Stretford Grammar School English Department - Preparing for A Level English Language - Stretford Grammar ...
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Stretford Grammar School English Department Preparing for A Level English Language Name: ……………………………………… THIS BOOKLET MUST BE SUBMITTED TO YOUR TEACHER AT THE START OF THE SECOND WEEK OF YOUR STUDIES
Welcome to Stretford Grammar School’s English Department. You have signed up to study for English Language A Level, no doubt because you enjoyed your English studies at GCSE and achieved a good result – congratulations! The study of English Language A Level differs from GCSE in many ways, the most significant of which is the need to know and understand a substantial amount of English grammar and word classes. If you are not prepared to learn these off by heart as the course progresses, you will find yourself in a proper pickle at the end of the course. You cannot rely on the natural talent you may have demonstrated at GCSE! The transition task attached is to test your skills as a writer, your willingness to learn and apply terminology, and to examine your enthusiasm for reading (an absolutely critical and crucial skill for exam success). THERE ARE FIVE TRANSITION TASKS. THIS ENTIRE BOOKLET WILL BE SUBMITTED TO YOUR TEACHER AT THE START OF THE SECOND WEEK OF TERM. YOU SHOULD SEEK HELP OR SUPPORT IN THE FIRST WEEK IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING WITH ANY OF THE TASKS. TASK 1: Complete the following information about yourself. You should aim to demonstrate the strength of your skill as a descriptive and persuasive writer. We will be looking at the accuracy of your writing, so think carefully before commencing the writing task. GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE GRADE: …………… GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE GRADE: …………… I HAVE CHOSEN TO STUDY ENGLISH LANGUAGE A LEVEL BECAUSE … ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................................
Task 2: Below is a starter list of basic terminology. You must learn, understand and memorise the terms and their definitions. You will be tested on these in the second week of the course. Term Definition Abstract Noun Nouns that relate to 'ideas' rather than things you can physically see or touch Adjective A word class which contains words that can add more detail (i.e. modify) to a noun or pronoun, with which they often form a noun phrase. Adverb A highly flexible word class that modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, noun phrase, clause, or sentence. Concrete Noun Nouns that are solid objects in the real or imaginary world Descriptive An adjective that provides information about a noun Adjective Dynamic Verb Verbs that describe actions we can take or have happened Emotive An adjective intended to provoke an emotional reaction Adjective from the audience Euphemism A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Evaluative An adjective that helps to determine the effectiveness or Adjective worth of a noun Noun A noun is any word that can form the head word in a noun phrase or be the subject or object of a verb. Usually the name of something. Pronoun A word that takes the place of a noun Register A commonly recognisable style which is produced by the combined language, structure and content of a piece of speech or writing Semantic field A group of words which can all be related to a particular subject Stative Verb Verbs that express a condition rather than an action Taboo A subject considered impolite to talk about Tone The general character, mood or attitude of a piece of writing Verb A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence
Task 3: Read the text below and complete all of the tasks which follow it. IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT SAUSAGE … I want a sausage that is sticky outside and juicy within. I want its skin to be tight and deep brown, and to be coated in that savoury, Marmite-like goo that comes with slow cooking. It must be a proper butcher’s sausage. A butcher stands or falls by his sausages. And it must be a plump one – no skinny chipolatas for me, thank you. Some fancy a smooth, bland banger but I insist on one that is coarsely ground with plenty of herbs (nothing fancy – a bit of thyme and parsley will do) and a generous hand with the pepper. It must be juicy. There is no joy in a dry sausage. A sausage for breakfast would be a treat indeed, fighting as it does against the morning rush and the modern attitude to healthy eating. It is a wonderful way to wake up. Especially when someone else has risen early and the smell is already wafting up the stairs. Text: Chapter introduction in a recipe book Source: Real Food by Nigel Slater 1. List 10 concrete nouns from this text (10 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... 2. List 3 abstract nouns from this text (3 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... 3. List 5 adjectives from this text (5 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... 4. List one example of a descriptive adjective, one example of an evaluative adjective, and one example of an emotive adjective. You may use adjectives included in your answer to question 3 (3 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... .........................................................................................................................................
5. List 3 adverbs used in the text (3 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... 6. State 1 modal auxiliary verb that is used in this text (1 mark) ......................................................................................................................................... 7. List 5 dynamic verbs used in the text (5 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... 8. List 1 stative verb used in the text (1 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... 9. Using the analysis you have completed in tasks 1-6, discuss the effect the writer’s lexical (word) choices have on the meaning and impact of the text. (19 marks) ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................... .........................................................................................................................................
