Thursday, 28 February 2013

Poor, glued words!

Dear English Classes

There are a few problems that I am noticing across all of the grades that I teach.
One of these problems in your writing is that you stick words together that should be written as separate words.


We need to stick these words into our brains forever and remember that they are two words!

in love
in fact
in front
in between
of course
a lot
a bit
as well
each other
one another
every day
at least

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Grade 10 Homework for Tuesday the 5th of March

Dear Grade 10s

Your homework for next Tuesday is a little challenging. You are required to read the articles that I gave you and then compare them in terms of content, purpose, audience, style etc.

Here is the photo that printed poorly with the Louboutin article:



This is a photo of the red soles synonymous with Louboutin:



Most unfortunately though this is what might happen to you if you wear these shoes all day:







Monday, 25 February 2013

Autumn by Roy Campbell

Dear Grade 12s

Here is a Power point with images and some definitions to help you with the poem "Autumn."
None of these photos were taken by me, I am grateful to the people who placed them online!

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Book Trailers (Grade 8s)

Dear English Classes and especially Grade 8s

We have been talking a lot about books recently. We have discussed their covers and blurbs and even made our own book covers (Grade 8s).

Have a look at these book trailers. They are like movie trailers but for books.









These are essentially blurbs in action. Do they interest you at all? Do they encourage you to read the books?

Grade 10 Homework for Tuesday the 26th

Dear Grade 10s

Well done for completing your homework this week.
Please remember that if you have a problem viewing videos or accessing online content you must come and see me about it - we can make a plan for you to view the videos etc at breaks or after school.

Your homework for next Tuesday is to:
Read the summary text about the needles that were found in airline sandwiches.
Then summarise it into 6 bullet points and
a paragraph of 80-90 words.

Read the poem "Let the Children Decide" by Don Mattera.
Treat this as an unseen poem, make notes on it and then answer the questions at the back of your Poetry booklet.

Monday, 18 February 2013

Othello Act 2

Dear Matrics

As we move from Act 1 into Act 2 it is important to keep up with what is happening on a literal and a figurative or thematic level in the play.

Here is another Lit Chart about Act 2, scene 1. It is a good, visual way to review the themes in each scene.

I will put the quotes that you found in class online as well, as a helpful reference when you are studying or writing the essay.

Romeo and Juliet Prologue

Dear Grade 10s

As we move through our Forum Discussions and into Romeo and Juliet, here is an excellent analysis and revision of the Prologue.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge--break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.




Remember that the Prologue is a compact version of the whole play. It is important that you understand why Shakespeare chose to divulge the plot to us at the beginning. How does our knowledge of the plot force us to focus on other aspects of the text? How does knowing the plot increase the Dramatic Irony of the play and the emotional impact of watching Romeo and Juliet fall in love? Think about these questions as we read the text.