Nervous Conditions

Dear Grade 11s

Here is some useful revision for our novel, Nervous Conditions.
I take no credit for this but it is a summary of the main ideas of the text.

Anthem for Doomed Youth

Dear Grade 11s

Here are some versions of this poem being read - including the ones I showed you in class. Kenneth Branagh reading the poem; another reading with some pictures; a final version with music and pictures.

Here is also a video explaining the poem as I did in class - revision for your exam.

Tests, Tests, Tests, Exams, Exams, Exams!

Dear Everyone

Here is a break-down of each grade's exam. I will add the exam dates as soon as we have them.

Grade 9: 2 hours
Comprehension: 20
Cartoon: 5
Advert: 5
Language: 15
Unseen Poetry: 7
Seen Poetry: 8 (Learn "My Parents..>," "The Playground," "You're," "Funeral Blues"
Merchant: 20
TOTAL: 80

Grade 10: 2.5 hours
Unseen Poetry: 7
Seen Poetry: 8 (Learn the poems in bold typeface for Terms 2 and 3 in your booklet)
Mockingbird: 25 (Contextual only, no essay)

Comprehension: 15
Language: 10
Cartoon: 5
Advert: 5
TOTAL: 75

Grade 11: 2.5 hours
Unseen Poetry: 7
Seen Poetry: 8 (You will have a choice of two poems here, only answer ONE)
Nervous Conditions: 25 (Contextual and essay options)

Comprehension
with Cartoon: 20
Advert: 7
Editing: 8
TOTAL: 75

TESTS coming up:
Grade 10:
Seen Poetry for 10 marks on Monday the 22nd of October.
Listening Comprehension for 15 marks on Tuesday the 23rd of October.

Grade 11:
Language Test for 40 marks on Monday the 22nd of October. This will include a summary, language and visual literacy.

Good luck!

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s

The answers for the poem are here (Google Drive and Dropbox) and the remaining answers to the Croc comprehension are here (Google Drive and Dropbox).

Your homework for next week is to do the summary about American homes being cluttered with stuff. Please summarise it into 5 bullet points and 90-100 words.

You then need to write a paragraph on what you will be doing in the December holidays. The point of this paragraph is that you write in the future tense. There seems to be some difficulty regarding the consistent use of tense in your Paper 3 work. Your paragraph should be 150 words long and should have a clear structure to it.

I hope you have a lovely day off!

Art

Dear Everyone!

We all know about the chaos that The Spear created in SA and the chaos related to the vandalism that it suffered. There is another painting, Rothko's Black on Maroon, that was recently vandalised.

You can read about the whole situation here.

I found this very interesting article about a few other works of art that have been vandalised or damaged over the years: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/9593748/When-art-gets-vandalised.html

It makes for very interesting reading. You can then go and look at complete and intact works of art in the National Gallery in London. You can take a virtual tour of some of the rooms in the Gallery!

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s

Please ensure that you have handed in your paragraphs!

Here (Google Drive and Dropbox) is my response to the summary task about the mother who hacked her children's school's computer system.

Your homework for next Tuesday, the 16th of October, is to
complete the comprehension on Crocs (questions 10-16)
Read the poem "Let the Children Decide," on page 31 of your Poetry Booklet, and answer the questions that follow.

Happy Homework!

Creative Writing Exam

Dear Grade 10s and 11s

Your Creative Writing exams are looming and you need to be considering them carefully.

Remember the requirements for each paper:

Grade 10: 2 hours 11 October
1 Essay(you choose from about 7 topics) for 50 marks.
2 Transactional tasks(you choose from 4 topics) for 25 marks each.
TOTAL: 100

Grade 11: 2 hours 25 October
1 Essay ( You choose from about 7 topics) for 50 marks.
1 Long Transactional Task (from about 4 topics) for 30 marks.
1 Short Transactional Task (from about 4 topics) for 20 marks.
TOTAL: 100

Remember that these tasks will be marked according to Content and Planning; Language, Style and Editing; and Structure.

You must therefore provide planning for each task. You also need to ensure that you proof read and edit your work properly before you hand it in. You will need to pay attention to the time given so that you do not run out of time. The Transactional tasks also need to be formatted correctly - you must revise the formats that I gave you in June.

All the best for your exams!

