p34/35 Laim and Aidan's House: exploring what it tells us about the characters and about Paddy's perceptions.

Notes:

Description
‘darker than ours’
‘all the chairs and things were bursting and falling apart’
sofa ‘full of hollows’
‘all the doors were open’
‘broken biscuits’
‘the material didn’t have any colour’
‘the kitchen table was the same as ours’
‘all different chairs’

What Paddy Thinks of It
‘it wasn’t dirty, the way a lot of people said it was’
‘messing on the sofa was great’
‘nobody ever told us to get off it’
‘I liked their house’
‘it was better for playing in’
‘I liked sitting in the hollow’
‘the material was great’
‘I didn’t like that’
‘all I ever had was sandwiches’

Other detail
Cadbury’s

Response:

The extract tells us that Liam and Aidan’s house is not very well looked after, as Paddy says ‘all the chairs and things were bursting and falling apart’ and the sofa was ‘full of hollows.’ This gives us a sense of the disorganisation in the house due to the death of the boys’ mother. Furthermore, Paddy describes that ‘all the doors were open’ in the house, suggesting the carelessness of Mr O’Connely regarding his sons as he lets them wander freely from room to room when they please. It is implied that the sofa is old and not cared for with the quote ‘the material didn’t have any colour’ as the colour of a material fades over time. It could also suggest that a lot of time is spent on the sofa, because the colour could rub off onto clothing etc.  

P10/11 Extract: What do we learn about Paddy and his father from the extract?

Notes:

Close

‘He put his hand on my shoulder’ –comforting and leading body language with which his father shows the close bond between him and Paddy.

‘I let him take it’

‘He held me so I didn’t fall off the chair’

Father tries with him

‘He dragged the armchair over for me to stand on’ –making an effort to ensure that Paddy can see a simple fingerprint.

‘Are they the same?’

Teaching

‘Did you know that?’ –enjoys teaching Paddy new things.

Trust

‘Who gave you this? he said

-You’ –he could have lied.

‘He held me so I didn’t fall off the chair’

Statement

Evidence

Xplanation/xplore

Response:

We learn more about the relationship between Paddy and his father from the extract. One aspect of this is their closeness. Their closeness is implied by the quote 'He put his hand on my shoulder' because his father uses this comforting and leading body language to show a close and influential bond. Another quote from the extract is 'I let him take it,' which shows that Paddy's father only needs to do so much as 'put his hand on the magnifying glass' for Paddy to respond in the way that his father wants him to. 'He held me so I didn't fall off the chair' is another piece of evidence, because it insinuates that his father doesn't want Paddy to get hurt and takes extra care to ensure that this doesn't happen.

Another thing we learn is that Paddy's father tries fairly hard with their relationship. We know this due to the quote 'He dragged the armchair over for me to stand on' which shows that his father is making an effort to ensure that Paddy can see something as simple as a fingerprint, and can learn from it. His father also asks him 'Are they the same?' knowing the answer to the question, yet giving Paddy a chance to answer it for himself, and he patiently does so again when Paddy metions the size difference and his father says 'Besides that.'

We also learn that a big aspect of their relationship is teaching. The quote 'Did you know that?' suggests that Paddy's father enjoys teaching him new things and being looked up to. This is emphasised further when Paddy answers with 'No' and his father says 'Well, now you do' almost as though he is quite smug with himself.

Persuasive letter.

Lane Taylor

Sprowston High School

Cannerby Lane

Sprowston

NR7 8NE

Wednesday 12th December 2012

Dear Jim

How have you been? I have found this fantastic opportuninty where we could do a sponsored challenge which involves a twenty mile walk in the countryside. Don't you just love the countryside? The money will be raised for charity, and it would be a test of your physical strength. Why go to the gym when you can

Reading and writing paper response: Exercise.

Reading paper

A3: Rebecca Armstrong’s article tries to persuade people to take up, and continue with, exercise by what she says and how she says it. She starts by using the phrase ‘something of a chore,’ when talking about how people refer to regular exercise, to imply that this isn’t a phrase she would use, and that she finds it quite odd that anyone would want to call regular exercise a ‘chore.’ She also says that the two males of whom Armstrong is focusing her article on ‘prove’ that age ‘shouldn’t stand in the way’ of fitness. The words ‘prove’ and ‘shouldn’t’ are two very strong and determined words, insinuating certainty, and ‘stand in the way’ is a personifying expression that suggests negativity in fitness being avoided and metaphorically makes age appear as an obstacle.  

Writing paper

B1: Write a leaflet to persuade young people to exercise more.

Plan:

Sentence structure & variety

Contrastive pairs

Repetition & rhetorical questions

Exaggeration & emotive language

Alliteration

Metaphorical language

3

Phrases: 'If a man of his age can run this many marathons, why can't you jog up and down the road once a day?' -R & C

'With all these exams to stress you out, why should you even bother with exercise? Because..' -R

'You could look like the Rock in months!' -E & M

'Leave your life of lazy living' -A

My leaflet:

Why Should You Exercise?

So you're in school, worrying about your future. I know how you feel. But many young people don't seem to pay attention to another important part of their future- exercise. In a survey,

Write an article that explains why modern methods of communication are better than old ones. (My final draft.)

