Good afternoon everyone! I’m Carlos Cheung from 5C and I’m so grateful that I’m offered a chance to introduce to you all the elective of Short Stories.
To start with, do you know what the course is about? I bet you don’t, so let me tell you the contents of this module. Learning English through short stories, you can definitely read a lot of them written by renowned storywriters, and grasp some basic concepts of writing an intriguing and appealing story. For example, you’ll learn how to develop a story, with the setting, climax, twist and ending being skillfully and professionally arranged throughout your masterpieces! And most importantly, you can discover the beauty and find your affinity with the lovely language!
Having this module included in our curriculum won’t let you down. Indeed, there’re lots of benefits, both literary and academic. Yet, due to the limited time, it’s so pitiful to tell you that I can only introduce to you three most important advantages. Are you ready?
Well, the first and most direct benefit is that you can learn to appreciate a story. Understanding all the skills, the developments and the gist of writing short stories, you can certainly acquire an insight in this form of literature. You’ll no longer be staying on the level of having simply joy and relaxation, or ripples of different emotions, but proceed to a higher one, on which you’re able to analyze a story and express your amazement towards how the writer manipulates words delicately! Then, you can internalize all the skills that you’ve acquired and use them when you are reading other stories or even movies. I’m sure that you’ll be more and more appreciative towards arts and literature than ever! Getting equipped to explore in the English world!
Besides enriching your souls through appreciation, you can also cultivate an interest in English through a variety of short stories. For some of you sitting here, you may find learning English so boring because of the complexity of the grammar rules. However, this elective course must give you a turnaround by leading you to observe the irresistible lure of the language. It’s all about being descriptive in writing short stories, isn’t it? As we have to create an authentic atmosphere so as to ‘seduce’ the readers to keep reading and allow them to fully immerse in the story, we have to take great pains in choosing words as each word carries a color. As I remember, I was once freaked out and there was a chill down my spine while reading ‘The Fly Paper’ because of the unpredictable twist and the aura built by the wise choice of words. Though being so shocked, I found the language so mysterious that it could control my emotions! Don’t you find it awesome?
Okay, let’s be more practical, shall we? Reading lots of short stories, of course, can improve our writing skills. After being immersed in an excessive number of short stories, you can definitely absorb the techniques of creating a mood, being descriptive and writing a story in a fluent and natural flow, which can all be transferred to your own writings, making them more sophisticated. Absorption and application. That’s what learning is, right?
That’s my entire introduction to the benefits and the course itself. However, I still have my last words. English is never boring. It can be idiomatic, descriptive and argumentative. You don’t find it beautiful simply because you’ve never appreciated it. My little bros and sis, luxuriate in English in your future learning! Read more, write more and feel more! Thank you!
Carlos CHEUNG CHUN
2017-18 5C