What does it remind you of? Relate some content to your own experience.
Continue researching your project.
Today’s class:
Sharing your homework (about Genesis and chapter 9) with classmates in random groups
“The land of youth”. Could Narnia be the legendary “Land of Youth“? “Sweet hope” enters Digory’s heart when Uncle Andrew says these words.
Why can’t Uncle Andrew understand when Aslan and the Narnia animals speak? The cabby and Polly and Digory can understand. Why can’t Uncle Andrew?
Prep schools (in British English) are schools that “prep” (i.e. prepare) children to enter fee-paying secondary schools, especially public schools (this is British English for a certain kind of elite secondary school).
We watched the beginning of a Japanese movie that describes the creation of Japan: 日本誕生 (N.B. this is NOT the Doraemon movie!). The story in Genesis is just one creation myth. There are many, including the Japanese one. Click this link to read the Wikipedia Japan entry on creation myths 創造神話
“The house [of the White Witch] was really a small castle. It seemed to be all towers, little towers with long pointed spires on them, sharp as needles.” (p. 100)
“As he [Edmund] got into the middle of it [the courtyard] he saw that there were dozens of statues all about – standing here and there rather as the pieces stand on a chessboard when it is halfway through the game.” (p. 104)
“And she [Lucy] stopped looking at the dazzling brightness of the frozen river with all its waterfalls of ice and at the white masses of the tree-tops and the great glaring moon and the countless stars and could only watch the little short legs of Mr. Beaver going pad-pad-pad-pad through the snow in front of her as if they were never going to stop.” (pp. 112-113).
“Wherever is this?” said Peter‘s voice, sounding rather tired and pale in the darkness. I hope you know what I mean about a voice sounding pale.” (p. 113).
I took this photo over New Year while visiting Horyu-ji with my family. How did you spend the New Year’s holidays?
We have two classes left, Jan. 7th and Jan. 14th, then a final exam.
Here is the lesson plan for Jan. 7th:
In groups, you will check your answers to the Study Questions for chapters, 13, 14 and 15 (Study Guide pages 39-44).
I will call you up individually.
Show me your answers to Study Questions for chapters 10-12 (Study Guide pages 35-38).
Show me the notes you took on your classmates’ presentations, Dec. 17th and 24th (if you still have them; you can show me next week, too)
Homework:
Answer the “Story Structure” questions in the Study Guide, page 45
Translate your presentations into English
Character study, or
How we treat other people, or
Curiosity.
Another classic English children’s story from the ealry 20th century or before.
Make sure you have correctly written the bibliographical data for the children’s story you read. You will need this in the exam (Jan. 21st). Here are two examples. Yours should be exactly like this:
Today, we began working on the Study Guide questions for chapters 10-12. Students worked in pairs or small groups.
In addition, I talked to some of you individually about your work.
Homework:
Continue reading your children’s story. Presentations and papers are due Friday December 24th. That will the last chance. I will not accept late papers.
Finish the Study Guide questions for the section Chapters 10-12.
Mini-lecture on some key ideas or themes in C.S. Lewis’ books:
Seeing and believing. In “Prince Caspian“, at first only Lucy can see Aslan while the older children do not, and they do not believe Lucy at first. In “Till We Have Faces” 顔を持つまで, the older sister Orual cannot see the palace where her beautiful sister, Psyche, lives, because Orual is jealous and does not accept that Psyche can be happy without her. In the New Testament, in Matthew 5:8, it is written “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Perhaps Lewis’ message is that the pure in heart can see certain things that others (who are not pure in heart) cannot see.
Natural Law. Lewis believed that there was a natural law that all people everywhere understood. This law is deeper than religion, because it can be found in almost every religion on Earth. In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, Lewis writes about Edmund on page 97, “deep down inside him he really knew the Witch was bad and cruel.” There is more to the Natural Law than this, but this is a good example of it.
Homework: Quiz questions for chapters 10 and 11:
Chapter 10 questions:
QUIZ
Which of the following things could the Beavers not take?
ham, tea, sugar, loaves, matches, handkerchiefs, sewing machine
At the Beavers’ house, which character stayed calm?
Can the Beavers and the children get to the Stone Table before the witch? Why/why not?
Was it snowing when they began their journey?
What did they do in “the old hiding place for beavers”?