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TASK 4 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRANSITION RESEARCH / LISTENING TASKS You will be expected to provide evidence of completion of ALL of the following tasks on commencement of the course on lined A4 paper. Notes should be CLEAR, NEAT and ORGANISED. They should BE NUMBERED, HAVE A TITLE AND DATE and, where necessary, sub-headings. DAY Task Tick when completed 1 Buy The Saturday Guardian Cut out FIVE headlines from FIVE different sections of the newspaper. Identify three points of interest in each headline. If you can, identify the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. 2 Search for ‘The Listening Project’ programmes on the BBC website. Select FIVE conversations to listen to. Keep notes about the speakers, the topics and the TONE of the conversations. 3 Listen to at least a half an hour from the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4. You can ‘listen again’ if you’re not up early enough. The best time to listen is between 8 and 9 am. Make notes on the presenters’ interviewing techniques. What kind of questions do they ask? How do they ask them? Do they repeat? Are they polite? Rude? Or what …? 4 Explore the RSPCA’s website and make notes on the website’s audience and purpose as well as FOUR different language techniques they use to make the website effective. 5 Search the web for the following Guardian article: “Sandi Toksvig: BBC denied me host role because I'm a woman”. Read the article and make notes on FIVE attitudes about women presenters that are raised by the article. 6 Listen to an episode of ‘In Our Time’. You’ll find links on the Radio 4 website. Pick a topic you are interested in and create a mindmap about what you learned about the topic. 7 Listen to an episode of ‘Woman’s Hour’. You’ll find links on the Radio 4 website. Add to the notes about interviewing techniques you made on The Today Programme. Is the technique similar or different on this show? 8 Listen to an episode of ‘Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review’ on BBC Radio 5 Live. Write down TEN phrases that Kermode or Mayo use which articulate / express an opinion 9 Buy The Daily Mail and The Mirror. (Or go to their website) Pick a politics story they’ve both covered and compare how they’ve presented it. Create a table and make notes.
Task 5 English Language Reading Transition Task: You will be required to read this kind of material on a regular basis. You should read the article, highlight relevant information and take notes on lined A4 paper. Notes should be clear, neat and organized. You’ll need to memorise the ideas of the author. What will the English language be like in 100 years? Simon Horobin Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford One way of predicting the future is to look back at the past. The global role English plays today as a lingua franca – used as a means of communication by speakers of different languages – has parallels in the Latin of pre-modern Europe. Having been spread by the success of the Roman Empire, Classical Latin was kept alive as a standard written medium throughout Europe long after the fall of Rome. But the Vulgar Latin used in speech continued to change, forming new dialects, which in time gave rise to the modern Romance languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Italian. Similar developments may be traced today in the use of English around the globe, especially in countries where it functions as a second language. New “interlanguages” are emerging, in which features of English are mingled with those of other native tongues and their pronunciations. Despite the Singaporean government’s attempts to promote the use of Standard British English through the Speak Good English Movement, the mixed language known as “Singlish” remains the variety spoken on the street and in the home. Spanglish, a mixture of English and Spanish, is the native tongue of millions of speakers in the United States, suggesting that this variety is emerging as a language in its own right. Meanwhile, the development of automatic translation software, such as Google Translate, will come to replace English as the preferred means of communication employed in the boardrooms of international corporations and government agencies. So the future for English is one of multiple Englishes. Looking back to the early 20th century, it was the Standard English used in England, spoken with the accent known as “Received Pronunciation”, that carried prestige. But today the largest concentration of native speakers is in the US, and the influence of US English can be heard throughout the world: can I get a cookie, I’m good, did you eat, the movies,_ “skedule”_ rather than “shedule”. In the future, to speak English will be to speak US English.
US spellings such as disk and program are already preferred to British equivalents disc and programme in computing. The dominance of US usage in the digital world will lead to the wider acceptance of further American preferences, such as favorite, donut, dialog, center. What is being lost? In the 20th century, it was feared that English dialects were dying out with their speakers. Projects such as the Survey of English Dialects (1950-61) were launched at the time to collect and preserve endangered words before they were lost forever. A similar study undertaken by the BBC’s Voices Project in 2004 turned up a rich range of local accents and regional terms which are available online, demonstrating the vibrancy and longevity of dialect vocabulary. But while numerous dialect words were collected for “young person in cheap trendy clothes and jewellery” – pikey, charva, ned, scally – the word chav was found throughout England, demonstrating how features of the Estuary English spoken in the Greater London area are displacing local dialects, especially among younger generations. The turn of the 20th century was a period of regulation and fixity – the rules of Standard English were established and codified in grammar books and in the New (Oxford) English Dictionary on Historical Principles, published as a series of volumes from 1884-1928. Today we are witnessing a process of de-standardisation, and the emergence of competing norms of usage. In the online world, attitudes to consistency and correctness are considerably more relaxed: variant spellings are accepted and punctuation marks omitted, or repurposed to convey a range of attitudes. Research has shown that in electronic discourse exclamation marks can carry a range of exclamatory functions, including apologising, challenging, thanking, agreeing, and showing solidarity. Capital letters are used to show anger, misspellings convey humour and establish group identity, and smiley-faces or emoticons express a range of reactions. Getting shorter Some have questioned whether the increasing development and adoption of emoji pictograms, which allow speakers to communicate without the need for language, mean that we will cease to communicate in English at all? ;-) The fast-changing world of social media is also responsible for the coining and spreading of neologisms, or “new words”. Recent updates to Oxford Dictionaries give a flavour: mansplaining, awesomesauce, rly, bants, TL;DR (too long; didn’t read). How Oxford Dictionaries choose which new words to include. Clipped forms, acronyms, blends and abbreviations have long been productive methods of word formation in English (think of bus, smog and scuba) but the huge increase in such coinages means that they will be far more prominent in the English of 2115. Whether you or h8 such words, think they are NBD or meh, they are undoubtedly here to stay. Twee
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