PTEB EAS

EAS Past Paper 2006

2008-05-26T09:29:00.001+08:00

Please can you go to this link and download the exam papers 1 and 2 from 2006.

http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/uppersec/alevel/subject?assdef_id=778

Linking Words for essays

2008-05-21T09:59:00.005+08:00

Giving examples

For example
For instance
Namely

The most common way of giving examples is by using for example or for instance.
Namely refers to something by name.
"There are two problems: namely, the expense and the time."

Adding information

And
In addition
As well as
Also
Too
Furthermore
Moreover
Apart from
In addition to
Besides

Ideas are often linked by and. In a list, you put a comma between each item, but not before and.
"We discussed training, education and the budget."

Also is used to add an extra idea or emphasis. "We also spoke about marketing."
You can use also with not only to give emphasis.
"We are concerned not only by the costs, but also by the competition."
We don't usually start a sentence with also. If you want to start a sentence with a phrase that means also, you can use In addition, or In addition to this…

As well as can be used at the beginning or the middle of a sentence.
"As well as the costs, we are concerned by the competition."
"We are interested in costs as well as the competition."

Too goes either at the end of the sentence, or after the subject and means as well.
"They were concerned too."
"I, too, was concerned."

Apart from and besides are often used to mean as well as, or in addition to.
"Apart from Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."
"Besides Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."

Moreover and furthermore add extra information to the point you are making.
"Marketing plans give us an idea of the potential market. Moreover, they tell us about the competition."

Summarising

In short
In brief
In summary
To summarise
In a nutshell
To conclude
In conclusion

We normally use these words at the beginning of the sentence to give a summary of what we have said or written.

Sequencing ideas

The former, … the latter
Firstly, secondly, finally
The first point is
Lastly
The following

The former and the latter are useful when you want to refer to one of two points."Marketing and finance are both covered in the course. The former is studied in the first term and the latter is studied in the final term."

Firstly, … secondly, … finally (or lastly) are useful ways to list ideas.
It's rare to use "fourthly", or "fifthly". Instead, try the first point, the second point, the third point and so on.

The following is a good way of starting a list.
"The following people have been chosen to go on the training course: N Peters, C Jones and A Owen."

Giving a reason

Due to / due to the fact that
Owing to / owing to the fact that
Because
Because of
Since
As

Due to and owing to must be followed by a noun.
"Due to the rise in oil prices, the inflation rate rose by 1.25%."
"Owing to the demand, we are unable to supply all items within 2 weeks."
If you want to follow these words with a clause (a subject, verb and object), you must follow the words with the fact that.
"Due to the fact that oil prices have risen, the inflation rate has gone up by 1%25."
"Owing to the fact that the workers have gone on strike, the company has been unable to fulfil all its orders."

Because / because of
Because of is followed by a noun.
"Because of bad weather, the football match was postponed."
Because can be used at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. For example, "Because it was raining, the match was postponed."
"We believe in incentive schemes, because we want our employees to be more productive."

Since / as
Since and as mean because.
"Since the company is expanding, we need to hire more staff."
"As the company is expanding, we need to hire more staff."

Giving a result

Therefore
So
Consequently
This means that
As a result

Therefore, so, consequently and as a result are all used in a similar way.
"The company are expanding. Therefore / So / Consequently / As a result, they are taking on extra staff."
So is more informal.

Contrasting ideas

But
However
Although / even though
Despite / despite the fact that
In spite of / in spite of the fact that
Nevertheless
Nonetheless
While
Whereas
Unlike
In theory… in practice…

But is more informal than however. It is not normally used at the beginning of a sentence.
"He works hard, but he doesn't earn much.""He works hard. However, he doesn't earn much."

Although, despite and in spite of introduce an idea of contrast. With these words, you must have two halves of a sentence.
"Although it was cold, she went out in shorts.""In spite of the cold, she went out in shorts."

Despite and in spite of are used in the same way as due to and owing to. They must be followed by a noun. If you want to follow them with a noun and a verb, you must use the fact that.
"Despite the fact that the company was doing badly, they took on extra employees."

Nevertheless and nonetheless mean in spite of that or anyway.
"The sea was cold, but he went swimming nevertheless." (In spite of the fact that it was cold.)
"The company is doing well. Nonetheless, they aren't going to expand this year."

While, whereas and unlike are used to show how two things are different from each other.
"While my sister has blue eyes, mine are brown."
"Taxes have gone up, whereas social security contributions have gone down."
"Unlike in the UK, the USA has cheap petrol."

In theory… in practice… show an unexpected result.
"In theory, teachers should prepare for lessons, but in practice, they often don't have enough time."

Examiners reports for 8004 GP

2008-05-13T10:32:00.002+08:00

If you go to www.cie.org.uk you can find some past papers to download, and examiners reports etc.

Evidence Against Global Warming

2008-05-07T07:19:00.000+08:00

Watch the web for climate change truths
Notable stories of recent months should have been the evidence pouring in from all sides to cast doubts on the idea that the world is inexorably heating up. The proponents of man-made global warming have become so rattled by how the forecasts of their computer models are being contradicted by the data that some are rushing to modify the thesis.
So a German study, published by Nature last week, claimed that, while the world is definitely warming, it may cool down until 2015 "while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions".
A little vignette of the media's one-sided view was given by recent events on Snowdon, the highest mountain in southern Britain. Each year between 2003 and 2007, the retreat of its winter snow cover inspired reports citing this as evidence of global warming.
In 2004 scientists from the University of Bangor made headlines with the prediction that Snowdon might lose its snowcap altogether by 2020. In 2007 a Welsh MP, Lembit Opik, was saying "it is shocking to think that in just 14 years snow on this mountain could be nothing but a distant memory".
Last November, viewing photographs of a snowless Snowdon at an exhibition in Cardiff, the Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, said "we must act now to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause climate change".
Yet virtually no coverage has been given to the abnormally deep spring snow which prevented the completion of a new building on Snowdon's summit for more than a month, and nearly made it miss the deadline for £4.2 million of EU funding. (Brussels eventually extended the deadline to next autumn.)
Two weeks ago, as North America emerged from its coldest and snowiest winter for decades, the US National Climate Data Center, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a statement that snow cover in January on the Eurasian land mass had been the most extensive ever recorded, and that in the US March had been only the 63rd warmest since records began in 1895.
While global warming enthusiasts might take cheer from the NOAA's claim that "average global land temperature" in March was "the warmest on record", this was in striking contrast to a graph published last week on the Climate Audit website by Steve McIntyre.
Tracking satellite data for the tropical troposphere, it showed March temperatures plunging to one of their lowest points in 30 years.
Mr McIntyre is the computer expert who exposed the infamous "hockey stick" graph - that icon of warmist orthodoxy which showed global temperatures soaring recently to their highest level for 1,000 years. He showed that the computer model that produced this graph had been so designed that it would have conjured even random numbers from a telephone directory into the shape of a hockey stick).
On April 24 the World Wildife Fund (WWF), another body keen to keep the warmist flag flying, published a study warning that Arctic sea ice was melting so fast that it may soon reach a "tipping point" where "irreversible change" takes place. This was based on last September's data, showing ice cover having shrunk over six months from 13 million square kilometres to just 3 million.
What the WWF omitted to mention was that by March the ice had recovered to 14 million sq km (see the website Cryosphere Today), and that ice-cover around the Bering Strait and Alaska that month was at its highest level ever recorded. (At the same time Antarctic sea ice-cover was also at its highest-ever level, 30 per cent above normal).
The most dramatic evidence, however, emerged last week with an announcement by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that an immense slow-cycling movement of water in the Pacific, known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), had unexpectedly shifted into its cool phase, something which only happens every 30 years or so, ultimately affecting climate all over the globe.
Discussion of this on the invaluable Watts Up With That website, run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts, shows how the alternations of the PDO between warm and cool coincided with each of the major temperature shifts of the 20th century - warming after 1905, cooling after 1946, warming again after 1977 - and how the new shift to a cool phase could have repercussions for decades to come.
It is notable that the German computer predictions published last week by Nature forecast a decade of cooling due to deep-ocean movements in the Atlantic, without taking account of how this may now be reinforced by a similar, even greater movement in the Pacific.
Mr Watts points out that the West coast of the USA might already be experiencing these effects in the recent freezing temperatures that have devastated orchards and vineyards in California, prompting an appeal for disaster relief for growers who fear they may have lost this year's crops.
Mr Watts's readers are amused by the explanation from one warmist apologist that "these natural climate phenomena can sometimes hide global warming caused by human activities - or they can have the opposite effect of accentuating it".
It is striking, in view of the colossal implications of the current response to "the greatest challenge confronting mankind" - as our politicians love to call it - how this hugely important debate is almost entirely overlooked by the media, and is instead conducted largely on the internet, through expert websites such as those run by Mr McIntyre and Mr Watts.
On one hand our politicians are committing us to spending unimaginable sums on wind farms, emissions trading schemes, absurdly ambitious biofuel targets, and every kind of tax and regulation designed to reduce our "carbon footprint" - all based on blindly accepting the predictions of computer models that the planet is overheating due to our output of greenhouse gases.
On the other hand, a growing number of scientists are producing ever more evidence to show how those computer models are based on wholly inadequate data and assumptions - as is being confirmed by the behaviour of nature itself (not least the continuing non-arrival of sunspot cycle 24).
The fact is that what has been happening to the world's climate in recent years, since global temperatures ceased to rise after 1998, was not predicted by any of those officially-sponsored models. The discrepancy between their predictions and observable data becomes more glaring with every month that passes.
It won't do for believers in warmist orthodoxy to claim that, although temperatures may be falling, this is only because they are "masking an underlying warming trend that is still continuing" - nor to fob us off with assurances that the "German model shows that higher temperatures than 1998, the warmest year on record, are likely to return after 2015".
In view of what is now at stake, such quasi-religious incantations masquerading as science are something we can no longer afford. We should get back to proper science before it is too late.

