Shantaram

I haven’t yet finished this book however so far in is incredible! 

I had been recommended it by so many people and from the end of the first chapter i was so excited to get lost in the story. The blurb itself describes an amazing story and as you read it you feel part of Lin’s journey. He was a convict who escaped prison in Australia and embarks on a journey to India. Personally I love India and the colours and the busyness so when I read his description it is really meaningful but he also just describes it so well. I have to say I would edit out some of his extensive illustrations. It is also an insightful look into life on the run and exploring the amazing India. Although his philosophies come across quite pretentious the majority of what he writes is beautiful. 

I cant wait to finish.

Daisy

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is a classic and I decided to read it having read “A Night In Winter” which followed the children of the leading powers of Russia in a similar time. Based on a revolt against the Communism, led by the Pigs. Their ‘motto’ as such was “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” It was quite shocking to read about how the animals treated each other, and knowing that the pigs represent the Soviet Union leaders, it was hurtful to know humans could do that to each other. Orwell’s interpretation of the situation was seamless and very clever, the whole idea of this book is litary pervasion which seems crazy but actually works really well.  Orwell himself explains the story line as “the history of a revolution that went wrong” and it really did. The novel can therefore be seen as the historical analysis of the causes of the failure of communism but that would be boring, I saw it more as a  fairy-tale,  it tells a good story and is eloquently written that aims to prove that it is human nature and diversity that prevent people from being equal and happy and I guess also equally happy.

A must read.

Daisy

A* in English

In todays lesson we looked at another piece of work from GeoffBarton – we looked at his ‘How to get an A* in English’ guide.

I feel that the 5 most important points that he makes are:

1. In the READING Section – You don’t use the first word that comes into your head; you realise hat language is rich and that we make choices about whether to say “the big event” or the “major / significant / momentous / important / ground- breaking / event” based on context and audience. I think that this is an important point because I think its very true, to get an A*, one must be using the best possible vocabulary therefore when writing, time must be taken to replace everyday words with A* words.

2. In the WRITING section – Use a range of punctuation to add nuances to your work – commas, semi- colons, colons, dashes. I think that this point is important because in order to impress, everything should be done to the highest standard including the most complexed punctuation – however, it must be used correctly other wise it won’t look impressive.

3. READING – Every point addresses the questions ‘why?’ or ‘how?’ This point is extremely important when analysing any piece of work. If you make a statement of include something from the text, one must be able to talk about it so always ensure to say something that will bring up an interesting, high-level discussion.

4. WRITING TIPS – Make it sensuous, especially visual.  This is also another very significant point, your writing must be interesting! It should make the reader want to think and should allow the readers imagination to come to life. If the language is powerful, it will achieve high marks.

5. WRITING TIPS – Use paragraphs for effect – eg long / very short and drop paragraphs.  Not only is the context of the writing extremely important, but so is the layout and how the writing is set out. This is an interesting point that is very important. Vary lengths of the paragraphs and make it more visually appealing. Not only will this look more professional, it will add effect to the writing and it will score an A*

 

I feel that the 5 most important things that can improve my writing the most is: 

1. THE WHO? WHAT? HOW? Approach to reading – I think that if I focus on this aspect of my reading and really analyse and think about what I’m reading than I will be able to understand the text in a lot more depth which will allow me to improve my analytical writing.

2. 5 steps to A* Vocabulary – Personally, I think that my vocabulary is not at an A* star standard, and I think that this guide can really help to improve my vocabulary. Because if the vocabulary is advanced, it immediately makes a piece of writing so much better – consequently, if I do improve my vocabulary I feel I could definitely improve my writing.

3. Read A lot – I definitely think that this will improve my writing. As I don’t read often enough as I should, I feel that this is letting my writing down and this causes me to lack in complexed vocabulary. If I read a lot, my writing will improve.

4. Will have lexical variety that avoids repetition, including adept deployment of pronouns – I think that this point is extremely important, and I feel it relates to me in particular. I tend to have a lot of repetition in my writing and I therefore need to vary what I say and chose my words carefully to get my writing up to A* level.

5. Embeds of very short, well-selected quotations – I think that if I include carefully selected quotations and if I embed them well into the text than this will raise the complexity of my writing and it will help me to personally improve.

Evolution of VOGUE

Vogue Magazine, one of the most well known, world renowned fashion magazines of all time. Started as a small organisation publishing a magazine bi-monthly. The first magazine was published in 1892 – and in 1909 the company was taken over by Condé Nast and was transformed into weekly magazine. By 1960, the magazine was mainly based on modern/contemporary fashion and was aimed at young girls. In 1973 it became a magazine that was published every month, the magazine underwent many changes to suit their target audience. Since the first publication in 1892, there have been 12,995 issues of Vogue published worldwide. The main changes from Vogue in 1892 to Vogue in 2013 are definitely the layout of the magazine, the colours, the content and the imagery. Vogue has influenced American society and modern day women for the past 100 years and it will always remain on top of all fashion and fashion magazines.

Source of Information: http://vogueellebazaar.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/how-vogue-has-changed-over-time/

IMPROVE YOUR READING SKILLS: 2 MONSTER TECHNIQUES

Today we learnt about 2 major techniques to improving our reading skills, by doing this exercise of analysing texts, it will help prepare us for our exams. 

