomes even more troublesome, declaring Ralph a bad leader. Later, he would do something regarding these feelings.
A dead pilot parachutes down to the island one day. The parachutist landed on the rocks and was his parachute got caught. He is spotted and labeled the "beast from the air" by the little children. In response to this, Jack, Ralph and the others set out to hunt this "beast." While traveling, Jack finds a place that he thinks would be a good place for a fort, so they begin preparation by clearing off the ledge. Eventually, Ralph gets them back on their mission, and they continue on, in search of the "beast."

After the excitement of the pig hunt, the boys gather and perform a strange tribal dance. Meanwhile, Simon and Ralph discuss the prospects of being rescued. Simon assures Ralph that he will leave the island alive. Later, the hunters decide to go on another hunt. On this occasion though, the pig wounds Jack and is able to get away. Despite the loss, all remain happy and are caught up in mass hysteria as they reenact their savage rituals. In doing so, they almost kill Robert, who was playing the part of the pig. The leaders decide to go up the mountain to start another fire but they see the "beastie" and run back down.

Soon after, a major confrontation between Jack and Ralph occurs on the beach. Ralph is accused of cowardice by Jack and Jack moves to remove Ralph from leader of the group of boys. He is humiliated though, as none of the boys voted for his takeover. He begins to cry and runs away into the forest. He is followed by Roger and the rest of his hunters. Realizing that they can't go up the mountain because of the "beastie", Piggy suggests that the remaining boys make a fire on the beach.

The story picks up with Jack and his tribe at their new hideout at Castle Rock. They decide to have yet another hunt and kill a large sow. They cut off the pig's head as a sacrifice for the beast and paint themselves in the pig's blood. Simon, alone in the woods hallucinates and thinks the head is the Lord of the Flies, who proceeds to insult his bravery in regard to the "beastie".

Back on the beach, Jack invites the twins, Sam and Eric, Ralph, Piggy, and the littluns to feast with them. After eating, all succumb to the mass hysteria of the tribal dance and kill Simon, thinking he is the beast. Simon was actually coming to bring news that the "beastie" was a dead parachutist. Now Ralph, Piggy, Samneric, and the littluns remain alone with their huts on the beach.

Jack turns his tribe against Ralph and tells the hunters that the beast was only using Simon as a disguise. During that night, Roger and Jack invade Ralph's hut and steals Piggy's glasses to create a fire. The ensuing fight does hurt both Jack and Roger, and they fail to take the conch. Piggy, much angered by this incident desires to go to Castle Rock and make Jack give him his glasses back. As they approach the neck, Ralph calls and assembly of all the children and tries to reason with Jack. Despite this, Jack insults Ralph again and a fight is the result. In his haste, Roger tries to hit Ralph with a large boulder and instead knocks Piggy off the cliff. In the confusion that results, Ralph is able to escape into the woods.

The entire tribe then searches to eliminate their last opposition. Ralph is forced to hide in the bushes for a long time. He is found by the others and is then closely pursued on throughout the island. He is wounded by a spear in the process. As Ralph runs onto the beach, a rescue ship is sighted and the boys seemingly revert to their former behavior.

Major Conflicts:

Ralph vs. Jack
Ralph represents order and composure in society. Eventually Jack grew tired of Ralph being in charge. He let the barbarism inside of him transform him into a savage-like creature and he went on a rampage, destroying the makeshift civilization the boys worked so hard to create.

Boys vs. Beastie
The Beastie symbolizes the Devil, and is a manifestation of all the evil inside the boys. As the boys grew further and further away from civilization, their desire to kill the Beastie grew. They went from being scared at first, to wanting to hang his head on a pole.

Boys vs. Nature
The boys went hunting many times to try to keep themselves alive. At first, Ralph was afraid to kill the sow. Towards the end, Jack's warrior identity brutally murdered the sow and hung his head on a stick.

Boys vs. Piggy
Piggy represents the weak who are often victimized. The boys tortured him because he was fat and needed such thick glasses. His torture can also be considered a lack of understanding, because the boys had likely never met anyone with problems like his. This can be seen in the boys lack of understanding of asthma, or "ass-mar".