George Smiley

2008-04-05T12:15:00.004+08:00

Remember, I did this under the time limits that you might have in an exam, so there will be some gaps. It is by no means perfect. It's what you might be expected to come up with in about 45 minutes.

This text is in the genre of a spy novel. However it is not in the tradition of James Bond, as George Smiley is clearly not that kind of spy. The author John Le Carre clearly has a different kind of spy in mind. Le Carre’s purpose is as might be expected to entertain the audience, but not through acts of great courage and romantic conquest, but rather through his portrayal of a very ordinary man, who is suffering a very mundane problem suffered by mere mortals, an unfaithful wife. The tone of the text is one of dullness, monotony, ordinariness. Smiley is painted as very much an outsider in society.
The first paragraph sets the scene with the establishment of hatred that he feels for his wife, although he could not realistically sustain this as he still feels trapped by the love he has for her.
The next paragraph sets the rather dull tone with a build-up of vocabulary, “fog, heavier, closeness, bare, sparse, cautious…” all of this serving to create an atmosphere of oppression. The sentences are rather short and to the point. The mention of the fashionable King’s Road serves to establish the alienation of Smiley from this world. He is too ordinary, too mundane. The cul-de-sac emphasizes the fact that he feels trapped in a dead-end of his own. The oxymoronic “shrieking, silent…” reflects the anguish he feels. Lady Macbeth is perhaps reflective of the role his wife has played, in betrayal and manipulation of him.
The shutters of the next paragraph further emphasise the way he has been shut out of mainstream world, but they are not closed, highlighting the rather free-spirited nature of his wife. She is presented as a sophisticated rather sociable person who likes the finer things in life, contrasting with the dull monotony of Smiley’s world. It seems their relationship had been one of dependence on his part, and tolerance on hers, as long as she could have her adventures. She has clearly tormented him with her succession of affairs, and he is painted as a rather pathetic figure who would always accept her back, she would try for a while, learn German, so he could read to her, but in the end it would not last.
“As he watched…” is first of all reflective of his profession, he is after all a spy. It also emphasizes his alienation from the world of his wife. He still feels great resentment at what she put him through. The notes in the mirror . show what feelings he still has for her, how he has tortured himself in a masochistic way with his attachment to her, and that he has even kept all her letters to him in a “collection”.
It is quite sad when he is looking through the windows and it takes him some time to realize that she has another man in with her in the bedroom. He still is fooling himself until the moment when he sees someone else close the curtains. His obsession is still with security of the house, perhaps reflecting his own insecurity. There is a certain irony here in the situation in that the security is acting against him.
The last paragraph establishes the shame and self-disgust he feels. He has been fooled but it is his own fault. He is truly an outsider now, betrayed once again, by the woman he idealises. The words “anguish…blindly” clearly show this. He imagines what kinds of man might be in there with her, and his hatred is quite clear, all the types of men he might despise.
In summary Smiley is seen as a sad, alienated figure, who is deluding himself about his wife. In his work he is a senior spy, but the irony is that he is in thrall of his wife and under her control.

A Useful Link for GP Essay Writing

2008-01-16T13:44:00.000+08:00

http://www.moe.gov.sg/edsoftware/ir/files/gp-essay-helper/index.html

New GP Topic Blocks 3 and 4. Abortion

2008-01-16T09:43:00.000+08:00

Here is a summary of the arguments on each side of the abortion debate. In the USA the two sides are generally called "Pro-choice" who are for abortions and "Pro-life" who are against. The debate has often been quite heated and has on occasions led to violence, with some abortion clinics being targeted with bombs by extreme members of the Pro-life side.

What the Pro Choice (for abortion) side believe:

· The fetus is not a human, just a mass of tissue
· Abortion is safer than childbirth.
· Abortion is Safe
· Every child should be a wanted child.
· The number of abortions is relatively small.
· Nobody has the right to impose their morals on me.
· A woman should be able to control her own body.
· Abortion must be kept legal, especially for all the rape and incest pregnancies.
· If abortion is outlawed women will be forced to go to back-alley abortion clinics.
· Aborting unwanted children reduces the number of abused children.
· We need to remember that we are overpopulating the planet
·

What the Pro-Life (against abortion) side believe:

Pro-life people are diverse in economic status, race, religion, and education. Yet, they are unified by the concept that all humans, especially the innocent unborn, have an inherent right to life.
· I believe that the unborn child is human.
· I believe life begins at conception.
· I believe that abortion is not safe.
· I believe that abortion is a war on the unborn.
· I believe that the Roe v. Wade decision, legalizing abortion on demand in America, was one of the most important and devastating Supreme Court decisions.
· I believe that a constitutional amendment should be passed that gives equal protection to all living humans, including the unborn.
· I believe that the violence inside and outside abortion clinics is morally wrong.
· I believe that rape and incest are horrible crimes and should be punished, but I don't believe that a child conceived from either should be killed.
· I do not believe that the government should fund abortions.
· I do not believe that the government should fund Planned Parenthood - the largest national supplier of abortions.
· Being a religious person, I believe that the Bible backs up my views on abortion.

Have a look at these links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/abortion/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
www.abortionfacts.com/

GP Topic - Drug Abuse. Block 3 and 4

2008-01-12T08:42:00.000+08:00

here's a couple of links that you might find useful for the research into the topic. This will help with the essay.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/drugs_use.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/surgery/drink_drugs/

AK

Tag Board

2007-11-08T15:51:00.000+08:00

New tag board, as old one wasn't working. Any comments?

Reminder about Narrative Writing

2007-11-01T18:17:00.000+08:00

For some good explanations about the characteristics of Narrative Writing, follow these links:

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~mdesoto/101online_new/assignment3writing.htm

http://engla.jppss.k12.la.us/writing%20craft%20&%20genre%20instruction%20files/Personal_Narrative_Characteristics.pdf

http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/genre/narrative.asp

These are REAL answers

2007-10-26T18:27:00.000+08:00

Exam Answers

The following questions and answers were collated from last year's British GCSE exams (16 year olds)! Give us strength ... these people are tomorrow's leaders ... my bet is that we will become extinct!

Geography
Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: What is a planet?
A: A body of earth surrounded by sky.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Sociology
Q: What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?
A: If you are buying a house, they will insist you are well endowed.

Q: In a democratic society, how important are elections?
A: Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Biology
Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: What is artificial insemination?
A: When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (e.g., abdomen).
A: The body is consisted into three parts-the brainium, theborax and the abdominal cavity. The branium contains thebrain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels, A, E, I, O and U.

