YOUR HOMEWORK IS TO WRITE A BOOK REPORT ON WHATEVER YOU'RE CURRENTLY READING.
(I TRUST AND ASSUME THAT YOU ARE CONTINUING TO USE THE LIBRARY ON A WEEKLY BASIS, AND ARE READING EVERY NIGHT.)
I'm presently wolfing my way through Terry Pratchett's excellent book I Shall Wear Midnight (Pratchett is hands down one of my all-time favourite writers) and I also just finished reading Derek Landy's fourth Skullduggery Pleasant book, Skullduggery Pleasant: Dark Days. I'm going to tell you a little bit about the Skullduggery Pleasant book just here (although another time I really must tell you why I think Pratchett is one of the very greatest living writers working in English).
A little background on the ideas behind the books: the stories are set in Ireland, and they are about a dark, strange and magical world which exists alongside our own. The main characters are Skullduggery Pleasant (a powerful wizard detective who came back from the dead and is now an animated skeleton) and his partner, trainee wizard Valkyrie Cain.
Landy continues to impress me with his storytelling skills: his books are funny and accessible, but he's also great at writing action and at building up tension and creepiness. What's more, his characters grow and change as they get older - Valkyrie Cain is gradually turning from a kid into a young adult as the books progress, and although she's getting better at fighting and at using magic, she's also getting in deeper and darker trouble. I've been gnawing my fingernails to the quick throughout the past couple of books wondering what creepy thing is going to happen with her reflection - Landy's been leaving little hints that there's something weird going on that we don't know about, but it's still not come to a head.
This book starts off with Skullduggery trapped in a hellish dimension where he's being tortured by The Faceless Ones (at the end of the last book he managed to trap them and save our world, but unfortunately he got trapped along with them). Valkyrie has been working frantically for months trying to figure out a way to set him free, and in the process she's been working with the necromancers, learning about a newer, darker kind of magic. She's also been hanging out with the teleporter, Fletcher, and with some of the other characters we know from the earlier books. They all want to get Skullduggery back. Unfortunately the magical law enforcement agency known as The Sanctuary is pretty glad to be rid of Skullduggery, and they're trying to make sure he never comes back.
Things I really liked about this book: I love Valkyrie Cain. Well, I love Skullduggery too, and most of all I love Skullduggery-and-Valkyrie together as a team, but let's spend a moment on why I love Valkyrie. First: she's sensible. Well, okay, maybe not SUPER sensible; I suppose that if she were very sensible, she probably wouldn't have jumped into the magical world with both feet in the first place, let alone decided to start learning necromancy or messing around fighting against all manner of ancient evil, or provoking various assassins and known criminals into acts of violence. So - perhaps not sensible, as such. But she's very practical. Valkyrie rolls up her sleeves and gets the job done, whatever it takes; she's brave, she's resourceful, she's undaunted, and she's very difficult to impress. She doesn't waste time sitting around feeling sorry for herself, or waiting for somebody else to save her. I like that.
Skullduggery is a marvellous character. He's reckless, seriously dangerous, clever, powerful, and pretty unflappable. He's not always honest or nice, but he's generally right and generally righteous, and you really REALLY don't want to have him as your enemy. He's got a warped sense of humour (which Valkyrie shares) and he's remarkably good at bluffing, and at acts of serious mayhem. He's a very good detective.
I love the relationship between Skullduggery and Valkyrie. It's the kind of relationship that I could just eat up with a spoon: not a romance, but an intense, supportive, wisecracking, BFF, buddy-buddy kind of vibe, where they spend almost every waking minute together, get one another's jokes, know one another's habits and always ALWAYS have one another's backs. They're partners, and although they are both pretty impressive alone, they work best together.
Landy's world is packed with interesting and entertaining characters, both friends and enemies of Skullduggery Pleasant. It's also packed with wizards and monsters and vampires and zombies and general weirdness, and people do sometimes get hurt or killed, and friends are sometimes enemies, and enemies sometimes friends. It's never dull.
(I should probably admit that there IS a minor romanticish subplot in this book and in the previous one; Valkyrie is becoming a young woman, and she's awesome, and although she's mostly very busy kicking zombies in the head and twisting shadows into blades and trying to save the day, she DOES have hormones, and isn't completely oblivious to the fact that one of her companions is a cute young guy with too much hair product. So there's a bit of a frisson of romantic tension in the background, but if that's not your cup of tea you can ignore it most of the time and focus on the wizard assassins, the evil spirits, the argumentative zombies and the reassembled bombs instead...)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Homework: Reading comprehension
Read this article, and answer the questions IN FULL SENTENCES. (Not all the answers are directly spoon-fed to you by the text, but there are clues in the text which will enable you to answer all the questions if you think carefully.) Remember to use quotations from the text to demonstrate how you know the answers: P.E.E.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/16/experience-shark-attack-paralympian?intcmp=239
1) What country was Achmat in when he lost his leg?
2) How old is Achmat now, and how old was he when he was attacked by the shark?
3) What was Achmat doing when he was attacked?
4) Describe the shark which attacked Achmat.
5) How did Achmat get free?
6) How did he feel after he had been rescued, and when he realised he had lost his leg?
7) What success has he achieved since his attack?
8) Who inspired him to set his sights high and not to lose hope?
9) Based on his name and that of his brother, what religion do you think Achmat is likely to belong to?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/16/experience-shark-attack-paralympian?intcmp=239
1) What country was Achmat in when he lost his leg?
2) How old is Achmat now, and how old was he when he was attacked by the shark?
3) What was Achmat doing when he was attacked?
4) Describe the shark which attacked Achmat.
5) How did Achmat get free?
6) How did he feel after he had been rescued, and when he realised he had lost his leg?
7) What success has he achieved since his attack?
8) Who inspired him to set his sights high and not to lose hope?
9) Based on his name and that of his brother, what religion do you think Achmat is likely to belong to?
Monday, November 22, 2010
Homework for Monday 22nd November 2010
Please find out the following information for Wednesday:
'Animal Farm' is a fable consciously based on the Russian Revolution. Can you find out about the following list of people and institutions and identify which characters are supposed to represent them AND WHY:
Tsar Nicholas II (The Emperor of Russia)
Karl Marx
The Church
Trotsky
Stalin
The uneducated, unskilled working class (or "proletariat")
'Pravda', the offical Russian Propaganda newspaper after the revolution
The members of the Communist Party
The KGB and/or Stalin's personal bodyguards.
'Animal Farm' is a fable consciously based on the Russian Revolution. Can you find out about the following list of people and institutions and identify which characters are supposed to represent them AND WHY:
Tsar Nicholas II (The Emperor of Russia)
Karl Marx
The Church
Trotsky
Stalin
The uneducated, unskilled working class (or "proletariat")
'Pravda', the offical Russian Propaganda newspaper after the revolution
The members of the Communist Party
The KGB and/or Stalin's personal bodyguards.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Homework Assignment (Monday 15th November)
For your Monday assignment, I'd like you to pretend to be Snowball, and write a version of the speech he gave to the animals to persuade them they should adopt his plan for the Windmill.
Learning Objective: To organise and present a whole text effectively, sequencing and structuring information, ideas and events.
(PLEASE WRITE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE AT THE TOP OF YOUR PIECE OF WORK. It brings out my Inner Shrek every time I look in your books and find that somebody has failed to write the L.O. In fact, if you don't write it this time, I'llset a pack of wild dogs on you give you detention. There. That should be a decent motivator, surely?)
If you'd like to refer back to the text to refresh your memory, you can find a complete edition of 'Animal Farm' online here: http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/index.html
(This should be about a page in length, ideally. It would be a good idea to do a bit of planning first of all - think about what difficulties will be involved in physically building a windmill, and what advantages electricity should be able to bring to the animals. Think about the kind of persuasive language and techniques Squealer uses too - that might give you some clues, if you're feeling uncertain.)
As usual, this needs to be completed by Wednesday.
Learning Objective: To organise and present a whole text effectively, sequencing and structuring information, ideas and events.
(PLEASE WRITE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE AT THE TOP OF YOUR PIECE OF WORK. It brings out my Inner Shrek every time I look in your books and find that somebody has failed to write the L.O. In fact, if you don't write it this time, I'll
If you'd like to refer back to the text to refresh your memory, you can find a complete edition of 'Animal Farm' online here: http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/index.html
(This should be about a page in length, ideally. It would be a good idea to do a bit of planning first of all - think about what difficulties will be involved in physically building a windmill, and what advantages electricity should be able to bring to the animals. Think about the kind of persuasive language and techniques Squealer uses too - that might give you some clues, if you're feeling uncertain.)
As usual, this needs to be completed by Wednesday.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Homework!
Please complete this questionnaire, along with explanations. (I've filled it in myself, so you can see the kind of thing I mean.) You need to GIVE REASONS for your answers!
1) Your all-time favourite book(s):
Aaargh! Aaargh! Okay, I can't pick JUST ONE, so I'll cheat a bit, and pick a story that's three books in one:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Because the words of this are practically inscribed on my heart at this point. I love the epic aspects of the story, and the astonishingly detailed world-building, and the battles, and I love the simple, quirky, funny, happy-go-lucky hobbits who are at the centre of all the horrors of war. I cannot read 'The Choices of Master Samwise' in 'The Two Towers' without crying my eyes out.
2) Your all-time favourite character:
Sam Gamgee from 'The Lord of the Rings'. I had to think quite hard about this, but then I realised that it had to be Sam. Sam isn't the main character, but I think that he's actually the most heroic of all of them. He's kind, unassuming, down-to-earth and very unremarkable, but he has an unexpected streak of poetry in his soul and he is unflinchingly loyal and brave in the face of terrifying and hopeless odds.
3) The fictional character you'd like to have as a friend:
Luna Lovegood and/or Neville Longbottom, from the HarryPotter books. I love Luna to bits because she is so very much herself, and because she doesn't worry about other people's opinions. And I love Neville for many of the reasons that I love Sam Gamgee: he's a genuinely good person, and underappreciated.
