New words in the dictionary

Remember the lesson where we looked at transgender being one of the words of 2015? Here's a really good post from another language teacher (his whole blog is worth exploring if you fancy doing some wider reading) on the subject:

EngLangBlog: A Word of Warning: While some changes to language are roundly condemned by pedants, purists and prescriptivists - creaky voice, rising intonation, split infini...

Language and Gender lesson resources

An experiment!

This one is for all you disorganised people who lose their sheets / folders. I won't be able to put things in here that I have copied from books, as I'm not going to faff around with scanning resources, but I'll try and put lesson handouts that I've created in here.

Follow this link

Year 9 Caliban homework

English Homework. Set 26/1/16. Due 2/2/16

Do some research into how Caliban has been presented through film, theatre and paintings. Choose one image that appeals to you. Write a beautifully crafted paragraph describing what he looks like in your image, so that someone who couldn’t see the picture would be able to imagine it.

I expect you to use:

·         Adjectives

·         A range of sentence types and lengths

·         Powerful vocabulary

·         Accurate spelling and punctuation

You might also use:

·         Imagery (Similes, metaphors)

·         A range of punctuation (semi-colons, colons)

·         Some complex sentences

·         Ambitious vocabulary (you may use a thesaurus)

Even though this is only a paragraph, you should still spend 30 minutes on this. I expect to see evidence in your book of drafting, corrections, improvements and corrections. I will be placing more value on crafted and creative writing than on neat books. 

Year 12 Homework w/c 25/1/16

Sorry everyone - been a while since I wrote on here. I will get back into the habit.

This week we have rounded off our introduction to the topic of language and gender. We have discussed different ways in which society is sexist (both a historical perspective and more recent examples) and how this is mirrored by the language we use. We have learnt the difference between sex and gender, and we have discussed the topicality of the word 'transgender': this is a fast-moving area of language study! We have discussed the concept of socialisation and we have touched on the theories of language and thought (Sapir and Whorf). Finally, we have looked at a range of texts (both modern and older texts) and analysed how the different genders are represented within these texts.

We have learnt the terms: androcentric, derogatory language, pejoration, semantic derogation, lexical asymmetry, subordinate, promiscuous. 

See here to recap our lessons this week:
Lesson 1
Lesson 2

Homework: due Tuesday lesson (group I share with Mrs Morgan) / Thursday lesson (group I share with Miss Moody)

Your next assessment is a writing task. Question 3 of paper 2 asks you to write an article for a non-specialist audience. This means that you are writing for the general public, not A-level language teachers or students, therefore you should assume no prior knowledge of English Language study.

Task: Write an opinion article in which you discuss the issues of gender representation in modern texts. Before you start you should state your intended audience.

Homework (suggested time 2 hours)

1.  Go to the language section of The Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/science/language
2. Read a selection of articles. Have a browse around. Read what takes your fancy. There are articles on there about accents, gender, children’s language (a Y13 topic).
3. Choose one that you like the look of and a) summarise it in bullet points, or one neat little paragraph (like we did in class) b) what do you notice about the way the article is written? Underline at least three language features that you recognise from today’s lesson, or that you think are good examples of language to use in this type of article. Label them if you can (eg uses first person plural pronoun… uses modal auxiliary verbs…)
4. Draw together your notes from the last 3 lessons. We have covered a variety of ideas and you have been given some handouts to read. Make sure you have read them. Using your chosen method (bullet points, mind map) compile some ideas that you might want to use in your article. 

Still got time to spare?! Deborah Cameron (an important gender theorist we will be studying after half-term) has written a response to the debate this article refers to on her blog. It would be a useful read: https://debuk.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/a-rabid-feminist-writes/

Y9 Miss Luce letter homework

This letter (sorry - it is very small!) was written by John Steinbeck to Claire Luce, an actress who was playing Curley’s Wife on Broadway, and who had expressed worries about playing the character. Answer the following questions in your books in full sentences. (Ignore the questions at the bottom of the letter)

1.    Read the letter carefully.

2.    Look up any words you don’t understand in a dictionary. Make a note of their meaning.

3.    What was Curley’s wife’s ‘fixation’?

4.    Why does Steinbeck suggest that she had become a hard character?

5.    What does Curley’s wife crave above all else?

6.    Why does he suggest that you would never get to know the real Curley’s Wife?

7.    Does this letter change the opinion you had of Curley’s Wife? Explain why or why not.

8.     *Extension: read this article on the blog about Curley’s Wife and write a short response explaining how this further adds to your understanding about the character.

What will you be binge-watching tonight? New words for 2015

Every year, there are reports on new words that lexicographers have included in new versions of dictionaries. Read this article about new entries for this year and have a think about the following:

1. Are lexicographers (people who write dictionaries) doing a job which is prescriptivist or descriptivist in nature?
2. What do you think about the inclusion of these words. Would you have included them? Have you heard all of them being used?
3. The fact that 'trans-gender' has been included is of great importance to our work on language and gender. Does the word's inclusion reflect changing societal attitudes? How will these social attitudes change the way we study language and gender?

Year 9 Homework - Curley's Wife Set Friday 6th November

Imagine you are Curley’s Wife. Write a letter home to your sister, telling her what life is like for you on the ranch.  Are you happy? How is your marriage working out? How do you fill your days?

You are aiming to show my your understanding of the character, but should also write accurately and well. (No non-negotiable errors!)

Due Tuesday 10th November. You will need to do this on paper, as I have your books.