Learning and Teaching PLOT……

Dr.Edwin has discussed “Antigone” with us for few weeks already. Yesterday, Dr.Edwin taught us about the plot in “Antigone”. Before we starts analysing the play, Dr.Edwin teaches us about how to introduce plot in class. I learn that plot must be an event that had happened in a story. Besides that, Dr.Edwin introduces us to teach the plot of a story through a pyramid diagram. While we were discussing the plot of “Antigone”, I discover that it is rather easier for me to comprehend the play by using the pyramid diagram. Besides drawing the pyramid on the blackboard, I feel that presenting the pyramid in power point can be intreresting as well. It is because it would attract the students’ attention. Moreover, power point presentation can be colourful and not dull at all. The only thing that I need to do is to prepare the plot before go to class. So, I feel that it can also be an effective way to teach plot using power point presentation. Furthermore, to learn the plot we should understand the play well. Dr.Edwin advises that we must read the play more than one time. Sincerely, I could not really understand the play at first. Meanwhile, I felt that it is rather confusing because I could not understand some of the language in the play. As time goes by, I learn about the play in class and I can comprehend better after Dr.Edwin discussed the play with us.

I Have Learning Something……….
Learning the development of theatre has helped me to get a better understanding of theatre. First, I learned about what is meant by tragedy and comedy. After reading some of the plays, I realized that it is easy to identify a tragic play than a play which is a comedy. It is because a tragic play can identify through an action. For example, in Oedipus the King, Oedipus has blinded himself due to his guiltiness of killing his father. This involves actions in the play and creates emotions of the readers. Furthermore, reader can easily identify their action if it is a tragic event even if they do not really comprehend the whole play.Besides that, it also arouses emotion of the reader where the reader feel sad about the event that has happened.
Unlike a comedy, I need to really understand the language of the whole play in order to get the jokes of the play. I still remember few weeks ago, when Dr Edwin was reading the extract of the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, he was surprised that we did not get the meaning of the play. After his long explanation of the play, only we can make sense out of the play and laugh at it. This is an ironical situation for me because I feel that actually we should get the jokes out of the play instead of a lecturer explaining the hidden meaning of the play. Consequently, I feel that reading a comedy requires a good command of English.
Through this lesson, something comes into my mind about teaching literature that is the importance of guiding students into the comprehending a literary work. I remembered when we did not understand the extract of the play “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Dr.Edwin tried his best to give us explanation until we got the ideas of the play. As a result,I feel that teacher should enlighten student’s mind with simple language if students face difficulties in understanding a literary work.By that, students can only enjoy the lesson if they understand it well.

It has been three weeks of lecture since my forth semester start. This is the first time I wrote in this online journal. In this journal, I will mainly mention about my reflection in the course of “Teaching the Language of Drama” for the first two weeks.
In the first week of lecture, I was given the course outline. After I looked on the course outline, the mixed feeling came into my mind. I felt tension when I realized that there are two assignments, simulated teaching and e-journal. I began to wonder whether I can do it well for the assignments. It is because I have to read so many plays and also need to do so many assignments. It worries me a lot. On the other hand, I felt excited because this course enables me to read different types of play. Generally, I seldom read play compared to other literary genre. It is a good opportunity for me to learn about plays and how plays take place so that I can introduce to my students in the future.
In the second weeks of lecture, it opens up my mind when I know about the history and types of theatre. I feel that it is interesting to know how theatre changes throughout the time and this is really new to me. Previously, the only playwright that I know is Shakespeare. Now, I get to know many playwrights. Besides that, I also learned about how to identify types of drama. However, I afraid that I could not be able to remember all the facts about drama during the test because there are so many things that I have to learn by heart.
Finally, I still feel glad to be able to learn about plays in this semester. In addition, it broadens my knowledge and I learn to appreciate it. Furthermore, I feel that drama is an interesting activity to be held in the class.