Jack vs. Society
The barbaric quality that arises in Jack throughout the book is really a rebellion against society. He grew tired of taking orders from Ralph and participating in the democratic system that they had. This sense of anarchy must have existed inside of him before the encounter on the island began, but his experiences served to bring it out of him.

Key Issues:

The Need for Civilization and Order
Laws and rules are definitely necessary to keep the darker side of human nature in line. When all elements of civilization disappear on the island, the boys revert to a more primitive part of their nature, and they turn into savages and anarchy replaces democracy. Society holds everyone together, and with out civilization and rules, the boy's ideals, values, and basic ideas of what is right and wrong are forgotten, and the evils of human nature emerge.

The Loss of Identity
The boys lose their individual identity when the older children just become known as the biguns, and the younger become known as the littluns. They are not known by their names anymore, but just as a group term. When the hunters paint their faces and kill pigs, they are losing their individualism, and becoming part of a group mentality of savagery. Two twins, named Sam and Eric, "combine" personalities as "samneric." They no longer are known as two separate individuals, but as one person who can no longer separate Sam and Eric.

Human Nature
The shortcomings in human nature will lead to an equally flawed society. Without the restraints of civilization, the behavior of people will regress to their savage beginnings. Survival is of utmost importance. The base form of human nature will lead to anarchy, violence and death.

Lessons, Morals and Applications:

William Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies with the intent to include certain elements of moral behavior for readers to absorb. he utilized specific symbols found scattered in the novel to portray his intended message to all those who read his work of Literature. The author builds his message into the novel in the form of adventure. The actions done by characters in the novel eventually create Golding's message to the reader.

It can be said that Golding describes the moral of the book in relation to the scientific mechanics of society. This is found as a major theme in the book, which is actually fear. The boys on the island view this ideal in the form of the "beastie". The "beastie" is an unseen figure on the island, which is symbolized of the dead parachutist. This fear, however, represents the potential evil found in humans. Yet, this evil is only brought about amongst specific environmental conditions, which Golding synthesized in the book.

The most interesting aspect and probably the most influential characteristic of the story is found to be the age of the characters. The author successfully attempts to show how capable the aspect of evil is among human beings. However, Golding perfects this idea as he used children, who represent purity and innocence in a normal society. Through the use of children, the reader finds that barbarity and savagery can exist amongst even the smallest and most innocuous form of human beings.

One can interpret that Golding is trying to represent human nature in its entirety. It is obvious that Golding is showing all levels of human capability in terms of psychology and science. The reader sees that humans exist in higher levels, such as present day activity, as well as the lowest form, which is represented by Lord of the Flies . The author creates a situation, which includes factors that are capable of forcing humans to fall into lower forms of mentality.

A very important concept of the story is the fact that in the society which was created on the island, order is a needed tool for existence. The concept of order is found to be a key issue as the society which Golding created contained no order. This book accurately shows how the absence of order results in an alteration of moral behavior. In Lord of the Flies , morals can be seen in the form of aggressive behavioral actions. Such actions include the murder of Piggy. Obviously children would never come to such decisions or actions against one another under normal societal conditions. However, Golding creates a barbaric civilization in which children do such actions.

Lord of the Flies can be considered a classical novel. A classic in the respect that the author creates special circumstances under which abnormal actions and functions mutate into everyday activity. All of these concepts and ideals are generated by Golding to finally produce a novel of both perplexity and perfection.

Themes:

William Golding says that "the theme (of the book) is an attempt to trace back the defects of society to the defects of human nature...The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system."

Power
Different types of power, some used and abused. Democratic power is shown when choices and decisions are shared among many people on the island. Jack shows authoritarian power by threatening and terrifying others. Some of the boys utilize brute force, when hunting for pigs, and later hunting for Ralph.

Fear of the Unknown
The boy's fear of the unknown on the island leads to their fear of the beast. The boys cannot accept the notion of a beast existing on the island, nor can they let go of it. The recognition that no real beast exists, and that the only beast on the island is fear itself is one of the deepest meanings of the story.

