Category: English Literacy

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The Influential Legacies of Ancient Greece & Ancient Rome

Image result for rome and greece map wallpaper

An American famous poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, once wrote in his poem:

“The Beauty which old Greece or Rome

Sung, painted, wrought, lies close to home.”

(To —-, reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919))

This was definitely true.

Ancient Greece and ancient Rome were both well-known civilizations throughout the world’s history for their exceptional art, knowledgeable philosophers, and powerful economy. Today, people often admired and inspired by their intelligent works and success stories. Yet, what did these two ancient civilizations offer to the modern world that was left unnoticed? The major areas that the ancient Greeks and Romans had contributed to today’s world included language, government, entertainment, and architecture.

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Goddess Athena | The Pride of Feminism

In my English literacy class, we learned about Greek mythology and how it influenced the modern day. We also had a Greek mythology project that every student need to complete. A student was assigned to a god or a goddess and have to research more closely about that god/goddess and the myth that he/she involved. Below is my research paper about a powerful goddess.

 

The ancient Greek mythology, that encompassed of many gods and goddesses, was used to reflect on how humans are interacting and behaving in the society. Throughout many of the myths, gods were often depicted to be more powerful and dominant than goddesses; they held powers that were destructive and threatening. Besides, goddesses’ possessed powers that seemed to lean toward family, beauty, and love, like Hera (goddess of marriage) and Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love) for examples.

Yet, were all the goddesses powerless and ineffective like this in the ancient Greek myth?

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Access to Education is NOT Enough

This is the article that I had been working on in my Literacy class about Gender. Enjoy reading…

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

And I strongly agree with his speech.

And I also believe that education is the pillar of women’s empowerment.

It has the ability to fight for gender equity by unlocking opportunities for girls.

Throughout Cambodian history, we, girls, had very limited options due to our “gender.” We were forbidden to make loud noise while walking because it was seen as disrespectful to the elders; we were forbidden from going out the house so that the sun would not darken our skin; we were forbidden from going to school because it was seen as a waste of time; we were forbidden from having a job because that was the role of the husband; most importantly, we were forbidden from making our own decisions. These were the issues that we had to deal with in our society.

Apparently, these ideas have been changing in our contemporary world but not everything. Now, we have the rights to access education and attend school in our local areas and other places. Yet, there is still work needed to be done since the education system reinforces the ideas of what girls “can and cannot do.”

We, girls, were taught to believe that sports are only for men because they are physically stronger or what we call “masculine.”

We think that technology and science are only for men to engage with because those complex things are what men do and that they are not “feminine” works.

This is why education is still flawed.

We need more. We need more than just the access to education. We need a better education system. We need an education system where we can allow ourselves to explore and chase our own dream without needing a shell like a hermit crab because of our gender.

In the Liger Leadership Academy (LLA), a boarding school in Cambodia, where opportunities are being provided equally to male and female students; it had given me the chance to redefine what girl like me “can and will do.”

Here, at Liger, I had been exposed to a variety of fields, ranging from playing sports to involvement in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) courses and projects. I was inspired to do things I want to do without caring about the gender barrier. I wasn’t being discriminated because of my gender either.

Whereby, in my former government school, I never had the chance to decide on what I wanted to do because of the gender stereotypes in my patriarchal community. “Girls shouldn’t study too hard; you’ll only be home to take care of your children” or “That is not the areas that you, girls, should be engaged with; it’s too complex.”

Within this perspective, I never had the motivation to release my wings and flying toward my true passion. I was stuck in the dark hole without a ladder to climb up. Liger was the beacon of light that had to guide me through that dark hole.

Once I enrolled in my new school, the Liger Leadership Academy, the mindset about my gender changed completely. Now, I don’t have to worry about other people’s judgment when I kick the ball around the muddy fields or when I build a complex robot for a competition. I have my teachers,  friends, and others who encourage me to accomplish my goal and who no matter what stick by my side to cheer me up every time I fail.

Phrases like “Girl, you shouldn’t do this” or “Girl, you can’t do that” shifted into “Girl, you’re doing great, keep going.”

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The Vile Creature

Halloween Short Scary Story

On the 31st October, my English Literacy facilitator decided that we should do something that connects to Halloween since it is Halloween day. Though, in Cambodia, we did not celebrate this festival much. So, in class, our facilitator gave a couple of words and a start phrase for us to write a story that relates to Halloween. Below is a short story that I wrote with a few other students….

