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.