Sun Vampires - English Lang Qs 1, 2 and 4

Hi,

Here are the results of a recent Additional English lesson looking at the Sun Vampires article.

The task was to show how the text could be used for the following questions in Section A of the English Language paper:

1) Understanding
2) Presentation
4) Language

The text was not suitable for Q3 (inference).

Question 1: Understanding

Question 2: Presentation

Question 4: Comparing language

Good work, girls.


Mr M

'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning - Context and Final Thoughts

Hi,

Lucrezia de' Medici, generally believed to be My Last Duchess

In this post, I'm going to go over a bit of historical context, recap the story of the poem, and discuss the ending, which was rushed at the end of last lesson.

Context:

The speaker is most likely Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara (1533–1598), who, at the age of 25, married Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici, the 14-year-old daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo.
 
Lucrezia was not well educated, and the Medicis could be considered "nouveau riche" in comparison to the venerable and distinguished Este family (the Duke's remark regarding his gift of a "nine-hundred-years-old name" clearly indicates that he considered his bride beneath him socially). 

She came with a sizeable dowry, and the couple married in 1558. He then abandoned her for two years before she died on 21 April 1561, at age 17. There was a strong suspicion of poisoning.The Duke then sought the hand of Barbara, eighth daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary and the sister of the Count of Tyrol, Ferdinand II. The count was in charge of arranging the marriage; the chief of his entourage, Nikolaus Madruz, a native of Innsbruck, was his courier. Madruz is presumably the silent listener in the poem. The other characters named in the poem, painter Frà Pandolf and sculptor Claus of Innsbruck, are fictional.

The poem

The poem is set during the late Italian Renaissance. The speaker (presumably the Duke of Ferrara) is giving the emissary of the family of his prospective new wife (presumably a third or fourth since Browning could have easily written 'second' but did not do so) a tour of the artworks in his home. He draws a curtain to reveal a painting of a woman, explaining that it is a portrait of his late wife; he invites his guest to sit and look at the painting. As they look at the portrait of the late Duchess, the Duke describes her happy, cheerful and flirtatious nature, which had displeased him. He says, "She had a heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad..." He goes on to say that his complaint of her was that "'twas not her husband's presence only" that made her happy. 

Eventually, "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together." He now keeps her painting hidden behind a curtain that only he is allowed to draw back, meaning that now she only smiles for him - just as we wanted it. The Duke then resumes an earlier conversation regarding wedding arrangements, and in passing points out another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse. Throughout the whole poem you get the sense that the Duke owns his wife.

In an interview, Browning said, "I meant that the commands were that she should be put to death . . . Or he might have had her shut up in a convent."

Structure - the importance of the ending


In terms of structure, the ending of the poem is vital because we don't realise the true purpose of this meeting until the end. It completely changes the tone and meaning of the entire poem from casual conversation into pointed warning. The words 'looking as if she were alive' at the start now seem like cruel mockery. Here are my notes on the ending:

We learn that the whole conversation about the painting is planned. The Duke is sending a message to the Count's daughter to not make the same mistakes as the last duchess.

It is obvious from this ending that they had previously been discussing the 'object' of this meeting (the daughter) and, perhaps more importantly, the dowry. His point about the dowry here is basically this: Everyone knows the count is rich and generous, so I know you won't mess me about over the large dowry I'll be demanding.

Is the dowry the real 'object' of his desires?

The final image is hugely significant. He killed his wife because he couldn't tame her. He likes to think of himself as having the power of Neptune in the statue.
    
This is a very famous poem which has a long critical history. There's plenty of information about this poem online. Here's GCSE Revision's YouTube translation and analysis of the poem:



This is a great poem to write about in the exam; it compares well to poems such as Ozymandias, The River God, Les Grands Seigneurs etc. However, it is tricky to get your head round at first. Get to know it inside out, and there's a good chance you'll get to use that expertise in the exam.

If you feel like you need more help with this or any other poem, please comment, email or catch me in school.


Mr M

More English Language Paper help

Hi,

I recently received an email from the exam board with a few helpful (I think) resources. 

