Wall St Journal

I saw a Facebook post about The Wall Street Journal where the same story and advert were clearly aimed at different audiences:

I wasn't sure how authentic it was, so I went to the website and saw that there are different editions for key international markets. And the small print suggests that New York does get a different edition to elsewhere in the US and that there are different Eurpoean and Asian editions too.

Note the different intentions behind the phrasing of the ISIS headlines in the US and British versions (consider the connotations of "tricks" vs "eludes" for instance):

US - ISIS OPERATIVES LEARN TRICKS OF SPYCRAFT
UK - HOW ISIS ELUDES DETECTION

Visit the website here to make current comparisons.

A blog you must follow (EngLangBlog)

Follow this and use the links on the right-hand-side. Fail to do so at your peril! The blogger is a teacher who is very much involved with AQA: developing the course, training teachers etc.

Wiradjuri - language and identity, world Englishes

English sits alongside many other languages now but there were circumstances it was used to keep native populations under control when the British took over. This reduction of the status of other languages has no doubt destroyed many but this one (Wiradjuri), like Welsh, is undergoing a resurgence.

Make sure you notice that I have a feed from The Guardian Language section on the right hand side of my blog (which is where I found this article). Maybe put it on yours too?

computer room lesson (A-block Fri 9th and E-block Mon 12th) and GRAPE explanation

Creatives,

please send me your blog links and then work on your creative coursework and commentary - if you haven't started the commentary yet, write some within the first 30 mins even if it is only one paragraph, so I can have a look over your shoulder and see if you are on the right track. If you have your style model, I would like to take a quick look at that too.

Work hard and fast; this is a tight deadline. If your concentration goes, go to my blog and do something else briefly e.g. check out the grammar help from one of the posts or do some wider reading and put some notes on your blog. Use the search bar or the pinned post at the top for grammar help and browse down or use the search bar for wider reading. All the older posts are still relevant.

For ease of access, here is the link to my post on commentaries. If you weren't in my class, here is what GRAPE stands for (it is a mnemonic for context issues that goes a bit deeper than GAP):

G genre/form - what are the conventions of the form, how are they used in interesting/powerful/suprising ways?
R received - how is the text literally received (how does someone get to read/hear it - does it come through their letter box? Did they search for it? Was it recommended?) and how is it metaphorically received e.g. is it well-recieved by them because it is useful to them? Because it fits in with their world view? Because a friend sent them a link? Is it badly recieved because they are forced to read it? It's on a controversial topic and they don't agree with the producer? It is too challenging for them to understand?
A audiences - who are the primary and secondary audiences in as much detail as you can imagine?
P purposes - what is the primary purpose (evaluate which it may be if it isn't clear) and secondary purposes? How do they complement or conflict with one another?
E expectations - what expectations/wants/needs do the audience have before receiving the text? Are those met/thwarted/challenged/subverted?

Gossiping children (CLA)

One of the important aspects of the topic of CLA is 'development'. Jean Piaget said that children won't use language they don't understand  e.g. they won't use words like 'longer' and 'narrower' (except when copying) before they understand how to make estimates and compare. This theory is called 'cognitive development' and this concept is explored here where the writer talks about the difference in gossip between 3- and 5-year-olds.

By five they are cognitively devloped enough to give justifications for their opinions. Younger children may lack understanding of abstract concepts like 'generosity' or 'selfishness', although they are extrememly selfish themselves at that age, because they are only interested in meeting their own needs (they are egocentric) and don't yet understand the social value of sharing (although they might have had it drummed into them that you share, few have the emotional maturity to want to in order to make others like and trust them and feel better - this requires empathy which often develops more around 4-5 years old).

Trigger warnings and vindictive protectiveness - language change

This essay for The Atlantic is very long but read what you can or do it in stages. Make sure you follow the link when you get to it about the stories of how they came to write the essay.

As Language students, you should develop more sensitivity about the impact of your language on others - you should learn to use language powerfully but also tactfully (which is often the same thing!). But as students I also want you to learn resilience - to not over-react, to persevere, to accept (even while questioning) the opinions of others. Are trigger warnings and vindictive protectiveness more useful or dangerous? Learning to evaluate complex issues is key to high grades too.

Computer room lesson for E-block and classroom laptop lesson for A-block Mon 5th Sept

Hello and welcome to my course blog (welcome back if you were in my class last year)!

Even if I taught you last year, I would really like to get to know about your learning experience in more detail. Please read all the instructions before you start and record the deadline and what you have to bring tomorrow:

• Please bring your pieces (and commentaries even if it is only a paragraph because you weren't asked to do one over the summer) printed out to tomorrow's lesson with word counts on them so we can do some peer assessment and then you can further improve them before the draft deadline. You must have them with you so take all precautions e.g. emailing them to yourself to make sure. The better the drafts, the more useful the feedback will be but rough drafts are better than none if there was anything you were unsure about. See me today if there are any issues. Draft deadline Tues 13th September (a week on Tues/tomorrow).  No drafts will be taken in after the one on the 13th - the next time it gets marked is the final version. Late drafts don't get marked. If you have a reason for an extension, please see me asap.
• Today, please send me the URL for your blog straight away then complete the following task that will help me to get to know you and assess your directed writing. Write a blog post about yourself as an English student. What did you learn/enjoy/find challenging? Which ways do you learn best and what is problematic? How have your interests outside college or your personality impacted on your study? What occupational or dialectal language do you use? What else might I need/like to know? Edit your work ensuring a clear structure and written accuracy and then publish it to your blog. Because it is an assessment, please think about how to make it more complex/ambitious e.g. with punctuation, non-standard genre conventions, humour/wit that I will appreciate etc.
• When you have time, please browse my blog - you can use the blog's search bar in the top left to search for topics realted to your investigation or this year's key topics of Child Language (CLA) or Language Change.

I'm really looking forward to working with you and the A2 topics are my favourites...