A Letter To The Editor

10th Urim St'
Holon, Israel
85664
September 8th, 2013 

The Editor
Haarez'
54th Shenkin St'
Tel Aviv, Israel
55746

Dear Editor,

I was browsing the web when I came across your article, and since I'm a student I was very curious about the title I read. Many, if not all, of the schools in Israel use tests to evaluate their students' academic achievements.

In my opinion, tests aren't  and shouldn't be the way to evaluate the students' achievements. Tests rely on memory and put pressure on the student, so his achievements in the test can't really reflect his full capabilities and control of the knowledge he is tested on. If tests are meant to meassure our effort and knowledge, then how come some students get higher grades without opening a book, while others put their heart in the studies and get lower grades. We are all different individuals, and have different abilities and thinking processes, so why then are we tested by the same means?

In addition, tests have become the only reason students come to school and learn. Some of them don't even show up in school, and just learn from the summarizes the teacher gives them. They memorize it for the tests and then forget it a month later. Is that what intellegence is? Is this what schools were meant for? The students miss the important thing in the whole process: expanding their knowledge and developing a creative mind. Students should want to wake up every morning and go to school, and not only because they have to.

To sum up, tests should be cancelled, in order to make students really want to learn. Look at Finland, I think they did a pretty good job with their education system, that is proved to be the most effective one in the world! There are a lot of other ways to evaluate the students' academic achievements such as projects, make the students lecture etc. As our Finance Minister Yair Lapid (who by the way, didn't finish high school) said, "education isn't about measurement, but about learning. Because knowledge and intellect shouldn't be graded".

Sincerely yours.
Doron Levy.

Excellent letter!

(100)

Daphna.

As I Grew Older - Bridging

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an African-American writer and poet who grew up in America and tried to change his reality with his writing. He captured the feelings and emotions of his people in his writing and was proud to in his african american herritage. He was a leading figure in the african-american artistic movement called the Harlem Renaissance.

The poem "As I Grew Older" was written by him in 1926, as part of the African-American artistic movement, called the Harlem renaissance, protest. The speaker in the poem describes his life and his hopes and dreams, which are very similar to the writer's dreams, so we can assume he wrote this poem about himself. As he grows older, we can see the changes in his point of view, since he realizes life isn’t as easy as he thought and a "wall" has risen between him and his dreams. He realizes that he's different since he's black. He accepts the fact of being black and is proud of it and tries to break through this wall of stereotypes with his very hands. It's a metaphor of what he does in the real life – tries to achieve the racial equality and freedom his people deserve with his writing, and of course you have to use your hands to write.

To sum up, the Harlem Renaissance members believed that through art, literature and music, African-American could achieve their goal – achieve racial equality and integration in the American society. Langston dedicated his life to that goal, and tried to "break through the wall".

Good work.
(92)
Daphna

Inroduction To Poetry - Post Reading

Poetry can be taught in many different ways. Teachers can read a poem along with a slideshow that matches the words, or outside in a park on the grass, or ask the students to listen to the poem with their eyes closed and imagine it. After the students listen to it, they interpret it from their point of view. Those are only the tip of the iceberg. You can find better ways with just a little creativity and thinking outside the box.

However, in most of the schools, poetry is taught in a very banal and boring way. Teachers read the poem in the classroom and begin to analyze it and try to find its' meaning by force. Students get homework to deal with the poem, and in a short time are tested on it. They want to succeed and get a good grade, so they learn from their teachers' summary of the poem, and once they get their grade they forget the poem. This way is meant to teach the students how to use different thinking skills and analyze a poem, and has nothing to do with poetry and its' beauty.

I, personally as a student, would like teachers to teach us students poetry in a creative and fun way, like listen to it outside in a park with my eyes closed, so that we could actually enjoy it and won't see it as something we have to do for our grade. Students should experience the poem in order to understand its' meaning in their own. Once they do that, they will be able to get a good grade without learning from the teachers' summary and will remember the poem since they understood it in their own.

To sum up, there are many ways to teach poetry, but only the creative and liberated ones are the ones that can make the students enjoy and understand it in their own.

Excellent! Very interesting.
(96)
Daphna

A Summer's Reading - Post Reading Task 2

                                                                                                                        July 21^st, 1957
Dear Mr. Cattanzara,

It's been a long time since the last time we talked. How are you? And how is your wife? Hope you're both fine.
I'm writing to tell you what happened in my life since that fateful night when I met you on the street. I don’t know how much you remember from that mentioned night, but I still remember your words "George, don’t do what I did". It took me a while, but I got on the right track. I went to the library, picked up the 100 books and started reading eagerly. Guess how much time it took me to finish them all? That's right, two months! Then I went back to school in order to graduate and I aced the final exam.

After I finished school, I went to a College in New York. I met there two important people in my life – John and Kelly. John and I became friends and we had an idea to start a company of our own (as you probably remember, I don’t like the idea of people telling me what to do), and Kelly is now my girlfriend.

Even though our company idea didn’t really succeed, I finally found my real passion, writing.It  turns out I'm talented. I'm writing a book about motivation and success. Currently, I work at a restaurant as a waiter in order to afford publishing my book. Be sure you'll be the first to get a copy when it is done. Kelly believes in me and we are very happy together. I think you would like her.

Well, all of these things couldn’t have happened without your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. You were there for me when no one else was. You motivated me to pick up my education and pursue my dreams instead of being lazy and wish for a better life. I have no words to thank you, and I'll cherish you forever.

                                                                           Yours,
                                                                  George Stoyonovich.