Below is a series of tasks designed to help you get your head around the reading section in a step-by-step way. These tasks help you develop the skills needed for section A, but it does not give you practice at actually answering the extended answer exam questions. It's more like a series of exercises.

So, you may find this more useful if you are struggling with Section A. It isn't a replacement for exam practice; it's an extra:




Hope it helps. If you are struggling with a particular question, you need more practice. It won't magically come good in the exam. Please let me know if you need more past papers to work on. There are more English Section A resources here and here and here.

I'll be blogging about My Last Duchess at some point over the weekend. Monday's poem is The Horse Whisperer - read it please.


Mr M

The English Carousel - Week 1/3

Hello,

I hope you all got something out of today's session. Any feedback is appreciated. Today, the focus was on Qs 1 and 2 of Section A of the English Language Paper.

Here are some resources to help reinforce the messages from Week 1.

First of all, here's the powerpoint. Thanks to Mrs T for this:

 

 I also referred back to your mock on a few occasions during the lesson. Here's a reminder of the mock exam insert, as well as a series of marked top-band answers:



I also did my own model answer to Q4 from the exam. You can find it here.

There's another practice paper, with mark scheme and model answer here.

In the next week or so, I'll be updating my GCSE English Exam Guides. Last year's version is here, but there will be a few changes.

Hope this helps. Please leave a comment if you have any queries.

Newbies - please enter your email address in the box on the right of the page for regular updates when new posts are added.


Mr M

'My Last Duchess' - a dramatic reading

Hi,

Here's some guy reading/performing Robert Browning's poem, My Last Duchess.

It's a belter. Enjoy!


Mr M

PS. There are plenty of other Youtube vids on this poem - both performance and analysis. Take a look.

Re-name the blog

One more thing,

I'm looking for a new (less rubbish) name for the blog for next year. 

Any ideas? Perhaps a literary reference - or an 'in joke' would work?

Perhaps I should just go with kierawheresmybrownie.
blogspot.co.uk?

There'll be a prize for the winning idea!


Mr M 

Homework - English Language Paper - Question 4

Hello all,

Start with effects on the reader - then quote - then comment on language

13 lessons left - but that includes one where I'm at a meeting (tomorrow) and a couple that GCSE artists will miss due to their exam. 

Your homework is to:

1) Do Q4 of the Jan 2013 English Language Paper using the method outlined in the doc below. Time limit: 30 mins.

2) Write a comment at the bottom of this post to give me your feedback on how this method worked for you. This is hugely important to me in terms of understanding the impact of doing the question this way.

Here's the doc in case you need it or want to share it:

 

In other news:

1) I forgot to mention what's happening in Wellbeing. For the next three weeks, you'll be in English. Bonus! You'll be in groups based on the grade you are aiming for, and you'll be working on how to hit that grade on the English Language Paper.

2) On Monday, you'll be reading and studying 'Casehistory: Alison' in my absence. Make sure you get the work done tomorrow. We'll make notes on the poem on Tuesday.


Good luck with the homework - it's hugely important that you get this right and I really see what you can do. If you've aleady done it, please leave your comment below now.



Mr M

'The Ruined Maid' - Interpretations

Hello again,

Standby for another post this weekend about the homework. That's where I'll be expecting you to post a feedback comment as the final part of your homework (you have until Tuesday). Can I also remind those of you who have not done Qs 1, 2 and 3 that they will need to be done as well.

Now, The Ruined Maid.

It's fairly easy to get your head around this poem - and it is a good poem to discuss in terms of structure. If you are still unsure, please look here. I'd recommend visiting GCSE Bitesize after each lesson to reinforce your understanding of the poems.

All I want to do now is pose some questions to help you develop your interpretation of this poem. It's fairly ambiguous - there's no right answer:

1. What do you think was Thomas Hardy’s attitude to the characters? With whom do you think his sympathies lie?

2.    Do you think statement a) or b) below is a more accurate interpretation of the poem?

a)    Although ’Melia’s life seems to be much better now she has moved from the country to the town and become a prostitute, this is only on the surface. Hardy is suggesting that what’s underneath is much more important and it’s on the inside that ’Melia is ‘ruined’.

b)    In this poem Hardy is mocking the commonly held assumption of the time that prostitutes are automatically ‘ruined’ and miserable. ’Melia is actually much better off as a prostitute than she could ever have been as a country girl. She’s not ‘ruined’ at all.

