Hi S2

Those of you wishing to strengthen your essays could try exploring some of the following links. The top two are the most helpful because they are short but have a quite deep understanding. The other two are essay-length but will really help you both with ideas, and critical language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shylock

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/merchant/characters.epl

http://www.sol.co.uk/forthvalley/larbert-hs/mag/writing/shylock.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/ei_shylock.html

The Truman Show

OK, so we've established reality TV is a waste of all our time. But making a film about reality TV, well, that's just a whole separate kettle of post-modern fish.

This week we'll be focussing on painstakingly dissecting some of the key scenes to look at how the director (not Christof, the director of the film - Peter Weir) creates the idea that Truman is being controlled.

For the keen beans who want to beef up their folio grades for this year and next, below are some good line resources where you can get inspiration and also familarise yourself more with critical language.

Enjoy!

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/witm/recommended/trumanshow.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show

http://www.haikuwhiz.com/attachments/4767.pdf

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/stories/index.pl?noframes;read=29

http://artsncrafty.blogspot.com/2007/04/truman-show.html

merchant of venice

On Tuesday Mr Sharpe was off and we did a sheet of questions on the 'Merchant of venice'. Once we had finished this we did our 10 minutes reading.
B.A

S3 - Ranting with all my Rantingness

OK, so you all enjoyed reading (and critiquing!) my own "Write your Views" piece about reality TV. For those who missed it, it's reproduced below.

On Thursday you will be writing your own editorial rant about Reality TV in a "Write your Views" essay yourself.

It's important to remember that this should be your own thoughts, not mine, and that it is fine to be opinionated: you aren't expected to be balanced or neutral. Just tell us what you think.

Enjoy the weekend and see you on Tuesday.

“Reality TV – Look at the Pretty Colours” By Mr R Sharpe

Last weekend, my friend Tom’s parents won a reality TV show. The basic idea was very simple. A load of people they didn’t like came round for dinner. You could tell that they won because at the end because they got given £1000.

The thing is, that £1000 was funded, in part, by me. I, along with 25 million others, pay £139.50 every year for the right to own a TV. That means that £0.0004 of the money that went to Tom’s parents came from my pocket.

The irony to all this, of course, is that I could have just gone round for free, and I wouldn’t have had share the experience with an unwashed student or anyone else. The show hasn’t been aired yet but I imagine that if I were to watch it, I wouldn’t recognise the two people on the screen, in spite of knowing them well.

The show, like all reality TV, doesn’t take much planning. Take some normal people, throw in some abnormal people, and wait for something to happen. If it doesn’t, make something happen.

The truth behind these shows is often more sinister than the empty-headed logos suggest. The clever use of editing can trick the audience into believing almost anything. Even more worryingly, recent improvements in sound editing has created so –called “Frankenbites”. This new word, a combination of “Frankenstein” and “soundbite” describes where individual words, said by the “stars” across, say, an episode, are edited together into a single sentence which was never actually said.

The growth of reality TV as a genre has, like all organic growth, been slow. It surfaced with Candid Camera in the 50’s, when normal people were “pranked” by professional comedians. Big Brother, an idea originated in George Orwell’s book “1984”, was an early sign of things to come. Yet we, the modern audience, couldn’t wait for organic growth. We needed Jade Goody now, dammit! So we added some artificial fertilizer, left it out in the sun, and wham! Today it has spawned a million hybrid children. We have Celebrity Big Brother, American Big Brother, and each follows the same, braindead formula. “How to Look Good Naked”, a more recent evolution (there should be an opposite of that word) should be the shortest series ever commissioned. I can picture how it should have been:

“Hi, I’m Gok, and this is how to look good naked. Eat less and do some exercise. Thanks for watching, now over to some professionals with a programme and a script”

If it sounds like I am being unfair, it is because I am. But I like my entertainment to have some kind of purpose. If I’m to watch someone on the screen, I’d like them to have put some thought into what they are going to say and do. Perhaps practiced once or twice. Is it too much to ask that maybe they even receive a little training in front of the camera? Big Brother can be recreated in your own home (provided you have neighbours) with an electric drill, a couple of video cameras and Microsoft Moviemaker. And from what I can gather from the show, the way to look good naked is to buy more stuff.

