Cardinal Griffin Radio: English Podcast: Recent Episodes
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So, here I am in the staff room at the Griffin waiting for the end. I had such an amazing day yesterday with the pupils - a day that I will never forget. Today just cannot measure up to that.
Wow. I've been here for four and a half years, which is the longest
I've ever stayed at a school, and it's a testimony to what is without
doubt the school's greatest assest: the kids. I had such an amazing
day yesterday; one that I will never forget. Their views are without
doubt the most important of all and all the cards, gifts and wonderful
comments tell me that I've done a good job for them.
So thank you to all those people who have given me a reason to stay
here so long.
And very finally, I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Evelyn's Amazing Poem - Told you I'd get round to it!
Visiting My Relatives (Turns Me Into A Pathological Liar)
Aren’t you tall?
How are you getting on at school?
My, she’s grown into such a mature young lady!
If you tell me how small
The little girl who visited you last time
Dressed in well, a dress,
Picked out by her mother, was,
Then I’ll tell you, aren’t I tall.
Or does the crumbling curvature of your spine
Relate directly to the growth of mine?
School?
School is a seething cauldron of superficiality
Stirred by the ladle of my loves,
Losses and lies,
My, but how the time flies!
I want to take Chemistry next year
But beyond that, my choices are unclear
Yes, I hope I do well too.
(My future kind of depends on it.)
Mature young lady?
The Evie my parents know
Is a “mature young lady”
Quiet and well behaved
Speaks when spoken to,
Antisocial? No!
The EvMc or Eve I am at school
Is a little louder
A little braver
A little funnier
A little outspoken
A lot weird.
Does a mature young lady
Have hysterics in physics
Or have ruler lightsaber battles (to the death!!!) in music
Or pick a fight with the b- witches
In General Studies?
If so, then the Evie, Eve or EvMc
That I am
(Who may or may NOT resemble Keira Knightley, Nan)
Is a mature young lady, yes.
And proud of it.
=)
A penultimate post before I leave. Thank you all so much for the happy memories, particularly to my current Y12 and Y11 groups which are filled with the most wonderful people you'd ever want to meet.
I'm toying with the idea of keeping the blog going to document my new adventures and to stay in touch with my 3 followers. I'm sooooo popular ;)
Good luck to all of you in your forthcoming and future exams and go off and be wonderful.
Best wishes,
Mr Webster
Advertisers love numbers. Oh yes. Numbers make something sound scientific and oh so utterly credible that there's just no way you can doubt their claims. Politicians are the same. They'll spout on endlessly about a 100% increase in something they want us to believe is good, or a 20% decrease in nastiness.
You can't argue with statistics, can you?
Somebody quite famous once said, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics." They have a point.
Take the following claim, for example: "Wonderdrug A has led to a 50% decrease in the occurence of smellyitis over the last 12 months". It sounds great doesn't it? If you suffer from smellyitis, all your problems are solved. Rejoice!
Okay, now let's look at the actual statistics - the bits that the advertising company don't want you to see.
Twelve months ago, 2 people out of every 10,000 people suffered from smellyitis. Both people were given Wonderdrug A. One of them was cured of smellyitis. The advertisers can therefore claim that the occurence of smellyitis has halved (or has been reduced by 50%).
The other sufferer was not cured of smellyitis. In fact, their problems got worse as a result of taking Wonderdrug A. Of course, the advertisers don't tell you this, because if they did then they would not sell any Wonderdrug A tablets. Instead, they take the statistics that make them sound good and ignore the rest.
Such a practice is extremely common in advertising and politics. It even has a name - it is called 'framing'. Imagine you're looking at a lovely close-up photograph of a young boy, smiling happily at the camera. What a great picture of happiness and general loveliness. Now imagine the camera pulling back, zooming out to reveal the full picture - the smiling boy is standing over another boy who is lying on the ground after having been beaten up by the smiling boy. Not such a nice picture now, is it?
