Blog Post 13th – 17th April 2015

During our english lesson, as a class, we have been learning how to answer questions in greater detail using different skills. We have been working on our imagination skills. We have also studied creative writing skills.

We were given several pictures over the week. We used these pictures and were able to use our imaginative skills to adapt the pictures. We had a choice of either creating a news article, a letter, a monologue, a short-story or a view of a first or third person.

One of the pictures was of a man in a sharks mouth. As a class we were aware that this was not a true image, but using our imagination we created a picture in our head to enable us to put pen to paper.

The other was a scene from good-fellas. The picture ilustrated four men in a car, two at the back, one asleep at the front and another nervous and anxious looking man at the steering wheel. After a class discussion the majority of the class used their imagination and felt that these were a group of men who had committed a crime of some sort.

After this we passed our work over to a peer and peer assessed each others work. We gave each other targets and re-wrote our peer’s paragraphs and adapted them into a different general and style of writing.

In the middle of the week we had our results back from our mock GCSE’s. When we got our results back we had to go through the test papers and find our strengths and weaknesses throughout the test. We then had to discover what our strengths and weaknesses were and then set ourselves three targets.

In the last lesson of the week we read a short section of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. Then we began to analyse the authors’ writing techniques and her writing style. Whilst reading we discovered that the language in the 1800’s was very similar to the language used in the 21st century.

As a class we hope this will help us to address our strengths and weaknesses enabling us to get better results for our GCSE’s.

Posted by Guvvy Mann

Blog Post 2nd-6th March 2015

In the first lesson we did this week we did a revision lesson on grammar. We revised all the points about grammar including: Nouns, Verbs, Pronouns and Adjectives. For each point Miss Fairhurst put a PowerPoint up so we could write what each point means and also some types of that grammar e.g. Proper nouns and abstract nouns. Then Miss put a short sentence up that we had to underline the types of the grammar e.g. after the asteroid hit the Earth, darkness descended over the planet. This is a sentence that has many nouns in. We also did this for each other type of grammar. Verbs are doing/action words, Pronouns are used instead of nouns, Adjectives tell you about something and Nouns are words that are used to identify any of a class of people.

On the second lesson of this week we a read a short story from our anthologies which was called ‘The Darkness Out There’. As a starter on that day we talked about what the word ‘Dadness’ means from the short story. On the third day of the week we read though the rest of the story and talked about the story and what happens in it.

For the final day of this week we used PEE to explain and finish off some sentence starters off of the board. We had to find a quote for each paragraph and explain what is meant by the wording of that quote. One of the starters was ‘At the beginning of the darkness out there, Kerry appears to be carefree and boyish’. We then had to find a quote that matches the point then explain it.

Posted by Elliott Granger

Blog Post 23rd-27th February 2015

This past week in our English lessons we started our by looking at a grammar and expressions power point. These tips that we wrote down will hopefully help us to improve our future controlled assessment grades. After looking at grammar and expressions we started our literature revision by looking at the “Sunlight on the Grass” anthology. Before we read and extracts from the anthology we noted down some key aspects of short stories and novels. The notes that we made were the definition of a short story and some of the successful writers of short stories such as: Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and Ernest Hemingway. We then went on to find out about the structure of a short story. We found out that they tend to be less complex than novels and they usually focus on only one incident. They also consist of a small amount of characters; and cover a small period of time. The next piece of information that we found out was the structure of a short story is very similar to a novel or longer story as they have a, climax, crisis, or turning point. The only difference that we looked at is that the endings of most short stories are abrupt and open and doesn’t always have a practical lesson.

In our next lesson we read the first extract from our anthologies, “Sunlight on the Grass”. The extract that we read was called “My Polish Teachers Tie”. The novel was about a “dinner lady” writing to a polish pen-friend and eventually meeting them in real life. After reading the extract we discussed the themes based on the extract. The three different themes we discussed were: identity, friendship, and class (lower, working, and middle).

