The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Homework Questions on WW2

1.       In which year did WW2 begin?

2.       In which year did WW2 end?

3.       Who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during WW2 (there may be more than one so name all the ones you find)?

4.       What event caused the USA to enter the war?

5.       What does D Day celebrate?

6.       Find the names of three countries which were allied to Great Britain during the war, three countries which were fighting against Great Britain and two countries which remained neutral.

7.       Find definitions of the following three terms: Concentration Camps, Genocide, Holocaust.

Extension task (optional): Find out what you can about a man called Adolf Hitler.

Reflections on the Debating Task

Write a short comment here on how you think you did in your debating task. Remember not to be too hard on yourself - write some of the good things as well as one or two things you would like to improve on for next time.

'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard

this is thi
six a clock
news thi
man said n
thi reason
a talk wia
BBC accent
iz coz yi
widny wahnt
mi ti talk
aboot thi
trooth wia
voice lik
wanna yoo
scruff. if
a toktaboot
thi trooth
lik wanna yoo
scruff yi
widny thingk
it wuz troo.
jist wanna yoo
scruff tokn.
thirza right
way ti spell
ana right way
to tok it. this
is me tokn yir
right way a
spellin. this
is ma trooth.
yooz doant no
thi trooth
yirsellz cawz
yi canny talk
right. this is
the six a clock
nyooz. belt up.

Hi everybody. Thanks for some fantastic discussion last lesson on the poem above. For your homework, I am asking you to engage in further discussion of the poem with each other, using some of the points raised in class as a starting point, for example:

1) Tom Leonard's Glaswegian accent and attitudes towards it/him.
2) The BBC and the fact that it is based in London.
3) The fact that the poem is written phoentically.
4) Consider why the poem is written in a narrow form on the page.
5) Standard English and Received Pronunciation

Here are some useful links to continue your thinking about the poem:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/poemscult/unrelatedrev2.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/tom-leonard-the-six-o-clock-news/10301.html

Watch Tom Leonard talking about the poem below. What are your thoughts about what he says? Start a discussion with somebody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfU9qm-oOUY&feature=related

You migth also consider doing some research into the terms 'Standard English' and 'Received Pronunciation'.

Good luck and get talking!

Accents and Dialects

so what do you guys think about accents and dialects? why do u think people think that other people think that the way that someone might speak is the proper way to speak? there's no proper way to speak!

Accent and Dialects

Hi all

The homework task requires you to research an accent/dialect of your choice from a region of the United Kingdom. This research can be done in the following ways:

1) Choose a region/city in the UK (as we discussed in the lesson) and type the words, for example, "Newcastle accent" into Google. The first hit is a Wikipedia entry as you will see called "Geordie accent". Read it and make some notes in your Prep book on it or leave a web link for us all to see on the blog by pasting the link into the comment bank for this post on 'Accents and Dialects'.
2) Record some members of your family or friends (perhaps using a mobile phone) and listen to their accents. Try to explain the types of vowel sounds being used (as discussed in the lesson).
3) Look at a region of the UK where a specific dialect is used or where some of the words the people use are different to words you recognise from around Maidenhead. See what you can find out. Try typing 'dialects of the UK' into Google.
4) Consider looking at the accent of a celebrity from a particular part of the country (Cheryl Cole is a Geordie). Find some video of that celebrity or a hair advert in this case. She was in the news recently for having been sacked from the American version of the XFactor due to Americans not understanding her accent. See if you can find an online newspaper article about this.
5) Some regions of the country have their own songs that are sung in their own dialect. See if you can find any.
6) You may look at people's accents who are not from England too. Record them speaking English and interview them about how they think they sound and what they think of the English language.
7) There is also lots of interesting information about accents and dialects of the British Libary website 'Sounds Familiar'. Have a look around and see what you can find out.

You can write this research in the comment banks in this post and engage in discussion with other people. You may also post video and audio recordings if you can work out how.

You may also write about your research in your Prep book too. There is no word limit to this task, but I would advise that you spend up to an hour on this over the two weeks before I see you again.

If a lot of people leave comments on the blog, take some time to read and respond to what they are saying too.

I look forward to seeing your research!

Mr Long

the young boy should go to court because if he had commited a crime before he should've learnt from his mistakes. He maybe should not go to jail but perhaps do community cleaning or be sent to juvi....... :)

Should 11-year-olds be punishable in court?

Look again at the news item on the 11-year-old who is facing court for his role in the recent riots. Do you think he should be punishable in a court of law?

You can view the item at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/14736433