Last lesson

Today we will divide the class up into 4 x 20 minute sessions.

Session 1
Finish off the Shakespeare

Session 2
Santa and the fake news story shows that we have a problem with regard to the news and truth- especially on Facebook. In the run-up to the USA elections many of the most-spread news items were in fact fake/lies.
I want you to read the article and discuss in small groups.

There are 2 alternatives for the last two sessions:-

Alternative 1 Session 3
Personalized story from Santa's grotto.
Let's get the kid in you to come out again.
Here is the link.

Session 4
Letter from a world leader.
Write a Christmas wish list from a world leader to Santa/Jesus/Dalai Lama or whoever you think they would choose to solve their problems.

Alternative 2
Try your hand at the giant Christmas Crossword

Have a great Christmas and thanks for this term!

Classic book talks, Shakespeare and assessment

Today we continue with the classic booktalks.

The list is here 

If anyone is sick one of those who missed last Friday can take their place..

In the meantime there is the Shakespeare work to finish off.

Spome people have still not handed in the assignment for Act II and III

Here  is that document!

Otherwise, today many of you have a chance to complete 
the final exercise on "Two Gentlemen of Verona".

Whatever you choose to do I want all of you to do an assessment of the course up till now. It is on paper and should be completed. Please take the final section seriously
as it can be of great help for your new teacher after Christmas.

On Monday, I will try to arrange some kind of surprise and we doing a bit of summing up and hopefully have some kind of simple "fika".

Peace out!

Shakespeare Acts IV and V- CAE listening

Today we will have our last look at Two Gentlemen of Verona.

1. Many parallels between Romeo and Juliet and  Two Gentlemen of Verona.

2. Act IV leads us into a new locus which will also be the setting for the final scene...

We will read Act IV Scene I  and II together

3. Act V Scene III & IV are the final scenes of the play..

In Shakespeare's plays the forest represents an almost magical setting where things get put right and anything can happen...

However, the ending of this play is clearly the early work of the great playwright as the following article shows.

You now have the rest of this lesson ( unless you are doing the listening exercise) and most of Friday to get the final exercise done

Here is a final exercise on "Two Gentlemen of Verona".

Friday is Classic Book talks day. Thos who missed on Friday (Anton & Sabina) will have to reschedule to another time and the same procedure for those who haven't signed up at all.

The alternative is an F-warning!  (You have been warned!)

Classic book talks and final exercise on Shakespeare

Today we continue with the classic booktalks.

The list is here 

While this is going on you should complete the exercise for "Two Gentlemen of Verona" Acts II and III. In fact I wrote week 50 but meant week 49!

On Monday we will discuss the final assignment about the play ( see below)

Here is a short extract from the play from a Youtube clip from "Shakespeare in Love" 

and if you want to see a simple production of the play here  is an example..

NOT GREAT ACTING !!!

Finally, when I disappear on Monday to have my online class in Spanish here is a final exercise on "Two Gentlemen of Verona".

It needs to be done before you go for your Christmas break.

Cambridge Listening

I have spent most of my week-end correcting the four parts of the writing course.

Please make sure you read through the texts.
Anything which is marked in blue (spelling), purple (Swenglish) or red (grammar) should be corrected.

If you are unsure please ASK!

Language learning is all about learning from your mistakes..

Today we are doing a CAE listening test just to assess your listening skills.

Afterwards you have the Shakespeare assignment to be getting on with.

Classic book talks and "Two Gentlemen of Verona"

Today we start our classic book talks.

Apart from relating the plot of your work, you need to be able to explain the following:

The book you are reading-  Why is it a classic? 

- Message ?

- Characters?

- Language?

- Style?

- The name of the author?

- Authenticity?

Your task is to ORALLY show that you have read your classic and that you can discuss why you think it is still around.

Would you recommend your book to anyone else or not?