4) The fictional character you'd like to have with you if you were stuck on a desert island:
5) The worst fictional character to be stuck in a lift with:
6) The book you'd most like to be able to live in:
7) The book you'd least like to be forced to live in:
8) The fictional character you'd most like to be like:
9) A fictional character you think you ARE like:
10) Your favourite genre, and why you like it:
11) Your favourite writer (or writers) and why they're brilliant:
12) A book you didn't expect to like, but did anyway:
13) A book you think is overrated:
14) A book you wish had a sequel:
15) A book you wish you'd never read:
1) Your all-time favourite book(s):
Aaargh! Aaargh! Okay, I can't pick JUST ONE, so I'll cheat a bit, and pick a story that's three books in one:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Because the words of this are practically inscribed on my heart at this point. I love the epic aspects of the story, and the astonishingly detailed world-building, and the battles, and I love the simple, quirky, funny, happy-go-lucky hobbits who are at the centre of all the horrors of war. I cannot read 'The Choices of Master Samwise' in 'The Two Towers' without crying my eyes out.
2) Your all-time favourite character:
Sam Gamgee from 'The Lord of the Rings'. I had to think quite hard about this, but then I realised that it had to be Sam. Sam isn't the main character, but I think that he's actually the most heroic of all of them. He's kind, unassuming, down-to-earth and very unremarkable, but he has an unexpected streak of poetry in his soul and he is unflinchingly loyal and brave in the face of terrifying and hopeless odds.
3) The fictional character you'd like to have as a friend:
Luna Lovegood and/or Neville Longbottom, from the HarryPotter books. I love Luna to bits because she is so very much herself, and because she doesn't worry about other people's opinions. And I love Neville for many of the reasons that I love Sam Gamgee: he's a genuinely good person, and underappreciated.
4) The fictional character you'd like to have with you if you were stuck on a desert island:
5) The worst fictional character to be stuck in a lift with:
6) The book you'd most like to be able to live in:
7) The book you'd least like to be forced to live in:
8) The fictional character you'd most like to be like:
9) A fictional character you think you ARE like:
10) Your favourite genre, and why you like it:
11) Your favourite writer (or writers) and why they're brilliant:
12) A book you didn't expect to like, but did anyway:
13) A book you think is overrated:
14) A book you wish had a sequel:
15) A book you wish you'd never read:
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Book Review: The Hunger Games
I've read some terrific books lately, and this week's un-put-downable novel was the third part of the 'Hunger Games' trilogy, by Susanna Collins. I was so sucked in that yesterday, when I was planning to work on marking my kids' books during their French lesson, I found myself cracking open the book and promising myself that I'd just read a few more chapters. And then a few more chapters. And then the chapters after that. And before I knew it, it was home time, and I had to teach Drama Club - so I perched outside the canteen and devoured the final chapters as quickly as I could, finally buckling to the inevitable and trudging into the canteen to collect my Drama Club kids.
An hour later, I waved them all out the door, grabbed the book and didn't move from the carpet until I'd reached the end.
So I thought it would be a good idea to tell you (in as unspoilery a way as possible) why I loved these books.
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
The Plot:
This is a trilogy of SciFi novels set in a distopian future (that means pretty much the opposite of a paradise-like future) in a place called Panem. I kind of assumed that it was supposed to represent a future America, but that's never made explicit. Anyway, in this future society, life is pretty hard. Our hero is Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl who's been supporting her mother and her little sister ever since her father died down the mines. They've come very close to starving to death, but between Katniss's hunting skills and a little bit of kindness from some of their neighbours, so far they've survived.
Now, Panem consists of twelve districts know only by their numbers, and one central, powerful district called The Capitol. The people in The Capitol are spoiled rotten, while the people who live in the districts - the people who actually do all the work and produce all the goods and grow all the crops - are living lives of tremendous hardship. This is because the Capitol has all the weapons and the police, and because 75 years ago there was a great rebellion, which the Capitol won. They totally destroyed District 13, and they punished the other 12 districts very harshly. The most horrible thing the Capitol did was to set up 'The Hunger Games'.
Every year, each district has to send two teenagers, a boy and a girl, to compete in The Hunger Games. The competition 'arena' can be anywhere - desert, jungle, forest, island, whatever the game designers can come up with. It will be full of all manner of viciously cruel and deadly surprises - mutant animals, volcanos, poison fog, earthquakes, elaborate booby traps. And the twenty four kids who have been dropped into the middle of this place have to fight to the death. There can be only one survivor. It's a battle of skills and wits and ruthlessness, in which people's humanity is gradually stripped away - all for the amusement of the television audience who are watching every moment, and betting on the results.
This is the first year that Katniss's little sister has had her name put into the lottery. But what are the chances of it being little Prim who gets chosen? Unfortunately she IS, and this is more than Katniss can stand - so she volunteers to take Prim's place, and the next thing she knows, she's being whisked off to the Capitol to be primped and preened and scrubbed and made up, given her own stylist to make her look appealing for the TV audience as she dies - or kills - for their amusement...
The characters:
I really liked Katniss. She's competent and loyal, but she's also pretty ruthless. She's in a horrible situation, but she keeps her head and tries to stay true to herself. I like the fact that she's not shown as being too sweet or perfect - she's very pragmatic and pretty ruthless, but she does still have moments of compassion. She's not looking for a boyfriend, but at the same time she's aware that her friendship with Gale has been changing as they both get older, and she's trying to figure out what to make of Peter, the other kid from District 12 who's been chosen for the Hunger Games. (I wouldn't say that these books are romances, but there is a love triangle. Mostly, Katniss isn't thinking about romance though, because she's got far more important things to worry about - but she DOES have strong feelings for two different characters, both of whom are pretty smitten by her. Can she trust them, though...?)
Katniss is a hero; she's courageous and talented, but only in the ways that normal people can be. She puts herself into danger because she loves her little sister too much to stand by and watch her suffering - it's a gesture of selflessness which makes her stand out from the crowd, but Katniss is no meek little sacrificial victim. She's impulsive, and temperamental, and not particularly sweet or nice; she's not the kindest, or the strongest, or the fastest kid in the arena - but she is kind, and strong, and fast, and she's smart too, and determined. She comes across as being flawed, but basically a good person doing her best in a pretty terrible situation.
The writing:
The story is all written in the first person ("I shot the rabbit" rather than "She shot the rabbit"), and so we only know what Katniss knows. This is pretty effective, because as readers we're not sure whether we can trust people either. Sometimes we are able to figure things out before Katniss from the clues in the text -sometimes we're just as uncertain as she is about what's going on. I really enjoyed the writing style, and I liked the focus on action. It's a thought-provoking story, but it's not a story that wastes a lot of time on standing around talking about ideas. It makes YOU want to stand around talking about ideas intead.
According to her website, Collins was inspired by clicking between TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' and news channels which showed real people enduring actual atrocities and disasters. She was also reminded of the legend of 'Theseus and the Minotaur', which tells of how the Minoan king forced the city of Athens to send a yearly tribute of seven maidens and seven youths to be trapped in the labyrinth and killed by the monster that lived there - until at last Theseus, the Athenian king's son, volunteered. He went along with the other victims, and he turned the tables on the Minoan king - but at a terrible cost.
You can see traces of this classical tradition throughout the book: the kids are basically forced to be gladiators for the entertainment of the masses; the names often recall classical Greek and Roman names; the country itself is named after the phrase 'Bread and Circuses' ("panem et circenses" in Latin) which comes from a satire by a Roman writer - he was saying that the people didn't care about justice or morality or human rights, so long as they had enough to eat and frivolous entertainments.
As well as reminding me of modern TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' (and also the Pepsi Refresh campaign, which makes desperate people compete to try to get funding for charities http://www.refresheverything.com ), this book also reminded me of some other books. The theme of a group of children trapped in a hostile environment and turning on one another reminded me a little bit of a famous book by William Golding called 'The Lord of the Flies'. I know there's also a Japanese book (and manga and movie) called 'Battle Royale' which has a very similar concept to 'The Hunger Games'.
This is a story about a possible future - but it's also a story about how we live our lives today. It makes you think about which is more important - survival at any cost, or maintaining your own beliefs and integrity under pressure. (And it didn't give you saccharine, goody-goody answers either, or try to divide everyone into white hats and black hats.) It made me reflect upon the ways that the media and consumer culture frame disasters and tragedies as entertainment right now, and how the poor are exploited and ignored. It made me think about the ways in which I am part of this system, both directly and indirectly. It made me want to be a better person. It wasn't a comfortable book to read - the subject matter is pretty dark, obviously, and I found myself being shocked and saddened at various points along the way. (Yes, it made me cry. I didn't expect it to, but some really sad things happened to characters I'd grown to care about.) Still, it was a very satisfying story, and I found myself really gripped to see what would happen next all the way along.
An hour later, I waved them all out the door, grabbed the book and didn't move from the carpet until I'd reached the end.
So I thought it would be a good idea to tell you (in as unspoilery a way as possible) why I loved these books.
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
The Plot:
This is a trilogy of SciFi novels set in a distopian future (that means pretty much the opposite of a paradise-like future) in a place called Panem. I kind of assumed that it was supposed to represent a future America, but that's never made explicit. Anyway, in this future society, life is pretty hard. Our hero is Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl who's been supporting her mother and her little sister ever since her father died down the mines. They've come very close to starving to death, but between Katniss's hunting skills and a little bit of kindness from some of their neighbours, so far they've survived.
Now, Panem consists of twelve districts know only by their numbers, and one central, powerful district called The Capitol. The people in The Capitol are spoiled rotten, while the people who live in the districts - the people who actually do all the work and produce all the goods and grow all the crops - are living lives of tremendous hardship. This is because the Capitol has all the weapons and the police, and because 75 years ago there was a great rebellion, which the Capitol won. They totally destroyed District 13, and they punished the other 12 districts very harshly. The most horrible thing the Capitol did was to set up 'The Hunger Games'.
Every year, each district has to send two teenagers, a boy and a girl, to compete in The Hunger Games. The competition 'arena' can be anywhere - desert, jungle, forest, island, whatever the game designers can come up with. It will be full of all manner of viciously cruel and deadly surprises - mutant animals, volcanos, poison fog, earthquakes, elaborate booby traps. And the twenty four kids who have been dropped into the middle of this place have to fight to the death. There can be only one survivor. It's a battle of skills and wits and ruthlessness, in which people's humanity is gradually stripped away - all for the amusement of the television audience who are watching every moment, and betting on the results.
