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.