thg1Aenglish

Here are a few quotes and key ideas from each text.

 * __Beans__ by Patricia Grace ||
 * [[image:photo_(10).jpg]] ||
 * __Beginning of the Tournament__ by Witi Ihimaera ||
 * [[image:photo_(11).jpg]] ||
 * __A Game of Cards by__ Witi Ihimaera ||
 * [[image:photo_(12).jpg]] ||

Examples of short text essays.
[|Achieved Example] [|Merit Example] [|Excellence Example]

Sample Questions for short texts
[|2008 questions] [|2007 questions] [|2006 questions]

Please have a go at answering these and send me your practices. haig.tom@gmail.com

__Krystyna's Story__ - Extended Text
Here are our notes and practice material on this historical novel by Halina Ogonowska-Coates.

Knowledge of the text - quiz

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The real refugees from Poland.
Available [|here] are some audio interviews with Polish refugees to New Zealand at the end of WWII. Some of these are certainly the people whom Krystyna's Story is based on. There are some great descriptions of meeting the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, and taking the train to Pahiatua.

E ssay Plans - Your Work

Use these essay plans for practising your own essay answers. Email them to me on haig.tom@gmail.com for feedback.


 * **Change essay.** This plan needs to explain the importance of this change - a possible reason is to emphasise the terrible struggle and hardship that Krystyna and the other refugees suffered. It also shows what a strong and adaptable character Krystyna is, so that the readers will admire her and be understanding towards refugees. || **Important event near end of text essay.** This plan also needs to have more explanation of how it links to the main ideas. The importance of coming to New Zealand is about showing the challenges that refugees still face on arriving in a safe place. Krystyna had a whole new culture to learn about, which was a challenge to her. The safety and security of New Zealand is important because of the contrast to her life in the camps. ||
 * [[image:Krystyna's_Story_Change_Essay_Plan.jpg width="431" height="575"]] || [[image:Krystyna's_Story_Event_Idea_Essay_Plan.jpg width="431" height="575"]] ||


 * **Character Essay** || **Setting Essay** ||
 * [[image:Krystyna's_Story_Character_Essay_Plan.JPG width="432" height="576"]] || [[image:Krystyna's_Story_Setting_Essay_Plan.jpg width="432" height="576"]] ||

Examples of extended text essays.
[|Achieved Example] [|Merit Example] [|Excellence Example]

Sample Questions for extended texts
[|2008 questions] [|2007 questions] [|2006] questions

Please have a go at answering these and send me your practices. haig.tom@gmail.com

  We are now beginning a study of this film, by New Zealand director Niki Caro, for the end of year exam, in which you will write an essay about a ‘visual or oral text’. This standard is worth two credits.

Here are some practice essay questions for you to have a go at. Use the notes on here and in your books to help you. As you finish them, email them to me for feedback. haig.tom@gmail.com



Mr Haig's Audio Study Guides
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 * Essay Plans** - Your Work

Use these essay plans for practising your own essay answers. Email them to me on haig.tom@gmail.com for feedback.


 * == ==
 * Character Essay Plan 1 -** Paikea. Needs more specific details. Methods means the visual and verbal techniques used, such as dialogue, camera shots, music and so on. Not just action. || **Character Essay Plan 2 -** Paikea. Stronger than the last one. But needs to be very clear about specific examples of visual and verbal techniques. ||
 * ==[[image:Whale_Rider_Character_Essay_Plan_1.JPG height="576"]]== || [[image:Whale_Rider_Character_Essay_Plan_2.JPG width="432" height="576"]] ||


 * **Features Essay Plan 1 -**Not a great essay plan. Features are not events, but the visual and verbal techniques. One of them could be 'action' but better that they are things like music, voiceover, dialogue, camera work, editing. || **Features Essay Plan 2 -** Stronger essay plan. A third feature could be the editing, which allowed there to be two different narratives - the whales and the the people of Whangara, and the cut-aways which allowed this to happen. ||
 * [[image:Whale_Rider_Features_Essay_Plan_1.JPG width="432" height="576"]] || [[image:Whale_Rider_Features_Essay_Plan_2.JPG width="576" height="432"]] ||


