Homework

As I told you in Monday's lesson, to do this week's homework you need to find out the meaning of the word HUBRIS. (It is used a lot when talking about Greek tragedy.)

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is subtitled "The Modern Prometheus"; last week we talked about the Greek myth of Prometheus.

Your homework is to write two paragraphs, one explaining why the story of Frankenstein is like the story of Prometheus, and the other to explain how Frankenstein's story is an example of hubris.

Homework: Reading comprehension

Re-read the following chapter and answer the questions that follow:

CHAPTER ONE

Captain Robert Walton Meets Victor Frankenstein

The Arctic wind chilled me to the bone as I stood on deck looking out at the frozen land around me. I was in the North Pole. My lifelong dream to come here was now a reality. But at what cost to me and my men? Our ship was trapped on ice, and we did not know if we would live or die.

I felt foolish. The entire trip had gone terribly wrong. My need to see a part of the world untouched by human bengs had turned my trip into a complete disaster. We had ended up so far north because of my own actions. I should have taken the first chance to turn around,b ut I refused and stubbornly drove on. I didn't care how unhappy it made my crew. My spirit was broken, but I was determined not to quit. 

Time passed very slowly. Most days I wished I had a good friend to keep me company. I wanted someone I could talk to during the long, cold nights. I missed having friends more than anything else in the world. Yes, I had a crew of great men on board my ship, but they took orders from me. They were not my friends.

By the next morning, the situation had gotten worse. The ship was completely surrounded by ice. We could do nothing but wait. By mid-afternoon, the fog cleared from the sky and we were able to see more. White snow and ice stretched out from the ship in every direction. 

One of the men pointed out a strange sight in the distance. We watched as a sled being pulled by a large man headed even farther north. The whole crew watched until the man and his sled disappeared on the ice. We turned to one another and asked, "Who was that? What was that?" As far as we knew, there were no people in this part of the world.

The next morning I came on deck to find my sailors talking to someone over the side of the ship. I leaned over the side and saw a man floating on a piece of ice! All around him were pieces of a broken sled. The ice must have drifted toward us in the night. My men tried to convince him to board our ship so he wouldn't drown. 

Something told me that this was not the same man we had seen yesterday. That creature had looked wild and savage, not entirely human. This man was European and he spoke with a thick accent.

"My name is Victor Frankenstein," he shouted up. "Before I come on board, can you please tell me where you are going?"

"I am Captain Robert Walton," I answered. "This is my ship, and we are on a voyage to the North Pole." Frankenstein was wrapped in many layers of fur, but he still looked cold. "You must come on board. You will freeze out there."

The man nodded. A couple of my sailors threw down some rope and helped him climb on board.

* * * 

Frankenstein was almost frozen and in a terrible state! He was pale and thin, and it was clear that he  needed a good, warm meal. I could tell that he had been through a hard time. Even before we could get him into a warm cabin, he fainted. We wrapped him up in warm blankets and made him drink a cup of hot tea. He got better slowly and then ate some soup.

When he started to look and feel better, I moved him into my cabin. For some reason, I wanted to help him as much as I could. He tossed and turned in his sleep that first night. There was a great sadness in his eyes, as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

What a surprise to find a man in the middle of the cold Arctic seas! The sailors wanted to ask him a million questions, but Frankenstein was still sick and I didn't want them to bother him too much. One night after dinner, my first mate, Hardy, came to visit.

"Why did you come so far on such a small sled?" he asked.

Frankenstein stopped smiling and a dark look came into his eyes. "I was chasing someone who ran away from me."

Hardy paused and then said, "Was he travelling on the same kind of sled?"

Frankenstein looked straight at him. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"I think we saw him. We saw a man pulling the same kind of sled across the ice."

"It must be the monster!" Frankenstein yelled. "Which way did he go? Did you see if he made it across the ice? How fast was he going?"

"To the north, but that's all we could see," Hardy answered.

A pale Frankenstein lay back down on the bed.

"That's enough for now!" I said. "He needs his rest. I'll see you in the morning, Hardy." Hardy nodded politely and took his leave.

Frankenstein put his head down on the pillow and said softly, "You must want to know how I got here and what I'm doing. You are polite not to ask."

"You need to get your strength back," I said. "That's far more important than answering any questions that I may have."

