Summarising

Dear Grade 10s

We have been learning how to summarise a text in class.
Here are some guidelines to follow when summarising any article.

1) Read the article to gather what it is about. Remember to read the headline, the name of the author and the date that it was printed.
2) Re-read the article with a pencil in your hand: underline any important ideas or words.
3) Condense these ideas into bullet points.
4) Bullet points must be written in your OWN WORDS and in FULL SENTENCES. These should be no more than 20 words at most.
5) Turn rhetorical questions into statements.
6) Leave out unnecessary details like people's names (unless this is vital), dates, quotes, descriptions, emotive language and imagery.
7) Write in the third person - not as "I."
8) Use a formal register.
9) Do not add your opinion on the matter or any extra information that you might have about the topic.
10) Write a paragraph in full sentences and your own words.
11) Proof read your paragraph to ensure that there are no errors.
12) You MUST put a WORD COUNT at the bottom of your paragraph

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!

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!

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 this week's Listening Comprehension:


Listen to the song and then answer the questions below:

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