Get Reporting!

Watch some of the news reports here.

Task Find a story or article that interests you and imagine that you are the reporter on the scene. Write a news report to be presented on television suitable for an adult audience. Use formal language and explain what has happened.

You could use PowerPoint to help illustrate your report.

You may want to choose to write about a sports event, fashion, celebrity news, education, anything else that may interest you.

You could use the Newsround Website and BBC News website to help you research.

Get Reporting!

Read the article below.


An Unexplained Visitor!
Yesterday, an extraordinary event occurred at a school in Leyton, London.

George Mitchell School had a very unusual visitor in the form a dragon.

Police arrived at the school at 2:15pm after receiving a number of calls from local residents reporting that there was a dragon in the school’s main playground.

Disbelief

When the police arrived they found a blood red, 13ft dragon casually standing in the playground, leaning over the gates to chew at the leaves of nearby trees. Staff and students were watching in disbelief from the safety of the school building.

During the schools lunch break students had begun shouting out ‘there’s a giant dragon’ in the canteen. However, staff ignored this, mistaking their cries for some kind of prank.

Mrs Jeffrey, the school’s headteacher, said ‘It was unusual for the students to be shouting like this, but their claim was so outlandish we ignored it at first. It wasn’t until one of the staff members came running into the office, frantic as a chicken, claiming that there really was a dragon on the school premises that we took the claim seriously.’
Experts have taken the photograph to for a thorough examination.

Stench

Local residents were the first to realise something very unusual was going on. One neighbour said, ‘I went out to hang my washing and could smell something awful. The stench was like horse manure. I looked around, but couldn’t see any horses. Then I heard a huge roaring sound. It was as loud as a clap of thunder.’

Another passer-by was struck by the dragons hideous appearance. ‘He had these flaming eyes that were red-hot like the sun. I’ve never seen anything like it!’

Expert opinion

Experts were escorted to the scene to examine the creature, but by the time they had arrived there was no trace of the dragon at all. Professor Flyer of the Prehistoric Creatures Association is still sceptical as to whether or not the dragon was merely a hoax. He claims, ‘a creature like this has not been seen for thousands of year. I believe that like I believe Elvis is still alive!’

By

An Reporter





TASKWrite your own newspaper article about a strange or bizarre incident that occurred at school. Use your imagination!

Reviews - Your Opinions Count!

Read one of following film reviews here and here.

Reviews usually include the following parts:

Plot – storyline
Best bits
Worst bit
Favourite characters/stars,
Would you recommend it and why?
Hit or miss
Star rating
A picture

Use the subheadings above to write your own review on one of the options below. Make sure you include all the parts above.

Choose from one of the following options:

A book you have read
A film you have seen
A music video you have seen
A song you have heard
A programme you have watched
A computer game you have played

Persuasive Writing - Get Campaigning!

As many of you know, Barack Obama was recently elected as the new president of the United States of America.
When he was elected, he delivered a very powerful and meaningful speech to the people of America.

1) Watch the video of Barack Obama’s speech here. Below the video, you can also find a written version of his speech.

Once you have watched the video, read through his speech.
Copy and paste the speech into a word document.
Highlight and label all of the rhetorical devices listed below that Obama uses in his speech.

Rhetorical devices you should look for:

Emotive language

Sound patterns (alliteration, assonance etc)

Contrast

Repetition

The ‘rule of 3’

Description and Imagery (Similes, metaphors, personification)

Rhetorical questions are of course another device, although they are not present in Obama’s speech.

2) Now, imagine you are campaigning to become school president at GMS. Write a speech for an adult audience that you would deliver to teachers, staff, parents and school governors to persuade them that you are the best candidate. Why are you suitable for the role? What do you have to offer the school? Why should the staff vote for you? Use rhetorical devices listed above.

Speaking and Listening - Get Campaigning!

As many of you know, Barack Obama was recently elected as the new president of the United States of America.
When he was elected, he delivered a very powerful and meaningful speech to the people of America.
1) Watch the video of Barack Obama’s speech here. Below the video, you can also find a written version of his speech.

Once you have watched the video, read through his speech.
Copy and paste the speech into a word document.
Highlight and label all of the rhetorical devices listed below that Obama uses in his speech.

Rhetorical devices you should look for:

Emotive language

Sound patterns (alliteration, assonance etc)

Contrast

Repetition

The ‘rule of 3’

Description and Imagery (Similes, metaphors, personification)

Rhetorical questions are of course another device, although they are not present in Obama’s speech.

