VOCAB 4 (AP ENGLISH)

interior monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording of the internal, emotional experience(s) of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue.

inversion: words out of order for emphasis.

juxtaposition:  the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentences of paragraph to contrast with another nearby.

lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author's innermost thoughts and feelings.

magic(al) realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday with the marvelous or magical.

metaphor (extended, controlling, & mixed): an analogy that compare two different things imaginatively directly. Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work. Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies.

metonymy: literally "name changing" a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing

modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology

monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem

mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece.

motif: a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature.

myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.

narrative: a story or description of events

narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story.

naturalism: extreme form of realism

novelette/novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical.

omniscient point of view: knowing all things, usually the third person.

onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning

oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

pacing: rate of movement; tempo.

parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.

paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS

HOUSE ON MANGO STREET (Sandra Cisneros)
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
In this coming of age story, a girl named Esperanza Cordero, who lives in Chicago struggles to find who she is. The story begins when Esperanza is about 11-12 years old and her family just moved to a house on Mango street. Even though the house is an improvement to the apartment they used to live, Esperanza does not like it because she does not have privacy and that is what makes her determined to have a house of her own.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The theme is the struggle of self discovery.

VOCAB #4 (EXPOS)

accolade: an award or privilege granted as a special honor or as an acknowledgement of merit

acerbity: sharp and forthright style of speaking

attrition: action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of something through sustain attack or pressure.

bromide: a trite and unoriginal idea or remark, typically intended to placate

chauvinist: a person displaying excessive or prejudiced loyalty or support for a particular cause, group , or gender.

chronic: persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.

expound: present and explain an idea or theory in detail

factionalism: relating or belonging to a faction (a small organized group within a larger one)

immaculate: a person who is perfectly clean, neat, and tidy. Perfect.

imprecation: a spoken curse

ineluctable:unable to be resisted or avoided

mercurial: person who is subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.

palliate: allay or moderate; disguise the seriousness  or gravity of an offense.

protocol: an official procedure or system of rules

resplendent: attractive and impressive though being richly colorful or sumptuous

stigmatize: described or Regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval

sub rosa: happening or done in secret

vainglory: inordinate pride in oneself or one's achievements; excessive vanity.

vestige: a trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists

volition: the faculty or power of using one's will.

HAFTA/WANNA

VOCAB #3 EXPOS

Apostate: A person who has abandoned his/her religion, cause, or party
 The apostates were received badly in their colonies after changing their religion.

Effusive: Expressing feelings of gratitude or pleasure in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.
 After 5 months traveling, the family reunited with a effusive embrace.

Impasse: A situation in which no progress is possible.
Before moving forward, the people getting a divorce must get through their impasse.

Euphoria: (n.) A feeling or state of intense happiness.
The title of Enrique Iglesias' CD was Euphoria; hinting that he was happy when he made the CD.

Lugubrious: Looking or sounding sad/dismal.
When the student saw the rejection letter, he entered a lugubrious state.

Bravado: A show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate.
People who are cocky usually have a big bravado.

Consensus: General agreement.
 In order to come to a decision, the president decided to have a consensus between the representatives.

Dichotomy: A division or contrast between two opposite things.
The dichotomy of being bilingual and bi cultural is often overlooked.

Constrict: To make narrower.
Snakes are well-known for their contraction abilities

Gothic: Relating to the Middle Ages (12th-16th century).
The novel of Frankenstein has some Gothic elements to it.

Punctilio: A fine point of conduct, ceremony, or procedure.
♡

Metamorphosis: The procedure of transformation or alteration in appearance, form, etc.
The metamorphosis of a butterfly is usually used as a metaphor to something that changes.

Raconteur: A person who tells anecdotes in an amusing way.
When the teacher told his stories from  the summer, he sort of became a raconteur.

Sine qua non: An essential condition or element.
Wanting to learn is sine qua non of coming to school.

Quixotic: Exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic, and impractical.
The idea of going outside planet earth was quixotic when Galileo was alive .

Vendetta: A prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchanges.
The gangs had a vendetta relationship with each other.