3.  In the final couplet of the poem, 'Melia seems to talk down to her old friend as a simple farm-girl. Is she:
 

a) Trying to warn her away from the same mistakes she made?

b) Happy to have left her old life behind her - and wants things to stay that way?

4.   And what about the farm worker? Is she envious of 'Melia's life as a prostitute? Or is she just too innocent and naive to understand the grim realities of what it means to be 'ruined'?

Finally, here are the pictures from today's lesson depicting the plight of the 'fallen woman':

Have a good weekend (but do your homework!)

Mr M

'Les Grands Seigneurs' - Some thoughts about structure

Hello,

A typical courtly lover - wounded by Cupid's arrow

Given the fact that Harlie told us what this poem was all about within 10 minutes of the start of today's lesson, I don't think I need to blog at great length about Les Grands Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy. It's pretty straight forward. However, I have a hunch that it may appear on your exam paper, so it's definitely worth getting to know it inside out.

I thought it might be useful to focus on an aspect of the writer's craft that is sometimes difficult to comment on convincingly: STRUCTURE.

So what is structure?

Structure refers to:

• how the poem is put together
• what holds it all together
• all those things that give the poem its shape and make it whole and coherent
• what leads the reader through the poem

When you write about the writer's methods in the exam, comments about structure are a vital aspect. You will lose marks if you only write about language.

 

So, here are some thoughts about the structure of Les Grands Seigneurs:

• The first half of the poem is a succession of images showing what men were to the speaker. These images are clustered together to develop subtle shades of meaning: first architectural images, then bird images, performing animals, ship images and musical/entertainment images. For example, the first group of images are suggestive of the medieval world of castles, knights, maidens and courtly love. 'Buttresses' suggest support, 'castellated towers' suggest protection (but perhaps isolation? entrapment? - does this foreshadow the ending?) and 'bowers' suggests comfort, relaxation and privacy. Think about why each image is included and what it adds to its cluster of images.
• Men are the subject and focus of stanzas 1 & 2. Note the repetition: Men were... Men were... These stanzas suggest certainty and confidence in the regularity provided by the repetition.
• There are rhymes in stanza 1, as well as a strong rhythm enhanced by assonance (strutting pink flamingos) which add to the confident dynamic voice of the speaker.
• Stanza 3 marks a shift. Now the subject is the all-powerful speaker. The enjambment of 'out of reach' in line 9/10 enacts the idea of her being on a pedestal.
• There are only three lines in stanza 3, and they create a kind of skewed rhyming couplet: reach/peach. However, this shortened stanza suggests that her power is short-lived.
• The final stanza starts with 'But' - marking a bigger shift.
• The 'wedded, bedded' bit slows the poem down and emphasises (through heavy stresses) the shift into the dreary reality of marriage.
• The bracketed phrase (yes, overnight) adds a sense of shock and disbelief to the speaker's voice.
• The poem ends on another skewed rhyming couplet (fluff/bluff). But this time, it seems rushed. Try reading the rhming lines in stanza 3 and then compare to the end of stanza 4: the final line is over quicker than a click of the fingers. The poem's lines have been getting progressively shorter. This recreates the sense of a sudden, shocking transformation from 'queen' to 'bit of fluff'.

I hope this helps to clarify what kind of features of the writer's craft constitute structure: think stanzas, line lengths, rhymes, patterns of imagery, rhythm/stresses.

In your revision guide thingy, you will find an 'A' grade answer to a question comparing this poem with Medusa. It's definitely worth a read. That could be your exam question - who knows?

Please remember: you need to be putting in the extra effort now. It is time. Read and re-read and re-read and re-read the poems. Read your study guide. Look at other revision resources. Fill in comparison grids and your Character and Voice connection chart. Revise!

If you need more help on any aspect of the poems that we're rushing through, please email, comment or just grab me in school. 


See you Friday for Q4 chat.


Mr M

Update: Where we are and where we're going...

Hello you!

So, this is more or less where we are:

The yellow star is tomorrow's poem: Les Grands Seigneurs. Please read it. See my video here.