Very good work.
(93)
Daphna

Summer's Reading - Bridging

Bernard Malamud was an American writer who wrote about ordinary people, often immigrants, trying to attain the American middle-class dream. His characters are often awkward and isolated from society.

You can see in the information above the connections between the writer's writing style and the characters in his story "A Summer's Reading". In the story, George is an immigrant, who sets goals to get a good job by picking up his education, since he has dropped out of high school. At that time (the beginning of the 20^th century) , the immigrants' point of view was if you had a good education you could get a good job and be a successful man. George's goals and dreams are typical of an immigrant. Immigrants want to succeed in a place which is not their homeland, and have many difficulties on the way they have to overcome to achieve that dream.

Another characterization of Malamud's writing is the isolation of his characters. George is very lonely and has no friends. He wanders at night to the park, dreaming of having a girlfriend and money to afford her. He doesn't have a connection with his father or with anyone in the neighborhood, except for Mr. Cattanzara and his sister Sophie. They are the only ones who care about him and try to motivate him to read books and pick up his education. 

The information adds to my understanding of the story by revealing the writer's writing style and his characters qualities. Also, according to his name, the writer is probably an immigrant himself and when he writes about the characters searching for hope and meaning within poor and lonely life, he actually shares his own feelings and experiences as an immigrant.

Now it's excellent! I enjoyed reading that.
(100)
Daphna

Mr. Know-All

The story takes place on a ship, which is traveling from San Francisco to Japan, after World War 1. On that ship there are the two main characters that share a cabin - The narrator and Mr. Kelada. The narrator is a proud Englishman from The British Empire who disliked whoever is not British. Mr. Kelada is also British, probably from a colony which England conquered according to his skin color, and a very friendly man.

The narrator is, probably, a white skinny man who has short hair(a typical British man). He is an arrogant, querulous man, who likes his solitude. He disliked Mr. Kelada before he even met him, because according to his name the narrator decided he's not British. The narrator doesn't like to talk very much, only when necessary, and believes that during meal time it should be quiet. He's not friendly and throughout the whole story he makes racist comments and feels superior to those who aren't pure British. He likes formality, believes that strangers should put "Mr." when they address him, and thinks that a gentleman shouldn't be pushy and sticky. He judges everyone before he really knows them according to their appearance and behavior.

However, Mr. Kelada is the complete opposite to the narrator, and everything he does annoy him. Mr. Kelada is a short and dark-skinned man, with a sturdy build. He has long, curly, black hair, a flashy nose, big liquid eyes and white teeth. He is probably a rich man, since he travels a lot (according to the labels on his suitcases). He is a very friendly guy (he knew everyone on board in 3 days!), chatty, energetic, uses no formality - which annoys the narrator very much. He did card tricks even though the narrator told him he hates them, and joins the narrator everywhere he goes. He is so naive and doesn't understand that the narrator dislikes him. He runs everything on the ship - from sweeps to a fancy-dress ball, and is a good mixer. He is most "intolerable", according to the narrator, at mealtimes - he is hearty, jovial and loquacious. He knows everything, and he's never wrong. He likes to argue with anyone who disagrees with him until he proves them wrong. That's why the passengers called him "Mr. Know-All".

To sum up, we can see that the two main characters are completely different and has almost nothing in common, except that they are both British. Mr. Kelada annoys the narrator in every possible way.
I like Mr. Kelada better than the narrator because the narrator is too arrogant and judges everyone like he's superior to them and flawless, and Mr. Kelada is just trying to be friendly and nice. I'm sure he's not that worse as the narrator describes him.

Good comparison, although you need to correct your grammar mistakes.
(87)
Daphna

Post Reading Activity - Diary Entry

Day 1 :

                                                                                                                                19.7.2007

Dear Diary,

It's Saturday morning. I woke up earlier than I'm used  to, and actually felt awake. I looked out of the window and saw it was a great day to go on a trip with my dad and my brother. I woke them up with some loud music on the stereo and they started to shout at me. I shared my idea of a trip with my father, who as an ultimate fan of trips, agreed right away.

We had breakfast and headed up north to a river (which I forgot it's name) together with my father's friends and their children. When we got there, I noticed one of the kids, named Eli, was depressed, so I went to talk to him and dragged him with me to the other kids. We all jumped to the water and started a "splash fight", while the grownups were grilling the food. We all ate very well after we played a lot. I saw Eli felt much better according to his big smile on his face.

It was getting dark, and we all got tired, our parents decided we should return home. We were tired, but happy. I fell asleep in the back of the car, knowing I cheered up someone today. I felt proud of myself.

Day 2 :

                                                                                                                               27.1.2011

Dear Diary,

Today I didn't go to school. It was cold and dark because of the clouds, which covered the sun. I didn't want to get up and leave my warm bed. When I finally got up, It started to rain. My mom was already at work so she couldn't drive me to school, and since it's far from my house, I have to ride my bicycle to reach it. So I decided to stay home today, and curled up in my bed again.

I woke up to the sound of the ringing door. It was my little brother, who came back from school. He looked at me and started talking, like always. I told him I had a headache to keep him quiet, and went back to my room to listen to music. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

My mom came back from work, and started to make dinner. I got hungry so I finally left my room to eat the dinner with my brother and mother. When I finished I told her I would do the dishes later, and guess what? That's right, I went back to my room. I closed the door and lay on my bed, started thinking how this day was so wasted and that I did nothing that made anyone feel better. I concluded that in order to make up for the lost day I should stop being lazy and start helping people or make them laugh or even smile, and I'll start by doing the dishes.

Excellent
(100)
Daphna