Welcome to the Access to Languages Study Skills blog.
Here we will keep a record of what happens in the class. You can all read the postings and contribute to it.
I hope you enjoy blogging!
For the first task, I would like to ask you respond to the comment made by Rita in the film:
"There must be a better song to sing"
What does it mean to you? Do you agree?
Write a paragraph to give your opinion of the film and how it relates to your own situation
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I think it is a very thought provoking comment. Rita is clearly trying to overcome many things holding her back from achieving what she hopes to. She goes on to prove that with the determination to overcome obstacles the end goal can be achieved.
ReplyDelete... there is more creative way of living if you are following your dreams...
ReplyDeleteThere must be a better way to live and move forward!
ReplyDeleteI was able to relate to this film because I find myself in the same situation.
ReplyDeleteLike Rita, I'm learning new things and although it's only been 2 weeks since starting the course, I find that I'm starting to change as a person and like a sponge I'm soaking up the information.
To me it means that there is always something more to strive for. I agree with Rita on this because she is trying to be something better than she is. Which is something i think we all do, its part of being human.
ReplyDeleteI could empathise with Rita completely when she made this comment because sometimes you reach a point in life where you feel trapped and you really question where you want to be in life or where you could be. You ask yourself, "Is this as good as it gets?"
ReplyDeleteIf you are unhappy in life its only you that can change it and you have to stuggle to progress.
"There must be a better song to sing"
ReplyDeletethat in life we can choose doing things right or wrong, its up to us to search a better way when things go difficult.
being optimistic makes my life better.
"There must be a better song to sing" To me it means that there is somewhere else you should be, although not necessarily a physical place.
ReplyDeleteI liked the film although at times it was diffult to ignore the heavy synthethisor music and the eighties hair.
After studying with the OU, I can empathise with Rita, her frustrations and her learning curve.
Ok, so Rita wasn't content with her life as it was. She was referring to her life as a song. She was a mature student. She desperately wanted to better herself. Thus wanting to sing another song. Aka sing another song means live another life. By the time the film is over and done with, she is a completely different person. Educated, and living the life she's tried so hard to gain.
ReplyDeleteNow we can compare ourself to Rita. We ourself want to better ourself, and are not content with the song we are currently singing, thus we want to study and learn more. This course is a stepping stone for what we want to become. Once we are are over and done with University, we ourself will be singing another song.
When she say's "there must be a better song to sing"
ReplyDeleteShe means there must be more to life then what they see and are doing.
And in my own opinion I agree with her.
The world is full of so much more than just pubs and whatever. There is so much to see and do and such little time to do it all in.
I know how they feel. Being a traveller myself and a college student I know what the world can offer and Don't want to end up being stuck in the same routine as Rita and her mother. Luckily for Rita she had the courage to move foward!
I think that Rita felt that the life she was leading was not the one she wanted to, she felt she could "sing a better song", lead a better life. Although I like the scene when Frank commented on Rita "singing a better song". He said: "a better song, or a different song?"
ReplyDeleteAlthough Rita was better educated she still had lessons to learn. She found a better life for her but it wasnt that simple. It wasnt just getting an education that meant she felt better, it was the other lessons she learnt too that made her a more well-rounded person.
I agree with the comment "There must be a better song to sing" Rita made in the film. I feel it is very relevant to my own life. I’ve been working in super-markets for the last 4 years now and I know I would not be able to do that job for the rest of my life. I feel there is something better I could be doing.
ReplyDeleteI taught two friends basic Japanese for a year in 2007/2008. They have both moved on now, one is actually in Japan teaching English and the other is furthering her Japanese study at her home university in France, while I was still self studying and stuck in the same horrible job with nothing to show for all my hard work.
I didn’t think to myself “There must be a better song to sing”, but I did think there must be something better out there for me? Surely it’s my turn? Then I found this course and realised it was my bridge to something better, a better song than the one I was singing.
It wouldn’t be the easiest path to choose and I’d be giving up my home in Aberdeen, moving to a new city not knowing anyone there, losing my job and most importantly, leaving my boyfriend behind, but I still knew despite all of hardships that would follow, that this was the song I should be singing.
I also think that no matter what we achieve in life or where we go, there will always be a better song, we should always strive to find it and sing it.
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ReplyDelete"there must be a better song to sing"
ReplyDeleteI usaly say that about The killers " Are we human ..."
It means that we all have better expectations from life and that sometimes we need to realize that there's a way of reaching our aim.
i am not sure that university opened for her a door to the better life,i will say that gave her oportunity to discover herself and that changed her life....but on the end of the day she decided who she wants to be...
ReplyDeleteFor the last 3 years of a 20 year marriage I thought there must be a better life than this or a better song to sing.There was and I' doing it.
ReplyDeleteLast Monday we watched "Educating Rita", an early 1980s film starring Michael Caine & Julie Walters as a disillusioned university professor (Dr. Frank Bryant) and a working-class Open University student (the Rita of the title). The film tells how Rita manages to overcome her own preconceived limitations, escape the restrictions of family expectations and learn an appreciation and understanding of English literature, while, at the same time, reminding Dr Bryant of the pleasure of learning and, indeed, living.
ReplyDeleteIn one scene Dr Bryant invites Rita to a social function at his house. Rita wants to go but is a little anxious that she will show herself up at, as she sees it, a gathering of the academic elite. Her husband refuses to accompany her, preferring a night in the pub so Rita goes alone but her courage fails her and she doesn’t dare go in.
Instead she goes to the local pub where her family and friends are drinking and singling together. Rita half-heartedly joins in but observes her mother is looking unhappy, explaining “There must be a better song to sing”. And this becomes a kind of mantra to Rita; she knows one life and where it can take her but she wants something better.
And that is why I am taking this course; I have been lucky enough to have experienced a variety of jobs, friends, lovers and even countries and I am fully aware that I could continue in my chose career of English language teaching. However, I have dared to put that on hold while I try, perhaps a little selfishly, to do something for me! A 5 year mission to explore strange new skills; to seek out new life and new challenges; to boldly go where I have not gone before…..university!!!