W EEKLY LEARNINNG ACTIVITY SHEET

21st Century Literature from the Philippines & the W orld

Quarter 2 W eek 1

W riting a Close Analysis and Critical Interpretation of Literary Texts

Lesson 1

Name:_____________________________________________ Section:_______________

Learning Competency:

 Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts,

applying a reading approach, and doing an adaptation of these, require
from the learner the ability to identify: representative texts and authors
from Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa EN12Lit -
IIa-22
 Time allotment: 4 hours.

Key Concepts:
The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer can be considered as part of Greek
history. One of the oldest epics in the world is considered as both history
and literature.
The story you are about to read is part of a retelling of The Odyssey from
Penelope’s perspective, which gives us a different take on the epic and
reveals gender stereotypes found in Homer’s The Odyssey.

A Low Art
[Excerpt from The Penelopiad]
By Margaret Atwood
(Canada)
Now that I’m dead I know everything. This is what I wish would happen,
but like so many of my wishes it failed to come true. I know only a few
factoids that I didn’t know before. Death is much too high to a price to pay
for the satisfaction of curiosity, needless to say.
Since being dead-since achieving this state of bonelessness, liplessness,
breatlessness-I’ve learned some things I would rather not know, as one does
when listening at windows or opening other people’s letters. You think you’d
like to read minds? Think again.
Down here everyone arrives with a sack , like the sacks used to keep the
winds in, but each of these sacks is full of words-words you’ve spoken,
words you’ve heard, words that have been said about you. Some sacks are
very small, others large; my own is of a reasonable size, though a lot of the
words in it concern my eminent husband. What a fool he made of me, some
say. It was a specialty of his: making fools. He got away with everything,
which was another of his specialties: getting away.
He was always so plausible. Many people have believed that his versions
of events was the true one , give or take a few murders, a few beautiful
seductresses, a few one -eyed monsters. Even I believed him, from time to
time. I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just don’t think he would play his
tricks and try out of his lies on me. Hadn’t I been faithful? Hadn’t I waited,
and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, despite the temptation -
almost the compulsion-- to do otherwise? And what did I amount to, once
the official version gained ground? An edifying legend. A stick used to beat
other women with. Why couldn’t they be as considerate, as trustworthy, as
all-suffering as I had been? That was the line they took, the singers, the
yarn-spinners. Don’t follow my example, I want to scream in your ears- yes,
yours! But when I try to scream, I sound like an owl.
Of course I had inklings, about his slipperiness, his wiliness, his
foxiness, his-- how can I put this?-- his unscrupulousness, but I turned a
blind eye. I kept my mouth shut; or if I opened it, I sang his praises. I didn’t
contradict, I didn’t ask awkward questions, I didn’t dig deep. I wanted happy
endings in those days happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right
doors locked and going to sleep during the rampages.
But after the main events were over and things had become less
legendary I realised how many people were laughing at me behind my back--
how they were jeering, making jokes about me, jokes both clean and dirty;
how they were turning me into a story, or into several stories, though not the
kind of stories I’d prefer to hear about myself. What can a woman do when
scandalous gossip travels the world? If she defends herself she sounds
guilty. So I waited some more.
Now that all the others have run out of air, it’s my turn to do little story-
making. I owe it to myself. I’ve had to work myself up to it: It’s a low art, tale-
telling. Old women go in for it, strolling beggars, blind singers, maidservants,
children--folks with time on their hands. Once, people would have laugh if
I’d tried to play the minstrel-- but who cares about public opinion now? The
opinion of the people down here: the opinions of shadows, of echoes. So I’ll
spin a thread of my own.
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 A Note on the Text
This text is an example of historiographic metafiction, which was
elaborated on by Linda Hutcheon (1988) in the article “Historiographic
Metafiction: The Pastime of Past Time.” She traces how both history and
literature were once considered branches of the same tree learning, a tree
which sought to “interpret experience, for the purpose of guiding and
elevating man”. Nowadays, with the use of this narrative strategy, literature
has found a way to interrogate history and to reveal marginal voices to
compete with the authoritative versions that come from the history books
and what could be termed official histories.
Historiographic metafiction, as a strategy, tries to shift perspectives that
have come from received ideologies that have been traditionally depicted by
history and literature. It tries to destabilize “received notions of both history
and fiction” and “directly confront the past of literature - and of
historiography…” (Hutcheon 1988). This is done to make the readers think
about the validity of history. It makes you wonder about the different voices
in history that have heard, and how to allow these ghostly voices to speak
through literature.

Exercises/ Activities:

Activity 1: Direction: Answer the following guide questions. If the space

provided for your answers is not enough, you may use a separate sheet of
paper.

