English 12

Your ten new class vocabulary words are as follows:

1. obtuse:  stupid or dense; annoyingly insensitive
2. dwale: to wander deleriously or as if one were asleep; a sleeping draught made from the plant known as the deadly nightshade
3. bias: prejudice in favour or against a thing
4. beset:  threaten persistently
5. obsolete:  outdated; no longer of use
6. banal:  repeated often; boring; ordinary
7. apprise: to give notice; to inform
8. irenic: to promote peace
9. repertoire: a stock of pieces used for performance
10. stoic:  emotionless; strong in the face of adversity; uncomplaining during adversity

On Friday, you will write an in-class paragraph on "Miss Brill".  Your prompt will be this:
In a well-written paragraph, explain how the fox fur is symbolic of Miss Brill.  You must use at least two well-integrated quotations and cite their page numbers.

This is an open-book assignment, but you may not bring in a rough copy.  You may not use electronic devices while writing this, but you can bring in a paper dictionary.  You will have 40 minutes to write this. 

English 10 -- Period 8

For homework, please answer questions 1-6 on "The Doll's House".  To see a copy of the story, look at my blog entry for Thursday, September 24th.

Your ten new vocabulary words are as follows:

1. constraint:  something which restricts one's actions or power
2. toady:  one who tries to gain an advantage through pleasing someone (or through flattery)
3. insipid:  weak
4. intrepid:  fearless
5. insolent:  boldly rude or disrespectful
6. abiotic:  of or characterized by the absence of living things; a non-living part of the environment
7.  fiend:  a wicked or cruel being
8. camaraderie:  friendship based on trust
9. existential:  concerned with existence, especially human existence;
   affirming or implying the existence of a thing
10. insidious: sinister or menacing
11. egotastic: being into yourself so much that it becomes annoying

English 10 -- Period 6

For homework, please answer questions 1-4 on "The Doll's House".  To see a copy of the story, look at my blog entry for Thursday, September 24th.

Your ten new vocabulary words are as follows:

1. tomfoolery:  foolish or silly behaviour; sheenanigans
2. cogitate:  to think deeply or meditate on something
3. ranivorous: frog-eating
4. redamancy:  to return an act of love
5. jocularity: playfulness; intended joking
6. uproarious:  loud laughter; very funny; hilarious
7. goofy: silly
8. abomination: something which is totally detestable
9. galumph: to move heavily or clumsily
10. penurious: extreme poverty; or extreme miserliness (penny-pinching)

English 10 -- Period 5

For homework, please answer questions 1-4 on "The Doll's House".  To see a copy of the story, look at my blog entry for Thursday, September 24th.

Your ten new vocabulary words are as follows:

1. theanthropic:  possessing both god-like and human qualities; a god in a human form
2. umbrage: anger caused by being offended
3. acquiesce: to accept reluctantly; to give in
4. girn or gurn:  to make a grotesque face; to bare one's teeth in anger or dispair
5. abattoir: a slaughterhouse; where animals are slaughtered for food
6. earnest: sincere and intense conviction; not being distracted by things unrelated to a goal
7. pelagic:  of the sea
8. wamfle: to walk around in clothing that flaps about (this is a very archaic word)
9. agastopia: admiration of a particular part of another person's body
10. stasis:  inactivity because of being stuck between two balanced forces

English 12

For next class, please have your five words and definitions ready to hand in.  Also, complete the handout on "Miss Brill", the short story we read today in class.  Finally, we will also look at identities next class, so have the questions for that story ready as well.

English 10

For homework, please collect five words and definitions for Wednesday.  Also, make sure that your journal entry is complete.  Choose one of the following topics:

1. a cherished childhood toy
2. the bully, the bullied, and/or the bystander
3. a recipe for popularity (you can choose to write this as an actual recipe if you wish)

You can respond to the above prompts in any way, as long as your writing is thoughtful.

 Finally, a copy of short story, "The Doll's House" can be found here.  The story begins on page 3.
You can hear a the recording we listened to here. 
We'll discuss this story more on Wednesday.