The red stars are poems we've done. If you are unsure about any of them, please see me for help. 

The green lines are obvious (?) connections. Can you think what they are? Hopefully by Easter, you'll have a tangled web of connections to help you revise the poems in pairs/clusters.

Today's lesson was about writing comparative paragraphs. We'll keep practising this as we go. 

Partly to get my head straight, and partly because I like panicking you, here's how I see the rest of the year panning out:

Tuesday 18th March: Les Grands Seigneurs
Friday 21st March: Intro to My Last Duchess and Question 4 method (homework)
Monday 24th March: My Last Duchess (I will be absent on this day)
Tuesday 25th March: Notes on My Last Duchess + The Ruined Maid
Friday 28th March: Casehistory: Alison 
Monday 31st March: The Horse Whisperer
Tuesday 1st April: On a Portrait of a Deaf Man
4th and 7th April: (Art Exam) Revision + Practise
Tuesday 8th April: Singh Song
EASTER (homework - revise + practice question)
Monday 28th April: Checking Out Me History
Tuesday 29th April: Poetry revision + Unseen Poetry Practice
Friday 2nd May: Lit Paper 1 questions & revision (Of Mice and Men)
Tuesday 6th April: Revision (An Inspector Calls)
Friday 9th April: Final lesson! Focus on English Language Paper.

Scary, huh?

After the final lesson, I'll be available in our normal time slots for anyone who wants to turn up and revise. And of course, I'll keep updating the blog.

If anyone would like a past paper to do at any stage, please tell me. I'm planning some revision sessions for the remaining weeks too. We'll discuss this tomorrow.

Don't forget to read my model answer on Ozymandias and The River God here.


Keep calm and carry on,

Mr M

PS. Keira - I'm still looking forward to that brownie.

Friday's poem: 'The Hunchback in the Park' by Dylan Thomas

Oh hi,

Well, today's speed poetry was a bit less successful. I'm blaming the crossword.

However, we'll tie up any loose ends on Monday. In that lesson, we'll jump off the speed poetry train to practise writing comparative paragraphs. With the vital skill of comparison in mind, I'd like to remind you of your homework:



In the mean time, please re-read the poem and look at the notes in your study guide. There's also a useful explanation of the poem here.

Have a nice weekend.


Mr M

Tuesday's poems: 'The Clown Punk' and 'Give' by Simon Armitage

Hi folks,


Good work today - I think we just about cracked The Clown Punk by the end of the lesson.



 










Here's a quick recap of some of the key ideas from 
the lesson:
  

Give:

• The speaker is a homeless person
• It starts and ends with full rhymes - this is when the speaker is being most bold, direct and personal in addressing us. Perhaps the shift away from rhyme in the poem represents the chaos and uncertainty in his life.
• The poem is an imagined conversation - like an interior monologue - exploring the desperate thoughts that are left unsaid in the embarrassment and awkwardness of a encounter between beggar and 'member of the public'.
• Even though there is evidence that the speaker is addressing someone who has brought him tea, I liked Harlie's idea that the poem is like a prayer. He's desperately appealing for some kind of miraculous change.
• The third stanza shows his increasing desperation and the extreme lengths he'd go to to get off the streets. These offers seem detached from reality in the same way as homeless people seem detached from our reality.
• 'Holding out' (line 9) is an interesting phrase. It represents both holding out your hand for money, but also to resist - to not give in and to wait for something better.It suggests that there is a strong urge to give up completely, but the speaker is resisting dark thoughts to hold out for a better tomorrow.
• The 'gold' in stanza 3 brings in the 'frankincense' and 'myrrh' in stanza 4. Why does the speaker remind us of Jesus at this point? Think of the stable: there was no room at the inn, so he was born in a 'lowly cattle shed'. Is he accusing society of forgetting the human dignity of those who find no room at the inn (ie. those who don't fit in with the rest of society)?
• The last stanza is so emotive because of its simplicity and directness. The short pairs of rhyming sentences (tea/knees/you/you) leave a lasting impression.