Q: What is the Fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does *varicose- mean?
A: Nearby.

Q: What is the most common form of birth control?
A: Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium.

Q: Give the meaning of the term *Caesarean Section.
A: The caesarean section is a district in Rome.

Q: What is a seizure?
A: A Roman emperor.

Q: What is a terminal illness?
A: When you are sick at the airport

Q: Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A: Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

English
Q: Use the word *judicious- in a sentence to show you understand its meaning.
A: Hands that judicious can be soft as your face.

Q: What does the word *benign- mean?
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Technology
Q: What is a turbine?
A: Something an Arab wears.

Homework for all PU1 students. Due immediately after Hari Raya holiday.

2007-10-02T15:22:00.002+08:00

Below is Paper 1 Question 2 June 2006. This is a humorous text. Much of the the humour is derived by contrasting the great plans of Herman Hochstetter with the actual results: this is irony or ironic humour.

Answer both questions, submit after Hari Raya holiday. Remember a commentary should be around 650 words.

The passage below takes a comic look at patriotism. It is set in a fictional place called Lake Wobegon in America and describes a local custom known as ‘The Living Flag’, an annual ceremony created by shop owner Herman Hochstetter to celebrate the end of World War II.

(a) Comment on the style and language of the passage. [15]

(b) As part of his autobiography, Herman writes a chapter outlining his achievement in creating a ceremony and why it began to go wrong. Basing your answer closely on the material of the extract, write the opening to the chapter (between 120 and 150 words). [10]

On patriotic days, flags flew all over; there were flags on the tall poles, flags on the short, flags in the brackets on the pillars and the porches, and if you were flagless you could expect to hear from Herman. His hairy arm around your shoulder, his poochlike face close to yours, he would say how proud he was that so many people were proud of their country, leaving you to see the obvious, that you were a gap in the ranks.

In June 1944, the day after D-Day, a salesman from Fisher Hat called on Herman and offered a good deal on red and blue baseball caps. ‘Do you have white also?’ Herman asked. The salesman thought that white caps could be had for the same wonderful price. Herman ordered two hundred red, two hundred white, and one hundred blue. By the end of the year, he still had four hundred and eighty-six caps. The inspiration of the Living Flag was born from that overstock.

On June 14, 1945, a month after V-E Day, a good crowd assembled in front of the Central Building in response to Herman’s ad in the paper:

Honor ‘AMERICA’ June 14 at 4 p.m. Be proud of “Our Land & People”. Be part of the “Living Flag”. Don’t let it be said that Lake Wobegon was “Too Busy”. Be on time. 4 p.m. “Sharp”.

His wife Louise handed out the caps, and Herman stood on a stepladder and told the people where to stand. He lined up the reds and whites into stripes, then got the blues into their square. Mr. Hanson climbed up on the roof of the Central Building and took a photograph, they sang the national anthem, and then the Living Flag dispersed. The photograph appeared in the paper the next week. Herman kept the caps.

In the flush of victory, people were happy to do as they were told and stand in place, but in 1946 and 1947, dissension cropped up in the ranks: people complained about the heat and about Herman – what gave him the idea he could order them around? ‘People! Please! I need your attention! You blue people, keep your hats on! Please! Stripe number 4, you’re sagging! You reds, you’re up here! We got too many white people, we need more red ones! Let’s do this without talking, people! I can’t get you straight if you keep moving around! Some of you are not paying attention! Everybody shut up! Please!’

One cause of resentment was the fact that none of them got to see the flag they were in; the picture in the paper was black and white. Only Herman and Mr. Hanson got to see the real Flag, and some boys too short to be needed down below. People wanted a chance to go up to the roof and witness the spectacle for themselves.

‘How can you go up there if you’re supposed to be down here?’ Herman said.‘You go up to look, you got nothing to look at. Isn’t it enough to know that you’re doing your part?’

On Flag Day, 1949, just as Herman said, ‘That’s it! Hold it now!’ one of the reds made a break for it – dashed up four flights of stairs to the roof and leaned over and had a long look. Even with the hole he had left behind, it was a magnificent sight. The Living Flag filled the street below. A perfect Flag! The reds so brilliant! He couldn’t take his eyes off it. ‘Get down here! We need a picture!’ Herman yelled up at him. ‘Unbelievable! I can’t describe it!’ he said.

So then everyone had to have a look. ‘No!’ Herman said, but they took a vote and it was unanimous. One by one, members of the Living Flag went up to the roof and admired it. It was marvellous! It brought tears to the eyes, it made one reflect on this great country and on Lake Wobegon’s place in it. One wanted to stand up there all afternoon and just drink it in. So, as the first hour passed, and only forty of the five hundred had been to the top, the others got more and more restless. ‘Hurry up! Quit dawdling! You’ve seen it! Get down here and give someone else a chance!’ Herman sent people up in groups of four, and then ten, but after two hours, the Living Flag became the Sitting Flag and then began to erode, as the members who had had a look thought about heading home to supper, which infuriated the ones who hadn’t. ‘Ten more minutes!’ Herman cried, but ten minutes became twenty and thirty, and people snuck off and the Flag that remained for the last viewer was a Flag shot through by cannon fire.

For EAS Blk 2 (1-6 Oct 07)

2007-09-28T12:52:00.000+08:00

(1) TEEN INK
Teen Ink magazine offers some of the most thoughtful and creative work generated by teens and has the largest distribution of any publication of its kind. We have no staff writers or artists; we depend completely on submissions from teenagers nationwide (United States) for our content http://teenink.com/Opinion/

(2) Online Bookshelf .... browse on...
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/

(3) BOOKS WRITTEN BY AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Please read the editorial and customer reviews which are found at the bottom of the Amazon web page.

Letters from Burma
http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Burma-Aung-San-Suu/dp/0140264035/ref=pd_rhf_p_1/105-1065948-5219666

Freedom from Fear and Other Writings
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140253173/ref=pd_cp_b_2/105-1065948-5219666?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=17MW2725XG3MJZFYWZQ9&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=252362401 &pf_rd_i=0140264035

The Voice of Hope:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1888363509/ref=dp_proddesc_0/105-1065948-5219666?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Bye Bye Upper Sixth - you wacky bunch

2007-09-26T19:07:00.000+08:00

More about Malcolm

2007-09-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

For those of you who are intrigued by the life of Malcolm X after attempting question 1 (Paper 1) in the EAS examination not too long ago, you may find out more about the activist from these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

Biography of Malcolm X: www.africawithin.com/malcolmx/malcolm_bio.htm

The Official Web Site of Malcolm X: www.cmgworldwide.com/historic/malcolm

Malcolm X; A Research Site: http://www.brothermalcolm.net/

The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University: www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X "

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written by Alex Haley between 1964 and 1965, based on interviews conducted shortly before Malcolm X's death (and with an epilogue after it), and published in 1965. The book was named by Time magazine as one of the ten most important nonfiction books of the 20th century.

The screenplay for the 1992 Spike Lee film Malcolm X was adapted from The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

The book describes Malcolm X's upbringing in Michigan, his maturation to adulthood in Boston and New York, his time in prison, his conversion to Islam, his ministry, his travels to Africa and to Mecca, and his subsequent career and eventual assassination at the Audubon Ballroom near 166th Street and Broadway in New York City. The book contains a great deal of substantial thought that concerns African-American existence.

The emotional timbre of the book could be described as a crystal-clear elucidation of some very complicated philosophies originating from the unpleasant, tragic life experience of Malcolm X as a child in Michigan.
Haley stated in the documentary Eyes on the Prize that it was difficult to write the autobiography because Malcolm X was quite averse to talking about himself and preferred instead to talk about the Nation of Islam.

However, the book has been criticized by some scholars[attribution needed] for possibly being factually inaccurate or misleading in certain parts[citation needed]. In addition, members of Malcolm X's family and the Nation of Islam have accused author Alex Haley of changing or fictionalizing parts of the story[specify].

