Better late than never!

Welcome 2010-2011 Cohort. The chances are that if you're looking at this you're well on your way to the grade you deserve for your efforts this year! If you're panicking right now; don't.

Practice makes perfect and should be attempting timed essays regularly as preparation for the real thing:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qualifications/a-level/english-and-media/english-language-and-literature-a.php

Well done to those of you who managed to complete the recent assignment and particularly to Muhith, Jessica, Shaheena and Sumaya who even answered their own questions... legends!!

YOUR FIRST TASK IS TO MARK SHAHEENA AND SUMAYA'S SAMPLE RESPONSE AND POST YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW IT COULD IMPROVE!

Catch up or be caught out!!

Firstly well done to those of you who regularly make our sessions (you know who you are!) on the one and only bard boy- I'm sure that your dedication will pay dividends come coursework D day...

To those less conscientious amoung you, being the generous teacher that I am, I have placed each of the PowerPoints that I have taught from on the common drive (ENGLISH/MrStanley/Year12/Blake) for your perusal.In the words of Mr. Knight "or, if you're already on a school computer, simply by clicking here."

The sessions on some of the poems were delivered by you guys; please can the groups responsible save their work on common too:

Simply Superb Short Story Summary Sheets

Here's a reminder to those who were in my lesson today and a notice for those who weren't:
HOMEWORK, due on Tuesday 13/07/10, is to complete Short Story Summary Sheets for the following stories:
Bainbridge - 'Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie'
McEwan - 'Psychopolis'
Greene - 'The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen'
Mars-Jones - 'Structural Anthropology'
Thomas - 'The Burning Baby'

The sheet can be found on the school's common drive, at the following path:
O:/Students/ENGLISH/Mr Knight/Year 12/Modern British Short Stories
or, if you're already on a school computer, simply by clicking here.

Welcome Back Year 12...

... and here's your first homework (Mr. Stanley/ Mr. Roberts' class)!!

FIND DEFINITIONS OF THESE KEY POETIC TERMS:

Enjambment
Ceasura
Alliteration
Couplet
Assonance
Metre
Leitmotif
Symbolism
Personification
Onomatopoeia
Iambic
Tone
Quatrain
Sonnet
Pathetic Fallacy
Metaphor
Simile
Anthropomorphism

ADD ALL DEFINTIONS TO A NEW GLOSSARY AT THE BACK OF YOUR BOOKS

DUE: THURSDAY 24th JUNE

ELLA 4: William Blake

Blake was renowned as an artist as well as a poet, although he received little recognition for this during his lifetime (I know that feeling all too well!!). Below is his poem 'The Sick Rose' as it was first published.

What does Blake's use of presentational features add to our understanding of this highly symbolic poem?

Online Othello

Work for Mr Knight's set on 11th May, 2010.



Use this online text of Othello (and your incredible knowledge of the play) to find two episodes which relate to the themes of:

• reputation/honour
  
• honesty/deceit


• knowledge/ignorance


• love


• race

And complete the theme tracking sheets.

Once you've done that, choose a particular character in a particular scene where you think there is noteworthy representation of speech (particularly in terms of repetition), and copy and paste all of that character's lines from that scene into a blank Word document (taking care to cut out the other characters' lines and the capitalized names to show who is speaking). Now head on over to wordle.net and click "Create". Paste your character's lines into the box at the top of the screen and click "Go" in order to create a diagram of word frequency. The more times the word is used in the text, the bigger it will appear in the diagram.

Save your diagram in the public gallery, give it a title saying which character and scene it is and a brief comment explaining what it suggests about the character, then copy and paste the web address of your finished diagram into a comment on this blog.

Here's my example which is Brabantio in Act I, Scene ii.

When Politicians Aren't Prepared

Just as a little bit of contrast with those prepared speeches from the debate, here's an example of what happens when politicians are forced to stray from their prepared speech into murky spontaneous waters.

David Cameron found himself having to give an interview to Gay Times magazine after members of his party had appeared to back a homophobic law. See how he got on and what features of spontaneous speech you can spot which show he really isn't sure what he should be saying...

The First Televised Debate

What fantastic examples of prepared speech in practice!! Any guesses what my group will be analysing in class this week... time to take your corners!

Mr Knight's Group - Holiday Fun!

For those of you who missed Wednesday's lesson:
a) You missed out.
b) We finished Othello, so it's up to you to read to the end. Once you've read it, watch this video to get a sense of the dramatic staging:



c) Your homework (due Tuesday 20th April) for the holidays is:

1. Complete the reading logs (sheet available at O:\Students\ENGLISH\Mr Knight\Year 12) for all scenes to the end of the play.
2. Set an exam question:

• Choose a passage of 30-40 lines which you think includes particularly interesting representations of speech.
• Pose a question, in the style of this exam example (Othello question on page 13), which you think is relevant to the section you have chosen and would make candidates consider the passage in a worthwhile context.
• Prepare a mark scheme, in the style of page 18 of this example, listing possible points for candidates to consider.
• Be prepared to discuss your question in our first lesson after the break.

