Resond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values  (Page 11/4)

English first additional language

Grade 9

“paws and pollen’

Module 14

To respond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values in a text

Activity 1:

To read for information and respond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values in the text

[lo 3.1]

• In today’s world of technology, we have lost the art of listening to and reading stories. Today, stories are visually represented – on television, in films. To follow a story on television requires no effort; we merely follow the picture sequence.
• “What is wrong with that?” you might ask. One certainly can learn much from these media. But the opportunity of using the imagination is lost! The producers of the stories on television and in film force us to see what they have imagined.
• You should use your own imagination. It is a part of dreaming, and we all know that without dreams we have no motivation. So here goes:
• You are going to read, listen, really listen , and imagine (what the characters looked like, the place that they visited…), while your educator reads the following story with you.
• Your educator will explain any difficult words. Then read through the story twice more, or as many times as may be necessary for you to be quite sure that you understand what it is about.
• Once you have understood it, read through the questions that follow very carefully. Having read through all the questions, answer them to the best of your ability in the spaces provided.
• Remember to answer in full sentences , and in your own words as far as possible.
• When you are asked to quote , you must use quotation marks ( “ . . . ” )

Rooted out

“… so now you can water and feed your Coral tree, and when we visit Granny this holiday we shall take a walk and I’ll show you mine!”

After having spent many happy evenings paging through the family album and giggling at the podgy little cherub that was now their elegant mother, waddling along, galvanised watering-can clutched purposefully in her hands, they had looked forward to seeing the blossoms of their mother’s childhood in real life.

But the excitement of the day soon turned to disbelief, anger and then bewilderment.

The long leafy lane provided pleasant relief on their walk that humid afternoon. The house at the end of the road, on the corner stood proud and gabled, just as in the photographs. The original colour had changed and the present garish orange was probably a warning of what was to come.

They followed the worn footpath round the west side, to the far corner of the fence. Instead of a welcome flush of the deep orange-red of the Coral Tree, there was nothing.

Not even a stump remained.

Her beloved Coral Tree - the symbol of her birth, her gift by proxy to the earth- uprooted.

Carelessly; and not even an exotic substitute grew there apologetically.

What remained of the family tradition of planting a tree on the birth of a child, was a broken heart.

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING

a) Explain the degrees of emotion: “disbelief”, to “anger” and then “bewilderment” that the family felt in paragraph 3. (3)