Speech Unit Reflection

• Which steps of the speech unit did you complete? I completed the communitcation self reflection, What makes a good speech, Reviewing speech techniques, Post a short video on your blog about speech techniques, Ask the questions, Research your topic, Communitcation self reflection 2 and after I post this I would have done the unit reflection posted on blog.

• Which steps did you not finish? I did not finish the Writted speech and submitted. I only got halfway through that and ran out of time to finish it. Speech video sumitted, speech video or speech posted on blog.

• How well did you manage your time in class and at home? I'm very busy at home so all the free time I had I would try and make the most of it by working on my speech. In class I can sometimes get distracted but most of the time I'm focusing on my work.

• What have you learned from this process? I have learn't a lot about the topic I was writing about which was Princess Diana. I have also learn't the stages of writing a speech is really importanat especially the reasearch about your topic.

• For our next unit, which is the NCEA static image/poster assessment, what are your goals in terms of the learning process, managing your time, and achievement? Getting all my work done and submitting my assessment for it. I would also like to get it least a merit or excellence.

Reflection on the Night unit.

 Reflection on the Night Unit

1. What did you learn about Judaism? I learnt that Judaism is a religion for jewish people.

2. What did you learn about the Holocaust? I learnt how bad it actually was and how so many innocent people lost their lives.

3. Do you think you increased your own empathy, integrity and compassion, and how? No I don't think so as before we started learning about that I already had those skills and a lot of empathy, integrity and compassion. 

4. Which activities did you enjoy the most? I really enjoyed the empathy map and Writing the essay. 

5. What recommendations do you have for Mrs Torley to change anything if she is teaching this again next year? Not anything to be honest. I think It was really well taught!

Video Reflection of what makes a good speech!

 This is my video reflection of what makes a good speech. 

Essay about the memoir Night

 This is my essay I wrote about the memoir we read Night.

The Holocaust. 1933, the year it all started. An event that changed the world. 10 million people lost their lives from something that never should have happened. My class has been learning about the Holocaust. We have been reading a memoir called Night, a non-fiction memoir written by Elie Wiesel. It is based on Elie Wiesel who is a survior of the holocaust and his experience through it. Some of the techniques Wiesel uses in the book are metaphors, short sentences, single sentences and also dialogue. Some of the techniques are very upsetting and the impact on me made me feel worried, angry and disgusted.

An event that had an impact on me was on the first night at the camp when Elie was watching living people and children getting thrown into a fire. He wrote, "A truck drew close and unloaded its hold, small children. Babies!" The technique he used was a short sentence and single word sentence. The two word phrase "small children '' followed by a single word sentence "babies" emphasises the young age of the victims. The use of the exclamation mark after "Babies!" shows how shocked he is to see how young they are. These techniques made me respond emotionally: I was disgusted because they were doing this to innocent young children and babies that still need to and deserve to grow up and experience life. I was also very sad as a lot of humans lost their lives.

Another one of the events in the Holocaust that really impacted me was when so many people were squished together in a small railway carriage traveling to one of the camps with one bucket for the toilet, a little air hole, no water and no food. They were travelling for days and hours too. A woman named Mrs Schachter spoke in the carriage. My technique was from what she had said, "Look! Look at this fire! This terrible Fire! Have mercy on me!" This technique is dialogue. They have an impact because she is shouting, and adding stress to the other passengers because she could have been having a vision. It made me feel disgusted because they were treated like animals. I was also worried as Mrs Schachter could have predicted something, which she actually did.

There have been so many events in this memoir that have impacted me but one more that had the most impact on me was when at the end they were doing the death march, which was running and not being able to stop otherwise they would get shot or trampled. It was freezing temperatures and they had to be constantly running for over 45kms. The technique that I chose for this one was the metaphor, "Faster you tramps, you flea-ridden dogs." The SS officer is calling the prisoners dogs, comparing them to animals. I felt angry and disgusted, no one should ever be called an animal. I think the SS Officer is also taking advantage of them, thinking he can just do that, when people should never get treated that way.

This memoir that we have read has shown me a true understanding of what the Jews had been through and how every survivor has a different story. I have learnt to not take life for granted. All the techniques that were used gave me a better understanding of the events and situations that went on in the Holocaust. All the quotes together made me feel very angry and disgusted. I can't imagine what the prisoners had to go through. This is a really important event in history. It should never be forgotten about, as so many people lost their lives from it. As a world we should learn from our mistakes and make sure nothing ever like that will happen again.

Elie Wiesel's Life after the War

 

Studying 'Night' by Elie Wiesel.

 

We completed a second Empathy Map looking at what Elie was like at the end of the war. Elie went to hospital and got an illness. He saw live bodies being thrown into flames of fire. He was always very hungry and felt alone. He also felt like he failed his dad. He heard a lot of gunshots and grenades, people screaming and crying.

He had been through so much trauma. He lost all of his family as they didn't survive the concentration camp. He had to re-start his life and just start living normal again which would of been very hard. 

It made me feel disgusted, and so so sad that they had to go through that. I can't even imagine going through it. It makes me feel so angry that people did that to human beings. 

The part that I found the most upsetting was him watching live bodies being thrown into flames and hearing them screaming for help. But the whole story was very upsetting.

There wasn't really parts that give me hope until the end when they got out of there. So many people lives were lost for absolutely no reason at all. But the surviors than got a chance at living and to share there storys.

Elie's story did alter my views about human beings and how we relate to each other in society becasue the whole story and the Holocaust made everyone fell the same way, disgusted, angry, sad. 

The most important message I have taken from night is to be grateful for your life and what u have, your family and to make the most of it. Take everyday as it comes and push through the hard times.

Elie Wiesel, Author of night, Aged 12

 Our English class is studing the memoir Night, by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

I worked in a group with Harriet, Kyra and Lee to create an Empathy Map for Elie at this age.

This is my groups Empathy map:  

This is my paragraph that I wrote about him at age 12 before the holocaust started: At the start of the book, Elie is living in Sighet, Transylvania. He was 12 years old. He was very observant and would go to the synagogue and pray and weep. He was very Happy and had a great life. He had a mum and dad. His dad was a cultured man, rather unsentimental, he rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family and was more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin. Elie has three siblings, Hilda the eldest, then Bea, Elie was the third and the only son. Lastly Tzipora the youngest. His parents ran a store.

This Elie at aged 12: