Rife magazine - enjoy and potentially get published

This looks really good - it is aimed at 13-19-year-olds and might be a suitable forum for some of the creative writing you are doing.

Here's a link to the 'get involved' page. The 'questions to ask yourself' section might be useful to consider for your coursework writing whether you actually intend to submit them or not.

Results

Academics,

congratulations if you got the results (or better) that you wanted; don't worry if you didn't - if you were first years, we can iron out any problems; if you were A2 and you didn't get what you needed, let me know.

Well done for all your hard work!

30 countries that have more than 1000 000 speakers of English and English has official status

Bizarre world Englishes song!

Red Rope theatre group script writing workshop

These gorgeous, wondrous people are doing a free scriptwriting workshop for 15-18-year-olds. Be interested. Be very interested.

English as a world language - other internet languages

Not strictly about English but worth thinking about, this article explores how to laugh online (do you haha or lol?) in other languages. When you are thinking about how languages evolve for Language Change, the way that these forms of communication function in similar ways is enlightening.

Choosing and annotating a style model

Indecisives,

I know choosing a style model for your storytelling/persuasion/information piece can be very daunting (even choosing which style of writing you want to do could be tricky), so here are some things to consider if you still are unsure:

Is it good writing for the target audience and about the right length? Is it challenging enough to show your writing off to best advantage?

You will have to use techniques that the style model uses in order to have a well-annotated style model and an effective commentary (make sure you can see at least one technique from at least 4 of the following frameworks/levels in the style model so that you can quote and analyse them in your commentary and transfer them into your work):

• does it use effective techniques for that audience in terms of discourse e.g. first/second/third person address, effective structuring, level of complexity/formality, rule of three, multi modality?
• does it use effective lexical techniques e.g. puns, metaphors, euphemisms, polysyllabic words, coinage?
• does it use interesting grammatical techniques e.g. dynamic verbs, abstract nouns, embedded clauses, semi-colons, ellipses, starting with a conjunction, adverb fronting, inverted commas?
• graphologically, does it use an interesting combination of image and text, special use of font, blank space, logo, hyperlink (this is also a discourse issue and it is very useful to pick something that combines graphology with another framework/language level)?
• pragmatically, does it use irony, inference, allusion, jargon, play on audience's prior knowledge of a topic or idea?
• phonologically (especially if it is a speech or script but even if it is in written mode), does it play with sound e.g. alliteration, consonance, assonance, rhyme, pun, rhythm, onomatopoeia?

Please let me know if you are having any problems or you want to check your choice as you must have an annotated style model and a draft of your piece and commentary by the time you start back (see 'summer task' post). Remember, your style model must have the same audience, purpose and form as your own piece but must be on a different topic (but still one that would interest the same audience). Please put a word count on your draft.

Child Language Acquisition - children's TV and books

Summerinesses,

this is the perfect time to do a little 'wider reading' in the form of digging out some books for young children and watching some Cbeebies. This will give you an idea about the kinds of input considered suitable for children who are developing their language skills. If you have them, you could always get out old exercise books and look at some of yours (or a sibling's) early writing (age 3-8ish)

Here are some ideas about what to look at and what to think about:

Books
What books do you remember from your early childhood? What did you read yourself and what was read to you? If you can't get your hands on hard copies, you can often get Youtube videos of people reading classic books (here are some suggestions):

Where the Wild Things Are - Sendak
Hairy Maclary books - Dodd
Dr Seuss books
Julia Donaldson books
reading scheme books e.g. Biff and Chip, The Village with Three Corners
Red Nose readers - Ahlberg (I also love Each, Peach, Pear Plum)

• What are the things that will interest/excite children? 
• What are the features of this kind of writing (if you were going to write your own using one as a style model, what conventions and techniques would you steal?)? 
• What makes this writing easy/hard/interesting to read? 
• What could parents enjoy as well as children? What could they explore together?

Use the search option on my blog to look for earlier posts on children's reading and on phonics. There are some interesting issues about updating old classics like Enid Blyton and Richard Scarry books to make language more modern and remove references that are not 'politically correct'. What models of different genders and races are being presented?

TV
What did you watch when you were little? Are the programmes still available?

I'm recommending you use Cbeebies programmes but my 4-year-old is obsessed with Paw Patrol on. NickJr. Check out an episode of that if you want to see why I have to work hard on fighting a lot of the representations it is creating in his developing world-view. And it is on a channel with adverts - don't get me started on the representations in those! Check out a few minutes of those if you get a chance (could be an idea for an investigation).

So, some Cbeebies recommendations (watch on demand or Virgin channel 702 or you might find them on the web - some might not be currently available):

bedtime stories
Alphablocks
Nina and the Neurons
Bing Bunny
Abney and Teal
Rastamouse
In the Night Garden
Topsy and Tim
Messy Goes to Okido
the changeover times with the Cbeebies presenters

and some Peppa Pig episodes (available online), because, why not?

Here are some things to think about:

• what are the characters like? what are the gender/race/age/disability representations?
• what is the language like? the proportion of talk to visuals?
• are there messages? didactic (teaching) aspects? how difficult are they to pick out? would it need an adult to watch with the child and discuss?
• is there humour? what sort?
• how long is the programme? how is interest maintained? Would it interest adults too? Why?
• which tones of voice are used? How is adult lanugage adapted for a young audience?
• is there any significant use of sentence moods other than declaratives? What other striking techniques are there?
• what would you definitely include if you were going to pitch your own children's TV show?

Please comment with anything you read and watched when you were young and anything that you noticed if you checked some of these out.