And The Big Men Fly!

I know some of you hate standing in front of the class and doing orals...

But you know what, you've got to look at these things in a positive light.

1. You don't have to write the assignment.
2. You get to work in small groups.
3. You get three lessons where you don't have to worry about doing grammar...
4. The performances will be fun to watch!

So here are my top three tips for getting an A. If you do these three things, I reckon you'll be guaranteed an A...

1. Learn your lines as thoroughly as you can.
2. Move - move - move! Plenty of movement and interaction.
3. Overact. Make sure you that you think about the character and try and act like them.

But above all have some fun. This is a chance for you to develop some confidence in yourself. You're all really cool kids, you should not worry about what others think of you. That will only make you more nervous...

Good luck!

Poetry Assignment

Alright. So I thought I might put some assignment tips up on the blog. Here is a another step by step guide to writing your assignment.

1. Choose two poems that are linked together by a theme.

2. Analyse those two poems. Highlight all the poetic devices.

3. Draw up a compare and contrast chart and compare the poems. What are the similarities? What are the differences? What are the poems really saying?

4. Start writing your speech.

-INTRO
-Body Paragraph #1 - Introduce the theme
-Body Paragraph #2 - Introduce poem #1.
-Body Paragraph #3 - Analyse poem #1.
-Body Paragraph #4 - Introduce poem #2.
-Body Paragraph #5 - Analyse poem #2
-CONCLUSION

As you write about the poems you need to make sure that you say things like, 'The poet is reflecting on the theme of WAR in the second stanza when he writes, 'The War is cold. I am not bold.'

Do you see what I did? I put in a quote from the poem and linked it to the theme... That's what you need to do.

Make sure you follow the structure of a body paragraph like I taught you in Term 1.

Topic Sentence
Example Sentence - Include quote
Analysis Sentence (or two)




Now here's what I suggest you do...

Have a think about your themes and choose your poems. Then start writing. If you don't START, you'll never realise whether or not you understand what you're supposed to do.

So get cracking!

Mansfield

Get ready for your exam!

Hi year 8. Well it's that time of year where we are heading towards exams at the speed of light (or even faster!). We need to make sure that we are all up-to-date and know what's happening.

Here are a few things that you can do to get ready for your English exam.

1. Read the novel again.

2. Write some notes in your English book about the 'setting' of the book (ie it is set in a high school, not too disimilar to ours).

3. Do some more 'theme pages'. Think about some other themes like friendship, discipline, community, relationships, manipulation etc. Make sure you find some really good quotes and learn where they are in the book!

(NOTE: You will be allowed to take your novel into the exam.)

4. Read the last two chapters of the book again and make sure you know exactly what happens at the end of the novel. Summarise the final two chapters in your English book.

In the comments part below, why not write one paragraph on one of the following questions and I can check to see that it makes sense. You can also read and check each others!

* How does the setting of the book assist the storyline?

* Which of the characters portrays the theme of individuality the best?

* How does the first chapter set the scene for the remainder of the story?

* What is the main message of the novel?

If you choose one (or more!) and write a paragraph below, that will be very helpful for you. Make sure you don't have any spelling mistakes!

Mr Mansfield.

Proper Nouns

One simple mistake that lots of students make is that of putting lower case letters at the beginning of proper nouns.

A noun is 'a person, place or thing'. For example, a rock, a street, a boy.

A proper noun is 'the NAME of a person, place or thing.' For example, Ayers Rock, Stuart Street, Timothy.

A proper noun is the title of something, for example, The Wave.

It's not too difficult to figure out when something should be given a capital letters. We all know that names and street names need capital letters. We all know some basic proper nouns.

What about the following - should they have capital letters or not?

1. Bible or bible

2. School or school

3. Soccer or soccer

4. Broncos or broncos

5. God or god


Have a go at seeing whether or not you can figure out if these are proper nouns or not.

Remember to click on the ANONYMOUS profile and write your name at the bottom of your comment. Also remember that you can comment more than once!

Don't forget to spell correctly!

Mr Mansfield

Welcome to our Blog Page!!!

The internet is a wonderful tool for learning.

Sure, there are lots of sites online that are annoying, unhelpful, irrelevant or just plain evil, but the fact is that there is a mountain of learning to be done if you use the net wisely.

Speaking of mountains, this blog page is going to be a really important part of your learning this year. We're going to be able to discuss topics, debate issues and engage each other in the task of learning.

So don't be shy. But don't be stupid. There is a high level of expectation placed on you as you use this blog page.

Read the rules and guidelines and make sure that you remember the html.

So... let's get learning!

Mr Mansfield