2) Now, imagine you are campaigning to become school president at GMS. Write a speech you would deliver to students of the school to persuade them to vote for you. What would you change in school? What personal qualities do you have that would make you a good school president? Use rhetorical devices listed above.

Speaking and Listening

As many of you know, Barack Obama was recently elected as the new president of the United States of America.
When he was elected, he delivered a very powerful and meaningful speech to the people of America.

1) Watch the video of Barack Obama’s speech here. Below the video, you can also find a written version of his speech.

Once you have watched the video, read through his speech.
Copy and paste the speech into a word document.
Highlight and label all of the rhetorical devices listed below that Obama uses in his speech.

Rhetorical devices you should look for:

Emotive language

Sound patterns (alliteration, assonance etc)

Contrast

Repetition

The ‘rule of 3’

Description and Imagery (Similes, metaphors, personification)


2) Make a collage to represents some of the issues and topics he discusses in his speech.

For example, you could include a picture of his family, as he talks about his wife and children.

Opening Worlds- Creating a Character!

When we read stories, writers often try very hard to bring a character to life in just a few lines. Read the following extract from Games at Twilight:

Ravi sat back on the harsh edge of the tub, deciding to hold out a bit longer. What fun if they were all found and caught-he alone left unconquered! He had never known that sensation. Nothing more wonderful had ever happened to him than being taken out by an uncle and bought a whole slab of chocolate all to himself, or being flung into the soda-man’s pony cart and driven up to the gate by the friendly driver with the red beard and pointed ears. To defeat Raghu- that hirusute, hoarse-voiced football champion-and to be the winner in a circle of older, bigger, luckier children- that would be thrilling beyond imagination.

Now you have read the extract, I would like to find 5 extracts from the last 5 stories in opening worlds which bring a character to life in just a few lines.

Some Tips

There are three things you can do to bring a character to life:

. Give some vivid physical description
. Describe the distinctive things a character does
. Use dialogue to convey the way a character speaks.

Finally, using the tips above, have a go at creating a character and bring them to life.

Opening Worlds- Pass your Knowledge on!

Read The Winter Oak.

Your task

Create an informative storyboard for year 8 students. Design a ‘fun’ storyboard which explains what the story is about. Remember to use the key quotations from the text.

Create a Collage :)

Read the following extract from Games at Twilight:

Extract

They faced the afternoon. It was too hot. Too bright. The white walls of the veranda glared stridently in the sun. The bougainvillea hung about it, purple and magenta, in livid balloons. The garden outside was like a tray made of beaten brass, flattened out on the red gravel and the stony soil in all shades of metal- aluminium, tin, copper and brass. No life stirred at this arid time of day- the birds still drooped, like dead fruit, in the papery tents of the trees; some squirrels lay limp on the wet earth under the garden tap. The outdoor dog lay stretched as if dead on the veranda mat, his paws and ears and tail all reaching out like dying travellers in search of water. He rolled his eyes at the children-two white marbles rolling in the purple sockets, begging for sympathy-and attempted to lift his tail in a wag but could not.

Your Task

Using images from magazines, Newspapers or the internet, create a collage which explains what the extract is about.

Have your say!

Click here look at the following clip based on the issue of gun and knife crime.

Using persuasive techniques and presentational devices write a persuasive and engaging article for your peers encouraging them to end this senseless crime and respect their lives.

Remember to use simple, complex and compound sentences!

Use your imagination. Go on get creative :)

Click here and look at the description of Maslin beach in Australia.

. Using a holiday brochure and the internet, browse the description of the beaches of your choice.

. Select an image and write a description of your image using your senses and descriptive language. Remember to make your description evocative for your reader to transport them to another world!!

Describing a Character

Click here and look at the lyrics of the popular song 'No Air' by Jordin Sparkes.

. What is the song about?
. How is the person feeling?

Look at the following extract from Holes by Louis Sachar.

Stanley was sitting about ten rows back, handcuffed to his armrest. His backpack lay on the seat next to him. It contained his toothbrush, toothpaste, and a box of stationery his mother had given him. He’d promised to write to her at least once a week.

He looked out of the window, although there wasn’t much to see, mostly fields of hay and cotton. He was on a long bus ride to nowhere. The bus wasn’t air-conditioned, and the hot, heavy air was almost as stifling as the handcuffs.
Stanley felt somewhat dazed as the guard unlocked his handcuffs and led him off the bus. His mouth was dry and his throat hurt.

