Here is the survey about the non fiction glossary I gave you - fill this beast in here. The more of you do it, then the more I'll know about what to go over in class.
By the way, if you've left the guidance sheet in school, or lost it (grrrrr!) then you can find a replacement here.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
GCSE English Language guidance
If the combined thrills/spills/chills of Youface and Mytube aren't taking up enough of your half term, than I humbly suggest you give up half an hour and check out this guide to non fiction and media texts, straight from the Englishbiz website (the link is on the right). Long story short - this Steve Campsall guy really knows his onions (any of you picking Language next year will see a lot more of him), and having a look over it now won't do you any harm at all before we start the non fiction unit. Get involved!
Coursework Info
Having recently collected in the film review, I'm now within spitting distance of having a completed marksheet for all your coursework. I've been aware for ages that parents like to know how their kids are going on, so I've been thinking of posting it up here. Before anyone freaks out, I'll replace your names with random numbers (which I'll give to you individually) so nobody can find out marks that aren't theirs. If anyone isn't happy about this (and that includes parents), let me know.
Questions, comments, Bell & Ross watches to the usual, please!
GCSE Exam
Just a quick note for you and your parents - the GCSE English Language is on the 10th January 2012, starting at 9am.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Reviews
Right then folks - your final bit of coursework will be to complete a film review of 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. In order for us to do this, you'll need to have a really good knowledge of how film reviews work.
So, to start with, you'll need to find a bunch of film reviews (round about three will be enough), ideally on the same film. So, you can go to dedicated film review sites like www.rottentomatoes.com, or general review sites like www.metacritic.com. These are blocked by school though, so look at other sites, such as www.empireonline.com, or even newspaper sites (although tabloid reviews will be a little short and simple for our purposes, although it won't hurt to look at them). Create a special folder in your English folder, and save a bunch of reviews there. When you come to me on Monday, I'll want you to have printed at least two - but feel free to work with your mate(s).
If you get fed up with this, and fancy something different, then I'd like the old favourite - a graph! Venn diagram, line graph, you name it - I need a load to redo the display in my room, and you pack of monkeys are going to help. If you find Excel a little rough going, then you might want to check out some of these sites you can find out here. Some sort of immunity badge will be the prize for the best one, although you don't have to do this for your homework; your homework is to bring me some reviews on Monday.
Any problems / questions / Patek Philippe watches - send them to the usual address
So, to start with, you'll need to find a bunch of film reviews (round about three will be enough), ideally on the same film. So, you can go to dedicated film review sites like www.rottentomatoes.com, or general review sites like www.metacritic.com. These are blocked by school though, so look at other sites, such as www.empireonline.com, or even newspaper sites (although tabloid reviews will be a little short and simple for our purposes, although it won't hurt to look at them). Create a special folder in your English folder, and save a bunch of reviews there. When you come to me on Monday, I'll want you to have printed at least two - but feel free to work with your mate(s).
If you get fed up with this, and fancy something different, then I'd like the old favourite - a graph! Venn diagram, line graph, you name it - I need a load to redo the display in my room, and you pack of monkeys are going to help. If you find Excel a little rough going, then you might want to check out some of these sites you can find out here. Some sort of immunity badge will be the prize for the best one, although you don't have to do this for your homework; your homework is to bring me some reviews on Monday.
Any problems / questions / Patek Philippe watches - send them to the usual address
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Jobs / news / congratulations etc
Just a quick post to let you know how pleased I am with the reading effort you all put in over the break - special mentions also go to McEwen and Clamenza for scoring 1st and 2nd places in the test, respectively (particularly in the light of some fairly steep marking - I'm looking at you, Armstrong). As you've read the whole text, the next couple of weeks will be fairly straightforward.
I'll give you a photocopied work pack on Tuesday (13th), and I'll expect it in and complete by Thursday 22nd - it's really important that this is done well, as you'll need it for your revision at the end of the year. I certainly don't expect you to print out the whole pack (I'll have a mob of angry parents / Mrs Rogers chasing me if you do) - you can simply replace or stick in any pages that you might have completed previously. I'll give you a lesson and a homework to get it all done, which I reckon will be plenty.
Also helpful when studying the novel are various study guides that are floating about - the Sparknotes ones are pretty good, and so are the thebestnotes.com ones. You can also check out the Novelguide notes, too.