Frankenstein smiled gently at me. "But you saved my life. I am in your debt."

"None of that is important now. You need to rest."

After a quiet moment, Frankenstein asked, "Do you think the ice broke up enough to destroy the other sled? Do you think it is forever lost?"

I told him that it was hard to know for sure because the ice was still solid. Frankenstein fell back into deep thought. "I should like to go back on deck," he said. "I need to watch for that sled."

"No," I said strongly. "You are far too weak. The air is far too cold. I'll get one of mymen to watch out for the sled."

"Thank you, Robert." He smiled. "That is so kind."

The next few days passed without event. Frankenstein's health got better, but he was still weak and spent a lot of time thinking. Despite his sadness, Frankenstein and I talked until late most nights. He became the very friend I so wanted to have on this unlucky journey. All I wanted to do was help him in any way I could. Frankenstein was gentle, wise, and smart. The more I got to know him, the harder it was for me to watch him suffer. 

We spoke one night about my Arctic voyage. I told him the whole story and then, for some reason, I grew upset. 

I said harshly, "I worry that you think me silly, Frankenstein, for spending all of my money and for pushing my men so hard to get here. I don't know why it is so important to find lands no man has ever seen before. Something inside of me pushes me forward, and I fear nothing will stop me until I have succeeded. I hope you can understand and not think less of me."

Frankenstein's eyes filled with tears when he heard the passion in my voice. He cried out, "Unhappy man! Robert, you must listen carefully to my story. You must know the danger of such strong wishes!"

I was surprised by his outburst. "What story? Frankenstein, what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "Please forgive me for speaking so sharply. Let's talk about something else, shall we?"

At his wish, I changed the subject. We talked about my childhood and my sister in England, and then we went to sleep.

Frankenstein apologised again the next morning. "Robert, I didn't mean to yell. You see, I have lost everything that I loved in this world, including my wife and a dear friend. I want to tell you the whole story. I think it may help you find your own way."

1) Who is Robert Walton and why is he at sea?
2) Describe Robert Walton's personality, using quotations from the text.
3) How does Robert feel at the start of this chapter? (Include quotations from the text to prove your point.)
4) How does Robert feel about Frankenstein? (Include quotations from the text to prove your point.)
5) Frankenstein does not immediately jump onto Robert's ship, even though he is stranded all alone on a lump of melting ice in the middle of the sea. Why do you think he hesitates? (It may help to think hard about the question he asks Robert before he gets onto the ship. You will have to make a sensible guess from reading the text, like a detective - the text does not give you the answer directly.) 
6) How does Robert feel after Frankenstein comes to live on the ship? (Include quotations.)
7) Why does Robert get upset at the end of the chapter? (Include quotations)
8) Why do you think Frankenstein's eyes fill with tears?
9) Do you think this is a good beginning to a story? If so, why? If not, why not? 
10) Does it make you want to read on and find out what happened to Frankenstein?

Homework

Khush - your homework is to learn all your lines for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Nidhi, Rose, Vishwa, you guys can also concentrate on your lines this week instead of writing something; you're doing very well, but the more you go over them the more confident you'll be.

Everyone else - we've been working on spooky stories, so here is a suitably spooky song!

THRILLER
by Michael Jackson

It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike
You know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

You hear the door slam and realize 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, girl!
But all the while you hear the creature creeping up behind
You're out of time

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl
Thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

Night creatures calling, the dead start to walk in their masqueradeThere's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time
(They're open wide)
This is the end of your life

They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side
They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah
All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen
I'll make you see

That this is thriller, thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try
Thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a
Killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try
Thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow!

(I'm gonna thrill ya tonight)
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight 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 hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell!

The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller

For each red word, please write the definition and use it correctly in a sentence.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/sOnqjkJTMaA

Housepoint-winning opportunity for anyone who can learn and perform the full Thriller routine.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hhbYxXg7p-A
http://www.youtube.com/embed/X6EDAZ3crdY

Homework

This week's homework is READING. Or at least, writing about something you have read.

As you know, it's your mission to read something fabulous every night.

This week, I want you to write a letter, or a diary entry, pretending to be one of the characters from your favourite novel.

You need to write in character, using the kind of speech patterns that they would use. (Like when we wrote letters pretending to be the main character in 'Two Weeks With The Queen'.) It would be a good idea if you could make the diary entry be about something very exciting that has happened in the story.

