The examples used are about themes of 'love', but the structure and methods can be used for anything.
Give it a go!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Comparative writing and cross-referencing
A very useful video for anyone working on comparative writing:
Monday, 17 January 2011
7y2: Poetry Module - Lessons Five & Six - Form and Haiku
Play the game 'Haiku Hero' (click the picture or the link).
Write the best haiku you make in the 'comments' section at the bottom of this post with your name. To do this you need to select 'name and url' from the options; type your name and click 'post'; then enter the key word. If you can't do this, write them in word and send to my work postbox.
Also:
For this haiku explain:
1) Some facts you've learnt about haiku;
2) Why you chose the words you did - "I chose the word ___ because______" - as much detail as possible;
3) If you had to change any words to fit the pattern.
Finally, as an extra challenge (for vivos!):
Write a haiku or any other type of poem about yourself - this will go in your file.
Post all homework in the comments section or submit on paper by Tuesday 25th January.
Also, here is a copy of The Wendigo by Ogden Nash if anyone want to read it again!
Click to make big.
8x2 - Lesson 4 - Agrarian vs. Industrial
Read and watch the full version of Slough by Betjeman: Homework posted below.
Slough
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.
Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.
And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:
And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.
But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.
It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go To Maidenhead
And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.
In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.
Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.
For your homework you are to practice writing a P.E.E. paragraph to answer the question:
Is Daffodils by Wordsworth an agrarian idyll or a poem about industrialism?
How does Betjeman feel about modern Britain?
Look under the poem (below) for further help.
Daffodils by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Remember:
Step 1 - Point: Write a full sentence that answers the question:
Write: 'The poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth is ... '
Step 2 - Evidence: How do you know the answer? Find a part of the poem which back up your 'point'. Remember to use "quotation marks".
Step 3 - Explain (1): What does the quotation show? Write: 'This shows...' and use interesting vocabulary (you can look in a Thesaurus, or press Shift+F7 in Word)
Step 4 - Explain (2): Pick two key words and explain them further - what do they show? What do they make you think of? Write: 'The word "..." shows...'
POST YOUR P.E.E. AS A COMMENT ON THE BLOG BY FRIDAY 21st JAN.
p.s. - a treat:
Slough
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.
Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.
And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:
And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.
But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.
It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go To Maidenhead
And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.
In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.
Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.
For your homework you are to practice writing a P.E.E. paragraph to answer the question:
Is Daffodils by Wordsworth an agrarian idyll or a poem about industrialism?
or
Look under the poem (below) for further help.
Daffodils by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Remember:
Step 1 - Point: Write a full sentence that answers the question:
Write: 'The poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth is ... '
Step 2 - Evidence: How do you know the answer? Find a part of the poem which back up your 'point'. Remember to use "quotation marks".
Step 3 - Explain (1): What does the quotation show? Write: 'This shows...' and use interesting vocabulary (you can look in a Thesaurus, or press Shift+F7 in Word)
Step 4 - Explain (2): Pick two key words and explain them further - what do they show? What do they make you think of? Write: 'The word "..." shows...'
POST YOUR P.E.E. AS A COMMENT ON THE BLOG BY FRIDAY 21st JAN.
p.s. - a treat:
Monday, 10 January 2011
9y5 - Spoken Language module - Lesson Five - The History of English
'History of English' game:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/english_roots/index_embed.shtml
Word detectives! Go to:
http://www.oed.com
http://www.etymonline.com
8x2: Poetry Module - Lesson Two - 'Island Man' by Grace Nichols
To understand that multiculturalism can exist in a single person.
To learn to analyse Island Man by Grace Nichols.
Video reading of poem:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/1368.flv
The Poem
Island Man
(for a Caribbean island man in London
who still wakes up to the sound of the sea)
Morning
and island man wakes up
to the sound of blue surf
in his head
the steady breaking and wombing
wild seabirds
and fishermen pushing out to sea
the sun surfacing defiantly
from the east
of his small emerald island
he always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
of a grey metallic soar
to surge of wheels
to dull north circular roar
muffling muffling
his crumpled pillow waves
island man heaves himself
Another London day
Grace Nichols
----------------------------
Homework - due Friday 14th
1. Watch the video-clip (click the link below the video if it fails to load)
2. Read the poem/lyrics to the song (below)
3. Research meaning of certain words (more info below)
4. Answer the question at the bottom of the poem.
- post answers WITH YOUR NAME in the 'comments' section.
Billy Bragg - England, Half English
Read the lyrics to the song, 'England, Half English' by Billy Bragg (below)
What is Bragg referring to by 'red, white and blue', 'Hindustan', 'Bubble and Squeek', 'three lions', 'Morris dancing' and 'Morrisey'? Look them up!
