In the spirit of World Literature, Poetry Moves (ed. Esther Vincent et.al) functions effectively as an anthology of poems depicting Southeast Asian writers and their real struggles with Postcoloniality and other aspects/challenges of life surmounting them. We focus especially on three poems dealing with language and identity, namely from Sujata Bhatt, Esther Vincent and Carol Ann Duffy.
LIN101 introduces students to the field of linguistics. The course is taught by Dr. Russell Rodrigo and aims to define linguistics, identify its scopes, examine language and linguistic concepts, and analyze language learning and acquisition. Students will be assessed through participation, discussions, assignments, and a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of course topics like syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics.
Sujata Bhatt is a poet born in India who has lived and studied in several countries. The poem "A Different History" explores the relationship between cultural identity and language. It compares Greek and Hindu gods and has a reverential attitude toward books in the first section. The second section shifts in mood with a rhetorical question and explores how languages have been used oppressively. The poem uses various techniques like repetition, metaphor, and explores themes of identity, language, religion and time.
The document discusses phonological awareness and its importance for reading development. It explains that exposure to oral language from birth allows children to explore sounds and words, which introduces cue systems to later assist with decoding text. Cue systems like grammar, pragmatics, semantics and syntax provide readers with strategies for comprehension and phonological awareness. The document then discusses various activities that can support phonics instruction and ensure students reach automaticity with sight words, allowing higher-level comprehension processes.
#5 was the only child and perhaps because of that I learned read.docxboadverna
#5
was the only child and perhaps because of that I learned reading and writing early. At first, I learned reading upside-down by watching my father read his newspaper and asking him about the headlines!
In Chapter 7, Ahearn presents to us research of Shirley Brice Heath on the socialization to literacy of preschoolers in three communities. How did you learn to read and write? Was your experience similar to that of the children from Maintown? From Roadville? From Trackton? Do you think the way literacy events and practices took place at your home helped you or hindered you when you started school? Make sure to address all the components of the topic in your post :)
sample
1)
I am a person who had quite a unique experience with books. I had a spectacular experience learning to read and write. Much of what I knew while young came from the lessons I received from my parents, especially my father. He was quite enthusiastic about teaching the letters of the alphabet. Going to pre-school also helped me become better at reading and writing. The singing of alphabetical letters and colors at pre-school made very easy for me to recognize the order and patterns of the alphabet.
However, my experience cannot be equated to that of the Maintown. I didn't have access to many books while growing up both at home at school. We relied so much on the charts made by our teachers in school to learn how to read and write. Things began changing as I got a little bit older as my father could come home with short story books of animal characters and read for me. I paid close attention as the stories were quite interesting and motivating. I remember trying so many times to read the books later. This experience lasted a while as I could still find it difficult reading and spelling certain words.
I believe I can relate more to the Roadville scenario as my pre-school had a few books that were having lots of pictures in them. These books helped a lot in learning how to read and write. On the same note, I can’t relate so much to Tackton as I was relatively familiar with words when I began pre-school. All thanks to the efforts of my dad.
2)
My parents were very big influences on my learning abilities as well the learning tools that they supplied me. When my parents dropped me off at daycare, our daycare provider, Linda, worked with all the kids on the basics which definitely helped as well. Not only did we have adult interaction but we also had other children there to help too. I also had an older sister that would help me and I looked up to her and wanted to be just like her so I would copy everything I could (numbers, letters, words).
My experience growing up was most similar to the Maintown children that Health studied. My family provided me with many books from birth (I am not sure if that is because they were hand-me-downs from my sister or what). Our bedroom was full of books like Dr. Suess. I believe that the literacy events and practices that took pla ...
This document outlines the agenda for an English 101 narrative writing class. It includes discussions on narrative genres, personal charts about an important person, writing about family languages, and blogging. Students will summarize an article in groups and answer discussion questions. They will learn about personal, fictional, and biographical narratives. The class will also discuss a reading titled "Outside, In" and watch a documentary on languages in America. For an assignment, students will blog about the languages in their families and brainstorm topics for a language awareness project.