In fact, in 2005 historian Manning Marable, for his book 'Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention', claimed that Haley worked with the FBI while writing the book with Malcolm X. He also talked about the existence of three unpublished chapters of the book.[1]

(posted by Mrs Saunders)

Notes for Writers

2007-08-28T18:23:00.000+08:00

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying assonance
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are neither apropos nor de rigueur.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. DO NOT use exclamation points and all caps to emphasize!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
34. The passive voice should never be used.
36. Do not put statements in the negative form.
37. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
38. A writer must not shift your point of view.
39. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
40. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
41. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
42. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
43. Always pick on the correct idiom.
44. Be careful to use the rite homonym. And Finally...
45. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

A Glossary for Text Commentary (AK)

2007-08-10T10:45:00.000+08:00

OVERVIEW

Genre Fact: brochure, speech, dialogue, biography, magazine etc Fiction: novel, mystery, science fiction, gothic etc
Purpose Express as a verb: To entertain, to arouse sympathy, to sell something, to amuse, to criticize etc
Tone (Mood) Express as an adjective: persuasive, critical, laudatory, humorous, informative etc . Does it change or develop throughout the text? Do relationships between people change throughout the text?
Audience Is it for a general or specific readership? If specific, who will read it?

STRUCTURE
Vocab.(Diction) Shows tone. Positive/Negative/Neutral. (In)formal? Contrast in the vocab, between and within paragraphs? Specialized?
Punctuation Use of (semi-)colons, commas, brackets, quotation marks etc. What is the effect?
Grammar Length of paragraphs and sentences. Tense? 1st/2nd/3rd Person? Parts of speech (nouns, verbs etc), Direct Speech?

FIGURES OF SPEECH
Simile X is like Y or X is as ____ as Y. "My love is like a rose which blooms in Spring”
Metaphor X is Y. “My love is a rose which blooms in Spring”
Personification Giving human characteristics to non-human things. “The old car wheezed as it fought its way up the hill”
Rhetorical Question Asking a question to make a point, not requiring an answer. “Why do I have to do everything round here?”
Onomatopoeia Sounds like a sound. Bang, crash, crackle, pop, splash, whizz.
Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant sounds, usually harsh ones. “Big, brown bear” “A piece of paper”.
Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds within words, “a ship in distress”, usually in poetry rather than prose.
Contrast Two opposite ideas placed in juxtaposition, “’It was the best of times, It was the worst of times”
Oxymoron A seeming contradiction. “Artificial grass, fighting for peace, a quiet scream”
Hyperbole Exaggeration: “I’ve told you a thousand times, stop exaggerating!”
Repetition “Physics homework, English homework, Geography homework, will it never end?”
Pun A word with a “double meaning” used for humorous effect. “A backward poet writes inverse”
Euphemism Language used to avoid offence. “I’m going to the little girl’s room to powder my nose”. “His father passed away.”
Irony Saying the opposite of what you mean. “No, I’m not upset you are dumping me!” she sniffed.
Idiom Device whereby the words used do not contain their literal meaning. “The cat got your tongue!” (You can’t speak)
Connotation Suggestion evoked by word or phrase e.g. bachelor (cool guy about town) spinster (old woman left on the shelf)
Imagery Pictures created in readers’ minds, using comparisons (simile, metaphor)
Juxtaposition Placing things next to each other to show a relationship.
Prose Continuous writing which is not verse or dialogue.

Parallelism. A balance of two or more similar words or phrases. Giving two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern.

Have a look at this link for "Everything you ever wanted to know about figures of speech but were afraid to ask." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

Blocks 3 and 4. Cambridge

2007-08-02T10:53:00.000+08:00

Here is the link I told you about. Click it, or paste it into your address bar, or just click the title of this post. Download 2005 Paper 1, Paper 2 and examiner's report, print them out and we'll look at them next week.

http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/uppersec/alevel/subject?assdef_id=778

Narrative Writing

2007-07-17T12:14:00.000+08:00

Advertising: Blocks 3 and 4

2007-06-27T00:45:00.000+08:00

Look at the article posted on Thursday, 24 May 2007 about the advert for the Suzuki car. That will help you in the composition of the text for your tourism brochure. This is not supposed to be a huge task. The attention span of someone reading an advert is quite short, you need to grab and hold their attention quickly, with short sentences, imperatives, appeal to emotion and vanity, make the reader feel special, flatter them ("You are a sophisticated, discerning traveller who wants only the best." etc.)

Blocks 3 and 4

2007-06-14T05:54:00.000+08:00

As you read this, no doubt you are lying by the swimming pool in a 5 star hotel in Hawaii or Tahiti, while the sun beats down, the sea laps against the shore, palm trees wave their fronds gently in the breeze and handsome waiters or nubile waitresses serve you cool drinks. Your only thought is how to spend this leisurely day in peaceful self-indulgence. PTE is a long way away. But, spare a thought for your poor teacher and perhaps spend a minute or two thinking about the homework i.e. comment on the Frankenstein text, and there are a few notes here to help. Don't forget genre, purpose, tone, audience etc. Then write your own Gothic piece. Bit longer than before, more like 250-300. Think of the atmosphere, the vocab to be used. The theme. Look at the links to the characteristics of a gothic novel and bear those in mind when writing.
See you soon.
AK

FRANKENSTEIN
A few notes to assist you in the dreary accomplishment of your toils. These are by no means exhaustive, nor guaranteed as to their quality.

Diction (vocab) : The atmosphere being created is one of darkness, gloom, pain, dreariness, dread and fear.
State of mind: fear, guilt, dread of consequences of his action.
Sentence structure of 1st parag. sentences get longer, heightens feeling of doom, use of semi-colons slows down the pace, ratcheting up the tension. .
Purpose of 2nd parag. provides stark contrast between what Frankenstein’s intentions had been and what the reality of the creature is.
Frankenstein is seeking the sympathy of the reader. Is he successful in arousing this?
“Beautiful! Great God!” ironic. Heightening the guilt he feels.
“Horrid contrast” in his creation, between the beautiful thing he attempted to create and the hideous monster he actually created.
The nightmare sets a contrast with a romantic, idyllic view of the past, with his beautiful bride, and the present which is a situation of evil and horror.
How did you react to the passage? Remember to set this in its historical context.
What overall themes can you discern? Why the enduring popularity of this novel and why has the story been made into so many films.

Puns

2007-06-13T04:11:00.000+08:00

A pun is a "play on words", a double meaning used for humorous effect. Here are a few interesting ones, some quite subtle, so might need a bit of thought to understand.

1. A bicycle can't stand-alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead give-away.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory, which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping centre you've seen a mall.

Brunei

2007-06-06T22:48:00.000+08:00

Nice video about Brunei from the BBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvApwmbmdo

Gothic

2007-06-05T21:56:00.001+08:00

Why don't you check out these websites.

Mwouhahahaha! (Spoken in deep scary voice)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_novel

http://virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm

http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg/

Block 2 Speeches

2007-06-02T22:25:00.000+08:00

I was very impressed with the speeches given by the students in Block 2 today. All of you sounded leader like and some of you were quite outstanding. We know just how difficult it is to write a speech; but for you to do so in the style of another speaker and then deliver it to an audience in a foreign language is an achievement that you can all be very proud of. I put up a couple of representative photos and chose them purely because they were more in focus than any of the other ones ... sack the cameraman! Advertisements next week!

Misha spells out a promising future!

2007-06-02T22:20:00.000+08:00

Wafiy delivers his vision of a better world!

2007-06-02T22:17:00.000+08:00

Block 4 Speeches

2007-06-02T11:13:00.001+08:00

Well done Block 4. Very good speeches. I hope your performance will shame the layabouts of Block 3 to produce something on Monday. Block 4 has thrown down the gauntlet. It is up to Block 3 to pick it up.

To EAS Blk 2 (Mrs Saunders’ class)

2007-06-01T23:20:00.000+08:00

I’m a good girl, I am!