Non sequitur: A conclusion or statement that does not follow from the previous statement or argument.
Stating that you are entitled to your own opinion is a non sequitur to an argument.

Mystique: A fascinating aura or mystery or power surrounding someone or something.
The department of mysteries in the ministry of Magic has a mystique feeling to it.

Quagmire: A difficult or precarious situation; a predicament.
Before loaning money, make sure you will m=not be in a quagmire later on.

Parlous: Full of danger or uncertainty.
The prophecy had a parlous message.

LIT TERM #3 (AP ENGLISH)

exposition: exposition the beginning of the story, where the reader learns the setting and main characters' names
expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

fallacy:  from Latin word "to deceive", a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.

falling action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

farce:  a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

figurative language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).

flashback:  a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

foil: A character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc. which are directly and diametrically opposed to those of another character, usually the protagonist.

folk tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; "planning" to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

free verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme

genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

Gothic tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

hyperbole: A description which exaggerates, usually employing extremes and/or superlatives to convey a positive or negative attribute.

imagery:  figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

implication:  a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author.

incongruity:  the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.

inference: a judgment or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available

irony: Where an event occurs which is unexpected, in the sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking opposition to what would be expected or appropriate

I, SENIOR PROJECT/FIRST DRAFT (EXPOSITORY)

My goal for my senior project is to find a way that I can practice my translation(?) skills(?) using this class' materials. 

LIFE AFTER......(EXPOSITORY)

When I picture my life immediately after high school, I imagine myself in college studying to become a translator. After college, I imagine myself working in court, a hospital, or a school as a translator 

VISUAL STORYTELLING (EXPOS)

1: colloquialism: the dialogue is easily understood
2: pathos: the audience's emotion reacts to the music. Sometimes it's sad and sympathetic
3: zooming in/out: emphasize something that has an impact on the audience.

LIT TERM REMIX (AP ENGLISH)

circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing

cliche: a phrase or situation so overused that it has lost it's meaning.

climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which
plot question is answered or resolved

colloquialism: informal/slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending

http://prezi.com/bgnw-vg5xkhl/lit-term-remix/

PROFILE IN COURAGE (EXPOSITORY)

When I heard the title murder ball, I thought that the film was going to be about a game of ball that resulted in serious injuries for the players. The title creates cognitive dissonance because the word murder and ball  don't really fit together. At the beginning, the images of a man getting dressed by himself even though he was in a wheelchair got me to sympathize with him. I didn't know his story but by showing that scene, the pathos strategy overpower me and I couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Another way the filmed used pathos to get me to engage with the film was through the music.

LIT TERMS 2 (AP ENGLISH)

circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing
cliche: a phrase or situation so overused that it has lost it's meaning.
climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved
colloquialism: informal/slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation
comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending
conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension
connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity
denotation: dictionary definition
denouement: loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion
dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons
dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.
dichotomy: the difference between two things; split or break between two opposing things.
diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.
didactic: intended to teach
dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles.
elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead
epic: a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.
epigram: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way
epitaph: a phrase or statement writing in memory of a person who has died, esp. as an inscription on a tombstone
epithet: an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
euphemism: a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Evocative: bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.

VOCAB #1 PERFORMANCE REVIEW (EXPOSITORY)

I am a bit disappointed on myself because these words were from the AP vocab list one and in theory, I SHOULD know them by heart. However, I now know that I should spend more time reviewing them that I spent this week.

