Language and Power text - the pope's tweet

As I was saying in class to my A2s, excerpts of this were read at briefing on Monday and I was somewhat jarred to hear the noun "tweet" used in such a serious context, because it sounds like such a trivial word. But the connotations twitter has with idle chatter and bird-brains are fast becoming subsumed under its power as a form of mass communication. You can even follow Pope Francis tweeting in latin, if you so choose.

This text is an interesting response to the conservative backlash against Pope Francis for tweeting “Iniquitas radix malorum.” ("Inequality is the root of social ills.")


http://millennialjournal.com/2014/05/01/why-inequality-is-the-root-of-social-evil/

Last-minute tips

Wonderfulls,

your analysis is the key to success and it MUST be in the light of what the purposes are, who the audiences are and what the usual conventions of the form are and how that gets into the hands of the audiences (so how they are likely to react to it).

Remember to:

use x uses y to z in a clear point (except for the AS grouping task where you should just state the texts and grouping factor e.g. A,C and D use rhetorical questions)

select a concise quote that is worth analysing closely (or quotes - even several single-word or short-phrase quotes are good)

mine the quote by looking at the techniques used in the quote that create the effect you said it created in the point

make sure you refer to the context (APF, how the text is recieved, where in the text the quote comes - e.g. what was said earlier, after) in EVERY paragraph (systematically)

PLAN to talk about a range of frameworks and theories  by selecting interesting techniques that the writer/speaker uses that can link to those frameworks and theories using terminology

use at least 3 terms per paragraph

evaluate the relevance of theory

use tentative language

GOOD LUCK, you beautifulls! You'll be great!

A2 revision lesson 28/4/14

Good morning, treasurednesses!

Please hand in the overview you were finishing off for today and I will whip through those.

My top tip for today is to use my blog posts to look at revision tips, grammar and wider reading.

You could prioritise other things if you wish but please use the time effectively.

I will be marking throughout the middle part of the lesson but will be available at the start and in the final 15 minutes to answer questions and support you.

If you want some tasks to do:

• write a list of ideas to cover in CLA
• write a list from memory of the different terms for LC and examples of each
• visit a range of other people's blogs and use their research to learn more words/examples for LC
• Find some LC texts on the British Library Website and either write a practice essay on a single text or find a modern comparable text to compare/contrast
• watch some videos of children talking on Youtube and take note of the context
• watch some experiments on children's language development

More revising tips

This is absolute gold - all the things I always say put succinctly and convincingly:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/08/five-secrets-of-successful-revising

David Crystal on prescriptive grammar tests

David crystal's blog is well worth scrolling down and dipping into but this particular entry is great for a wider readingexample or two:

http://david-crystal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/on-not-very-bright-grammar-test.html

CLA video on why reading is hard (English having a defective orthography)

Because english does not have direct phoneme/grapheme (sound/letter) correspondance, decoding English words while reading for meaning is an extraordinarily difficult task that many have not mastered by adulthood. Many of my A2 class commented really well on the ideas from the Children of the Code video I showed you last time about the importance of maintaining children's enthusiasm for reading (Dr G Reid Lyon) and this really digs into why so many get frustrated. Six minutes worth spending and make notes of any sparkly quotes.

http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/c3/index.htm

Grammar and writing style help and tests

This site by Bristol University is very useful for targetting particular problems and also has some extremely useful style tests at the bottom on pleonasm (which I call tautology) and straying from the point, which most people could benefit from.Well done, Bristol Uni!

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/index.htm