I believe we enjoyed the reading by Naz, Illyana and Nadia (who read the part of Eliza Doolittle ) and Khairul, Caesar and Hamin (who read the part of Professor Higgins) of an extract from Act 5 of the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.
For those of you who would like to read the rest of the play, you may visit this website: http://www.bartleby.com/138/index.html
And to find out more about the playwright himself, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw

The notes below are taken from the ‘Monarch’ Guide to Pygmalion:

Why ‘Pygmalion’?
In a Greek legend, Pygmalion, a sculptor and ruler of Cyprus, was known for his dislike of women. But when he had carved an ivory statue of the goddess Aphrodite, its charms so overwhelmed him that he fell in love with it. The goddess answered his prayer to bring the statue to life, and he married the women it contained, who was then named Galatea. Shaw's play is a variation on this legend, with Professor Higgins as Pygmalion and Eliza Doolittle as Galatea.

Character Analyses

Henry Higgins.
Higgins' portrait is based to some extent on real-life models. One was the famous phonetics specialist Henry Sweet, a man still revered as one of the great figures in his field. Like Higgins, Sweet was short-tempered, eccentric, and completely devoted to his work. The other model was Robert Bridges, a famous poet and student of language with a special interest in the writings of
John Milton, the English poet. Higgins too is deeply influenced by Milton.

Higgins' most attractive characteristic is a certain innocence which is in contrast to his professional skill and intellectual sophistication. He Pearce, Mrs. Higgins-but he has no intention of hurting anybody. He is neither cruel nor mean. He treats everyone fairly and decently according to his own standards. His reponses to any situation are direct and immediate, and usually loud. He simply does not give much thought to people's feelings.

Higgins' own picture of himself is as an exceptionally amiable, mild, kindly man who is often victimized by the unreasonable behavior of other people. His good intentions, as well as his comically inaccurate idea of his own nature, make him consistently appealing.

But in actuality, Higgins likes to get his own way. When an idea seizes him, as in Act II, he rides roughshod over all opposition. He does not care for Pickering's doubts, nor for Mrs. Pearce's disappoval, nor for Eliza's ignorant terror. He tries to placate Mrs. Pearce by offering her a daughter to adopt (not asking her whether she wants one, nor asking Eliza whether she wants to be one). He weaves wild fantasies of rich marriages to tempt Eliza. He is as irresponsible as a child who will do anything to get its hands on a new toy.

Higgins is completely devoted to his work. He has an exalted view of its spiritual importance. He is one of the guardians of the language of Shakespeare and Milton. He opens this mighty reasure to share with his pupils and thus ennobles their souls and frees them from the restraints of artificial class barriers.

This devotion is one of the things that help to make him such a terror. His work is of vital significance; other things are so trivial compared to it that they are a waste of time. Thus he will not bother with manners, social small talk, or the other amenities of civilized living. As a result, he is a trial to his mother. The repeated display of Higgin's bad manners is one of the comic elements of the play. He is especially funny in his outspoken honesty at times where polite lying is the usual behavior. During his mother's "at home" in Act III, he greets Mrs. Eynsford-Hill and her daughter gloomily, unable to pretend that he is glad to see them. The arrival of Freddy is the last straw. Higgins groans: "God of Heaven! another of them." It is no wonder that his mother wishes he would stay in his own house when she is having guests.

Higgins swears constantly. Mrs. Pearce puts up with his language in martyred patience. Even Colonel Pickering, who is an Army man, after all, and accustomed to such things, mentions that he has seldom heard anything like it.

Personal untidiness is another of Higgin's characteristics. He uses his dressing gown to wipe his hands on at meals. He shoves all his food onto the same plate. Mrs. Pearce mentions these matters during the amusing scene in Act II when she lectures him about improving his manners as an example to Eliza. At that time she points out that he nearly choked recently on a fish bone in the jam jar, a bone he must have dropped into the jar himself. Eliza herself points out in Act V that, if it were not for Colonel Pickering, she would never have known how ladies and gentlemen behave. She mentions particularly Higgins' habit of taking off his shoes in the dining room.

Towards Eliza, Higgins is domineering and impatient. He becomes absorbed in her as an object involved in a phonetics experiment. It turns out that Eliza is a woman with exceptional qualities of mind and heart. He senses that he has allowed himself to come to the brink of a truly profound human relationship. He fights hard to retain for himself the pleasure and convenience of Eliza's presence without making any further gift of himself to her. He does not want to change his ways or belong to anybody but himself. At the end of the play we are left uncertain about the outcome of this interior struggle.

Eliza Doolittle.
When we first see Eliza, she is a child of the London streets, dirty, shabby, ignorant, and accustomed to standing up for her own rights, since there is nobody else to do it for her. For instance, she is almost ready to quarrel with the Eynsford-Hills over payment for the flowers
Freddy has accidentally spoiled. She is quite persistent as she tries to persuade Colonel Pickering to buy a flower from her. She puts up a great howl of protest against the "policeman" (really Higgins) who is writing down her words.

But her ignorance is so great that she gives the impression of being slightly stupid. She is sure that she is about to be arrested because she has addressed Colonel Pickering as "captain", and it is very difficult to persuade her that this whole idea is absurd.

Her ignorance has its comic side. She has never seen a bathtub. When she does, she refuses to use it because she feels it is both dangerous and indecent to take off all one's clothes and get wet all over; she knows of someone who did it every Saturday night and died from it! Mrs. Pearce gets her into the tub by a combination of force and trickery.

Eliza does have standards of behavior. She does not drink. She is "a good girl," she insists, and she is convincing. We are sure that this is true; we feel admiration for the young girl who was turned out by her father and stepmother because she was big enough to look after herself, and who has managed to stay sober and self-respecting in the midst of extreme poverty.
Eliza is only eighteen or twenty when the play begins. She may have been a good deal younger when she was first forced to make her own living.

The revelation of Eliza's possibilities begins with her external self and progresses until we see the qualities of her spirit-qualities which might have stayed hidden all her life if it were not for Higgins and Pickering. A bath reveals that Eliza is attractive. A few good clothes show that she is also capable of being stylish and distinguished. Some hard work by Higgins shows that she has a sharp ear for sound and speech. Soon she can pronounce her native tongue better than most people.

But to uncover the possibilities of Eliza's mind is a much harder thing. In Mrs.Higgins' drawing room, Eliza still displays the mind of a girl brought up in a squalid world of drunkenness and violence. This contrast between her refined dress and diction on the one hand, and the content of her conversation on the other is what makes the high comedy of the scene. It also pitiful as it
reveals that Eliza's background is still very much with her. Finally, it shows that much inner development will be necessary. By the end of the play, Eliza has become a different person inside as well as outside. She is able to analyze her own situation. She can move beautifully through the world of garden parties and receptions, but she does not really belong in that world.
The other guests sense this as well as she does. They look upon her as a beautiful but alien visitor, not as one of themselves. Yet she is no longer able to return to the world she came from. Dirt and rags and flower baskets no longer constitute a possible way of life for her. She cannot see where she belongs. Hence her anguished cry: "What's o become of me?" The only emotional haven she has is the life she has built with Higgins and Pickering. But as she hears the discussion of how boring the experiment has been to Higgins, that refuge fades away. She is sure that Higgins does not want her and cannot wait to be rid of her. In this, as it happens, she is wrong. But she courageously acts on her understanding of what is going on; she leaves.

The shock of leaving the Wimpole Street house and going off on her own again changes Eliza's perspective. She is able to call upon her own dignity and self-sufficiency as she meets with Higgins. She tries to discover definitely how he feels about her, and whether her going has shocked his selfish mind into sympathy or appreciation. Here too she shows her appreciation of all that Colonel Pickering has done for her. She is also able to evaluate Freddy Eynsford-Hill. She sees his weaknesses but also understands the desirable qualities he offers as a husband.

Thus, with warm intuition and a capable brain, Eliza is able to analyze the men who are the factors in her life at the moment. We leave her considering the splendid and exasperating qualities of Higgins, and the unremarkable but comforting qualities of the adoring Freddy. She says she will marry Freddy, but we are not sure.

We should note also that by the end of the play Eliza has come to understand Higgins well enough to make him thoroughly uncomfortable when she wants to. She quarrels with him far more cleverly than he does with her. His outbreaks are noisy but blundering and innocent. She makes him squirm quite deliberately. She will never be able to cope with that difficult man completely, but she is not helpless at his hands any longer.

