Sunny and mild...

Busy day today! My 10th graders have their big BIG Cambridge exam next week and we are doing final review and preparation. I meant to put the 2 previous posts on my teacher blog (skyebagsh.blogspot.com) but signed in with the wrong email address. Oh well. Have reposted there. :)

We are hoping/planning to come to the States this summer though I think it will (unfortunately) be just a quick trip. We'll leave Mgl on June 13, stop in San Francisco briefly and then spend about a week and a half between Virginia and Philadelphia. After that we'll head to Colorado where Javhaa has a conference to attend.

We are all doing well; our biggest news is that we are expecting! (I don't think too many ppl read this blog, though--I need to actually say something on Facebook but I'm a little shy.) ;)

That's all for now, just explaining my English posts!

Features of various types of texts--review

Features of a Formal letter

There are fixed rules regarding formal letters.

Layout

·         full postal address followed by date in top right of letter

·         the name of person or Department and address you are writing to goes in the left hand side above greeting but lower down than your address

·         the greeting is normally 'Dear Sir' or 'Dear Madam' or full title if you are supposed to have met the person or spoken on the phone, or written before. For example, 'Dear Mr Brown' or 'Dear Dr Jones'

·         ending is always 'Yours faithfully' if you have opened with 'Sir' or 'Madam' or 'Yours sincerely' if you have used a name

·         you can print your initials and name after your signature

Content

Formal letters must be organised in a proper way to make communication easier.

·         the letter should begin with an introductory paragraph explaining the general topic of the letter

·         the main body of the letter needs to be in a logical sequence and give enough detail to make the reader 'get the message'

·         the last paragraph should be a conclusion summarising the main purpose of the letter in such a way to get the reaction you want, to get something done

·         the tone of the letter must match purpose outlined in the task - it can be neutral giving straightforward factual details or emotive using language to persuade reader about some issue

·         formal letters must stick to the conventions of formal writing, no slang, no shortened word forms, etc.

·         always match letter to purpose of writing

·         even in personal letters stick to the accepted layout

·         you can use block style where address is in straight rows and signing off at margin, or indent where address style slopes and signing off is in middle of page but it is a good idea not to mix them

If you think you might tackle a Letter Task in the exam, practise layout style and punctuation so you can concentrate on the content.

Writing a newspaper report

Reports usually appear in newspapers. They tell readers about events that have been happening in their local area, or national or international news. Assignments in the Standard Grade writing paper usually ask you to write an article for your local newspaper.

Newspapers are read by people who want information about something that has happened. They want details quickly so reports have to be easy to read and have a snappy presentation style.

When you plan your news story, remember that newspaper reports usually provide the answers to the questions WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN , WHY, HOW?

Look at this example of a newspaper report

Christopher Brodie is this morning celebrating his gold medal success in the paralympics 100m sprint.

Yesterday, in the packed stadium in Sydney, Australia, where the games have been taking place all week, Chris ran the race of his life to cross the line in the gold medal position.

For any athlete a championship medal is the ultimate achievement, but for Chris it was also the culmination of years of determination and courage. The 20 year old was just 5 when he had to have his right leg amputated below the knee. The pain caused by his artificial leg was mot enough to stop the lively youngster from Motherwell running around living life to the full.

When he joined the local athletics club he never dreamt that he would end up an Olympic champion.

Now, thanks to the pioneering work of sports scientists and the doctors at Glasgow’s St Thomas’ Hospital, Chris has been able to take advantage of the latest sports technology, a new prosthetic sports leg.

“The new leg is made of light weight materials and the foot section has as close to normal foot movement as an artificial leg can get,” said Ken Brown, one of the doctors who worked on the project. Chris backed up Dr. Brown’s claim when he said that the new leg allowed for fluid movement and a much less cumbersome running style.

Certainly, the benefits the artificial leg will bring to sports women and men all over the world could be seen yesterday in Sydney, when Chris Brodie showed the world what a powerful combination courage and innovation can be.

Can you identify the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW in this news report?

·         Who is the main person the story is about?

·         What has happened to him?

·         Where did the event take place?

·         When did it happen?

·         Why did it happen?

·         How did it take place?

Well done if you spotted that the main person in the story is Chris Brodie, who won the gold medal at the paralympics in Sydney the day before the report was written. He lost his right leg as a child and, aided by advances in sports medicine and his determination to succeed against the odds, has become a world class athlete.

Now study the report again. Look closely for the key features of a newspaper report.

