Encountering Conflict revision

Hi everyone,

Congratulations on finishing the coursework for Year 12 English.

We will be using the following weeks to revise what we have covered throughout the year.

Last week I read you an article about using ORIGINAL outside resources to support your argument.

After reading your essays  I am delighted to see some people are doing this already.

Here’s a few conflicts to get you thinking…

 

If you need some more background on Syria, here is a  timeline.

If you are a visual person check out this website . It looks at the Syrian conflict in through photos.

How could this conflict be used in your writing? If you are discussing war look at this conflict as an alternative to WWI and WWII. Introducing and exploring these other conflicts will add breadth to your writing.

 

Russia has recently experienced an increase in violence towards homosexual individuals with the outlawing of what is deemed to be ‘homosexual propaganda’.

Here is a news article  on this conflict, or watch the video embedded below.

 

Reading your essays I can see that a few students have used the African- American civil rights movement to support their writing.

Gain a new perspective of this conflict by looking at 1968 Olympics

 

 

This story has an Australian aspect to it as Peter Norman, an Australian athlete, supported these men in their stance by wearing a civil rights badge. He experienced a backlash as a result of his actions when he returned home.

 

 

Here are a few interesting stories from news source Al Jazeera

‘Germany Tries 92 – year – old for Nazi War Crimes

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/09/201392132937869457.html

While this is about WWII it is a different perspective on the matter and would be particularly useful to discuss in relation to a prompt on the resolution of conflict.

 

Here’s one, that’s a little closer to home,

‘No beer logo for Australian Muslim cricketer’

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/09/201392225114485858.html

This might make for a good discussion around priorities and intrapersonal conflict.

You could also look at the conflicts surrounding advertising alcohol in sport.

 

Take the time to find outside resources that are original. Their incorporation will enhance the quality and insight of your pieces, making them stand out.

Keep up the great effort guys!

 

Laura

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Movie Suggestion

Hi All,

Here’s a great movie suggestion from Callum.

Reading Cosi reminded him of this film.

Check out the trailer and think about how the film portrays individuals in an asylum and any parallels you see with Nowra’s play.

 

 

Cosi – An Introduction

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well and enjoyed the production of Cosi last week.

The production marked the start of our study of Louis Nowra’s play Cosi.

Cosi is being studied as a text response so we need to study the text in a holistic way so we understand the themes, the devices used by Nowra and the characters.

Some of the things we will be looking at today are:

• Cosi Fan Tute, Mozart’s Opera
• The context of the novel (Vietnam war, feminism, perceptions of mental health)
• The writing techniques employed by Nowra (the use of a play within a play, the language devices)
• Love
• Fidelity and infidelity
• Illusion and reality
• The characters, including their identities and how they change throughout the play

ABC Sunday School : Cosi

Cosi movie trailer (1996)

Nowra’s play is about the inmates of a mental asylum performing Mozart’s comedic opera, Cosi Fan Tutte. The opera was over three hours long and was performed in Italian. It looks at love and infidelity, particularly in women.

Part of Mozart’s Opera

The world of 1971

What do you imagine it was like?

Melbourne in 1966.

While we are looking at 1971 this is still a useful video as some of the ideals were very similar. The 60s influenced the 70s and the revolutions and political and social actions taken in the 70s were a direct response to the 60s.

Home video of Australian family in 1970

What do you notice about the world of these two videos?

The Vietnam War

Overview of Australia’s participation in the Vietnam War

Melbourne in response to the War

Songs about the Vietnam War

The feminist movement of the 60s and 70s

Free love and infidelity

Mental Health

Literary devices used by Nowra

Have a think about these questions

Who is the protagonist?

How does the plot evolve?

How is the plot affected by the setting?

What effect do the characters have on the plot?

What are the opposing forces of the play?

Why do you think Nowra uses a play within a play?

As we begin to read the play we will look at the literary techniques used by Nowra in his writing.

 

 

 

More on Paradise Road

Hi guys,

I know we are moving onto Cosi but here’s a little sound bite from the ABC to help you revise Paradise Road.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/09/23/3596114.htm?site=melbourne

Laura

Introduction to Paradise Road

Hi All,

On Thursday you will be viewing Bruce Beresford’s Paradise Road.

This post features some different sources to develop context around the themes of the movie.

Understanding the context will make the movie more meaningful therefore enhancing your work.

Let’s get some background information on the second World War.

Below is a video that gives you a pretty decent overview of what happened and the reasons as to why.

Unlike most movies about the second world war, Paradise Road concerns itself specifically with The Pacific War. This link will give you a good idea of how the events of WWII all fit in. And here is a map of Sumatra if  geography isn’t your forte.

I know it’s poor form to use Wikipedia but this is a good visual representation of the Allies vs Axis.

Paradise Road is based on real events, we know this from the ‘bookends’ at the beginning and end of the film.
The movie is inspired by the recounts of  surviving female POWs, in particular the book White Coolies by Australian nurse Betty Jeffrey. Jeffrey kept a secret diary when she was help prisoner by the Japanese. The book went on to become a radio serial. See the link below to listen.

‘White Coolies’ radio serial

Trailer for Paradise Road

Can we make a connection of the happenings in the movie to today’s society?

Let’s look at the Declaration of Human Rights.

What rights have been abused?

Are these same rights abused today?

Paradise Road is a prime example of how characters can grow after they encounter conflict.

In Go Back To Where You Came From, we also witness character growth.

How has the conflict they have encountered in conjunction to their response affected the consequence of their personal development?