Your Task
Write the lyrics of a song to describe the way Stanley maybe feeling. Go ahead put your songwriter hat on and be musical :) :)

"Opening Worlds" Images

Images can be used to help us remember aspects of a story. Look at how the provided images can be linked to “Leela’s Friend”. For example: the gold chain reminds us of Leela's necklace that Sidda was accused of stealing, the handcuffs remind us of how Sidda was jailed for his supposed theft and the jar reminds us of the "tamarind jar" where Leela's chain was found.

What about the other images?

Choose ONE other story and FIND or CREATE a series of TWELVE images that can be associated with the story. Present your images EITHER on powerpoint OR as a poster on paper.

"Opening Worlds" Crossword

Used the provided template to create a crossword based on the stories from “Opening Worlds”.
Remember:
To set up this template for your crossword puzzle you need to follow these steps:
(1) Before you begin, select up to 12 words, two from each short story and write hints for each word.
The words can be characters and places or completing missing words from key quotes
(2) Organize the list of words by number of letters e.g. B4 Down or G3 Across
(3) You need to put each letter in the correct box
(4) Shade in the unused boxes
(5) Have fun!

"Opening Worlds" Story Settings

Three of the stories from the “Opening Worlds” are set in India.
Prepare a presentation to share with your class that explores how the setting in each case has an impact on the characters, events and themes.

An Olympic Pool for 2012

Your company has designed a new Olympic Pool to be built for 2012 and you have to convince the Olympic Commission that this is the best design.
Study the four images of the proposed pool.
Using power-point, prepare a presentation to persuade everyone to approve your design.
You can refer to:
• the shape of the building
• the seating area
• the external appearance
You MUST also copy the images onto your slides so you can use them in your presentation.

A New Gym

GMS is being rebuilt and Mrs Jeffery is inviting students’ suggestions for a new, state-of-the-art gym.

Draw your ideas for an aerial view of the layout of this gym.

What facilities should be available?

Using power-point, prepare a presentation to persuade your headteacher to approve your design.

Make sure that your presentation includes both the images of your proposed gym, as well as text to support the illustrations.

Advertisements: from the 20th to the 21st Century

Find and select three different print or electronic advertisements for the same product across these years:
1960s – 1970s
1980s – 1990s
2000 – 2008

For each of these ads, consider:
a) the purpose
b) the target audience
c) the persuasive tools employed
d) the use of media technology
e) your suggestions for future ads and the rationale behind them

Prepare a presentation to share with your class on your findings.

May 2008 - Poetry (KS4 Foundation)

You have five senses:

1. SMELL
2. TASTE
3. HEARING
4. SIGHT
5. TOUCH

Imagine you are a soldier in the First World War.

Using as many of these as possible, write a poem describing how the war makes you feel.

Here is an example:

The smell of death is far too strong.
It will not go away.
I hear the dying bodies cry
At nighttime and by day.
The mud and blood beneath my feet
It sucks me to my doom.
The taste of death is on my tongue,
My trench is now my tomb.

Now you have a try - and remember: try to get across the horror of what the war is like.

May 2008 - Poetry (KS4 Intermediate)

Read the following poem by Wilfred Owen and complete the task that follows:

Exposure

I

Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?

The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,
But nothing happens.

Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,
But nothing happens.

II

Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
Is it that we are dying?

Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors are closed -
We turn back to our dying.

Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying.

To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.

Now write a DIARY ENTRY from the point of view of a SOLDIER in the First World War. Make sure you get across their emotions in the face of the ruthless nature of war. You could begin: I was drifting off to sleep when the bomb exploded last night...

May 2008 - Poetry (KS4 Advanced)

Read the following poem by Wilfred Owen and complete the following worksheet (click here to download it):

Exposure

I

Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?

The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,
But nothing happens.

Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,
But nothing happens.

II

Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
Is it that we are dying?

Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors are closed -
We turn back to our dying.

Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying.

To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.

May 2008 - Poetry (KS3 Foundation)

Personification = when we write about an OBJECT as if it were ALIVE.

Write your own poem using personification. Here is an example - but you need to think of your own:

I fly through the sky at a very great height,
Quite often at daytime but also at night.
I cover great distance incredibly fast,
And the clouds move right out of the way as I pass.

Now read it to your friends and family and see if they can guess what you are! :)

May 2008 - Poetry (KS3 Intermediate)

Read the following poem by May Swenson:

Southbound on the Freeway

A tourist came in from Orbitville,
parked in the air, and said:

The creatures of this star
are made of metal and glass.

