LOOKING AT GENRES

1. LOOKING AT GENRES In which learning area would you expect to find each text? What is the purpose of each text? What stages can you identify? What name would you give each text?

2. Text A One day a tiny mouse accidentally ran between a lion's paws. Fearing for his life, he begged the mighty lion to release him and said, "If you let me go, one day I shall repay you for your kindness." The lion was amused by this and laughed. "How can such a tiny creature help me, the King of the Jungle?" he thought. But he let the mouse go free and off it ran. Some days later, however, when the lion was out hunting, he became entangled in a net which had been set by hunters. He roared in fury and struggled to get free, but the more he struggled the tighter the net became. All the animals of the jungle heard the lion and came rushing to find him. The lion asked each of them in turn for help, but they said, "How can weak creatures such as us help you, King of the Jungle?" And off they went, leaving him in the trap. Just then, the tiny mouse came running by and he saw the lion in trouble. Ordering the lion to lie still, he began to gnaw through the ropes of the net. He chewed and chewed until at last the lion was freed. So the tiny mouse, by patience and hard work, was able to do what the lion, in all his strength and rage, could not.

3. Text B Ladies and Gentlemen, I am here to convince you that Marijuana should not be decriminalised throughout Australia. Look at the word ‘decriminalise’. Is it not a crime to make drugs freely available to our vulnerable young people? Is it not a crime to drive a car whilst under the influence of this mind bending drug? Is it not a crime to turn our children on to the idea that drugs are OK? I say to you that we can not decriminalise the use of marijuana, because such use is a crime, not by name but by nature. Marijuana is a mind bending drug which influences the way users perceive the world around them. Supporters of the drug say that it “heightens awareness”. “Heightens awareness?” This is just a way of saying that it makes the user see the world from an unreal perspective. The user, with this so-called “heightened awareness”, drives on the road thinking that nothing can harm him, thinking that he is super-driver, that he is invincible. He sees speed in a different light – not as dangerous but as exhilarating, putting himself and every other road user at risk. And what about in the workplace? If marijuana becomes so accepted by society, what effects will its use have in the office? The factory? We’ve all heard song lyrics written under the influence of drugs and while it may seem entertaining on the CD player, do we really want those effects at work? Imagine the secretary who devises her new filling system whilst under the influence. Or the worker on a car assembly line “creatively” putting together the car’s braking or steering system! I think not! My opponents will say that decriminalising marijuana will break the link between this so-called soft drug and other hard-line drugs. Don’t believe them! It is a well known fact that people who experiment with marijuana get a taste for drugs and are tempted to try other drugs no matter what they have to do to get them. If marijuana is casually used throughout our society, more people will try more different drugs. It is a natural and logical progression. …

4. Text C … At Bolivar, the primary effluent passes through two more stages. After the secondary settling tanks, it passes into stabilisation lagoons for approximately 30 days to further improve the effluent quality. It is then filtered and chlorinated at the Dissolved Air Flotation and Filtration (DAFF) Plant. The raw sludge is pumped to large digestion tanks, where it is heated and mixed, accelerating the natural breakdown of the organic matter. After digestion, the sludge is pumped to drying lagoons, where it is air dried and can be reused in agriculture. The gas produced during digestion is converted into power for use within the treatment process. …

5. Text D … A third alien plant, the eucalypt, has now joined these two in the typical Mediterranean landscape. It came from an even more distant continent, Australia. There, five hundred different species of them grow in all conditions from humid rain forest to arid desert. One of them, the blue gum, is found in southern Australia in a climate that is not unlike that of the Mediterranean. It is a tall tree, growing up to one hundred and eighty feet, with bark that peels off in strips, giving the trunk a streaked appearance. Like nearly all eucalypts, it grows continuously throughout the year and never drops all its leaves simultaneously. …

6. Text E • Make sure you wear a hat whenever you are out in the sun. • Always wear SPF 15+ sunscreen while outside, even if you are in the shade because the UV rays from the sun can reflect off things like water and burn you. • Stay out of the sun between 10.00 and 2.00 because this is the time of day when UV rays are at their strongest. • Always wear sunglasses to protect your eyes. • When swimming, wear a sun shirt over your togs so you won’t get burnt. • Buy a fold-up shadehouse for when you go to the beach but make sure it is approved by scientists.

