S2 Homework Task - September Newspaper Articles. S2 Homework Task - September Checklist Section A Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Answer questions Produce.

S2 Homework Task - September

Newspaper Articles

S2 Homework Task - September

Checklist

Section A

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Answer questions

Produce a summary

Connotation questions

Section B

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Answer questions

Produce a summary

Rhetorical devices

Learning Intentions:

•I can summarise a piece of non-fiction writing using my own words as far as possible.

•I can recognise techniques used to persuade the reader.

•I can comment on the writer’s use of language, in particular denotation and connotation.

•I can comment on the writer’s use of figures of speech.

LIT 3-18a

LIT 3-14a

LIT 3-19a

LIT 3-19a

Curriculum for Excellence‘Experiences and Outcomes’

This month we are looking at newspaper articles.

Newspapers contain two particular types of writing:

1 Report - a factual account of persons and/or places

2 Discursive - persuasive or argumentativewriting that has a point of view

Section A – Report

There are 3 activities to complete in Section A.

Section A - Activity 1

Read the report on the following pages and answer all of the questions that follow.

Sighthill pupils turn down lavish school prom

The Scotsman newspaper, 17th June 2013

END of term used to mean the chance to take a board game to school or, if you were lucky, the chance to wear jeans and a T-shirt instead of your uniform.

Then came the Americanisation of “schools out” and a proliferation of prom parties that have become increasingly lavish and brash.

Stretch limos, diamanté studded prom gowns and even helicopter ferry rides (for the grandest of grand entrances) have all become part of prom season. The heady mix, which is everywhere at this time of year, has spawned a lucrative sub-culture.

But a group of primary seven pupils at one Edinburgh school have brought their own refreshing slant to the now ubiquitous grand prom, voting to reject a large bash in exchange for a smaller affair simply enjoying pizza as a gang of chums.

The Sighthill Primary pupils, who will soon make the move to high school, voted decisively to spare their parents the headache of shelling out a considerable amount of cash and will instead settle for a day of bowling (and that pizza) instead.

The 21-4 vote means mums and dads will pay only £2 per child rather than the hundreds of pounds forked out by increasing numbers of parents across Edinburgh, amid a growing trend towards marking the passage from primary to secondary school with a glitzy leaving dance. Sighthill parent council chair Amanda Campbell, 42, whose daughter, Erin, is in P7, said: “I know of parents at other schools who have paid out for limos, kilts and fancy dresses for their kids – it can cost up to £400. It’s one thing the school being able to afford it and the parent council providing some of the funds.

“But if you’re talking about parents having to provide a limo or a kilt just to keep up with everybody else, lots of them just don’t have the finances for that, especially in this economic climate.”

Ms Campbell said Erin and her 24 classmates were “really excited” at the chance of Laserquest, bowling and Pizza Hut.And she said many P7s at Sighthill had told their class teacher they had no interest in an expensive prom because they saw each other as equals and wanted to make sure everyone could join in before saying goodbye to primary school.

Headteacher Eileen Littlewood said: “It’s all become very Americanised and I don’t know if it’s come from programmes that the children are watching.“We don’t want parents or children to feel stressed, left out or under pressure and that they have to comply with the expectation and demands from other people.”

PARENTS today are going to extravagant lengths to celebrate their child’s move to high school.

Limo reservations likely to set mums and dads back nearly £300 have become increasingly commonplace – and that’s before parents consider whether to spend £200 on hiring a gown.

In one particularly extreme case, a parent in East Renfrewshire asked the local council if they could send their child to the prom in a helicopter. It is understood the parent wanted their child to make a big entrance but the idea was dismissed by education bosses.

One parent of a P7 pupil said: “We never had them in our day but I can see how exciting it is. The kids love it.”

You shall go to the ball... in a helicopter

“They just want to go out together and do something that they’ll really enjoy and remember,” she said.

Section A Activity 1 - Questions

A.Examine the headline. i. What information can you gain from it?ii. Explain the meaning of ‘lavish’.

B. Find two places identified in the article.

C. Find and quote two examples of statistics

D. Find an example of an interview. Write down the first few words and say who was interviewed.

E. Write down an example of two contrasting costs that have been given.

F. Write down two phrases which make the article sound critical of ‘lavish’ school proms?

G. Which famous fairy tale is being alluded to with the phrase “You shall go to the ball…”?

Section A - Activity 2

You are to produce a summary of the previous newspaper report.

You must use your own words as far as possible.

