Week Objectives  

One

The 'stone xylophone' of Sigur Ros. Writing an 'informative' piece based in extract from the 'Heima' film.

Writing to inform:

Inform, explain, describe
9.      integrate diverse information into a coherent and comprehensive account;
10.    explain the precise connections between ideas with clarity and an appropriate degree of formality;
11.    make telling use of descriptive detail, e.g. eye-witness accounts, sports reports, travel writing.

 Homework: complete writing.

Two

You have to write a letter to a pupil in your year studying English in Brno, the Czech Republic. You are going to write for the first time, and you have been asked to describe your house, your town and your county to your correspondent.

What details do you think you might include? What details might your correspondent expect?

Do you think any of these details might need special explanation to a student from a foreign country?

Draft your letter and complete this draft for homework.

Now you are going to revise the letter, paying particular attention to devising and using precise connections between ideas (which may involve not only rewriting but also re-ordering of ideas).

Finally, check that you have kept to an appropriate level of formality throughout the piece.

Copy it up in best to finish and hand in to be marked.

Writing to describe:

Inform, explain, describe
9.      integrate diverse information into a coherent and comprehensive account;
10.    explain the precise connections between ideas with clarity and an appropriate degree of formality;
11.    make telling use of descriptive detail, e.g. eye-witness accounts, sports reports, travel writing.


 

  

Three

introductory work:
read extract from travel article, Into the Dark by Kathleen Jamie (London Review of Books)

whole-group work:
watch Michael Wood (in his video on Alexander the Great) spending the afternoon in a Macedonian tavern. Gather some ideas for how this scene could have been written up as the opening chapter in a travel book.

independent work:
write a minimum of three paragraphs of 'travel writing' based on the video.

 Writing to Imagine, explore, entertain:

5.      explore different ways of opening, structuring and ending narratives and experiment with narrative perspective, e.g. multiple narration;
6.      exploit the creative and aesthetic features of language in non-literary texts, e.g. the use of figurative language or the cadence of sentences
7.      explore how non-fiction texts can convey information or ideas in amusing or entertaining ways.


 
Four

Introduction to task: a letter persuading Mrs Layhe to organise a departmental production of the two Much Ado about Nothing set scenes.

use of Aristotle's three forms of persuasion;

how to construct a rational, an emotional and an ethical argument;

use of the colon and the semi colon;

the use of the single-word sentence and the single-sentence paragraph;

writing for a specified audience.

 Writing to persuade:

Persuade, argue, advise

13.    present a case persuasively enough to gain the attention and influence the responses of a specified group of readers;

14.    make a counter-argument to a view that has been expressed, addressing weaknesses in the argument and offering alternatives;

15.    offer general advice or guidelines for action adopting an impersonal style to suggest impartiality and authority.

Homework:

Complete the writing.

Five

Appreciating a poem.

 

 Writing to analyse:

Analyse, review, comment
16.    present a balanced analysis of a situation, text, issue or set of ideas, taking into account a range of evidence and opinions;

17.    cite specific and relevant textual evidence to justify critical judgements about texts.ents about texts.

  
Six   Homework
Seven