Wednesday Dec 14 - How to work with book reading

Our task today is to construct a detailed concept on how to work with our books before, while and after reading.

1. Brainstorm x 3; ways to work with books before you start reading/during the initial phase, while you read them, and when you've finished reading.

2. Construct your own plan on how to work with your book. More or less anything goes, but you need to OK it with me before you start using your concept. Feel free to mix different presentation methods at will. I need your plan in writing, emailed to me.

3. Time left? Read book!

Friday Dec 9 - This and that

1. Do and/or check results of Quote exercise quiz (the quiz itself can be found on FC). In other words, if you haven't taken the quiz yet, which you should have, you need to do that. Then it's time to check your answers. I'll post them on FC during Friday's lesson.

2. Evaluate the Shakespeare exercise (play + presentation) we just did. Feedback in any form is what I'm looking for, and you'll find examples on what to include below:

- Difficulty level

- Amount of time for you to work with exercise

- End products (oral presentation + written translation)

- What you learned

- Working in groups

- Tools you used

- Feedback given to you

There are of course other things you could write about, so don't let this list of items limit you.

3. Find and start reading a book. Classic English literature is what we're going to work with here. AT LEAST make sure to decide on a book. Also think about what kind of end product you'd like to do. If there's time, we'll do a brainstorming session in class.

Wednesday Nov 9 - Shakespeare work

You've read the texts. Now for the next step:

1. Choose a scene from a play of your choice. Go to http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/ for scene transcriptions. If you pick a long one, feel free to shorten it.

2. Form groups to fit the number of characters in your scene of choice

3. Rewrite the scene using contemporary (present day) language.

4. Rehearse and perform the scene.

This is not an easy task, neither regarding structure nor content. Give it your full attention

Friday 28/10 - your task

Check FC for an email called 'Shakespeare Work'. There'll be a bunch of .pdf-files and a .doc-file attached. Read all the texts and answer the questions. That's it.

Note: Regarding question 4 on the summaries, I'm interested in if you recognize the storyline (or parts of it) from other works (books, films, tv-series etc.), not if you've read this particular text. Thing is, many have borrowed ideas from Shakespeare, and I'd like to see if you can come up with examples hereof.

Friday 28/10

On Friday, you can work either at home or at school (C34, as usual). If you choose to work at home, please let me know via email. Check back here tomorrow (Friday) after 11.00 for instructions on what to do.

Wednesday Oct 12 - character comparison

1. Finish your character description.

2. Go back and compare your character description from the movie with the 'real' one from the book. If you've chosen Mina Harker, check here for a more helpful text. If you've chosen Nemo, go here. Which similarities/differences can you find? Why do you think that the makers of the movie chose to change (or not change) the character?

3. Post both character description and comparison in your blog, or email them to me.

Wednesday Oct 5 - character description from movie

While watching, take notes on one of the main characters. You'll use these notes later on, so be as thorough as possible. Looks, personality, age, preferences, opinions etc.

Friday Sep 23 - English literature history ctd.

You've read the texts, now perform the following tasks:

1. Please answer this question in your blogs:

Which text appealed to you the most, and why?

2. Choose one of the following:

a. Pick one text and write the next chapter in the story. Feel free to use your imagination – it doesn’t necessarily have to be even remotely similar to the original (if you how it’s continued...). Send it in to me by Friday, October 7 at the latest.

b. Pick one of the main characters from one of the texts and write a short story starring him/her. We did this last year, so hopefully you remember how it went. Otherwise ask. Deadline as above.

Friday Sep 16 - reading book excerpts

Check your FC, SP10 conference. You'll find an email called 'English literature classics...'. It has documents attached. Read them all before Friday 23/9.

Friday Sep 9 - listening comprehension tips

I've posted a document in your SP10 conference on FC. It's called 'Listening comprehension tips'. Read it and understand it. Use a dictionary (f ex dictionary.com), or ask a friend if you need to.

When you've read and understood, check out the links (ctrl-klick to follow links in Word documents), and try to use your newly found knowledge on how to improve your listening skills. Choose freely from what these pages have to offer.

Last but not least, write down comments on the Listening comprehension tips and email me these comments.

Have a great weekend!

/Daniel

Aug 31, 2011: Rehearse and perform a scene from a movie/TV-series

Suggestions:

Pulp Fiction

Yes Man

Lord of the Rings

Titanic

Friends

Transcribe, rehearse and perform. Simple as.

Aim: Listening comprehension

Oral practice

Killing shyness

Body language

Aug 26, 2011: Reading children's books

Go here, choose book, practice reading (alone or with friends), perform. That's it.

Aim: Killing shyness

Practicing oral discourse, feeling, intonation.

