Tuesday 11 June 2013
Moral Panics
Friday 26 March 2010
Close-Reading Punctuation questions
http://www.box.net/shared/bn3ge6tiv9
Learn what these common punctuation marks are used for and punctuation questions will be no problem at all.
Want to be e-mailed/texted your exam results early?
https://www.mysqa.org.uk/cs8/content/secure/my_homepage.jsp
This way you can celebrate even earlier...or it will give you time to come up with a good excuse to give your parents for your bad results when the actual exam certificate arrives! Here are some suggestions for excuses:
- During the exam a mutated seagull pecked its way through the exam-hall ceiling and shredded my exam paper.
- Immediately before my exam I was hypnotised by a disgruntled dwarf angry at the injustice of being short in a world full of tall-people.
- Moo?
- The questions were too easy so I rewrote them and the examiners must have been jealous of my intelligence.
- Some unknown villain swapped my pen for one filled with invisible ink.
Alternatively you could tell them the truth and admit that you just didn't revise enough!
Past Papers
http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/findpastpaper.htm?message=blank
Here you can find past papers for all of your subjects, not just English!
Close Reading Skills 2 - Writer's Technique continued
Simile
Simile is the technique used when you compare two things by saying that one is like the other. Examples: as brave as a lion, fat like a walrus, you are as dumb as a doorpost...
As with the previous writer's techniques in order to gain full marks in the credit exam you must not only name the technique but also say why it is effective. The easiest way of doing this is to use the (Just as…. is ….. so too is ……….) system. So 'bent double like old beggars' you would say this is a simile. just as an old beggar is hunched over so too are the soldiers. This gives us an image of the physical condition of the soldiers and shows us that the rigours of war have aged them.
The easiest way to find out if the technique is simile is to look out for AS or LIKE.
Metaphor
Metaphors are similar to similes but whereas a simile is coimparing something to something else by saying it's like the other thing a metaphor describes something by saying it IS the other thing.
A good way of explaining this is to look at some classic 80's cartoons!
In Bravestarr the main character is decribed as having: "eyes of a hawk, ears of a wolf, strength of a bear, speed of a puma". This is a metaphor as it is saying that his eyes are those of a hawk, they're not like a hawk's.
In Thundercats the metaphor is more visual - liono is a lion of a man, he's not like a lion he actually IS a lion.
BTW Thundercats rocks!
Close Reading Skill 1 - Writer's Technique/Figurative Language
As with alliteration in order to get full marks you may have to explain why the onomatopoeiac word has been used - generally this will have something to do with the atmosphere of the text. If the onomtopoeiac word is a LOUD noise then it may indicate a scray/frightening/angry atmosphere wheras in contrast a quiet noise may indicate a hushed/eerie/sad atmosphere.
Thursday 25 March 2010
Close Reading Paper
It means reading the text closely in order to fully:
Understand what the passage is about.
Analyse how the passage is written.
Evaluate what you think of the passage and how it is written.
You will sit two 50 minute papers - Foundation & General OR General & Credit.
You will be given a short extract of text to read (2 A4 sides long) and then asked 25 questions on this extract - each question being worth 2 marks.
To help you the SQA will have told you in bold lettering before the question which paragraphs you will find the answer in. So the sensible thing to do is read the passage as a whole once and then reread the paragraphs that are relevant to the question you are answering. The SQA isn't trying to trick you - you will find the answer in the paragraphs that they say you will find it in.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
The basics of tackling your reading exam...
One of the best methods of revising for your exam is to read good literature (so chuck the Stephen King in the bin - a good storyteller does not a good writer make!). It is also vitally important to read the questions in the exam paper - and when I say read I mean READ, not skim or glance at, or peruse, or "get the gist of" but READ fully, completely, 100%.
Do not fear reading - if you read your brain will not explode (trust me). In fact, if you read enough, then maybe someday you will know as many random pieces of information as me...
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Standard Grade Revision
"You can't revise for English exams!"
WRONG! You can revise for English exams. As with anything in life "Proper preparation prevents poor performance".
Unless you're in the habit of creating Standard Grade level exam papers in your spare-time then you need to revise to make sure you're 100% certain on the types of questions that you can be asked and the ways in which you should answer these questions.