Just as photographers can select a tiny portion of a picture to hide the full image, so advertisers and politicians can take one tiny piece of data from the whole picture to make themselves or their produce sound amazing.
When you are looking at a non-fiction or media text and you see statistics, always be aware that advertisers play this type of game. It's not lying, it's just presenting the tiny part of the picture that helps them sell their politics or their product.
Lies, damned lies and statistics? You bet.
Mr W.
For those of you who are interested, the new Poet Laureate (the country's 'official' poet) will be announced on Monday. The new incumbent will replace Andrew Motion, whose 10 year tenancy of the position comes to an end today.
The favourite for the title is Carol Anne Duffy, closely followed by Simon Armitage. Also in contention are Benjamin Zephaniah (who wrote the novels 'Face' and 'Gangsta Rap') and Roger McGough (remember 'Nellie the Elephant' anyone?).
Previous holders of the position have included John Dryden (the first ever Poet Laureate in 1668), William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson (of 'Charge of the Light Brigade' fame), John Betjeman and Ted Hughes.
If Carol Anne Duffy is successful, she will be the first woman to have held the post as well as the first Scottish poet. If Benjamin Zephaniah wins, he will be the first Afro-Caribbean poet to hold the post.
Keep your eyes on this blog for the winner shall be posted here!
Mr W
Quick note to let you all know that the next podcast will be out soon. All my recording equipment is in boxes as we move house on Friday. As soon as I get it all back together, there will be another podcast.
Apologies for the interruption...normal services will be resumed shortly.
:-)
Hi all,
Just a quick post to let you know that there are a couple of excellent revision web-sites out there.
Sparknotes has a range of useful revision guides to texts such as 'Lord of the Flies', 'The Crucible', 'Of Mice and Men' and pretty much any text you're likely to study at GCSE level.
Universal Teacher is a fantastic resource for GCSE and A-Level and covers a whole range of stuff from texts, to techniques for revision and essay writing. Really worth a look.
Hope these help,
Mr Webster
Many thanks to all of you who entered the lyric-writing competition. We had an amazing total of 46 entries to the competition, but as always there can only be one winner.
The winner is Laura Smith (Year 10). Congratulations Laura! A £10 iTunes voucher is yours and, should you wish, you can record your lyrics to the song.
Laura's lyrics...
Taking Over - By Laura Smith
A sense of desperation
As if you have no patience
You feel this great sensation
Taking over, it's taking over cause..
You.. you were never meant to be..
You.. you were always to blind.. to see
Never in my life, had I heard such a thing
Never in my life, could I not think
Never in my mind, was I found lost
Never at all, never at all.
A sense of desperation
As if you have no patience
You feel this great sensation
Taking over, its taking over cause..
They're not following you anymore
They went away and locked the door
Taking panic to another level
You sit there, while I tremble..
While I Tremble..
You... you were fighting that war
You.. fighting what you'd .. known before
Always in my life, I had something
Always in my life, I could try and think
Always in my mind, I'm not found lost
All in All, all in all
There not following you anymore
They went away and locked the door
Taking panic to another level
You sit there, while I tremble..
While I tremble..
A sense of desperation
As if you have no patience
You feel this great sensation
Taking over, it's taking over cause..
Ok folks, a quick guide to sentences. It may seem a little basic to write a blog about sentences, but you'd be amazed at how many times us teachers write 'Remember to construct your sentences accurately' in people's work. So, here goes.
Rule number one: A sentence must always start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.
A sentence must contain at least one complete idea. Take the following sentence (which incidentally is the shortest sentence in The Bible):
Jesus wept.
This sentence tells you:
- Who is doing something (the 'subject' of the sentence)
- What they are doing (the 'verb' in the sentence).
This is the most basic form of sentence. It is called a simple sentence.
Look at the following:
I ate.
You cried.
We danced.
They slept.
These are all correct sentences of the most basic type - simple sentences.
