Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Friday, 23 September 2011
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Extract from 'The BFG' - A2
The BFG
The Witching Hour
Sophie couldn’t sleep.
A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on to her pillow.
The other children in the dormitory had been asleep for hours.
Sophie closed her eyes and lay quite still. She tried very hard to doze off.
It was no good. The moonbeam was like a silver blade slicing through the room on to her face.
The house was absolutely silent. No voices came up from downstairs. There were no footsteps on the floor above either.
The window behind the curtain was wide open, but nobody was walking on the pavement outside. No cars went by on the street. Not the tiniest sound could be heard anywhere. Sophie had never known such a silence.Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour.
The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.
The moonbeam was brighter than ever on Sophie’s pillow. She decided to get out of bed and close the gap in the curtains.
You got punished if you were caught out of bed after lights-out. Even if you said you had to go to the lavatory, that was not accepted as an excuse and they punished you just about the same. But there was no one about now, Sophie was sure of that.
She reached out for her glasses that lay on the chair beside her bed. They had steel rims and very thick lenses, and she could hardly see a thing without them. She put them on, then she slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to the window.
When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. She longed to duck underneath them and lean out of the window to see what the world looked like now that the witching hour was at hand.
She listened again. Everywhere it was deathly still.
The longing to look out became so strong she couldn’t resist it. Quickly, she ducked under the curtains and leaned out of the window.
In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well seemed completely different. The houses looked bent and crooked, like houses in a fairy tale. Everything was pale and ghostly and milky-white.
Across the road, she could see Mrs Rance’s shop, where you bought buttons and wool and bits of elastic. It didn’t look real. There was something dim and misty about that too.
Sophie allowed he eye to travel further and further down the street.
Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the opposite side.
It was something black…
Something tall and black…
Something very tall and very black and very thin.
Who?
It wasn’t a human. It couldn’t be. It was four times as tall as the tallest human. It was so tall its head was higher than the upstairs windows of the houses. Sophie open her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright.
This was the witching hour all right.
The tall black figure was coming her way. It was keeping very close to the houses across the street, hiding in the shadowy places where there was no moonlight.
On and on it came, nearer and nearer. But it was moving in spurts. It would stop, then it would move on, then it would stop again.
But what on earth was it doing?
Ah-ha! Sophie could see now what it was up to. It was stopping in front of each house. It would stop and peer into the upstairs window of each house in the street. It actually had to bend down to peer into the upstairs windows. That’s how tall it was.
It would stop and peer in. Then it would slide on to the next house and stop again, and peer in, and so on all along the street.
It was much closer now and Sophie could see it more clearly.
Looking at it carefully, she decided it had to be some kind of PERSON. Obviously it was not a human. But it was definitely a PERSON.
A GIANT PERSON, perhaps.
Sophie stared hard across the misty moonlit street. The Giant (if that was what he was) was wearing a long BLACK CLOAK.
In the one hand he was holding what looked like a VERY LONG, THIN TRUMPET.
In the other hand, he held a LARGE SUITCASE.
The Giant had stopped now right in front of Mr and Mrs Goochey’s house. The Goocheys had a greengrocer’s shop in the middle of the High Street, and the family lived above the shop. The two Goochey children slept in the upstairs front room, Sophie knew that.
The Giant was peering through the window into the room where Michael and Jane Goochey were sleeping. From across the street, Sophie watched and held her breath.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Stephen Fry Idiolect
View a mindmap for Stephen Fry's idiolect.
This is an example of the sort of thing that you need to create this lesson - Consider the influences that affect the way that you speak!
Eg - Region - give an example "buzz" for bus - "sckool" for school etc...
Ethnic/ cultural heritage - Liverpool dialect from mother, Irish dialect from father - "antwacky" "Craic"
Influences of technology/ social networking - "LOL" "OMG"
Influences of global television - Australia "No worries" America + Friends = "How you doin'?" "totally"
Education/schooling = jargon.
Age - "Cool" "Minger" "just sayin'"
Do your friends influence you? Do you all converge your speech?
This is an example of the sort of thing that you need to create this lesson - Consider the influences that affect the way that you speak!
Eg - Region - give an example "buzz" for bus - "sckool" for school etc...
Ethnic/ cultural heritage - Liverpool dialect from mother, Irish dialect from father - "antwacky" "Craic"
Influences of technology/ social networking - "LOL" "OMG"
Influences of global television - Australia "No worries" America + Friends = "How you doin'?" "totally"
Education/schooling = jargon.
Age - "Cool" "Minger" "just sayin'"
Do your friends influence you? Do you all converge your speech?
Dulce et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Friday, 17 June 2011
English Language - Homework!
Your powerpoint presentation must be ready to perform for Tuesday! No excuses....No extra time....Just Sayin'
Thursday, 16 June 2011
English Language - Reminder of your task.
