The Son of the Turtle-Spirit (2)

I will use my own experience reading this story (pre, while, post–reading stage) in teaching the students.  As I discovered the message in the folktale myself, I think the students should go through the same process.  Students may compare their conception of the two animals before and after reading the story. Chinese students may already have the beliefs passed down to them. They can be asked how they come to know about the belief and what are their opinions or feelings about it. 

 

This story also brings some interesting issues that can be discussed in the class. First, students can discuss the moral values found in the story that I think is abundant. Hmm…wouldn’t it be interesting if somebody said that we should never play with strangers? Well that would create another interesting discussion altogether!  Students can ultimately discuss the values they learnt from the son of the Turtle spirit, despite the fact that he was being punished for his origin and deprived of education. Teachers may also guide the students to see where the values of obedience, loyalty and determination are presented in the story. 

Besides that, students can discuss the significance or importance of upholding their traditions. Here, students can express their own views and perhaps list some tradition and cultures that they think should be uphold and ones that should be discarded and then provide their reasons.  Teachers can also get the students to compare and contrast relevant issues (e.g.  tradition vs modern cultures or personal beliefs vs common beliefs).  Talking about being critical! Therefore I totally agree with the use of folktales like this that can help make the class more lively and get the students to crack their brains! But most importantly, the students can be exposed to their own or a different culture and learn to respect it.

The Son of the Turtle-Spirit (1)

Love it! – This was my reaction after reading the text. This folktale from China is indeed an interesting one. Perhaps this interest has got something to do with the fact that I am a Dragon myself (Oops…I do not mean to brag).  Every folktale is closely related to the culture of a certain group of people. Therefore when we introduce this story to the class, we bring together the culture of the Chinese to the students.  It is known that in early generations, beliefs and values are passed from forefathers to their descendants through stories. In this story, we learn about the significance of animal symbols to the Chinese community particularly the Turtle and the Dragon. 

 Dragons are mystical creatures that symbolise strength, power and good luck.  I know this fact before reading the story but I cannot say the same for the Turtle. This is because the Turtle is not one of the twelve animal signs in the Chinese horoscope.  Personally , I have always been interested in the Chinese horoscope though I must admit I am guilty of vanity (I am a Dragon. I doubt I would be interested if I am a Pig). And yes, I will only read the good part because it is good to know and it helps me to be more optimistic in life. Everyone needs every little hope that they can find to keep them going, don’t they? But when I lost my temper I can always blame the fact that I am a fire dragon! How cool is that?  

 

Before reading the story, my existing knowledge about the Turtle is that it is shy, slow and patient. At the beginning part of the story, I thought that the Turtle must be a bad omen and that was why the nobleman did not think twice about killing it. Besides, it deceived the maiden by disguising as a handsome youth. The son of the Turtle spirit however turned out to be a good boy. He was an obedient son as well as full of confidence and determination. His action of putting his father’s bones into the dragon’s mouth and hanging the rich man’s grandfather on the dragon’s horns had brought good luck and fortune to his future. Therefore, after I finished reading the story I believe that both the Turtle and the Dragon bring good luck and fortune and that is the message in the folktale. 

To validate my point, I did some research on the Internet about the symbol of the Turtle in Chinese community. I was happy to find that I did not deviate from the true message in the story. There are many interesting facts that can be found about both the Turtle and the Dragon.  For instance, according to the Chinese belief, the Turtle is actually one of the divine animals along with the Dragon, Phoenix and the Chimera. However, they believe that there is a spirit in the Turtle. Therefore, they cannot rashly kill a turtle without a proper ceremony.  To the Chinese, the Turtle is sacred and symbolises longevity, power and tenacity. In feng-shui, the dragon-headed turtle is believed to bring good luck and protection. Even today, most Chinese still believe in these two important animal symbols. Else, people would not still be all hyped out about having babies in Dragon years!

Harassing the Lecturer

On 8th of March, I got an information from Barisha telling that we were supposed to send our position with a few points to Cik Dzeelfa. Okay so how did she know? I've been checking the blog from time to time, there was nothing new there. And then whoooaa...hey you got the wrong blog address! Silly me! What a way to start the semester! Thank goodness that Barisha was kind enough to spread the message. (Barisha got the information from Mogana, so thank you Mogana too.) And thank God that Cik Dzeelfa was kind enough to extend the dateline to send the position by 11th March. So I started working on the position on Friday and sent it to Cik Dzeelfa on Saturday night. Yap, two days! Nothing new to Miss Procrastinator!!


And today I started to annoy Cik Dzeelfa by sending her a few smses to inquire about my mails. Well I was starting to freak out when I did not see my blog address when I checked her blog on Friday. How could she forget about me? Or didn't she receive my mail? What if she didn't receive my position too??? If I heard and remembered correctly, Cik Dzeelfa did mention that she was terribly annoyed by some of the students who kept on pressing her about whether she got their mails. Ok so hmm maybe I should wait a few more days. And today is the day when I can't hold my suspense any longer. I have got to ask her! And lucky that I did because she did not receive any of my e-mails (thank God for her reply). I just resent my blog address and my position to her. I cannot help but to pity myself but I hope things will be easier from today. I am determined to work on a few assignments this week and I sure hope I will not let myself down.