I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you should also be doing your own independent revision - especially those of you who will be retaking ELLA1 on 27th May and need to refamiliarize themselves with Things Fall Apart and Streetcar...

With all that to do, I know you'll have a whale of a time and so I bid you all a happy holiday.

Essay Skills Extension - the final countdown!

The last in my series of Essay Skills Extension classes will take place not this Thursday, as previously advertised, but on MONDAY (29th) after school in S07. Tell all your friends...

Oh, and if there are any requests for music to set tasks to, post a comment here.

Team Talking

Good to see those fantastic videos from Mr Stanley's group - excellent speech representations all round. As well as almost inducing me to actually write LOL, the Capello skits also reminded me of Dara O'Briain's column from the Guardian when news of the bugging of the dressing rooms broke.

Here it is, complete with a slightly less realistic representation of spontaneous speech at the end. Enjoy and note particularly the way he plays with the playscript format but without mentioning character names in order to enhance the comic effect...

Spot the Difference!!

Capello's Team Talk

Fabio Capello has clearly expressed his dissatisfaction at the conduct of certain members of the England squad... here's what he had to say as captured live on candid camera!!















Post your thoughts/ attempts to transcribe the clips...

Members of my class are expected to transcribe their one of the performances in its entirity as well as writing an overview of its C.A.P. (in 250 words) which is due in Thursday's lesson.

Extension for Essay Excellence!

Do your conclusions lack coherence? Do your quotes stick out like a sore thumb? Do you find planning a pain?

Well, why not try MR KNIGHT'S ESSAY SKILLS EXTENSION?!
That's right folks: starting from tomorrow, Thursday 4th March, I will be running an afterschool extension class focussing on ESSAY SKILLS. I will be focussing particularly on ELLA2B and how we can write essays analysing representations of speech in literature, but these classes (which should hopefully be quite light hearted as we're all in need of a bit of a laugh at the end of the day) will be helpful for every essay you ever write thanks to the emphasis on skills ahead of content.

The classes will take place every Thursday after school and run from 3:15-4:15pm. They will be held in Room S07 (First Floor in New Sixth Form Building) and are OPEN TO EVERYONE on the course. So come along, bring a friend, and prepare to pick up some MAD SKILLS (as I believe the young people say)!

Tech-knowledge-y for Teaching Othello

I'm currently away for two weeks but that doesn't stop me doing a bit of teaching on Othello, thanks to the twin wonders of my own carefully crafted worksheets and the miraculous internet. Not only can I keep in touch thanks to this beautiful blog, but there are also a fair few resources available online to help with the study.

For starters, there are plenty of online versions of the entire text of the play. A good place to start would be this version I found on Project Gutenberg (a fantastic site featuring thousands of online texts for free, provided they are out of copyright). This is especially helpful as you can search for all the occurences of a particular word (such as "black") and see all the different contexts it is used in and which characters use it.

But hey, somebody's already beaten us to that as there's also this concordance for all of Shakespeare's works (though you can search by individual play and even by character as well). A concordance counts up and brings together all usages of individual words in a particular piece of writing and is a great way to look at which words are important in a particular character's idiolect.

Finally, there's also Sparknotes' No Fear Shakespeare series which provides a "modern translation" of the entire play which you can look at side by side with the original. Now, this is great for understanding what the hell is going on in the play if you're struggling with a particularly knotty bit of Shakespearean language, but it is far from perfect and does not give an accurate presentation of how the characters really speak to each other, which, after all is what we should be focussing on for ELLA2. However, carefully considering these shortcomings could be an excellent way to start thinking specifically about representations of speech. If the translation doesn't give the full force of Shakespeare's original, what is it exactly about the original that has such power?

On a slightly different note, I thought this article from today's Guardian might be of interest either for our thoughts about Achebe or just for general interest considering the terrible recent developments in Nigeria.

That's all for now, and I look forward to some enlightened Othello discussion when I return.

The amazing Group C on scene 9...

“Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable” (Setting H/W does not come under this heading btw!!)

Scene 10- The Real Climax
HERE ARE THE NOTES THAT YOU NEED TO ADD TO YOUR COPIES OF THE PLAY AS HOMEWORK... THIS IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST SO OBVIOUSLY ADD YOUR OWN ANNOTATIONS AS WELL!!

OH AND DONT FORGET TO REVISE FOR THE NEXT GLOSSARY QUIZ ON MONDAY 23rd NOV.


LEXIS
STAGE DIRECTIONS: Scenes 7-10 all take place on the evening of Blanche’s birthday; progressively later (chronological = naturalistic theatre)

Blanche is described as being in ‘a mood of hysterical exhilaration’ at the outset of the scene; this is an explicit indication of the climactic scene which is about to ensue

“Spectral” (relating to a ghost; apparition); BLANCHE’s sanity is called into question once more (cohesion- Scene 9- “I don’t want realism”)

GRAMMAR
BLANCHE’s grammar breaks down in the middle of the scene: “But I have been foolish- casting my pearls before swine!”

