Category Archives: Grade 11

English 11, Poetry

Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou

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Poem:

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Author:
Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American Poet. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 8, 1928, and died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on May 28, 2014. She was also a dancer, an actress, and a singer. In early life, she was educated at the San Francisco Labor School, where she won a scholarship to study dance and drama, but she left at the age of 14 to become a cable conductor. She was the first African-American woman to do this job. She gave birth when she was 16 years old, where she had her only child named Guy. Angelou is one of the most significant authors of her time and is seen as a torch-bearer for African-American women.

Date Written: 12th June, 2017

Title: Touched by an Angel

Paraphrase:
Stanza 1: Is about love being something that’s not from this world, or not from earth. Love is something that is holy and divine. Stanza 1 describes people that simply live their lives and go with the flow, and is afraid to try to change about themselves. These people lack the courage to change, “We, unaccustomed to courage.” Also, these unhappy people are stuck in their own shells and they do not feel loved, shown as “exiles from delight” and “lived coiled in shells of loneliness.” Until love touches them and changes them.Stanza 2: In this stanza, love is described as a cargo in a train that can bring either bring pain and happiness in the future. Furthermore, it is quoted that if we are to be bold, we can strike away from the chain of fear. Which implies that love may carry pain but if one can face those pains and be bold, love can strike away those fears.

Stanza 2: In this stanza, love is described as a cargo in a train that can bring either bring pain and happiness in the future. Furthermore, it is quoted that if we are to be bold, we can strike away from the chain of fear. Which implies that love may carry pain but if one can face those pains and be bold, love can strike away those fears.

Stanza 3: It summarizes the subject of the poem, which is to let go of everything to find love and be daring and brave to be free of the simplicity of living through life, and to also find delight and freedom in life. However, by doing so, one must let go of everything and be submitted, because love is not easy. But once realized, the person can enter the flush of love’s light and from letting go and taking the bold step to find love, the reward of getting love will be far greater than the devotion and submission.

Vocabulary:
unaccustomed – not familiar or usual; out of the ordinary
exile – the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons
ecstasies – an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement
timidity – lack of courage or confidence

Poetic Devices:
The poem has no set rhyme scheme but is written in rhythmically-flowing free verse. There are multiple end-rhymes, such as “delight” and “sight” in the second and fifth lines, or “see”.

Form (rhyme, blank, free):
Free verse

Science and Technology 11

Principles of Flight

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Principles of Flight:

What is Bernoulli’s Principle?

Bernoulli’s principle is about velocity and pressure. When the velocity is high, the pressure is low. The diagram in the picture is the side view of an airplane, as you can see, the air that goes on the top has to travel more distance than the air in the bottom. This is the reason why an airplane can fly.

Process:

Video of test flight:

Science and Technology 11

Making Lanterns for the Dominican Republic

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Summary of what I learned so far:

What I have done so far:
I designed how it would look like before we started. I created some designs but they were not good enough, so I made some new designs, which is better. I made some simple designs because I like simple and useful stuff. Then I connected the led on the PC board by soldering it in the workshop.

Why am I doing it:
I am doing it because we are trying to help the Dominican Republic. Less than 50% of the people in the Dominican Republic have electricity and most of the people there just have electricity for a few hours or even none everyday. By making these lanterns, it will help a few families a lot. We are doing our best to help them.

What have I learned:
I have learned how to solder, soldering can make wires connect better and make electricity flow better. I have also learned how electricity work and how it flows. It always flow from positive to negative; a closed circuit means that there is no opening, a closed circuit is needed for electricity to flow. Ohm’s law is another thing I learned, The equation for Ohm’s law is V=IR. V is the voltage, I is the current, and R is the resistance.

