Akkelah and The Bee - Movie Review

“Akeelah and the Bee” was the name of the movie and it captures all of our attention during its play. Entertainment value? Of course, no doubt this movie is created to entertain people. But besides entertain people, it also gives something extra for all of us to think about. It makes us to think about that success is not gained from one day’s work but it needs time, attention, support and a little tiny bit of luck to success in our life. Just like the girl Akeelah in this movie, she has gone through the training, getting support and help from her family, instructor - Dr. Larabee and the whole community in order to win the national spelling bee. Moreover, this movie has a happy ending which is Akeelah and her rival, Dylan become the co-champion in the competition. I would be a little bit disappointed if the ending is not as it was in the movie.

In the movie, I was fascinated by Akeelah and Dylan who were able to spell out words that I have never heard before. They spell the words just like they are chewing breakfast cereal. So, it dawns on me that I still have tons and tons of words that I don’t know and this will make me to have the motivation to learn more. “Lifelong learning” is the type of learning that everyone should engage with as knowledge has no limit.

In the movie, Dr. Larabee is Akeelah’s instructor and he trains her to spell. Watching him, I kinda reminded my Form 4 English teacher, Ms Suppa. She is the one who is always made us to speak up and to give reasons why we choose the answer. She is the one who actually make us use English because unlike any other English teachers in my school, they practice teacher-centered teaching style. Quote from Ms Suppa: “Come on CHICKENS!” “Am I talking to the WALL?!”, I laughed when I think about all the stuff that we tried to reply her two questions here. (Don’t get angry with me Ms Suppa if you accidentally saw this ^^) How am I going to put this, she is a dedicated teacher, just like Dr. LArabee in the movie.

The lesson that I have learnt from the movie is “We have to give our BEST shot in whatever stuff that we have our hands on and be GRATEFULL always.” This is because when Akeelah tried to let Dylan win by spelling the word wrongly, Dylan said that he doesn’t want this kind of winning and he asked Akeelah to give it her best shot. From this we can see that winning is not a destination but it is a journey to grow up. Be grateful to our parents and teacher or whoever that has helped us in our life is another lesson that I have learnt in this movie and so I rate this movie 5/5. For those who wanna watch it again, please do so.

The Boy who shouts "WOLF"!!!

Today I am going to be the story teller and the children story that I chose is “The Boy who Shouts Wolf”. Maybe you have heard it hundreds time but still, I am going to tell you the story as this is my favorite when I was still a little kid.

Plot:

The story begins with a shepherd boy who was sitting on the hill side, watching the villagers’ sheep. He was bored and then an idea popped in his head. He shouted: “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” The villagers ran to his help but they found no wolf, the shepherd boy laughed at their angry faces. The villagers were frustrated; they warned the boy not to shout “Wolf!” when there is no wolf before they went downhill.

Later, the boy shouted again. “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” The villagers rushed to his help but there is still no sign of wolf. They were angry and they left the boy alone on the hill. All of a sudden, the boy saw a big wolf prowling the sheep and he shouted: “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” The villagers thought that he was trying to fool them again, so they didn’t come.

At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping. The boy asked the villagers why they didn’t come and help him when there was a wolf.

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village. "We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the young shepherd, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

Reasons:

I like this story very much because there are elements or values of honesty, helping each other and forgiveness in it. We can make the children to see the value of honesty by telling them that lying is a very bad habit. Besides that, they villagers always help each other out and they are willing to forgive the young shepherd boy although he has played prank on them twice. By judging at the actions of the villagers, the children will learn that helping each other and willing to forgive are good values and thus they will practice the good values instead of the bad value – lying.

Elements:

The elements that make the story interesting is the author portray the shepherd as a young shepherd which means he is a kid. And by doing so, the children will be able to get into the character of the young shepherd easier. Moreover, repetition is used when the boy shouts WOLF! By using repetition, the children will be able to remember the story line. Besides that, the author also portrays the elder as someone who is forgiveness and so it gives the children to feel save to admit their wrongdoing to their parents. By trusting the adults, the children will not lie in order to "cover" their wrongdoing. This will make the children to be responsible for their own mistakes.