Below you will find links to some websites that will help you prepare for your exams:
http://www.mediamatters.co.uk/SouthLanEnglish/
http://www.kilmarnockacademy.co.uk/pupilenglish1of10.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/standard/english/
I'll be going over some of the information in class as well as going over some example questions with you - so pay attention! Another easy way of improving your close-reading and writing skills is to READ books at home.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Twilight Essay
Car-Park Scene: Hardwicke uses a close-up reaction shot of Bella's face. What does this shot show? What does Bella's reaction to Edward tell us about him? I she surprised/shocked at Edward's speed and strength? Does this possibly hint that he may be hiding something?
Car scene: Hardwicke uses a sound effect in this scene when Bella reaches to turn off the car heating and accidently touches Edward's hand. Is this sound effect diagetic (created by something in the shot) or non-diegetic (added in editing for the audience's benefit)? What is the purpose in this sound effect? Does it tell us something about what Bella is feeling when she realise Edward's hands are ice-cold? Does this hint that Edward has a secret/is hiding something?
Computer scene: Flashbacks are used in this scene when Bella is researching "The Cold Ones". Whenever Bella sees a keyword such as 'speed' she remembers an event she has witnessed with Edward in which he exhibited this trait. The technique Hardwicke uses here is known as subjective flashbacks. What do these flashbacks reveal about Edward?
Meadow scene: Lighting. Prior to this scene the whole film is bathed in a blue light - like a blue filter has been placed over the camera lens - but in the meadow scene, once Edward has finally admitted his secret to Bella, this blue light is absent. What atmosphere does the blue light create in the film? Does it give the impression of something being hidden? Does the fact that the story is told from Bella's perspective show that something is being hidden from Bella?
The sudden lifting of this blue light in the meadow scene is symbolic of the veil being lifted from Bella's eyes - she finally knows Edward's secret and his true vampiric nature is no longer hidden.
Now you tell me how Hardwicke makes use of special effects in the scene immediately before the meadow scene to reveal that Edward is a vampire.
Wednesday 10 March 2010
Twilight Essay
"In the film 'Twilight' directed by Catherine Hardwicke, one of the main characters has a secret. Explain what this secret is and show how this secret is revealed throughout the film. You should refer to media techniques such as: key scene, camera shots, flashback, lighting, sound, etc."
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Prejudice in Scotland
"Literally means to ' pre-judge '. That is to form an opinion before knowing the facts of a situation.Ignorance is a factor in causing prejudice. Prejudice, like the word 'bias' can be either negative or positive. It is possible to be prejudiced in favour of someone or prejudiced against someone".
To help you research for your essays and speeches I've found some sites that might provide you with some useful information (F and S in AFOREST possibly...):
General Prejudice in Scotland
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/newsandcomment/Pages/Noplaceforprejudice.aspx
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/09/18318/27582
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7138538.stm
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/205750/0054713.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3151062.stm
Homophobia
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/19133153/3
Travellers
http://www.journalonline.co.uk/Extras/1005097.aspx
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice/advice_topics/finding_a_place_to_live/gypsiestravellers/about_gypsiestravellers
http://www.comelookatus.org/
http://www.time-travellers.org.uk/
http://www.gypsy-traveller.org/cyberpilots/Projects/scotland_newspaper.htm
http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3B481DEC-2D81-4EB3-90C9-83B58177E90C/0/Item6VAL408.pdf
http://www.scottishtravellered.net/
http://www.scolag.org/journal/articles/2008_SCOLAG_66-67.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6427391.stm
Anti-Polish
http://news.scotsman.com/tacklingracisminscotland/Rise-in-race-crimes-linked.3299508.jp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7316261.stm
Monday 9 November 2009
Churchill and "A Few Good Men"
We continued to look at some of the all-time great speeches - Independence Day "Good morning..." and Colonel Jessep's "You can't handle the truth!". You've learnt about some effective oratorical techniques and you've seen them in practice - now it's time to think about putting these techniques into practice when we write persuasive pieces.
Friday 6 November 2009
MLK - questions...
It helps us (the reader) create a picture of what is being written/talked about in our minds.
So - for example - the metaphor filled line:
"One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination"
This evokes an image in the audience's mind of a black-man chained up, of the black-man as a slave. From this use of metaphor MLK vividly shows us the lot of the black-man in 1960s America. Although they are technically free-men, in reality they are still treated as slaves shackled not with chains and manacles of iron but by means of segregation (Jim Crow laws) and discrimination. They may not be physically chained anymore, but the white-man's laws and racist attitude towards the Negro population ensure that they are still not granted the privileges of the free-man.
Next lesson we will finish off the questions and then get started on understanding the purpose of speeches and persuasive writing before moving on to look at some specific rhetorical techniques used by speech writers.