Thursday, March 25, 2010
An Evening with Chinua Achebe
This YouTube clip includes Chinua Achebe reading excepts of his book, Things Fall Apart to a large group of individuals in the USA.
Getting Ready for Term 2
During Term 2, we will be completing work on the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Over the holidays, you should be starting this novel.
Happy reading :)
Considering where you currently stand...
In order to think about how to improve your English work, you need to seriously consider what your strengths and weakenesses are at this point in time.
On your blog, devise a post that explores the following elements:
1. Strengths
2. Weaknesses
3. What you have done in the past to improve on weaknesses - comment on whether you saw any improvement
4. What you are considering doing this year to improve
5. What your goals are this year regarding English - don't limit yourself simply to a statement of, "I want to get A's". You should have reasons for your goals so attempt to explain them.
You can look back to this post later in the year to see whether you have started to meet the goals/made any improvements.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Generic Ways to Improve Your Writing
Image taken from: http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/demo/present/public/journals/9/homepageImage.jpg on 24/03/10
Ok, this one is quite simple.
To improve your writing, you need to write!
Keep a journal - you may wish to use your blog. I'm not talking about the "Dear Diary, today school sucked" type of journal (although I also think these are a great way of exploring your creativity and venting so that you don't bottle things up). I'm talking about a journal that allows you to explore issues/ideas in depth and detail; a journal that encourages you to explore your ability to analyse.
A simple way to do this is to take the time to watch the news or read a newspaper once a week and then pick a story or issue that interests you and write a paragraph or extended response that explores the underlying issues, effects, etc that stem from the story/concept/issue/idea, etc.
Alternatively, you could simply pick a poem to analyse.
I would strongly suggest that you post these pieces of writing on your blog to allow for feedback to be provided by both myself and your peers.
Generic Methods for Improving Your Vocabulary Base
Image taken from: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/tzu/lowres/tzun751l.jpg on 24/03/10
A lot of you are no doubt sick and tired of hearing me (and possibly other teachers) say that in order to improve your writing you should improve your vocabulary.
There are some very simple ways to achieve this, but, like most of the things I will be suggesting through this site, you will need to actually do some work and find time.
The most obvious way to build your awareness of a more complex vocabulary is to widen your reading. This does not necessarily mean you should read more. If you already read a particular book, or series of books, regularly then reading them more frequently is not going to assist you in developing your vocabulary.
So saying that, if you do read a particular book, or series, frequently you can always consider whether you are getting the most out of it. I can almost guarantee that for those of you who have read, and possibly re-read, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, you should have needed to pick up the dictionary on several ocassions. The question though is did you bother?
When we tell you that reading expands your knowledge of vocabulary, we are assuming that you will look up new words that you come across. This allows you to develop new knowledge and down the track you will find that you can begin to implement that knowledge.
When you are looking for new books to read, for this explicit purpose, aim to find something that will challenge you while still sparking your interest. Once you start reading, take the time to use a dictionary - or alternatively use dictionary.com - and begin to broaden your linguistic horizons.
If you simply can't fit a novel into your timetable, aim to read well-written newspaper or magazine articles. Again, find out what new words mean.
If you strongly believe that you can't even fit this into your schedule, the other good option is to use cross-word puzzles to develop your vocab. You can either use the ones in the paper, buy a cross-word puzzle book, or use the multitude of electronic cross-word games that are out there. If you happen to own a PSP, I strongly recommend the "Telegraph" cross-word game that is available on the PlayStation Network - Mini Games. I have it and have been quite impressed - it has about 500 puzzles on it. I have tried New York Times Crosswords on the DS and wasn't impressed - too much of it required you to have really specific knowledge of US sporting culture, etc.
So, hopefully all of you will find some way that can help you to improve your vocabulary - just be aware that it is not going to miraculously muliply overnight :)
Close Analysis Activity
Many of you are expressing frustration when being asked to develop your analytical skills.
While there are a variety of ways you can improve your writing, the most important factor to be aware of is the need to practise!
The following task is designed to assist you in your efforts to practise your analytical writing. Hopefully, by knowing that the task is not being assessed you will be able to write freely, without the stress factor.
Having said this, you should still be aiming to write to the best of your ability.
To complete this task you will need to copy of the poem, 'Homecoming' by Bruce Dawe and a copy of the 'Elements of Close Analysis' template - I have e-mailed you all a copy of this document and the poem.
You should read and annotate the poem carefully and then complete the template.
Once you have completed those steps, you will then be ready to attempt the following writing task:
The following claim has been made regarding the subject matter and purpose of Bruce Dawe's poem, 'Homecoming'.
'Homecoming' by Bruce Dawe is an example of anti-war poetry. It was written and published in order to achieve two specific things:
1. To explore the impact of the Vietnam War on those directly involved
2. To alter the perceptions society had/has towards conflict
Analyse the poem in detail and then write an analytical essay that addresses the validity of this claim.
Once you are happy with your essay response, post it onto you Blog so that we can share ideas and suggestions.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Why we're going to use this blog.
Image taken from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcgu_3j4Vu7SY15NYQ8lbFL5bcku7ye3QN92XS1sGLfU1lqRjNKcd4XFBQ7dGwdk8FAlPE_aKo6pYUkM0dy6elSv9_SG-VKgcqrQSsCHpVuh36R46n-LbPrsencvYHX27qcbnUb-NrMee/s320/stress-cartoon.jpg on 23/03/10
As most of you have no doubt realised, Senior English, when compared with what you have experienced in Middle School and Year 10, ups the ante quite quickly in terms of what is expected of you in your classwork, homework and assessment.
To assist you in achieving at the level you desire, I will be placing a variety of homework tasks, support tasks and general suggestions and feedback on this site. You will also have a Blog of your own on which to complete tasks. By having a Blog system, it allows me to monitor your work and provide prompt, detailed feedback. It also encourages a system of peer-editing and reflection as you can comment on one another's work, providing encouragement and constructive criticism whilst at the same time drawing inspiration from one another's responses.
As Senior School students, the responsibility will lie with you to ensure that you are taking advantage of the resources that are made available and to use them in ways that assist your learning. As with any academic writing, the work that you display on your Blog must be of the highest possible standard and should adhere to the expectations we have of you in assignments. Even though the Blog allows you to show your personality, you need to realise that it is not the same forum as MySpace or Facebook and therefore, I expect to see capital letters, punctuation and spelling - among other elements - to be utilised. I also do not want to see abbreviations and acronyms - such as ROFL, etc - in either your posts or the comments that you make on other Blogs.
For those who may be concerned about the issues of plagiarism, etc. I can allay your fears. Blogger automatically records the time that posts are made and you cannot post work or comments anonymously.
Hopefully, we can utilise this tool to assist in the development of both your work and your confidence levels. You will also be able to use the Blog to reflect on how far you have come as you move through Senior English as Blogger will archive all of your posts.