As usual, I'm looking for the 6 (+1) traits of good writing in your finished pieces and they should be at least 400 words long

Homework

This week's homework is to create art for the spooky story you're working on (including title, obviously) and a carefully written back-cover blurb to go with it.

You've already created a picture of your main character (or protagonist). But you need to create (on A4 paper):

- Front cover art (must be coloured);
- Back cover art (including the blurb);
- illustrations of at least 3 key points in the story (can be coloured or black'n'white, whichever you prefer).

You can create it by hand or using the computer (THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU COPY'N'PASTE SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK OR JUST SLAP ANY OLD PHOTO IN) or a combination of the two.

When you've finished editing and rewriting the stories in class, you'll be typing them up and we'll put them together as books. This is going to be the artwork for your book.

Homework COMPETITION

The Media Action Team are running a competition for students to submit articles for a school newspaper, which will be published at the end of this Term. This week's homework is to write an article of your choosing to be submitted to the school newspaper (only the very best articles submitted will go in the finished newspaper, but every article submitted will win housepoints).

Your article should be between 100 and 500 words long.

It can be:

1) A report about something that has happened during this year (either something exciting and important at school or outside of school);

2) Your opinion/viewpoint about something that affects young people today;

3) An in-depth feature on a topical world event, such as the Olympic Games;

4) A review of something (book, movie, album, TV show, restaurant, fashion etc).


We spent a lot of time back in Term 2 working on writing newspaper articles - you interviewed people, you wrote reviews, you wrote about subjects you found interesting. Try to remember the style of writing that you used then. (If you want to check your newspaper articles in Student Share you can always open them again and remind yourself of what we did. Alternatively, pick up a newspaper or magazine and look through it to remind yourself of the right way to write this kind of article.)

Next week we shall be using our 6 (+1) writing traits to edit and improve your pieces of work before submitting them to the School Newspaper Competition.

Homework!

This week's homework task is to carry on writing a story from this beginning. Please DO COPY THIS BIT for the start of your story, and then carry on with it from there.

Use your imagination - it can be any kind of story you want, but we're looking for interesting storytelling (IDEAS), vivid descriptive language (WORD CHOICE) and correct use of spelling, punctuation, grammar etc (CONVENTIONS). It can also be just a first chapter of a longer story - doesn't have to be a whole story with a beginning, middle and end. The Learning Objective is more about the quality of the writing (word choice and conventions etc) than about the structure of the story.

I'm expecting at least one page of writing by Friday (if you use 12 point font and normal spacing.)

*******************************************************

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Steve. He looked out at the building and then down at the battered old map.

"GPS doesn't lie, buddy," Tony said. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, his expression impatient. "Embrace modern technology, my friend. Paper maps are so last century."

Steve frowned. "I remember it looking different," he said, looking up at the dark facade. He couldn't quite make out the stone gargoyles that glowered down from the roof, but it was possible that they were still up there, caked with powdery snow.

"Yeah, but how long ago was that?" said Tony, rolling his eyes.

Steve sighed. "A long time ago," he admitted.

"That's what I'm talking about. Lots of things have changed, sure - but this is the address you gave me."

Steve unfastened his seat belt and took a deep breath. A few moments later they had both stepped out of Tony's shiny new car and were standing on the snow-covered sidewalk, looking up at the building. The windows were dark, all but one high up on the seventh floor which glowed with a yellow light.

"You sure about this?" Tony said, watching Steve. "You look kind of nervous."

Steve stood up straighter and squared his shoulders. "I'm fine," he said, without looking back at Tony. "No point in waiting. Let's do this thing."

Homework

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!

As you know, this week we've started looking at the 6 (+1) Traits model of reading and writing. We're going to be using this model as a way of thinking about our own writing and about other people's writing, dividing writing into the six traits of
IDEAS, ORGANISATION, VOICE, WORD CHOICE, SENTENCE FLUENCY, CONVENTIONS
and the additional trait of
PRESENTATION.

For homework this week, I'd like you to think about CONVENTIONS. (I'm sure you remember, this means things like spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, capitalization and paragraphs.)