This is the first year that Katniss's little sister has had her name put into the lottery. But what are the chances of it being little Prim who gets chosen? Unfortunately she IS, and this is more than Katniss can stand - so she volunteers to take Prim's place, and the next thing she knows, she's being whisked off to the Capitol to be primped and preened and scrubbed and made up, given her own stylist to make her look appealing for the TV audience as she dies - or kills - for their amusement...
The characters:
I really liked Katniss. She's competent and loyal, but she's also pretty ruthless. She's in a horrible situation, but she keeps her head and tries to stay true to herself. I like the fact that she's not shown as being too sweet or perfect - she's very pragmatic and pretty ruthless, but she does still have moments of compassion. She's not looking for a boyfriend, but at the same time she's aware that her friendship with Gale has been changing as they both get older, and she's trying to figure out what to make of Peter, the other kid from District 12 who's been chosen for the Hunger Games. (I wouldn't say that these books are romances, but there is a love triangle. Mostly, Katniss isn't thinking about romance though, because she's got far more important things to worry about - but she DOES have strong feelings for two different characters, both of whom are pretty smitten by her. Can she trust them, though...?)
Katniss is a hero; she's courageous and talented, but only in the ways that normal people can be. She puts herself into danger because she loves her little sister too much to stand by and watch her suffering - it's a gesture of selflessness which makes her stand out from the crowd, but Katniss is no meek little sacrificial victim. She's impulsive, and temperamental, and not particularly sweet or nice; she's not the kindest, or the strongest, or the fastest kid in the arena - but she is kind, and strong, and fast, and she's smart too, and determined. She comes across as being flawed, but basically a good person doing her best in a pretty terrible situation.
The writing:
The story is all written in the first person ("I shot the rabbit" rather than "She shot the rabbit"), and so we only know what Katniss knows. This is pretty effective, because as readers we're not sure whether we can trust people either. Sometimes we are able to figure things out before Katniss from the clues in the text -sometimes we're just as uncertain as she is about what's going on. I really enjoyed the writing style, and I liked the focus on action. It's a thought-provoking story, but it's not a story that wastes a lot of time on standing around talking about ideas. It makes YOU want to stand around talking about ideas intead.
According to her website, Collins was inspired by clicking between TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' and news channels which showed real people enduring actual atrocities and disasters. She was also reminded of the legend of 'Theseus and the Minotaur', which tells of how the Minoan king forced the city of Athens to send a yearly tribute of seven maidens and seven youths to be trapped in the labyrinth and killed by the monster that lived there - until at last Theseus, the Athenian king's son, volunteered. He went along with the other victims, and he turned the tables on the Minoan king - but at a terrible cost.
You can see traces of this classical tradition throughout the book: the kids are basically forced to be gladiators for the entertainment of the masses; the names often recall classical Greek and Roman names; the country itself is named after the phrase 'Bread and Circuses' ("panem et circenses" in Latin) which comes from a satire by a Roman writer - he was saying that the people didn't care about justice or morality or human rights, so long as they had enough to eat and frivolous entertainments.
As well as reminding me of modern TV shows like 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' (and also the Pepsi Refresh campaign, which makes desperate people compete to try to get funding for charities http://www.refresheverything.com ), this book also reminded me of some other books. The theme of a group of children trapped in a hostile environment and turning on one another reminded me a little bit of a famous book by William Golding called 'The Lord of the Flies'. I know there's also a Japanese book (and manga and movie) called 'Battle Royale' which has a very similar concept to 'The Hunger Games'.
This is a story about a possible future - but it's also a story about how we live our lives today. It makes you think about which is more important - survival at any cost, or maintaining your own beliefs and integrity under pressure. (And it didn't give you saccharine, goody-goody answers either, or try to divide everyone into white hats and black hats.) It made me reflect upon the ways that the media and consumer culture frame disasters and tragedies as entertainment right now, and how the poor are exploited and ignored. It made me think about the ways in which I am part of this system, both directly and indirectly. It made me want to be a better person. It wasn't a comfortable book to read - the subject matter is pretty dark, obviously, and I found myself being shocked and saddened at various points along the way. (Yes, it made me cry. I didn't expect it to, but some really sad things happened to characters I'd grown to care about.) Still, it was a very satisfying story, and I found myself really gripped to see what would happen next all the way along.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Being a silvertongued devil
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen!
This half term we're going to be turning our attention from poetry to prose (which, you'll recall, means normal writing, whether fiction or non-fiction). Before we sink our teeth into George Orwell's political satire Animal Farm, we're having a little warm-up by looking at Neil Gaiman's short story Babycakes. *
Good work today on identifying some of the layers of meaning packed into this creepy little story! As we discussed, your homework this week, to be handed in on Thursday, is to write a piece of PERSUASIVE WRITING to convince people that they should start using babies to replace all the things that animals were used for, before all the animals suddenly disappeared.
Here's a copy of the story online, in graphic novel format:
http://ljconstantine.com/babycakes/page1.htm
(And you can also listen to the author read it himself on Youtube.)
So, to repeat: YOUR MISSIONshould you choose to accept it is to create a piece of extended persuasive writing putting forward all the reasons why it would be sensible to use babies instead of animals, now that we have suddenly woken up to find all the animals gone.
The title of your piece of writing (which should be at least one full page long) should be "A Modest Proposal". (Inspired by Jonathan Swift's satirical essay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal )
LO: Use persuasive language successfully.
Structure your argument carefully, expanding on each point in detail
Use appropriate and effective vocabulary.
As we said at the start of the year: words are power. Someone who can use language skillfully can convince you that something terrible is actually perfectly reasonable. You see this all around you, in advertising, in politics, in religion. We're going to see a lot of this in 'Animal Farm'.
In Babycakes, the narrator paints a picture of a world in which the lines between 'us' and 'them' have been changed, and people have adjusted their world view so that they no longer think of babies as human, as "us". Although it's a horror story and a parable (rather than something literal and realistic) the frightening truth is that people DO do this all the time. Not usually by considering babies as disposable (although if you put people under enough pressure, that can happen too) but usually by dividing people up by something equally meaningless, like skin colour, or religion, or gender, or nationality, or class. People in the real world DO accept atrocities being performed on other human beings by telling themselves that those other human beings are less human, less worthy - that they're not "us". (It is even more common to accept the suffering of other living beings if it benefits us, although devout Buddhists and Jains, as well as many non-religious vegans, consider this intolerable.)
(*It is perhaps worth mentioning that Neil Gaiman is of Jewish extraction. Thinking about what we discussed regarding the Nazis' treatment of the Jews (and other groups) during World War II, you can probably see why he might be inspired to write a horror story in which babies are recategorised as not human, and are brutally tortured in the name of scientific investigation, and have their body parts used for food or for leather.)
This half term we're going to be turning our attention from poetry to prose (which, you'll recall, means normal writing, whether fiction or non-fiction). Before we sink our teeth into George Orwell's political satire Animal Farm, we're having a little warm-up by looking at Neil Gaiman's short story Babycakes. *
Good work today on identifying some of the layers of meaning packed into this creepy little story! As we discussed, your homework this week, to be handed in on Thursday, is to write a piece of PERSUASIVE WRITING to convince people that they should start using babies to replace all the things that animals were used for, before all the animals suddenly disappeared.
Here's a copy of the story online, in graphic novel format:
http://ljconstantine.com/babycakes/page1.htm
(And you can also listen to the author read it himself on Youtube.)
So, to repeat: YOUR MISSION
The title of your piece of writing (which should be at least one full page long) should be "A Modest Proposal". (Inspired by Jonathan Swift's satirical essay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal )
LO: Use persuasive language successfully.
Structure your argument carefully, expanding on each point in detail
Use appropriate and effective vocabulary.
- Think about who your audience is supposed to be for this. (You're basically playing a role here, and imagining that you're the narrator of the story we read, or somebody like him or her, and that we've lost all the animals, and that people are panicking.)
- Think about what people might say to argue with you, and undermine their points before they can make them, showing how your idea is better than theirs.
- Think about the tone of your writing - you need to be calm, reasonable, and persuasive.
- One of the tricks of rhetoric is to use repetition - some very powerful public speakers do this, subtly borrowing some of the skills used in poetry to make their words sound more authoritative. You might like to try that.
As we said at the start of the year: words are power. Someone who can use language skillfully can convince you that something terrible is actually perfectly reasonable. You see this all around you, in advertising, in politics, in religion. We're going to see a lot of this in 'Animal Farm'.
In Babycakes, the narrator paints a picture of a world in which the lines between 'us' and 'them' have been changed, and people have adjusted their world view so that they no longer think of babies as human, as "us". Although it's a horror story and a parable (rather than something literal and realistic) the frightening truth is that people DO do this all the time. Not usually by considering babies as disposable (although if you put people under enough pressure, that can happen too) but usually by dividing people up by something equally meaningless, like skin colour, or religion, or gender, or nationality, or class. People in the real world DO accept atrocities being performed on other human beings by telling themselves that those other human beings are less human, less worthy - that they're not "us". (It is even more common to accept the suffering of other living beings if it benefits us, although devout Buddhists and Jains, as well as many non-religious vegans, consider this intolerable.)
(*It is perhaps worth mentioning that Neil Gaiman is of Jewish extraction. Thinking about what we discussed regarding the Nazis' treatment of the Jews (and other groups) during World War II, you can probably see why he might be inspired to write a horror story in which babies are recategorised as not human, and are brutally tortured in the name of scientific investigation, and have their body parts used for food or for leather.)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Homework
Reading Comprehension Questions
Check out this short autobiography of the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and use it to answer the following questions. (As before, I'm looking for answers in FULL SENTENCES BASED ON THE QUESTION.)
http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/kidz.php
1) What's the name of the country (not just town) where Benjamin Zephaniah was born?
2) Which football team does he support, and why is that a bit surprising?
3) How old was he when he left school?
4) How old was he when he got his first book published?
5) Why do you think that he is influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica (since he was not born there)?
6) What is unusual about his dietary habits?
7) What are some of the issues he feels passionately about?
8) Watch this video, in which Zephania performs one of his poems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2TiNi9w-XE&feature=related
(You may find it difficult at first, if you're not used to his accent. Listen to it a few times to get used to the rhythms and music of his speech patterns.)
What is the poem about? How does he feel about the subject of the poem?