Go Back To Where You Came From, changed perceptions

A little more on Galileo…

Below are some links to biographies on Galileo.
They are important for you to read as they look at his life and his relationships.

As we all agreed in our first lesson, conflict is an inevitable part of life and therefore this insight into Galileo as a person may demonstrate the lasting consequences of previous conflicts.

Here are a few questions to get you thinking,

Who is Virginia’s mother?
Why is she never mentioned?
Why does Mrs Sarti stay with Galileo during the plague? Why is she so loyal?

This is a very informative biography

Follow up with this

Now armed with this information think about the conflicts that Galileo encountered in his life before we meet him in the text.

What were the consequences of his past actions?

How have they changed him as a person?

Is it for better or for worse?

Share you insights in a comment for this post.

Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority

Hi all,

VCAA are the folks who set and grade your exams at the end of the year. They are also the people that work out your score. Therefore, it would make sense to get friendly with their criteria and what they expect to see of you.
Here is the link to their page for VCE English. Just in case you weren’t sure, you are studying units 3 and 4. From this page you can have a look at sample essays, what I as your teacher should be teaching you and examiner assessment reports from previous years (it looks at what areas students need improving in).
I strongly urge you to check this page out. Ultimately it will provide you with direction and give you some clear pointers of what examiners are wanting to see.

Student Directed Learning Activity 1

Hi everyone,

Here is your first Student Direct Learning activity.

We’ve been focusing  a lot on the different types of conflict and using this knowledge to identify them within a context. However, we are going to start to look at how we encounter conflict.

Watch the video that Josh found for us. The lyrics can be found here

Written as a comment to this post you are to discuss the types of conflict and how the individuals/groups react to the conflict. I also want you to investigate the consequences as a result of being part of the conflict.
Please discuss with reference to this video and lyrics in 150 – 200 words.

Remember this analysis will be read and recorded by Josh and myself. It should be completed by Tuesday 7th May.

Looking forward to your responses,

Laura

Types of Conflict

Hi guys,

Here’s a quick recap  of what we covered on Tuesday.

We agreed that conflict is a disagreement, a clash or a difference of opinion between two or more parties.

We also agreed that most conflicts can be resolved if all parties are willing to reach a resolution.

Some key words we threw around related to conflict resolution were

– empathy

– compromise

– understanding

Types of Conflict

There are three main types of conflict.

They are:

Intrapersonal: This is relating to oneself. It means an inner conflict and the person is required to make a decision. Inner conflict is important as it can help people grow and learn more about who they are.

Interpersonal: This is conflict relating to other people. It can be with friends, your family or two different groups.

Extra-personal: This is conflict relating to our surrounds and society. It may involve the environments we exist in or the institutions we are part of.

These three terms are our umbrella headings under which we can group the following conflicts based on the context of the scenario.

Religious: Religious conflict is regarding conflicts surrounding faith.

The article from last week’s post is a good example of religious conflict.

This type of conflict can be further broken down to

Extra-personal: when people from other faiths are discriminated against. For example: various Holy wars throughout history.

Personal: When a person questions their own faith.

Faith becomes central to a person’s sense of self and wellbeing. Therefore, if an person’s religion or faith is attacked they may perceive the attack to be on them as an individual.

As a result, religious conflict is one of the hardest conflicts to resolve as it is so deeply rooted in who we are and the importance it has in our lives.

Political: This type of conflict involves governmental powers. This conflict can deal with the use of military power enforced by the government against its own people, therefore creating civil unrest and resentment.

Discrimination by the majority (most governments represent a majority. Think of our political system and how the majority vote is elected prime minister) against a minority which demonstrates an abuse of governmental power.

Economic factors are also considered political conflict in terms of trades between different countries and political structures. Think of the cold war and the embargoes placed by the US on Cuba.

From this we can see that political conflict can occur within a country (civil war), between two countries or even between a group of countries (WWII, the Allies vs Axis).

Cultural: Last week we defined culture as a group’s set of shared values, beliefs and ideologies that inform their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours.

We  said that culture was the most pervasive aspect of our lives, it is part of our identity. We act in accordance to our culture without even knowing it.

We also agreed that cultural conflict is strongly tied to religion and political conflict. This is because both religion and the political structure we have grown up in add to our sense of culture. Since our culture informs all we do we, our perception and stance during a conflict is usually informed by our cultural beliefs.

Cultural conflict can be seen in the following contexts:

Generationally: Often grandparents, parents and children have different cultures to each other and from this rises conflict.

Racism: Racism can result due a lack of understanding of a another person’s culture.

As cultural conflict is a founded on an intolerance or ignorance of the other, the only way in which it can be resolved is with an openness to understanding and acceptance.

Social: Is a clash between opposing powers in a particular society.

Different values are upheld by different social groups and their agreement or disagreement with the social authority.

Social class and social status can strongly impact the social conflict a person experiences within their society. Individuals who feel they are of a lower class due to systematic reasons may rebel or retaliate against the social forces that hold them there (think of the London riots).

Compromise is necessary to resolve social conflict, however threats may be used to manipulate an outcome to favour one side.

We noticed that often in one scenario we can identify more than one type of conflict. This tells us that these different kinds of conflicts are often interrelated in a situation (think back to the videos we watched in class).

Keep this information in mind as we read Life of Galileo to help you generate a strong understanding of conflict in context.

Conflict in the context of music.

Big thanks to Krystal for suggesting this great thought-provoking song.
What conflicts are present in the context of this song?