Aug 26, 2011: Henry Rollins

We'll watch a couple of clips featuring Henry Rollins (if you want to know more about him, check Wikipedia or his official homepage), speaking about a band called The Ramones. We'll check them out together, but you can find the clips here and here if you want to watch them again. Your assignment is as follows:

1. Watch the clips. While watching, identify what themes (in your opinion) are being discussed.

2. Share your views with one or two of your friends, discussing what you found. Keep it short - at this stage you only need to identify what themes are present in Rollins' discourse - and prepare to share your findings with the rest of the group.

3. Summary of themes on whiteboard

4. Go back to your groups. Select theme(s) from whiteboard and discuss. Now it's time to add your own views/opinions/experiences etc. Make the most of it!

Aim: Listening comprehension (Am. English)

Analyzing oral discourse

Thinking, then speaking

Practicing oral English

Remember....

Deadline for our first assignment, suggestions for the B-course, is Wednesday, August 31. Also, don't forget to email (daniel.jonsson(at)educ.vannas.se) me the address to your blog, if you haven't already. Important stuff...

Aug 24, 2011: Welcome to English B

Hi all! This is a blog. Shouldn't be new to you, since you're young and all. Apart from giving tips on fashion and other (imo) rather unimportant stuff, you can use blogs for teacher-student communication. We will do just that, which means that your first assignment here is to create a new blog, each and every one of you. Don't use an old one, since I'm not interested in reading things in Swedish. When that's done (won't tell you how, figure it out...), I want you to email me the web address to your blog. Use FC to do so. Do it right away. Your next step is to take a look at the goals and grading criteria for this course. You can find it here. It's in English, but hopefully it'll still work. Still, it's really important that you understand what we're doing, so if you get totally stuck, there is a Swedish version as well. Last but not least, when you've finished reading, I want you to think about what you've read and write down your own, personal, beautiful, ground-breaking ideas for what YOU want to do during our time together. Write it in your blogs so I have easy access. Also, make sure to CHECK THIS BLOG regularly to keep up with what's going on. Feel free to comment as well, but make sure I know who's commenting.

To sum things up:

1. Make a blog and email me the address.
2. Read goals and grading criteria for English B, preferably in English (use f ex dictionary.com if you need to look up words), but if all else fails, in Swedish.
3. Go back to your blogs and write down suggestions & ideas for this course. Argue your cause, ie tell me why we should use your particular ideas.

PLEASE NOTE that this blog represents an extraordinary chance for you to show off and improve on your writing skills. The least you have to do is (of course) to complete the assignments you're given, but feel free to use this blog to write about more or less everything. As long as you do it in English, it can only work to your advantage.

Peace out for now.

/Daniel

Music Video Analysis - instructions

1. Check instructions for how to work with your analysis here.

2. Work. Think, discuss, ask - get help and inspiration wherever necessary.

3. Prepare to present orally, in smaller groups, using keywords if needed.

Analyzing a music video

Denotation and connotation

Symbols to analyze:

1. People carrying crosses (throughout video)

2. Goggles worn by singer (throughout video)

3. Blindfolded people (end of video)

4. Video color scheme (throughout video)

WHY? is the question that you need to ask. Many times. And then some more.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12kcpP-8jfM

Link to lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bad+religion/american+jesus_20011965.html

Learn-it-yourself

Learn-it-yourself

Instructions:

This is an assignment that will occupy the next two lessons of this course. It’s really quite simple – the idea is that you, individually, take a few minutes to think about something regarding the English language that you want or need to learn more about. Then, all you need to do is to figure out how you’re going to approach the learning itself. You can use any means available to you, including me and your friends. If you want to team up with someone, that’s OK, but I want you to decide on the aim (what you want to achieve) for this assignment as individuals. It is not a group assignment, at least not initially.

The things you need to hand in (in writing) are:

1. 1. Your aim, as described above

2. 2. An evaluation form, that will be handed out at the end of next lesson

GLHF!

/Daniel

Realia project - English speaking countries

Project work, English. SP10, Spring 2011

Theme: English-speaking countries

1. Form groups (1-4 people in each) and choose a subject. This can be just about anything as long as it fits the theme. Examples: Australian wildlife, English cooking etc..

2. Try to structure your essay before you do anything else! Make sure that you also write down the aim or your study. This gives you the advantage of actually knowing what you are looking for before the search for information begins.

3. Gather material. Use any sources available, i.e. the library, the Internet, magazines etc..

4. Extract information from your material and start writing. The text (when finished) should be about 2 pages long (not including front page, summary, table of contents & sources) per person in the group. Quality over quantity, though…. This does not include pictures, drawings etc. you want to use. In addition to this, you need a first page with the title of your project and your name(s) on it, a summary (p. 2), a table of contents (p. 3), and a page (the last one) where you list all your sources.

5. Think about how you want to present your work to the rest of (or parts of) the class when you’re finished. You've got a choice here, make the most of it!

6. Deadline: Final version to be presented beginning on Friday, week 5.

Have fun, and remember to ask if you have questions.