The document discusses various topics related to language, including the core components of language (grammar, lexicon), how language is arbitrary, examples of arbitrariness and non-arbitrariness in language (onomatopoeia, sound symbolism), how sound symbolism helps in language acquisition and evolution, common misconceptions about language, and how linguists study language through examining ambiguity, ungrammaticality, sound structure and intuitions, and mistakes. It also provides examples to illustrate these concepts.
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It involves studying many aspects of language including its history, sound system, structure, meaning and how it is acquired. A linguistics course would cover topics such as morphology, syntax, phonetics, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. Studying linguistics provides valuable skills in logical thinking, problem solving, communication and understanding human behavior that are useful for a wide range of careers. Students find linguistics courses fascinating as they learn about language development and the workings of their own and other languages.
LIN101 introduces students to the field of linguistics. The course is taught by Dr. Russell Rodrigo and aims to define linguistics, identify its scopes, examine language and linguistic concepts, and analyze language learning and acquisition. Students will be assessed through participation, discussions, assignments, and a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of course topics like syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics.
Sujata Bhatt is a poet born in India who has lived and studied in several countries. The poem "A Different History" explores the relationship between cultural identity and language. It compares Greek and Hindu gods and has a reverential attitude toward books in the first section. The second section shifts in mood with a rhetorical question and explores how languages have been used oppressively. The poem uses various techniques like repetition, metaphor, and explores themes of identity, language, religion and time.
The document discusses phonological awareness and its importance for reading development. It explains that exposure to oral language from birth allows children to explore sounds and words, which introduces cue systems to later assist with decoding text. Cue systems like grammar, pragmatics, semantics and syntax provide readers with strategies for comprehension and phonological awareness. The document then discusses various activities that can support phonics instruction and ensure students reach automaticity with sight words, allowing higher-level comprehension processes.
#5 was the only child and perhaps because of that I learned read.docxboadverna
#5
was the only child and perhaps because of that I learned reading and writing early. At first, I learned reading upside-down by watching my father read his newspaper and asking him about the headlines!
In Chapter 7, Ahearn presents to us research of Shirley Brice Heath on the socialization to literacy of preschoolers in three communities. How did you learn to read and write? Was your experience similar to that of the children from Maintown? From Roadville? From Trackton? Do you think the way literacy events and practices took place at your home helped you or hindered you when you started school? Make sure to address all the components of the topic in your post :)
sample
1)
I am a person who had quite a unique experience with books. I had a spectacular experience learning to read and write. Much of what I knew while young came from the lessons I received from my parents, especially my father. He was quite enthusiastic about teaching the letters of the alphabet. Going to pre-school also helped me become better at reading and writing. The singing of alphabetical letters and colors at pre-school made very easy for me to recognize the order and patterns of the alphabet.
However, my experience cannot be equated to that of the Maintown. I didn't have access to many books while growing up both at home at school. We relied so much on the charts made by our teachers in school to learn how to read and write. Things began changing as I got a little bit older as my father could come home with short story books of animal characters and read for me. I paid close attention as the stories were quite interesting and motivating. I remember trying so many times to read the books later. This experience lasted a while as I could still find it difficult reading and spelling certain words.
I believe I can relate more to the Roadville scenario as my pre-school had a few books that were having lots of pictures in them. These books helped a lot in learning how to read and write. On the same note, I can’t relate so much to Tackton as I was relatively familiar with words when I began pre-school. All thanks to the efforts of my dad.
2)
My parents were very big influences on my learning abilities as well the learning tools that they supplied me. When my parents dropped me off at daycare, our daycare provider, Linda, worked with all the kids on the basics which definitely helped as well. Not only did we have adult interaction but we also had other children there to help too. I also had an older sister that would help me and I looked up to her and wanted to be just like her so I would copy everything I could (numbers, letters, words).