Check out this short autobiography of the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and use it to answer the following questions. (As before, I'm looking for answers in FULL SENTENCES BASED ON THE QUESTION.)
http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/kidz.php
1) What's the name of the country (not just town) where Benjamin Zephaniah was born?
2) Which football team does he support, and why is that a bit surprising?
3) How old was he when he left school?
4) How old was he when he got his first book published?
5) Why do you think that he is influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica (since he was not born there)?
6) What is unusual about his dietary habits?
7) What are some of the issues he feels passionately about?
8) Watch this video, in which Zephania performs one of his poems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2TiNi9w-XE&feature=related
(You may find it difficult at first, if you're not used to his accent. Listen to it a few times to get used to the rhythms and music of his speech patterns.)
What is the poem about? How does he feel about the subject of the poem?
Monday, October 11, 2010
Homework to hand in Wednesday 13th October
This exercise is to help you consolidate your understanding of technical terminology to use in writing about poems, novels, plays etc.
L.O: To understand literary terminology, in order to use it appropriately.
Sonnet =
Ballad =
Haiku =
Limerick =
Verse =
Stanza =
Rhythm =
Rhyme =
Alliteration =
Assonance =
Imply =
Evoke =
Resonance =
Freeform =
Irony =
L.O: To understand literary terminology, in order to use it appropriately.
Sonnet =
Ballad =
Haiku =
Limerick =
Verse =
Stanza =
Rhythm =
Rhyme =
Alliteration =
Assonance =
Imply =
Evoke =
Resonance =
Freeform =
Irony =
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
HOMEWORK! Cloze procedure
Sorry that I missed you folks today, while you were having your fascinating lessons with Mr Mark & Miss Ali!
Wednesday's homework is a Cloze Procedure and vocabulary analysis based upon a piece of classical music.
...well, kind of classical. Old, at least. As we discussed, song lyrics are a form of poetry. With that in mind, I'd like you to fill in the missing words from this very serious and classical piece of cultural history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-CzYse_VM
Thriller
Michael Jackson
It's close to _______________ and something evil's lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your _____________
You try to ______________ but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between the ______________,
You're paralyzed
'Cause this is thriller, thriller ________________
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer,
thriller __________________
You hear the _____________ slam and realise there's nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun
You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination
But all the while you ________________ the creature creepin' up behind
You're out of _______________
'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes
______________ know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer,
thriller tonight
Night _________________ call
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade
There's no escapin' the ___________ of the alien this time
(they're open wide)
This is the _____________ of your life
They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side
They will possess you unless you change the _____________ on your dial
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together
All thru the night I'll save you from the terrors on the screen,
I'll make you ______________
That it's a thriller, thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ______________ would dare to try
Girl, this is thriller, thriller night
So ________________ me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller,
Thriller here tonight
Darkness falls across the ______________
The _______________ hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the ______________ of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand ________________
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay ______________
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the ____________________
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-CzYse_VM
So far so good? Now match the word to the CORRECT definition:
lurk...................... to decay by the processes of nature
crawl ....................unpleasant feeling of coldness
cuddle ..................home of devils and damned souls after death
stench ..................red liquid flowing through the veins of humans and some animals
creep ....................very exciting story (can be a book or a movie), probably with scary bits
ghoul ....................bone structures containing teeth
grizzly ..................something evil that is to come, the end of the world
dare ......................a kind of dog used for hunting and racing
hound................... to be brave enough
jaw ........................gruesome, disgusting or scary
thriller ..................spirit that robs graves and feeds on the corpses in them
blood .....................tremble. especially from cold or fear
hell ........................move secretly close to the ground
chill....................... horrid smell
funk....................... hold close and lovingly in one’s arms
rot .........................move slowly, pulling the body along the ground
doom .....................to lie in wait or ready to attack
shiver ....................great fear
Aaaaand finally....
Massive bonus points and my undying admiration for anyone who can do the Thriller Dance tomorrow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhbYxXg7p-A
Wednesday's homework is a Cloze Procedure and vocabulary analysis based upon a piece of classical music.
...well, kind of classical. Old, at least. As we discussed, song lyrics are a form of poetry. With that in mind, I'd like you to fill in the missing words from this very serious and classical piece of cultural history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-CzYse_VM
Thriller
Michael Jackson
It's close to _______________ and something evil's lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your _____________
You try to ______________ but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between the ______________,
You're paralyzed
'Cause this is thriller, thriller ________________
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer,
thriller __________________
You hear the _____________ slam and realise there's nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun
You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination
But all the while you ________________ the creature creepin' up behind
You're out of _______________
'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes
______________ know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer,
thriller tonight
Night _________________ call
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade
There's no escapin' the ___________ of the alien this time
(they're open wide)
This is the _____________ of your life
They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side
They will possess you unless you change the _____________ on your dial
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together
All thru the night I'll save you from the terrors on the screen,
I'll make you ______________
That it's a thriller, thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ______________ would dare to try
Girl, this is thriller, thriller night
So ________________ me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller,
Thriller here tonight
Darkness falls across the ______________
The _______________ hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the ______________ of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand ________________
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay ______________
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the ____________________
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT-CzYse_VM
So far so good? Now match the word to the CORRECT definition:
lurk...................... to decay by the processes of nature
crawl ....................unpleasant feeling of coldness
cuddle ..................home of devils and damned souls after death
stench ..................red liquid flowing through the veins of humans and some animals
creep ....................very exciting story (can be a book or a movie), probably with scary bits
ghoul ....................bone structures containing teeth
grizzly ..................something evil that is to come, the end of the world
dare ......................a kind of dog used for hunting and racing
hound................... to be brave enough
jaw ........................gruesome, disgusting or scary
thriller ..................spirit that robs graves and feeds on the corpses in them
blood .....................tremble. especially from cold or fear
hell ........................move secretly close to the ground
chill....................... horrid smell
funk....................... hold close and lovingly in one’s arms
rot .........................move slowly, pulling the body along the ground
doom .....................to lie in wait or ready to attack
shiver ....................great fear
Aaaaand finally....
Massive bonus points and my undying admiration for anyone who can do the Thriller Dance tomorrow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhbYxXg7p-A
Monday, October 4, 2010
Reading Comprehension Homework due in on Wednesday
Check out this website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11444022
You're going to need to use this site to find the answers to the following questions:
(I hope I don't need to say this, but I AM EXPECTING ANSWERS TO BE IN FULL SENTENCES, BASED ON THE QUESTION eg "The newly-discovered planet is called....")
1) What is the name of the newly discovered planet?
2) How far is it from Earth?
3) Where is the telescope that was used to discover the new planet?
4) What is the name of the star that this planet orbits?
5) How long had the scientists been studying this star before they made this discovery?
6) How many planets have we discovered orbiting this star in total?
7) What is so special about this new planet?
8) What does "the Goldilocks Zone" mean?
9) What is the major difference between this new planet and our own earth?
10) Do you believe in the possibility of alien life? Why/why not?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11444022
You're going to need to use this site to find the answers to the following questions:
(I hope I don't need to say this, but I AM EXPECTING ANSWERS TO BE IN FULL SENTENCES, BASED ON THE QUESTION eg "The newly-discovered planet is called....")
1) What is the name of the newly discovered planet?
2) How far is it from Earth?
3) Where is the telescope that was used to discover the new planet?
4) What is the name of the star that this planet orbits?
5) How long had the scientists been studying this star before they made this discovery?
6) How many planets have we discovered orbiting this star in total?
7) What is so special about this new planet?
8) What does "the Goldilocks Zone" mean?
9) What is the major difference between this new planet and our own earth?
10) Do you believe in the possibility of alien life? Why/why not?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sonnets
This week we've started looking at the Sonnet form. We're mostly looking at Shakespeare's sonnets (since we'll be studying a Shakespearean play next term) and we've been concentrating on the structure so we can identify sonnets easily.
For this evening's homework, we're looking at this poem:
For this evening's homework, we're looking at this poem:
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red ;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Your Learning Objective is to write a critical analysis of this poem.
That means I'd like you to explain what kind of poem it is (ballad, haiku, limerick, sonnet, epic) and how you know that; I'd like you to explain what the poem is about, and talk about how the poet uses language (think about his use of rhyme and rhythm, and his use of metaphor). Then explain what YOU think of it, and why.
The poem we looked at today was an example of the sort of sonnets that were popular at the time - please explain how Sonnet 130 is different from the mainstream poetic conventions of poems like the one we looked at today.
I have no problem with you using the internet to help you with researching your work, especially since there may be words you don't understand. But I do want whatever you write to reflect YOUR feelings about the poem. Please don't just copy somebody else's ideas with your brain switched off - I don't think any of you would, but I feel I have to say it, just to be on the safe side.
(Copying somebody else's work and passing it off as your own is called plagiarism - you get in ENORMOUS trouble for this in academia. If you do read something somebody else has written, and agree with it, OR DISAGREE WITH IT, that's absolutely fine - you just need to provide a reference or a link and quote them, then explain why you agree (or disagree) with them.
When I read your work, I want to know that you have understood the meaning of the poem. I also want to know what you thought of the poem - whether or not you liked it, and why. Please make comparisons to Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") and to the poem we looked at today. Please remember to back up your points by quoting from the text. I'm expecting about a page of work.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Homework
Good afternoon!
Well, colour me impressed by some of the ideas and performances this morning - great job with the monologues, people! As you know, I'd initially intended to make a book of poetry when we were looking at the Roald Dahl poem; unfortunately the quality of poems was a bit uneven, with some people finding consistent use of rhyme and rhythm pretty hard to master. But I've been delighted by the work you guys put into this challenge, and I think we could easily put these pieces together, and illustrate them, to make a really nice book for the younger children to enjoy in the library.
Your homework is therefore twofold:
(1) Copy the sentences below, and correct all the mistakes. They may be spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors. Look carefully!
(2) If you are an artistic type, and would like to create an illustration to accompany your story in the book (for extra credit), please have a crack at making a professional-looking illustration. You can use any medium, including computer packages, to create the artwork to go with your monologue.
Well, colour me impressed by some of the ideas and performances this morning - great job with the monologues, people! As you know, I'd initially intended to make a book of poetry when we were looking at the Roald Dahl poem; unfortunately the quality of poems was a bit uneven, with some people finding consistent use of rhyme and rhythm pretty hard to master. But I've been delighted by the work you guys put into this challenge, and I think we could easily put these pieces together, and illustrate them, to make a really nice book for the younger children to enjoy in the library.