Cities

Dear English Classes

Here is the TED talk that we watched today about cities and how they might change in the future.

Give some thought to your reaction to the video. Ask yourself why are happy for these changes to occur or why you are resistant to them. You might learn quite a lot about yourself in the process.


Have a lovely holiday!

Advertising and Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 9s, 10s and 11s

Here are two adverts from different financial services institutions. Your paragraph topic for this week, grade 10s and 11s is to write a 150 word paragraph in which you compare these adverts in terms of the visual and verbal content that they have.
You will notice that they have a similar visual style and message; you can have a look at two of them on my back wall as well.

As with any question on advertising you need to consider the target market and how that affects how AIDA is used in the advert.

Grade 10s your summary task is to do summary number 5: Mom hacks into school computer system. You need to write 5 bullet points and a paragraph of 80-90 words.

The answers to last week's comprehension are in Dropbox and Google Drive.
The answers to the poem, "Clever Man" can also be found in Dropbox and Google Drive.

Grade 10 Homework 18 September

Dear Grade 10s

Here is my answer (in Dropbox and in Google Drive) to the summary task on Chinese theme parks.

I will be collecting your paragraphs today.

Your homework for next Tuesday, the 25th of September is to read the comprehension in your Homework Booklet entitled "Save us from the Croc."

Please answer questions 1-9. You also need to read the poem, "Clever Man" (page 16 of your Poetry Booklet) and answer the questions that follow it.

Nervous Conditions

Dear 11BPF

Seeing as we are getting through Nervous Conditions, exams are looming and we are going to be writing an essay soon, it seemed logical to me to give you some extra reading.
There are two articles in my classroom that you can read during break time or borrow to copy.

You should also read this article as a brief revision of the important ideas of the text.

Clickwrapped

Dear English Classes

We have already discussed, in some classes, how internet websites and companies share and sell our data to each other. My Grade 10 classes looked at letters that I have been sent by companies that I have never approached. These companies got my name, address, telephone and, in some cases, ID number from other companies.

This is an interesting website that scores and ranks other websites on their protection of our privacy and how they interact with other sites. It is interesting to see which websites do and do not protect our online identities.

Have a look at http://www.clickwrapped.com/

Grade 10 Homework - Answers: Poetry and Advertising Test and NEW work

Dear Grade 10s

It seems that more, but not enough of you, are now marking your homework.

Please ensure that you mark your answers on "The Effort of Love" and the Advertising test.
If you have Dropbox or would prefer to view the answers with Dropbox, then click here for the Advertising work and here for the poetry.

Your new homework for next Tuesday the 18th of September is to do the summary entitled:
"Chinese Theme Park Offers Discounts for Miniskirts." As this is a very short text you need only write 4 bullet points and 70-80 words in your paragraph.

You also need to write a paragraph on whether you prefer sweet or savoury food. This may seem like a very strange topic but it is important that you justify and EXPLAIN your opinion. There is no right or wrong answer but you must explain your opinion fully.

Unprepared Speaking

Dear English Classes

Unprepared speaking is something that many of us dread doing. While we are quite happy to voice our opinions in class to stand up and do so is much more daunting!

Here are some guidelines on unprepared speaking. This section of the syllabus is becoming more and more important as the new curriculum statement awards 50% more marks to unprepared than to prepared speaking.

An unprepared speech needs the same structure as a prepared speech so be sure to create an introduction, body and conclusion. These are guidelines only and you can mix-and-match these ideas as you please.
Be sure to greet your audience.
Define your topic or ideas in your topic.
Speak from experience: tell us an anecdote or relevant story.
Give us your personal opinion on the topic.
Positives and negatives around the topic.
Use facts and statistics, if you know some.
Ask the audience if they agree with you but do not allow your speech to become a
question and answer session.
If you are completely stuck then become a little abstract and talk from your topic to
more conceptual points.
Speak from your specific topic to more general ideas or from general ideas to a more
specific example. For example: jelly and custard to dessert OR dessert to jelly
and custard.
Remember to use your last 5-10 seconds to wrap up and review the ideas covered in
your speech.

Good luck for your speeches over the rest of your life and remember to BREATHE!

Arbour Week

This week is Arbour Week!

This is a very important week in the year as it celebrates the importance and beauty of trees.

Here is an excellent article on the importance of trees, it is well-worth reading.