Colonel Pickering.
Pickering is the opposite of Higgins in almost every way. The two men are alike mainly in their interest in phonetics. Pickering is courteous, while Higgins is ill-mannered. He is patient while Higgins is brusque. He is even-tempered, but Higgins has an explosive disposition. Pickering is kindly in his impulses, while Higgins is sometimes mischievous and often thoughtless.

Eliza feels much gratitude toward Pickering, and properly so. He gives generous financial help. But, more important, he gives that courteous consideration by which she learns about being a lady. Eliza's outlook changes from the moment that Pickering calls her "Miss Doolittle" and offers her a seat. As she intelligently explains it later on: "The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated."

Pickering is also capable of showing a certain shortsightedness. Along with Higgins, he is distinctly impatient as Higgins' mother urges them to take some thought for Eliza's future. He is too amused by Eliza's progress to think about this important subject. Pickering's considerateness deserts him for a short time after Eliza's great triumph. He can do nothing but talk about his
own feelings and congratulate Higgins. He has no word of praise or reassurance for Eliza.

But on the whole, Pickering personifies sanity and conventional behavior in the play. This points up Higgins' eccentricity. It should be added that Pickering is not a dithering fool and should not be played that way, though he often is.

What is the science of phonetics? What is its practical importance in the play? What is its symbolic importance?

Phonetics concerns the sounds of human speech, particularly how they are produced and how they may be classified. This subject had an extremely rapid development in the nineteenth century. One of its pioneers was Henry Sweet, the cantankerous Oxford scholar who was one of the models for Shaw's portrait of Higgins. Sweet was an inventor (though not the only one) of
the International Phonetic Alphabet. This made it possible to record human speech precisely, which could not be done with the conventional alphabet. In the play Higgins is the inventor of a fictional phonetic alphabet named Higgins' Universal Alphabet.

Shaw took delight in writing Pygmalion because he was thus able to show that what seemed like a dry, unpromising subject could be turned into a lively play. This was done by making clear the practical implications of phonetics.By means of it, a person's speech could be changed. With the change in speech, a change in life was possible. By developing the idea of this change, Shaw
developed the play.

Thus, a familiar and enjoyable story is retold. It is the story of Galatea, as the title suggests. It is also the story of Cinderella. Only here the chief force is not magic, but the expert ability of Higgins. The change includes dramatic alterations in cleanliness, manners, and dress, but the
original and most important element is the change in speech.

The change in speech also has symbolic value. The difference between cultivated and unacceptable speech is one of the chief symbols of the difference between social classes. This difference has been for most people unchangeable. The speech with which most human beings grow up is the speech they keep all their lives. It marks them unmistakably. Here Higgins, and
through him Shaw, shows that this great difference between human beings can be destroyed. And when this disappears, the class distinction it represents also largely disappears. The flower girl does not have to stay on the curbstone with her basket all her life. To re-make human speech is a method of re-making modern society.

*********

Hope you enjoyed that.

Mrs Saunders

Block 2 Presents Toads and Dancing Monkeys

2007-05-31T10:38:00.000+08:00

The three videos below are Block 2's re-creation of Gerald Durrell's journey through Africa which he describes in the first chapter of The Bafut Beagles. The title of that chapter is Toads and Dancing Monkeys. Each clip represents one paragraph and the first paragraph is the bottom clip; the middle clip is the second paragraph and the top clip is the third paragraph. Well done to the students and my only comment is, "for goodness sake get a new cameraman!"

Block 2 Shows Us the Exotic Flora

2007-05-31T10:35:00.000+08:00

Block 2 Brings the Beautiful Fauna to Life

2007-05-31T10:19:00.000+08:00

Block 2 Re-creates Durrell's Ancient Jalopy!

2007-05-31T09:57:00.000+08:00

Dramatis Personae

2007-05-29T21:33:00.001+08:00

Mr Thomson, Head of English.

Rules his Empire with a rod of iron. Woe betide anyone who crosses this fierce Celt.

2007-05-29T21:24:00.000+08:00

Mrs Saunders

This flower of the Orient, a vital contrast to all the testosterone flooding through the department.

2007-05-29T21:23:00.000+08:00

Mr Kendrew

Rakishly handsome, with that devil-may-care charm. Coolness personified

2007-05-29T21:21:00.000+08:00

Mr Whitehead.

Literary genius, world-renowned expert on Shakespeare, A Man for All Seasons.

More Words of Wisdom

2007-05-27T02:57:00.000+08:00

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.
Mark Twain
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.
Winston Churchill

Misery Lit...read on (posted by Mrs Saunders)

2007-05-26T14:13:00.001+08:00

(Misery lit... read on (bbc 17/4/07)

By Brendan O'Neill
The bestseller lists are full of memoirs about miserable childhoods and anguished families. Waterstone's even has a "Painful Lives" shelf. Why are authors confessing their hurt so freely and do readers find morbid enjoyment in them?
In recent years, numerous new sub-genres have emerged in Britain's literary scene.
There has been "chick lit" (usually comedic novels about singletons looking for Mr Right), "mummy lit" (tales of new mums making a hash of juggling child and career), and "Brit lit" (which refers to new British novel-writing in general).
Now we have what Bookseller magazine refers to as "mis lit", or "misery memoirs", in which the author tells of his or her triumph over personal trauma. Referred to by publishing houses as "inspirational lit" - or "inspi-lit" - many, though by no means all, of the harrowing memoirs tell of being sexually abused as a child.
And they are proving to be hugely popular. Currently there are three such books in the top 10 best-selling paperbacks in Britain.
Two of the top 10 bestsellers
Don't Tell Mummy by Toni Maguire, "a memoir of childhood abuse", is at number one. It's followed closely by Betrayed, a mother's story of a family torn apart by her daughter's behaviour, and Silent Sisters, a memoir about "siblings who survived abuse". In the hardback top 10 there is Our Little Secret, which tells of a "boy molested from age of four" and Damaged, the story of a child abused by parents "involved in a sickening paedophile ring". Daddy's Little Girl, which recounts a girl's abuse by her father, sits just outside.
These memoirs sell in numbers that many mainstream novelists can only dream about. Of the top 100 bestselling paperbacks of 2006, 11 were memoirs about surviving abuse. With combined sales of 1.9 million copies, abuse memoirs made up 8.8% of sales in the 100 bestselling paperbacks last year.
Waterstone's now has a "Painful Lives" shelf which features the newest such examples; Borders has a "Real Lives" section.
They sell in supermarkets, too, including Asda and Tesco. According to Kate Elton of Arrow publishers, the market for these memoirs is "80% or 90% female".
What lies behind the speedy rise of the "misery memoir"? Is the popularity of these books a healthy sign that Britons are shaking off their stiff upper lips and finally talking out loud about painful events? Or is there an element of voyeurism, even salaciousness, in the snapping up of such memoirs?
Helps healing
Some of the memoirists say they write in order to come to terms with their traumatic experiences - and to help readers to do likewise.
There's compelling evidence that writing about serious emotional upheavals can improve mental and physical health
Professor James W Pennebaker
Toni Maguire, author of the top-selling paperback Don't Tell Mummy, in which she writes of her abuse at the hands of her father, said in a recent interview it was "difficult going back over the past, but writing helped me deal with the past. If readers take one thing away from reading the book I'd like it to be that they normalise the victim. People have got to realise that it is not shameful to be a victim", said Maguire.
James W Pennebaker, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas in the US, says that writing about traumatic experiences can indeed help the writer to deal with his or her emotions.
"There's compelling evidence that writing about serious emotional upheavals can improve mental and physical health," he says.
Professor Pennebaker admits scientific research into the value of expressive writing is still in the "early phases". But his research seems to show that trauma-writing is beneficial.
Unsavoury side
"In our studies, we bring a group of people into the lab and randomly select some to write about a personal traumatic experience and others to write about something superficial. They write in 15- or 30-minute bursts over a period of three or four days. We found that those who write about trauma tend to see some improvement in wellbeing."
Do the books point to a national obsession with abuse?
The trauma-writers experienced health benefits - including improvement in immune function - and also reported feeling "less haunted" by their traumatic experiences.
However, Professor Pennebaker says his research only covers individuals who write "by themselves and for themselves".
"The act of writing can be therapeutic, but having your painful writing published is a different matter. Whether that is beneficial for the author is up for question. Sometimes it introduces new problems of its own. The author might be cut off by family and friends or find that their social worlds fall apart."
Others believe that the success of the misery memoir reveals something rather more unsavoury about contemporary Britain.
"I just don't buy the idea that people buy these books for information or advice, for an 'Open Sesame' to becoming free of their own harrowing memories", says Times columnist Carol Sarler.
"Rather they show that, as a nation, we seem utterly in thrall to paedophilia. We are obsessed with it. And now, with these books, we are wallowing in the muck of it. It's all rather disgusting."
Gerry Feehily, a publisher-turned-novelist based in Paris, also believes these books are popular because they flatter readers' sense of moral outrage while also secretly titillating.
"Paedophiles are down there with the Nazis and Judas as all-time bad folk, so these stories are easy on the writer, easy on the reader. Most of us not being paedophiles, we are in a comfort zone with these books, where we feel edified and also morbidly thrilled."
And because the memoirs are born out of an existing consensus that child abusers are wicked, they cannot be considered to be challenging or "real" literature, says Feehily.
"For me, any real literature avoids a ready-made consensus, or even challenges the consensus. Few of the books on abuse rise above the level of curio, documentary or pure opportunism", he says.
Liz Bury of Bookseller thinks we should be more generous. The rise of the misery memoir shows there has been a "great shift in attitudes in Britain" - we have become more willing to talk about nasty events rather than pursing our lips and staying quiet, she says.
"Maybe there is a voyeuristic impulse behind some people's purchase of these memoirs," says Ms Bury. "But probably the vast majority of readers are motivated by empathy rather than a desire to pore over someone else's pain"

