Language Revision: read to the bottom...

Hello. 

Not had a post for a little while...

This term had focused on the language exam. This exam is (suddenly) worth 60% of your GCSE.

One of the key things here is learning the actual exam and knowing what is required in each question. 

I'll go through it here

Q2 is Presentation.

The question will be: Explain how the headline and picture are effective and how they link to the text.

• makes clear and appropriate links between the headline and picture and the content of the text with references/quotations

• offers a clear explanation of the effectiveness of the picture with links to text

• offers a detailed interpretation of the effect of the headline and links this to the text with references/quotation

• presents a detailed explanation and interpretation of what the picture shows and its effect

FO EXAMPLE: The picture is effective as it shows a large, awesome skeleton which dominates the article with the head posed to almost leap out at the reader. This image of a  ‘fearsome’ dinosaur is then undercut by the fact that it has been found by a Chicago study that such as large monster is found to have died because of a ‘common parasite’ that is found in everyday birds such as pigeons and gives them a ‘sore throat’. The two together then create a humour as it is both unusual and unexpected this seems ironic and ridiculous so the reader would be drawn to the text where the explanation is to be found. 

Q3 asks you to explain thoughts and feelings.

•shows a clear understanding of the events in the text

• clearly explains and begins to interpret thoughts and feelings

• employs relevant quotations or references to support understanding and interpretation

•engages in detail with the events in the text

• offers perceptive explanations and interpretations of the thoughts and feelings expressed

• employs appropriate quotations to support ideas

FOR EXAMPLE: From the text, we can tell that Pete Boardman is trying to manage intense feelings of stress and worry. We see this when he says, ‘That helped us – it shifted some responsibility to the watch’. The fact that he passes the responsibility of his angst to the watch shows how much he is trying to manage his concern for his missing companion Mick. By shifting this responsibility to such a functional item, it shows how much he needs to detach from his worries in order to survive and this ‘help(s)’ them. This ensures their decision is made and this is reaffirmed with the short and, again, functional ‘the time was up’.

Q4 asks you to compare language features

•offer clear explanations of the effect of words and phrases with relevant quotations

•have a clear link between the two and be able to explain it well

•analyse how the writer with perceptive comments has used language, with perceptive comments, to achieve their effects with appropriate quotations

•Have a sophisticated link that you can them explain in detail.

FOR EXAMPLE: The writer uses rule of three in S2 to emphasise the violent life ‘Sue’ had. For example, ‘three broken ribs, torn tendons and a damaged shoulder’. This gives a vivid description of a violent life of the Tyrannosaurs as it layers the painful injuries that the dinosaur had from her ‘combat-scarred’ life; the harsh alliteration of ‘torn tendons’ accentuates the violence further.  Similarly, a powerful description is used in S3 when the writer says ‘I smashed my axe into the ice and hung on.’ The use of ‘smashed’ gives a sense of intensity to the situation and shows the desperation of the struggle as it is violent verb then followed by the desperate ‘hung on’. Both texts use description to engage the reader, but S2 is using violent description to add drama to the informative article that could otherwise be boring whereas S3 is using it to show the desperation of a real-life fight for life that helps to emphasise the danger and fear of the writer.

Q5 and 6 are worth 60% of your GCSE Language :/

You are marked on:

i, language features
ii, paragraphs and structure
iii, sentences and spelling

Write A Forest, FF and (.,…!?:;-) and tick off when you use them.

FF= Firstly, Finally.

Top tips for this:

It doesn’t have to be real! Make something up...

Time yourself and PLAN.

Learn these sentence structures. They are good and you get to listen to my West Country accent for nearly ten minutes!The noise can be a bit annoying (as is my voice I am sure), but learn these sentences for some added sophistication.

Here is the link to past papers on AQA. You want Unit 1.

If you are stuck, leave a comment – otherwise, GOOD LUCK!

Ms J

LOTF Structure

The themes are revealed in the first half of the novel and then reworked at a frightening, pained, deeper level  in the second half.

This is structure and you need to explore it in the exam.

Repetition enhances the reader’s understanding of the novel.

Go through the following five points and find quotations where they link in the novel; the, analyse the quotes.