You can also add a third element.
I ate my lunch.
You cried at the film.
We danced all night.
They slept all the way home.
In the above sentences, we have added a third element which gives more information.
Now, let's add a connective to make two simple sentences into a compound sentence.
I was hungry. (Simple sentence)
I ate my lunch. (Simple sentence)
Note that I am following the rule of starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop for every sentence.
Take the connective 'so' to make a compound sentence:
I was hungry so I ate my lunch.
Here are a few more examples of compound sentences:
I was tired therefore I went to bed.
I came home and I watched television.
I would come to your party but I am not feeling very well.
The connectives in the above 3 sentences (therefore, and, but) join two simple sentences to make one compound sentence.
For the third and final type of sentence, we need to look at things differently.
Take the example from above:
I was tired, so I went to bed.
You could also write this sentence as:
I went to bed because I was tired.
The word 'because' is also a connective, but it is a bit more sophisticated than the everyday ones such as 'and', 'but', 'so' etc.
You will notice that part of the above sentence could make sense on its own:
I was tired.
However, the rest could not make sense on its own.
So I went to bed.
'I was tired' is called a main clause, because it can make sense on its own.
'so I went to bed' needs the rest of the sentence to make any sense, so it is called a subordinate clause.
Look at the following sentences, all of which contain a main clause and a subordinate clause. The main clause in each sentence is in bold. The subordinate clause in each sentence is in italics. These types of sentence are called complex sentences.
After eating my dinner, I began to feel sick.
Although I was feeling ill, I still completed my homework.
I passed my exams because I did my homework.
As we learned earlier, the main clause (in bold) makes sense as a sentence on its own. The subordinate clause (in italics) does not make sense on its own and needs the main clause. Note that main clause can come either before or after the subordinate clause (in the third example the subordinate clause comes last, whereas in the first two the subordinate clause comes first). Also note that when the subordinate clause comes first, there is always a comma between the subordinate clause and the main clause (just as there is in this sentence).
So, practice using the 3 types of sentence:
- Simple sentence.
- Compound sentence.
- Complex sentence.
The more you can vary these 3 types of sentences in your work, the higher your grade or level will be.
Mr Webster
Here is a copy of the poem 'Expectations', written by Simon Rawlings, which is featured in Podcast Episode 4.
Expectations
You, mother of five who I call mine, mother
or ‘mum’ you adopted for your name, forgetting
the tales of your former identity. No longing
held to the past, only the contrast of
your former ‘fame’.
Ticking the absence box I wonder if you
suspected another child. With the mild
thunder that is part of natures deal.
Dummies, prams, cots and bibs a far cry out
far from the silver service your image once
reflected in.
“I once sat with Diana” you echoed.
London, The Savoy held your presence for
one night. As your glass chimed with those
you admire, your face glowing,
feeling proud in the occasion’s attire.
Pause. You stopped and cradled me in a blanket
of love. A mobile of dreams which once were
yours, but you handed them down to me. Scattering
them across the path of my life.
Now, those nights are mere muffled memories.
But as you sit and reminisce, telling me the
tales and stories, the games and challenges, of
your former glory. I ask,
“Did you ever expect my footprints in the sand?”
Simon Rawlings (Year 11)
‘The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.’
(A response to Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Stealing’)
By Emily Connor (Year 11)
The most unusual thing I ever lost? A snowman.
A time we spent crushing snow between our fingers,
Frostbite. Snap. Our toes consumed
By the ice and the wind with the
Cold ripping through our skin.
Not that we cared – we smiled
We spoke little, our carefree minds
Connected to sodden gloves
Which mindlessly
Chisel away at the pure white flesh
Of an unnamed man
Our hands became knives under the sky – now glistening
Until a form grew from the round white void
I hugged the head, careful not to
Drop it amongst the piles
Or snow, of ice, our failed attempts
We became inventive
Googly eyes, not rocks
Evergreen for hair
Until my body was so alike
The snowman – I was waiting
To fly up. . . and away
Midnight came and passed
I slept on
The tips of my eyelashes felt the bitter wind
My tears froze and
Sat like icicles
As I stood there and gazed at the empty hole and the
Impending footsteps
Back and forth
I moved wondering, understanding why
Someone would steal my snowman.