These are 10 reasons (of many more) as to why trees are important:
1. Trees Produce Oxygen
2. Trees Clean the Soil
3. Trees Control Noise Pollution
4. Trees Slow Storm Water Runoff
5. Trees Are Carbon Sinks
6. Trees Clean the Air
7. Trees Shade and Cool
8. Trees Act as Windbreaks
9. Trees Fight Soil Erosion
10. Trees Increase Property Values

You can read the full article here.

This year the trees to focus on are the:
Water Berry or Umdoni tree
Red Beech
Black Mangrove

The Department of Forestry and Fisheries has a good over-view of the day and trees that are being celebrated.

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s

It seems that many of you are either not doing your homework or not marking it.

This is a great pity. The answers for your weekly homework are on the blog every week and you need to ensure that you mark your work in order to identify (and then solve) any problems that you may have.

Last week's homework was to do the summary on "The World's Most Expensive Hamburger" and to write a paragraph on whether you consider keeping a secret to be the same thing as telling a lie. Please ensure that you have your paragraphs here tomorrow.
The "memo" to the summary can be found here.

This week's homework is the poem "The Effort of Love" on page 20 of your Poetry Booklets. Please read the poem and answer the questions that follow. Then you need to refer to the Advertising and Cartoon Test in your Homework booklets. We have not yet completed the work on Cartoons, therefore you need only complete the first 15 marks of the test on Advertising. The answers will be up next Tuesday.

Shawn Achor - The Happy Secret to Better Work

Dear English Classes

Here is the video that we watched last week on how to increase your happiness and therefore your success in life.
Seeing as Mr Achor speaks very quickly and you might have missed some of his points, I suggest that you watch this presentation again.

Interesting stuff for your brain

Dear English Classes

Here are some interesting bits and pieces for you to consider.

Here is a quiz about the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, if you are a fan (which many of your reading journals claim that you are).

I also looked up the recipe for Crackling Bread from To Kill a Mockingbird:
CRACKLING CORN BREAD
1 cup cracklings, diced
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups corn meal (mielie meal)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cracklings are the pieces of meat remaining after the lard has been rendered from the pork. Crisply fried bacon or salt pork bits may be substituted.

Mix and sift together the dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk, stir in the cracklings or bacon bits. Form into oblong cakes and place in a greased baking pan.

Bake in a preheated 200 degrees Celsius oven for 30 minutes.

Answers to last week's Gr 10 homework

I hope that you have all begun this week's homework.

Here are the answers to the comprehension, Earth to Human: leave me alone.

Here are the answers to the poem: Ode to Bille Joe.

Please note that these are only suggested answers and are not exhaustive, you may have different ideas or may extend certain points that I have not explored fully.

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s

I hope that your homework for this Tuesday has been completed.
Your homework for next Tuesday, the 4th of September is to read the third summary text about the world's most expensive hamburger.
You must summarise the text into six bullet points and then a paragraph of 90-100 words.

You must also then write a paragraph in which you discuss whether keeping a secret is the same thing as telling a lie. Your paragraph should be 180-200 words long. You may use examples and analogies in your response. You will need to take a position on the matter: either you agree that secrets are lies, or you do not. You then need to argue for why you hold that position - give reasons as to why you are correct in your view.

Happy homework!

UPDATE to yesterday's post:
When writing analytical paragraphs such as the Nickelback comparison, and the one above, there are some points to remember:
1) Always write in the present tense: "Nickelback is trying to encourage us..."
2) Avoid using colloquial language; this includes contracted words such as "can't, don't, won't" and "They are just so upset by poverty" or "so, like, basically the songs mean that..."
3) Do not begin sentences with conjunctions such as "But, And, Because."
4) Remember to punctuate the titles of songs correctly: begin each word of the title with a capital letter and place the titles in inverted commas in your text: "If Everyone Cared" and "When we Stand Together."
5) If you are using words from either song then you must quote them correctly and place them in inverted commas.
6) Finally, be as specific as possible: "When it talks about these things, it wants us to do something." You have the correct idea but you have not expressed it clearly enough. I am not sure what you are referring to in this sentence.

Pamela Meyer - How to Spot a Liar

Dear Grade 10s and 11s

Here is the video on lying that we watched in class. I have included the questions that we answered on it.
Remember that these were very easy questions and that the real Listening Comprehension that you do for marks may be a little bit more challenging!