Sighthill pupils turn down lavish school prom

The Scotsman newspaper, 17th June 2013

Your summary

Newspaper report

Newspaper article checklist

Writing is set out in columns A headline is used, sub-heading too The article is about real people and places Statistics often appear in parenthesis ( ) Interviews with people are presented using “ ” Dramatic language may be used Paragraphs are quite short

What we have just learned…

Denotation and Connotation

A. What connotations are created by the word ‘chums’ ?B. Find a more basic word or phrase for ‘shelling out’.

Section A - Activity 3

DenotationThe basic meaning of a word

Connotation

The additional meaning(s) associated with a word.

End of Section A

Section B – Persuasive Writing

There are 3 activities to complete in Section B

Section B - Activity 1

Read the article which follows. It expresses an opinion on ‘reality television’.

A Curse of cruelty T.V.!

The Daily Mail, April 2008

Back in 1968, when I started out, there were only three channels, no satellites or downloads, no YouTube, no day-time television, no naked bodies, no chat shows. Since then I've had huge fun working in front of and behind the cameras. My job has taken me behind the scenes of great and glorious events, into hidden places and remote hide-outs, and I've met heroes, villains and the funny, compassionate "ordinary" people of Britain.  How radically television has changed. Rude, brusque interviewers, humiliating formats and unfair editing often reveal a contempt for programme-makers' subjects and for their viewers.

Take Britain's Got Talent. Here we saw wannabe performers ranging from the brilliant to the absurd. Some aretreated with compassion; other were booted off ignominiously. While I find myself horribly mesmerised by the most grotesque - and least talented - acts, I wonder why it has to have this edge of cruelty.

Is it just coincidence that bullying is the biggest single problem children bring to ChildLine, with 37,000 calls from deeply distressed victims last year alone? Bullying flourishes not just in schools but on our screens, and it's glorified. Once it would not have been tolerated.

Shows such as The Weakest Link have all garnered huge success by creating a modern theatre of cruelty in which contestants are humiliated - and coarsenedaudiences laugh at their expense. Some programmes, such as The Jerry Springer Show, seem deliberately todehumanise them. The schedules are dotted with films about men and women with diseases or disabilities, who are treated like freaks. We are living in the era of "Mean TV". These are forums sustained by the overweening modern obsession with celebrity, in which people of little talent make fools of themselves chasing a hopeless dream.

The best programmes - and there are many - prove that the skills which informed programme making in the Sixties are still there. The brilliance of The Apprentice turns each Wednesday night into an event. The glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing warms our winter Saturday nights and has been sold around the world, topping the ratings everywhere. Yes, these are reality shows, but they are also beautifully produced. So the good news for my daughter and her young contemporaries is that great programmes are still being made.

All the medium needs to do for its survival is to restore respect. Respect for the people who take part in programmes, respect for the standards of honesty and integrity and, above all, respect for the audiences. Only then will the television industry regain our respect, and the pride of place in our lives it had, back in the dawn of television time 40 years ago.

Ignominiously – shameful, embarrassingChildLine – free and confidential telephone service for young people in distress

A Write a short summary (2 or 3 sentences) of the writer’s argument.

B Look at paragraphs 1 and 2. How is the writer’s argument introduced?

Section B - Activity 1

Paragraph Key Point(s) Position in paragraph (e.g. start, middle, end)

A Identify the key points, where they are made:

B For each point, what evidence has been used by the writer?

C Is every point made by the writer negative?

D Does this strengthen his/her argument? Explain.

Section B - Activity 2

Rhetorical devices are features of language that aim to be persuasive.

A Match the examples to the devices, and then write a definition explaining the meaning of each one.

Alliteration

Pattern of 3

Emotive Language

RhetoricalQuestion

Emotional Appeal

First Person

Repetition

To stop the cruelty, we have to stop watching

How would you feel in that situation?

If we continue to watch these programmes…

…(1) sometimes entertaining, (2) exciting or (3) simply embarrassing…

Television can be terrific – or just trash.

The audience howl at the judges’ brutal comments.

Imagine this happening to a member of your family.

Section B - Activity 3

B For each rhetorical device, refer back to the article and find one example of each device.

C Write a sentence or two explaining the effect that the writer wants to have on the reader.

End of Section B

S2 Homework Task - September

Checklist

Section A

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Answer questions

Produce a summary

Connotation questions

Section B

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Key points

Produce a summary

Rhetorical devices

End of homework!