Red Space Rocket

Some background information that my Year 11 students might find useful.

How does interpretation work at the United Nations? – By Christopher Beam – Slate Magazine

Thirty years ago today, the first internet type dialup accounts were made available to the public.

1979: CompuServe begins offering a dial-up online information service to consumers.

Sept. 24, 1979: First Online Service for Consumers Debuts | This Day In Tech | Wired.com

Given that they are short lessons today and I am away from school again, here is a quick crossword to help you brush up on your punctuation and grammar terms.

Thursday Crossword

You will be writing your assessment piece on conflict under test conditions in the first week of next term.

During the break, you need to complete a practice expository essay and email it to me. The details inthis document.

Leave a comment here if you have any questions. I’ll answer all questions within a day.

Sadly, I will be away on Wednesday. If you, too, happen to miss class here is the crossword. You can print it off and complete it at home. You will need a dictionary. If you don’t have one handy you can always check words on dictionary.com

Vocabulary Builder

The word for today is bucolic. This word always makes the think of disease. Perhaps because it sound a little like bubonic, as in the bubonic plague.

It happens that bucolic means something much more pleasant. It is an adjective which means relating to the countryside or country people.

Today’s quotation comes from Randall Berg who said, “There are some people that do like to live in a rural, bucolic setting, but not many.”

The word for the day is turnpike. I have heard this many times, usually in American shows and songs. In particular, I remember it from a Simon and Garfunkel song which mentions the New Jersey turnpike. I had worked out that it was some kind of road. I thought perhaps it was a major junction.

Just a few days ago, I looked it up. It actually means a toll road.

Today’s quotation comes from Pierre Beaumarchais who said, “If a thing isn’t worth saying, you sing it.”

This week, you will be writing a story for an assessment piece. You will have three sessions to work on paper and one session to type up your story.

This story will be an assessment piece. All students are to complete this task.

The story should be between 800 and 1,000 words long. This story should be written in Standard Australian English. You need to pay attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

This story will be around a red theme. You can expand and improve on an earlier work if you like.
Here are some suggested topics

• I See Red
• Red Ink
• Red Faced
• Blood Red
• The Red Zone
• Caught Red Handed
• Like a Red Rag to a Bull
• The Red Light
• Paint the Town Red
• Red Letter Day
• On The Red Carpet

Up and Running A: Due Friday 18th, end of session 4.
Up and Running D: Due Tuesday 15th, end of session 4.

I am sorry to say that I am going to miss class again this Tuesday. By this stage, most of you will have completed your practice essay. Here is a self-assessment sheet so that you can see where you are doing well and where you need to improve.

Conflict Essay Self Assessment

I am pretty sure that I will be in on Wednesday.

Because I have been away for a whole week, we will move our assessment piece of conflict back to the first week of next term.

In the meantime, here is some information that might be useful as you develop your understanding of this task.

1. This is an expository piece. This means that you explain rather than argue. This style of writing is about presenting facts and understanding rather an arguing a particular point.

2. This piece still has an introduction and a conclusion. In previous essays, you have written three major points. In this essay, you might write five or six, depending on how many major points you have to make.

3. This is a response to an issue, conflict in this instance, not to a particular text. Your topic sentences need to be making clearing points about conflict. You can then support these points with examples from a range of texts. I strongly encourage you to draw examples from the film The Interpreter and other texts.

4. In writing about the issue, use specific examples to support your points. When possible refer to specific quotations and events.

4. This piece will be written in Standard Australian English. This means that you use standard spelling, punctuation and grammar. You should avoid use of slang and other informal language in this task.

I have also included the writing guide here. You should already have this. This is intended as a section-by-section guide to writing an essay for this task.
Conflict Practice Essay

If you have any further questions, leave a comment here or ask me in class.

By this stage, there is a good chance that you have noticed that I am not at school. As it happens, I won’t be in for the rest of the week. I am sending in work for you to do, day by day. However, if you needed some help then please post a comment here.

I am thinking particularly about my Year 11 English class and my Language and Technology class. Both groups have practice/draft essays to write and might just have questions.

Other than that, I hope you all have a good week, and I’ll see you all soon.

If you are in my Up and Running class, you have probably handed in this work and have your work back by now.

Some of you have let this slip. Just to remind you, here is the task that you need to do.

Retell a section of Raymond Carver’s story So Much Water So Close to Home.
Instead of being Claire’s story, your version will be Stuart’s story.

It must be between 600 and 800 words long. Do not make it either shorter or longer.
Write this neatly on loose paper.

I will not give everyone time in class to type this. It does not need to be typed. Neat writing is just fine.

This is as assessment piece. Please make sure that it is your best writing. Carefully check all your spelling and grammar.

It’s a windy and cold day out there, but we managed to belt out another edition of our magazine. Pop on over and have a look. There is, as always, something for everyone.

Red Space, Green Magazine

My Up and Running class put out another edition of Red, Space, Red today. It’s really good. You should go over and have a look.

Today in Language and Technology, our writing topic was “Red Noses”.

I just finished reading the short stories, and they were were a really good batch. There were scary clown stories, stories of cold and red noses, stories of excuses, and of course, creepy horror stories. What they all had in common was that they were well written and interesting. Well done.