Portrayal of the character:

The young shepherd is portrayed as a mischievous boy who likes to lie to get people’s attention and to amuse himself. This characteristics are so true as some kids also as mischievous as the young shepherd and this story will suits as a teacher for them. The other characters are the villagers and the old man who comfort the boy at the end of the story. The villagers are portrayed as good Samaritan as they always help each other out, just like they help the young shepherd to chase the wolf away. The old man is portrayed as wise, empathy and willing to forgive others. This can be seen that he is willing to forgive the young shepherd who told lies and help him to search for the sheep tomorrow morning. He didn’t scold or beat the young shepherd for his own mistakes.

Suitability:

For this story, I think that it suits the criterion of a children story. It has good moral values in it and I think the children will know the consequences of telling lies. By learning all these good values, the children will be able to be a good man in the future. Last but not least, to my children to be - I am going to tell you the same story over and over again, don't get bored.

1st post on the go!

I didn't have the luxury of getting my parents to read a simple yet nice, with happy ending story for me during my childhood, but it’s OK since I have my highly “1Malaysia” spirited lecturer, Dr. Jaya to read 2 superb story for all 50 of us. The two stories are “Edwina the Emu” and “The Gruffalo”. Now, here is my personal review of both of the story.

Now, the first story will be “Edwina the Emu”. The story is about a female Emu named Edwina has laid 10 eggs with her mate, Edward. So, in order to support the family, she goes off to find a job that suits her. Firstly, she tries to be a ballet dancer with her “elegant” feet but she was rejected due to what she is. Then she tries to be a “chimney sweeper but still to no avail. Both of the interviewers utter the word “Yeek” before they reject her. After that, she applies to be a waiter with her “fast” feet. She managed to get the job but when a customer orders an egg, she is mad with the customer and it dawn on her that her perfect job will be protecting her eggs instead of leaving it to the males. So, she quickly rushes home and glad that her eggs were fine. Guess what is the name of the youngest child? It’s “Yeek”.

The main character in this story will be the female Emu, Edwina. She is in the process of seeking her true self where we can see that she went through all kinds of job and then finally found out that what the best job that suits her most is, to be a mother. There are other characters in this story which are the male Emu, Edward, the 10 Emu kids and the customer.

For this story I will rate it 9.3/10. This is because there are elements of responsibility and caring in this story. I think that these values will make the children to realize that they should respect and love their mother because they have always been well fed and comfortable under the care of their mother. Besides that, the illustration is beautiful and the words choice is simple. This will make the children to understand the whole storyline better. I definitely will recommend this book to all parents who have little kids.

I did mention about the second story right? “The Gruffallo” is the title of the book and the story circles around a tiny but intelligent mouse. The mouse was walking alone in the forest and then he met with a fox but the mouse tricked the wolf that he will be meeting the Gruffallo here. What is Gruffallo? The mouse described as a kind of monster and then the wolf ran off due to the scary Gruffallo. Then the mouse met with an owl but it uses the same technic to deal with the owl. Same goes to the snake and then the mouse suddenly met with the Gruffallo which is only exist in its imagination. The Gruffallo wanted to eat the mouse but the mouse said that it is the scariest animal in the forest. To prove the statement, it brought Gruffallo all along way back and the animals ran away when they saw the Gruffallo. But the Gruffallo doesn’t know that the other animals are afraid of it and not the mouse, so he fled at last.

The main character in the story is the mouse which is tiny but intelligent. It thinks fast in order to survive in the jungle as it doesn’t have the physical strength. The other character will be the fox, the owl, the snake and the Gruffallo who are the predators of the tiny little mouse.

For this story, I will rate it 9.5/10. This is because I think the children will love this story more due to the use of character of the mouse, which is small, tiny, helpless but intelligent. Children will love the mouse as they are also cute and tiny in size . This story will make them to have more self-confident when they deal with the problems in the future. Besides that, the illustrations are better and more colourful compared to the “Edwina the Emu”. The word choice for this story is also simple and thus easy for the children to understand the whole story. So, I will greatly recommend this book to the parents too.

Both books are wonderful and they are colourful, simple and moral values still instill among the story. I think both of them will be able to attract the children attention just by looking at the illustrations. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s grab one, for your lovely, adorable child ^^