1. Boys exploration of island in the beginning – second exploration in Chapter 7
2. Roger just missing the littlun with stones – to  rolling a rock at Piggy
3. Jack’s first attempt to kill the pig, to the sharpening of both ends of the stick at the end. (lots of stuff for this one, each more sickening than the other)
4. Chanting ‘Kill the pig!’ – ‘Kill the beast!’ with Simon and the sacrifice.
5. The fire in Chapter 2 reveals first glimpse of ‘hell’ – final chapter island is on fire

To an extent we could call this - Incremental repetition, a modern term for a device of repetition commonly found in ballads. It involves the repetition of lines or stanzas with small but crucial changes made to a few words from one to the next, and has an effect of narrative progression or suspense.

It creates what we can call narrative echoes and, of course, foreshadowing. But what’s the effect?

•          It creates tension and a sense of foreboding

•          It moves the novel forward with pace. The amount of things that are repeated mean that we get a sense of the degeneration of the civilisation and progression into violence.

•          It makes it readable too! Golding ensures that we know things are getting worse and we want to read on

The novel’s development is revelatory. It begins by revealing a little by little. Repetition is used with variation to allow the reader further insight into the novel. This repetition is not monotonous, but  heightens what has happened before with more power and, consequently, at a deeper and darker level. This also gives the text an accumulative progression that reaches much further than the superficial narrative, but tells of ‘man’s essential sickness’ as Ralph weeps for the ‘loss of innocence’. Golding’s use of incremental repetition gives the reader a profound insight into the human condition that is in stark contrast to the facile optimism of Swallows and Amazons and Coral Island. The cumulative triumph of bad over good is overturned with the sudden intrusion of the naval officer, the deus ex machina. Golding himself said that the novel is symbolic except for the end where ‘adult life appears, dignified and capable, but enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life on the island’. Golding uses this as an antidote; it is there to deliberately shock the reader and throw everything else into perspective. There is fragility within civilisation; it could all quickly disintegrate and we don’t know what we are capable of.

Symbols from the Carousel

Symbols from the Carousel

The beast is easy enough: it represents evil and darkness. But does it represent internal darkness, the evil in all of our hearts, even lovely, British Ralph? Or does it represent an external savagery that civilization can save us from?

o The beast is different for different boys
o It is represented as the dead parachutist, snakes, the pig’s head and noises heard in the night.
o The real beast is our deep, dark primeval urges.
o The boys invent the beast as a fear for them to focus on rather than the darkness in themselves.

When the twins list off the horrible attributes of the creature they saw, they reveal that it has both "teeth" and "eyes"; Ralph and Jack see it as a giant ape. So perhaps the "beast" is a man-who-isn't, the animal side in all of us?

The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys’ behaviour is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become.

The Lord of the Flies, which is an offering to the mythical "beast" on the island, is increasingly invested with significance as a symbol of the dominance of savagery on the island, and of Jack's authority over the other boys. Symbolically, then, it is associated with Jack. The Lord of the Flies represents the unification of the boys under Jack's rule as motivated by fear of "outsiders": the beast and those who refuse to accept Jack's authority.

Piggy’s Glasses

Piggy’s glasses represent intelligence and clear thinking.
o They are useful for the boys to get the fire started both to attract rescuers and for cooking the meat.
o When one lens is smashed it represents the lack of clear thinking of the others.
o The glasses are completely destroyed when Piggy dies and this is Golding’s way of representing the further fall of the boys into chaos and darkness.

Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless. We could also see that they represent how sightless they are in recognizing the breaking down of their society.

The Fire

The fire has good and bad uses.
o It is useful for attracting rescue, gives warmth and can be used for cooking, but it can be very destructive as we see at the end of the novel.
o Fire is used in ritual and is the backdrop to Simon’s frantic death.

The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, we realize that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack’s gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.

The Conch

Represents order.
o Colour changes to show a loss of innocence in the boys.
o Loses its importance as the novel progresses as Jack and his ‘Tribe’ take over.
o Smashed into a thousand pieces at the end to show loss of order and civilisation.

The rift between civilization and savagery is communicated through the novel's major symbols: the conch shell, which is associated with Ralph. The conch shell is a powerful marker of democratic order on the island, confirming both Ralph's leadership-determined by election-and the power of assembly among the boys. Yet, as the conflict between Ralph and Jack deepens, the conch shell loses symbolic importance. Jack declares that the conch is meaningless as a symbol of authority and order, and its decline in importance signals the decline of civilization on the island. The destruction of the conch shell at the scene of Piggy's murder signifies the complete eradication of civilization on the island, while Ralph's demolition of The Lord of the Flies-he intends to use the stick as a spear-signals his own descent into savagery and violence. By the final scene, savagery has completely displaced civilization as the prevailing system on the island.