English 12

For homework, please answer question #s 2 and 3 on the short story "Identities".  In addition, also answer this question:

How realistic is the story?  Justify your answer.

Furthermore, here are your first 10 vocabulary words:

1. coddle -- to overprotect
2. erudite -- sophisticated; worldly
3. saxicolous -- one who is unaware; one who "lives under a rock"
4. boisterous -- rough and noisy
5.  nefarious -- wicked
6. comprehensive -- including all elements or aspects of a thing
7. impavid -- fearless; intrepid
8. etiquette -- manners; customary codes of polite behaviour
9. feign -- to pretend
10. noxious - harmful or corrupt

English 10 -- Period 8

Your first 10 vocabulary words are as follows:

1. loquacious -- chatty; very talkative
2. adequate -- enough; satisfactory for a purpose
3. abrogate -- to cancel
4. inquisitive -- curious; questioning
5. conundrum -- a confusing or difficult situation
6. epoch -- a particular time in history or a person's life
7. theology -- the study of religion
8. vindicate -- to show to be right by providing justification
9. cynosure -- an object at the focal point of attention
10. boondoggle -- work of little value that is done simply to look busy

English 10 -- Period 6

Your first 10 vocabulary words are as follows:

1. bias -- leaning towards or against an idea, issue, person, or group
2. fallacious -- based on a mistaken belief
3. anthropomorphic -- attribution of human qualities to animals
4. hiatus -- a pause in a process
5. belligerent -- to be hostile and aggressive
6. vigil -- a state of wakefulness during sleeping hours; keeping watch at night
7. epigram -- a short, humorous or satirical saying
8. intercede -- to act on another's behalf or to smooth out troubles between two parties
9. omnipotent -- all-powerful
10. murmuration -- the act of murmuring (speaking indistinctly)

English 10 -- Period 5

Your first set of vocabulary words are as follows:

1. mahout -- an elephant-driver
2. fractious -- cranky; irritable
3. penitent -- feeling sorrow/guilt after committing a sin
4. epiphany -- a sudden realization of a life truth that changes the person in some way
5. constituency -- a district that elects its own representative to parliament
6. irreverent -- an attitude showing a lack of due respect
7. covenant -- a legal agreement/contract or a binding contract between man and God
8. ostentatious -- a pretentious (flashy) or vulgar display (usually of wealth)
9. conjure-- to make something appear by magic
10. eloquent -- fluency or persuasiveness in speech or writing

English 10

Your five academic words and definitions are due on Tuesday.
 Also, on Friday we discussed symbolism.  A symbol is an object that means more than meets the eye.  For example, on one hand, a wedding ring is simply an object made from metal and a stone.  On the other hand, it also represents love and union.  Symbols are things that link solid objects to abstract ideas...doves=peace, hearts=love, a lighbulb=an idea.
This weekend, give some thought as to what the man, the ewe, the dingo, and the flood could symbolize in the story "The Inheritor".  

English 12

Your five academic words and definitions are due on Tuesday.  Also, please make sure that you have completed the journal entry on one of the topics that I put on the board last Friday.  Aim to write 1or 2 thoughtful pages on the subject. The topics were as follows:

• Tell about a time when you misjudged someone.

                                        --OR--

• Tell about a time when someone misjudged you.

English 12

Remember to collect your five words and definitions for Tuesday.
Also, answer questions #1-8 on the short story "Two In One".

English 10

Remember to collect your five words and definitions for Tuesday.
Also, make sure that you have answered questions #1-3 on "The Inheritor".  For a PDF of this story, visit this link.
Finally, write a paragraph about an opinion that you have.  You could praise something or rant about something, I have no preference.  Just remember to avoid course terms, and use good, academic language.  Aim for about 100 words.