Read the following piece of writing, and fix any errors you see with spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, paragraphs etc. (It's up to you how you do this; if it were me, though, I'd copy and paste this into a Word document and then make the changes that way, rather than typing it all out again by hand.)

i dont now what made me wake up but i think it might have been a noise like a bang or something anyway one minute i was dreaming and the next minute i was lying there stairing up at the ceiling wondering what had happened then the next thing i knew my dad burst threw the door of my bedroom Dean Dean he yelled You have to Get Up Now There Is A Fire AND SO I JUMPED OUT OF BED I was panicing a bite because i could smell smoke and i new that IT WAS not Ajoke. My heart was beeting so lowd and i felt like mabey I was going to through up or something because i could tell that this was real. it wasn't exciting like on tv it was just scary and i felt very small and unsafe even thow i was at home in my room witch is where i normally feel safe and strong. i was really scared but the first thing i thought about was my baby brother Sammy. Sammy is real small and he cant do anything properly yet not even walk or talk or anything he mostly just lies there gurgling and looking cute and filling his nappy with stinks he is a bit annoying really because he's too little to do fun stuff and when he starts screaming i just want to scream right back at him. but all that didn't matter any more all that mattered was keeping him safe. I ran out into the corridor after dad and dad looked at me with his face all serious and he said Dean take your baby brother outside you have to keep him safe. I took Sammy in my arms and he was squirming around and making cross noises but i didn't care that he was heavy or that he smelled like he needed his nappy changing i felt so important and grown up right then because i knew that it was up to me to keep sam safe and dad was trusting me with this like I was a grownup. I was nearly eight but right then i felt like a grown man and i knew that i would never let anything hurt my little brother. i carried Sam outside it was dark and the night air was chilly but it was full of the smell of burning wood our home was burning. i stood there on the lawn in front of our house and I looked up at it and wondered where dad was. I hadn't seen Mom at all yet. I wondered if she was stuck somewhere maybe and Dad had to bust in and save her. It was lonely out there on the lawn and Sammy started to cry but I jogged him up and down in my arms real gently and sang him a lullaby. I didn't remember all the right words but it didn't seem to matter too much and he quieted down again as I sang to him.

Homework

This week's homework is due in on THURSDAY, the last day of term. As I told you on Friday, your job is to finish reading 'Two Weeks With The Queen' and write a summary of each chapter. (That means a different summary for each and every remaining chapter, AK!)

Over the holiday, remember you should still be reading books in English, and you also have the following homework task to last you over the Songkran holidays:

Write a story of between 1,000 and 2000 words on the theme of 'Transformation', or 'Change'. It is due to be handed in on the first day back at school after the holidays.

It can be any genre or mixture of genres (fantasy, horror, detective, thriller, sci-fi, comedy etc) but you need to make it as good as it can be. That means you shouldn't hand in your first draft - you should write the story, then go back and check it for mistakes and edit it to make it as good as possible. (Paragraph breaks, correct punctuation, speech marks, interesting connectives and adjectives, clear and memorable descriptive writing etc etc etc.)

You might write a true story about how you changed schools, or you might write a fictional story about a kid being bitten by a werewolf and the first time she transforms into a wolf, or you might write a story about a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, or about a librarian becoming a pirate, or about an alien disguising themselves as a human, or somebody falling in love, or falling out of love, or about growing up, or about divorce, or about pretty much anything that tickles your fancy so long as it's some kind of change.

Think about who your audience is (are you writing for people your own age or for people younger than you? You choose); think about whether you have a good beginning, middle and end; think about whether your reader will be excited; think about whether your reader will care about the characters, and how you can MAKE them care. Think about whether your reader will feel like they can see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel what the characters do.

If you're wondering how to push your writing from being good to being EXCELLENT, start thinking about mixing up the length of your sentences. Read this paragraph out loud and you'll get an idea of what I mean:

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

(by Gary Provost, “The Writer’s Writer”)

Homework

Good morning! This week the homework is to read Chapter Eleven and Chapter Twelve of 'Two Weeks With The Queen.'

After you've read each chapter, can you please write a short paragraph summarising what happened in that chapter?

Why does Colin let the air out of all the tyres of the cars in the carpark?
How does Ted help him then?

Homework

Good afternoon!

