Grammar quiz for Year 6s in the Guardian - how will you do?

Try this!

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/quiz/2013/feb/04/grammar-punctuation-quiz-test

A2 lesson Tues 11th March

Brilliances,

I will come round and give you a word to work on. Read the whole post first.

Please find out how that word has been used in different contexts across time (diachronic change) and how it is used now (detect any synchronic change happening, tentatively). The following bullet-pointed list should form part of the blog post you work on today (not necessarily in that order), summing up what you have found (finish it by next Tuesday's lesson - we will be using it in class). It should clearly talk the reader through an engaging analysis of the uses of that word and should be helpfully structured and thoughtful/tentative:

• an observation about the Ngram viewer report of your word (Google 'Ngram' and work it out)
• quotes from different times with that word in use in them. Comment on these to show understanding of the connections and contrasts in terms of the semantic and pragmatic understanding created/needed and interpret how that writer or speaker's lexical choice (of that word) fits in with the APF/time, using terminology, especially Language Change terminology.
• a variety of idioms, slogans or famous uses of that word with comments about the different nuances of meaning that these uses might have
• any words you can link/contrast with the word you have been given
• anything else that you would like to include

Work very hard and this will be a very useful resource. For something of a model, check out today's article on The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/mar/07/obama-de-escalate-mind-your-language

NB find out what Ngram can tell you and how to find your way around it. Please do not re-present info from Wikipedia to form the main part of your work - find out what you can by genuine, interested investigation using your imagination to find what you need - I don't mean don't look Wikipedia at some point (not first!) but do try and come up with very different info.

List of words:

love
short
want
nice
silly
bank
penny
crunk
window
edit
shave
doctor
boy
pad
drive
moniotr
wicked
gross
lady
game
cheat

A dodgy piece of journalism but an interesting issue for Language and Gender and, well, being a person...

http://redmister.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/one-female-too-far.html?m=1

AS lesson Fri 7th March

Beautifulls,

please finish and post your grouping paragraphs - remember to state the texts you are using and what you are grouping them on in your point. You don't need to use XYZ for your points in the grouping task but if you are doing a technique grouping, you might want to. Make sure you talk about APF and use more than one quote for each text wherever possible to explore each text properly.

As I said last lesson, do use paragraphing within your groups for clarity but, when you write the essay, show a change of group by leaving a line and then indent paragraphs within a single grouping.

Spend the rest of the first 45 minutes visiting one anothers' blogs and commenting on their work (even if I have already commented on it) - it doesn't have to be this task you comment on.

Then at 3.15 we will go back to C106 and discuss what we have been thinking about regarding these texts. Please look after the text books and bring them back to class with you.

Thanks.

Amazing temporary golf rules during wartime (AS Power; A2 LC)

These rules (there is a short joke first about a supposedly 'unloseable' golf ball) could be read po-faced (straight, serious), in which case they sound ridiculous, but work much better in a lightly ironic tone to show bravado and chutzpah in a time of great fear.

http://www.stmgrts.org.uk/archives/2012/02/the_temporary_rules_of_golf.html

article on swearing on Twitter evaluates data well

This is an interesting contextualisation of some quantified data. Useful for AS (preparation for A2 investigation and Language and Technology) and A2 (Language Change exam wider reading).

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/feb/23/most-popular-swearwords-on-twitter

World Book Day Thurs 6 Mar

Please, please hurry to send your reviews (either vlogs or written ones!) to James Rawlings. It would be great for you to get a written piece out there, great for people to get some help choosing stimulating books and great for your references when I realise how involved you get in everything!