Whilst the above guides have the benefit of being free, I find reading off a monitor hurts the peepers after a while, so if you fancy busting out a few pounds (although do look at the used prices; you often only have to pay the postage), you might want to check out one of the many printed study guides that are available - Yorknotes, Letts and Cliffs notes are all worth a look - but remember, you only need one (ideally different from one that your mate might have got, so you can swap if needs be). I haven't seen this one (although it has fairly decent reviews), and this one might be worth a look if you are gunning for your A*. I'm going to be brutally honest here - kids who read study guides (either books or off t'interweb) get better marks than kids who don't. Simple as. In any case, I'm guessing the majority of you will be in higher education in a year from now, so it won't do you any harm to start getting used to the idea of reading around a subject to better understand it.
Any questions / comments / large cheques etc - send them to the usual address.
Parents - my email has now changed; you can contact me at d.nevin@southnottinghamshireacademy.org
Cheers!
I'll give you a photocopied work pack on Tuesday (13th), and I'll expect it in and complete by Thursday 22nd - it's really important that this is done well, as you'll need it for your revision at the end of the year. I certainly don't expect you to print out the whole pack (I'll have a mob of angry parents / Mrs Rogers chasing me if you do) - you can simply replace or stick in any pages that you might have completed previously. I'll give you a lesson and a homework to get it all done, which I reckon will be plenty.
Also helpful when studying the novel are various study guides that are floating about - the Sparknotes ones are pretty good, and so are the thebestnotes.com ones. You can also check out the Novelguide notes, too.
Whilst the above guides have the benefit of being free, I find reading off a monitor hurts the peepers after a while, so if you fancy busting out a few pounds (although do look at the used prices; you often only have to pay the postage), you might want to check out one of the many printed study guides that are available - Yorknotes, Letts and Cliffs notes are all worth a look - but remember, you only need one (ideally different from one that your mate might have got, so you can swap if needs be). I haven't seen this one (although it has fairly decent reviews), and this one might be worth a look if you are gunning for your A*. I'm going to be brutally honest here - kids who read study guides (either books or off t'interweb) get better marks than kids who don't. Simple as. In any case, I'm guessing the majority of you will be in higher education in a year from now, so it won't do you any harm to start getting used to the idea of reading around a subject to better understand it.
Any questions / comments / large cheques etc - send them to the usual address.
Parents - my email has now changed; you can contact me at d.nevin@southnottinghamshireacademy.org
Cheers!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Jobs for the Summer - get 'em while they're hot and fresh!
Here you go kids - a load of stuff for you to finish over the holidays; I know it's a bit of a hassle, but them As and Bs don't come for free... in any case, I reckon you'd only spend your hols on the YouFace or Mytube, and swapping Pokemon cards and Pogs and the like, so I'm probably doing you a favour.
First of all, read To Kill a Mockingbird. Start to finish, all 31 chapters. No moaning, no skipping chapters, no buying York notes and reading the summary. I'll have a trawl round the tinterweb and post a load of useful links, but in the meantime, get reading (especially in Maths).
Secondly, you'll need to complete the study pack as a group. You should have divided up the tasks between you in your groups, so you should have around 6 tasks each over the summer. It's worthwhile completing this properly, as you'll be letting your group down if you leave it till the last minute and rush it. Molly, Bonita, Jack, Connor and Lorna are all in a group (as you weren't in today), so come and see me and I'll give you the chapters that you have to complete.
In other jobs, I also want you to watch the videos about the social and historical context of the novel - you can find these here, here and here. You should do this sooner rather than later, so definitely by the time you come back from work experience.
I reckon that's enough for now, although I'll also be posting a few jobs to do with Tsotsi and the film review that you'll have to write for me soon enough, although we won't be writing it until September.
Any problems / queries / free tickets to Leicester Tigers, let me know, or get your folks to email.
Cheers!
First of all, read To Kill a Mockingbird. Start to finish, all 31 chapters. No moaning, no skipping chapters, no buying York notes and reading the summary. I'll have a trawl round the tinterweb and post a load of useful links, but in the meantime, get reading (especially in Maths).
Secondly, you'll need to complete the study pack as a group. You should have divided up the tasks between you in your groups, so you should have around 6 tasks each over the summer. It's worthwhile completing this properly, as you'll be letting your group down if you leave it till the last minute and rush it. Molly, Bonita, Jack, Connor and Lorna are all in a group (as you weren't in today), so come and see me and I'll give you the chapters that you have to complete.
In other jobs, I also want you to watch the videos about the social and historical context of the novel - you can find these here, here and here. You should do this sooner rather than later, so definitely by the time you come back from work experience.
I reckon that's enough for now, although I'll also be posting a few jobs to do with Tsotsi and the film review that you'll have to write for me soon enough, although we won't be writing it until September.
Any problems / queries / free tickets to Leicester Tigers, let me know, or get your folks to email.
Cheers!
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