 * **Production Features Essay Plan -** This is a reasonable essay plan in terms of ideas, but is very weak in terms of examples. Must have much more specific examples to use. Also, expressions to know how they feel is weak. Camera work can reveal the relationships and conflicts between the characters. ||  ||
 * [[image:Whale_Rider_Production_Features_Essay_Plan.JPG width="432" height="576"]] ||  ||

 Before we begin, it is worth exploring some of the ideas that we will come across in the film. Three topics that I think this film explores are:


 * TRADITION : GENDER : NATURE :**

 //Can you think of any questions about these ideas? Can you make questions that link them together?

Here are some that we came up with as a class. //  //What conflicts can you see that might arise from these ideas? //  //What other texts do you know that have dealt with some of these ideas? // Choose one of the four activities below to start to activate your ideas about these topics. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">1.Draw an image that shows your personal opinion on the significance of one or more of these ideas. Explain the image to a partner. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">2.Interview two other people about their opinions about these ideas and make a table of their responses. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">3.Write a short narrative that shows conflict between two or more of these ideas. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">4.With a partner make a short role-play that you can perform to the class about conflict between these ideas. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> You have until Monday the 10th to complete this. I will be using these to help guide the way we learn about this film.
 * Preliminary task**

First Viewing
Read the 'tag lines' for the film and look at the posters on here. Select which ones are the best for this film, and explain why they fit it best.



Elements of Film
These are the elements of film that we came up with from our first discussion.




 * Six Important Film Techniques

//Here is a summary of the research you did about these film techniques, and their significance for how they combine to make film work.//**


 * **[|Camera work] - shots, movement, angles**
 * 1) How the camera is placed in relation to the subject of the shot, its movement and angle determines the audience's understanding of the scene. It can make us like or dislike characters, sympathise with them and know what is happening.


 * **Lighting and colour**
 * 1) Lighting and colour can set the mood and scene in movies. Darker lighting may symbolise danger, while white light may have connotations of calmness. Light abnd colourt are used to help set the theme, mood, atmosphere and environment. Different light patterns give different moods, or focus the audience's attention on a particular part of the picture. Colours can be bright and vibrant, soft or muted, lighting can range from 'naturalistic' to very controlled, but both colour and lighting are always intentional.


 * **Sound - dialogue, music, voiceover, effects**
 * **Costume and decor**
 * 1) Clothing and decor are not purely decorative. They are carefully planned to reveal character, setting, themes and so on. The costumes often reveal a lot about setting, and create a feeling around a character, and can reveal change in a character.
 * 1) Clothing and decor are not purely decorative. They are carefully planned to reveal character, setting, themes and so on. The costumes often reveal a lot about setting, and create a feeling around a character, and can reveal change in a character.


 * **Editing - cuts and transitions**
 * 1) Cuts and transitions move from one place or scene to another, or within scenes from one angle or point of view to another. There are usually many cuts that we do not even notice. They can change the tone of a scene; for example 'rapid cutting' can be used to show fast action, or a fade out and in transition to show a significance change of time and place.


 * **Composition and framing**
 * 1) Composition is the way that the elements of a shot are set up within the frame. In films everything is planned, and the composition of shots can communicate ideas about the place, characters, relationships, conflicts and so on. Composition is not often noticed by viewers on a conscious level, but it can have an impact on their perceptiuon of all of these things.

For each of these we will come up with ONE thing you must know, TWO things you should know and THREE things it would help to know.

//Whale Rider// trailer for practising our recognition of these techniques

media type="youtube" key="fE7-_Z03Aw4" height="344" width="425"


 * Costume and decor**

The collared shirt that Koro wears gives the impression that he has authority and is a more respectable character than many of the others.