7. Text F Helen Keller was a famous American who lived from 1880 - Although she was blind, deaf and mute, she overcame her handicaps, went to university and became a famous author and lecturer. Helen Keller was born in the state of Alabama in 1880. She became ill at the age of nineteen months and as a result she became blind, deaf and mute. From the age of seven Helen was taught by Annie Sullivan. Under Annie's instruction Helen learned sign language by touch and to use the Braille system to read. She learned to write using a special typewriter. In 1890 Helen learned how to speak. 1900 was a special year for her because she passed the exams and was allowed to enter university with honours in 1904. After university, Helen needed to find a way to make a living, so she wrote her autobiography "The Story of My Life", which became a best seller. For a while life was good for Helen Keller. She became involved in the suffragette movement and also worked on her voice. As a result her ability to speak and to be understood improved greatly. Annie Sullivan had stayed with Helen Keller throughout her life, but when Annie died in 1936, Helen showed that she could lead a life of her own. With her secretary, Polly Thompson, she travelled to Japan before World War II and during the war she toured military hospitals in America to help cheer up the injured. After the war Helen and Polly toured the world to raise money for the blind people. Helen Keller died in 1968. During her life she showed great courage in overcoming huge difficulties to live a full and famous life.

8. Text G Blood transfusions are often given to accident victims who have lost a lot of blood. There are arguments for and against this often life-saving process. The first argument against blood transfusions deals with the spreading of disease. If contaminated blood is received by a patient, s/he may develop the disease that the donor had. Another argument against blood transfusions is that the mixing of unsuitable blood could result in blood clotting. When certain blood groups are mixed, the receiver will reject the new blood which leads to blood clotting. These clots block blood vessels and this could lead to strokes and heart attacks. However, only carefully screened blood is used for transfusions. Donated blood is tested for several diseases and contaminated blood is not used. Therefore, the risk of receiving contaminated blood is minimal. In that screening process, the type of the blood group is also determined. Before a patient receives blood, his or her blood group is ascertained. The strongest argument is that patients are helped by receiving blood and many lives are saved by this process. Having considered both sides of the argument, it is clear that blood transfusions should be given to patients. By this process many lives can be saved or prolonged.

9. Text H Kiesha pulled at her bonds. She was sitting in a black room. The only spot of light was a funny looking object in the corner. It was full of glass balls. What Keisha didn’t know was that they held her lifes memory. Kiesha had been kidnapped from kelliton Grove tied up, had her memory stolen and been thrown into a dark corner. She had had her memory stolen because she was the only person in Shindria that knew how to destroy the Evil queen, Karshi. Karshi knew that so she stole Kiesha’s memory and was preparing to sacrafice her to the dark gods. Stardi the Unicorn was pacing up and down the forest floor. He had heard that Kiesha had been kidnapped and was trying to think up a way to rescue her. Suddenly a thought struck him. He charged through the forest and up Grizzly Mountain straight towards Karshi’s castle. Using his horn, Stardi cut a hole in the wall, threw Kiesha on to his back and galloped away. As they neared Stardi’s home, Garsorm, Kiesha slid off his back. With one cut Stardi’s horn sliced off Kiesha’s bonds and they fell limply to the ground. “We must find the memory crystals and destroy Karshi,” said Stardi. “I know where to find them.” That night they slunk along the grimy wall of the cliff and crawled into Leprechaun Cave. They crept along in the darkness until they found the secret opening to the crystal chamber. Stardi knew there were green memory crystals and multi-coloured ones for other things. He cut off a green one and told Kiesha to touch it. She did and instantly her memory returned. “Now tell me what we have to do to destroy Karshi,” said Stardi. “The only thing that can destroy her is a blue memory crystal. To work properly it must be thrown into the Pool of death at exactly midnight,” replied Kiesha. They set out to find a blue crystal. There was only one left. They hurried away from the cliff and reached the Pool of Death at 11.58 at 12.00 Kiesha threw the blue crystal into the water. As it plunged downwards, the evil queen’s cry echoed through the forest. She was dead. To celebrate the death of the queen a grand festival was organized. It ran for the next six days and a statue was erected in honour of Kiesha and Stardi.

