Hello student! I hope that you are doing well and in good health as you read this post. This site will serve as an alternative conduit of my instruction in light of the long break in consonance of the ncov-19. Please read further to know your weekly task embedded in this post.

     Many nursery rhymes originated in the 16th and 17th centuries. Nursery rhymes are traditional poems passed down from one generation to another, some of its authors are known, but others are not. They belonged to the oral tradition until they began to be recorded in different collections in the 18th century. They are part of a complex literary tradition called “folklore”. Nursery rhymes are usually intended for infants and children to prepare and introduce them to reading and spelling skills development. Most literary scholars pointed out that nursery rhymes play a causal role in children’s language and cognitive development and that they are effective tools of values education.

       A significant part of the oral traditions, nursery rhymes have been influential in most people who have been immersed in them while growing up. When a parent or an adult recite nursery rhymes to children, it helps develop their first skills in language and expand their vocabulary. Nursery rhymes were also assigned other names such as “ditties” and “Mother Goose rhymes”. They were once orally transmitted to different generations until they were first printed in England in the early 1570s and first published in Chapbooks or cheap pamphlets which also contained poems, ballads, or religious tracts that were often undated and anonymous.

     Inasmuch as nursery rhymes qualify as texts, they stand for various meanings. They often concealed religious, political, cultural and sexual meanings that have coexisted implicitly. They are said to be hidden in the texts. As such, these hidden meanings are properly called a subtext. Subtext encapsulates all the underlying meanings that lie beneath the words, images, and actions in film, which are also applicable to any kind of fiction writing. At a glance, most nursery rhymes, if not all, contain lyrics and images that are seemingly innocent, safe, and sometimes fantastical for children. However, when investigated a little further, one can find political satire cleverly disguised in these rhymes. Nursery rhymes were also “used as safe vehicles to parody unpopular political, royal and historical events of the day".

       While nursery rhymes have been around for centuries, many of the rhymes were not intended for children. They tell of superstitions and social customs, and give explanations for unexplainable physical phenomena. For this week, you are tasked to critically examine nursery rhymes in order to unmask the hidden meanings which include such themes as violence, discrimination, prejudices and other forms of disvalues.

Do include scholarly sources in your paper. Consider the mimetic and formalistic theories in writing your analysis. Your paper must be in an essay format. Two paragraphs would suffice for every nursery rhyme in focus.
Consider the criteria below as your guide:
1. Content (the paper is informative, free of personal bias, and replete of textual evidence and sources that supports the writer's claim)
2. Organization (the paper is well-organized, the ideas are well-expressed, and can be clearly understood, the writer also followed the format given)
3. Mechanics (the paper is free from mechanical errors in writing - spelling, grammar, etc.) 

Task 2: 
Choose and watch a couple animated films by Hayao Miyazaki under Studio Ghibli films. Following the criteria in selecting literary works for children, write a recommendation essay on which of those films may be utilized by educators for young viewers. Indicate the specific needs and interests of children embodied in the visual works you have chosen. Refer to the criteria given above. You may cite studies or scholarly articles online to support your ideas. 

Submission Instructions:

Email your works at tindespares@yahoo.com. Indicate the course code (Lit 221) with your full name and class schedule as your email subject. Submit your works not later than Friday midnight next week (March 27, 2020). 

All tasks must be in docs format (font: Verdana; size 11). The title of your work, as well as your name, must be centered while your analysis work must be justified. 

Example: 

Submitted works with no/lacking information shall not be graded.

Note: 

- Please do not send your outputs to me via the Facebook messenger app. 
- Your midterm exam will take place once the ncov-19 advisory will be lifted. 
Thank you. Stay safe and God bless. Stay indoors and pray.