I can't imagine how it is believed that old methods of communication are more practical than modern methods. Take emails, for example, that allow you to be assured that your message was received by the recipient. Older methods such as writing and sending a letter are much less reliable, as a letter can be lost in the posting process, whereas an email will kindly not fail to send without you being aware due to a notice. If I was to send an urgent email containing crucial information about work, for example, my email account would warn me if it didn’t send before I logged out of my account and/or computer; this would allow me to send the message again and ensure that it will be received.
 Modern methods such as emails, text messages and social networking sites save a lot of unneeded, horrid hassle of having to write out addresses or dial numbers each time you need to contact someone (I attempted to use an old-fashioned telephone to dial a number in the past, and found it quite unnecessary) because your past recipients are saved onto your device/account. I find this extremely time-saving and that also means that typing/writing/dialling mistakes are much less likely to be made.
 Furthermore, modern methods are much faster in the way that sending a text, email, private message, 'tweet', 'wall post,' etc. would take much less time than communicating by pigeon, as many used to. These modern devices would be a much more efficient way to communicate if a woman was in labour and needed assistance quickly, for example, or if someone was hurt suddenly, as a text message would be instant and could rapidly be received and acted upon.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mV5WbgCFkgV2igT5n1oPLnbol9tM0iqnPHH2EdHznSY/edit

Annotations about the article 'Whatever happened to letters? Email just isn't the same.'

Personal tone
'I imagine his letters are...'
'I know...'

Personal experience
'I wouldn't like the love letters I wrote as a young man to be held up to public scrutiny'
'I recall writing my first...'

Examples used
He talks to Mary Wakefield
Example letter right at the end

Reference/quotation to others
Quotes 'another former lover' of Mick Jagger, as she reveals that he wrote her 'hundreds'

Rhetorical devices & elements of SCREAM3
'come to light' & 'too hard a habit to kick' & 'like blood in the veins' etc. = metaphorical language

'purple prose' & 'romantic resonance' = alliteration

'There is nothing like a letter... to convey feeling' = emotive language

'While blood comes out red and turns black as it ages, ink comes out black and fades to rusty brown' = contrastive pair

Write an article that explains why modern methods of communication are better than old ones.

PLAN

Assurance that the message was received
Letters can get lost in the post, whereas an email will not fail to send without warning you .done

Contacts (no need to write out the address each time) .done

Whole conversation in front of you
If you need to recall a number that was sent to you in email, you can just scroll up. If sent by letter, you'd have to find the write letter

Faster
Sending a text or email is much faster than communicating by pigeon .done

Send it to multiple people

Easier to organise
Clearly states the contact who sent it to you before opening an email or text, and sometimes a small section of the content of the message

PAF

P urpose- to entertain

A udience- newspaper

F ormat- article

My response:

I can't imagine how it is believed that old methods of communication are more practical than modern methods. Take emails, for example, that allow you to be assured that your message was received by the recipient. Older methods such as writing and sending a letter are much less reliable, as a letter can be lost in the posting process, whereas an email will kindly not fail to send without you being aware due to a notice.
  Modern methods such as emails, text messages and social networking sites save a lot of unneeded, horrid hassle of having to write out addresses or dial numbers each time you need to contact someone (I attempted to use an old-fashioned telephone to dial a number in the past, and found it quite unnecessary) because your past recipients are saved onto your device/account. I find this extremely time-saving and that also means that typing/writing/dialling mistakes are much less likely to be made.
  Furthermore, modern methods are much faster in the way that sending a text, email, private message, 'tweet', 'wall post,' etc. would take much less time than communicating by pigeon, as many used to. 

Write a letter to a newspaper giving your views on TV talent shows.

170 Cannerby Lane

Norwich

NR7 8NE

November 14th 2012

Dear Editor

I am writing because I believe that TV talent shows (such as the X Factor) are not worth watching and not worth the media coverage. Although many believe that they assist people in reaching their goal of fame, how long do these singing/dancing careers actually last? Where is former X Factor winner, Shane Ward, these days? Hasn't JLS become a much bigger act in the music industry than Alexandra Burke, who came first in the competition in the year 2008, whilst jumping JLS came in second place? But you pick up the phone because it tempts you. You tweet things or post statuses on Facebook, because it tempts you. You get dragged through that television screen to feel like it's you standing on that stage, because it tempts you. Stories find their way to the papers about a contestant's pet fish dying and suddenly, viewers empathise and therefore vote for them. It's a scandalous programme!
  
Furthermore, these programmes cost an astonishing amount to run  (for example, the X Factor USA will cost almost $3.5 million per episode) and they aim to find talent, whereas the majority of this time and money is spent on showing acts for viewers to laugh at. They could get the same experience if they went to their local public house on 'karaoke night' and paid only for beverages with their change. I don't understand how they could do that to the auditioners either. When they leave that stage, they feel like what they've been working for all this time was all for nothing. They're laughed at for believing they are following their dreams and their whole lives are turned upside down- and for what- entertainment? Would you find a man suddenly becoming blind entertaining?

In conclusion, I believe that TV talent shows are shown for all the wrong, ridiculous reasons. In my opinion, the viewers are much too gullible and are throwing more and more money away with each series.

Yours faithfully

Lane Taylor