The Clown Punk:

• Stanza 1 reveals the speaker's prejudice with it's confident rhyming opening and clumsy simile.
• The enjambment at the start of line 5 emphasises the key to the tone of the poem: don't laugh. This is tragedy, not comedy (despite the clown reference).
• the use of 'pixel' further dehumanises the punk - like he's a fictional character on a screen
• 'shot through with indelible ink' - sounds harsh, almost violent. Indelible means it can't be erased. His lifestyle choices are indelible.
• 'deflated' and 'shrunken' predict his future and are key mood words in the poem
• the 'dyed brain' is arguably the key to the poem: who else has got a dyed brain?
• The final image is one of cleansing. Is this a positive or negative message for his kids? Is he telling his kids to ignore those who are different, like the punk and the homeless person?

Next steps:

1) Re-read the poems.

2) Look at your study guide to make sure you're happy with these two poems.

3) Complete your comparison grid.

4) Read the next poem, The Hunchback in the Park, by Friday.

Here's a comparison grid for your use:

Please add any questions or comments.

Mr M

Monday's poem: 'Give' by Simon Armitage

Hello Y11,

I'm blogging from our English lesson as you are beavering away at your controlled assessment - and I'm bored.

Monday sees the start of the phenomenon that is 'speed poetry'. This process is visually represented here by a screen-shot from the sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. This year, I intend to be super-strict with it as I would like to ensure that we still have time to practise and revise prior to the exams. In order to do this, I will be making plenty of use of a) this blog, and b) 'independent learning'. That's homework.

How it will work is this:

1) Before the lesson, I get you to read the poem and possibly read around the poem (eg. BBC Bitesize, study guides etc)
2) You come to the lesson already armed with thoughts and ideas about the poem.
3) We nail down the basics (who, what, where when etc.) and share/discuss interpretations.
4) We explore the writer's use of language and structure (and their effects), making notes as we go.
5) You go off and reinforce, re-read, revise the poem until you're happy.

And that's it: a poem per lesson. As you can see, this is going to involve plenty of independent work in steps 1 and 5 - but it will be little and often. This way, we should find that we're alright for time and are not too rushed at the end.

I will also be offering after-school revision sessions if there's anything you feel you need to cover in more depth.

To kick off, I'd like you to read Simon Armitage's 'Give' (page 12 of Moon on the Tides). This is short and fairly straightforward as an introduction to 'Speed Poetry'. 

Also, have a look at this video - created by one of my Y11s from last year.



Brace yourselves for the final sprint (bit of a mixed metaphor there!)


Mr M

PS. I've marked your half-term homework (Qs 1-3 of the Jan 2013 exam paper) and will be giving these back shortly. If you have not yet done this, you have until Monday to get it to me. After that, I'll be inviting (ie. forcing) you to do it during a lunchtime or two next week. This couldn't be more vital. The exam now accounts for 60% of your marks for English Language!

GCSE Bitesize - Poetry

Hi all!

As you are all now entering the part of the course I like to call 'Speed Poetry', I thought you might want to take a look at the 'Moon on the Tides' resources on BBC Bitesize.

There are lots of useful notes on every poem - as well as some video readings of the poems. Essential.

Click the Bitesize icon to see the resources for 'Character and Voice'. 

Are you studying 'Conflict', 'Relationships' or 'Place'? Click the link!



Mr M

Build your vocab power! Grrr!

Hi all,

Nearly there with Inspector. Then just 11 poems to go - speed poetry style!

I'm also going to share a new approach to that horrible, overwhelming, onerous and burdensome Question 4 from the English Language Paper.

In the meantime, here's a nice resource for all you logophiles (that's a lover of words) to help you build up a stockpile of bombastic terms to wow the examiner!


Enjoy!


Mr M

An Inspector Calls: Context Part 2

An Inspector Calls: Context Part 1

Hi again,

Here's a video recap of the context of An Inspector Calls. Don't go on about it too much in the assessment (you don't get assessed on it in Lang - you do in Lit). However, an understanding of the context of the play will help you to interpret Priestley's intentions and his message.

I was going to play this for you in class, but we ran out of time.

The next part is coming shortly...

An Inspector Calls: CA prep

Hi all,

Don't be alarmed (!) but our last controlled assessment starts on Monday.