The carousel of the darkness of our hearts...

Hello
Lack of internet and then a weekend away surfing have meant this is somewhat delayed. Sorry.

Civil v savage

Golding's emphasis on the negative consequences of savagery can be read as an clear endorsement of civilization. In the early chapters of the novel, he suggests that one of the important functions of civilized society is to provide an outlet for the savage impulses that reside inside each individual. Jack's initial desire to kill pigs to demonstrate his bravery, for example, is channeled into the hunt, which provides needed food for the entire group. As long as he lives within the rules of civilization, Jack is not a threat to the other boys; his impulses are being re-directed into a productive task. Rather, it is when Jack refuses to recognize the validity of society and rejects Ralph's authority that the dangerous aspects of his character truly emerge. Golding suggests that while savagery is perhaps an inescapable fact of human existence, civilization can mitigate its full expression.

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through the dissolution of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects. He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power.

Throughout the novel, the conflict is dramatized by the clash between Ralph and Jack, who respectively represent civilization and savagery. The differing ideologies are expressed by each boy's distinct attitudes towards authority. While Ralph uses his authority to establish rules, protect the good of the group, and enforce the moral and ethical codes of the English society the boys were raised in, Jack is interested in gaining power over the other boys to gratify his most primal impulses. When Jack assumes leadership of his own tribe, he demands the complete subservience of the other boys, who not only serve him but worship him as an idol. Jack's hunger for power suggests that savagery does not resemble anarchy so much as a totalitarian system of exploitation and illicit power.

Loss of innocence. 

As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the guileless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow’s head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.

At the end of Lord of the Flies, Ralph weeps "for the end of innocence," a lament that retroactively makes explicit one of the novel's major concerns, namely, the loss of innocence. When the boys are first deserted on the island, they behave like children, alternating between enjoying their freedom and expressing profound homesickness and fear. By the end of the novel, however, they mirror the warlike behaviour of the adults of the Home Counties: they attack, torture, and even murder one another without hesitation or regret. The loss of the boys' innocence on the island runs parallel to, and informs their descent into savagery, and it recalls the Bible's narrative of the Fall of Man from paradise.

Accordingly, the island is coded in the early chapters as a kind of paradise, with idyllic scenery, fresh fruit, and glorious weather. Yet, as in the Biblical Eden, the temptation toward corruption is present: the younger boys fear a "snake-thing." The "snake-thing" is the earliest incarnation of the "beast" that, eventually, will provoke paranoia and division among the group. It also explicitly recalls the snake from the Garden of Eden, the embodiment of Satan who causes Adam and Eve's fall from grace. The boys' increasing belief in the beast indicates their gradual loss of innocence, a descent that culminates in tragedy. We may also note that the landscape of the island itself shifts from an Edenic space to a hellish one, as marked by Ralph's observation of the ocean tide as an impenetrable wall, and by the storm that follows Simon's murder.

The forest glade that Simon retreats to in Chapter Three is another example of how the boys' loss of innocence is registered on the natural landscape of the island. Simon first appreciates the clearing as peaceful and beautiful, but when he returns, he finds The Lord of the Flies impaled at its centre, a powerful symbol of how the innocence of childhood has been corrupted by fear and savagery.

Even the most sympathetic boys develop along a character arc that traces a fall from innocence (or, as we might euphemize, a journey into maturity). When Ralph is first introduced, he is acting like a child, splashing in the water, mocking Piggy, and laughing. He tells Piggy that he is certain that his father, a naval commander, will rescue him, a conviction that the reader understands as the wishful thinking of a little boy. Ralph repeats his belief in their rescue throughout the novel, shifting his hope that his own father will discover them to the far more realistic premise that a passing ship will be attracted by the signal fire on the island. By the end of the novel, he has lost hope in the boys' rescue altogether. The progression of Ralph's character from idealism to pessimistic realism expresses the extent to which life on the island has eradicated his childhood.

I think that this idea of the beast being within all of us and the beast being linked to Satan shows how there is evil within all of us: there is a fragility to society and our civilisation could diminish rapidly. In these circumstances, we do not know what we might be capable of.

Some of this is taken from websites such as shmoop and sparknotes. I highly recommend them as revision sites. Don't forget we've also got revision guides for sale in the library. 

Enjoy work-experience! 