·         the headline catches the reader's attention

·         the first paragraph gives the main point of the story and answers the question who

·         the following paragraphs provide answers to the questions what, where, when, why and how

·         the paragraphs are short and punchy, giving information in a clear and concise way

·         there are references to what people said, either using direct speech (use of inverted commas indicates what Ken Brown actually said) or reported speech (no inverted commas - the main points of Chris Brodie's speech but not in the actual words he said)

·         use of past tense because the report refers to an event which has already taken place

How to set out a play script

A script is a piece of writing in the form of drama. Drama is different from prose forms of writing like novels and short stories because it is intended to be performed, either on stage, radio, television or film. This means that it has to sound effective when it is read out loud. It also means that it has to be written in a special form. This section will deal mainly with writing a script for the stage. There will be a brief section at the end with some pointers for writing a radio script or a screenplay.

A script consists of -

·         dialogue - what the characters say, and

·         stage directions - instructions to the actors and director.

Here is an example of an extract from a play script. Look at it carefully and note the special layout.

The Bully

Scene: A school playground

Characters: JIM, a first year-pupil

EDDIE, a second-year pupil

(JIM is looking through his bag. EDDIE comes up and pushes him.)

JIM: (angrily) What do you think you're doing?

EDDIE: Oh,sorry, did I hurt you? I was just wondering what you had in that bag.

JIM: What's it to do with you?

EDDIE: I forgot my dinner money today. And I'm hungry.

(EDDIE grabs JIM's lunch and runs off.)

JIM: Hey you, come back!

(Enter the JANITOR.)

JANITOR: What's wrong, son?

Notice the following features of the layout of a play script -

·         Title

·         Scene: say where and when the scene is set

·         Characters: say which characters are in the scene at the start. You should give any information that we need to know about them but keep this brief. This might be their age, occupation or relationship with another character.

For example -

Jean, aged 24

Elizabeth, aged 55, mother of Jean

Bill, a plumber

Any characters who come into a scene after the start of it should be introduced by 'Enter'. Use 'Exit' if the character leaves.

The name of the character who is speaking should be written at the left-hand side of the page (in the margin). It is a good idea to print it in capitals. Then write a colon:

Stage directions should be written in brackets.

Key features of a diary/journal:

·       Written in the first person - I went to the shops (not he went to the shops)

·       Refers to events that have happened

·       Refers to people in their life

·       Emotions - diaries tell how people feel about what is happening and has happened. (This is a key point for writing composition later on).

·       The diarist's particular point of view - Adrian Mole is a prime candidate for this kind of treatment. He manages to blame just about everyone else for his problems and often does not realise what is going on, although the reader does.

·       Secrets - A diary is often a place where the writer can write down his or her thoughts and secrets in confidence.

How to Write an Interview

Think about:

Who is being interviewed?

What is their claim to fame? Why are they well-known?

Is there a reason why are they being interviewed now?

Who conducted the interview? Where?

Interviewer’s

name:                 Question___________________?

Interviewee’s:

name                  Answer____________________

___________________________________

__________________________________.

( This Question/Answer structure is repeated.)

Conclusion: e.g:

Interviewer: Thank you________________ for taking

the time to talk to us about __________.

Interviewee: It’s been a pleasure. I’ve enjoyed it.

Remember, questions should:

• be interesting!

• encourage extended, detailed answers.

• avoid prompting ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers.

• follow-up what the interviewee has said.

• sometimes follow a statement. 

http://www.schoolplannerbook.com/felpham/homework/144936/

PAPER 2 (FLE) -- Tips

First Language Exam

Paper 2 Extended

Point 1: Students should not read Passage/Text 2 until they have completed Questions 1 & 2, so that they don't include points from it in answering these questions.

Point 2: In Q1 (Directed Writing) everything used in students' recast responses MUST BE TETHERED IN DETAIL FROM THE PASSAGE.

Point 3: Remember that the easiest way for students to gain marks on Q2 (Writer's use of language), which also applies to Q1 Core, is to literally answer WORD, MEANING, EFFECT on 6/7 words/phrases from EACH of the two sections asked for.

Point 4: The third bullet point in Q1 (Bullet point C) is the determiner for higher level candidates because it asks students to use inference to extend and develop details from the text. Most of the 15 marks are in the development of text ideas.

Point 4: In Q1, if they have to write an interview, they MUST ONLY ASK THE QUESTIONS GIVEN AS PART OF THE QUESTION SET. If they add their own questions and answers to these, they won't be credited. Formal reports are apparently being taken off future papers as they are too difficult. For newpaper reports, examiners expect the use of witness statements/interviews as part of the 5 marks for 'voice'. Dialogue has to be given in SCRIPT form and students will be credited for giving both sides of the dialogue.