Your homework is therefore twofold:
(1) Copy the sentences below, and correct all the mistakes. They may be spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors. Look carefully!
(2) If you are an artistic type, and would like to create an illustration to accompany your story in the book (for extra credit), please have a crack at making a professional-looking illustration. You can use any medium, including computer packages, to create the artwork to go with your monologue.
SENTENCES TO CORRECT FOR HOMEWORK
1) Aashis PowerPoint presentation was fascinating but unfotunitly she could not show anyone because the coputer was broken
2) Miss Nichola couldnt believe her bad luck she had forgotten to bring an umbrella on the rainest day of the year
3) I need to buy lettuce tomatos cucumber cheese apple's and walnut's to make the perfect salad for the party
4) The Commonwelth games will be starting very soon in delhi but they're are lot's of problems because the buildings are not reddy for the visiting athletes yet
5) the trailers for the movie harry potter and the dethly hollows make it look like the darkest Potter movie yet
6) miss nichola really like's iced coffy but shes started to prefer a mango smoothie in the morning
7) Unlike lots of languages english does not have a simple logical set of spelling rule's. This make's your life difficult if you are lurning it.
8) book weeks always busy at st andrews sathorn as the younger children compeet in lots of different competitions like desyning posters designing bookmarks decorating their doors and dressing up in fancy dress costume's.
9) Goldilocks eat all the bares porridge and break they're chairs and slept on there bed too.
10) the book is called twilight and i like it because of bellas romance with edward and because its full of exciting dispriptions
YOU HAVE TO HAND THIS IN ON WEDNESDAY.
Meanwhile, I can tell you that Wednesday's homework will involve reading comprehension based on this website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/default.stm
YOU HAVE TO HAND THIS IN ON WEDNESDAY.
Meanwhile, I can tell you that Wednesday's homework will involve reading comprehension based on this website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/default.stm
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Helpful links for your homework!
In case you need some inspiration for your monologue, here are links to the text and a performance of a short story called 'The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs.'
http://www.shol.com/agita/wolfside.htm
If you have had an attack of memory loss and forgotten what the homework involves (despite all the repeated explanations since last Friday, and having written it in your homework book on Tuesday and on Wednesday) there is a more detailed explanation on the post before this one.
I will have a sense of humour failure if anyone shows up to class without their homework tomorrow, and I'm afraid that you will be looking at detention in your immediate future at the very least, and possibly defenestration if I've not had a large cup of coffee.
(If you're not sure what defenestration is, Wikipedia can help you.)
http://www.shol.com/agita/wolfside.htm
If you have had an attack of memory loss and forgotten what the homework involves (despite all the repeated explanations since last Friday, and having written it in your homework book on Tuesday and on Wednesday) there is a more detailed explanation on the post before this one.
I will have a sense of humour failure if anyone shows up to class without their homework tomorrow, and I'm afraid that you will be looking at detention in your immediate future at the very least, and possibly defenestration if I've not had a large cup of coffee.
(If you're not sure what defenestration is, Wikipedia can help you.)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
News and Views: Book Week and Book Reports
THING ONE:
As I mentioned in the class, Book Week is coming up shortly, and the theme this year is going to be Fairy Tales. For the younger children, this is going to involve lots of activities built around reading fairy tales, and writing fairy tales, and various competitions to draw and paint and dress up. For us, it's going to involve a competition that requires reading, writing, speaking and listening skills: we're asking you to compose an original dramatic monologue based on a traditional story.
So, for example, you might decide to write your speech in the character of The Big Bad Wolf from the story of 'The Three Little Pigs' and explain that you are very misunderstood, and that it was all the pigs' fault. Or you might choose to write your speech in the character of Cinderella, and tell us all about what it's like being married to Prince Charming, and whether one romantic dance and the return of a lost shoe really is a great basis for a marriage.
Choose a story that you know well, and one that your audience will know too. (There are lots of books in the library you can refer to too, to help you.) Your monologue should convey the personality of the character very clearly, both through what they say and how they say it. Please think about this up front - we're not looking for a dry, boring retelling of the story. Think about the 'Shrek' movies, and the clever way they reinterpreted fairytale characters - if you're writing a monologue from the point of view of Prince Charming, you don't have to write him as perfect. You can make it funnier and more rewarding for the audience if you make him more complex - perhaps he comes across as being very vain, or a bit dim, or rather scary. Or perhaps he seems like a nice guy, who's genuinely in love with Cinderella - but from what he tells us, we can infer that she doesn't return his feelings, even though HE doesn't realise it.
We'll talk about this more in class, but I wanted you to have a bit more warning that this is coming up, as it's going to require quite a bit of time and effort to produce GOOD monologues. There will be a competition for the best monologue, taking into account both the cleverness of the writing and the performance itself - so start thinking!
THING TWO
People have been asking about Book Reviews. It's clear to me from the range of pieces handed in when I asked you guys to write a book review that you're not all entirely clear on what's involved, so I've written one as an example:
‘The Graveyard Book’ by Neil Gaiman.
‘The Graveyard Book’ is a children’s novel very loosely based on the structure of Rudyard Kipling’s classic ‘The Jungle Book’. Neil Gaiman is an author who is well known as a writer of adults' horror and fantasy fiction (such as 'Neverwhere', or 'American Gods'), and comics and graphic novels (such as the award-winning ‘Sandman’ series), but he has also made a name for himself in children’s literature. His picture book ‘The Wolves in the Walls’ has been made into a musical, whilst the creepy chapter book ‘Coraline’ was made into an animated movie a few years ago.
Gaiman is well known for working with his long-time friend, artist Dave McKean. McKean has collaborated with him on many projects over the years, from the ‘Sandman’ books to picture books like ‘The Wolves in the Walls’, and Gaiman scripted McKean’s recent animated movie ‘Mirrormask’. Once again, McKean joins Gaiman to provide the artwork for ‘The Graveyard Book’, giving it a signature creepiness.
‘The Graveyard Book’ begins with the rather shocking sight of a completely black double-page spread, featuring the image of an outstretched hand clasping a bloody knife. The blade draws our eyes towards the text, which is very minimal:
I defy anyone to read this without being compelled to turn the page and find out more. Turning the page gives us the rest of the man behind the out-stretched knife; he is mounting a staircase in somebody’s house, his face tilted upwards, and a clean white handkerchief is clutched in his other hand. The blade, we are told, has “a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor.” Moreover, “both the blade and the handle are wet.”
With this chilling beginning, Gaiman very effectively grabs the reader’s attention and drags them along into the story of the baby who manages to evade this man and his knife (although the rest of his family have not been so lucky, as the wet blade demonstrates). The baby toddles out of the house and into the nearby cemetery, where he is very lucky to have the local ghosts take pity upon him and protect him from the man with the knife. The ghosts – and their friend Silas, whom we are never explicitly told is a vampire – adopt the child, give him a name, and raise him among the gravestones. But Bod (as the ghosts name him) is a living boy, and naturally over the years he grows and he grows, and so does his curiosity, until eventually he wants to make his way out into the world of the living. And out in the world of the living, the man with the knife still waits…
There is a rather grotesque and dreamlike quality to Gaiman’s writing, and yet at the same time it's very rooted in the little details of the everyday world. The parallels with Kipling's 'Jungle Book' are clear - in both books, we have a lost child being saved and raised by unlikely nonhuman creatures, and being given honourary citizenship of a world normally closed to humans. In 'The Jungle Book' this is the world of wild animals, whilst in 'The Graveyard Book' it's a world of ghosts and supernatural creatures. However, there are also echoes of JK Rowling's famous 'Harry Potter' books in this basic structure of a baby who survives the murder of his parents, and who grows up under magical protection from his enemies. There the similarities stop, though, for Gaiman is a very different kind of writer from Rowling, and this story is both more intimate and more universal than the 'Harry Potter' books. It has more of a timeless, fairytale quality, even though the setting is quite a lot more mundane and less whimsical than Rowling's wizarding world.
This is a story full of ideas and images that will stay with you long after you close the pages. Although it’s aimed at children, Gaiman doesn’t patronize his readers or spell everything out for them – he expects them to ask questions, and to read between the lines. We have to figure out for ourselves what Silas might be, who the Grey Lady is, and what exactly is strange about Mrs Lepescu.
The hero of the story - the baby who so narrowly escapes death in the opening chapter - is named Nobody Owens, also known as Bod. Essentially this is a story about rites of passage, a story about growing up and finding yourself - probably the oldest theme in literature, but one that remains fresh and relevant to every generation. Although Gaiman doesn't write in the first person, he still shows us the world mostly from Bod's point of view. Sometimes we can work things out that Bod doesn't know himself, because of clues that Gaiman gives us in the text. We get to know the various other inhabitants of the graveyard through Bod too. Mr and Mrs Owens, the childless ghosts who adopt him, are perhaps the most clearly described, along with the angry little witch ghost, and Silas, who is not a ghost, but Gaiman gives us a clear sense of many minor characters through his vivid descriptions and his use of distinctive dialogue. Unlikely as it seems, the graveyard (like the jungle, in Kipling's 'Jungle Book') comes across as a rather wonderful place to grow up: not without its dangers, to be sure, but still a warm, exciting, comforting place in many ways.
Gaiman doesn’t always take his stories where you think they might go – he’s a fiercely original writer, and he isn’t afraid of frightening his readers, or of breaking their hearts. I know this all too well from some of his other stories, and although ‘The Graveyard Book’ is much less gruesome than Gaiman’s adult literature, it successfully mixes joy and darkness in the same way that I’d expect. I was rather surprised by the ending, and a little saddened, but I still found it very satisfying.
‘The Graveyard Book’ won both the Hugo and the Newbery awards in 2009, as well as the 2010 Carnegie Medal and the Locus Award for YA novel. On the whole, I think that most of these were merited – although I confess that I do find it difficult to believe that it would have ever been considered for the Hugo (a prize awarded for the best SF or Fantasy achievement) had it not been written by well-known SF/Fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman. This is not my very favourite of Gaiman's works, because it would take an awful lot to top 'The Sandman' or 'American Gods' in my affections, and I'll always have a soft spot for 'The Wolves In The Walls'. Nevertheless, I think that this is an excellent book for younger readers - at least as good as 'Coraline' - and the images and language linger in one's memory long after the covers have been closed.