Week 48
Name	Title of book	Author
Julia Möttönen	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Brontë
Ryder	Hamlet	Shakespeare
Week 49
Name	Title of book	Author
Hannah Persson	Uncle Tom's cabin, or Life among the lowly	Harriet Beecher Stowe
Anna Oskarsson	Heart of darkness	Joseph Conrad
Sabina Vestberg	Dracula	Bram Stoker
Ebba Geldern	Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland	Lewis Carroll
Melinda Granberg	Nineteen eighty three	George Orwell
Amanda Matsson Andrén	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Brontë
Frida Martinsson	Wuthering heights	Emily Brontë
Anton Lundin	The Call of the Wild	Jack London
Week 50	:)
Name	Title of book	Author
Hanna Magnström	The Great Gatsby	F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nora Göransson	Jane Eyre
Julia Bergman	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte
Madelene Heikkinen	Pride & Prejudice	Jane Austen
Marcus Lundin	Robinson Crusoe	Daniel Defoe
Karl Kristensson	Treasure Island	Robert. L Stevenson
August Testad	Robinson Crusoe	Daniel Defoe
Erik Berg	Robinson Crusoe	Daniel Defoe

In the meantime,  here is the first graded exercise for Two Gentlemen of  Verona

If you want to read the first Act in more modern English

here is a good link

Your assignment is about Act 2 and 3 and should be sent in 

by Friday week 50.

The rest of today's lesson you need to continue to read the play

Here  is the document

Good luck!

Act 1 TGOV continued

As an introduction we eill do some reading where we left off last time.

I also want to give you some clues about the questions for ACT I of Two Gentlemen of Verona.

I would like you to work in groups of three/four students and answer the questions after I have gone off for my Spanish lesson. Send them as a message to Vklass. Don't forget to write your names.

Here are some clues. One of the special characteristics of this play is the role of the servants. 
Speed, Lance and Lucetta are what we call "foils".

Here is a link about this:-
http://www.shmoop.com/gentlemen-of-verona/society-class-theme.html

What is a foil?

Foil

Definition: 

A foil is another character in a story who contrasts

 with the main character, usually to highlight one of 

their attributes or weaknesses.

Panthino has another role. He is the wise and faithful servant.

Panthino is Antonio's sensible servant.  Panthino acts as a sounding board and dispenser of advice to his master, Antonio. In Act 1, Scene 3, Panthino advises Antonio to send Proteus abroad with all the other noblemen's sons:

'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither.
There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen,
And be in eye of every exercise
Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth. (1.3.30-34)

Here, Panthino gives voice to the idea that young noblemen should travel abroad and hang out with other men of noble "birth" as a way to round out one's education. He even speaks in blank verse- as opposed to the other servants who speak in prose..The question is, does Proteus actually learn anything in Milan?

Puns
Check out the document I put on last Friday's blog
Here it is

There are more than 5 examples of puns. Here are 5 of them

boot/to boot/boots (p. 4. lines 26-27)

circumstance/circumstance  (p. 4 lines 36-37)

laced mutton/mutton  (p.6 lines 94-95)

pound/pound/ pound (p.6 lines 101-104)


post/post (p.7 line 149)


The other questions should be easier to answer...!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Leksand to Verona

Before we start:

1. The writer's course is finished!

I should have 4 pieces of work.

Some people have not turned in ONE piece yet!

2. The next three Fridays are for the Classic book talks. Sign up!
Please fill in the sheet which is here 

3. On Monday (week 49) we will try out  a Cambridge Listening Test 


Today we finally get to start studying our Shakespeare play- a comedy entitled "Two Gentlemen of Verona"

We will use a Shakespeare Survival Kit which should be completed by the time we finish the play.

You should already have collected a copy of the play from Björn.
We begin with a video about Shakespeare's life.

Fill in some information for each heading on the document (available on paper)


General information about Shakespeare:-
Here is a link document to help you



After that we will begin studying the language and looking at the compendium.
Here are some of the documents:

General 

Words  -Some basic information about Shakespeare's language

Common Shakespeare terms- more general language information 

Figurative language- some of the devices Shakespeare uses to enrichen his plays

What did he say? Test your own knowledge of Shakespeare's words having read through the information about his language

Punny guy! The classic Shakespeare device for providing verbal humour (N.B. This is a pdf file!)



Two Gentlemen of Verona
Here is a document to get you going with the language



Here are the study questions for Act I

Scene 1

1.     How does the play begin ?

2.     Which characters are on stage?

3.     What are they discussing ?

4.     What is Valentine about to do?

5.     Who is Speed? Why do you think he is called the way he is ?

To help you here is a short summary of this first scene in the play

Act I, scene i 

Summary 

The Two Gentlemen of Verona opens on a street in Verona as Valentine bids an emotional farewell to his dearest friend, Proteus. Valentine explains to Proteus that he must leave Verona for Milan because he believes that young gentlemen remain simple if they do not venture out to see the world. Proteus responds that his passion for Julia keeps him at home in Verona. Valentine chides Proteus for being so consumed with love, and hints that Proteus' devotion to love will ultimately make him a fool. Proteus promises to pray for his friend, and Valentine departs. Proteus muses that Valentine has set out to find honor, and that Valentine honors his friends by becoming more dignified himself. With melancholy in his voice, Proteus notes that he has abandoned his friends, his studies, and his rational thoughts, all for his love of Julia. 