Questions:

1) Who does Meyer consider to be a liar? (1)
2) What basis does Meyer use to identify and “spot” lying and liars? (1)
3) What makes it possible for us to be lied to, according to Meyer? (2)
4) What are some of our motivations for lying, considering the examples of lies
that Meyer gives? (2)
5) What are the effects of lies on a corporate level? How does lying affect all of
us and our countries? (3)
6) Explain Henry Oberlander’s rule in your own words. (1)

Happy listening!

Interesting Article

This is a really interesting article about how to live more happily and peacefully in society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19335267

Viewpoint: Mosh pits and lessons for life

Many regard crowd-surfing as antisocial and potentially dangerous.

At a sweaty gig, a little mutual tolerance goes a long way. Joe Dunthorne explains why we ought to apply a little more mosh pit psychology to our day-to-day lives.

The first gig I ever went to was at the Brixton Academy. I was 13 and my escort for the night was my older sister's boyfriend Glyn.

He was more of an idol to me than the members of Green Day, the band on stage, and taught me how to crowd-surf.

Linking his hands together to make a step, he helped launch me on to the crowd. Since I was skinny and wore baggy clothes - maximum surface area, minimum weight - I was tossed easily around.

My parents had shown great faith in Glyn by giving him sole responsibility for my safety. As I flapped around, he fought through the crowd to guard me.

It's easy to see why I loved him. He must have known that if he returned from this concert with just a bloodied hoodie where a younger brother had been, his chances of ever seeing my sister again might take a dive.
I was lobbed towards the stage and finally fell headfirst into the densest part of the crowd. What a shame to die under the feet of strangers whose heads I have recently kicked before Green Day have even played their new single.

And yet, moments later, I found the same strangers held back the crowd to give me space, others were pulling me upright, dusting me down, and one man was encouraging me to join him in some righteous air-drumming. For the next hour, I was part of a community.

It was not all friendly, or all painless, but it was underpinned by a spirit of mutual tolerance. When I stepped from the venue and had another human being's blood on my T-shirt, I understood that person's sacrifice had been for something worthwhile.

It is my belief that we ought to apply a little more mosh pit psychology to our day-to-day lives.

In my experience of punk crowds, it is considered absolutely standard procedure to push someone away when they are annoying. If you are ska-dancing in steel toecap boots with your elbows like scythes, then it's a given you'll get shoved. If you go on someone's shoulders, expect abuse from those whose view you're blocking.

If you faint, however, then those around you will lift you above their heads and pass your limp body forward to the security guys. These are self-policing zones - and the social lubricant is a kind of anti-sensitivity.

Nobody gets too upset by things that are annoying, and nobody gets too angry when they're told to shut the hell up.

By contrast, look what happens when I allow my sense of entitlement to become inflated.

"Welcome to the quiet carriage" - words that transform me into a restless, noise-hypersensitive pedant with no basic social skills. I glance at someone typing too loudly then I glance, really hard, at the tiny sign that says they should be considerate.

I seethe but I never communicate.

This happens in shared houses too. I quietly hate the housemate who leaves their Marmite knife stuck to the kitchen counter. Or worse, I leave a passive aggressive but non-specific note: "Please leave this space as you would like to find it."

But in the psychology of the rock crowd, when someone stamps on my toes, I say: "Woah, mate, you are standing on my feet."

It's simple. I don't know why I find this kind of communication so difficult in day-to-day life.

My neighbours wake me playing party hip-hop at 3am. Either I say something or I stay up all night staring furiously at the wall, preparing the put-downs I will never use, carrying that resentment for years to come.

The flipside is that if I am loudly playing my Rocket from the Crypt records I can't help but imagine my neighbours - like me - silently fuming, and that spoils my fun. If only we had an understanding that we were both willing to complain, when necessary.

It would be better for everyone. I could listen to my music loudly, without guilt, because I'd know that if I was upsetting someone they'd let me know.

To be a positive part of a quiet carriage or a shared house or a mosh pit or any other community, we need to make our feelings known in a way that is not invested with years of frustration. We should be publicly discontented more, in small ways, every day.

Some people just don't realise how annoying they are - you can't hate them for that. One person's quiet is another's noisy. One person's air-drumming is another's fistfight.

