The extract below is by Sarah Wheeler, a writer who spent months in the Antarctic in 1999, where she was able to visit the hut of her hero, the famous Captain Scott, whose exploration party died trying to get back from the South Pole in 1912.
Task 1: Read the extract and make a note of the feelings and reactions of the writer. (U)
Task 2: You are about to write a short piece informing the reader about your personality. Imagine that in years to come someone stumbles across five items which belonged to you. Explain what the objects are and what they show about you, your personality and your life.
The Simile
1) What is a simile?
Explain why the following similes are effective. Why makes them powerful images?
2) “Her hair was like spaghetti”.
3) “They rise like sudden fiery flowers that burst upon the night”.
4) “People were swarming like bees”.
Below is a drawing of Mr Simile. Mr Simile is a picture of how something would look if it were made up of different types of similes that many people use on a day-to-day basis.
The key word, of course, is LIKE. Mr Simile can only be “seen” by saying that he is like something else.
Task: Draw your own Mr or Mrs Simile. Make sure you label his or her parts correctly as laid out in the above example.
The Metaphor
1) What is a metaphor?
2) Give an example of your own.
3) Why is “I’m freezing” an effective metaphor?
Read and explain fully the meaning of the following metaphors;
Explaining a metaphor: If you are asked to explain a metaphor you should make clear the point of comparison and show how it has been used.
Example: He burned with anger
Just as a fire when it burns is very hot and dangerous so his anger was very strong and made him dangerous to others.
1) A black cat crawled under the gate, a spoonful of dark treacle.
2) Examinations creep up on us and are over before we have time to think.
3) The sprinter flew down the track.
4) She’s such a little angel.
5) The group swarmed through the streets of Edinburgh.
6) The teacher was an ogre today.
7) His students are puppets on a string.
8) Life is one long scary roller coaster!
Simile or Metaphor?
Decide which of the following expressions are similes and which are metaphors. Write out each expression and then state next to it whether it is a simile or a metaphor.
1) Her eyes shone like diamonds.
2) The moon’s a balloon.
3) Suddenly she arched her back like a horseshoe.
4) Silver-hatted mushrooms.
5) At the end of the street lives small Miss Wing,
A feathery, fluttery bird of a thing.
6) The truck flew down the empty highway.
7) Your ears pop like champagne corks.
8) His eyes peer from his hair and beard like mice from a load of hay.
9) The sea is a mirror for the clouds.
10) The shadows were as black as sin.
11) The wind was a whip that cracked over our heads.
12) I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep.
13) He’s as wild as a dingo.
14) The stars are pinpricks in the velvet of the night sky.
15) She came – and then, ghost-like vanished.
16) Enthusiasm is your key to success.
17) She’s as pretty as a picture.
18) Watch out – it’s that bullet-headed man again!
19) They were as quiet as mice.
20) Teeth like pearls
21) Education is your passport to satisfying employment.
The following review from a gaming magazine (Xbox Gamer, 2002) tells readers the pros and cons of an Xbox game called Amped.
Task 1: Read the review and answer the questions which follow it. (U/A)
You’ll smash your legs, crack your skull and then come back for more. This is gaming addiction in its purest form.
This is a new type of extreme sports thrill. Amped is all about taming the mountain, pulling off perfect big air tricks and developing a career as world-class snowboarder. It’s addictive, fun and looks Xboxing good too.
Your aim is simple enough – to become the best freestyle snowboarder on the planet. You’ll get there by wowing sponsors and the media and by chaining together incredible moves on rails, jumps, buildings and anything else you can see.
The controls are easy to master – three buttons grab your board and the B button grinds. The best tricks are big maneuvers in which you swoosh your rider over an angled ramp or natural edge and spin him horizontally and vertically at once. Add a beautiful landing and you’ll bag big points.
The pro challenges are particularly good. Shadowing a pro rider and attempting to beat their scores actually feels like learning to snowboard, both directly and indirectly. Beating him adds a new trick to the repertoire. Better still, observing the line he takes down the course exposes new areas and teaches you how to exploit ramps and grind rails to the max.
AMPED’S ADDICTIVE, FUN AND LOOKS XBOXING GOOD TOO
Amped gets tongue-chewingly tricky about half way up the world rankings. While frustration inevitably creeps in at this point, progression becomes a matter of honour. Sadly, there’s no other single player game and the multiplayer game consists of up to four players taking turns to out trick each other, which is a very poor effort.
Despite the sticky moments, Amped successfully immerses you in a brilliantly believable Career. You really feel you’re learning to ride each tricky mountain course and you’re constantly rewarded with new levels, tricks, and kit along the way. It’s a truly impressive game that will please gamers of all flavours.
In fact it’s like, totally awesome!
1. In paragraph 3 find the phrase which tells the reader how to become the best snowboarder while playing Amped?
2. List what the reviewer says are four of Amped’’s strengths and three of its weaknesses. Construct your answer in a chart.
3. What kind of audience is this review aimed at? How can you tell?
4. Read the second and third paragraphs again. How does the writer’s choice of adjectives help to build a positive picture of the game?
5. Why does the writer use a short paragraph at the end of the article?
6. Answer this question in a paragraph. How does the writer try to convince readers that the game is worth playing? Look at:
· How the writer has chosen language to suit the audience
· What information the writer gives about Amped
· How the writer describes playing Amped
· How and when the writer expresses his opinions.
Onomatopoeia
Task 1: Write out the following sentences and underline the onomatopoeic words.
1) The silence was broken by the hoot of an owl and the squeal and shriek of its victim.
2) The gravel crunched under their feet as they over the driveway.