Through the transparent parts
you can see their guts.

Their feet are round and roll
on diagrams--or long

measuring tapes--dark
with white lines.

They have four eyes.
The two in the back are red.

Sometimes you can see a 5-eyed
one, with a red eye turning

on the top of his head.
He must be special-

the others respect him,
and go slow,

when he passes, winding
among them from behind.

They all hiss as they glide,
like inches, down the marked

tapes. Those soft shapes,
shadowy inside

the hard bodies--are they
their guts or their brains?

1. Look carefully through the poem and see if you can figure out what it is about.
2. Write your own poem about something else on Planet Earth viewed through alien eyes.

May 2008 - Poetry (KS3 Advanced)

Read the following poem by May Swenson:

Southbound on the Freeway

A tourist came in from Orbitville,
parked in the air, and said:

The creatures of this star
are made of metal and glass.

Through the transparent parts
you can see their guts.

Their feet are round and roll
on diagrams--or long

measuring tapes--dark
with white lines.

They have four eyes.
The two in the back are red.

Sometimes you can see a 5-eyed
one, with a red eye turning

on the top of his head.
He must be special-

the others respect him,
and go slow,

when he passes, winding
among them from behind.

They all hiss as they glide,
like inches, down the marked

tapes. Those soft shapes,
shadowy inside

the hard bodies--are they
their guts or their brains?

1. Look carefully through the poem and see if you can figure out what it is about.
2. Now complete the worksheet (click here to download it).

Shakespeare- KS3 Advanced FLO

Shakespeare was a master of words. His works are littered with phrases never used before. One of the many entertaining aspects of works was the many INSULTS that the characters used.

What do you think the following insults suggest about the person to whom they are directed?

1. [Thine] face is not worth sunburning. (Henry V)

2. Thy food is such as hath been belch'd upon by infected lungs. (Pericles)

3. You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so. (Macbeth)

4. Your face is as a book, where men may read strange matters. (Macbeth)

5. 'My dear Lady Disdain, are you yet living?" (Much Ado About Nothing)

Can you come up with a list of your own 'Shakespeare inspired' insults? Click here or here for some help.

Hand your work to your English teacher.

Good Luck!


Have insulting fun here

'Romeo and Juliet' - KS4 Foundation FLO

How well do you know 'Romeo and Juliet'?

Test yourself

See if you can match the following lines from the play to a character.

1. "What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:"

2. "I have a soul of lead"

3. "My only love sprung from my only hate!"

4. "Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes."

5. "Why, is not this better now than groaning for love?
now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo."

6. "...but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise,
as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour."

7. "I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;"

8. "An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,.."

9. "Happily met, my lady and my wife!"

10. "For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

If you get stuck, look at your copy of the play.

When you have finished hand your work to your English teacher.

Good Luck!

Shakespeare- KS3 Intermediate FLO

How well do you know your Shakespeare?

See if you can guess correctly which plays the following characters come from.

1. Caliban
2. Cordelia
3. Ophelia
4. Desdemona
5. Dogberry
6. Escalus
7. Duncan
8. Viola
9. Leontes
10. Bottom

Who are the characters?
Which plays do they come from?

STUCK...? Try looking here...

Wikipedia

When you have finished, hand your work to your English teacher.

'Romeo and Juliet' - KS4 Intermediate FLO

Produce a cartoon/comic strip version of the PLAY 'ROMEO AND JULIET'.

In order to do this FLO well, you will need to CONDENSE the PLAY, including only the most RELEVANT parts. You should be able to do this on two sides of A4!

When you have finished, hand your comic strip to your English teacher.

Good Luck!

'Romeo and Juliet'- KS4 Advanced FLO

Write the LYRICS to your own song INSPIRED by the story of ROMEO AND JULIET.

Click here for some examples, before you get started.

You need not stick to Shakespeare's version. For example, you may decide to SUBVERT the story, or to write the lyrics from the POINT OF VIEW of a MINOR character.


When you've finished, hand your lyrics to your English teacher.

Good Luck!

Shakespeare - KS3 Foundation FLO

Do some research about the THEATRE in Shakespeare's time.
Write down a list if 10 INTERESTING or UNUSUAL facts about the GLOBE THEATRE.

If you're stuck for ideas, the following links may help you;

Globe Theatre
Wikipedia- Globe
Theatre

Hand your list to your English teacher.

Good Luck!