Choose 3 or 4 adverts that use regional accents as their voiceovers. Why have these particular accents been used to promote these particular products?
Wickes - Cockney = masculine, wide-boy, physical - a doer rather than a thinker. A bloke! A mans man!
Wickes - Cockney = masculine, wide-boy, physical - a doer rather than a thinker. A bloke! A mans man!
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
http://www.coionline.tv/listeningroom/media/COI%20Voices%20Research.mp3
Click here to listen to a podcast on accents
Click here to listen to a podcast on accents
Accents and adverts - English Language.
Ant & Dec and Cheryl Cole boost regional accents in advertising
Media reach selected for COI's
Commercial radio increases share and reach
Cheryl Cole flaunts her style with new website
L'Oreal signs Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole to front ads
Social change and celebrity culture have shifted perceptions of accents in advertising, according to research from the Government’s Central Office of Information (COI) and the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Strong regional accents such as Geordie and Mancunian are more favourably viewed in ads due to the impact of celebrities such as Cheryl Cole and Ant and Dec, with people in Manchester and Tyneside responding the most favourably to their own accents.Those in the West Midlands and Bristol responded more negatively.
It is the first research of its kind to look specifically at accents in relation to behaviour change advertising. The research found that perceptions of accents have changed in the last 50 years, so there is no longer one regional British accent that is widely preferred across the country.
In the mid 20th century the 'cut-glass' received pronunciation (RP) accent of the officer class, as typified by many voices in early government public information films, was generally accepted as the accent of authority.
However, social change has meant a softer modern day RP has evolved. This is now most widely accepted across British regions, but there are times when local or regional accents can work well for certain campaigns.
Local accents are more associated with real, ordinary people, seen as "one of us" and "people like me". Whereas, RP is more associated with official institutions.
Other factors included the campaign message and the age of the audience. Local accents seem to be more effective at conveying credible real-life experiences, so may be more appropriate for behaviour change campaigns.
Adverts which seek compliance, such as filing a tax return, which need to impart trust and authority are thought to be more effective in received pronunciation.
Older people tend to be more willing to accept received pronunciation accents, younger people tend to be more engaged by local accents.
People who are positively engaged with authority seem more likely to accept RP than people who are not, and prefer local accents.
Media reach selected for COI's
Commercial radio increases share and reach
Cheryl Cole flaunts her style with new website
L'Oreal signs Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole to front ads
Social change and celebrity culture have shifted perceptions of accents in advertising, according to research from the Government’s Central Office of Information (COI) and the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Strong regional accents such as Geordie and Mancunian are more favourably viewed in ads due to the impact of celebrities such as Cheryl Cole and Ant and Dec, with people in Manchester and Tyneside responding the most favourably to their own accents.Those in the West Midlands and Bristol responded more negatively.
It is the first research of its kind to look specifically at accents in relation to behaviour change advertising. The research found that perceptions of accents have changed in the last 50 years, so there is no longer one regional British accent that is widely preferred across the country.
In the mid 20th century the 'cut-glass' received pronunciation (RP) accent of the officer class, as typified by many voices in early government public information films, was generally accepted as the accent of authority.
However, social change has meant a softer modern day RP has evolved. This is now most widely accepted across British regions, but there are times when local or regional accents can work well for certain campaigns.
Local accents are more associated with real, ordinary people, seen as "one of us" and "people like me". Whereas, RP is more associated with official institutions.
Other factors included the campaign message and the age of the audience. Local accents seem to be more effective at conveying credible real-life experiences, so may be more appropriate for behaviour change campaigns.
Adverts which seek compliance, such as filing a tax return, which need to impart trust and authority are thought to be more effective in received pronunciation.
Older people tend to be more willing to accept received pronunciation accents, younger people tend to be more engaged by local accents.
People who are positively engaged with authority seem more likely to accept RP than people who are not, and prefer local accents.
Recasting - Lang/Lit
The point of recasting is to keep the basic information the same but to create a new GAP. So, for example, turning a nursery rhyme into a tabloid news story.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
The search for two missing children from a Bolton Primary school ending in tragedy today, when they were discovered badly injured in undergrowth at the foot of a hill.
Jack Simmonds aged 8 and Gillian Duffy aged 7 had gone missing from their homes on the Towbeck estate late on Tueday afternoon. Police and neighbours organised a search and the children were discovered by sniffer dogs in the early hours of Wednesday morning.....etc....etc....
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
The search for two missing children from a Bolton Primary school ending in tragedy today, when they were discovered badly injured in undergrowth at the foot of a hill.
Jack Simmonds aged 8 and Gillian Duffy aged 7 had gone missing from their homes on the Towbeck estate late on Tueday afternoon. Police and neighbours organised a search and the children were discovered by sniffer dogs in the early hours of Wednesday morning.....etc....etc....