The Halloween pumpkin turned into a repulsive malicious horrid wicked zombie; with a bloodcurdling face, beastly head, spiky reek hair, putrid skin peeling off bit by bit, and ghastly eyeballs that about to fall off its creepy enormous eyes. I instantly wiped my shocking eyes as if I was hallucinating. Still, nothing had changed. What to do? Hair-raising. Terrified. Panicked had taken over me. The cloth I was holding that I used to wipe my eyes had become my one and only weapon against what it front of me. It swiftly escaped my hand and flew directly toward the vile monstrous demon’s eerie face like (what I think it should be) a grenade.
 

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Narrative Writing Essay

Once I’m Ready is the title of my Narrative Writing essay, where I wrote about my coming of age. Normally, we would describe “coming of age” as the occasion when we become an adult. Thus, technically it doesn’t always refer to being as becoming an adult, it can also be the lesson that helps you grow or to be responsible for doing something in certain circumstances. 

In the process of writing the essay, I learned about anaphora, using parallel structure, semicolon, comma, conjunction (fanboys), subordinate etc. 

 

Once I’m Ready

Sometimes I wish I was not alive to encounter this experience. Sometimes I wish I was stronger to overcome it. Sometimes I wish I could do more to bring what my beloved family is missing–happiness. Living every second of my childhood, seeing and hearing the anger and vexation between my parents was what I detested, and I let it hurt me. It hurt that I could do nothing to mend the financial burden that was causing my parents to grow further and further apart.

I was seven when I commenced being conscious of the awkward and hazy tension between my parents. They acted oddly. They barely talked, other than dousing one another with their fury. The misunderstanding and confusion kept building up in my juvenile head as I tried to unravel the knot. For several weeks, there was this constant raucous noise and frustration on their faces. “If you can’t handle the consequence of your own action,” my mom shouted furiously to my dad in Khmer with tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, “you can leave!” This phrase stuck in my head since that seedy day and every quarrel seemed to end the same, with my mom trying to break free from my dad. I knew that there was something not right, something that they both were trying to suppress from the rest of the family.

A year later, my dad lost his mind. He was either inviting people home and getting insanely drunk or coming from somewhere with the scent of alcohol all over his body. My mom rarely uttered a word when dad and his friends were around. Their relationship had changed. The change that shattered our family into a million tiny pieces. The change that I could not consent to without knowing the rationale. I tried to curl up my emotions into a ball and let God decides on what would happen, but it just did not change. It was too much, so I lost my faith in God. I risked asking my mom about it many times and all she ever did was try to comfort me and tell me not agonize about it. But I could not. I wanted more than just her sweet words. I wanted more than just her fake smiles that she puts on whenever her children were around. I just wanted our family to be happy.

I know the expression, “it takes two to tango”, but every time my mom tried to confront my dad, things always worsened. He said that he needed times. Times to clear everything up. I still could not decipher what was the root cause, until my dad let the cat out of the bag that our family was in a massive debt. My jaw dropped to the floor at that moment since I could not believe that something that important had been hidden from me. I felt like a fish out of water. Several weeks later, my mom started to work in a garment factory. Things just could not get any worse, and then she got sick. I had been so off guard that I could not really focus on my studies. I wanted to help them and eased the problems. I thought of finding a job so that I could contribute, but my parents were intensely against that idea. My dad yelled at me for coming up with such a foolish thought. My mom told me that the only thing that I could do for this family was to keep studying. Study!

As time passed, I began to comprehend the sacrifices that my parents have made for our family. I began to see the responsibilities that each person had in this tiny family in order to survive. I began to realize that my responsibility was not to work toward paying the debts or trying to solve the family issues; I have a much greater task to focus on, which is to keep working toward a brighter future. I understand that all my parents want is for me to be educated and thrive in my future toward a better life. Without those painful and memorable experiences, I could never perceive how crucial my education is to the rest of my family.

I may have been born into a wonderful family with difficult issues, but I would never allow this struggle to stop my future. I learned to accept that sometimes I am not ready to tackle all the adult responsibilities yet. Still, I do have compassion for my parents’ struggles and have learned to be really patient in dealing with things beyond my control until later on. My family issue has become one of the immense motivations that keep pushing me forward. I want to save them from all the sorrow and someday help them move to a better life. I want to be the beacon of light for the rest of my family, community, and country by creating positive change to fight for the greater future!