Proteus' mournful thoughts are interrupted by the entrance of Speed, Valentine's punning page. After a long, silly discussion about whether Speed is a sheep and Valentine a shepherd, Proteus asks Speed if he has delivered Proteus' love letter to Julia. More punning ensues, until Speed finally confesses that while he did indeed deliver the letter, he could discern no particular response from Julia since she simply nodded her head when she received the letter. Speed notes that Julia did not tip him for delivering the letter, from which he infers that Julia will be hard and withholding toward Proteus' as well. Proteus angrily sends Speed after Valentine's ship, worrying himself over Julia's cold reception to his love letter. 

Scene 2

1.     Who is Julia ?

2.     What is her relationship to Lucetta?

3.     Why is this scene “comic”?

4.     Who is Julia in love with?

Scene 3

1.     In all these scenes, there is a master/mistress and servant? Who is the servant here?

2.     Panthino is not like Lucetta and Speed. Why?

3.     Proteus gets tricked by his own lies. Can you explain how?

4.     What is the relationship between Antonio and Proteus?

5.     Give examples of 5 puns (plays on words) from the First Act of the Play

You should go through Act I  and answer the study questions by next Friday . 

Finally, an interesting film about Shakespeare's ability to portray humanity

Last station on the writing trail- Translation

Hope you have all collected your copy of "Two Gentemen of Verona". 
Today we will do the final part of the writing course...This time it is a translation.

First some general info:-


To recapitulate 

We have talked about the general characteristics of writing:

• How it stands "outside" time
• How it requires a structure
• How it is governed by many rules and constraints such as:

1.  Grammar
2.   Spelling
3.   Syntax
4.   Register 
5.   Paragraphing

We have looked at a five-paragraph-essay as a simple building block of writing.

Then we have tried our hand at formal and informal English.

Today we finish off with the skill of translation.

I will start off by distributing and going through a handout with you.
Here it is.

Translation involves transferring the meaning from one language to another as faithfully and accurately as possible.

It is not the same as paraphrasing or summarising in another language.
It is a very useful skill.

If we look just at Leksand and its municipality we can see many areas where translation is needed.

• Business (international companies)
• Twinning arrangements (Uganda-Leksand)
• Tourism

Then we have all the media uses:-

• Music/Song
• Instructions
• web sites

It is claimed that on an average University course in Sweden 70% of course literature is written in English.
So the uses are endless.

Nowadays it is possible to use eletronic tools to assist in translation.

If you use google translate "It's raining cats and dogs" it no longer says:
"Det regnar hundar och katter" but if you put in
"How are you going to worm your way out of this?" the result is just as bizarre!
Try  "He turned up like the bad penny!" and see what you get!
Or why not even "Give us a break!"
The problem of producing a good translation is not only to be accurate but also to get the right "feel" conveyed by the original text.

Here is your translation task. Easy? Probably not!


This is one of the harder things to do well!

The handout takes you through the most important things

1. Accuracy- That does not mean "word for word"
otherwise you get
"Have it so good" (ha det så bra) and
"Shoot yourself" (sköt dig (själv))

2. Terminology
The translation is about skiing. What words (terms) specific to that area will you need?

3. Language and style
The original is somewhat informal. Your version needs to be the same"

4. Country standards
What do you do with the miles in the text?

5. Text formatting
We are more careful in English about paragraphing than in Swedish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!

Finally please fill in the information for your classic book talk here

• Your name
•  Author's name
• Title of book
• Week 48/49/50

Informal English (and complete the formal)- on your own!

Hi everyone. My cold has turned into pneumonia and I need a day to let my body recuperate..

So, today (read Monday 14th November) you can work at home and do the following:

1. Complete the piece of formal writing..

Send it as a document to the course on Vklass

2. Read today's blog post (BELOW!!!!)
A quick word about the timetable.

Today you will be writing some informal English 





This Friday's class is cancelled( SACO exhibition).

Next Monday is the translation

And today...
Today we are going to deal with the easiest part of our writing course- informal writing.


Some of the characteristics of informal writing are given in the "English C"text book on pages 95-98.

It is very important to remember that the same rules and constraints such as paragraphing, structure, spelling and correct grammar apply just as much in informal writing as in more formal forms.