(The only reason I coloured this in blue was to make it stand out from the rest of the blog - I know you guys are too smart to start writing all your assignments in blue, but I still feel like I should mention it, just to be on the safe side. Nothing personal.)
I'm not trying to set this out as The One True Way To Write A Book Review; there are lots of good ways to write a book review. However, I did take care to include an introduction, to give some background details about who the writer is and when the book was written, to outline the plot, introduce the characters and explain how I felt about the book and why. That's mostly what I'm expecting at this point - that you can give your reader an idea what the book is like, and whether you liked it or not, and WHY. You need to substantiate your points by referring to the text, rather than making general points. If you include quotations (which is always a good idea) please put them inside speech marks. Whenever you mention the title, remember to indicate that it's the title in one of the appropriate ways.
What I AM wanting to see: reports that mention who the author is; reports that consistently indicate the title (using inverted commas or underlining or italics); reports that refer to the author either by his/her full name, or else by their surname, but NOT by their first name alone; reports that give me an idea of what happened in the book; reports that give me an idea of what the characters are like; reports that give me an idea of whether you liked the book or not, and why.
What I'm NOT wanting to see: reports that don't mention who the author is; reports that don't bother to distinguish the title of the book (either by using inverted commas, or underlining, or italics); reports that reveal you don't know the book very well; reports that might as well just have been copied down from the blurb on the back of the book; reports that show you didn't understand what happened in the book.
As I mentioned in the class, Book Week is coming up shortly, and the theme this year is going to be Fairy Tales. For the younger children, this is going to involve lots of activities built around reading fairy tales, and writing fairy tales, and various competitions to draw and paint and dress up. For us, it's going to involve a competition that requires reading, writing, speaking and listening skills: we're asking you to compose an original dramatic monologue based on a traditional story.
So, for example, you might decide to write your speech in the character of The Big Bad Wolf from the story of 'The Three Little Pigs' and explain that you are very misunderstood, and that it was all the pigs' fault. Or you might choose to write your speech in the character of Cinderella, and tell us all about what it's like being married to Prince Charming, and whether one romantic dance and the return of a lost shoe really is a great basis for a marriage.
Choose a story that you know well, and one that your audience will know too. (There are lots of books in the library you can refer to too, to help you.) Your monologue should convey the personality of the character very clearly, both through what they say and how they say it. Please think about this up front - we're not looking for a dry, boring retelling of the story. Think about the 'Shrek' movies, and the clever way they reinterpreted fairytale characters - if you're writing a monologue from the point of view of Prince Charming, you don't have to write him as perfect. You can make it funnier and more rewarding for the audience if you make him more complex - perhaps he comes across as being very vain, or a bit dim, or rather scary. Or perhaps he seems like a nice guy, who's genuinely in love with Cinderella - but from what he tells us, we can infer that she doesn't return his feelings, even though HE doesn't realise it.
We'll talk about this more in class, but I wanted you to have a bit more warning that this is coming up, as it's going to require quite a bit of time and effort to produce GOOD monologues. There will be a competition for the best monologue, taking into account both the cleverness of the writing and the performance itself - so start thinking!
THING TWO
People have been asking about Book Reviews. It's clear to me from the range of pieces handed in when I asked you guys to write a book review that you're not all entirely clear on what's involved, so I've written one as an example:
‘The Graveyard Book’ by Neil Gaiman.
‘The Graveyard Book’ is a children’s novel very loosely based on the structure of Rudyard Kipling’s classic ‘The Jungle Book’. Neil Gaiman is an author who is well known as a writer of adults' horror and fantasy fiction (such as 'Neverwhere', or 'American Gods'), and comics and graphic novels (such as the award-winning ‘Sandman’ series), but he has also made a name for himself in children’s literature. His picture book ‘The Wolves in the Walls’ has been made into a musical, whilst the creepy chapter book ‘Coraline’ was made into an animated movie a few years ago.
Gaiman is well known for working with his long-time friend, artist Dave McKean. McKean has collaborated with him on many projects over the years, from the ‘Sandman’ books to picture books like ‘The Wolves in the Walls’, and Gaiman scripted McKean’s recent animated movie ‘Mirrormask’. Once again, McKean joins Gaiman to provide the artwork for ‘The Graveyard Book’, giving it a signature creepiness.
‘The Graveyard Book’ begins with the rather shocking sight of a completely black double-page spread, featuring the image of an outstretched hand clasping a bloody knife. The blade draws our eyes towards the text, which is very minimal:
CHAPTER ONE
How Nobody Came to the Graveyard
There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.
I defy anyone to read this without being compelled to turn the page and find out more. Turning the page gives us the rest of the man behind the out-stretched knife; he is mounting a staircase in somebody’s house, his face tilted upwards, and a clean white handkerchief is clutched in his other hand. The blade, we are told, has “a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor.” Moreover, “both the blade and the handle are wet.”
With this chilling beginning, Gaiman very effectively grabs the reader’s attention and drags them along into the story of the baby who manages to evade this man and his knife (although the rest of his family have not been so lucky, as the wet blade demonstrates). The baby toddles out of the house and into the nearby cemetery, where he is very lucky to have the local ghosts take pity upon him and protect him from the man with the knife. The ghosts – and their friend Silas, whom we are never explicitly told is a vampire – adopt the child, give him a name, and raise him among the gravestones. But Bod (as the ghosts name him) is a living boy, and naturally over the years he grows and he grows, and so does his curiosity, until eventually he wants to make his way out into the world of the living. And out in the world of the living, the man with the knife still waits…
There is a rather grotesque and dreamlike quality to Gaiman’s writing, and yet at the same time it's very rooted in the little details of the everyday world. The parallels with Kipling's 'Jungle Book' are clear - in both books, we have a lost child being saved and raised by unlikely nonhuman creatures, and being given honourary citizenship of a world normally closed to humans. In 'The Jungle Book' this is the world of wild animals, whilst in 'The Graveyard Book' it's a world of ghosts and supernatural creatures. However, there are also echoes of JK Rowling's famous 'Harry Potter' books in this basic structure of a baby who survives the murder of his parents, and who grows up under magical protection from his enemies. There the similarities stop, though, for Gaiman is a very different kind of writer from Rowling, and this story is both more intimate and more universal than the 'Harry Potter' books. It has more of a timeless, fairytale quality, even though the setting is quite a lot more mundane and less whimsical than Rowling's wizarding world.
This is a story full of ideas and images that will stay with you long after you close the pages. Although it’s aimed at children, Gaiman doesn’t patronize his readers or spell everything out for them – he expects them to ask questions, and to read between the lines. We have to figure out for ourselves what Silas might be, who the Grey Lady is, and what exactly is strange about Mrs Lepescu.
The hero of the story - the baby who so narrowly escapes death in the opening chapter - is named Nobody Owens, also known as Bod. Essentially this is a story about rites of passage, a story about growing up and finding yourself - probably the oldest theme in literature, but one that remains fresh and relevant to every generation. Although Gaiman doesn't write in the first person, he still shows us the world mostly from Bod's point of view. Sometimes we can work things out that Bod doesn't know himself, because of clues that Gaiman gives us in the text. We get to know the various other inhabitants of the graveyard through Bod too. Mr and Mrs Owens, the childless ghosts who adopt him, are perhaps the most clearly described, along with the angry little witch ghost, and Silas, who is not a ghost, but Gaiman gives us a clear sense of many minor characters through his vivid descriptions and his use of distinctive dialogue. Unlikely as it seems, the graveyard (like the jungle, in Kipling's 'Jungle Book') comes across as a rather wonderful place to grow up: not without its dangers, to be sure, but still a warm, exciting, comforting place in many ways.
Gaiman doesn’t always take his stories where you think they might go – he’s a fiercely original writer, and he isn’t afraid of frightening his readers, or of breaking their hearts. I know this all too well from some of his other stories, and although ‘The Graveyard Book’ is much less gruesome than Gaiman’s adult literature, it successfully mixes joy and darkness in the same way that I’d expect. I was rather surprised by the ending, and a little saddened, but I still found it very satisfying.
‘The Graveyard Book’ won both the Hugo and the Newbery awards in 2009, as well as the 2010 Carnegie Medal and the Locus Award for YA novel. On the whole, I think that most of these were merited – although I confess that I do find it difficult to believe that it would have ever been considered for the Hugo (a prize awarded for the best SF or Fantasy achievement) had it not been written by well-known SF/Fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman. This is not my very favourite of Gaiman's works, because it would take an awful lot to top 'The Sandman' or 'American Gods' in my affections, and I'll always have a soft spot for 'The Wolves In The Walls'. Nevertheless, I think that this is an excellent book for younger readers - at least as good as 'Coraline' - and the images and language linger in one's memory long after the covers have been closed.
***************************************
(The only reason I coloured this in blue was to make it stand out from the rest of the blog - I know you guys are too smart to start writing all your assignments in blue, but I still feel like I should mention it, just to be on the safe side. Nothing personal.)
I'm not trying to set this out as The One True Way To Write A Book Review; there are lots of good ways to write a book review. However, I did take care to include an introduction, to give some background details about who the writer is and when the book was written, to outline the plot, introduce the characters and explain how I felt about the book and why. That's mostly what I'm expecting at this point - that you can give your reader an idea what the book is like, and whether you liked it or not, and WHY. You need to substantiate your points by referring to the text, rather than making general points. If you include quotations (which is always a good idea) please put them inside speech marks. Whenever you mention the title, remember to indicate that it's the title in one of the appropriate ways.
What I AM wanting to see: reports that mention who the author is; reports that consistently indicate the title (using inverted commas or underlining or italics); reports that refer to the author either by his/her full name, or else by their surname, but NOT by their first name alone; reports that give me an idea of what happened in the book; reports that give me an idea of what the characters are like; reports that give me an idea of whether you liked the book or not, and why.
What I'm NOT wanting to see: reports that don't mention who the author is; reports that don't bother to distinguish the title of the book (either by using inverted commas, or underlining, or italics); reports that reveal you don't know the book very well; reports that might as well just have been copied down from the blurb on the back of the book; reports that show you didn't understand what happened in the book.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Week beginning 13/09/10
This week we're concentrating on Edwin Morgan's poem The First Men on Mercury and using it as a jumping-off point for composing our own bilingual poetry.
http://www.edwinmorgan.spl.org.uk/poems/first_men_on_mercury.html
Last week we worked on performing the poem, and physically representing the gradual shift in the power balance between the two speakers, which Morgan conveys through their shifting use of language.