10. Text I The feathertail glider is a tiny marsupial member of the possum family. At night, in areas of southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia this tiny animal can be seen, gliding between trees and looking like a small bat. The feathertail glider is a nocturnal animal; it sleeps during the day and searches for its food after dark. Its main foods are insects and nectar from plants. it hangs from a tree branch by its tail, just like a possum, as it feeds. When it is first born its little hairless body is smaller than a 2 cent piece. it stays in its mother's pouch until it is too large and heavy for her to carry. At about 4 months of age it is ready to leave the pouch. Each female glider can produce three or four young in a year. An adult feathertail glider is about 16 centimeters long. Half of this length is body and the rest is tail. Flaps of skin join the front and back legs of the glider. When it jumps from tree to tree it spreads its legs and this stretches the flaps of skin between its legs and makes it look like a small kite gliding through the air. It uses its long feathery tail as a rudder to guide the direction of its glide. The feathertail builds a ball-shaped nest of twigs and leaves in hollows in the limbs of trees. Feathertail gliders have many predators (enemies) including cats, foxes, goannas and people. people are perhaps the glider's main enemy because they often destroy the trees and bushland which are necessary to this tiny creature's survival.

11. Text J Introduction: This is a report on some of the various aspects of work involved in constructing our wine rack. Size: I think the size of the design that was given to us was suitable but just to make it more practical I decided to increase the size so it would hold six bottles and glasses. Considering the size and value of the project, the cost was very good. There was a reasonable amount of preparation for the project. I had to calculate the new length of the back, shelves and supports because of my change in the design. I changed the plan of the back to accomodate the fact that the thicknesser could only take a width of 400mm. We had to make up templates for the shaping of the sides and the top part of the back. We had to work out the most economical and efficient way of getting our pieces out of the two sizes of timber which were 140 x 19 and 190 x 19 and also cost the project and prepare a cutting list. We then had to get our timber and work out the layout of our pieces to avoid dead knots. Timber: The timber for the project was Radiata Pine. Description and characteristics: Radiata Pine is a non-pored timber that is white to pale straw in colour. It is soft and also light in weight. It is generally straight grained with clearly marked annual growth rings. It tends to be knotty and often resinous. Most of the knots are good and can be used as feature knots, but some are dead knots which have to be avoided while working out the layout of pieces which will affect the strength and look of the project. It has a medium texture. It is easily worked with both hand and power tools and it also nails and screws without splitting. Machining: The rebating for the glasses supports are done on two machines. The rebates on the outside could be cut with the planer-jointer (Buzzer) and the ones on the inside could be cut with a series of grooving cuts using the circular saw. The basic dressing of the timber was done using the Radial arm saw, Circular saw, planer-jointer and thickenesser. The curves were cut using either a bench jigsaw or the bandsaw. These curves were cleaned up using the spokeshave, drum sander and the final clean up was done by hand using sandpaper and a cork block. To finish off the edge of the curves I used a routered pattern. Conclusion: I think the design is excellent because I ve seen others which have been completed and they look very good and they work. The only thing I changed was increasing the length so it would hold six bottles and glasses to make it more practical. Through this exercise Ive learn’t how to use new tools such as the planer-jointer (Buzzer), Circular saw, dowel jig and spokeshave. I learn’t new machining processes such as rebating and planing on the ‘buzzer’ and also rebating and ripping the circular saw. I think this was a valuable exercise because we made something useful and practical and also we learnt a lot of new things involved in Furniture Construction.

13. Implications?