English 11, Writing

Capital punishment

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Capital punishment is a death penalty for people who had done wrong things such as murder, treason and rape. It has existed for a long time. One of the earliest recorded executions in Canada came in 1749 in newly-founded Halifax. A sailor named Peter Cartcel killed a man and was tried before a general court. He was quickly found guilty and hanged two days later. In 1967, a government bill to apply mandatory life imprisonment in all murder cases, except when the victim was an on-duty police officer or prison guard.

Thomas was hanged because he killed Mathew, who raped his wife. Before capital punishment was abolished, if you kill someone in Canada you would also be hanged.

Thomas should not have been killed because hanging someone to show that killing is not allowed does not make sense. Since killing is bad, why is he being hanged? Killing is not the only way to punish someone, there are a lot more ways to punish. In addition, he was just trying to get revenge but he just did it in a wrong way. If he did not kill Mathew, then the hangman would have hanged a wrong person. Punishing someone by killing then is not the best way to punish them.


Person being hanged. (Photo provided by Death Penalty News)

Science and Technology 11

Straw tower challenge

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1. Describe the shape or construction of the tower that was the tallest and won the
challenge? How was this tower different from yours, if yours did not win?
A: There is one main supporting straw in the middle and some supporting straws on the side. Ours was four supporting straws forming a square and they were connected with straws.

2. If you had a chance to do this project again, what would your team have done
differently?
A: We would have built it like the team that won.

3. Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have
preferred to work alone on it? Why?
A: I prefer to work as a team, because teamwork makes projects a lot more easier.

4. If you could have used one additional material (tape, glue, wood sticks, foil — as
examples) which would you choose and why?
A: I would choose wood sticks, because they are tough.

5. Do you think that once a building is designed and approved for construction that many
aspects are changed during the building process? Why or why not?
A: No, because since the building is approved, it means it’s good to go.

6. How long do you think it will take before a building is constructed that surpasses the
height of the Burj Khalifa? Where do you think it will be built? Why?
A: I think it would take a long long time to build it. It would be built on strong ground, because there is less chance of it collapsing.

Science and Technology 11

Marshmallow challenge

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1.Was there a leader on your team? Who was it and who decided who the leader would be?

A: No, there weren’t.

2. If you had no leader, do you think having designated someone a leader would have helped?

A: Not really, the leader could lead us to the wrong way, it’s probably better to work together without a leader.

3. If you had a leader, how did he/she do?

N/A

4. How helpful was everyone on your team in challenging the process of building the tallest structure? Did anyone appear to be an expert?

A: Everyone was helpful, everyone gave ideas and helped build the tower, nobody appeared to be an expert, they are all pretty smart.

5. Did any team members tune out of the activity — out of frustration with other members or for some other reason? What could you have done to keep all members of the group fully engaged?

A: Nobody tuned out of the activity. I could tell him/her that everyone in the group is important and we would like his/her help.

6. Did you feel everyone’s ideas were well received during the activity?

A: Yes, everyone’s ideas were all well received.

7. How did you feel as the time limit was approaching? Did pressure increase? If yes, was that helpful or not?

A: The pressure did increase, we kind of rushed at the end, but we still made it to 2^{nd} place

8. In retrospect, what could you have done better?

A: We could have made the base stronger and break the spaghetti into smaller parts.

9. Did you celebrate small wins? If yes, how did you do this?

A: No

English 11, Writing

Food critic – yelp review

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Cora the great restaurant for breakfast and lunch

Cora is located in coquitlam, there is enough space so it wouldn’t be too crowded. People usually go with their families or friends. The environment is a bit noisy sometimes but it makes excellent food, especially breakfasts. The seats are quite comfortable so you can eat comfortably. The portions are pretty big for the price, the food there could fill almost everyone’s tummy. The staff are friendly and nice, which makes you want to go there again. It’s great to have a birthday breakfast or lunch there since the food is excellent. If you love great breakfast you have to try out their food, you couldn’t miss it.

 

Yelp review:

Even though Cora is a bit noisy sometimes, the food is excellent and portions are pretty big. It’s great to go there with your family.