By the same token, we need to practise being told off. The older we get, the less capable we are of taking criticism. Think of all the great writers who have gradually lost it as they've become more touchy about having their work critiqued, and think of all the great editors who have become more and more scared of suggesting corrections.

Social friction takes practise. One of the iconic images of the London riots was of a woman berating the rioters - in a likeable, motherly way - as they looted all around her.

I can vividly remember the first time I asked a boy to put his ice cream wrapper in the bin. He was not a physical threat, being probably seven years old. But little did he know he represented a lifetime of grievances.

As my body flooded with adrenaline, he cheerfully put the wrapper in the bin. It felt good. But that euphoria is not a helpful emotion. I should not feel victorious. And if he had turned to me and said "get a grip, grandad", then I should have been able to take that on board too.

To return to the mosh pit, a little shove in the back to let the guy in front know that you've got a mouthful of hair from his headbanging - it's nothing. But it takes practise to take the emotion out of it, for it not to be about winning or losing.

I hope, in the fullness of time, to be able to ask a teenager to stop playing music on their phone without having heart palpitations. I hope to receive complaints about my cycling style with humility and good humour.

Finally, on a more practical note, if you have complained and found a problem still unresolved, there is a practical solution which may help. A way to stem rage before it becomes debilitating.

The following cheap, plastic item is a solution to many problems.

Ear plugs.

The quiet carriage, neighbours playing dubstep, housemates having sex, morons yapping about nothing on their mobiles, all are solved by cheap bits of rubbery goo. Proof, if any were needed, that we should look to rock concerts for our social values - they hand out free ear plugs at the bar.

This piece is based on an edited version of Joe Dunthorne's Four Thought

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s

I hope that your homework is going well!

So far we have done:
1) The summary on Truvada which is already on the blog, with a suggested memo.

2)The Comprehension, "It's just me, me, me! Are we all narcissists?" The answers to which can be found here.
3)The poem "Walking Away," the answers to which can be found here.

4) The paragraph comparing the Nickelback songs. I would like to see those paragraphs tomorrow.
5) The summary of the paragraph on the Delta airlines sandwiches. The suggested answers can be found here.

This week your homework for next Tuesday is to do the comprehension entitled:
6) "Earth to human: leave me alone"
7) and the poem "Ode to Billie Joe"



You can watch the video of the song being sung and then answer the questions on the poem.

These two tasks will be due next Tuesday the 28th of August.

Comprehensions

Dear English Classes

Everyone has to write comprehension tests every now and then.
They are generally something that you dislike doing as many of you think that "comprehensions are difficult!"

They do not need to be difficult if you remember to follow some simple but important guidelines.

1) Take a deep breath, calm down and think slowly.
2) Draw a margin down the right hand side of the page and write your name at the top of the page.
3) Read the text carefully and underline and words and ideas that you think are important.
4) Read the questions carefully and underline any important words in the question:
Eg. What is the author’s attitude to ducks? Identify the tone of lines 5-7 that shows this attitude. Quote to support your answer.
5) Write your answers in full sentences and do not begin those sentences with conjunctions: “and, but or because.”
6) Please write clear and specific answers. For example: “He told him that he played golf with his boss and would get him fired if he continued to be so rude.” This is meant to be about Mr Birling and Inspector Goole from An Inspector Calls but it is very poorly constructed. I have no idea who you are referring to.
7) Always State your answer, Support it with evidence (a quote or an example) from the text and Explain the link between your evidence and your answer.
8) Please leave a line between your answers. This gives me the space to scribble my thoughts on your answer; it gives you the space to add any information needed when we go through the test in class and finally you can add to your own answer if you receive a flash of inspiration during the test.

The most important of all of these guidelines is to think slowly!

Good luck for your comprehensions in the future!

Read this

Everyone needs to read this article: http://www.acbio.org.za/images/stories/dmdocuments/What_You_Should_Know.pdf
about genetically modified maize that might be allowed into the country.

You can find out about "glyphosate" here.

You can find out more about 2,4D here.

While this is all rather dense and difficult to grasp, it deserves some consideration. Do we really know what we are eating and what the long term effects of it may be?