1. Why does Penelope consider storytelling “a low art”?

2. How does Penelope portrayal differ from the traditional portrayal of

Odysseus? What do you think of Odysseus?

3. Base on Penelope’s perspective, how is she different from how the epic
portrays her? What do you think of Penelope’s character in the preceding
story?

4. What does she have to say about the “official version” of what happened?
Why does she point this out?
5. Why does she call herself “a stick used to beat other women with”? Do you
agree with her?

6. Why does Penelope say that she “sounds like an owl” when she tries to
warn other women?

7. How much of ancient history do you think is based on fact, and how
much on gossip or exaggeration?

8. Do you think a story is colored by the biases of the storyteller?

9. Do you think history is colored by the biases of the historian?

10. Does this story change the way you look at literature and history? Why
or why not?

Activity 2:

Direction:
Write a short story or poem that would be considered a retelling or
historiographic metafiction. Try to approach it from a marginalized
character, someone who is not the main character of the story. You can
make a few embellishments or changes to the story. The criteria below will
be used in grading your short story or poem. (You use an additional sheet of
bond paper)

Criteria in grading:

50% Understanding of the characters in the story

50% Creativity
100% Total
Reflection:
Reflect on this question: Do you think women’s voices, and their perceptive,
have been heard and chronicled as faithfully as men’s perspectives? Why do
you think so?

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References:
Uychoco, Marikit Tara A.,21st Century Literature from the Philippines and
the World. 1st edition, Rex Bookstore 2016, pp. 92-95.

Answer Key:
Activity 1 and Activity 2, answers/outputs are expected to vary.
 W EEKLY LEARNINNG ACTIVITY SHEET
21st Century Literature from the Philippines & the W orld
Quarter 2 W eek 2

W riting a Close Analysis and Critical Interpretation of Literary Texts

Lesson 2

Name:_____________________________________________ Section:_______________

Learning Competency:
 Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts,
applying a reading approach, and doing an adaptation of these, require
from the learner the ability to identify: representative texts and authors
from Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa EN12Lit-
IIa-22
 Time allotment: 4 hours.

Key Concepts:

Many people believed that the fashion industry and women’s magazine
construct a negative body image for women. The standard of beauty around
the world tends to lean toward fair skin, western features, and thin bodies.
This has resulted in women opting for skin whitening creams, plastic
surgery, and damaging eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia.
Although there are products that try to promote a positive body image
celebrating differences in body types, skin colors, and features, these are in
the minority compared to those that feature the opposite in commercials,
magazines, fashion shows, and the media. In this modern age, this has
become the case for men as well.
The excerpt you are about to read comes from the play The Good Body,
which is a series of monologues performed by different women. In this part,
we hear what the protagonist, Eve, has to say about her body.

The Good Body

[Excerpt]
By Eve Ensler
(USA)

My body will be mine when I’m thin. I will eat a little at a time, small
bites. I will vanquish ice cream. I will purge with green juices. I will see
chocolate as poison and pasta as a form of self-punishment. I will work not
to feel full again. Always moving toward full, approaching full but never
really full. I will embrace my emptiness; I will ride into holy zones. Let me be
hungry. Let me starve. Please.
___________________

Bread is Satan. I stop eating bread. This is the same as not eating food.
Four days in, a scrawny actress friends tell me, “Eve, your stomach has
nothing to do with diet.” What? “It’s the change of life,” she says. “All you
need is some testosterone.” I try to imagine what I would be like, totally
bread deprived and shot up with testosterone. “Serial killer” comes to mind.
___________________

I’m walking down a New York City Street, and I catch a glimpse of this
blond, pointy-breasted, raisin-a-day stomached smiling girl on the cover of
Cosmo magazine. She is there every minute, somewhere in the world,
smiling down on me, on all of us. She’s omnipresent. She’s the American
Dream, my personal nightmare. Pumped straight from the publishing
powerplant into the bloodstream of our culture and neurosis. She is
multiplying on every corner. She was passed through my mother’s milk so I
don’t even know that I’m contaminated. Don’t get me wrong. I pick up the
magazine. No, no, no. It’s the possibility of being skinny good that keeps me
buying. I discover a Starbucks maple walnut scone expanding in me,
creeping out. Flabby age leaking through the cracks. Big Macs, French fries,
Pizza Land, four helpings, can’t stop. My stomach is America. I want to down
in the cement. Obviously I’m missing something. Maybe if I go find the
woman who thought this up, she’ll reveal the secret.

Exercises/ Activities:

Activity 1:
Direction: Answer the following guide questions. If the space provided for
your answers is not enough, you may use a separate sheet of
paper.