My experience growing up was most similar to the Maintown children that Health studied. My family provided me with many books from birth (I am not sure if that is because they were hand-me-downs from my sister or what). Our bedroom was full of books like Dr. Suess. I believe that the literacy events and practices that took pla ...
This document outlines the agenda for an English 101 narrative writing class. It includes discussions on narrative genres, personal charts about an important person, writing about family languages, and blogging. Students will summarize an article in groups and answer discussion questions. They will learn about personal, fictional, and biographical narratives. The class will also discuss a reading titled "Outside, In" and watch a documentary on languages in America. For an assignment, students will blog about the languages in their families and brainstorm topics for a language awareness project.
The document discusses various topics related to language, including the core components of language (grammar, lexicon), how language is arbitrary, examples of arbitrariness and non-arbitrariness in language (onomatopoeia, sound symbolism), how sound symbolism helps in language acquisition and evolution, common misconceptions about language, and how linguists study language through examining ambiguity, ungrammaticality, sound structure and intuitions, and mistakes. It also provides examples to illustrate these concepts.
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It involves studying many aspects of language including its history, sound system, structure, meaning and how it is acquired. A linguistics course would cover topics such as morphology, syntax, phonetics, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. Studying linguistics provides valuable skills in logical thinking, problem solving, communication and understanding human behavior that are useful for a wide range of careers. Students find linguistics courses fascinating as they learn about language development and the workings of their own and other languages.
The document discusses language and punctuation. It begins by explaining how humans communicate through developed language, with sentences typically having a subject and predicate. It then discusses some key differences and similarities between English, Hindi, and Tamil regarding parts of speech, grammar rules, and punctuation. Specifically, it notes that while languages all convey information in sentences, they may differ in things like whether they have adjectives. It also explains how English uses punctuation more frequently than some other languages to show pauses and changes in meaning.
The document discusses the benefits of learning a second language. It argues that all U.S. students should be required to learn a second language as there are many cognitive, cultural, and economic benefits. Bilingualism can expand one's vocabulary, provide cultural understanding, and improve job prospects as more positions require or prefer multilingual candidates. For the U.S. to have meaningful cross-cultural exchange, more effort needs to be put into teaching and using second languages.
The document discusses issues of voice in second language writing. It includes comments from several participants in a discussion on how L2 writers' voices are shaped by their cultural backgrounds and experiences with different discourse communities. Some key points discussed are: how assertions may come across differently across cultures; the need to balance fostering students' voices with meeting audience expectations; and the idea that learning a new language involves taking on aspects of that language's culture and rhetoric.
This document provides an overview of the field of linguistics and why it is worth studying. It does this through a series of questions about language that are answered using different subfields of linguistics, such as semantics, syntax, phonetics, and language acquisition. The document demonstrates how linguistics can provide insights into language variation over time, irregular spelling patterns, sentence structure, meaning, grammar, and the human ability to acquire language from a young age. It also discusses career opportunities related to studying linguistics and examples of linguistics course content and structures.
The document discusses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity, which proposes that the language we speak influences our thoughts and worldview. It provides a brief history of the hypothesis and its developers, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf. Examples are given of how aspects like verb tenses, social relationships, and word order are structured differently across languages and thus shape perspectives in culturally unique ways. The implementation of linguistic relativity in language teaching and issues with translation between languages with differing thought patterns are also examined.
Sujata Bhatt is a poet born in India in 1956 whose multicultural perspectives stem from her experiences living in several countries. She was born in India speaking Gujarati, studied in Britain and the US, taught in Canada, and now lives in Germany. The poem "A Different History" explores the relationship between cultural identity and language through comparing Greek and Hindu gods and attitudes toward books. It shifts mood in the second section to question which languages have been tools of oppression.