Blindness and Sight
Piggy is blind to his immediate surroundings but really understands what is going on on the island. Unfortunately, the boys do not realize that Piggy sees more, and he is treated poorly and is eventually killed.

Interpretive Level

Piggy and the glasses.. ...Clear sightedness, intelligence.. Piggy's glasses bring "fire" to the island, which is really the fire of knowledge.

breaking of Piggy's glasses... ...the progressive decay of rational influence on the island

The conch... Democracy and Order

Simon's behavior represents... Christ-like Figure, pure goodness

The island... a microcosm representing the world

The beast... the capacity for evil within everyone

Roger's behavior represents... evilness and sadism

Jack's behavior represents... savagery and anarchy

Ralph's behavior represents... democracy and civilization; the capacity for evil within everyone
Lord of the Flies... the devil, great danger

*Jack represents the leader of the forces of anarchy
*Roger represents the "official" torturer and executioner of the tribe

Works Cited

Thayer, Marion P. Cliff's Notes on Lord of the Flies . Cliffs Notes, Incorporated, Lincoln, Nebraska.       1964.

Credits

Ted Stein, Erica Sztabnik, Ben Carthew, Nelson Brolly, Jeremy Ortman, Brandon Sulikowski
November 12, 1998

Year End Paperwork

 

The last day of school will be FRIDAY JUNE 6th, 2008

REPORT cards will be issued on FRIDAY JUNE 13th, 2008 and should be collected by students on that date.

 

SUMMER SCHOOL: students will be advised who 'should' attend summer school during the next 2 weeks. Summer school will be held between MONDAY 9th of June and FRIDAY 20th of June between the hours of 09:00 and 12:00 - Monday - Friday only.

Second Semester English - Watching TV - Ledio 9B

Ledio chose to write about watching too much television and the effects of TV on young minds and imaginations. Ledio looked into both the positive and negative aspects of watching TV. He reviewed many different studies and read some research reports to base the content of his report on. In his presentation Ledio shares his ideas regarding the effects of television as well as his personal habits with regard watching TV.

Well researched and compiled.

TOEFL Practice Essay 3: Mario 9B

22. In general, people are living longer now. Discuss the causes of this phenomenon.

 

People in the world are now living much longer. For example in Europe and North America, the average life expectancy has risen to 68 years for men and 73 years for women. In India life expectancy has been much lower. But improved health and living conditions has now lifted the average life expectancy there to 56 years.

 

One of the causes that the life expectancy is increasing is the agriculture. Now the agriculture is improved. This means that the people in the world are better fed.

 

Another cause that people now live much longer is the public health. The public health is improved very much nowadays. There are better living conditions so people live longer because they are protected a bit from diseases.

 

The last cause is the medicines. The medicines are now better used. There are new medicines in hospitals. So people now have a cure for almost all the diseases. A lot of new chemicals are now discovered. The technology is improved so there are machines that cure diseases.

 

In conclusion, the people are now living longer for different causes. Some of these causes are: public health, improved agriculture, improved technology, medicines, new chemicals etc. This is a bad thing because there are a lot of natural resources that are being finished and can’t be renewed like coal etc. and the all this because of the population size.

Summer Reading - MIST Recommendation: Pre Freshman (Going into Y 9)

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:

Directions: Read two of the following books during the summer. You will be tested on the books in English class when you begin school. To prepare yourself, take good notes on the books. Be sure to take notes on minor and major characters, the settings of the story, and plot events.

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther
A father's touching story of his courageous teenage son who dies of a brain tumor at the age of seventeen. Johnny, throughout his illness, and dealing with his death, was being reborn each day.

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & John D. Houston
The author remembers her life as a young Japanese girl who is sent to an internment camp with her family during World War II.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
A biographical novel full of suspense and intrigue about the author's attempts to save refugees from the Nazis during World War II.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
Sixteen year old Hope runs a diner with her aunt and becomes involved in the mayoral race of the diner's owner, a leukemia victim.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Kino, impoverished Indian fisherman in a little village in Mexico, believes his fortune turns to gold when he finds a valuable pearl. This simple novella relays an important parable about moral values and integrity of soul.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
This is the story of a 40-year-old man, Landon Carter, who looks back on his life at age 17 when he was roped into acting the lead in the town Christmas play.