Our first homework activity this week is this punctuation exercise, revising the correct use of the apostrophe. (Check previous post for Miss Nichola's Guide To The Apostrophe in case you're feeling a bit wobbly on this.)
Please copy the following sentences into your writing books in your neatest handwriting, inserting apostrophes in the appropriate places. This work needs to be completed by Wednesday, as usual.
(...I don't need to remind you to write the date and title, do I? I'm sure I don't.)
1) After shed marked all the homework, Miss Nichola got on with planning next weeks lessons.
2) Wouldnt you rather eat a piece of his birthday cake?
3) It was Panns moment of glory, as he beat all the others in the race.
4) Well do better next time because theres no way we can make the same mistakes again!
5) Id love to give you a day off, but unfortunately your educations too important for us to neglect it like that!
6) Dont forget to check your work for any mistakes youve accidentally made!
7) He blamed his sisters because they wouldnt help him. He insisted it was all his sisters fault.
8) One of these days Miss Nicholas cat is going to figure out the way to open the door and itll escape into the apartment building, leaving havoc in its wake.
9) Its true that this is Jouns neatest piece of work! Hes been working very hard to keep it tidy!
10) The cat is so flexible it can lick its own back. Its an amazingly flexible cat!
Guys, once you've written your correct sentences once, PLEASE go back and check them. Every place you've added an apostrophe, ask yourself which of the two jobs it is doing - is it (1) indicating where some letters have been knocked out when two words got squashed together, or (2) indicating possession? Just make absolutely sure that it's not just hanging around fluttering its eyelashes and looking pointlessly pretty near a random letter S.
http://www.edwinmorgan.spl.org.uk/poems/first_men_on_mercury.html
Last week we worked on performing the poem, and physically representing the gradual shift in the power balance between the two speakers, which Morgan conveys through their shifting use of language.
Our first homework activity this week is this punctuation exercise, revising the correct use of the apostrophe. (Check previous post for Miss Nichola's Guide To The Apostrophe in case you're feeling a bit wobbly on this.)
Please copy the following sentences into your writing books in your neatest handwriting, inserting apostrophes in the appropriate places. This work needs to be completed by Wednesday, as usual.
(...I don't need to remind you to write the date and title, do I? I'm sure I don't.)
*************************************
Using the Apostrophe
1) After shed marked all the homework, Miss Nichola got on with planning next weeks lessons.
2) Wouldnt you rather eat a piece of his birthday cake?
3) It was Panns moment of glory, as he beat all the others in the race.
4) Well do better next time because theres no way we can make the same mistakes again!
5) Id love to give you a day off, but unfortunately your educations too important for us to neglect it like that!
6) Dont forget to check your work for any mistakes youve accidentally made!
7) He blamed his sisters because they wouldnt help him. He insisted it was all his sisters fault.
8) One of these days Miss Nicholas cat is going to figure out the way to open the door and itll escape into the apartment building, leaving havoc in its wake.
9) Its true that this is Jouns neatest piece of work! Hes been working very hard to keep it tidy!
10) The cat is so flexible it can lick its own back. Its an amazingly flexible cat!
********************************************
Guys, once you've written your correct sentences once, PLEASE go back and check them. Every place you've added an apostrophe, ask yourself which of the two jobs it is doing - is it (1) indicating where some letters have been knocked out when two words got squashed together, or (2) indicating possession? Just make absolutely sure that it's not just hanging around fluttering its eyelashes and looking pointlessly pretty near a random letter S.
AND DON'T FORGET THE PESKY ITS/IT'S RULE!
********************************************************************************
BONUS FEATURE:
You might like this cartoon version of 'The First Men On Mercury'
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Punctuation: How The Apostrophe is like Batman
The apostrophe, as you know, is a hard-working and much-abused piece of punctuation. People who have not had the benefit of Miss Nichola’s teaching are often clueless about what to do with the poor thing, and throw it haphazardly at any word involving an s. You, however, know better! For the apostrophe has TWO (count them!) important jobs. Neither of these jobs involves sitting around looking pointlessly pretty – the apostrophe is not the bimbo of the punctuation world. Instead it works tirelessly to either:
INDICATE WHERE SOME LETTERS ARE MISSING or
That is the rant of Miss Nichola.
But, see, the English haven’t the patience for all those words. Instead, we take the short cut of saying
Because it’s quicker, and, basically, we’re lazy.
(This laziness is the key to understanding how the language changes over time. Well, that and the fact that we’ve been invaded by nearly everybody capable of picking up a sword, getting in a boat and crossing the channel to conquer us. Every time that happened, once the screaming and bleeding was over we had to learn their language, and so our own language is now a chaotic and flexible sort of word soup full of broken rules. Eventually we got wise to this, built our own boats, picked up our own swords and flags, and went off to impose our crazy mixed-up language on lots of other people. Such, alas, is the way of the world.)
So, anyway, if I’m talking about what my cat eats, I could say:
the food of my cat.
But it’s quicker to just slap an apostrophe and an s after the owner, and say:
my cat’s food.
Easy as that. Just put an apostrophe and then an s after the owner (or owners), and you don't have to do this whole "The something of the something" business.
So far so good? Okay. Here’s where it gets SLIGHTLY more complicated. But only slightly. Pay attention and keep your brain switched on and you should be fine, really.
Ready? Right…
INDICATING OWNERSHIP WHEN THERE IS MORE THAN ONE OWNER.
Right, this is where we get to that whole thing of putting an apostrophe after an s that is already there instead of adding an s and then an apostrophe.
It’s not as complicated as you think.
Promise.
So, suppose I have more than one cat. (God forbid.) Following the rule I’ve just given you above, we should logically be able to say:
That is the food of my cats
Or, to be quicker:
That is my cats’s food.
But we don’t bother with an s after the apostrophe this time, even though logically we should. Because, remember – we’re lazy. (Also, it makes you sound like you just swallowed a snake if you try saying CATS’S.) So instead of adding an apostrophe and an s after the word CATS (which already has a perfectly good S sitting right there at the end) we just add an apostrophe and leave it at that, making the word CATS’. Because it’s quicker. And that way we know that something belonged to some CATS, rather than to one CAT. So instead of "That is the food of my cats" we have:
Read that through again, if you’re feeling a bit uncertain.
Remember: the apostrophe isn't flying over to the word just because it's spotted a letter s and wants a bit of a cuddle. The apostrophe is still busy doing its job of showing that something belongs to something else. If there's already a perfectly good letter s sitting there at the end of the word when the apostrophe flies in to do its job, there's no need to put another letter s there.
It’s actually not all that tricky – and that’s really the only tricky bit!
...
...
...
...OKAY, I LIED ABOUT THERE ONLY BEING ONE TRICKY BIT.
D:
No, no, don't run away! This next bit IS a bit annoying, but I know that you can handle it. I have faith in you!
So, to recap: The Humble Apostrophe is an unsung hero who slaves away at two thankless jobs: making sure that owners keep possession of things that are important to them ( Jack’s guitar, Pann’s brain, Miss Nichola’s patience etc etc), and ALSO making our lives easier by pointing to the places where letters have fallen out when two words are squashed together (wouldn’t, I’d, there’s, he’ll, we’ve etc etc).
Still with me?
Right. So, all of that is perfectly true, and if you remember it you’ll almost never go wrong.
...EXCEPT (and I don’t know which genius came up with this – I’m guessing one of those eighteenth or nineteenth century scholars back in the UK who decided to while away the long hours by imposing lots of whacky rules on the English language for the lulz. This is what happens when people don’t have television yet, or Facebook, or World of Warcraft) there is one exception to the rule…
It’s and Its
IT’S is always and only short for IT IS.
Yes, it’s crazy. Yes, Captain Logic is not steering the bus on this one. And, really, I’m sorry – but that’s what we’re stuck with. Some old dead guy in a dusty wig decided to make this into a rule a couple of hundred years ago, and unfortunately it’s stuck. Just accept it and move on. It’s only quite a small rule, really. It’s easier than learning your 8 times table. I know it’s stupid, but we’re stuck with it. Sorry about that.
(If it helps, there are other stupid rules invented by those old dead guys in wigs that we can TOTALLY ignore, like “don’t split the infinitive” and “don’t end a sentence with a preposition”. These rules were made up by crazy people who were pretending English is Latin, and that it had to work the way Latin does, because Latin was seen as more high class. But English works perfectly well, and doesn’t need to pretend to be Latin, or borrow Latin rules, so I’m not going to ask you to learn those ones. Just the it’s/its rule. Go on. Please. It’s good for you. You’ll thank me one day, honestly. And if you don’t, I’ll mock you mercilessly.)
INDICATE WHERE SOME LETTERS ARE MISSING or
INDICATE OWNERSHIP.
And that’s it. It’s actually pretty simple, if you manage not to panic and just pay attention.
1) MISSING LETTERS (aka “Contractions”)
Now, what you need to remember is that the English are lazy speakers. We’d rather squash our words together than say each individual word. Thus “We would” becomes contracted down to “We’d”. And the apostrophe hangs in the air above the letters, pointing down at the space where all those other letters used to be. Here are some examples:
She + will = She’ll
And that’s it. It’s actually pretty simple, if you manage not to panic and just pay attention.
1) MISSING LETTERS (aka “Contractions”)
Now, what you need to remember is that the English are lazy speakers. We’d rather squash our words together than say each individual word. Thus “We would” becomes contracted down to “We’d”. And the apostrophe hangs in the air above the letters, pointing down at the space where all those other letters used to be. Here are some examples:
She + will = She’ll
I + would = I’d
We + have = we’ve
They would + have = They would’ve
They would + have = They would’ve
Does + not = doesn’t
Can + not = can’t
You know this stuff already, really. If you’re not sure, ask yourself whether the word you’re writing used to be two words. That should help you with spotting the difference between things that sound the same, but are actually quite different, like your and you’re, or there and they’re. Ask yourself whether the word is actually two words squashed together, needing an apostrophe in the middle.