1. Can you relate to the narrator? Why or why not?

2. How does the narrator feel about her body?

3. Why does the narrator feel that way about her body?
4. What is Cosmo? Why does she feel haunted by it?

5. What does Cosmo symbolized?

6. Explain the line, “She’s the American Dream, my personal nightmare.”

7. What does she mean when she says, “My stomach is America”?

8. Why is it ironic when we juxtapose her perception of the “American

Dream” and that her stomach is “America”?

9. Do you think that this body shaming is only applicable to women? Is it

also applicable to men?

10. Are her concerns similar to yours? Is this a problem in the Philippines,
too?

Activity 2: Poster Making

Direction: In a short bond paper, draw a poster on your interpretation of the
story as it depicts in the society. The criteria are as follows:

50% Creativity
50% Critical Thinking
100% Total
Reflection:
Write what you think about the way you look. Do you feel confident
about your body? Are you happy with the way you look? Why or Why not?
Has this text helped you understand why you might not feel satisfied about
your body? What is your reaction to this text? Why?

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References:
Uychoco, Marikit Tara A.,21st Century Literature from the Philippines an the
World. 1st edition, Rex Bookstore 2016, pp. 119-121.

Answer Key:
Activity 1 and Activity 2, answers/outputs are expected to vary.
 W EEKLY LEARNINNG ACTIVITY SHEET
21st Century Literature from the Philippines & the W orld
Quarter 2 W eek 3

Representative Texts and Authors from Asia, North America,Europe,

Latin America, and Africa

Name:_____________________________________________ Section:_______________

Learning Competency:
 Identify representative texts and authors from Asia, North America,
Europe, Latin America, and Africa. EN12Lit-11a-22
 Time allotment: 4 hours

Key Concepts:
Exercises/ Activities:

Activity 1: Instruction: Match the descriptions in Column A with the

corresponding author in Column B. Write the letter with the correct answer.
Column A Column B

_____1. One of the apartheid era’s most a. Isabel Allende

prolific writers whose works include b. Aminatta Forna
“Burger’s Daughter”. c. Patricio Pron
_____2. Name one of the best young Spanish- d. Alain Mabanckou
language novelists by Granta in 2010 whose e. Gabriel García Márquez
latest novel, “My Fathers’ Ghost Is Climbing f. Valerie Luiselli
in the Rain”. g. Chimamanda Ngozi
_____3. Award winning author whose novels, Adichie
have pushed the boundaries of distortion h. Margaret Atwood
between the real and the imagined. Works i. Musharraf Ali Farooqi
such as “Faces in The Crowd” (2012) and j. Nadine Gordimer
“The Story of My Teeth” (2015). k. Mario Vargas Llosa
_____4. A critically acclaimed Pakistani
author whose novel "Between Clay and Dust"
was shortlisted for The Man Asian Literary
Prize 2012 and long listed for the 2013 DSC
Prize for South Asian Literature.
_____5. First drew attention for the memoir
“The Devil That Danced on Water” (2003), an
extraordinarily brave account of family’s
experiences living in war-torn Sierra Leone.
_____6. The author of the novels “Purple
Hibiscus”, which won the Commonwealth
Writers Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy
Award.
_____7. Best known for feminist and
dystopian political themes, whose best-
selling works include “Oryx and Crake”
(2003) and “The Blind Assassin” (2000).
_____ 8. Won the Nobel prize for literature in
1982, for a body of work that included novels
such as "100 Years of Solitude" and "Love in
the Time of Cholera".
_____9. Best known for works such as the
novels “The House of the Spirits” and “City of
the Beasts”.
_____10. Peru's foremost author and the
winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature
whose many distinguished works include
“The Storyteller” and “The Feast of the Goat”.

Activity 2:
You are a freelance blogger in an online literary magazine. You need to
write a 500-word feature article on a contemporary (21st century) author
from outside your country. Do an online search on a noteworthy writer and
his or her contribution to the society relative to his/her work. You may
choose someone from the list of authors in the table above, but you are not
limited to that list. It may also be nice to write about an author who has a
little online presence, but have made significant impact to the lives of
his/her readers. Make sure that your feature provides the following
information: background of the author, a short overview of the authors
literary works (books, online or print publications, etc.), a short sampling of
the authors work/s together with your commentary. End the article by
highlighting what are the author’s contribution to contemporary literature
where you can include his/her causes or advocacies based on the common
themes found in his/her work. (Note: Write this activity in your notebook.
You may also publish this online.)
Reflection:

1. Outline your learning from this lesson

A. I learned that
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B. I realized that
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References:
Abellanosa, Noemi M. et.al., Quarter 2, Module 2 Understanding and
Appreciating the Literary Texts in Various Genres Across National
Literature and Cultures, 21st Century Literatures from the Philippines
and the World, DepED-ADM, pp.3-18
Answer Key:
Activity 1

Activity 2, answers/outputs are expected to vary.