Gorgeous and useful enrichment workshops

Please sign up for the Poetry, Short Story and Language Psychology workshops. There are sign up sheets on the notice board outside the office (C102). The Language Psychology workshop is particularly useful for Language (and was very good indeed last year!) but this is enrichment, so feel free to sign up for what interests you most... but grab those places quick quick!

Article on Twitter @everyword

This article could cause some argument...

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/04/everyword-twitter-ends-adam-parrish-english-language

Feel free to comment with your attitude.

AS Language post-exams work (homework support)

Magnificents,

welcome back and I am sure you did brilliantly in the exams!

As I said in the lesson, you need to collect texts that you find lingusitically interesting/stimulating. Keep a folder of these to use in lessons - you need at least one for Friday's lesson (they can be brief or you can bring an extract).

The additional homework I have set you is to write up the discussion from Tuesday's lesson - here's some help but you can structure it any way you choose and only include what is relevant to the particular discussion you had:

Write briefly (in note form where it is clear) using headings
Which text did you choose and why/how?
What struck the group about the text (what was interesting/significant)?
What did you find that linked to theories (go through each aspect in as much detail as possible)?
What did you find most interesting about the text and/or about the discussion?



In terms of what you can do to prepare yourself for A2, here are some tips:

• read pre-1900 (post-1700) literature
• read non-fiction or watch documentaries on history (particularly social history) 1700 - modern day
• spend time with children if possible (under-fives) - get parental permission to record some of their speech if possible and find out about what they are reading and watching (or what older children (under 11s) are writing, although we don't teach children's writing you can teach it to yourself) or talk to parents about their children's language development (first words, non-standard uses etc.) or watch some Youtube clips on children's language development
• browse through the British Library's educational section online
• look up low-frequency lexis you come across to expand your vocabulary
• read emagazine articles and watch TED talks on language - AS and A2 topics - and keep notes
• look back through my blog posts for interesting articles
• search online newspapers for language articles
• find out some key quotes for attitudes to language changing
• keep your notes on your blog to force you to organise your thoughts and give you opportunities to share your work and get comments from me or your peers - they will be very useful for revision - you can easily link to sources you have found interesting

There will be more posts over the course of the break, so check in occassionally and please comment on what you engage with - this is vital for stimulating discussion!

Loo vs toilet - what's the issue? Prescriptive language

This Telegraph article brings up some great prescriptive language attitudes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10852090/Radio-4-plumbs-new-lows-as-lavatory-takes-a-back-seat.html

Sir vs Miss

An interesting debate. By suggesting Sir as a suitable alternative to raise the status of female teachers, what is the historian implying? Jennifer Coates is shocked but what might make a suitable alternative?

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/13/debate-over-female-teachers-called-sir-or-miss

A2 lesson Tuesday 13th May

Scrumptiousnesses,

I will be leaving at 3.15 for an appointment but I would like you to post your work no sooner than 3.50 and by 4pm.

Please plan and write a response to the texts I will give you, based on the following question and post to your blogs:

By reference to BOTH texts (J and K) and to ideas from language study, describe and comment on what these texts show about language change over time.

Bear in mind the following helpful prompts when planning:

• What are the comparable factors and how do they help you to explore change?
• How are the techniques suitable for the target audiences of that time and how might audiences of the other time react or what might be changed to suit them?
• What are the significant aspects of each text that are worth commenting on and how can you link those to terminology, theory and context?

When writing up, remember to be tentative, evaluative, to mine the quote and to systematically refer to context - see my 'last-minute tips' post.

Really try hard by yourself but help one another rather than be stuck and write nothing - Gender issues are going to be of relevance here, so don't forget to brush up on those. I would rather have a shorter, well-informed response today so use Moodle or internet research IF YOU HAVE TO.

percentages on your AAE - please read

Dear lovelinessess,

the current AAE has an add-on of mock grade and PERCENTAGE. What?!

I have followed department policy of equating your grade to a fixed percentage in order to fill the box but it has absolutely no relationship to what you got so please ignore it. The method is simply to put 90% for A*, 80% for A, 70% for B etc.

The reason a percentage is meaningless is that there is no relationship year-on-year between a particular mark/percentage and a grade - they change depending on the level of responses given for that paper (for some papers/years, a mark converting to 64% would get you an A, for others, you might need to get upwards of 84%). So you have been marked in line with the mark scheme and graded relative to my expectations for that paper - a much more realistic indication of what the skills you displayed would have got you in the exam, given the cohort you are in.

If you or your parents have any questions, it is department policy, so please contact Judith Vale (Curriculum Manager for English). But don't question it, just ignore it - it won't be making an appearance again next year!