In SA the following common products contain Genetically Modified grains:
Nestlé’s Cerelac Honey contained 77 percent GM maize;
Bokomo wheat-free Pronutro 90 percent GM maize and 71 percent GM soya;
Premier Foods’ Impala maize meal 66 percent GM maize;
Futurelife energy meal 100 percent GM maize and 36 percent GM soya.

This information comes from the African Centre for Biosafety and the tests were run by the University of the Free State

Grade 10 Homework

Dear Grade 10s.

I hope that your paragraphs and summaries went well last week.
This week your homework is to read the poem "Walking Away" on page 14 of your Poetry Booklet. After reading the poem carefully, try to answer the questions on the poem.

The second part of your homework is to do the Comprehension in your Homework booklets entitled, "It's just me, me, me! Are we all narcissists?"

This will all be due next Tuesday, so you can choose whether to do it over the weekend or not. However you choose to do your homework, make sure that you get it done!

Analytical Writing

Dear Grade 10s and 11s

You are going to be expected to write a lot of analytical text from now on.
This is often challenging as we are not often required to be analytical in everyday, teenage life. The skills, however, that go into writing a good analytical essay are the same skills that we use to critique news and advertising later in life.

This is a very useful summary of the skills needed and questions that you should ask when writing an analytical essay.

Paragraph writing

Dear Grade 10s

As we are going to be writing a paragraph every 2 weeks, here is the paragraph topic for the week:

Watch this music video and consider the song carefully in terms of its lyrical content.
Write a 150 word paragraph in which you consider the similarities, in terms of the ideas, between this song and the previous Nickelback song, "When we Stand Together" that we listened to. Make specific references to both texts in your answer.

Summary Homework

Dear Grade 10s

Due to some "technical problems" I have been unable to give you a hard copy of this.
Please summarise this article:

You need to write 5 bullet points (3 marks) and a paragraph of 85-90 words (7 marks).

1) Truvada: the first drug to prevent HIV infections.
Doctors now have another weapon against HIV/AIDS in their arsenal, and it’s a potent one. For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug treatment that will prevent infection in healthy people.
The drug, called Truvada, which is already approved for the treatment of HIV in infected patients, works by lowering the amount of virus circulating in people’s blood. But clinical trials show that it can also protect uninfected high-risk people from acquiring the virus, if they take the drug daily before and after exposure.
The drug can treat people who are infected with HIV by lowering the amount of virus in their bodies and slowing down the progression of the disease. In healthy, uninfected people, the drug can thwart HIV’s ability to take hold in healthy cells and start an infection, by blocking the activity of an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate. This drug does not cure HIV.

The approval is controversial. Some public health experts argue that allowing the drug to be used for prevention will foster a false sense of security among users, leading people to believe mistakenly that they are immune to the virus and reduce their use of condoms. However, the FDA determined that the benefits of expanding the pool of people who may use Truvada to protect against HIV made it worth approving.Some experts believe that healthy people may not take the drug correctly — it needs to be taken daily to be effective — which would encourage HIV to become resistant to the medication. Public health officials also worry that people may engage in more risky behaviors when they are on the drug, believing they are protected completely against HIV, which they are not. (287 words)

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/17/truvada-5-things-to-know-about-the-first-drug-to-prevent-hiv/#ixzz20xYONC9m


MEMO
I am assuming that you have all done this work...
Here is my response to the summary task.


>Truvada: the First drug to prevent HIV infections:
Bullet points:
1) There is a new, powerful drug that can prevent healthy people from contracting HIV.
2) Truvada decreases the amount of the virus in a person’s blood and slows its progression.
3) The medication cannot cure HIV.
4) There are concerns that the drug may make people complacent and less likely to protect themselves against HIV infection.
5) If used correctly the benefits of the drug may outweigh concerns.

Paragraph:
There is a new, powerful drug available that may prevent healthy people from getting HIV and slows the progress of the virus in infected people. The drug decreases the amount of the drug in a person’s body and inhibits the virus’s ability to replicate but does not cure HIV. There are concerns, however, that making the drug available will encourage complacency and discourage the use of condoms in healthy people. The FDA has found that the benefits of the drug outweigh the possible harm it may cause. 87 words

Emotive Language

Emotive Language is an important part of the English syllabus.
It is relevant to our understanding of advertising, cartoons, the tone of a written text and newspaper articles.