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The objectives of this course are to understand what makes language uniquely human and the similarities and differences between languages. Some key questions include how humans produce and distinguish sounds, how words and sentences are formed, and the relationship between language and the brain. The document discusses differences between human and animal communication systems, including that human languages have discrete infinity, displacement, and joint attention. Sign languages are considered full human languages. While most humans have language abilities, in rare cases individuals have been deprived of language due to various impairments. The evolutionary origins of language abilities in humans are debated. There are approximately 6,000-7,000 languages currently, though many are endangered or undocumented. Linguists study languages through various methods like archives,
The document discusses techniques for improving student writing through modeling and instruction. It emphasizes adding sensory details, elaboration, and varied sentence structure. Teachers are encouraged to write in front of students and think aloud to model the writing process. Rubrics are examined to clarify what qualities like content, organization and style mean for students. Suggestions are provided for lessons focusing on voice, word choice, sentence fluency and other elements.
This document summarizes the agenda and content covered in a workshop on language development and acquisition. The workshop discusses syntax and orthography, the connections between reading, writing and oral language, analyzing a learner's oral language, and looking at reading and writing development. It covers analyzing and coding a language sample, categorizing parts of speech, how syntax impacts meaning, teaching grammar, the differences between spoken and written language, and strategies to support spelling.
Language is a complex system of communication that is unique to humans. It uses various systematic elements like sound and grammar to convey meaning. Sound patterns take on meaning when combined according to the rules of a language's grammar, where word order is critical. As a symbolic system, language evolves over time as new words are introduced and meanings of words change, allowing humans to articulate thought.
This document provides an overview of an introductory linguistics course being offered at Boğaziçi University in summer 2019. It introduces the instructor, Dr. Konstantinos Sampanis, and provides information about grading, required readings, and an outline of course topics. The course will cover the main subfields of linguistics including morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics, phonology, and linguistic typology. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, assignments, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Readings will be taken from the textbook "An Introduction to Language" and additional materials will be made available online.
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This summary discusses George Orwell's view on the relationship between thought and language as expressed in his essay "Politics and the English Language".
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3. For Orwell, clear and honest political thought needed to be expressed through straightforward language using clear meanings and without nonsense phrases. He felt improving writing standards could help clarity in political life.
This document provides guidance for an assignment to create a literacy lesson that embeds comprehension and language development. The lesson must be based on an authentic text and include the following elements: objectives for both content and language, a rationale that references students' needs and professional literature, and a list of required materials. The objectives should link comprehension to an academic language structure beyond just vocabulary. The rationale must reflect knowledge of language and literacy development for the target grade level and student population.
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Ang Wee Jin_MEL924_Assignment 3_Teaching Poetry Moves.pptx
1. Poetry
Moves
and Talks
I S I T Y O U M O V I N G A N D T A L K I N G ?
O R S O M E T H I N G E L S E ?
LITERATURE FOR SEC 4s
For the purpose of MEL924: World Literature
Ang Wee Jin (Hong Weiren) / NIE
2. Let’s try a short game here
Get into groups of fours.
This is a point system.
Each question answered will cause you to add points or deduct points from the total
group score.
Assign one person to keep track of the points.
TUNING IN
4. Question 1
How many languages can you speak in total, among your group members?
For each language, add 1 point
You need to at least hold a decent conversation to count.
Dialects are counted.
No, Singlish is not counted, unfortunately and neither are vulgarities.
5. Question 2
How many languages do you have to deal with every day?
For each language, award a point.
6. Question 3
How many languages do you have issues with, in your everyday life?
For each language, award a point.
7. Question 4
What language to do you think in?
For English, add one point.
For non-English languages, add two points.
Be honest here.
You may add more points for each additional language.
9. Results
1 to 20 Your group lives in a rather monolingual world. You are pretty much the
language that you are familiar with, and while there is depth, it will be good if you
can explore the different tongues.
21 to 40 Your group seems pretty mired in a monolingual world but inflected
with a language presumably as an appendage and most likely for functional or work
purposes. Either you are a beginner or you do not really need the language other
than for work.
41 and above Your group likes to explore languages and often more than two. You
live in a multilingual world and gets exposed to the vibrancy of the different
linguistic forms, making your world an exciting yet likely confusing linguistic world.