The next lesson that we had, we discussed what made our identity and wrote down the ideas in a spider diagram. Some of the answers that we had were: the way we dress, our career, our accent, the way we act, attitude, social groups, and what we believe in, which lead to discussing our morals, religion, and political views. When we had finished discussing what identity meant we answered a series of questions to do with identity in “my polish teacher’s tie”. The first question was; “can personal identity change and how?” The next was; “what is the most important aspect of Carla’s identity was?” The third question we answered leaded on from the second by saying; “does this change at any point in the story?” The second to last question was; “who initiates these changes?” We all had separate people to blame in our answer as some people said that her pen-friend (Steve) was the person to blame, were as others said that she was to blame. The next question was a little different because we had to analyse a particular quote from the extract. The extension question was to; “discuss Carla’s relations with her polish heritage.”

In our final lesson of the week we had to present a drama role play scene from the extract. The class was divided into three groups and each had to create a scene showing the themes of “my polish teacher’s tie.” After rehearsing our performances we individually performed them to the rest of the class. After performing them we discussed weather they focused on the themes or not, and whether they showed how teachers are controlling over lower class workmates.

After performing our presentations we looked at “my polish teachers tie” and analysed particular, words, phrases, and sentences. The way we did this was by reading through a small number of paragraphs and then discussing the sentence structure and what the definition of the words were and the different techniques the writer has used, such as, making the text seem like a conversation.

All of these activities are what we have been doing over the past week in our English lessons. From starting with grammar and expressions leading to a drama sketch of an extract we have looked at from our anthologies.

Posted by Will Herrick

Literature Revision: My Polish Teacher’s Tie

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosepolishteachertie/

BBC GCSE Bitesize has a really useful section recapping the story and going over the themes and characters in the text!

Miss F

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Blog Post 26th-30th January 2015

This week, we drafted the first paragraph for our controlled assessment on ‘explore the way J B Priestley presents ideas about society in An Inspector Calls,’ which counts towards our GCSE coursework. In the paragraph we had to give a vague outline of the plot and a short description of J B Priestley, along with the context in which the play was wrote and how this relates to the play.

In our next lesson we filled in another page in our Inspector Calls booklet. We had to explain each of the characters feelings on community and how much they realised that their actions could affect others. We had to back up each point with a quotation from the text and explain it.

In our final of the week, we drafted the next paragraph of our controlled assessment piece. We used quotations from the book to explain how capitalism has ruined the family unit and social morality and the sense of community in the book. We used PEWA: point, evidence, word, analyse. This meant that we made our point and backed it up with a quotation from the play, then broke down the words in the quotation in order to discuss their connotations and authorial intent.

Posted by Sophie Rayner

then broke down the words in the quotation and further analyse the key words.

19th-23rd January 2015 Blog Post

In our first lesson, we finished watching the last part of the film version of, ” An inspector calls.”

After that Miss gave us a booklet which would help us with our extended reading assessment. On

the front of the booklet was the exam question which we would be answering. The question was, ”

Explore the way J B Priestley presents ideas about society in An Inspector Calls. Then we were told to

do the first task in the booklet which was; what was the characters relationships to Eva Smith. In this

task we had to look at each charter and write down how did the character contribute to Eva’s death

and how each if the characters where controlled/ manipulated by the inspector.

In our second lesson we focussed more on the concepts of time. In this activity we had to look at

two theory’s and say how it linked into the playa and explain why it did. The two theory’s that we

looked at were Ouspensky’s and Dunne’s. Ouspensky’s theory is about how when we die we re-enter

the same life over and over until something of an significance comes and changes then we go into a

new life where we do not do the same mistakes. Dunne’s theory is that we could all be given the gift

of seeing forward and also backwards. This is so we can see the consequences of our actions and we

can change them before it’s too late. Then when we had finished a few of us had to read out some

examples of what we had wrote.

In our third lesson, we focused more on the book on An Inspector Calls. Particularly, on the function

of the Inspector. Which means what was the purpose of the Inspector. In the booklet we had to fill

out the table which had examples of a function and we had to state a example then find a quote to

support it. Most of the functions were about the characters and how the characters reacted in the

play. When we had finished that the next activity was about individuals and community. We had to

tick a box to say whether we, strongly agreed, agreed, were not sure, disagree or strongly disagreed

about the sentence that was given. It was about how we live in a community and whether we should

look after each other.