Speak English Like the Natives

2007-05-26T09:14:00.000+08:00

One of the indicators of advanced speakers of English is their ability to use idioms. Native speakers use them all the time. Click on the link below to see loads of them. Learn them, use them. Don't be a laughing stock, bite the bullet and keep up with the Joneses. As Inspector Clouseau said, I am not the idiom. You are the idiom.

www.idiomconnection.com

Great Speeches

2007-05-26T05:01:00.000+08:00

Have a look at this, one of the seminal speeches of the 20th Century. Martin Luther King, American Civil Rights leader, who was later assassinated in 1968.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

You will really need e-speed to be able to watch properly.

Interesting!!

2007-05-25T19:36:00.000+08:00

Unlikely Book titles
THE SCHIZOPHRENIC: AN UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
THE TEACHER'S GUIDE TO FASHION

Mixed Metaphors
I have a lot of irons in the fire, but I'm holding them close to my chest.
You hit the nail right on the nose.
She really rubs me up the wrong tree.

Strange things to say.
If you fall and break your leg, don't come running to me!
Don't look at me with that tone of voice
That question was so easy you could have answered it blindfolded.
Math illiteracy affects 7 out of every 5 people.

Definitions not in a dictionary
Avoidable: What a bullfighter tries to do.
Handkerchief: Cold Storage.
Polarize: What penguins see with.
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Shellfish: A bit like a shelf.

Let's look at an ad.

2007-05-24T19:53:00.000+08:00

The text of the advertisement below appeared in the Radio Times. Link to Radio Times

Have you?

The value of experience

Well have you? You know, been there, done that?

Anyone who tells you the world’s getting smaller hasn’t driven a Suzuki lately. For over 30 years, Suzuki 4 X 4s have been expanding drivers’ horizons, taking them as far as their imagination leads them. And sometimes beyond. For real adventures, you need a real 4 X 4.

Underneath that smoothly-contoured body shell, the Grand Vitara is pure, uncompromising, off-road engineering with a ladder-frame chassis that’s strong enough and durable enough to take on the toughest of terrains. Long-travel suspension and high ground clearance let you ride easily over rocks, ruts and river-beds. The Drive Select 4 X 4 system, giving you all the traction and control you need – with an effortless switch to 2WD when you get back on the tarmac. You can choose from 2.0 litre petrol and Turbo Diesel engines or a gutsy 2.5 V6. Whatever Mother Nature’s throwing at you outside, inside it’s all comfort, space and relaxation. And wherever life takes you, the Grand Vitara offers unparalleled safety, comfort and driver satisfaction, all at a price that’s a world away from other 4 X 4s. If you expect a lot from your car, we expect your call on 01892-707007.

How do we set about analysing an advertisement? Firstly we need to understand that this is persuasive writing. The author is trying to persuade us to buy something; in this case a car. Advertisers typically like to create needs in us; make us feel that our lives are incomplete unless we buy what they are selling. Very often it's a need we never knew we had.

Look at the heading and the questions. What need is the advertisement creating? Why are there so many questions? Why does the advertisement address the reader directly using you? Why does the author use value and experience? What is the purpose of been there, done that? What tone does all of this create?

In the main body contrast smaller with expanding, as far as, horizons, beyond. What has allowed people to lead a less restricted lifestyle? What is the only thing stopping you achieving this less restricted lifestyle? What's the importance of 30 years? Why is real repeated and what does it contrast with? What, therefore, will buying a Suzuki do for you? What does buying a Suzuki promise you?

Is there a non-sentence in the first paragraph? What is its effect?

In the next paragraph look at the compound modifiers smoothly-contoured, off-road, ladder-frame, long-travel. What do they mean? What are the words that they modify? What do those words mean? If you don't know, it's all jargon (find the meaning of this word). If you do know it's terminology (find its meaning). In either case, what is the effect of these phrases? Do they sound technical and impressive? What then is a drive select 4 X 4 system?

Can you spot a nice piece of alliteration? What effect does that have?

Do we have choice? How? Is the driver in complete control? How?

Find other words in the same lexical field as easily. What effect do they have?

Do the same for pure.

What effect does world away have? Does it echo another part of the advertisement?

Comment on the structure of the final sentence.

Did you find the word need anywhere? It would be very surprising not to find it somewhere.

Contrast the world outside the Suzuki with the one inside it.

Does the writer use contractions? What is their effect?

Can we say anything about sentence length?

Advertisers often hit us with a hard-sell, after all they are spending good money trying to get us to spend ours. Is there a hard-sell anywhere here? If so, how is it achieved?

Think about the audience in terms of age, gender, social status, professional status, income, aspirations and lifestyle. Now, when you are stuck in a huge traffic jam on your way to your boring dead-end job, where are you in your mind? Do you think that owning a Suzuki gives you freedom and choice and control over your life?

Guidance on Writing a Speech in the Style of Mandela's Let Freedom Reign

2007-05-24T11:59:00.000+08:00

You will write a section of a speech (about 120 words) that you will make to your fellow students on a subject concerning the school which you feel strongly about.

1. Unite the audience by using inclusive pronouns. Mandela uses we, us, our.

2. Use optimistic vocabulary for a bright future. Mandela uses celebrations, glory, hope, liberty.

3. Use metaphors. Mandela uses healing of wounds, bridge the chasm.

4. Contrast the evils of the past with the optimism of the future. Mandela uses poverty, deprivation.

5. Use parallel structures to make your message clear, memorable and to develop ideas. Mandela uses: Let there be peace for all. Let there be justice for all. Let there be work...

6. Use repetition to make the message clear, memorable and emphatic. Mandela uses never, never and never again.

7. Use a dramatic image to startle the audience. Mandela uses skunk.

8. Sound like a leader. Mandela uses formal phrases let freedom reign; he offers inspirational guidance we pledge ourselves to...

9. Relate your message to the world and universe to show its great significance. Mandela says the sun will never set.

10. Invoke the Almighty to show that God is on your side. Mandela says God bless Africa.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatspeeches

Click on this link to hear some great speeches.

I Don't Believe It! They're Studying?