10. ACCESS the introduction
TO THIS LESSON now
https://worldlitmusings.blogspot.com/2023/02/world-literature-and-
globalisation.html
Then Read the poems
ALOUD
11. Language and Identity – Search
Let’s look at Sujata Bhatt’s Search for My Tongue now.
What does she mean when she says she had ‘two tongues in your mouth’?
Do we as Singaporeans hold two tongues effectively? What are you predisposed to?
Is it English? Or Singlish?
Which one is Bhatt’s foreign tongue, which one is her mother tongue?
Is there a good reason why she does not write in rhyming verses?
Which sentence do you resonate strongly with? Why?
12. Language and Identity – Search
Why does Bhatt lapse into non-English verses nearing the end?
Structure and Form
Why does Bhatt use ‘you’?
What are the literary devices employed to render the poem more effectively?
13. Language and Identity – Lost
Let’s look at Esther Vincent’s poem, Lost Tongue now.
Is there a resemblance in the title of the poem to Bhatt’s? Why so?
Which poem is more promising, more upbeat? How do you know?
What does this tell us about the two poets’ character?
What are the literary devices employed to render the poem more effectively?
14. Language and Identity – Lost
Are there similarities in the structure and form between the two poems?
How do the various poets we have seen so far position themselves in the context of
the shifting linguistic junctions they are physically in, based on their metaphors?
15. Language and Identity – Search (your Own identity)
Over to You
Who do you identify with more? Bhatt or Vincent?
16. Language and Identity – Lost and Found
How do you use language to identify yourself?
Do you stick to one language or do you mix languages to express yourself?
Do you feel it as an affront when people accuse you of not being able to speak your
mother tongue?
18. Language and Identity – Medusa, the Beast within
Let’s look at Carol Ann Duffy’s Medusa now.
Duffy is obviously describing the Medusa, but to what can it be alluded to now?
She too, addresses a ‘you’ like Bhatt, so who is the ‘you’ now?
Why is this poem relevant to our discussion on language and identity?
19. Language and Identity – Medusa, the Beast within
What are the literary devices employed to accentuate the slant and meaning of the
poem?
How does it lend itself to a richer interpretation of the poem?
21. Points of Discussion
How do you feel when you hear Singlish being used like this?
Should Singlish be recognized?
How do you feel when we have Singlish words imprinted on souvenirs for tourists?
Do you think you will teach foreigners how to speak Singlish?
22. End
Take the time to ponder what we have discussed.
Link back to the title of the slides.
Is it really you moving and talking? Or is it your choice of language when you
express yourself?
Lastly, do you think you are able to craft a simple poem on your language and your
identity?
23. References
(ed.) Vincent, E., Ang, A., Poon, A., Loh C.E. (2020) Poetry Moves. Singapore: Ethos
Books.
Mr Brown. (2015). The mrbrown show: Republic of Singlish Air Force: the movie.
Video. Youtube. https://youtu.be/3EjqHxLtwSQ
Tropic Monsters. (2019). English vs. Singlish phrases. Video. Youtube.
https://youtu.be/uByyHDXlEqM
Editor's Notes
The whole point of the game is to bring the students’ attention to the intricacies and acrobatics involved subconsciously during our interaction with the linguistic environment around us, especially in multicultural Singapore. This calls on a more conscious effort to decide on which language to engage our listeners and our choice is dependent on many factors, one of which is how we choose to present ourselves and the language we are intimately connected with, which may not be the language in the Home.
Having two tongues will mean that she speaks two languages, although at the later part of the poem, she thought she had forgotten her Mother tongue and retains only English, her foreign tongue. Yet, it is with English that she writes and speaks more often, and while foreign as contrasted with her Mother tongue, the irony is, the functionalities are reversed, and the foreign tongue becomes native to her.
