Today’s input was challenging however very interesting.

I enjoyed learning about and looking at the different Scholars. It is interesting to focus on scholars who have contrasting beliefs around the same topic. I learned that Karl Max who is a German philosopher who developed the theory of international communism was critical to religion. Karl Max believed that people are obsessed and deluded by religion. He argued that religion gave people false hope and it was the opium of the people. Karl Max thought that religion was an illusion.

I also found the study of Matt Waggoner very interesting. Matt believed that religion had a purpose in people’s lives. He mentioned that religion is not an illusion or a mental mistake but something that societies regard as valuable.

I managed to to grasp most concepts in the lecture and tutorial however I will further my knowledge by further academic reading.

Reading has always been more of a task, or a chore rather than enjoyment for me. Reading isn’t something that I have been encouraged to do other than higher English at Secondary school, and now university. My English teacher informed me that we should all read as it stimulates the brain and widens your vocabulary, therefore you would find it easier to write essays and also communicate with others. As I was growing up, technology was becoming such a big necessity and it was become more and more normal for a primary school child to have a phone. As social media was making its way into Adult’s lives, it was also making its way into children’s lives. As my Mum had just bought a laptop for the family, I would much rather speak to my friends through social media and messaging sites such as Bebo and Msn at a young age. I think this took the interest off of reading at a young age as I would have much rather spoken online and shared pictures on my new colourful profile, even at the age of 11.

The type of texts I tend to read now a days are texts issued by university. However, I shocked myself when reading “Room” as I actually really enjoyed it. This has prompted me to start another fiction novel named “Me Before You” by Jo Jo Moyes. I find it easy to latch onto a book if it captures me in the first few pages. I also like to look at reviews to see if anyone else has found it interesting. “Me Before You” has a great review and people have recommended the movie, therefor I think I will enjoy the book. I would like to start reading more novels to widen my vocabulary.

The minute I started to read “Room” the writer had captured me. I was so fascinated with this little boy and the terms he was using to describe different things and the context he was in. I enjoyed this story as it was something different than I have ever read or watched before. The story line was grasping and interesting. Parts of the novel were disturbing for example when Jack was put in the wardrobe and had to listen to his mother get abused by Old Nick. I found parts of the novel hard to read such as when Ma had to tell Jack that the stain on the carpet was when she had a still born child. I also found it distressing when Ma tells Jack that she was kidnapped when she was 19 and has be captured in “Room” for many years. I find it hard to believe that this novel was based on a true story as I could never imagine this situation happening to me. I would recommend this story to a friend as it was eye opening and also a very good read.

Reading “Room” was often challenging as it was from a 5-year old’s point of view. As Jack missed out crucial words such as “ a” and “the”, this made it hard to read. Reading Room has encouraged me to read other novels as I really enjoyed the story line and could hardly take a break from reading it. It has proven to me that I thoroughly enjoy a fiction novel once I get into it. The story helped me to understand language acquisition and development once I analysed Jack’s language. It was helpful to analyse features of Jacks language to understand how context can have an impact in a child’s development.