Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Congratulations!
Big congratulations to Verdala International School's class of 2013, many of whom created this blog back in 2009-10 as 9th graders. Congratulations also to all of you who moved on from Verdala and are probably graduating somewhere else about now. I'm very proud of you all!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
More Adrienne Rich!
The first portion of this podcast is an interesting discussion of Adrienne Rich.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
RIP Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich Obituary
"Amends"
Nights like this: on the cold apple-bough
a white star, then another
exploding out of the bark:
on the ground, moonlight picking at small stones
as it picks at greater stones, as it rises with the surf
laying its cheek for moments on the sand
as it licks the broken ledge, as it flows up the cliffs,
as it flicks across the tracks
as it unavailing pours into the gash
of the sand-and-gravel quarry
as it leans across the hangared fuselage
of the crop-dusting plane
as it soaks through cracks into the trailers
tremulous with sleep
as it dwells upon the eyelids of the sleepers
as if to make amends
"Amends"
Nights like this: on the cold apple-bough
a white star, then another
exploding out of the bark:
on the ground, moonlight picking at small stones
as it picks at greater stones, as it rises with the surf
laying its cheek for moments on the sand
as it licks the broken ledge, as it flows up the cliffs,
as it flicks across the tracks
as it unavailing pours into the gash
of the sand-and-gravel quarry
as it leans across the hangared fuselage
of the crop-dusting plane
as it soaks through cracks into the trailers
tremulous with sleep
as it dwells upon the eyelids of the sleepers
as if to make amends
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A Challenge!
If you are approaching the end of your first year of IGCSE English Literature study, you have probably already read at least one play. If you are approaching the end of your second year, you have definitely read at least one play.
I challenge every IGCSE English Lit student around the world to use xtranormal to create a video based on any scene, short dialogue exchange or speech from a play you have studied in your class. Creating your first video with xtranormal is free and easy and can be done entirely online at xtranormal.com.
When you have created your video, please post a link to it using the "comments" here on this blog. These could prove to be very useful study materials for others, so please try this, have fun and share!
Here's one example that I just made based on a scene in Act II of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman where Howard fires Willy.
Here's another example based on a speech in Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Mark Antony eulogizes Caesar. (I made this a couple of years ago using an older version of xtranormal, so had to split it into several small videos.)
I challenge every IGCSE English Lit student around the world to use xtranormal to create a video based on any scene, short dialogue exchange or speech from a play you have studied in your class. Creating your first video with xtranormal is free and easy and can be done entirely online at xtranormal.com.
When you have created your video, please post a link to it using the "comments" here on this blog. These could prove to be very useful study materials for others, so please try this, have fun and share!
Here's one example that I just made based on a scene in Act II of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman where Howard fires Willy.
Here's another example based on a speech in Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Mark Antony eulogizes Caesar. (I made this a couple of years ago using an older version of xtranormal, so had to split it into several small videos.)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Downloadable "Shakespearean Sonnet" Lesson
IGCSE English Literature teachers, here's a full 45-minute paper-based lesson that you can conduct in-class or assign as homework.
IGCSE English Literature students, here's a full 45-minute paper-based lesson that you can use on your own.
If, in your study of poetry so far in this course, you have studied poetic rhyme scheme and meter including iambic pentameter and you have also already read one or more narrative texts (novels, stories, plays) listed below, you are ready to go for this lesson!
Objective: To write a Shakespearean sonnet based on a narrative text.
Possible IGCSE narrative texts for this lesson:
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Journey’s End by R.C. Sheriff
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
“Games at Twilight” by Anita Desai
When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
“The Signalman” by Charles Dickens
“The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“How It Happened” by Arthur Conan Doyle
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
“Meteor” by John Wyndham
“The Lemon Orchard” by Alex La Guma
“Secrets” by Bernard MacLaverty
“The Taste of Watermelon” by Bordon Deal
“The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“On Her Knees” by Tim Winton
Any other IGCSE Literature class text!
Click here to download the the “Shakespearean Sonnet” lesson handout.
When you have finished with this lesson, please feel free to share your final sonnets the “comments” section!
It will also be greatly appreciated if you fill in the survey below to help me in preparing future lessons.
IGCSE English Literature students, here's a full 45-minute paper-based lesson that you can use on your own.
If, in your study of poetry so far in this course, you have studied poetic rhyme scheme and meter including iambic pentameter and you have also already read one or more narrative texts (novels, stories, plays) listed below, you are ready to go for this lesson!
Objective: To write a Shakespearean sonnet based on a narrative text.
Possible IGCSE narrative texts for this lesson:
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Journey’s End by R.C. Sheriff
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
“Games at Twilight” by Anita Desai
When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
“The Signalman” by Charles Dickens
“The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“How It Happened” by Arthur Conan Doyle
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
“Meteor” by John Wyndham
“The Lemon Orchard” by Alex La Guma
“Secrets” by Bernard MacLaverty
“The Taste of Watermelon” by Bordon Deal
“The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“On Her Knees” by Tim Winton
Any other IGCSE Literature class text!
Click here to download the the “Shakespearean Sonnet” lesson handout.
When you have finished with this lesson, please feel free to share your final sonnets the “comments” section!
It will also be greatly appreciated if you fill in the survey below to help me in preparing future lessons.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Return of the Quizzes!
I have noticed that the quizzes posted six months ago on IGCSE English Literature poets and story authors have now each been visited about 3,000 times! I also notice that, as new posts are made to the blog, these quizzes are being visited less frequently, so am re-posting them now in hope that they will get more use. Enjoy brushing up on who wrote what!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Please Participate!
Please complete these short anonymous surveys to help me develop more learning materials.
Please be sure to answer these questions honestly and fully and not to look up information or ask for help from anyone. I need to know more about what you do know and about what you may not know. This should only take you about five minutes. Thanks!
Part 1
Part 2
Please be sure to answer these questions honestly and fully and not to look up information or ask for help from anyone. I need to know more about what you do know and about what you may not know. This should only take you about five minutes. Thanks!
Part 1
Part 2
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