Share with your Students!

From the very beginning of the scene, we see a very caring and worried Frank who is 1st concerned about the way Rita enters his office (then he knows it was because of excitement), then he is concerned about her health and how she eats: "Look, how about a proper lunch?" he asks her.

This attitude of sharing, in this case the apple and the can of soda, between student and teacher is the one that called my attention.

In my opinion, this is a clear example that there is more to teaching than just delivering the lesson to the students but caring about them, asking them about their lives is also part of it.

In fact, Rita learns something in this "lesson": the difference between Tragedy and Tragic but what is important is the fact that Frank asks Rita about Denny, he invites her to his dinner party at his house, and so on.

HUMANIZE YOUR TEACHING!

THINK OF YOUR STUDENT AS A PERSON AND NOT MERELY AS A LEARNER!

Act 1 - Scene 6, Question 3

Rita´s Expressions

Rita uses a couple of expressions to emphasize how important the course is to her:

-"(I´m) Busy finding meself"

-" I´ve begun to find me"

-(to Frank) - " You give me room to breathe"

- " You just , like feed me without expectin´anythin´in return"

-(about Literature) " It´s providing me with life itself"

-" Coming here, doing this, it´s given me more life than I ´ve had in years, an´he (Denny) should be able to see that"

- " If it´s all in my head, he (Denny) can´t touch it"

What I loved about this Scene, is the fact that in this struggle for starting to work, the roles changed. In this scene, Frank is the one that wants to talk about personal problems, he wants to get involved in Rita´s life to find a way to help her. Contrary to what I may expect, Rita wants to start working right away, she doesn´t want to be affected by her situation, she doesn´t want to give Denny the satisfaction of having succeed in getting Rita distracted.

I like her last quote: " If it´s all in my head, he can´t touch it". It is dead true. Nobody can get into our mind but ourselves. Fortunately, our thoughts are ours only.

Act 1, Scene 5 - Question 1

University: Game with its specific rules

Frank tells Rita the story of the theology student so that she can realize that learning and going to University has its rules.

Unfortunately, you cannot do whatever you want(or write in this case); you have to stick to the rules that the professor imposes so that you can pass.

Sometimes you need the skill to "blend in" because that is what the professors, the University is asking for.

As Frank says, playing to be smart or clever is not the answer: that can get you into trouble.

I believe this story helps Rita to understand life a little bit more and not about just the fact of how to write an essay.

She learns that life has its rules and in some subjects is no good to break them.

In mi opinion, wanting to learn is absolutely key to start University, having that motivation is absolutely important but there are other things to take into account to start learning: TO KNOW THE SYSTEM.

If you understand how the system works, you can get into this game that is called LIFE.

Act 1, Scene 3&4 - Question 2

Frank´s room and the "Proper" Students

Rita loves Frank´s room. She thinks he has taste. She looks at it as her ideal room: full of knowledge, messy yet attractive. I believe she can smell when wisdom is around her and that turns her into somebody who is eager to learn.

When she sees this room, her mind starts to day-dream. She dreams about having a room like that one, having another life and fitting into the life of a "proper" student.

What´s a Proper Student? Well, in Rita´s terms, Proper students are responsible, nerd-like students who study all the time. She idealizes them and that is why she gets so upset when Frank implies that they are lazy or do not take education that seriously.

I believe that during this part of the play, Rita wanders if she could one day be at the same level of those proper students. She doesn´t want to miss the opportunity of being close to them, in fact, BEING ONE OF THEM is her ultimate goal.

Act 1, Scene 2 - Educating Rita