In our final lesson of the week, we looked at a story about a 17 year old girl who committed suicide

who was in our society today. It was very similar to the books story on how Eva Smith died and her

events before. Then we all discussed who was to blame for the death. Then we discussed as a class

the inspectors final speech and how it was a good speech. After that we had to do the questions

which were under the text.

Capital Versus Labour

Another theme bubbling below the surface is that of class conflict between the rich and the poor.

In the play Birling represents the forces of capital, while Eva represents the downtrodden working class – but because she is dead, the Inspector stands in for her and her class. This conflict of interests is brought to the fore in some of the dialogue between these two characters:

Birling:	Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth.
Gerald:	I should say so!
Inspector:	They might. But after all it’s better to ask for the earth than take it.

The Inspector implies in his retort that the upper middle classes have stolen the earth. This fits in with the socialist view that the rich capitalists have wrongful ownership of “the means of production”. Through some strange historical twist they have acquired the factories and manufacturing plants that should be owned by the workers.

The Inspector also takes it upon himself to continually remind the characters sheltered in their upper middle-class bubble about the exploitative working and living conditions of the working class.

Inspector:	There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big town in this country, Miss Birling. If there weren’t factories and warehouses, wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour. Ask your father.
Sheila:	But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.

Here we see he has successfully converted at least one character to his way of thinking.

Social Versus Individual Responsibility

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This is the central theme in the play, and it is at the root of the left-wing social vision underpinning the play.

While capitalist values dictate that it’s every man for himself, the socialist vision holds that we are all collectively responsible for each other and our society. It is unreal and irrational to deny that we are connected to all other individuals in our society. To deny these relationships is to lie to ourselves. Capitalist values promote and rationalise human exploitation and misery – in the play these selfish values are embodied and propagated by Birling.We hear him addressing the table near the beginning of the play:

… a man has to make his own way, has to look after himself – and his family too, of course, when he has one – and so long as he does he won’t come to much harm. But the way some…

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Blog Post 12th-16th Jan

The Birling family are spending a happy evening celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft – a marriage that will result in the merging of two successful local businesses. Yet, just when everything seems to be going so well, they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl.

The Birling family are holding a dinner party to celebrate the engagement of Sheila to Gerald Croft, the son and heir of Mr Birling’s rival in business. Although there are a few signs that not everything is perfect (Mr Birling is a bit too anxious to impress Gerald, Eric seems rather nervous and Sheila playfully rebukes Gerald for not having come near her the previous summer) there is a happy, light-hearted atmosphere.

When the ladies leave the men to their port, Mr Birling has a ‘man to man’ chat with Gerald and Eric, advising them that a man needs to look after himself and his own family and not worry about the wider community. As he is telling them this, the door bell rings. Inspector Goole enters, an impressive, serious man whom none of them has heard of.

We read the entirety of the play last week and watched a version of the play performed as a film. This helped us to identify with characters and see them reacting to the Inspectors investigation. We begin preparation for our controlled assessment essay next week.

Blog Post 6th-9th January 2015

On Tuesday we were given a selection of our classmates homework booklets and we learnt how to mark and assess homework using green and red pens for specific feedback. This taught us what markers look out for, which will help us for next time and also allowed us to see how our fellow classmates do their homework.

On Wednesday we started to read the book called An Inspector Calls. We firstly discussed the social and historical context of the play, learning about the significance of the events which happened between 1912 and 1945, when the play was set and originally performed and written. We discussed the difference between a conservative government and a labour government, discussing the themes of capitalism and socialism. Names were picked off the sticks for certain roles and we then read half of act one. On Friday we finished act one and characters were picked off of the wooden sticks again. In Act One the family are having a family celebratory meal and Inspector Goole walks in an asks questions to the family about a girl that died recently in hospital. We then watched the first part of a film adaption of An Inspector Calls.

Posted by Kieran Delpech