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
A story about a girl who comes face to face with violence and must make the hardest choice of her life.

Additional Summer Reading Lists

A LIST OF GREAT LISTS!

Summer Reading List 2007These lists of titles have been compiled by librarians at member schools of the Houston Area Independent Schools Library Network (HAISLN). The lists include both fiction and nonfiction books by some of the best authors for children and young adults. Lists presented for PreK-12.

Summer Reading ListsCharlottesville (Virginia) Catholic School presents these lists or required and suggested reading. Separate lists for each grade K to 8.

Summer Reading for KidsThese books have been selected by Vermont public school librarians and are recommended for summer reading for children and young adults. Published on the Vermont Education Association's Web page, Summer Reading offers separate lists for students in grades K through 4, 5 through 8, and 9 through 12.

Summer Reading ListsThese lists, from the Mountain Brook City Schools in Birmingham, Alabama, recommend books for students in grades 1 through 3, 4, 5, 6, junior high school (grades 7 through 9), and high school.

Summer Reading ListsMiddlesex Middle School in Darien, Connecticut, provides reading lists for social studies and science, as well as English.

Summer Fun Reading ListThese lists include books for students in K through 5. Book lists are divided by grade levels of students entering grades K and 1, 2 and 3, and 4 and 5, as well as into such categories as poetry, picture books, and classic fiction to read aloud to the whole family.

Elementary Summer Reading ListThis list from the Wayland (Massachusetts) Public Schools includes fiction titles for beginning readers, students in grades 2 and 3, and students in grades 4 and 5, as well as lists of books of poetry, books of fairy tales, biographies, books for families to read aloud, and more.

Boulder (Colorado) Public Library Booklists for KidsThis list of lists from the BPL includes summer reading chapter books and summer reading picture books.

Fairfax County Public Library Books for School-Age ChildrenThough not specifically created as summer reading lists, these lengthy lists include great summer reading ideas. Individual lists are offered for students in grades 1 to 6.

Summer Reading ListsThis resource from Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools includes four separate lists -- for students going into grades 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10, and 11 and 12.

Boston Public Schools Summer Reading ListsFour lengthy book lists -- for students in grades K through 3, 4 and 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12 -- offer titles sorted by genre. These lists, created in association with the Boston Public Library, include titles in Spanish for students in grade K through 8.

ADDITIONAL SUMMER READING RESOURCES

Summer Reading Tips for ParentsAccording to the LD Online Web site, "Studies show that most students experience a loss of reading skills over the summer months, but children who continue to read actually gain skills." This site offers tips that encourage parents to help children sustain reading skills during the summer. Although directed to parents of children with learning disabilities, any teacher might include these tips in an end-of-year newsletter as a reminder to parents.

Choices BooklistEach year the International Reading Association (IRA) invites 10,000 schoolchildren to read and vote for the best newly published books. This site provides the children's list as well as a list of teachers' picks for the best books.

Publish Your Book ReviewsHave children publish their book reviews on Web sites that offer readers the opportunity to share their opinions about books. This issue of Barbara Feldman's Surfing the Net with Kids newsletter offers links to a handful of such opportunities!

Summer Reading Lists

Every year around the world schools give their recommendations for the books students should read during the summer. These lists are as varied as there are schools. Here are some links to the top recommended reading lists from around the globe. Try reading some of the books on these lists. Later we will post the books we recommend for our MIST students.

One key to children's reading success is making their reading experience entertaining, relaxing, and enjoyable. Allow children to choose their own reading materials and be aware of what their reading interests are. Help them find books that pique their interests. Below are information about and links to many reading lists that identify high-quality titles and serve many different audiences and purposes.

Notable Children's Books An annual list compiled by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA.

Top Ten Lists of "All-Time Classics" ALSC created this list of classics that parents and children can read together for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for national KidsDay (August 2001). There is one list for preschool to age 8 and one list for ages 8-12.

