On page 77 of Skillful Reading and Writing, the topic of fear is introduced in a unit with the same title. As usual, Roger and Wilkins open with a large photograph and some discussion points 2013). We will do that discussion here on our class blog. Clicking the image on the right will show it full size.
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Discuss these questions in a comment below.
There are also some useful language suggestions included in the image. You might like to use some of those expressions in your comments.
- Who are some of the most famous people or national heroes in your country? Are they writers, politicians, athletes, ... ?
- One of the most famous people is .... He/She is a ...
- ... is a national hero. He/She was ...
- What are the stories about these people? Does everyone believe these stories?
- One well-known story about ... is ...
- Most people believe this, but ...
- Why do you think the facts in stories sometimes get changed?
- The facts can change because ...
You have ten minutes total to respond to the questions here. For the next ten minutes, do not open any book or look at any other website. We are responding to the questions, not writing an essay or doing a research project.
Your writing might be more fluent if you do not interrupt it by adding numbers. It is not important in what order you address the questions, or even whether you cover all of them. Their purpose is to serve as prompts to start you thinking.
Your writing might be more fluent if you do not interrupt it by adding numbers. It is not important in what order you address the questions, or even whether you cover all of them. Their purpose is to serve as prompts to start you thinking.
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Reference
The most famous people I though of in stories are Achilles and Ned Kelly. Achilles is the original Western hero. He is the star of Homer's Iliad, the first great piece of Western literature, probably dating from around 800 BC and relating much older events, perhaps around 1,200 BC. Some years ago, this story was turned into a short movie version starring Brad Pitt. Pitt's Achilles was done reasonably well, although he's a bit more decent than Homer's version. The story of the battle for Troy, which lasted for years, is apparently based on historical fact: archaeologists have discovered the site of the ancient city of Troy, and our knowledge of archaic Greek history is consistent. But it's obvious that the story was greatly modified in the centuries before it was first written down in what was already a classic by the time of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The obvious changes are the gods, who regularly come to aid of their favourite heroes in the battle, some helping Troy's Hector and others helping Achilles. But the events have almost certainly also been altered to turn the heroes into models that fit the growing democratic ideals of the Western world, which set it apart from the Eastern cultures around it, including Troy, in modern day Turkey.
ReplyDeleteNew Kelly is a very different sort of hero. He is a famous Australian bush ranger, who had many adventures against the his enemies, the evil state authorities of the government intent loyally serving the rich and powerful. It is easy to see why Ned Kelly, a criminal, became a hero in Austgralian culture. But does the real ,the historical, Ned Kelly deserve admiration? The known facts , and the likely facts, suggest not.
So achilies story is true.That's new to me. When i was a kid i also watched them in Thai comic version of course. I'm not much a fan of movies even today. I would rather watch series and animations. Anyway now i have forgetten what the acilles story was all about. The thing for sure he died because someone shot his foot.
DeleteThat he died from an arrow shot to the foot is impossible to confirm today, but it makes a great story. In fact, his death is not told in HOmer, that is a later addition to the story of the battle for Troy.
DeleteOccasionally one of my classes reads part of Book 18 of the Iliad. It's an exciting story that tells us a lot about the archaic Greek world view and their ideas about gods and so on, which are very different to later stories about gods and heroes.
Homer appears to have believed that the world was flat, but a few centuries later, in ancient Greece, it was known to be a sphere, and the gods were coming in for some very critical assessment, although Homer has never dimmed in importance.
Last term, I has done some of greek art just one week before the end of term and I have come accross Homer. The first thing that I can think of is homer simpson. Still, I learnt so much about greek art and period.
DeleteHomer Simpson is good for a bit of light relaxation, although a lot of Harvard students in law courses also rate his artistic merit as high.
DeleteNow that I think about it when I was studying in high-school there were a couple of books about Greek myths. At that time I also read them
DeleteOne of the most famous people is the king of Thailand who protected country from the invation of army from Burma at around 300-400 years ago(i don't know how to spell his name). His story was made into a movie that was released 2 years ago and I had the chance to watch this with my school on the school trip. One well-known story about him is that he pretect Thai people from Burma army who wanted to control people of Thailand. However, this is the point of view of Thai people. We never know who is the starter of this war and who really the "bad". Just because Thailand won the war, it doesn't mean we are the good-side. The fact can change because we are the one who wrote our story. "History is always written by the winners." Still Burmese people have their own story just like us who have our own story.
ReplyDeleteI like Phu's idea that it can be instructive, educational and informative, to look at the same story of something from a different perspective.
DeleteI'm sure that the Nazis, and the majority of the German people who supported them, had a very different opinion about the "cleaning out the social garbage" than did the Western allies. Duterte was right to compare himself to Hitler and Nazis in his morally repugnant war against some groups of his own citizens.
People are afraid of Hitler and his ideaology since he is the one who started the holocause, killing millions of people. Also, he is the one who started the world war 2. Although the method is similar, people view Hitler as a cruel dictator who kill Jew just because he wnat to; in contrast, killing drug dealer seems like a good way to make Philippines better. For me there is better way to help drug addict.