ENGLAND, HALF-ENGLISH
My mother was half-English
And I’m half-English too
I’m a great big bundle of culture
Tied up in the red, white and blue
I’m a fine example of your Essex Man
And I'm well familiar with the Hindustan
‘Cos my neighbours are half-English
And I’m half-English too
My breakfast was half-English
And so am I you know
I had a plate of Marmite soldiers
Washed down with a cappuccino
And I have a veggie curry about once a week
The next day I fry it up as ‘Bubble ‘N’ Squeak’
‘Cos my appetite’s half-English
And I’m half-English too
Dance with me
To this very English melody
From Morris dancing to Morrissey
All that stuff came from across the sea
Britannia , she’s half-English
She speaks Latin at home
St. George was born in the Lebanon
How he got here I don’t know
And those three lions on your shirt
They never sprang from England’s dirt
Them lion’s are half-English
And I’m half-English too
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, le-li Umma le-li-ya
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya
Oh my country
Oh my country
Oh my country
What a beautiful country you are.
Question:The phrase: "Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya" is Algerian for "Oh my country / What a beautiful country you are" (the music to the song in the video is also Algerian in origin). How does England, Half English compare with The British (serves 60 million) by Zephaniah and Island Man by Nichols? What's the same? What's different? Answer in full sentences.
To learn to analyse Island Man by Grace Nichols.
Video reading of poem:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/1368.flv
The Poem
Island Man
(for a Caribbean island man in London
who still wakes up to the sound of the sea)
Morning
and island man wakes up
to the sound of blue surf
in his head
the steady breaking and wombing
wild seabirds
and fishermen pushing out to sea
the sun surfacing defiantly
from the east
of his small emerald island
he always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
of a grey metallic soar
to surge of wheels
to dull north circular roar
muffling muffling
his crumpled pillow waves
island man heaves himself
Another London day
Grace Nichols
----------------------------
Homework - due Friday 14th
1. Watch the video-clip (click the link below the video if it fails to load)
2. Read the poem/lyrics to the song (below)
3. Research meaning of certain words (more info below)
4. Answer the question at the bottom of the poem.
- post answers WITH YOUR NAME in the 'comments' section.
Billy Bragg - England, Half English
Read the lyrics to the song, 'England, Half English' by Billy Bragg (below)
What is Bragg referring to by 'red, white and blue', 'Hindustan', 'Bubble and Squeek', 'three lions', 'Morris dancing' and 'Morrisey'? Look them up!
ENGLAND, HALF-ENGLISH
My mother was half-English
And I’m half-English too
I’m a great big bundle of culture
Tied up in the red, white and blue
I’m a fine example of your Essex Man
And I'm well familiar with the Hindustan
‘Cos my neighbours are half-English
And I’m half-English too
My breakfast was half-English
And so am I you know
I had a plate of Marmite soldiers
Washed down with a cappuccino
And I have a veggie curry about once a week
The next day I fry it up as ‘Bubble ‘N’ Squeak’
‘Cos my appetite’s half-English
And I’m half-English too
Dance with me
To this very English melody
From Morris dancing to Morrissey
All that stuff came from across the sea
Britannia , she’s half-English
She speaks Latin at home
St. George was born in the Lebanon
How he got here I don’t know
And those three lions on your shirt
They never sprang from England’s dirt
Them lion’s are half-English
And I’m half-English too
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, le-li Umma le-li-ya
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya
Oh my country
Oh my country
Oh my country
What a beautiful country you are.
Question:The phrase: "Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya" is Algerian for "Oh my country / What a beautiful country you are" (the music to the song in the video is also Algerian in origin). How does England, Half English compare with The British (serves 60 million) by Zephaniah and Island Man by Nichols? What's the same? What's different? Answer in full sentences.
ALL ANSWERS (WITH YOU NAME!) POSTED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST BY MONDAY 17th.
7y2: Poetry Module - Lesson One and Two - 'The Jabberwocky' and 'Through the Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll
Homework instructions:
Type up the draft version of the character conversation you did in class into a complete, neat version. Does it use the terms: [adjective], [adverb], [noun], [verb] and [portmanteau/portmanteaux]? Make sure it does! Add extra details to make it into a more detailed story. About a page of type, so long as all the terms are used.
Small example from class:
------------
“The word ‘blaly’ is a portmanteau of two adjectives. It’s a cross between ‘black’ and ‘scaly’, you see”, said the old man after looking it up in his dictionary.
“I see”, said the hero, “but what about ‘scathick’? Is it a noun?”
“Why, it means ‘scaly’ and ‘thick’!” said the old man. “It’s another adjective; everyone knows that!”.
---------------
Remember:One portmanteau
Two portmanteaux
Remember:
"quotation marks(/speech marks)” for when people are talking and ‘word markers’ inside speech
POST YOUR COMPLETE VERSION (WITH YOUR NAME!) AS A COMMENT ON THIS POST (OR TO MY WORK-POSTBOX) DUE FRIDAY 14th.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
8x2: Poetry module - Lesson One - 'The British (serves 60 million)' by Benjamin Zephaniah
To learn to recognise England’s multicultural heritage.
To learn to analyse The British (serves 60 million) by Benjamin Zephaniah.
Video reading of The British (serves 60 million) by Benjamin Zephaniah:
Text version of The British (serves 60 million) by Benjamin Zephaniah:
Useful link on a brief history of English:
Lesson information on poem contents:
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