There are articles that have very little emotive language in them, such as this one in the Mail and Guardian newspaper. This is a highly respected South African newspaper that prides itself on its exceptional standards of journalism.

This is an article from the Sun newspaper in the UK. This article provides a sharp contrast to the previous article as it has a high number of emotive words in it. In addition to considering the language used, please also take a careful look at the visuals that accompany the text. Why have these pictures been chosen and what impression are they meant to give us of James Holmes?

As sensitive and critical readers we need to be aware of the emotive language in a text and we need to consider what response the writer is hoping to get out of us.
Can you identify the emotive language in the texts and can you see how we are expected to respond to this language?

Update to this post: Read this article about how criminals can be classified as "legally insane." Do you agree with the ideas put forward here?

We are Young - FUN

We Are Young by FUN



Listen carefully to the song and then answer the questions that follow:
1) Who is the speaker in this song? How do you know this? (2)
2) Where is this song set? (1)
3) Describe the relationship between the man and the woman. Substantiate your answer with reference to the text. (3)
4) Consider the image “My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses.” This is an example of synecdoche. Do you think that this is an effective image, substantiate your answer. (3)
5) What is the tone of the song and the mood of the speaker? Explain your answer fully. (2)

6) Write a paragraph in which you discuss whether you consider this song to be a celebration of youth and relationships or a critical and ironic comment on them. Refer to the lyrics as well as the visual of the music video in your answer. (10)

Miss Gadd's paragraphs in response to this question are here.

Dear Grade 10s and 11s.

I have put the 2011 Grade 10 Language Booklets and this year's Romeo and Juliet videos on Google Drive. You can access them here. The Language notes are all in pdf format, so you will need the appropriate software to view them and they cannot be altered in any way.

Happy Learning!

Welcome Back to Term 3!

This will be a constantly updated section of the blog and will contain all of the important dates and deadlines for each grade.

Reading Journals:
Grade 9 and Grade 11: These will be due in on Friday the 17th of August.
Grade 10: These will be due in on Wednesday the 22th of August.


Grade 9:
Standardised Test: Thursday, the 26th of July. This will take the form of a comprehension a language task and a short visual literacy question.
9S:LO poster and English newspaper article: Monday the 30th of July.
9GH: English newspaper article is due on Friday the 27th of July.
Topic Orals: Begin on Monday the 6th of July. Please remember that I will be choosing who speaks randomly. This means that everyone must be ready to speak on the 6th. If you are not ready on the 6th you lose 10% per day for the first two days and thereafter you will have to complete the oral but will be given zero for your work.

Grade 10:
Topic Orals: These begin on Monday the 13th of July. Please remember that I will be choosing who speaks randomly. This means that everyone must be ready to speak on the 13th. If you are not ready on the 13th you lose 10% per day for the first two days and thereafter you will have to complete the oral but will be given zero for your work.

Grade 11:
Topic Orals: These begin on Monday the 13th of July. Please remember that I will be choosing who speaks randomly. This means that everyone must be ready to speak on the 13th. If you are not ready on the 13th you lose 10% per day for the first two days and thereafter you will have to complete the oral but will be given zero for your work.

Dear English Classes Here is a brief summary of most English punctuation. It includes most of the commonly used punctation marks except for hyphens. Remember: hyphens JOIN, dashes SEPARATE.
You must also remember to spell the names of the various punctuation marks correctly.

Grade 9 and 10

I watched a time lapse video of Earth from the International Space Station with some of you. Then I found some pictures of the Sun on the National Geographic site. Some of the pictures are amazing! Have a look.

Romeo and Juliet Grade 10

If you are worried about Romeo and Juliet then here is a very detailed summary, with notes and revision questions, on the the play. Here are some good quotes to memorise for your essay and for your exam answers.

Grade 11 Poetry

Dear 11BPF Here is a very good revision of the poem, "To his Coy Mistress" with many of the more technical aspects of the poem pointed out. I take no credit for this, it is all Mr Bruff, you too can follow him in Youtube!