Ms

Where we are at the beginning of Y11

Hello
The holidays have meant I'm out of the blogging habit.
Now is a good time to look at where we and to concentrate on what is a significant year.
A reminder then of some of the course specifics.
GCSE Language
You have 3/4 Controlled Assessments completed for this and they are worth 40% of you overall grade. You have completed Of Mice and Men, Spoken Language (texting) and one of two creative writings. The other creative writing you are going to do on someone from LOTF.
AQA have now removed the Speaking and Listening elements, which means the exam is worth 60% of the overall grade.
There is one exam for this and it is 2h15mins long. This will also be your mock exam in Novemeber.
GCSE Literature
You have completed 25% with your Macbeth and Frankenstein essay. You will have two exams for this; one on LOTF and OMAM and one on Poetry.

So, in lessons we have been looking at the dark wonder that is Lord of the Flies. We have looked at the development of the characters, some themes and we're moving on to structure.
This is what you should have at the beginning of next week.
Checklist:

• Character profiles of Piggy, Ralph and Simon.
• A short essay on how Golding shows the power struggles in LOTF.
• 
  

Then we'll have a look at structure, we have a themes carousel.You'll do a Jack profile over your work experience. Then the last weeks of term will be a exam including a mock LOTF exam. 

As ever, let me know if you have any problems. 

Ms
(You only have a 3.5 day week this week. Lucky you.

Themes. These often overlap.

Betrayal 

Survival

Bullying

Justice and Injustice

Violence and Death

Leadership

The Problem of Evil in Man

The need for civilisation/The Basic needs of society 

Innocence and the loss of it

Fear of the unknown

Blindness and Sight

Use and Abuse of Power

The Loss of Identity

The final throes of Spoken Language

Hello Y10

We will now sit the CA next week due to absence and people not feeling quite prepared.

After reading your paragraphs, I think that what we’re missing is thorough analysis of debate. We may want to think about structuring this in a different way. We could have a paragraph about how you use and adapt language, then some analysis of spoken language data and then analysis of debates around multi-modal communication. You don’t have to do it this way, but it would ensure you cover all the AOs. Remember, this is only an 800-1000 word essay.

It'll be like this:

Brief intro – a little over view of the debates around digital communication

1 – How you use and adapt language to different contexts. You speak differently to me than you do your mum, and your mum differently than your friends. Add in a little data to show evidence of this.

2 – Analyse some of the data you have. How does it replicate face to face communication? Why does it do this? This is a full analysis of your data (transcripts). You have had a thinking square to help you do this.

3 – Analyse the debates around digital communication. Have two opposing debates. What do you think about them? You have had a thinking square to help you do this.

Conc – round it up with your opinion. Is it that language changes all the time and digital technology has increased the speed of the change? Do you think that such quick changes will damage language? 

Here are the articles from the lesson:

Article 1 - texting. 

Article 2 - attention span

The best analysis came from those that used the thinking squares really well. Use them to analyse debate and how you use and adapt language. These would be good for planning too.  Three thinking squares could be a really good plan!

Success Criteria for your essay

Skilled is 

• Confident explanation and analysis of how they and others use and adapt spoken language for specific purposes (this also comes out in your analysis)
• confident analysis and reflection on features found in some spoken language data
• confident analysis of some issues arising from public attitudes to spoken language varieties.

Excellent is...

• Sophisticated, perceptive analysis and evaluation of aspects of how they and others use and adapt spoken language for specific purposes
• Impressive’ sustained and sophisticated interpretations of key features found in spoken language data
• Sophisticated analysis and evaluation of key issues arising from public attitudes to spoken language varieties

 Homework: 

Research Accommodation Theory. This is good for how people use and adapt language. What are the main points?

Here is the thinking square we used in Friday's lesson:

Thinking square debate from Cherwelllearning

As ever, let me know if you need anything.
Ms 

Spoken Language the plan so far

Dear all
I thought it would be wise to share the plan as well as today's lesson.
Do what you are told on the final slide.
On Monday 8th of July, you'll plan and peer assess your work. I'll also be there to answer any questions etc.
Thursday 11th July you'll sit your CA and you will complete it on Monday 15th.
If you've not finished it here,  it'd be less complicated if you come after school so you can get it out the way. I have other plans for our final Monday lesson. I also think that you should easily complete this in two hours though and will not need to come after school: it's an 800-1000 word essay.
Please share any good articles in the comments box. Or, if any of this does not make sense to you, leave a comment and I will get back to you.
MS

8 your own response for blog from Cherwelllearning

Lessons 6 and 7 for blog from Cherwelllearning