How to enjoy ourselves while struggling against discrimination

One of the things that drives me completely mad is discrimination. Injustice and discrimination are unbearable to me and make me incredibly furious. According to the Oxford Dictionary, sexism is defined as “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” This, in other terms, means that women (especially) are generally seen as inferior to men. Of course both genders are affected by sexism and suffer from stereotypes, but in my opinion (and in fact, really), women are the ones that endure the most discrimination. I could list a series of proportions and numbers that support my point, but I’m starting to get tired of repeating myself and hearing the same horrific statistics over and over again without witnessing a bit of real change in attitudes.

Sexism is considered by a lot of people (by men as well as by women) as a myth, and feminists are often described as hysterics that fight for inexistent problems. I want this opinion to change, which is why I really advise you to look up a channel on YouTube called “Studio 4” and to watch the episodes of the series named “Martin, sexe faible”. In these short episodes, the world is reversed and women exchange roles with men. This perspective shines a light on everyday life details that don’t bother anyone but that look extremely shocking when the genders are exchanged. This series made me realize in a very funny way how unequal society still is, and how bad I wanted it to change. I sincerely hope that it will be the same for you.

Léa

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCWlLCe8vKtX-BfOQxZbd7kV_9JVVJZdd

Why dance class is just as important as maths class

I was reading different articles from TEDtalks when I read this title which aroused my curiosity as it reminded me of our previous spider-web discussion on failure at school.

Sir Ken Robinson, who works with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations,

stated in You, Your Child and School : Navigate Your Way to the Best Education, one of his latest book : « Dance can help restore joy and stability in troubled lives and ease the tensions in school disrupted by violence and bullying. »

What I read is just an extract from this book, praising the positive impact of a specific dance program that was implemented in some schools in the USA.

One specific case that can be seen in the article is the one of a young female student that was completely transformed by going through this program. Indeed she changed her attitude towards dance itself and her whole behaviour in school or at home.

It has been observed that dancing together definitely improves the abilities to cooperate and collaborate as well as it encouraging the notion of acceptance and respect among the children.

For some schools that had followed this program it was also discovered that reading skills or even grades in maths had been improved, showing that both art and physical activity might have a real positive impact on memory, concentration and classroom behaviour.

Do you think that school should focus more on dance or another form of art/physical ed in order to improve the students’ way of learning and thinking ?

You can click on the link below to have a broader view on the question and access the full article.

https://ideas.ted.com/why-dance-is-just-as-important-as-math-in-school/

Enjoy !

Flora

Something has to be done...

I wanted to use this weekly blogpost to talk about a paradoxical issue. Indeed, nowadays more than 842 million people are starving to death. Many families around the world have nothing to eat and go most of the time to bed (if they have one) hungry. Solving this problem should be the priority of every country but unfortunately, as you can imagine, it is far from being the case. It sometimes gets on my nerves to see that in the media, journalists are most of the time granting more importance to random things such as the Hallydays’ inheritance instead of talking about burning issues and launching awareness campaigns to try to help the people in need… But there is even worse than that. In fact, we are living in a dangerous society in which we are pushed to buy more and more. Therefore while some people have no food nor clean and safe water to drink, others are wasting a huge amount of still edible food and some are overweight or suffering from obesity. How can one explain this huge gap? Personally I can’t.

Solving the hunger problem is a huge challenge but everyone can, should, must contribute for we, you have the lives of those people in your hands…

M’llal-Boulaguigue Yasmine.

A whole new type of theatre

Bored of learning lines? Of repeating over and over again the same sentences and gestures under the yelling of an unconvinced stage director? Of having all your new ideas rejected because they would “alter” the idea people have of a play? Let me introduce you to improvisation theatre. 

Improv is a type of theatre in which a whole show is performed without any script. To make it simple, comedians go on stage without knowing anything about the stories they are going to tell, and the turns events can take. Nowadays the most common representations of theatrical improvisation are matches in which two teams of six improvisers play with/against each other to earn the audience’s vote. Matches can go from casual and friendly when happening between two small teams to very serious and important during official tournaments -because there are national and international improv tournaments with professional players-. Of course the audience doesn’t see this serious aspect of a representation ; watching a match is always a lot of fun, and you’re right to feel privileged knowing that only you and the people in the room will ever get to see those exclusive scenes. Nevertheless, if you think Improv is completely free from rules, you are very mistaken! There are many of them, and the referee is always there to give you and your team a warning if you try and break them. But these rules are far from making you forget about good aspects of Improv. You can express and develop your imagination in total liberty, learn how to control your stress and of course develop acting skills, but you can also meet new people and become more confident, in yourself and in others. And believe me, there’s nothing more thrilling than going on stage without knowing anything about what you’ll be doing, and nothing more satisfying than having an audience react to something -from a lame joke to an emotional story- you came up with in the moment.

My intentions here are not to dis classical theatre by saying it is old and boring and that it’s annoying to obey a stage director’s orders (even though that’s the opinion I got from my own experience, I totally understand that some people enjoy it as much as I enjoy Improv), but to open views on another way of seeing acting. In the end, I would highly encourage you to go and try Improv, or to just sit comfortably in your spectator seat, prepare your voting cards, and enjoy a nice show…

Solène

Let's talk books

Choose one of the prompts below and reply to this post. After the prompt, give the name and author of the book, as well as a short explanation or comment. Feel free to comment on your classmates' choices! Don't forget to sign your name. Deadline: Monday, September 10th at 10 a.m.

-the most unforgettable book I have ever read
-the book that made me love reading
-the first book I remember
-the book that has made the strongest impact on me
-the best book I read over the summer
-the best graphic novel I have ever read
-a book that I read over and over again
-one of the funniest books I have ever read
-my favourite book

"The Year"

Share one idea you discussed about the poem "The Year" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (ideas conveyed, attitude/tone, how she expresses her ideas, why she might have written the poem, your personal response...) before January 16th. Don't forget to sign your name, and don't hesitate to comment on a classmate's post!

Voice lesson on detail

Choose a colour and describe a scene using at least three varieties of that colour.  Try to mix details of landscape and people.  Share your description with the class on the blog, and comment on at least one other blog post (effects created through the use of detail, effectiveness...).  Due by Tuesday, November 28th (both your blog post and your reaction to another post).