We used the link from GeoffBarton – GCSE Masterclass

I chose to analyse Text B and Text D.

Text B: Proud mum in a million Natalie Brown hugged her beautiful baby daughter Casey yesterday and said: “She’s my double miracle.” 

We can see that this piece of text is based on opinion, not fact. The writer uses personal anecdotes to create a sense of vivid imagery, He is describing the opinion of the Mum of her daughter, which is opinionated writing. The piece of text has a personal feel and his use of personal pronouns such as ‘She and Her’ add to the fact the piece is personal. Not only is a personal piece of writing, it is also an informal extract. The language used is fairly colloquial and is written in an ‘everyday’ style of language, which of course makes the text seem much more informal. 

Text D: There was a double eclipse in the early autumn of 1605 – a lunar eclipse on 19 September followed by an eclipse of the sun in early October. Such celestial phenomena were traditional held to ‘portend no good’. 

This piece of writing has a major contrast compared to the above piece of text. We can tell that this section of text is much more impersonal. The text is full of facts and includes many statistics – There are no personal pronouns used in the text, making it a lot more impersonal. In addition to the piece of text being impersonal, it is also very formal – it uses informative language that is also very scientific and fact-based, the sentence structure is also more complexed than the other piece of writing and overall it is a very formal, impersonal piece of text.  

What do I need to do to improve my writing?

I feel that I am fairly strong in most section of english and english grammar, however I do think that there are certain things that I do need work on. In order to prepare for our exam, I think I will focus on my analytical phrases and my sentence structure. To improve, I will use the help of the BBC Skillwise sentence grammar – http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/sentence-structure and if I use this effectively, I think I could improve. Not only this, but if I do a lot of reading I feel I will be more confident for my exam. 

Shakespeare Sonnet 8

For the next few lessons, we are going to be learning poems off by heart. We will have to recite them to the rest of the class and the best ones will go through to the final. I chose this particular poem because I like the fact that it explored Music, Singing and Love and it seems like it has a fascinating and deep meaning – I feel that it stood out from the other Sonnets.

Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly,
Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,
Resembling sire and child and happy mother
Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: ‘thou single wilt prove none.’

The Fault in Our Stars – John Green

I have chosen to read this book because a lot of my friends have read this book and have highly recommended it. It has a very interesting story line and I find the plot very interesting. It is about a girl who is diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. 

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.” – I really like John Greens’ use of language because he uses such powerful language and the way he words his phrases make the writing seem so much more interesting. I really look forward to finishing this book. 

Feedback of Advert Analysis

Lizzie Borg: “Her spelling and punctuation was very clear and precise however on a few occasions, the word ‘to’ was replaced with ‘the’ therefore resulting in the sentence not making complete sense. It is a good piece of work however should be checked before being submitted. “Claudia’s work was very creative and original, and she used a wide range of vocabulary to emphasise different words and have an effect on the reader. She not only spotted the key presentational devices, but discussed them in depth mentioning the effect on the reader, and what attracts and appeals to the target audience. Most of the phrases made sense however occasionally some of the phrases were worded wrongly, however as it was a clear piece of work it was possible to understand what Claudia was trying to say. Grade: A*

 

Jack Sellors: No faults with spelling and barely any punctuation faults. I thought that the ideas were quite obvious but they were still quite good. Yeah she did this very well. Yep. Grade: A

 

Annabelle Turner: Claudia’s spelling and punctuation is consistent throughout her answer. There were a few mistakes that could have been avoided. Claudia’s work was creative and original, however she could have written more to add her own phrases in. She spotted many presentational devices and analysed them well. There were a few bits where she could have analysed them in greater detail. Many of her phrases made sense and were easily understood, she used a variety of words and phrases. Grade: A

 

How effectively does the Lypsyl® advertisement use presentational devices to convey its message?

There are various different presentational devices used within this article. It employs devices such as images, slogans, captions, cameos, different fonts and colours.These devices engage the reader and it makes the article appeal and attract to the readers’ aesthetic delicacies. In more detail we can begin the explore how the use of lustrous and vibrant colours make the article eye catching and allows the article to stand out from any other. The slanted image of the girls shopping and the cameo of the London Eye leaves a strong visual impact on the reader. The pictures also create a sense of envy as most young girls will want to be doing as the girls are doing in the picture. This article is also very effective as it has a lucid and concise layout. It is split clearly into 4 quarters which makes it easy to browse from one section to the next, taking in all of the information. As the article does not consist of a lot of text, and contains images and big font it creates a vivid impression of happiness and ‘Girls just want to have fun.’ This entices the reader as the article is aimed at a teenage girl target market and appeals to young girls wanting to have fun. The Lypsyl is organised in a fanned layout which is leaves an impact on the reader and it is used the symbolise the fact that there is so much variety between what can be chosen and that there is so much on offer. The use of different colour font underscores the importance of the article and highlights the main purposes of the article. Finally, the use of font sizing also underscores the significance of certain areas of the article. Overall the Lypsyl advertisement uses an inordinate diversity of presentational devices that effectively convey the message and purpose of the article.