Here is a very interesting article on the painting "The Spear" and what it means to South Africa. Do you agree with Perry's final statements, that questioning government is every citizen's obligation in a democracy? http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/05/23/south-africa-over-exposing-the-president/?xid=newsletter-europe-weekly

5 Minute Macbeth Revision

Here is a video with 10 questions and answers about Macbeth. Here is the link to the video of "Macbeth in 96 seconds," just in case you missed it all in the first 96 second viewing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5nlx2XzP-4&ob=av3e Embedding has not been enabled on this video, unfortunately. Watch this: it is longer than five minutes but worth the time!

Here is today's grammar lesson. We are going to leave punctuation for a little while and focus on sentence structure instead. You should all (Gr9-11) have notes on the Active and Passive voice, but here is a fantastic re-cap that I hope you will go through.

The Dreaded Comma!

Now that we have apostrophes under control we need to consider the other punctuation that looks like an apostrophe, but at the bottom of a line: the comma. The placement of a comma can radically alter the meaning of a sentence:

or...

Here is the Ultimate Guide to using the comma. Now we shall never abuse these poor punctuation marks again! This is the poster that began my decision to find more resources on the comma

The Dreaded Apostrophe!

Good Morning Everyone. Here is a little tutorial on how to use an apostrophe! Although it has been taught to you many times already and although you have these rules in your notes, here is a re-cap of the uses of the most dreaded punctuation on Earth. Here and here are some more cartoons and articles to help you use this poor, maligned punctuation. There is more grammar revision to follow!

Good Morning Everyone. Such a lot has been happening in the world and SA recently. There seems to be too much to talk about at the moment. I would like us to start by thinking about the purpose of art and expression. I have re-tweeted an article about Mark Zuckerberg getting married and another one about people in SA being fired for their Facebook updates. It seems that expressing yourself is not what it used to be; the internet ensures that all of your "expressions" are available for the world to see, and possbily be offended by... Then there is a storm of controversy that has been caused by a local artist and his depictions of Jacob Zuma and the ANC logo. At what point is art really art? What is the purpose of art in the modern world? Are you offended, enraged, irritated, intrigued or ambivalent when you hear about art like Murray's. Think about whether these works are relevant and necessary in South Africa in 2012.

Here is the video on agriculture and the need for new innovations in feeding the planet: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jonathan_foley_the_other_inconvenient_truth.html This video did not have an embed function, so you will have to go to the website to watch it. Here is the video by Marcel Dicke on why we, in the Western world, should consider eating insects: Maybe we all need to start changing our mind-set...

Good Morning Everyone! I watched this video last night and my brain is still rattling. I do not fully understand everything that Mr Slavin says but it is truly fascinating what is happening in the world. Then I was wandering around Twitter this morning and found this article on the new Google search engine called the Knowledge Graph. Doesn't it sound algorithm-driven to you? I wonder if the employees at Google can read what they wrote? There are lots of other articles on the Knowledge Graph available today. Here is another one; this one explains more concisely what the Knowledge Graph aims to do.

Here is this week's Listening Comprehension:


Listen to the song and then answer the questions below:

Grade 9 S:
Following on from our conversation about animals and their rights and our need to eat them, I found the following article about the 10 Most Intelligent Animals.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/a-list/creature-countdowns/smartest/smartest.html

Here are some video clips that show just how intelligent animals can be:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01by4w1/clips

Do we need to start re-considering our interactions with animals?

EXAMS, exams, EXAMS:

Here is the break-down for your exam Grades 9-11:

Last week's Listening Comprehension:

Listen to the video clip and then see if you can answer the following questions.


Remember that all of your answer should be in full sentences and in your own words.

1)      Why has the speaker compared her love affair to that of Romeo and Juliet?                        (2)

2)      Describe the setting of the song.                                                                                                 (2)

3)      What is the emotional path that the speaker follows? How do her feelings towards her “Romeo” change over the course of the song?                                                                         (2)

4)      What challenges do the lovers in the song face that are similar to those of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s play?                                                                                                                       (2)

5)      What similarities can you see between this girl and Juliet?                                                      (2)

TOTAL: 10

As a start you can watch this video on Youtube:

Welcome

Dear Classlings

Welcome to our classroom blog!
We are going to work here, explore ideas and hopefully have fun.
This blog is not just a space for me to speak at you. It will only work if we work together. I will need your ideas and input.
Some of your classwork and homework will now be here and I will post some interesting articles that are not part of the syllabus too. You can also start talking on Twitter: @Gadds_classroom.

Happy Blogging!
Miss Gadd