So let's get this straight - My 16 year old self sat where you are (well at a desk in a Scottish High School) and said 'What is the point in English? I can speak it; I can read it; I can write it. You can't even revise for it anyway'.
I thought I disliked English. I couldn't wait for the moment that I walked out of my Higher English exam and said 'I never have to do English again'. Ironically, I would be dealing with the same questions and attitudes from the other side of the desk 5 years later after a wonderful sojourn into the world of Art, Experimental Electronic Music and Sound Design.
The fact was: it wasn't that I disliked English, it was I disliked the way I was taught.
So here is my solution - at least to the 'you can't revise for English' moan.
I will be tweeting exam style questions, links to articles and texts and top revision tips. If you navigate around this page you will find RSS feeds to writers or sections of Newspapers that are worth your attention. You'll see a twitter scroll which will highlight the various twitter tasks I set. Each task I set will have a corresponding blog post and you can post your response in the comment sections. You then can await my comments or the comments of other - though remember, just because it is online, it does not mean the basics of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar do not apply!
As it is half term, we will begin gently with the following questions:
When I read I normally listen to music therefore when I remember a novel, I often remember my own personal soundtrack to it (Dracula - Fly Swatter by The Eels, Frankenstein - Not Ready Yet by The Eels - currently On the Road - Roadhouse Blues by The Doors)
Which novels remind you of music or vice versa?
Why is does the phrase: 'He had a face like a tramp's felt hat' make us snigger?
'Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.' - Groucho Marx
Why are books better than films? Even if you don't believe it can you come up with an argument?
I thought I disliked English. I couldn't wait for the moment that I walked out of my Higher English exam and said 'I never have to do English again'. Ironically, I would be dealing with the same questions and attitudes from the other side of the desk 5 years later after a wonderful sojourn into the world of Art, Experimental Electronic Music and Sound Design.
The fact was: it wasn't that I disliked English, it was I disliked the way I was taught.
So here is my solution - at least to the 'you can't revise for English' moan.
I will be tweeting exam style questions, links to articles and texts and top revision tips. If you navigate around this page you will find RSS feeds to writers or sections of Newspapers that are worth your attention. You'll see a twitter scroll which will highlight the various twitter tasks I set. Each task I set will have a corresponding blog post and you can post your response in the comment sections. You then can await my comments or the comments of other - though remember, just because it is online, it does not mean the basics of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar do not apply!
As it is half term, we will begin gently with the following questions:
When I read I normally listen to music therefore when I remember a novel, I often remember my own personal soundtrack to it (Dracula - Fly Swatter by The Eels, Frankenstein - Not Ready Yet by The Eels - currently On the Road - Roadhouse Blues by The Doors)
Which novels remind you of music or vice versa?
Why is does the phrase: 'He had a face like a tramp's felt hat' make us snigger?
'Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.' - Groucho Marx
Why are books better than films? Even if you don't believe it can you come up with an argument?