2nd February 2009
Hi all,
I am very pleased to announce that, finally, Episode 4 of the English Podcast is now live.
In this installment, Simon Rawlings (Year 11) reads and discusses his poem 'Expectations' and the revision guide is for Simon Armitage's poem 'Kid'.
You know, it's great to see so much talent in Cardinal Griffin. Hearing Simon's amazingly good poem, as well as the 42 entries for the lyric writing competition, shows that there really is a lot of amazing talent in our school.
Thanks to all those that entered the competition. The deadline for entries has now passed and the results will be published on this blog on Friday 6th March.
Until next time, enjoy the podcast.
Mr Webster
Hi all,
Thanks to my computer dying a death last weekend there was no podcast last week. However, the kind technicians at PC World are fitting a new motherboard as we speak and we should be up and running again very soon.
Coming up in the next episode is a discussion of a fantastic poem written by one of our own pupils. Simon Rawlings has produced an outstanding piece of poetry following his study of Carol Anne Duffy and Simon Armitage, and in the podcast he talks about what made him want to write the poem and how he went about the process. It is a truly masterful piece of writing and I recommend that everybody listens to his poem and his discussion of it. It will make you realise just what talent we have at this school and hopefully inspire others to follow suit!
Also in the podcast, there will be a revision guide to Simon Armitage's poem 'Kid' - another of the Y11 English Lit key poems.
Finally, thank you to all students who have already submitted an entry for the lyric writing competition. I have loads of entries already, but will welcome more! Closing date is this Friday (27th February). Either e-mail them to me at gary.webster1@googlemail.com or hand them to me in school.
Best of luck - the entries I've received so far are all of an excellent standard. Keep them coming in!
Podcast episode 4 will be online by the end of this week.
Cheers,
Mr Webster
Hi all,
I thought I'd make a few posts here and there to help people with punctuation. You might not think it, but punctuation (like spelling) is in a constant state of development. Over the centuries, punctuation has changed and evolved, in just the same way as the spelling of words has evolved and the meaning of words has changed over time.
If you were living in Shakespeare's time, for example, our current obsession with using punctuation accurately would have been laughed at. It was a veritable punctuational free-for-all.
However, we live in the 21st century, and examiners (as well as teachers) want to see that you can use punctuation accurately. They get their knickers in a twist if you can't. By the way, ask your teacher how commas are used and watch them squirm. I've never met two English teachers who will give the same answer.
Anyway, getting access to Level 7 (at key Stage 3) and B-or-above (at GCSE) means that you have to be able to use the full range of punctuation, including colons, semi-colons, apostrophes, speech-marks and quotation-marks as well as the usual stuff like commas and full-stops.
Here is a short guide to using semi-colons.
Rule 1.
Use a semicolon in place of a full-stop to separate two sentences where the conjunction has been left out.
Examples:
Call me tomorrow; I will give you my answer then.
I have paid my dues; therefore, I expect all the privileges listed in the contract.
Rule 2.
It is preferable to use a semicolon before introductory words such as namely, however, therefore, that is, i.e., for example, e.g., or for instance when they introduce a complete sentence. It is also preferable to use a comma after the introductory word.
Examples:
You will want to bring many backpacking items; for example, sleeping bags, pans, and warm clothing will make the trip better.
As we discussed, you will bring two items; i.e., a sleeping bag and a tent are not optional.
Rule 3.
Use either a semicolon or a comma before introductory words such as namely, however, therefore, that is, i.e., for example, e.g., or for instance when they introduce a list following a complete sentence. Use a comma after the introductory word.
