Poetry: Choose and Declaim, Couplets and Quatrains, and translations

Choose a favourite poem
For tomorrow, Thursday, 1/30, choose a favourite poem or two from the poetry books, practice it for rhythm (if it has it) and declaim it to the class Thursday.

Couplets and Quatrains
For Monday, 2/03, you will create some couplets and quatrains to share to the class.  You may write couplets and/or quatrains, but the total will be sixteen lines.  Google for some famous examples in English, but do not copy them!  Rhythm is often more important than rhyme, but most have both.

A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. Couplets usually consist of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.

A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines...   There are twelve possible rhyme schemes, but the most traditional and common are: AAAA,AABB, and ABAB.

Translation
For Wednesday, 2/05, you should choose a famous poem from one of your parents' non-English languages to read to us: both the original and the translation into English.  With Google and a parent you should be able to do this.  You could even find two translations into English.  Because nobody can translate precisely, there are variations.

Poetry Unit

This will last until the March break, with a final assignment of poetry due before then.  I have switched this for the other remaining unit on the syllabus, so we have more time for the other one, which is longer.

Minor Assignments:
- one on most poetry styles we study

Final Assignment:
- due March 10, Monday, 08:30, Tokyo time
- presented Monday through Friday of that week, as so many of you were so late on the last assignment this will give you the week to finish it if late, losing 5%/day if doing so, of course
- no partners
- format of the assignment is a poetry booklet: on paper, or online, video etc.  Most of the mark, as always, is about the written content; however, there will be marks for your readings aloud and for pictures or video you have matched to it: pictures or video made by you are better.  Other than that, I'll give you a lot of freedom on how you present it, but check with me first.
- contents must include at least four different forms or styles of poetry, and between 700 and 1200 words, and be new poems: not ones from the minor assignments
- font and size is your choice this time, but it must be easy to read and leave room on the page for me to edit

Readings:
- all of: "Imagine Poetry Anthology" and "Imagine Poetry Magazine", which is only 120 pp. over seven weeks, which is fewer than three pages a day
- also: other poems that I show you in class, of course

Make a folder on your USB, Google Documents, etc. for all of the poems that you will write, so that you can find them all when needed.

Semester One Exam: Tuesday morning, 1/21

You might want to know what to study.  I could be cynical and say, "Study everything, of course"; however, since these are your first JHS exams, I'll give you a break.  Your other teachers may not, and probably will not in older grades.

You must stay in the exam room for ninety minutes, even if finished (Edit!  Check Answers!); however, you will have two hours if you need it.  Not more.  You do not have to do questions in order.  Always do what is easiest for you first.

WRITE NEATLY.

Reading Comprehension:
Read a passage and answer multiple-choice answers.  Studies have shown that with multiple-choice answers your first guess is usually best.  Check again, but trust your intuition.  There is nothing you can do in one week to prepare for this!  The way to prepare for this in future is read often and read challenging works.

Grammar:
I expect you to be proficient at all English grammar to a grade seven level for a native speaker of English.  You should know the grammar we studied, which was what the class had the most trouble with when I assigned the diagnostic test, and all other English grammar.  Use the grammar apps you have and spend time on what you score lower on.  I won't test you on names of grammar, but on using it correctly.

Novels:
Make sure you know one of the two novels well.  I will give you a choice of the two to write about (for our new student, study the one that you were here to do with us).  Make sure you know many details of the one novel: though you do not need to know specific chapters, pages or quotations by heart, you will need to know details of plot, setting, characters, etc.

Narrative/Fiction-Genre:
There will be a section where you have to brainstorm, plan and write a fiction narrative in the genre of your choice.  Do not try to write it ahead to memorize and write it in the exam.  I will add a few trick details you must include, so that isn't possible.

Do not stress.  Most people get the same mark on exams they get on other course work.  Good luck!

Non-Fiction/Descriptive Writing Unit Assignment

Non-Fiction/Descriptive Writing Unit Assignment
- due next week, Thursday, January 16, 2014!
- it will be a choice of one of these styles: instructions, report, explanations (example English text page numbers are in a previous post)
- this will be an audio-visual presentation (Prezzi, Powerpoint, video-editing program...)