100 best paperbacks A list created by ALSC for Reading is Fundamental (RIF).

Newbery Award Books. Each year, ALSC chooses the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children from books released in the previous year.

Caldecott Award Books. Each year, ALSC chooses the most distinguished American picture book for children released in the previous year.

Pura Belpré Award Books. Each year, ALSC chooses two works (one for narrative and one for illustration) that best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

Coretta Scott King Award Books Each year, the Coretta Scott King Task Force of the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table chooses two distinguished books, one by an author of African descent and one from an illustrator of African descent, that promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."

Robert F. Sibert Award Books. Each year, ALSC chooses the most distinguished informational book published during the preceding year.

Mildred Batchelder Award Books. Each year, ALSC honors an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.

Booklist Editor's Choice Lists including "Books for Youth" compiled by editors of ALA's review magazine, Booklist; with grade levels suggested.

The Teen Read Week website includes a list of resources for materials of interest to teens.
An extensive list of all of the high-school-age reading lists compiled by members of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of (ALA).

Outstanding Books for the College Bound
There are also numerous published lists. A recent one is The New Books Kids Like, edited by Sharon Deeds and Catherine Chastain, Prepared for the Association for Library Service to Children (Chicago: ALA, 2001). This organizes frequently requested materials around 44 topics and indicates grade levels within those topics.

Finally, there are numerous web resources available through Great Web Sites for Kids. See entries under "Literature and Language"

Second Semester English Project - Marshela 9A

Here is created a presentation on our psychology - what makes us tick? Who are we really inside? The person the world does not see. In her voyage of discovery Marshela has looked into the inner working of the human mind and tried to determine what makes us individual. A good project, well constructed, compiled. Resources listed clearly and defended well in oral argument.

Marshela has advanced a great deal this year. Her knowledge and use of English has risen above expectation and I am very pleased with the way she is able to manipulate the mechanics of English as well as exhibit her understanding and knowledge of the language. Well done. (Project grade 5)

Second Semester English Project - Senka 9A

Here is Senka's project from 9A. Senka looked into stereotypes and names given to different types and groups of students across the school. Her project examines the demographics of the school in the 'students terms' rather than those more formal. A lively and interesting project. Bibliography well compiled and submitted in .doc format. Oral defence execulted well. Well done!

Senka has worked hard this year in English and will be attending school in the USA next year. She is an excellent student and has excelled in every aspect of her academic and extra curricular work. I have enjoyed teaching Senka as well as being able to share a short part of her life with her. Best wishes for 2008 / 2009 in the USA. (Project grade 5+)

English Project - Second Semester - Mario and Dario 9B

For their main English project for the second semester. Mario and Dario of class 9B looked into the current state of electronics and technology. Together they have researched what is in the front end of todays 'must have' toys for the 'grown ups'. Mostly based on communications and phones the boys have covered the 'toys for the boys' well.

They used the PowerPoint to support their oral presentation rather than the other way around - well done. The information was well presented and interesting to follow.

But gentlemen... where is my Nokia E90? Surely it should be in with the front runners?

TOEFL Practice Essay - Arber 9A

No. 24 "Teens with jobs" is this the right thing to do for the children of tomorrow or is it beneficial for teenagers and also the world or is it another form of slavery? Do teens really need jobs or can they do fine without one?

Teenagers have to start learning the value of money and that with money comfort can be bought and with comfort comes happiness (most of the times). Some teens are forced to do a job since their family is poor and needs money to survive so all the family has to work to help. Other teens are sent by their parents to work so that they can learn what having a job feels like. Some teens go to work for extra money for their own benefit since their parents won't give them money so they work for money to probably get them that movie or dress they wanted.

Now this seems fine but there are problems with this (like everything else involving money in this world). Some jobs have bad working hours so some teens leave school so that they can work to feed their poor family (this seems to only happen in poor countries). Other jobs are under-paid so teens are abused this way and no one seems to care. Finally some jobs involve a large amount of physical labor this is fine if the job is paid well but most hard work jobs are low paid.