DeleteHere is very good video on a war with drug : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg
I agree with you.In my opinion the most famous people to me in Thailand is the King,although i am a foreigner in Thailand,but i can feel the respect of Thailand people to King and queen of this country,and what i know about King is that he is the longest currently king in the world,he had done many thing for Thai people and during his reign,the people always very happy when they thinking of their king.
DeleteKing Naresuan is a national hero. He was one of the greatest king ever. He fought with king of Myanmar for the freedom of Ayutaya then he established new country called Thonbury.
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone truely believes that this story is real and so do I. Most people believe this, but we can not really prove that all of the details about this story are real because it was happened about 400 years ago. The facts can change because some people might change the fact about it easily by the time passed by people who knew about the real story are all dead.
"The facts can change": is this right?
DeleteThis remind me about a myth. The word that we learnt yesterday.
DeleteAlthough many book recorded many great stories about King Naresuan, it's opinion that come from one side and could be changed in the future.
I think nowadays people still believe that King Naresuan's story is true because a few years ago there is big movies about King Naresuan and this movies are very successful. It show that King Naresuan still be a hero of Thai people.
DeleteAe's comment also reminds me of the changing ideas about Western history, especially the history of Greece and Rome. With the more critical and comprehensive work of modern scholars, we have much better idea of ancient Greece and Rome today than has been possible for at least the previous 1,000 years. Being closer to an event is no guarantee of understanding it better.
DeleteANd that reminds me of a comment Mao Tse-Tung is said to have made when asked about the importance of the French Revolution in 1789: "It's too soon to say."
One of the famous people is King Naray suan .
ReplyDeleteHe is The King in the past when Ayuthaya was the capital of Thailand.
One well-known story about the war that he won Myanmar and he rode an elephant when he was fighting .Most people believe in it but some evidences make me can't believe in it. The fact can change because some information about elephants the they can't be in the war.
Wow amazed that you choose the same person as Anya.
DeleteI agree with you that this story can be changed because writers may put their opinion to make the story more excited which sometime easily to change the fact of the story.
One of the most famous people is Somruk Khamsing. He is a boxer who won the gold medal of Olympic game. The medal he got was the fist gold medal of Thai history. Most people believe this because he became famous when he got that medal and every newspapers interested in him.
ReplyDeleteI remember him. There was certainly a big fuss when he won his medal. Is he still seen as a hero?
DeleteI think young people may not see him as a hero like people in that time because that event happened so many years ago and Somruk is not a boxer anymore, now he works in an entertainment field. So teenagers may know him as a actor or a comedian instead of a hero.
DeleteOne of the most famous people is Bird Thong-Chai. He is a singer. In the past my mom love to listen to his song very much. She like to listen music of Bird Thong-Chai which make me can sing all of his song.
ReplyDeleteMost people believe that he is a gay because he is almost 60 years and doesn't have a girlfriend. However, I believe that he doesn't like guy. He may just want to live alone.
Would it change your feelings towards him, or your mum's, if you knew that Bird was gay?
DeleteI like Ae's example. It makes a nice contrast to some of the other figures given as examples.
No, I still insist to admired him, if his is a gay.
DeleteI'm sure that many people think the same as me because they like his ability NOT his appearance.
1.One of the most famous people is Zou,shimin,he is a national athletes hero.
ReplyDelete2.One well-known story about Zou,shimin is,he ever won the WPA of WORLD BOXING in 45KG grade.All people believe his story because will learn it from TV news,and he is grew up in Zunyi city it my where is my hometown city,most of people in that city know his story.
3.The facts can change because his body will not as strong as now with the time goes by,any way young and strong body is the most important ting for an athlete.
I think that most Thail people hate him. Because Thai people believe that he has cheated in the final of olympic game in 2012.
DeleteI don't know who he is bu I'm sure that there are many more people are also well known in China as well such as Mao ZheDong, Xi JinPing,Yao Ming, Agella baby,Deng XiaoPing, Jack Ma,and so on.
DeleteI heard from some Chinese that this time Olympic Chinese team didn't perform so well because public also was thinking that the result was not important and the referee is not just.
One of the most famous people in Thailand is Pridi Pranomyong. He was a politician.
ReplyDeleteHe was one of the leaders of democratic movement in the past and subsequently succeeded in changing Thailand political system from that of absolute monarchy into that of constitutional monarchy. Thereafter he founded Thammasat University and advocated for education for everyone wanting to learn. During WWII he was also organized Free Thai Movement, which supported Allies. Therefore, Thailand was deemed after the war as a involuntary party partaking Axis and thus not responsible for war reparation. Some people believed that he was culpable for King assassination, so he was ousted and exiled from Thailand ever since and passed away in foreign territory.
At that time he was accused of communism and other allegation. His story might have been distorted due to influence of his adversaries. History is what human wrote; it could be inaccurate.
I like Den's choice of hero, and his critical thinking about how perceptions are formed and change over time.
DeleteOver the past week, I've seen the famous "chair photo" from the October 6 suppression of students in 1976. The intelligent, decent students then viciously murdered seem heroes to me. I don't know what Thai generally think of those killed at Thammasat. They were clearly hated by a lot of Thai people at the time. Has that changed? Are they now seen as heroes?