This week's homework is to read Chapter Nine and Chapter Ten of 'Two Weeks With The Queen' and answer the following questions:

1) Why does Colin call the Royale Fish Bar in Peckham? (Why does he pick them instead of The Houses of Parliament or a newspaper or any of his other ideas?)

2) What does Colin do with the knife on page 73?

3) On Page 74, it says: "People come in here, their relatives have already started squabbling over their furniture." What does that mean?

4) How does Colin recognise "The Best Doctor In The World"?

5) Do you think that he really IS the best doctor in the world?

6) Describe Ted.

7) On page 81, and again on page 82, it says that Colin "felt like booting himself in the bum." Why is he cross with himself?

8) Why does Ted buy thirty chocolate frogs?

9) On page 85 it says "he remembered that mums sometimes cried when they were happy." Do you think Colin's mum is crying because she is happy?

10) When Colin hears that the air-force officer is in the Queen's squadron, he runs over to give him a message for the Queen. Do you think that the officer knows what Colin is talking about? Do you think he will give the message to the Queen?

Homework

As you know, this week's homework is to continue with 'Two Weeks With The Queen', this time reading Chapters 6,7 and 8.

1) Describe the character (and, if possible, the appearance) of Colin's aunt, uncle and cousin, using quotations from the text.

2) How does Uncle Bob feel about the Royal Family?

3) Why do they all go to the hospital (page 49)?

4) How does Auntie Iris treat her son Alistair? (Remember to PEE - provide evidence with quotations)

5) Why doesn't the guard at Buckingham Palace help him, or even speak to him? (You may need to research Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace to find out about the traditions.)

6) How does Colin try to contact the Queen? (He tries more than one way.)

7) Why do Colin's aunt and uncle "chuck a mental" at him? (What do you think "chuck a mental" means, from the context?)

As I said in the lesson, this week's homework is:
1) Read Chapters 4 and 5 of 'Two Weeks With The Queen';
2) Answer the following questions.



1) Why do Colin's parents want him to go and stay with his Aunt and Uncle?
2) Do you think this is a good idea? Why?
3) Does Colin think this is a good idea? Why?
4) What is really wrong with Luke?
5) Page 39: "Adults aren't allowed to cry when they fall off a bike or hit their thumb with a hammer, but they can howl like five year olds when they've a duty free bag in their hands." What is Colin talking about?
6) What is Colin's great plan for making Luke well again?
7) On page 43, why do you think there is a long silence after Colin explains what he plans to do in London?


There's also an optional task for Year 7: Create a careful front cover design for your a book you have read (remember the title of the book and the author's name!) and hand it in on Friday. Everyone who hands in a piece of artwork on Friday will get a chocolatey prize for their hard work in honour of World Book Day!

Homework

Good afternoon, my lovelies!

This week's homework is to read the first three chapters of 'Two Weeks With The Queen' and answer the following questions to hand in by Friday:

1) Write a paragraph describing Colin's personality, using quotations from the text to support your statements. (eg "I know Colin is very ........ because on page 5 it says "........").
2) What time of the year is it at the beginning of the story? How do you know?
3) What country is Colin in? How do you know?
4) What did Colin get for Christmas?
5) What did he WANT to get?
6) Why didn't his parents get him what he wanted?
7) What did Luke get for Christmas?
8) How does Colin feel about Luke? How do you know?
9) What surprising thing happens to Luke in Chapter One?
10) Why does Colin walk across town to visit the doctor?
11) Why does the Matron in the hospital shout at the two nurses? (page 25).

Homework!

This week's homework is to write a REVIEW.

You can choose whether you are writing a review of a movie, a book, a game, a theatrical performance, or an album. (You may even have some other ideas - if so, ask me and I'll tell you if that's okay.)

WHAT NOT TO DO: Please don't just write a summary. If you just write a summary of the plot, you are writing a bad review.

HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW WELL:
You need to tell us the title.
You need to tell us who wrote the book (or, if it's a movie, who's the director and who the main actors are).
You need to tell us the genre, and compare it to other examples of the genre - if it's a superhero movie, is it better than X Men or Thor? If so, why? If not, why?
You need to think about who the audience is supposed to be, and whether this movie is suitable for that audience. (For a game or a movie, this includes telling us whether it's PG, 13 etc etc and why.)
You need to give us some background - that means doing some research, so that YOU know about who the writer/director is and what else they have done before.
You need to think about what works well, and what doesn't work.
You need to tell us a bit about the main characters (and, if it's a movie, the way that the actors perform their characters - do you think they are well cast? If so, why? If not, why?).
You need to tell us a bit about the main relationships in the movie/book/game.
If it's a game, you need to tell us what makes it an exciting and successful game, and what weaknesses it has.