The question:
How does Priestley present the theme of responsibility  in An Inspector Calls?

Please see below for some useful revision materials and docs.

The plan:




Tip 1: The Intro

Make sure your intro gets across the basic idea of what Priestley was trying to do in setting up his 'well-made play'. Consider this:

 The interwar period was marked by turmoil throughout Europe. There were two world wars, the Spanish Civil War and the Great Depression. On a smaller, domestic scale, these were years of struggle. Women were fighting for equal voting rights, workers were fighting for fair pay and conditions, and the poor were struggling to get by on low wages and rising prices. It was a time of strikes, protests and unemployment - the gap between rich and poor had never been greater.

The start of this period forms the background to J.B Priestley's An Inspector Calls. Priestley wrote his play in 1945 but set it in 1912 - a time when the first rumblings of war were being heard. Effectively, Priestley was taking his post WW2 audience back in time to teach them a socialist lesson about responsibility and complacency - and give them a stark reminder about the attitudes that got them into this mess in the first place.

The style is that of a 'well-made play'. It has a single plotline, a single setting, a single, clear message. It takes place in real time and creates the illusion that we are observing reality - at least at first. Priestley wanted nothing to distract from his message and the dichotomy he presents to us - a choice between two different attitudes. These two choices are clearly laid out for us in the two generations of contrasting characters on the stage.

The first paragraph is way too detailed for your essay but I've put it there as a reminder. The final paragraph is also there as a recap for you, but is more focused on last year's question. Your question emphasises the message rather than the two generations.

Tip 2: Bridging sentences

At the start of each new stage in your argument, use a sentence that swiftly takes us to your next point. Don't tell the story to fill in the gaps. Consider these examples: 

• The arrival of the Inspector brings a change in tone, represented visually on stage through a change in lighting.

• By the time the Inspector is delivering his summing-up statements, the generations of the Birlings are truly divided.

 Tip 3: Language and Priestley's method

In commenting on your quotes, you need to make sure you comment on what Priestley is doing, why he's doing it, the effect is has on the audience, and how it develops his argument about social responsibility.

Here's a quick recap of some key ideas we've discussed this term that focus on Priestley's craft:

1. He starts by creating a family who 'seem' nice and well-behaved, as Gerald puts it, but we soon see the flaws in the individuals and the tensions beneath the surface.
2. The older Birlings represent the values of the Edwardian world. Birling represents capitalism. Mrs B represents inherited wealth and social snobbery. They are static characters.
3. The younger Birlings have been spoiled and have grown up in a wealthy bubble, apparently unaware of how the other half live.  They are treated like kids and so continue to be immature - they have no idea about social responsibility. But they are dynamic characters who see the faults in their parents (even at the start to some extent) and learn from their mistakes.
4. Priestley uses dramatic irony to position the audience so that we immediately dislike Mr B and his capitalist views.
5. Priestley uses Sheila and Eric as our representatives on the stage. They are good people, but a little self-absorbed and immature. They learn as we learn, and Sheila is often used to prompt our realisation of the Inspector's knowledge and unusual character traits.
6. This division of the characters into two camps (old/static vs young/dynamic) creates a dichotomy to highlight the argument between traditionalism/capitalism/individualism and progressivism/socialism/collectivism.
7. The Inspector can be seen as Priestley's presence on the stage. Or is he an embodiment of a social conscience? Or a messenger from God? 
8. The play has a circular structure, leaving us where we started: an inspector is about to call. This puts the onus on us. We have to figure out our own lessons and leave the audience questioning ourselves. The Birlings no longer matter; neither does Eva. It is 'we' and 'the millions of Eva Smith's and John Smith's' that Prietley is really concerned with. If we don't change, we don't break the cycle of repeated mistakes. 
9. The fact that the play seems realistic (as it's a 'well-made play') makes the unusual ending all the more dramatic and unnerving.

Gotta run. I have a kids' party to attend! I'll be posting a few more resources and tips later. Don't forget to look on BBC Bitesize. But most importantly, read the text, find your quotes and do your plan.

If you need help or are panicking, please email me or add a comment below - I'll try to get straight back to you.


Good luck!

Mr M