The repetition “Oh” is as though BLANCHE is responding to physical blows (cohesion- scene 1?) as STANLEY’s declarative utterances undo her pretentions

Once again (cohesion) there is clear antithesis between the two character’s lexicon:
STANLEY is predominantly colloquial (“Huh?” “Yep”)
BLANCHE elevated register (“beau”, “Biscay boulevard” and “gentleman” “cultivated”)

PHONOLOGY
Opening STAGE DIRECTIONS: BLANCHE is described using sibilance “somewhat spoiled... Scuffed silver slippers” ; antithesis calming sound which contrasts with Blanche’s agitated state

Ambiguity: STANLEY:“Uh-huh” and BLANCHE: “Oh” the sheer contrast between the two is made evident by these phatic utterances

Ellison: STANLEY “You left th’ phone of th’ hook”

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE
Despite BLANCHE’s bizarre monologue, her duologue with STANLEY is suprisingly regular at first; characterised by completed adjacency pairs; STANLEY is in a cooperative mood due to imminent arrival of his child (“amiably” “happily”- SD’s)

BLANCHE begins to break adjacency pairs as STANLEY undresses; impinging on her personal space (“...privacy”); signal to the audience that theirs is still a fractious relationship

Mr Knight's set - homework. (And handy jpegs of the glossary)

Just to clarify...

Homework this week on Things Fall Apart is to re-read Chapters 12 and 13, looking for interesting language features, and write SEVEN sentences explaining how Achebe uses SEVEN DIFFERENT linguistic techniques to affect the reader (and specifying what the effect on the reader is). If you cannot find seven features you would like to comment on in those chapters, look back further in the book.

You should use the Glossary of linguistic terms which Mrs Metsaranta gave you a photocopy of to help with identifying techniques. Below are scans of the glossary in a nice high res so you can download them if you're feeling particularly technologically inclined (which I'm not - hence my attempts to edit html ending in these strangely alligned images.)

Sings Fall Apart

OK, here we go.

Now, I know that we only really choose to study English because we quite often get to watch films in lessons, but, with Things Fall Apart, we've picked a wrong'un. Those of you whose hopes were briefly raised by Mr Roberts' promise of purchasing a film to show you (see below) will only have those hopes dashed on the floor like a red-eyed rat (Ch. 8) when you realize that the 'trailer' is not in fact the carefully thought through promotional material of a major Hollywood production company, but rather the product of somebody with too much time on their hands cutting together bits of '300' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

There has been an actual adaptation of Things Fall Apart, but a quick look at the following video will reveal why we won't be investing time and effort in this series put together by the Nigerian Broadcasting Company:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7FS95IcRNU

Now. Here comes the competition bit, concentrate.

The theme tune of NBC's production is brilliant (I've been humming it to myself for weeks) but not exactly apt for the subject matter (far too cheery). So, my set and anyone else who wants to join in, here's your task: COME UP WITH A BETTER THEME TUNE. You can post a link to a video or just name the track.

Happy thinking...

Ten Things You Didn't Know about Tennessee Williams

1. Tennessee Williams's mum was very much a 'southern belle' and in many ways a real life equivalent of Stella's character. She was someone who could take care of herself - a 'survivor', just like Stella.

2. His father was a travelling salesman, often away, who was drunk and violent at home. Williams felt alienated from his father and relied on his mother and sister for emotional support.

3. Williams worked at a shoe factory, where his closest friend was a burly co-worker, someone who was easygoing and attractive to women. His name was Stanley Kowalski!

4. His father attacked his sister Rose (it may or may not have been sexual) and afterwards, his mum, Edwina, signed the papers for a lobotomy for Rose, who then spent the rest of her life in a mental institution. (Compare this to what happens to Blanche at the end of the play!)

5. Williams planned the play as a series of confrontations between working-class poker players and two refined southern women.

6. He won a Pulitzer Prize for 'Streetcar Named Desire'.

7. The first name for the play was 'The Poker Night'. The second one was 'The Moth', before Williams settled on 'Streetcar Named Desire'.

8. 'Streetcar' relies on effects of language, especially of a vivid and colloquial southern speech. Rhythms of language become an almost musical indication of character, distinguishing Blanche from the other characters. (Remember that Stella switches between registers with ease, which highlights Blanche's inability to fit in even further.)

9. According to Williams, Blanche is desperately attached to things that are going to destroy her.

10. He also said that 'desire is rooted in a longing for companionship, a release from the loneliness that haunts every individual.' Loneliness and desire propel his characters into extreme behaviour, no doubt, but such behaviour literally dramatizes the plight that Williams saw as universal.


PS: We are not studying the play as a representation of Williams's life. Rather, we should be interested in the messages conveyed in the play and these ten things might help you find your way.

PPS: Thoughts? Anything you can add to our list? Share your reactions, please! My groups need to post something by Thursday 5th November 2009 but everyone is welcome to join in!