Here are the other details that I said would follow:
- write only one of the following: instruction, explanation or report
- you will have some class time this week and next to do it
- I need to see the rough copy of text Friday this week, (we will peer edit; I will edit ESL students')
- text is five hundred to one thousand words (not more; not less)
- email me the text before class begins Thursday next week
- in sentences and paragraphs
- your name and a title- format is Times New Roman 12, black, double-spaced
- choose an audio-visual presentation medium (Prezzi, Powerpoint, video-editing program...) that you are already good at
- you will not read in front of us, so make sure the presentation includes the sound of your voice
- the length of the presentation depends on how much you wrote, but not more than ten minutes and probably much less
- you may have one partner, but then I expect you to write and present twice as much
- you also may work alone

Writing Paragraphs

Here are some of the items and links we used for reviewing paragraphs:
- EXERCISES ON PARAGRAPH WRITING
- Organization: Paragraphs
- Paragraph Writing Exercises

HOMEWORK: Use the third link to compare your paragraphs with good examples online.  Finish this before exam week.  There is no way for me to check if you have done it, but it will help you, so it would be foolish of you if you decide to skip doing it.

It is a good idea to review them again.  It's English class, so you'll write many more this year, including the exams.  Skill in this will raise your marks and help you throughout your entire professional and personal life when writing.

Assignments for the last week before holiday

The good news is that if you do not waste your time, you will have no English homework over the holiday, unless you are the boy who already went on vacation...

You will get four hours in school this week for typing the rough draft, revising with peers, and finishing the good copy.

Travelogue or Comparison:
- you will have four hours between Monday and Wednesday in the computer lab for this assignment
- rough draft must be completed before or during Wednesday class, ready for peer editing
- due Thursday, 12/19
- read, from memory, without a paper in your hands, in Thursday's class

- printed before class, Thursday

- emailed to Mr. S. before class, Thursday (I have to check for plagiarism), as an attachment

- between 150 and 250 words

- in sentences and paragraphs

- your name and a title

- format is Times New Roman 12, black, double-spaced

Readings before January 6, 2014:
- you can probably finish reading all of them this week
- it is important to read these so that you are ready to write your unit assignment before the exam break mid-January

Instructions
- Language and Writing 7, pp. 96-97
- Working Together Magazine, p. 45

Reports
- Language and Writing 7, pp. 104-105

- Working Together Magazine, pp. 6, 20-23

- Mystery and Wonder Magazine, pp. 25-27, 29-31, 39-42

Explanations
- Language and Writing 7, pp. 112-113

- Working Together Magazine, p. 7

- Mystery and Wonder Magazine, pp. 6, 7, 44
- Working Together Anthology, pp. 8-10, 101-104

Non-Fiction/Descriptive Writing Unit Assignment
- not due until January 16, 2014; however, that is less than two weeks after we return from holidays
- it will be a choice of one of these styles: instructions, report, explanations
- this will be an audio-visual presentation, so what you can do on break is choose and learn how to use an a/v medium of your choice that we can present at school (Prezzi, Powerpoint, video-editing program...)
- more details to follow, including length, etc.

Spelling Bee

The school wide spelling bee which will be held on Friday. January 31st, 2014.

There will be two in class spelling bee quizzes: Dec 18 and January 8.

This link is a great explanation of the patterns of English spelling: or rather, how the patterns come from many languages, especially Old English, Latin and French, but also many others.  Read it when you have spare time.  It will help you on the quizzes and spelling bee, and reading and writing in future.

Quizzes and the spelling bee will all use the list you've been handed.  Here again are the G7 words:

2014 School Spelling Bee Study List
tag
put
hill
jam
rug
try
cork
add
dime
mint
hope
shy
burn
mask
kite
tape
silly
ants
week
grade
lace
sank
acorn
eel
lung
beat
snore
grass
never
July

sleep
punch
lamp
globe
always
thank
moose
count
foxes
tooth
north
tower
dinner
number
kisses
slower
morning
pillow
myself
snowflake
both
icon
link
wee
poor
grim
cowboy
why
taco
hotel

penny
mister
brew
alarm
pulp
soggy
popcorn
crane
bacon
crime
hobby
given
bedtime
shark
dislike
ladder
shout
doctor
shadow
behind
prize
drink
joyful
broken
tenth
flavor
yellow
plastic
respect
quilt

view
animals
second
father
limited
partner
flower
glue
magnet
olive
ploy
ivory
don't
safety
polite
loaf
well-off
groove
cactus
violin
amber
birthday
chalk
royal
selfish
misery
deputy
turnip
deaf
energy

really
fence
scarecrow
lasso
pouch
saying
wildlife
market
pastel
grace
freeze
honeybee
bucket
prefix
retire
award
bumpy
lesson
glitter
actress
urban
correct
pluck
eggplant
barge
comma
honor
princely
inched
cursive

foray
member
shortfall
frump
aren't
empower
mortal
software
owner
nineteen
bebop
peddle
transform
so-called
minority
arrow
detective
publish
infant
flung
dictate
payment
composer
divine
confess
insight
fuel
another
shrimp
landslide