Examples:
You will want to bring many backpacking items; for example, sleeping bags, pans, and warm clothing.
You will want to bring many backpacking items, for example, sleeping bags, pans, and warm clothing.
Rule 4.
Use the semicolon to separate units of a series when one or more of the units contain commas.
Example:
This conference has people who have come from Boise, Idaho; Los Angeles, California; and Nashville, Tennessee.
Rule 5.
Use the semicolon between two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction when one or more commas appear in the first sentence.
Examples:
When I finish here, I will be glad to help you; and that is a promise I will keep.
If she can, she will attempt that feat; and if her husband is able, he will be there to see her.
Try using a semi-colon in your next piece of writing.
Mr. Webster
Hi all,
I'm pleased to announce that Episode 3 of the English Podcast is now available either from this site (stream from the player at the bottom of this post or right-click and 'Save as' on the title of this post) or via iTunes.
In this week's podcast:
- Calling all poets and lyric writers! Enter the amazing lyric/poetry writing competition and win a £10 iTunes voucher and get the chance to record your lyrics as a vocal to my song! The competition is open to all pupils in the school and the closing date is Friday 27th February. Listen to the podcast for more details.
- Revision guide to Simon Armitage's 'My father thought it bloody queer...' for the GCSE English Literature exam in May.
To hear the song you'll be writing lyrics for, you can click here to go to my MySpace page.
Get your pens out and get writing poetry people!
Mr Webster
Hi all,
Following a little break, I am pleased to announce that podcast episode 3 will be available from Sunday evening. It's a special one this time. As well as the Simon Armitage poetry revision guide, there will be an amazing competition feature. Oh yes. I can see you all fidgeting in your seats with excitement even as I type.
The task will be to write a poem. Before you groan, read on. As you may know, I am a bit of a muso and love writing music. I have written and recorded a song and it's up to you to write the lyrics for it (yes, of course lyrics count as poetry).
The winning entry will be judged by me and the winner will not only receive a whole £10 iTunes voucher, but will also get the chance to record their own lyrics to my song and have it published on t'internet. Who knows, when your favourite Head of English gets signed by EMI (and it is sure to happen one day), you might be in line for some serious royalties and fame, wealth, power and privilege. Ahem.
The competition is open to all year groups. Don't worry if you can't sing - neither can I. I have recording studio trickery which can make it sound like you can (listen to my songs for the evidence).
Two of my songs are at: www.myspace.com/thelastwaltzmusic however the one you'll be writing lyrics for isn't there, so you will need to download or stream the podcast.
The closing date will be Friday 27th February, so you have 3 weeks in which to get writing. Of course, you will need to listen to the podcast to hear the tune that you'll be writing the lyrics (I mean poetry, of course) for. So wait until Sunday and get writing!
I cannot wait to see your ideas.
Best of luck,
Mr. Webster
Hi all,
I'm very pleased to announce that Episode Two of the English Podcast is now available. To access it, you can either:
- Stream directly from here by clicking the 'Play' button at the bottom of this post
- Download by right-clicking on this blog's title and selecting 'Save as'
- Download via iTunes (search for 'griffin radio')
- Subscribe via iTunes or by clicking the 'Subscribe' button on the right-hand side of the screen
In this week's episode, you will find a feature about Gothic fiction (very useful for Year 7 and my Year 10 group but very interesting to anybody) and a revision guide for Simon Armitage's poem 'November' for Year 11 GCSE English Literature.
Click below to play the podcast.
Enjoy,
Mr Webster
Hi all,
In this week's podcast, there will be:
- A feature on Gothic fiction (particularly useful for Year 7 pupils who are studying the Gothic at the moment and also for Year 10 Set 1 who are studying Jekyll & Hyde - but also a fine article for anyone who wants to know anything about Gothic writing).
- Revision guide for Simon Armitage's 'November' - very useful for Year 11.