There is a design on the wallpaper behind Koro as he is speaking that matches the tukutuku panels in the Wharenui. This emphasises his traditiuon.

The blanket that is wrapped around Paikea as she sits on the unfinished waka makes her look vulnerable, but also may be a sort of symbolic cloak such as what a rangatira would wear.

Paikea's jersey is old fashioned and has a sort of flax like design on the back. This could symbolise the way that she valued tradition and connection with the past.


 * Lighting and colour**

The lighting was dim in most of the trailer, particularly at the start, It was mostly natural, outdoor lighting in the evening or night. Most of the shots created a sad tone, the lighting made the people appear distressed or unhappy. Particularly at the start, when the whale is going through the water and then it cuts to young people playing, it is shady and dark. This may also create a sense of the past, the early days of Maori mythology.


 * The Opening of the Film**

Here are the paragraphs that we wrote about the opening sequence.


 * The Setting**

Here are the notes we took on shots from five significant scenes.


 * Quotes from the film

Why are quotes important?



And here are the quotes we selected and notes on what they tell the audience about these things. **

Creative Writing Unit
//July 20th- August 3rd//

This unit gives you the chance to craft and develop a piece of creative writing about a journey you have taken.

It is assessed against the criteria for Achievement Standard <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #303030; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">90052 (English 1.1): __[|Produce creative writing]__, and is worth three English Credits.

The achievement criteria are that you:

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #303030; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">
 * Express idea(s) with detail in a piece of writing.
 * Use a writing style appropriate to audience, purpose and text type.
 * Structure material in a way that is appropriate to audience, purpose and text type.
 * Use writing conventions without intrusive errors
 * The due date for a completed piece of writing, of a minimum 300 words, is Monday the 3rd of August**

//Some ideas about journeys to get you started//
Here are some links to some texts that explore the ideas of journeys.

Eddie Vedder's 'Far Behind' from the film [|'Into the Wild'] media type="youtube" key="9hT9lQRBe3o" height="344" width="425" <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #303030; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> And [|here] are the lyrics

An animation of Hemingway's classic 'The Old Man and the Sea'

media type="youtube" key="v1EbNvHDxbA" height="344" width="425"

And here is a short and most simplified version of [|'The Odyssey',] perhaps the most influential 'monomyth' in Western culture.

In contrast to this, or perhaps somewhat similar, have a look at [|The Voyage of Kupe]

And here is quite a different, more humble, sort of journey for you to consider. This is the wonderful '[|Beans] ' by Patricia Grace.

Our discussion questions



 * What different types of journeys are there?
 * What are some famous or important journeys?
 * What are common characteristics of journeys?
 * Why are journeys significant?
 * Why do people make art and literature about journeys?

Here are some of our responses:



The Exemplar
[|Here] is a link to the exemplar we looked at in class.

What ideas are expressed in here? Where is the illustrative detail that is required?

Look at the notes on the exemplar to see what this writer has done in relation to the assessment criteria.

Planning and drafting
Use [|this template] to help you record some ideas and details about a journey you have taken.

Share your journey with a partner. Ask questions to get them to think further about the journey they took.


 * Why was it memorable?
 * What did it mean to you at the time? Does it mean something different now?
 * Was there anything surprising along the way?
 * Ask about sensory memories to help them recall specific details.
 * And anything else that you think will help make the story more richly detailed and interesting.

Try writing a //blurt// in which you write very freely about all of the impressions, memories and feelings associated with the journey you have decided on. This may provide you with some strong images and ideas for you to use in your crafted piece. In your blurt you should not worry about structure, accuracy, chronology or any of that, just6 try to record in a spontaneous way.

Here is a document that gives some tips for writing and developing your story.

Think about how you will turn the blurt you have written into a crafted piece of writing. A structure that supports the idea of the story will help, and is important for the assessment criteria. [|Here] are some ideas for structure you could use.