English 11/12

Welcome to class!

Tonight, please finish the pink student survey. Also, write three sentences about yourself - two truthful items and one lie. Ensure that your "Two Truths and a Lie" are written on a piece of three-hole punched, loose leaf paper.

English 11

All good things must come to an end, and that includes this class. Thank you for being so much fun. Please keep in touch, and let me know how you are doing.

Class tomorrow begins at 10. See you then.

English 11

Tomorrow,  we will be working on the poetry presentations for Thursday. I will also be returning work to you.

English 11

Hello all,

Tomorrow is the final exam.  It will consist of a short story and a poem.  You will be asked multiple choice questions on each.  Also, there will be a paragraph response for the poem and a multi-paragraph response for the short story.  I know that poetry is still fresh in your heads (I was very pleased with the marks on the "Quest"), but you should also remember to review your short story terms and handouts (character, symbol/irony, theme, plot, setting, conflict, and so on).  Have a good evening.

English 11

On Monday, you will have your final composition.  The topic will be "Experience is the best teacher".  You may not bring any notes with you into class, but you may bring in an English to English dictionary.  No electronic dictionaries of any kind will be permitted.
On Tuesday, you will have your final exam.  It will consist of a short story and a poem that you have never seen before.  Each piece of writing will be followed by some multiple choice questions and at least one written response question.  Review your short story terms and poetic devices.
Wednesday will be set aside for you to prepare your poetry oral presentations. You may work in the classroom or the computer room.
The presentations will be given on Thursday.
Our last day together is Friday.
I hope that you all have a good weekend.

English 11

Poetry "quest" tomorrow!  See yesterday's posting for terms to review!

English 11

Sorry about the late posting.  Tomorrow will be your final in-class composition on Life of Pi.  If you do not have the question sheet, please email me or a classmate. 

We will also be reviewing poetry terms in preparation for the multiple choice test on poetry on Friday.

The poetic terms you need to know are:
metaphor, simile, alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, connotation, denotation, hyperbole, understatement, personification, apostrophe, oxymoron, rhythm, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter (blank verse), lyric, sonnet, free verse, narrative, ballad, epic, repetition, sense imagery, pun.

On Monday, January 23, there will be an in-class composition; and on Tuesday, January 24, we will have our final exam (a story and poem you have never seen with multiple choice questions and some composition questions).  On Wednesday, you will have class time to prepare (with the partner of your own choosing) for an oral presentation on Thursday, January 25th.  Friday is our last day, phew!

English 11

There will be a vocabulary quiz tomorrow. Know those words! Also, please read "Sunflowers" and be prepared to discuss it.

English 11

Today, we completed the questions on "Sonnet 130" in class. We will review the answers on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, we will have the next vocabulary quiz. 

So, what is happening on Monday and Tuesday you might ask? Monday is a Curriculum Development day in North Vancouver, and no classes are in session. On Tuesday, we will have our final literature circle.

The last item assigned for homework is to read the short story "Sunflowers" for Wednesday.

I hope you all have a restful long weekend.

English 11

Tomorrow you will write your second response to a quotation of your choice from our novel. You may work from rough notes. You may also bring an English to English dictionary to class.

English 11

Be sure to review yesterday's blog (sorry for the rather late posting) for next week's vocabulary words.  The next vocabulary quiz will be next Wednesday, January 18th. 

Please also complete the worksheet containing the 10 lines of poetry. 

Here is Farzaneh's Life of Pi paragraph. Thanks for sharing!

"But fate decided that my parents and I and the three wise men, as I shall call them, should meet one day" (p.71)

This quote shows how Pi deals with different religions simultaneously.  He believes all religions have the same merit and when the wise men insist on the correctness of their own religions, it ironically makes him less of a believer.  Pi is a sixteen year old teenager who is interested in different aspects of religions.  He loves God and can't understand why he should choose only one religion.  He believes they have the same principles.  They all invite people to peace and honesty and try to make the world a better place for all mankind.  They are different only in some customs and traditions which have resulted from the location and background of the different worshipers.  After the imam, the priest, and the pandit argue with each other, Pi feels all three are imposing their ideas on him and that they are annoyingly self-righteous.  They try to convince Pi that their own religion is the best; but the more they debate, the less Pi credits them.  In this part of the story, the writer is trying to make the point that one doesn't need a specific religion to believe in a higher power.

English 11

Tomorrow is the in-class narrative composition.  You may bring rough notes and an English to English dictionary to class. 
As next Monday, January 16th is a Curriculum Development Day in North Vancouver and no schools are in session, our final Lit Circle will be on Tuesday the 17th.
The vocabulary words for next Wednesday, January 18th are:  prissy, famished, civility, fray (the verb, not the noun), hallucination, afflict, apprenticeship, vestiges, arduous, behemoth, heinous, envy, loom (the verb, not the noun), juggernaut, lustre, eviscerate, and brim (the verb, not the noun).

English 11

Hello everyone.  Monday will be our fourth literary circle (up to page 284).  Tuesday will be the vocabulary test; and on Wednesday, not Tuesday, you will write your narrative composition (about a frightening/funny/painful/happy experience).  Review the poetic terms we discussed this week:  lyric, narrative, ballad, sense imagery, simile, metaphor, alliteration, consonance, assonance, personification, hyperbole, understatement, and allusion.  We discussed this last one in relation to "Strongboy" when the writer alluded to the circus strongboy and the cartoonist alluded to Tarzan.

Here is the link to Loreena McKennitt's version of "The Highwayman" I hope you enjoy it.  Have a good weekend.

English 11

Tomorrow, you will write a paragraph on only one quotation. We will write the second paragraph next week.

Next Tuesday, you will write a narrative composition of about 300 words telling me about a scene from the movie of your life. It can be a happy, painful, frightening, or embarrassing experience. The composition must have a beginning, middle, and end. It must appeal to three different senses and it must use at least one simile or metaphor.

The next vocabulary quiz will also be on Tuesday, January 10. The words are: sustenance, deliberation, agitated, insouciant, lithesome, ponderous, attrition, panorama, morale, spectacle, delusion, outwit, symmetry, immortal, dread, vale, and sinews.

English 11

Please complete the questions on "Strongboy". Remember to prepare for the quotation paragraphs on Friday. Also, five new words have been added to the vocabulary list: symmetry, vale, immortal, dread, and sinews.

English 11

Welcome back! Tonight, read over "The Lamb" by William Blake. Look up any words you do not know. Please also look up the vocabulary words on the reverse side of that same handout. The words are: sustenance, deliberation, agitated, insouciant, lithesome, ponderous, attrition, panorama, morale, spectacle, delusion, and outwit.

On Friday, you will write one paragraph response to our class novel. You will choose a quotation that you find appealing (or repellent or controversial or curious...) from the selection covered in our second Literature Circle (chapters 23-46). The paragraph will be approximately 150-250 words. You can discuss how the quotation relates to character, theme, conflict, symbol /irony, or any other aspect of the story. You will be able to bring your text and an English to English dictionary to class that day.