As Singaporeans, we are educated based on the bilingual policy, but the methodology and current practice is such that we tend to be predisposed to English as the unifying and working tongue, and falling short of it, will mean many are stuck with the basilect, the Singlish variant we are now comfortable with due to the mass usage by the general populace.
Thus, rhyming verses will mean succumbing to officialdom and paying heed to the formality of the language which Bhatt tries now to veer away from.
So as the poem moves on, the transition into Gujarati indicates a shift into a crescendo, her latent language now bubbling to the surface via the dream similar to how our hidden desires or fears rise to the surface in dreams, such that she now converses entirely in Gujarati, although alienating the reader in that respect, while we look on as an onlooker, a spectacle to the proud flaunting of an exotic Oriental but heartfelt rendition of what she feels.
Bhatt uses ‘you’ throughout, locking the audience into a dialogue with her and reinstating the focus. She accuses, ‘You ask me what I mean, by saying I have lost my tongue’, yet the reader changes all the time and will not be the same person she accuses of. This constant shift of readers inflects it with a flitting character, as though she could not pinpoint who is the original accuser. In so saying, there is no specific face she can locate or shift the blame to. It may very well be her imagining or her own subconscious at work.
The Literary devices and its resultant effect
Alliteration: Two tongues
Repeated emphasis: You had to spit it out
I thought I spit it out
aakhee jeebh aakhee
A certain cadence is introduced to bring in a steady pulse to the accusations brought forward. She is sure of it, no doubt, but so is her rising resistance to that blame.
Metaphor:
Using the idea of a flower as the tongue, it now grows, with bud opens, blossoms and flourishes when she least expects it, much like how a plant defy all odds to survive and lie dormant until conditions are right for it to germinate.
The ‘you’ in Bhatt’s poem seem to be directed primarily at Vincent, who responds in kind although referring to her as a third person instead, ‘Just as Sujata Bhatt searched‘, so she grapples with the desire to ‘fill my mouth’ but finds herself floundering with the inadequacies of translation, being situated right in the heart of the foreign language and her mother tongue relegated to the peripheries. Exoticised by the ‘sacredness’, Vincent attempts to understand the curly graphemes, a common trait with Singaporean students especially of Chinese origin who had to make sense of the myriad characters that make up the Chinese language, a linguistic endeavor that bears no significance to their lives since the operating language here is English.
In this way, Vincent speaks back to Bhatt, telling her that while the want is there, the reality is, the language of their Mother remains ultimately, foreign, While beautiful, it is in passing and admired from a distance, and while it may seem sorrowful to some, it is merely regretful it cannot be more to Vincent, the lament just a passing wistful nostalgia in Vincent’s case, as compared to Bhatt who rejoices in Gujarati in the end and exults in it. Vincent could only cite an idiom at that and nothing more, a packaged phrase which is transient at best, just like the crane.
Vincent titles her poem ‘Lost’and accurately depicts her relationship to the Mother Tongue. Much as she wants to reconnect, she is lost in translation, her inadequacies highlighted by the repeated questioning to ownself, ‘How do I translate…How can I make sense?’Compared to Bhatt who is on the ‘Search’, Vincent has in other words, given up and labels herself as ‘Lost’.
The use of metaphors and blank verse all combine to conjure a strong imagery for us to anchor onto. The impact of the search and the subsequent loss of the Tongue is intertwined with how each poet perceives the language to be for them. In Bhatt, it is a burgeoning plant, dormant and ready to sprout at the mere detection of water. For Vincent, it is a crane, ready to take flight, a passing fancy reorientalised and nothing more than that.
How do the students view their Mother Tongue to be like? What sort of objects would they allude to? Draw out their thoughts on this.
Different people will identify differently with their own sociolinguistic experiences. This slide aims to elicit and draw on the different experiences with bilingualism and multilingualism in Singapore and the education landscape. With the ambivalent views towards our Mother Tongue, it is inevitable that the discussion will draw out issues in learning and questioning the functionalities of the second language. Should bilingualism continue then? What is our identity if we stop the use of our Mother Tongue? Are we less ethnic if we do not speak the original tongue?