THE CHOICE (EXPOSITORY)

****IN PROGRESS****

vocabulary: spring list 1 (EXPOS)

adumbrate -indicate faintly,report in outline, to foreshadow
 -When I read a book, I like to adumbrate the story line in order to make the book more exciting.
apotheosis - glorification to a divine level, elevation of a person to the rank of a god or the ideal example.
 - In ancient times, most kings were thought to be a type of apotheosis
ascetic -one who renounces comforts in pursuit of self-discipline, often for religious purposes.
 -Islam is seen as an ascetic religion by many people in the western culture.
bauble -a showing ornament of little value
 -Sometimes decorating in a simple way is better than using a lot of bauble things.
beguile -to influence by trickery or flattery, to charm or divert, or to take away from by cheating
 -Scammers have a beguile ability to scam people of their money.
burgeon -flourish, rapidly increase
 -If students focused during class, their grades would burgeon.
complement -completes or brings to perfection
 -When choosing their outfits, models have to complement their cloths and their shoes.
contumacious-stubbornly disobedient, rebellious or willfully disobedient
 -The bad thing of working with middle school kids is that sometimes they behave contumaciously.
curmudgeon -a bad tempered or surly person
 -Curmudgeon teachers are often not well-liked.
didactic- intended to convey instruction as well as pleasure and entertainment
 -The teacher's lecture was didactic, that's why all the students were paying attention.

AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

1. The quotation “Immediately he moved on again and began to walk quickly and impatiently, no longer homewards, no longer to his father, no longer looking backwards”, shows a shift from…
a. Anger and resentment, toward acceptance
b. A resolute journey, onto a more free-flowing and spontaneous path
c. Fear of his parentage, toward a fear of loneliness
d. Looking to the past for enlightenment, toward looking to the future and within himself
e. Fear of failure, toward an acceptance of possibility of error.
((found here))
-this question requires you to comprehend the reasons why Siddhartha does what he does. This also requires you to understand the tone.
2. Which of the following choices best identifies the meaning of “the last shudder of [Siddhartha’s] awakening” in paragraph 4?
a. His fear of his own ideas.
b. The last step of his understanding.
c. The physical struggle from his Samana lifestyle.
d. The last thought he had before he woke up.
e. The final epiphany he needed to reach Nirvana.
-recognize and interpret  figurative language in the passage
3) A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole. (Question #3)
-know what a bildungsroman is - know the characteristics of one. -characterization
4) The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings:“The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events…a marriage or a last-minute rescue from death…but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.”  Choose a novel or play  (SIDDHARTHA, please) that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the “spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation” evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole. ((found here))
-synthesize an essay that explains the quote through the passage.
5) In many works of literature, a physical journey - the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. ((1970-2012 AP prompts are found here))

HACKING MY EDUCATION (AP ENGLISH & EXPOS COMP)

1. What do you want to know by the end of this course that you don't know now?

How to communicate my ideas more efficiently through the Internet. 

2. What skills do you want to be able to demonstrate on your blog?

collaboration and competence in my usage of technology. 

3. What experiences do you want to get under your belt before you graduate?

maintaining an excellent blog. 

What's In This For Me? (AP ENGLISH)

My goal is to keep being focused on school and not fall behind in any of my classes. For this class, I want to pass the AP test and in general, I would like to find something I am really passionate about and incorporate it in my daily life. I hope that by the end of this class, I am going to be able to voice my opinions in a more intelligent way and that I am confident in who I am.

THE CHOICE (expos)

1. What is the "choice" referred to in the title?
The way the medicine is administered. The parents forcing Rebecca to take it or Rebecca taking it herself.
2. Is it a real choice?  Why/why not?  What is the alternative?
yes, it's a real choice. Rebecca not drinking her medicine is not an alternative.
3. Why does the author use the word poison in the first line?
To make the message that the medicine kills good cells as well as the bad ones.
4. The author's daughter wants to play with a toy that is intended for older kids.  Why?  Do you agree with her?
She wants to play with toys for older kids because she knows that she might not get to be 8. I don't necessarily agree but I sympathize with her. I can not imagine the fear she must have of not getting to be 8.
5. If you thought you might not live to the age of 30 what would you want to do right now?
I would like to have a baby and a dog. I will probably want to visit new places.
6. Under what circumstances does it make sense to endure discomfort--or even force it on a loved one-- in service to a greater/more important cause?
The discomfort becomes bearable when you know that its for their own good. That by causing her pain, they are helping her get better.
7. Is suffering a necessary condition of life and love?
no.
8. Most readers don't share the author's circumstances, but we feel an emotional response to his words.  Why?
Because we can sympathize. That's what distinguish us from psychopaths.