I've talked about this before; if you follow this link, you'll find examples of good book reports:

http://sweetlikecrabapples.blogspot.com/2011/09/homework-book-report.html

If you want to read some good examples of movie reviews, try Rotten Tomatoes, which will give links to many different reviews of each movie:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chronicle/

(To read the FULL reviews, you have to click on 'Full Review'. The teaser for the first of the reviews on the 'Chronicle' page only says: "Chronicle is the kind of movie that makes one excited about the future prospects of the man at the helm" but when you click on 'Full Review' it takes you to the actual review, which is much longer:)

http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=2417

Homework!

Last week we read about the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius erupted. You summarised the information in that article, and then you also took notes when I read you Pliny's first hand account of his uncle's death.

This week's homework is to write a vivid and detailed account of the destruction of Pompeii, writing in the first person ("I saw", not "he saw") and in the past tense. Imagine you were one of the people in the city of Pompeii and you managed to escape, and you are writing a letter to a friend telling them about your terrible experience.

Remember to include good punctuation and to check your grammar and spellings, and be sure to include lots of sensory details - what you SAW, HEARD, SMELLED, FELT (physically and emotionally) and even how things TASTED.

Homework

Good job today with the comprehension exercise on the Pompeii article!

This week's homework is to write a non-fiction report to go into your own newspaper. You can write a report on any topic that you like! Think of something you find interesting and exciting and do some research this week so that you can write a great, informative article full of interesting facts. You might choose to write about pirates, or NASA, or dinosaurs, or pollution, or steampunk, or the invention of the iPod - anything that tickles your fancy, basically.

What is important to me is that you research your article carefully and that you show me you can write clear, interesting and grammatically correct sentences appropriate to your audience. So long as you're doing that, you can pick any subject you like.

When you type it up onto your MS Publisher document in class, you'll want to include photographs and subheadings, and you may like to include text boxes with fun facts or other appropriate details. But for now, just concentrate on getting a good first draft together with clear sentence structure and accurate, interesting information.

(You may choose to write it by hand in your exercise book or on paper, or you may prefer to type it up and bring it in on a thumb drive. I don't mind. The final article will be typed up into your newspaper here at school, though.)

Homework

This week's homework is to write a report on the Chinese New Year celebrations that took place at St Andrews 107 last Friday.

You'll be wanting to write in the past tense.

Please include details about what was going on, what kind of stalls were there etc etc and include some information about what Chinese New Year is about.

As you know, this half term we are concentrating on non-fiction text types, and each student is making their own newspaper containing a variety of articles. You have already begun writing an interview and later we will include a book or movie review, but this week we are all concentrating on writing a report.

Homework!

Hello lovely people!

This week's homework, as I told you in the lesson on Monday, is to find a non-fiction article in a newspaper or magazine, stick it into your book and then you need to write

1) The source of the article (where you found it).
2) The writer.
3) A summary of the article.
4) At least 5 new words WITH THEIR MEANINGS.

This is the same as the exercise we did last term, so if you're not sure, check back in your book.

THEN you need to prepare to present this article to the rest of the class. You aren't just going to read out what you've written on the page - you need to have learned and understood what the article is about, and you might need to do a bit more research on the internet to help you understand the subject better. You will be standing up in front of the class next week and telling them confidently about the article.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to school, folks! It's lovely to see you all again!

This week's homework (due, as always, on Friday) is to help revise the Parts of Speech, using a non fiction text like some of the ones we looked at today. This one is a news article.

STEP ONE:

Read this article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16265519

(There is a video you can watch too at the top of the article, which is pretty interesting, but you don't have to watch it if you don't want.)

STEP TWO:

Make a list of all the nouns you can find in the article.

STEP THREE:

Make a list of all the verbs you can find in the article.

STEP FOUR:

Make a list of all the adjectives you can find in the article.

STEP FIVE:

Make up ten new sentences, using as many of these words as you can manage to include.

STEP SIX:

Hand in your work on Friday.