- Plus some other bits and pieces yet to be dragged kicking and screaming from the inside of my chaotic mind(!)
It will be available on Sunday night.
Mr Webster
Hi all,
I've been browsing the InterWeb-thingy and have discovered some useful background material on Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible', for those of you who want to read around the text.
Click here to go to the web-page.
Enjoy,
Mr Webster
Those pupils in Year 11 who wish to retake their GCSE English Language voluntarily to try for a higher grade will need to ensure that they have seen Mrs Feltham (in the Exams Office opposite Mr Kynock's room) by the end of next week - Friday 30th Jan 2009.
The total cost for both exams (you have to resit both Paper 1 and Paper 2) is approximately £25.
Please note that you will only have to pay if you achieved or bettered your predicted grade. If your GCSE result was lower than your predicted grade, the school will pay.
This is not necessary for those pupils in sets 4 and 5 (i.e. the two retake groups with Mrs Archer and Mrs Wynne-Jones) as you will be entered automatically and the school will pay for your entries.
Hi all,
I thought I'd put up a list of the key poems for the Higher Tier English Literature exam in May. Now that all of Year 11 are in their new sets, most of the people going forward to do Lit will take Higher Tier, so I will put those up for now. If it works out that some need to be entered for Foundation instead, then I will put those poems up as well.
Year 10 - These are the poems you will be studying in September and October, so you might want to listen to the revision guide section of the podcast too so that you become familiar with the poems.
For now, however, the list of Key Poems (i.e. those poems which the exam board could specifically ask you to write about in the exam):
Duffy
Anne Hathaway
Before You Were Mine
Havisham
Stealing - This will NOT be a named poem in the exam, but you can still discuss it if you wish.
Armitage
Mother, Any Distance
Homecoming
Kid
Hitcher
Pre-1914
Sonnet 130
My Last Duchess
On My First Sonne
The Laboratory
These are the 12 poems that you really need to know, and I will produce podcasts with revision guides for all 12 poems over the next twelve weeks, starting with the Armitage poems.
HTH
Mr Webster
Hey folks!
I am very pleased to announce that the very first episode of the English Podcast is live!
This first episode serves as a welcome to the podcast but also contains a revision guide to Simon Armitage's 'Mother Any Distance...', which is one of the key poems from the AQA Anthology for English Literature (i.e. it's a poem that you may be asked to discuss on the Literature exam paper at the end of May). I hope you find it useful - it's a walkthrough of the poem together with a discussion of what it all means, plus there are some questions for you to think about as well.
For those of you that are interested, the music is provided by Muse and M83 and the Mr. Men. This week's show is brought to you by the letter 'M'!
In the next episode, which should be much longer, there will be a slot where I answer your questions about anything to do with English, so I need your questions. You can either send them by e-mail, add them as a comment to the blog or drop them in to my room. There will also be a discussion of several of the best reads around at the moment. We'll also cover another of the key poems for the English Literature exam, and I'm sure there'll be some other random stuff as well.
I hope you enjoy the podcast.
Mr Webster
Click the 'Play' button below to hear the podcast directly from here, or subscribe via the link on the right-hand side of the page.
A huge welcome to the Cardinal Griffin Radio English blog!
On this blog, you'll find a wealth of useful information about studying English at all levels, from Year 7 right through to Year 13.
I'll post regular updates and hopefully you will find something here to help you with whatever aspects of studying English you need to know.
There will be important information concerning exam dates, key assessments, reminders etc, as well as a series of useful articles about the things you are asked to do as part of your English lessons.
You will be able to add comments to the blog and ask questions (which I will endeavour to answer) about anything to do with English.
Finally, there will be a regular English Podcast featuring help, advice and guidance on a range of English topics such as discussions of poems for GCSE exams, help with developing your writing, which are the best books to read and a million other random things. The podcast will be available on iTunes, so you'll be able to subscribe and never miss an episode.
I hope you find it all useful and entertaining.
Mr. Webster