So are teens having jobs a good idea? Well I think yes it's a good idea, teens need to learn to handle money and a job. As long as the job is well paid and not hard to do then why not get a job - a decent job, not one that takes advantage or abuses the teenager. "Money will never make you happy, and happy will never make you money!" The Marx Brothers.

TOEFL Practice Essay - Xhoia 9B

22. In general, people are living longer now. Discuss the causes of this phenomenon. Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.

We all know that human populations are increasing and scientists can easily prove that. Over the last 300 years there has been a huge increase in human populations. We are going to reveal together the causes of this increase. All these reasons are based on facts that we can also find in scientific books.

One of the most important things is the improved medical care, including control of diseases and improved public health. If those things are improved then lives get better, less people die, more of them are careful, eat better food, go to the doctor, etc. Also there are some drugs that can control diseases inside the body, and there are others which totally destroy diseases. With public health we can have better sanitation and water supplies.

Another reason is the improved agriculture and the increase in amount of buildings and places to live. Improved agriculture means more food, more food means that all people are fed properly and don’t die of starvation. Buildings are needed for people without shelter so they don’t die of the cold outside.

There is also the last but not the least of importance, the war. We know that in wars hundreds and thousands of people die. But now countries can deal with each other about their problems without including war, so less people are dead.

So, these were the things I wanted you to know about the causes the increase of human populations all over the world. These were the reasons of this phenomenon. We hope it will not continue forever or everybody would die of the lack of food, diseases, wars, lack of shelter, etc., etc.  Help be part of the solution, not part of the problem - one person can and does make the difference!

TOEFL practice essay #3 ~ Ledio 9B

Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed (damaged) by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the Earth a better place to live. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.


The Earth’s natural resources are being damaged a lot by human activity. Since the last century the Earth’s natural resources have suffered very harsh damage. The environment and the climate are suffering changes. Carbon dioxide released by cars has caused an increase in the Earth’s temperature, which is leading our planet towards global warming. The humans’ excessive use of energy has led to the extinction of some fuels, which are very important for our technology.

Global warming is a much discussed topic in recent years and it is becoming a serious threat to humanity each day that passes. Governments are making many promises, but there are few actions. The plans that are made and talked about aren’t put into action. If the situation continues like this, then after seventy years our planet will be flooded by a large mass of water and countries, cities and towns will be lying underwater endangering the existence of humanity as we know it. Another problem is the pollution of the seas. The toxic wastes of ships and industries are released into the ocean. The seas are becoming polluted by the large quantity of toxic wastes released by human industries and washed away into the oceans. In this way much aquatic life will die because of poisoning. Oceans may become polluted and the sea will become useless.

In many poor countries these effects are being shown and because of this tourism in those countries is very weak. Marine tourism is the most beneficial tourism in the world. The sea has to be protected at every cost. Not only seas and oceans are at risk, but also rivers are affected by toxic wastes. If it continues like this many countries will remain short of water and a big part of the population will die because of thirst.

Humans are always working harder and harder to develop their technologies and they’re using all the natural resources available in the Earth to achieve this aim quickly. The necessity in the last century for building nuclear power stations has increased very much the level of radioactivity in the air. Just in Tirana, because of the high levels of carbon monoxide released by cars, the air has become so polluted that the chances of getting cancer are six times higher than the rest of the European Committee. Tirana is not the only capital with this condition; some well-known capitals share this problem such as those of Belgium, Germany, and France.

I personally think that it is our responsibility to save the planet. It is time for the leaders who rule the world to use their influence and power in the war against global warming and against the destruction of the planet. It is a shame that in the 21st century, the century of development, there are still leaders that think making war, which does not profit anyone, instead of reaching an arrangement between them and starting to work towards the problems that face humanity today such as poverty, global warming etc.

Robotics - English PPT Project (Year 9)

The following PowerPoint is from Arber and James for their end of semester English project. They chose Robotics as their theme and created this powerful and well constructed PowerPoint to support their presentation.

An interesting and well researched project which enables us to understand the impact of Robotics on our day to day life as well as a glimpse of the possibilities for the future. Good teamwork was observed throughout the project time period. Well done to both boys. (Grade 5+)