Here are 3 assignments. Please choose one of them and write it NOW.


1. A letter or email to a pen-friend from another country who will be coming to spend the Christmas with you here in Dalecarlia.
You need to give the person some information about what they can expect, what to bring along and some general information about the celebration of Christmas in Sweden.


 
2. A diary entry for the week-end which has passed where you not only talk about events but also your feelings and expectations for the rest of 2016.

 
3. You write a lifestyle blog in English about being young in Sweden. Write a blog entry about Swedish youth culture and their attitudes to alcohol and partying.

Use the whole time you have in the lesson  to complete the assigment.

It should be in my digital mailbox by the beginning of next week...

Next Monday we will deal with the final part of our writing course- translation.
(materials  as usual will be on the blog)

Peace out! Cough! Cough! Cough!

Let's get formal, shall we?

Today we are going to look at the five key words for writing which I mentioned last time.

The words are:

organization  (planning)

structure  (paragraphing/ linking etc.)

style (narrative/descriptive/range)

clarity (accuracy)

register (formal/informal/ neutral)

A great resource to use for all of these points is 
www.engvid.com

Here is an example to do with the introduction to a piece of writing:
http://www.engvid.com/effective-essay-introduction/


I haven't seen all of the essays yet (13 had come in until this morning). I will be grading and correcting them as soon as I have received most of them,

With regard to corrections I will try to make the correcting a bit easier fór those of you who are using word/open office by using some colour coding:

Corrected

spelling

grammar

tense= brown

^^= missing words

swenglish= purple

X = surplus to requirements!

I hope that will help. 

As a follow-up to your 5 paragraph essay there is an excellent section  in ENGLISH C on:- 

Paragraphing ( p. 89)

The opening sentence (p. 90) using different techniques to grab the reader's attention (grabbers)

 Sentence length and how to vary it (p.91)

Linking words and expressions (p. 92-93)

Structuring argumentative essays (p. 93-94) by expressing yourself using ready-to-go phrases

All of these strategies can help you become a more confident writer.

However, there is one key question which must always be addressed when writing- the question of "register"
On the "Yahoo answers" website  the following question was asked:-


"What is the difference between formal and informal register?"


With regard to writing it is one of the more important considerations

Here is how one of the people who answered the question expressed himself:

The difference between formal and informal English is not a difference between correct and incorrect, but a difference of what is known as register. A register is a variety of language related to a particular subject matter or area of activity, a set of words and expressions as well as syntactical features that may be said to characterise that specific area of language. There are many registers: technical, academic, mathematical, scientific, etc. Very broadly speaking, we can also speak of a “formal” and “informal” register in English. In writing academic reports and the like, it would be normal to draw most of the vocabulary and expressions from the formal register, and few, if any, from the informal. This entails avoiding colloquial (everyday) or slang expressions in your writing assignments. The question of register is far more complicated than indicated here; for example, there are many degrees of formality and informality 

This is reflected in the curriculum and grade guidelines for our course where it talks about:

Bearbetning av språk och struktur i egna och andras framställningar, i formella och komplexa sammanhang, och för att skapa anpassning till genre, stilnivå och syfte

and for the "E" grade it says:

I muntlig och skriftlig interaktion i olika, även formella och komplexa, sammanhang kan eleven uttrycka sig tydligt, relativt ledigt och med flyt samt med anpassning till syfte, mottagare och situation. 

 There is a clear distinction made between "formal" English and other registers.

I want you to start off today by discussing Section A on page 95 in the "English C" book.

What conclusions did you reach in the group?

 Look at the picture of the gardens- Formal or informal?

Now look together at Section B on page 95-96.


What characterises "Formal" and "Informal" writing?

Today we are going to concentrate on formal English..

In what circumstances do we use it and why?

The first hand-out today is about the use of formal English in science...

The guidelines which are presented are relevant even for non-scientific writing.

The same hand-out contains a definition of formal English and some of the areas of usage.

It also gives a comparison of levels of spoken and written English.

Your task today is to do a piece of formal writing.

You can choose Task D on page 98 in "English C" or one of the following:-

Examples of Formal English:

Report writing

Obituary

Academic essays (or parts thereof)

Minutes of a meeting

Business Letters

-Covering letter (job/course application)

-Enquiries

-Ordering

-Complaint

-Resignation

Serious Press article

or

Why not do the abstract for your Diploma project (Gymnasiearbete) Report?

  
Now you may begin writing!

Whatever the task remember page 102!!