2)INDICATING OWNERSHIP
This is a completely different job that the apostrophe also does in its spare time. It’s kind of a Bruce Wayne/Batman deal – yes, okay, it’s still the apostrophe, but now it’sput on a mask and a cape and some tights and gone out to fight crime busy sorting out who owns what. Because it’s just THAT awesome at multi-tasking. When it indicates ownership, it usually brings along the letter s as a sidekick (kind of like Robin is Batman's sidekick).
In various other languages, when you want to indicate that something belongs to someone else, you have to use quite a lot of words:
You know this stuff already, really. If you’re not sure, ask yourself whether the word you’re writing used to be two words. That should help you with spotting the difference between things that sound the same, but are actually quite different, like your and you’re, or there and they’re. Ask yourself whether the word is actually two words squashed together, needing an apostrophe in the middle.
2)INDICATING OWNERSHIP
This is a completely different job that the apostrophe also does in its spare time. It’s kind of a Bruce Wayne/Batman deal – yes, okay, it’s still the apostrophe, but now it’s
In various other languages, when you want to indicate that something belongs to someone else, you have to use quite a lot of words:
That is the rant of Miss Nichola.
But, see, the English haven’t the patience for all those words. Instead, we take the short cut of saying
That is Miss Nichola’s rant.
Because it’s quicker, and, basically, we’re lazy.
(This laziness is the key to understanding how the language changes over time. Well, that and the fact that we’ve been invaded by nearly everybody capable of picking up a sword, getting in a boat and crossing the channel to conquer us. Every time that happened, once the screaming and bleeding was over we had to learn their language, and so our own language is now a chaotic and flexible sort of word soup full of broken rules. Eventually we got wise to this, built our own boats, picked up our own swords and flags, and went off to impose our crazy mixed-up language on lots of other people. Such, alas, is the way of the world.)
So, anyway, if I’m talking about what my cat eats, I could say:
the food of my cat.
But it’s quicker to just slap an apostrophe and an s after the owner, and say:
my cat’s food.
Easy as that. Just put an apostrophe and then an s after the owner (or owners), and you don't have to do this whole "The something of the something" business.
So far so good? Okay. Here’s where it gets SLIGHTLY more complicated. But only slightly. Pay attention and keep your brain switched on and you should be fine, really.
Ready? Right…
INDICATING OWNERSHIP WHEN THERE IS MORE THAN ONE OWNER.
Right, this is where we get to that whole thing of putting an apostrophe after an s that is already there instead of adding an s and then an apostrophe.
It’s not as complicated as you think.
Promise.
So, suppose I have more than one cat. (God forbid.) Following the rule I’ve just given you above, we should logically be able to say:
That is the food of my cats
Or, to be quicker:
That is my cats’s food.
But we don’t bother with an s after the apostrophe this time, even though logically we should. Because, remember – we’re lazy. (Also, it makes you sound like you just swallowed a snake if you try saying CATS’S.) So instead of adding an apostrophe and an s after the word CATS (which already has a perfectly good S sitting right there at the end) we just add an apostrophe and leave it at that, making the word CATS’. Because it’s quicker. And that way we know that something belonged to some CATS, rather than to one CAT. So instead of "That is the food of my cats" we have:
That is my cats' food.
Read that through again, if you’re feeling a bit uncertain.
Remember: the apostrophe isn't flying over to the word just because it's spotted a letter s and wants a bit of a cuddle. The apostrophe is still busy doing its job of showing that something belongs to something else. If there's already a perfectly good letter s sitting there at the end of the word when the apostrophe flies in to do its job, there's no need to put another letter s there.
It’s actually not all that tricky – and that’s really the only tricky bit!
...
...
...
...OKAY, I LIED ABOUT THERE ONLY BEING ONE TRICKY BIT.
D:
No, no, don't run away! This next bit IS a bit annoying, but I know that you can handle it. I have faith in you!
So, to recap: The Humble Apostrophe is an unsung hero who slaves away at two thankless jobs: making sure that owners keep possession of things that are important to them ( Jack’s guitar, Pann’s brain, Miss Nichola’s patience etc etc), and ALSO making our lives easier by pointing to the places where letters have fallen out when two words are squashed together (wouldn’t, I’d, there’s, he’ll, we’ve etc etc).
Still with me?
Right. So, all of that is perfectly true, and if you remember it you’ll almost never go wrong.
...EXCEPT (and I don’t know which genius came up with this – I’m guessing one of those eighteenth or nineteenth century scholars back in the UK who decided to while away the long hours by imposing lots of whacky rules on the English language for the lulz. This is what happens when people don’t have television yet, or Facebook, or World of Warcraft) there is one exception to the rule…
It’s and Its
IT’S is always and only short for IT IS.
You can’t use IT'S for something belonging to IT.
For something belonging to IT, you say ITS instead, without the apostrophe.
Yes, it’s crazy. Yes, Captain Logic is not steering the bus on this one. And, really, I’m sorry – but that’s what we’re stuck with. Some old dead guy in a dusty wig decided to make this into a rule a couple of hundred years ago, and unfortunately it’s stuck. Just accept it and move on. It’s only quite a small rule, really. It’s easier than learning your 8 times table. I know it’s stupid, but we’re stuck with it. Sorry about that.
(If it helps, there are other stupid rules invented by those old dead guys in wigs that we can TOTALLY ignore, like “don’t split the infinitive” and “don’t end a sentence with a preposition”. These rules were made up by crazy people who were pretending English is Latin, and that it had to work the way Latin does, because Latin was seen as more high class. But English works perfectly well, and doesn’t need to pretend to be Latin, or borrow Latin rules, so I’m not going to ask you to learn those ones. Just the it’s/its rule. Go on. Please. It’s good for you. You’ll thank me one day, honestly. And if you don’t, I’ll mock you mercilessly.)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sweet Like Crabapples
Welcome to Miss Nichola's Year 8 Blog Spot!
The title of the blog is inspired by a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje (best known for his book 'The English Patient', which was made into a successful movie).
Here's the poem itself:
Sweet like a crow
for Hetti Corea, 8 years old
“The Sinhalese are beyond a doubt one of the least musical people in
the world. It would be quite impossible to have less sense of
pitch, line or rhythm." - Paul Bowles
Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed
through a glass tube
like someone has just trod on a peacock
like wind howling in a coconut
like a rusty bible, like someone pulling barbed wire
across a stone courtyard, like a pig drowning,
a vattacka being fried
a bone shaking hands
a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
Like a crow swimming in milk,
like a nose being hit by a mango
like the crowd at the Royal-Thomian match,
a womb full of twins, a pariah dog
with a magpie in its mouth
like the midnight jet from Casablanca
like Air Pakistan curry,
a typewriter on fire, like a hundred
pappadans being crunched, like someone
trying to light matches in a dark room,
the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head into the sea,
a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
like pineapples being sliced in the Pettah market
like betel juice hitting a butterfly in mid-air
like a whole village running naked onto the street
and tearing their sarongs, like an angry family
pushing a jeep out of the mud, like dirt on the needle,
like 8 sharks being carried on the back of a bicycle
like 3 old ladies locked in the lavatory
like the sound I heard when having an afternoon sleep
and someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets.
I really like this poem because of all the vivid images it contains. Some of them can be a little bit confusing,especially if you haven't been to Sri Lanka, but it still conveys a really clear sense of place through all the rich sensory details. I think it's a great response to Paul Bowles' dismissive words about the language and culture of the Sinhalese, because it brings the place to life and makes it sound wonderful - startling, and even ridiculous, but still wonderful. Something doesn't have to be pretty to be beloved, and we can find beauty and wonder in all kinds of unexpected places.
This week the Year 8 students are working on their own simile-based poems based on this simple repetive structure, trying to paint very vivid pictures of places they know well by using very precise and evocative language.
The poem that I wrote about my own home town, Barnsley, is called 'Sweet Like Crabapples'; a crabapple is a small, very sour fruit. When I was little, my mother used to pick the crabapples in the garden and make crabapple jelly to spread on our toast, which was lovely. It always reminds me of my childhood, and of my family, even though it might not be the most popular of fruits because it is wild and sour.
The title of the blog is inspired by a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje (best known for his book 'The English Patient', which was made into a successful movie).
Here's the poem itself:
Sweet like a crow
for Hetti Corea, 8 years old
“The Sinhalese are beyond a doubt one of the least musical people in
the world. It would be quite impossible to have less sense of
pitch, line or rhythm." - Paul Bowles
Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed
through a glass tube
like someone has just trod on a peacock
like wind howling in a coconut
like a rusty bible, like someone pulling barbed wire
across a stone courtyard, like a pig drowning,
a vattacka being fried
a bone shaking hands
a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
Like a crow swimming in milk,
like a nose being hit by a mango
like the crowd at the Royal-Thomian match,
a womb full of twins, a pariah dog
with a magpie in its mouth
like the midnight jet from Casablanca
like Air Pakistan curry,
a typewriter on fire, like a hundred
pappadans being crunched, like someone
trying to light matches in a dark room,
the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head into the sea,
a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
like pineapples being sliced in the Pettah market
like betel juice hitting a butterfly in mid-air
like a whole village running naked onto the street
and tearing their sarongs, like an angry family
pushing a jeep out of the mud, like dirt on the needle,
like 8 sharks being carried on the back of a bicycle
like 3 old ladies locked in the lavatory
like the sound I heard when having an afternoon sleep
and someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets.
I really like this poem because of all the vivid images it contains. Some of them can be a little bit confusing,especially if you haven't been to Sri Lanka, but it still conveys a really clear sense of place through all the rich sensory details. I think it's a great response to Paul Bowles' dismissive words about the language and culture of the Sinhalese, because it brings the place to life and makes it sound wonderful - startling, and even ridiculous, but still wonderful. Something doesn't have to be pretty to be beloved, and we can find beauty and wonder in all kinds of unexpected places.
This week the Year 8 students are working on their own simile-based poems based on this simple repetive structure, trying to paint very vivid pictures of places they know well by using very precise and evocative language.
The poem that I wrote about my own home town, Barnsley, is called 'Sweet Like Crabapples'; a crabapple is a small, very sour fruit. When I was little, my mother used to pick the crabapples in the garden and make crabapple jelly to spread on our toast, which was lovely. It always reminds me of my childhood, and of my family, even though it might not be the most popular of fruits because it is wild and sour.
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