UCL (University College, London) has a useful set of reading lists on their website. If studying English at university appeals to you then it's worth taking a look. If studying English at university doesn't appeal to you then it's still worth taking a look.

Language use in the General Election

Listen to this abbreviated version of Gordon Brown calling the General Election and pay particular attention to the words he uses. Is there anything here that reminds you of Churchill? Any thoughts on why he finishes in the way he does?

We're not going to comment on the parties' policies or tell you how to vote but we are interested in how politicians use the English language. I had a leaflet through my door, for example, which said: Vote Yellow Get Brown (That's Vote Yellow Get Brown if the colours aren't showing up on your screen.) Which party would have used that slogan? What does it mean? How effective is it?

Now look at some of the other slogans the parties have used and think about the way they use the English Language: the Liberal Democrats; Labour; Conservatives; Plaid Cymru; the Scottish National Party. And, just by way of contrast, what on earth were the UK Independence Party thinking of when they created this poster?

A week is a long time in politics and the slogans have changed as the election has gone on: what do you make of this picture, for example? If you can, compare what you have seen here with the election material that has been coming through your letterbox. And if you have been struggling with some of the terms that have been floating around over the last few weeks, click here for a jargon buster.

Year 8 Reading List

With the Easter holidays rapidly approaching what could be more pleasant than a little trip to the library? Here are a few suggestions of what to get out:


Clay - David Almond

Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce

Hero.com: Rise of the Heroes - Andy Briggs

Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

Kezzie - Theresa Breslin

Airman - Eoin Colfer

A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly

The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd

Anila’s Journey - Mary Finn

Coraline - Neil Gaiman

I, Coriander - Sally Gardner

Diamond of Drury Lane - Julia Golding

Apache - Tanya Landman

Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy

The Garbage King - Elizabeth Laird

Back Home - Michelle Magorian

Girl, Missing - Sophie McKenzie

The Wind Singer - William Nicholson

Pirates! - Celia Rees

Mortal Engines - Phillip Reeve

Finding Violet Park - Jenny Valentine

HIVE - Mark Walden

Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin

The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

St Mary's and Wordfest

Cambridge Wordfest 2010 is about to arrive and with it a whole host of famous writers. We are delighted to be sponsoring the Writing History event on Saturday 10th April. Some of our 6th Form will be there with Man Booker Prizewinner Hilary Mantel and Rebecca Stott, a previous visitor to St Mary's. Check out the programme and book your tickets before they all get snapped up.

Right, get writing!

Did I forget to mention that there's money to be won? The Transition Tales Writing Competition, for example, is offering £750 in prizes for a story about Cambridge in 2050, while the Young Writers' Mini Sagas Competition is offering up to £1750. And there's the simple pleasure of writing well. And the added benefit of possibly seeing your work in print. And the joy of breaking rules like not starting sentences with 'and'.

If you want some advice about how to write well you could do worse than try out these pages from The Guardian newspaper or these ones setting out the Ten Rules for Writing Fiction.

weRead

There are also useful reviews and discussions about a whole range of books on the weRead site.

If you want to find out more about the The Carnegie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal for children's literature then check out the website. We will be shadowing the shortlisted books at St Mary's.

World Book Day

World Book Day is coming this Thursday. To discover more, see videos, read extracts and find out about competitions click here.

Kipling and Indian Literature

There was an interesting discussion yesterday about Rudyard Kipling on The Today Programme. The BBC describe it in this way:

British author and poet Rudyard Kipling is known for his love of India, but his reputation in the country remains controversial.

Plans for a museum commemorating Mr Kipling's Mumbai home have been shelved over concerns that it would be politically unpalatable, as he was a renowned imperialist, fierce opponent of independence and a chronicler of the British Raj

Andrew Lycett, Mr Kipling's biographer, and Aravind Adiga, and Indian journalist and author who won the 2008 Man Booker prize for his works The White Tiger, reflect on Mr Kipling's relationship with India.

Websites - Books: Books - Websites

Want to find a good book but don't know where to look? You might want to check out these websites from Booktrust, Oxford University Press and the Guardian

Robert Burns

Just in case you're preparing for Burns Night and are looking for a grand, wee poem ...

Authors' websites

An awful lot of authors now have their own websites. So if you are interested in Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume or Terry Deary you might want to check out their sites.

Obviously, as an English teacher, I'm also going to point you in the direction of some less populist authors. Why not look at the website, for example, of the poet Michael Symmons Roberts or the novelist Ian McEwan?

Writing Letters

Dear Readers,

             Today we are going to cover letter writing. Or should that be...

Dear Readers

Today we are going to cover letter writing???

See what the BBC thinks by clicking here for a simple, interactive exercise. Then get some useful advice from the people behind the Oxford Dictionaries by clicking here. If you need a sample letter then click here.

Yours sincerely (or should that be faithfully ... or lots of love ... or with my warmest regards ...?)

Who was the author of 'Alice in Wonderland'?

Charles Dodgson or Lewis Carroll? The Oxford Mathematician or the reclusive writer? To find out more about this fascinating man you might want to look here or here.

Demeter and Persephone

Year 7 to 6th Form



The 6th Form have been studying Carol Ann Duffy's poem about Demeter from The World 's Wife. It's a great myth and here's a fun cartoon version of it. Or click here for Tennyson's version.

Apostrophes

Still confused about when to use apostrophes? Then click here for a fun and interactive reminder.

Catherine Tate, David Tennant and Shakespeare

We have posted this at the special request of Year 7. You can see the Red Nose Day sketch here. The poem Catherine Tate quotes with amazing skill (in the end) is Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 which you can read below:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Another (less comic) version can be seen here.

"A goodly rotten apple" is a (mis)quotation from The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3 and "That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet" is a quotation from Romeo and Juliet. Just so you know.