Point 5: Summary questions - Q3.Students should not try to change every word into their own synonym - the most important requirement is that they DON'T REPEAT WHOLE PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. Length has become a VERY IMPORTANT discriminator on this question: ANY MORE THAN ONE PAGE WILL IMMEDIATELY PULL DOWN THE WRITING MARK (aim for 3/4 page MAX). Make sure it LOOKS less than a page! Over a page and a half = 0/5, a page and a quarter - half = 1/5. Just over a page would get a maximum of 2/5. Tell students not to write any sort of introduction or conclusion to the whole reponse or to each section. The watch-words are CONCISION AND FLUENCY: CONCISE ENGLISH, PROPER SENTENCES WITHOUT IRRELEVANT MATERIAL.

http://www.schoolplannerbook.com/felpham/homework/144936/

A Normal Day

Today is Friday. Sunny, beautiful. A bit chilly but warm for us here. :) Kids were super helpful this morning when I said I needed to get to school early today. Well, it's not really early enough yet, but it's getting better. I got to my desk by about 8.45. Just 45 minutes earlier to go! ;)

Yvelle and Josiah are really growing up. In one way it's fun--and enjoyable that sometimes they can play happily together for quite some time without needing parental intervention! Of course, there are those other days which require almost constant attention and redirection. ;) I'm sure you know what I mean.

We moved into our new apartment a few weeks ago and I think we're starting to feel settled in. One room is still all boxes (and other boxes remain scattered around) but everyone is getting used to this, our new home. Two and a half more months of a little too-long commute to school. Hopefully next year the kids and I will all be at the new campus, which is pretty close to our new place.

Work is super busy. We are looking for new teachers for next year and getting students ready for their big spring Cambridge exams. Whew! Lots of details to remember and pay attention to!

That's all for now, just wanted to post something as I was working on my school blog (skyebagsh.blogspot.com) and thought I'd better make sure I still knew how to log in to this one!! ;)

Love to friends and family!! We do miss you!

Packages... :)

A couple people have mentioned sending us a package, so I thought I'd compile some thoughts here in a post to make it easier.

First, a couple of comments. :)

We can get plenty of things to meet our everyday needs here. Still, though, little packages can really brighten up our day! So, if you're thinking of sending us something, thanks!

**Special advice from Javkhaa's mom: please don't consider it necessary to type in exactly the amount you spent when you fill out the "value" box. (And try to use the smallest box possible.) The reason? Larger boxes and larger "value" amounts invite the interest of workers and customs agents. Sometimes (depending on size and value) a tax may be levied, based on the value you claim. Also, boxes may be opened, for official and unofficial reasons, based on the same things.

That said, here are some possibly fun ideas:
(Just brainstorming...)

-craft kits, art supplies (esp less-common items, see below), paper dolls, tiny toys, decorations for holidays (window clings, napkins, etc)

-  kids' sizes (as of July 2013)
    *Josiah is 3 and wears about size 3 pants, but slightly larger shirts are fine.
    *Yvelle is 5 and wears about size 4 pants. slightly larger shirts/dresses are fine. (They're def in the lower percentiles of weight/height!). Her favorite colors are pink and purple, but she likes "all colors". Both of them like the typical characters: hello kitty, barbie, bunnies/cats etc, and spiderman, other superheroes, and cute animals or cars, builders, etc.

- other holiday stuff... we don't really do halloween here, but costumes for dress-up or new year's are lots of fun. :) Fourth of july: napkins, t-shirts for kids; thanksgiving: well, this is mostly about family and food, but dried cranberries or maybe some kind of table decoration or tablecloth; christmas: ornaments (not breakable!),  easter egg dying kits would be fun as well (we can use other things but these do make it a little easier!). ;)

Other random things that come to mind:
-Mucinex (kids) melt-in-mouth for cough (generic is fine)
-Band aids (fun pictures)
-lip gloss 

well, time to get dinner together. abi's being mommy's girl this afternoon so the 2 of us are gonna go and buy some pasta. ;)

missing home a little... :)

this made me cry... and the next made me laugh!

http://tvrdiksinmongolia.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-day-my-monster-cried.html

The Tvrdiks are a family living here in Mongolia... I don't think I've ever met them, but I've read their blog over the years from time to time. I love how they live in the ger district. I love the way Shari is transparent about what she's experiencing... and I love the way her words and thoughts challenge me. And make me want to be more, more than what I am today...

but on a lighter note:

10 things that stood out when Shari came back to Mongolia:

http://tvrdiksinmongolia.blogspot.com/2013/01/top-10-things-first-noticed-upon.html :)

Flat Selia comes to Orchlon

We've been long awaiting her arrival...
and today, Flat Selia arrived here at school. Yay! She came from Taiwan about a month ago, and was stuck in the post office for a while (busy being feted by the friendly staff there!). Today Tseegi egch picked her up and brought here to my office.

The ninth graders had fun showing her around the school in various groups. First, they went to the gym and played some sports together...