predict
theater or
 theatre
chimney
scorpion
motion
property
lumberjack
million
cowlick
gradual
hankering
ledge
yonder
possible
hollow
thawed
knock
piracy
alpha
Tuesday
stubble
dragnet
podium
introverted
domain
uppity
historical
swagger
quaver
attitude

cheapskate
eternity
humorist
sketch
moviegoer
awash
fouled
yeast
premium
logical
permission
smoothie or
 smoothy
bassoon
elude
merge
gorgon
legacy
obsidian
depict
gangster
spreadsheet
basically
presence
launch
enviable
science
hooligan
entrance
joust
bombard

leeway
sought
Halloween or
 Hallowe'en
whimper
lawyer
trifle
issue
wren
taught
carriage
imbibe
endure
apiary
vouch
bolide
rebuff
levity
cohesive
pliant
kinsman
astonish
forbidden
infamous
talisman
hydra
genetic
sororal
turmoil
infringe
consternation

disarray
ailment
mollify
avenge
bulwark
manufacture
cinematic
antipathy
situation
morale
incentive
freight
mugwump
pontiff
dissemble
piety
agitation
permafrost
expunge
duplicity
qualms
wattage
correlation
vivacious
lanai
Pulitzer
chicle
equinox
lolled
shiatsu

grouse
diadem
aura
regnal
nigh
lucrative
asylum
famished
derivative
verdure
dawdle
adroitly
divvy
betrothal
lambasted
insinuate
travesty
bric-a-brac
propulsion
leonine
hackamore
emblazoned
stridency
bulbous
photogenic
torsion
winnow
bountiful
affluent
rosin

mammalian
corduroy
exorcism
imperious
tangible
evince
hermitage
congressional
rejuvenate
bodega
wheedle
charioteer
panache
malaise
acrylics
extinguish
moustache or
 mustache
vitriolic
netiquette
vice versa
sedentary
Pavlovian
cumbersome
histrionics
gustatory
perceived
illustrious
quadrillion
anticipatory
abstruse

chancellor
recoup
Herculean
ombudsman
porosity
dodecahedron
injurious
prognosticate
complacency
omnibus
carcinogen
tomahawk
monochrome
gluttonous
ostracism
rappelled
presumptuous
annihilation
petroglyphs
courtier
bonsai
schism
appellate
elegiac
sapphire
vestigial
laureate
plagiarism
ragamuffin
agitprop

circumstantial
guineas
armistice
importunate
lingua franca
occipital
queue
focaccia
aficionado or
 afficionado
genoise
matriculation
bazooka
anthropomorphic
bloviate
anonymity
galoot
pariah
macrocosm
juxtapose
smithereens
unctuous
Caucasian
quorum
chimera or
 chimaera
comedienne
pyrotechnics
maunder
satiety
wildebeest

querulous
isochronous
erstwhile
follicle
cavalier
suasion
encryption
collegiate
revanche
aubergine
aerodynamic
circadian
epizootic
seraphic
arraignment
cephalopod

chiffonade
roustabout
accoutrement or
 accouterment
aphasia
ventriloquy
portmanteau
Freudian
bourgeois
velociraptor
hoi polloi
scintillation
fait accompli
dirndl
sotto voce
fêng shui

Grade Seven Study Words
grouse
diadem
aura
regnal
nigh
lucrative
asylum
famished
derivative
verdure
dawdle
adroitly
divvy
betrothal
lambasted
insinuate
travesty
bric-a-brac
propulsion
leonine
hackamore
emblazoned
stridency
bulbous
photogenic
torsion
winnow
bountiful
affluent
rosin
mammalian
corduroy
exorcism
imperious
tangible
evince
hermitage
congressional
rejuvenate
bodega
wheedle
charioteer
panache
malaise
acrylics
extinguish
moustache or
mustache
vitriolic
netiquette
vice versa
sedentary
Pavlovian
cumbersome
histrionics
gustatory
perceived
illustrious
quadrillion
anticipatory
abstruse
Herculean
ombudsman
porosity
dodecahedron
injurious
prognosticate
complacency
omnibus
carcinogen
tomahawk
monochrome
gluttonous
ostracism
rappelled
presumptuous
annihilation
petroglyphs
courtier
bonsai
schism
chancellor
recoup
appellate
elegiac
aficionado or afficionado
genoise
sapphire
vestigial
laureate
plagiarism
ragamuffin
agitprop
circumstantial
guineas
armistice
importunate
lingua franca
occipital
queue
focaccia