2007-05-24T11:52:00.001+08:00

An Outsider's View of Brunei

2007-05-24T10:24:00.000+08:00

Have a look at this interesting travel article about Brunei from a British newspaper, the Daily Mail. As you can see from the description of the first picture, not entirely accurate, but interesting to see how Brunei is viewed by the outside world.

http://www.travelmail.co.uk/travel/Brunei/Brunei----don-t-just-fly-by.html?article_id=27156

Solution to Tenses Exercise for Blocks 3 and 4

2007-05-23T22:19:00.000+08:00

Block 3 hard at work

2007-05-23T22:06:00.000+08:00

Oxymorons

2007-05-22T22:02:00.001+08:00

There are zillions of these. Click on the title of the post i.e. the word "Oxymorons"

For AK's Block 3 and 4 classes

2007-05-22T21:45:00.000+08:00

Also For AK's Block 3 and 4 classes

2007-05-22T21:28:00.000+08:00

Yet More Food For Thought

2007-05-21T22:24:00.000+08:00

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right
Henry Ford
You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give
Winston Churchill

More Food for Thought

2007-05-20T07:42:00.000+08:00

Nothing will work unless you do.
Maya Angelou

There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.
Henry Ford

BBC AS Level Website

2007-05-20T07:07:00.000+08:00

Been there yet?

Go on, try it, you'll love it!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/asguru/

Have fun!!

2007 Debate Team

2007-05-19T12:16:00.001+08:00

Eyes Down

2007-05-19T11:26:00.000+08:00

2007-05-19T11:25:00.000+08:00

Focus!!

2007-05-19T11:22:00.000+08:00

Look what fun they are having!!

A Rare Sight

2007-05-19T11:16:00.000+08:00

Indeed a rare sight, Block 4 class, hard at work. Clearly happy and fulfilled in their labours.

Upper sixth girls discuss another essay

2007-05-18T13:42:00.001+08:00

Posted by mobile

A Joke

2007-05-18T06:02:00.000+08:00

Nelson Mandela is sitting at home watching TV when he hears a knock at the door. When he opens it, he is confronted by a man, clutching a clip board and yelling,"You Sign! You sign!" Behind him is an enormous truck full of car exhausts. Nelson is standing there in complete amazement, when the man starts to yell louder,"You Sign! You sign!" Nelson says to him, "Look, you've obviously got the wrong man", and shuts the door in his face. The next day he hears a knock at the door again. When he opens it, the man is back with a huge truck of brake pads. He thrusts his clipboard under Nelson's nose, yelling,"You sign! You sign!" Mr Mandela is getting a bit annoyed by now, so he pushes the man back, shouting:"Look, go away! You've got the wrong man. I don't want them!" Then he slams the door in his face again. The following day, Nelson is resting, and late in the afternoon, he hears a knock on the door again. On opening the door, there is the same man thrusting a clipboard under his nose, shouting,"You sign! You sign!" Behind him are TWO very large trucks full of car parts. This time Nelson loses his temper completely, he picks up the man by his shirt front and yells at him:"Look, I don't want these! Do you understand? You must have the wrong name! Who do you want to give these to?"The man looks very puzzled, consults his clipboard, and says:"You're not Nissan Main Dealer?"

Learn English Doing Crosswords

2007-05-17T22:17:00.000+08:00

Crosswords are a great way to pass the time and learn loads of language. There are many to choose from on-line, but here's a good one. The Herald has a new crossword every day; you can print it out or complete it on your computer; the answers are available the next day and it's free! Go on become a crossword head. You'll really learn English. Click on the words below.

Herald Crosswords

Inspiration: Food For Thought

2007-05-16T09:08:00.000+08:00

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
Alexander Graham Bell
The road to success is always under construction.
Unknown
It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question
Eugene Ionesco

Contact Us

2007-05-16T08:55:00.000+08:00

You can make comments on each post by clicking on the "comments" link.
You can also send us an email on the above address pteb.eas@gmail.com.
You can "tag" on the tag board, but please include short name and Block number. Anonymous tags will be removed.
Or you can do the old-fashioned thing and talk to us!!!

The Ghastly Blank

2007-05-13T13:45:00.000+08:00

If you would like to do a bit of background reading about the text we are going to do in the near future entitled "The Ghastly Blank" about a fateful expedition across Australia in the 19th century, look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills

The Road to Wigan Pier

2007-05-10T16:18:00.000+08:00

This is Mr Kendrew's model of the Commentary on the text taken from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier”

L6th EAS Assessment 1. May 2007

This text from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier” is in the genre of a report or a social commentary. His purpose is to bring to light or expose the conditions suffered by the working people in the North of England. The audience is likely to be the general public, but more specifically the government. Its tone therefore is critical, descriptive and provocative.
The first paragraph characterizes the South, East and Midlands of England as comfortably bland and uniform, through the use of such lexical items as “accustomed to”, “not much difference”, “not unlike” and “indistinguishable”. He then provides a stark contrast to this with his description of the towns of the North. The repetition of words such as “ugliness” and the use of adjectives like “frightful” and “arresting” heightens the terrible contrast between these comfortable pleasant towns of the rest of England, and those of the North.
The second paragraph consists of a description of Wigan. He uses a myriad of adjectives to describe the terrible scene he witnesses, such as “hideous, planless, functionless, frightful, evil.” All of these combine to create an image of a horrific environment. In the first line he uses the term “at best” to show that the word “hideous” is not enough to describe the scene of the slag-heap. That is indeed the best thing which can be said about it.
The simile “like the emptying of a giant’s dustbin” gives us an image of the huge size of the slag-heap. Adjectives such as “jagged” convey a harsh, sharp image of the scene. He then creates an image of hell with the use of the alliterative metaphor “red rivulets of fire, winding this way and that.” The never-ending nature of this horror is emphasized through the description of the “blue flames of sulphur, which always seem on the point of expiring and always spring out again.” There is no relief, no respite from the misery. These slag-heaps will also still be visible “centuries hence”. In the phrase “evil brown grass” he uses personification to show that even natural elements such as grass have this horrible characteristic. The fact that slag-heaps are used as playgrounds seems incongruous, almost ironic. These slag-heaps are compared with the use of a simile to the sharp peaks of “a choppy sea, suddenly frozen” or a metaphor with his depiction of an uncomfortable lumpy “flock mattress”.
In the third paragraph he recalls one particular winter afternoon in Wigan. He uses the alliterative metaphor “lunar landscape” to give the image of a barren, almost alien environment. There is no vegetation, just “cinders” and “frozen mud”. This environment is “criss-crossed by the imprint of innumerable clogs“ the alliteration generating the memorable image of many people suffering under these harsh conditions. The “flashes – pools of stagnant water” intensify the image of this horrific place, as they were covered with “ice, the colour of raw umber”. You might, under normal conditions expect ice to clear or white, but not in this environment. There is an example of personification where the “lock gates wore beards of ice” emphasizing the image of this cold, barren land, from which “vegetation had been banished.”
However, all of this pales in comparison to Sheffield, as evidenced by the use of the intensifier “even”. It is “the ugliest town in the Old World”, with very few decent buildings, even compared to the average East Anglian village of only 500 inhabitants. The exclamation mark after “…stench!” intensifies the already strong meaning of the word. Even when the sulphur smell is not present, you smell gas. There is no respite, no relief from the unrelenting misery. “The shallow river…is usually bright yellow” and one might normally expect something yellow to be bright, primary and natural, however here, the yellow comes from “some chemical or other”. Throughout the text, Orwell uses colour imagery, “grey mountains…red rivulets…blue flames…brown grass…raw umber…bright yellow…dark red…blackened…blackish… red and yellow brick…rosy…redlit boys” to heighten the vivid effect of his imagery. Even the primary colours are indicative of something horrible.
The description of the thirty-three chimneys is heightened by the fact that it was only the smoke which hindered his view of many more. Further use of lexis such as “frightful…squalor…littered…gaunt” increase yet more the impression of impoverishment. His ironic use of the word “vista” to describe the ugly panorama is intensified by the repetition of “chimneys, chimney beyond chimney”.
The last paragraph gives us an image of Sheffield at night, a hideous place where there is nothing but “blackness” and the oxymoronic “sinister magnificence.“ The description of “serrated flames, like circular saws” reprises the “jagged” image from the description of Wigan. Orwell personifies the smoke and flames which “squeeze themselves”, as if they were alive. The vision of hell is once again highlighted with “fiery serpents” and “redlit boys”, and further intensified with the onomatopoeic “whiz, thump…scream.”
Orwell, through his cumulative use of imagery created by a variety of lexis, paints a picture of unmitigated horror. It is clear that his writing was intended to have a very strong effect on his audience.