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Regional accents survive against the odds.
Interesting article from The Times -
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6973975.ece
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6973975.ece
A2 Language - What do you need to know.
The Grammatical Framework and Textual Analysis – what do you really need to know at A2?
You must know:
Pronouns: first/second/third person singular and plural
Nouns: abstract and concrete, proper and common
Sentence functions: declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory
Adjectives and adverbs (people often confuse adjectives with abstract nouns)
Modifiers and intensifiers
Verbs
Simple sentences
Orthography: historical spelling features (extra ‘e’; doubled letters; variants like ie/y, u/v)
You should know all or some of the following:
Comparatives/superlatives of adjectives
Types of adverbs & adverbials (manner/degree/time/place)
Verbs – aspect/tense; main/modal/auxiliary/primary
Pre- and post- modification of nouns
Conjunctions – co-ordinating and subordinating
Compound and complex sentences
Minor sentences
Syntactic parallelism
You might even know:
Passive/active voice verbs
Finite/non-finite verb forms
Clause types: relative, comment, main, subordinate/dependent
Clause types: adjectival, adverbial
Textual Analysis work always requires you to analyse the effect of grammatical and lexical features of the text. Therefore, grammar is only one aspect, but a solid knowledge of grammar is often a differentiating feature of a very strong candidate.
You should be able to connect these grammatical features with contextual factors, i.e. audience, purpose, genre/form etc. NB: be careful with the intended audiences of historical texts in Unit 5. Diary entries are usually intended only for the writer’s eyes, or maybe their family. A farmer’s wife writing a diary in 1796 is not doing so for ‘people interested in farming in the 18th century’! Likewise, letters have a specific intended audience of an individual or household, unless written to a newspaper/magazine.
You must know:
Pronouns: first/second/third person singular and plural
Nouns: abstract and concrete, proper and common
Sentence functions: declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory
Adjectives and adverbs (people often confuse adjectives with abstract nouns)
Modifiers and intensifiers
Verbs
Simple sentences
Orthography: historical spelling features (extra ‘e’; doubled letters; variants like ie/y, u/v)
You should know all or some of the following:
Comparatives/superlatives of adjectives
Types of adverbs & adverbials (manner/degree/time/place)
Verbs – aspect/tense; main/modal/auxiliary/primary
Pre- and post- modification of nouns
Conjunctions – co-ordinating and subordinating
Compound and complex sentences
Minor sentences
Syntactic parallelism
You might even know:
Passive/active voice verbs
Finite/non-finite verb forms
Clause types: relative, comment, main, subordinate/dependent
Clause types: adjectival, adverbial
Textual Analysis work always requires you to analyse the effect of grammatical and lexical features of the text. Therefore, grammar is only one aspect, but a solid knowledge of grammar is often a differentiating feature of a very strong candidate.
You should be able to connect these grammatical features with contextual factors, i.e. audience, purpose, genre/form etc. NB: be careful with the intended audiences of historical texts in Unit 5. Diary entries are usually intended only for the writer’s eyes, or maybe their family. A farmer’s wife writing a diary in 1796 is not doing so for ‘people interested in farming in the 18th century’! Likewise, letters have a specific intended audience of an individual or household, unless written to a newspaper/magazine.
Cupcakes - 14th June 2011
You are part of a production team which is putting together a radio programme about trends in childbirth over the past 100 years.
Your role is to research and write the script for a section of the broadcast which will deal with women who have children later in life, how they feel and the problems they may encounter.
Using the source material, write the opening of the text to be spoken in your section of the broadcast.You should adapt the source material, using your own words as far as possible.
Your spoken text should be approximately 300 to 400 words in length.
In your adaptation you should:
use language appropriately to address purpose and audience
write accurately and coherently, applying relevant ideas and concepts.
Your role is to research and write the script for a section of the broadcast which will deal with women who have children later in life, how they feel and the problems they may encounter.
Using the source material, write the opening of the text to be spoken in your section of the broadcast.You should adapt the source material, using your own words as far as possible.
Your spoken text should be approximately 300 to 400 words in length.
In your adaptation you should:
use language appropriately to address purpose and audience
write accurately and coherently, applying relevant ideas and concepts.
A2 Lang/Lit - Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs
Why do you think the collection of stories is called this?
Don't forget your magazines for next lesson....
Interesting link - http://gu.com/p/9a6z
Don't forget your magazines for next lesson....
Interesting link - http://gu.com/p/9a6z
A2 English language.
Accent and dialect - Don't forget your homework. Watch adverts and consider the voices used. Are particular accents used used for particular products? Why do you think this is? What image is being portrayed by the use of certain regional accents?
Here's one to think about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9tjs-6wbsI
Here's one to think about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9tjs-6wbsI
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