Get students to share their sentiments.
How is this understood in multicultural Singapore?
In the wake of Postcolonialist Singapore, we are faced with this declining trend in upholding or speaking of the Mother Tongue, giving rise regularly to what they call the banana, yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Similar to Franz Fanon’s Black Skin White Mask situation in France, we too, face a dilemma when caught in a linguistic quagmire of straddling two and more languages with lambasts of not being able to master either. Often substituting Chinese words for English terms, we find ourselves neither here nor there, adopting a cosmopolitan identity since we have none to begin with. If Singapore had intended for globalization to be embraced in order to make economic leaps for the country, we have exceeded ourselves in taking on that globalized identity where we are Earthlings more than any citizen per se. We are indeed a Global Chimera, a Medusa of the Nation’s making, frightening yet beautiful, menacing yet unique.
Ask students, how do they feel when they hear Singlish being used.
Are there any references they can make to other texts that bear similar plotlines?
Duffy’s Medusa addresses the reader as the male creator, Victor Frankenstein, the one who created the product yet disdains and pushes away in horror the being of his creation. Medusa can be alluded to the hybridized multilingual being called a Singaporean, one who situates his or her identity everywhere and nowhere, among the world denizens yet belonging to no particular country from the languages he or she speaks.
As much as the city-state tries to mold us in a fashion that embraces the world and hence the ability to integrate with the economy, we take a life on our own and dispossess the language of our Mothers to fully embrace the colonial tongue. Yet it is with this tongue that we set foot in the world and carve out a name for ourselves in the world‘s image. This is the inherent power we now possess.
So while Duffy’s interlocutors in the poem may seem like the traditional white patriarchal male, it can be extended to mean the government of Singapore, and we are the Medusas of the nation. As the poem goes, ‘Love gone bad showed me a Gorgon.’We are long past the mild dewy-eyed citizens, pandering after linguistic campaigns of ‘Speak Good English’ and ‘Speak Mandarin’. Everywhere on the streets, one will hear the economies of Singlish being uttered. And like that dragon, whose ‘fire spewed from the mouth of a mountain’, so too, do we blast out Singlish at an accelerated pace and cadence with ill regard of who is around us.
Call on the students to identify the sensory experiences in the poem.
Sounds are rampant in the poem, a stark contrast to the silence that follows after the petrification of the object. From buzzing bees, to singing birds, shatters of bowls and snuffling pigs, all will give way to an empty silence. Much like how we may very well fall silent if we insist on our Mother Tongue being used, instead of the Colonial language we are now so used to. The imageries of sound is juxtaposed with the poetic rhyming, although each rhyme seems to be depressing and insulting (ground, down, brick, pig, shit). And yet the power is reclaimed at the end, when the narrator invokes a strong imagery of the knight coming to slay the dragon, yet possibly failing to do so. In this way, she changes tack and challenges the interlocutor to bring his weapons and taunts him with his memories of what she had been, to that end, to look into her eyes and possibly turn into stone himself. Continuing the metaphor of the Knight as the Patriarchal, the Official, the Government, ultimately he will fall prey to his beloved creation, calling on his Gaze to ‘Look at me now’, a command absolutely mesmerizing and yet terrifying, a fear amalgamated with lust.
While Singlish can alienate others in the face of colliding cultures, it is viewed ambivalently among Singaporeans. Like many languages in other countries, the unifying factor of a vernacular uniquely ours instills a nationalistic pride when confronted with globalization. This rallies us and nationalistic emotions come to the fore. Is it good?
There is this danger of reorientalism, our basilect being appropriated for flippant reasons, to entertain and to be a laughing point.
Encourage the students to pen a reflection on what was discussed in class. This may evoke more thoughts on what language means to their identity, and how it presupposes their representation of themselves as a person and the society he is from.
To challenge the students, pose them this task of following the footsteps of using blank verse and metaphors or other literary devices they can think of to narrate their struggles with their linguistic experiences.