English 10 and 12

There isn't much homework except that all my classes will be collecting five vocabulary words and their definitions and bring them to class on Tuesday.  These words have to be good, academic words that you think you can use in your future school work.  Please avoid slang terms like "twerk" and "selfie".  Also eschew words that are so ancient or scientific in nature that you would be hard-pressed to find a use for them (i.e. "sanguinolency" or "sporange").  Just for your information, the first means an addiction to bloodshed and the second is a spore on the back of a particular kind of fern.  Now that I think of it, sanguinolency could be a pretty useful word; too bad it is defunct.

This vocabulary assignment will be a weekly task.

Welcome to English

Hello 10s and 12s,

Beginning a new schedule is always tiring in the first few weeks, so I hope that you get a chance to rest and enjoy the sunshine this weekend.  On Monday, please turn in the Student Survey if you have not already done so.

See you on Monday in B213.  As Ms. Li's classes have not yet been notified of the room change, there might be some confusion at the start of classes, but I'm sure you can cope.

English 12, Blocks 4 and 7

Block 7, the narrative essay is due on Friday.

Please make sure that you have answered all the questions for "And Summer is Gone", "Pigeon" and "Icarus".

Block 4, make sure that your readings are completed for next class.  In addition, make sure that the poems are also completed.

English 10, Blocks 1 and 2

Study your vocabulary words for Thursday's quiz.

1. desolation (noun): devastation; barrenness               
2. refuge (n): safety  
3. exquisite (adj): special beauty; intense feeling of either pleasure or pain 
4. divert (v): change direction; redirect attention                                    
5. perversion (n): make a change from what is natural to what is unnatural/abnormal 
6. indomitable (adj): unbeatable  
7. inimical (adj): harmful; hostile; unfriendly 
8. lacerated (adj): savagely cut or sliced; torn 
9. obliquely (adv): indirectly, coming at an angle and not straight on                  
10. ochre (adj): yellowish orange colour 
11. trussed (adj):  tied tightly; bound up to prevent movement  
12. propinquity (n):  proximity; the state of being close or near to another  
13. audacity (noun): boldness; gall  
14. deputed (verb): to be given responsibility for something  
15. derision (n): ridicule; scorn  
16. dissemble (v): to lie  
17. dissimulation (n): the act of lying; being deceitful 
18. pitch (noun/adjective): tar; black 
19. tattoo (n): rhythmic rapping  
20. vex (v): to irritate
21. punctually (adv):  on time; not late
22. bewildered (adj): confused
23. congeal (verb): to clot; to solidify; to coagulate
24. trifle (noun):  an item of little value or importance
25. luxuriate (verb):  to enjoy a self-indulgent delight
26. well (verb):  (of a liquid) to rise to the surface and spill; (of an emotion) to become more intense
27. hysterically (adv):  laughing or crying intensely for a prolonged period of time
28. exasperated (adj):  irritated intensely; infuriated

Also, read the poem "Richard Cory" and then list the similarities and differences between Richard Cory and Miss Hancock from "The Metaphor".

Richard Cory

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown, top of head

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed, dressed

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Richard Cory and Miss Hancock are very different characters, but their stories share some elements.  Create a T-chart outlining the similarities and differences in their stories.

English 10

Today in class, I went over the difference between theme and moral.  You can read about this on the past page of the handout entitled "Short Story Terms".  Then, we listened to the short story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield.  After, we discussed, characters and symbol. 

For homework, I've asked students to do the first two steps in the three-step process of finding theme (You can find this in the "Short Story Terms" handout).  That is, answer these two questions:

       1. In a word or two, what is "The Doll's House" about?
       2.  Then choose one of your words from #1, and answer this question:
   
         What is "The Doll's House saying about _______________?  
         (Choose just one of the words from #1 and write a 1 to 2 sentence response.)

We also worked a little bit on vocabulary because there will be a vocabulary test next week (Thurs) on the 28 vocabulary words.  See my blog for the list.
  
I recommend that you listen to a recording of the story here.

You can find a copy of the story here.

 

Socials 10

Groups have all been assigned presentation dates.  Make sure that anything you want me to photocopy is ready and submitted directly to me the day before your presentation.