The Romans used to have a phrase – “panem et circenses” to describe this way of keeping the lowest of their citizens entertained. It translates as “bread and circuses” and meant that if you kept the fools fed and gave them clowns to laugh at, they wouldn’t revolt and start cutting heads off the government.

Today’s bread and circuses involve watching failed celebrities, low-grade celebrities, and wannabe celebrities all desperately being uniformly unique. The development of reality TV has been at the cost of intelligent programming. It’s free to make and, because millions watch it, it rakes money in from advertising. But the hidden cost is that each time they make a show, another Jade Goody could be born. Then we have to clean up her dirty nappies for as long as her career lasts. It is the worst possible picture of the future of humanity. Our culture once tried to touch the stars, now we like to watch milkmen eating tadpoles.

Or, if you prefer the edited Frankenbite summary of the previous paragraph: Reality TV is intelligent programming. The future of humanity is free. Jade Goody is a star.

Mr R Sharpe©

S3 - At Home With the Doggs: answers and explanation

Dear All,

If you missed the class on Thursday, 17th, the you missed us going back over the answers to the practice close read quiz last week. You can get a copy of the slideshow by clicking here. It's worth having a look because I've not only shown the answers, but colour coded the questions so it should be really easy to work out not just what the answer is, but why the answers are what they are.

Once again, a hearty congratulations and solid slaps on the back to all who completed this task. As the whole thing was done independently, it would have been easy not to do the task. But you all did. So good on you!

Intermediate 1 Easter Revision notes

Hello Everyone,

Well done to those of you who came to the Easter revision session.

I'm testing new files storage websites: you should be able to click here to download the SlideShow used to revision close reading skills.

Feel free to download, re-read and share with the naughties who didn't come along...

Mr Sharpe

S5 - In Mr Sharpe's Absence

Hello all,

As I said last week, I will be covering a different class for Tuesday's class, and you will have someone else for the day.

Remember that you had some creative homework - to complete a newspaper report on the distasteful happenings of "Playing Sandwiches" by Alan Bennett - which should have been a helpful revision tactic to embed the basic plot and characters in your mind. This can be handed in at the English base into my tray.

With just days (13 lessons!) left until the exams, you can use this time well. If I were you, I'd be looking at some of the questions below and practicing answering them:

1. Read the question and underline any key terms - what is being asked of you? Should you be talking about setting, character, structure and/or theme?
2. Decide what you would need to answer it - no fewer than 5 quotes and PEE paragraphs for each
3. Write a skeleton plan for each question: a full introduction and link, then the PEE notes for each paragraph, and a full conclusion.
4. Bring the evidence of the work you complete to Wednesday's class, and I'll go over them with you
5. Keep a note of any questions or areas where you are unsure for further discussion on Wednesday.

Questions

Choose a text which has a surprise ending.

Briefly say what happens in the story and then go on to show why the surprise ending makes a good finish to the story. In your answer you should refer to such features as: the plot of the story, its structure, character, or any other appropriate feature

Choose a text which has an important turning point that changes things for one of the characters.

Show how the story builds up to the turning point and say why it is important for the character. In your answer you should refer to such features as: structure, character, or any other appropriate feature.

Choose a text which deals with a topic of importance to society.

Say what you learned about the topic from your reading and whether you felt sympathy for the people involved. In your answer you should refer to such features as: theme, character, or any other appropriate feature.

Choose a text in which one of the main characters has to make a decision.

Explain what the decision is and show how it is important for the rest of the story. In your answer you should refer to such features as: turning point, character, or any other appropriate feature.

Choose a text which deals with a subject which interests you, or amuses you, or makes you sad.

Say what the subject is and why it has aroused this feeling in you.In your answer you should refer to such features as: the ideas, characters, plot, or any other appropriate feature.