3) Katie’s stomach gurgled as she smelt all the delicious food.
4) The bucket clattered against the doorstep.
5) The firework whooshed into the night sky.
6) The frog made a loud plop as it landed in the water.
Task 2: Write a sentence for each of the following onomatopoeic words.
1) Squawk
2) Roar
3) Whine
4) Screech
5) Snort
Task 3: Write a sentence to describe the noises you might hear if you saw any of the
objects below. Use as many onomatopoeic words as you can.
1) Roller-coaster 2) A Dog 3) An alarm
4) Fire 5) Water
Alliteration
Task 1: Write out the following sentences, underline the repeated letter and
then explain what effect you think the writer is trying to create.
1) Deafening drums sounded the doomed soldiers to fight.
2) The sausages sizzled and spat in the frying pan.
3) The fire sent a crinkle of noise which crept through the house, crackling occasionally.
4) He leapt like lightning across the stage lightly landing on the other side.
Alliteration is often used to attract in attention in headlines, titles and advertisements.
Task 2: Think up a headline or title that alliterates for each of the following:
1) A baby survives a fall from a building.
2) Rugby - Six Nations is won by Scotland.
3) The opening of a new community swimming pool.
4) A pop group who have split up.
5) A book about butterflies.
6) Collections of jokes.
Task 3: Read the following events below and then for each one:
1) List all of the different sounds that they would make.
2) With the sounds, try to write a sentence using alliteration.
a storm a football crowd
a moving train
Personification
Task 1: Write out the following sentences and underline the words that are
normally used of human beings.
1) The massive cliffs stood guard against the angry sea.
2) A thick, white mist crept silently over the hill.
3) The sun peeked out from behind the clouds.
4) Branches poked and prodded Tom as he ran through the woods.
5) Whole regiments of tombstones marched across the French hillsides.
There are many different things that can be personified. For example, abstract ideas (such as time, sadness, war and peace), seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter), elements (earth, air, fire and water) and objects can all be spoken about as if they were human.
Look at the following pictures and what they represent.
TIME JUSTICE
Justice is, in most cases, shown as blindfolded, holding scales and carrying a sword. The blindfold shows that justice will not be decided upon by who you are – it will be done fairly. The scales show that all sides will be looked at and then the sword represents the judging and final decision.
Task 2: Look again at the image which represents Time. Write down why you
believe it has been drawn like this.
Task 3: Below are examples of personification. Draw a picture to represent
each one and then write down why they are effective images.
1) I had a tiring day so my bed was calling to me.
2) Flames leapt higher and higher.
4) It’s a vicious circle.
3) Death collected the old man.
Writing an Informative piece:
An informative text tells the reader more about a given subject or topic. It describes information and is usually in the form of a project, a booklet or a textbook.
Remember:
· It should be clear, written in the third person and in the present tense.
· It can include diagrams, illustrations, tables but these must be there to inform the reader, not just to fill up space.
· Rhetorical questions can be used to interest the reader.
· Subheadings are useful.
· It is usually impersonal.
Task: To write a leaflet on Halloween and its origins.
In this you can include the history of Halloween, pictures, a spooky recipe and how to make it, how to make a spooky costume and a guide to spooky writing of a story or perhaps some spooky jokes. These are just a few; feel inspired to include what you want.
In the text below a Japanese soldier describes his experiences in Burma in World War II when his regiment suffered defeat at the hands of the British army.
It was not surprising that in the middle of May the British 2nd Division found it possible to capture the hills of the Kohima Ridge from us. Our losses had been dreadful. Our soldiers fought bravely, but they had no rations, no rifle or machine-gun ammunition, no artillery shells for the guns to fire. And, above all, they had no support from rear echelons. How could they have continued in such dreadful circumstances? The monsoon season had started and the Kohima region is notorious for having the heaviest rainfall in the world. In the unceasing rain there was no shelter. If one hid beneath a tree the enemy’s shells would destroy not just that tree but everything around it. There was only one consolation: the rains reduced the firing but it resumed as soon as the rain stopped.
It was impossible to cook rice in the rain. Sometimes we made a fire from undergrowth and boiled vegetable matter as the only means we had of starving off our terrible hunger. When the shelling began again we entered out ‘octopus traps’ – holes dug in the ground to a soldier’s height – but the rain flooded in so that we were chest-high in water and had to climb out. We felt we had arrived at the very limit of our endurance.
At the beginning of the Imphal Operation the regiment was 3,800 strong. When out general gave the order to withdraw to the east we were reduced to just a few hundred still alive. Without shelter from the rains, with boots that had rotted and had to be bound with grass, we began to trudge along the deep mud paths carrying our rifles without ammunition, leaning on sticks to support our weak bodies. Our medical corps men slipped and slid as they carried the sick and wounded on stretchers or supported the ‘walking wounded’. Some of the orderlies were themselves so weak that they fell to the ground again and again until their physical and moral endurance was at an end, so that when a sick man cried out in pain they simply said, “If you complain we’ll just let you go, and throw you and the stretcher down the cliff side.”
Icy rain fell mercilessly on us and we lived day and night drenched to the skin and pierced with cold. I remember how we longed for a place, any place at all, where we could take shelter and rest. Once we found a tent in the jungle; inside it were the bodies of six nurses. We has never imagined there would be female victims, especially so far over the Arakan Mountains. Why, we asked one another, had the army not taken the nurses to a place of safety? In another tent we found the bodies of three soldiers who had taken their own lives. How could one ever forget such terrible, distressing sights as the dead nurses, and the soldiers who had taken their own lives? All I could do was to swear to myself that, somehow, I would survive.