Sumários

Film discussion.

16 Março 2016, 08:00 • Lili Cavalheiro

Begin Again film discussion.

HOMEWORK:

- read and prepare interview with Chimamanda Adichie in the course book.

- start planning your oral presentations - themes and groups

- buy one of the two novels and start reading!

Narrative Writing - Part 1

15 Março 2016, 12:00 • Hilda Alexandra Prazeres Eusebio

Narrative Writing is about telling a story.

Students were given a sample of what we don't want to read:

I was riding my bike down the hill. My friends were with me. We came to this hill all the time. I went off the jump. My arm broke. It hurt a lot. My friends took me home. My parents took me to the hospital. The doctor put my arm in a cast.

This is a very small tale about a child who has has an accident and has to go to hospital. A much more interesting story about another child going to hospital was read later on in the lesson. Before that, students went on to look at the different viewpoints that can be used when narrating a story:

First Person – The character tells the story, using the pronoun ‘I’.

Example: I walk into the room. I know he's there in the darkness. I smile as I smell the sunshine and wind in his hair.

Six Viewpoint Structures in First Person:

Simple – One character tells the story.
Simple Unreliable Narrator – One character tells the story but we don’t know if he is telling the truth.
Rashamon Effect – This means multiple characters tell their version of the same events in the story.
Separate Multiple Viewpoints – This means multiple characters tell the story using first person perspectives.
Sequential Multiple Viewpoints – This means different characters tell the story from their perspective in a timeline or sequence.
First Person Omniscient - The narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all the other characters.

Second Person – The character tells the story using the pronoun ‘You’.

Example: You walk into the room. You know he's there in the darkness. You smile as you smell the sunshine and wind in his hair.

This is the least common of all viewpoints used by authors. It is used to make the reader feel uncomfortable. The character is often alienated or in an altered state.

Third Person – The narrator tells the story using the pronouns ‘He’ and ‘She’.

Example: She walks into the room. She knows he's there in the darkness. She smiles as she smells the sunshine and wind in his hair.

Three Viewpoint Structures in Third Person:

Subjective – This means the author focuses on one character and his thoughts and feelings. It is similar to simple first person but the author uses ‘he’ instead of ‘I’.

Omniscient – This means the author gives readers a broad view of the story. The thoughts and feelings of many, or all, the characters are shown.

Objective – This means the author observes, and tells the story according to the actions of the characters. Readers have no idea what is going on inside the heads of the main characters.

Source: http://writerswrite.co.za/understanding-viewpoint-terminology

Having done this, students read and analyzed the short story on pages 31-32 of their coursebook and learned how to properly tell a story about a kid that wind's up in hospital. Following this, students completed the 'descriptive detail/sensory chart' on page 33 of their coursebook.

Finally, students were given their homework assignment due on Sunday 20th March (no later than midnight).

Personal Narrative checklist/Rules

You are going to write a story about something that has happened to you, i.e. a memoir or a memory – this can be pure fiction but should still be told in the style of a memory or memoir:

–Use descriptive details – use the five senses so that we can feel like we're there.

–Write about one event that lasts between 1 - 5 minutes,

–Try to include some background information (which should come with the details);

–Aim for a catchy beginning that sucks us in and grabs our attention.

–Narrate the events in a clear order – otherwise it will be confusing;

–Show us what this event means to you by adopting a specific mood or tone;

–make sure the writing is smooth – the sentences should follow each other naturally so that the reader is experiencing exactly what the narrator is experiencing, in a linear way;

–1-2 PAGES LONG, DOUBLE SPACED, SIZE 12 ARIAL;

–DUE 20TH MARCH, NO LATER THAN 23:59.