Y10 Chinese New Year Holiday
Re-read Paul Graham’s essay, “What You Can’t Say”, and write a letter to Mr. Graham discussing his ideas and arguments. Maximum length: 800 words (so focus on one aspect of his essay). Post your letter on this blog before the end of the CNY holiday.
Y11 Chinese New Year Holiday
Revise the literature texts: Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, and the set poems.
Y11 Christmas Holiday
As this will be your last Christmas holiday before your IB Diploma Programme begins, you should a) read every day in a novel of your choice, and b) work on vocabulary using freerice.com or vocabulary.com, twice a week for 20-30 minutes each time. Also: remember that by June you should have read both Candide, by Voltaire, and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.
Y10 Christmas Holiday
DEAR reading, every day, 20-30 minutes each day. Vocabulary work on freerice.com or vocabulary.com, if you have time. Remember that by June you should have read The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.
Golden Week 2012
Both Y10 and Y11: Post your October 1 DEAR entry on the class blog, and leave at least 3 comments on other people’s posts.
Y11 only: Post second argumentative piece of Language coursework on the blog by 6 p.m., October 8. Topic: free choice.
March-April: Spring Break
Year 10
1. READ EVERY DAY!
2. Post at least one DEAR entry on the blog, at the end of March.
Year 11
Re-read The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, and the set poems for the literature exam.
January – Y11 Chinese New Year Homework
- DEAR: Read every day for AT LEAST 20 minutes—more if you did not read during the Christmas holiday.
- Coursework:
January – Y10 Chinese New Year Homework
- DEAR: Read every day for AT LEAST 20 minutes—more if you did not read every day over the Christmas holiday.
- Death of a Salesman: read and take notes on the the entire play. Be prepared to answer detailed questions about the play when classes resume.
November 28 – Year 11
You may write your practice coursework on either of these two texts.
- ‘A Night Performance at Golden Hill’ by Zhang Dai (Chang Tai). Prompt: The author uses a series of metaphors and personifications to develop his fascination with the moonlight. Analyze the passage to demonstrate how he employs different literary devices to develop this idea. Also, what effects do these images have on readers?
- ‘Winter Dreams’, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Prompt: Compare and contrast one aspect that ‘Winter Dreams’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ have in common.
Your practice coursework essay should be 500-800 words long, just like the real thing.
Copy the prompt and put it at the top of your coursework essay.
Please submit your practice coursework to me as an email attachment. (Either Word or Pages file formats will be fine.)
- Font: Palatino, 12 pt.
- Double-spaced.
- Don’t forget to put your name on it.
- Name your file “yourname-PCW-date.doc” or “yourname-PCW-date.pages”. Example: George’s essay should be named “George-PCW-3dec2011.doc”.
- Due: Before leaving for the Christmas holiday. This will give me time to read and mark them over the holiday so they are ready for you when you come back.
October 27
Year 10: I have slightly revised the directions for DEAR posts. Please check the DEAR page (the link is in the link bar under the photo), read carefully, and come to class with any questions you may have.
Year 11: I have added a DEAR component for you. Please check the DEAR page (the link is in the link bar under the photo), read carefully, and come to class with any questions you may have.
Everyone should publish a new DEAR post this weekend, as it is the end of the month.
October 13-23 - Year 11
Re-read The Great Gatsby. As you read, update and improve your notes on the wiki as needed. Post your second personal response to the novel no later than Sunday, October 23. In your second personal response you can focus on any aspect of the novel that particularly struck you as you read it for the second time.
September 16 – Year 10
Write one body paragraph, on a topic of your choice, following the guidelines we discussed in class, and post it on the blog. Category: Writing. Due no later than Sunday night.
September 5 – Year 11
Please write a brief personal response to each chapter of The Great Gatsby as you finish them (don’t wait until the end and write them all at once—that defeats the purpose!).
September 3 – Year 11
Blog post: write a personal response to Chapter I of The Great Gatsby.
September 3 – Year 11
Reading Schedule for The Great Gatsby:
| Finished no later than | Pages | Chapters |
| Sept 3 | 22-34 | II |
| Sept 4 | 35-45 | III |
| Sept 5 | 46-56 | III-IV |
| Sept 6 | 57-67 | IV |
| Sept 7 | 68-80 | V |
| Sept 8 | 81-92 | VI |
| Sept 9 | 93-106 | VII |
| Sept 10 | 107-119 | VII |
| Sept 11 | 120-132 | VIII |
| Sept 12 | 133-147 | IX |
August 25
Third blog post: What did you learn about poetry this week?
August 23
Please write two (2) separate blog posts:
1. Describe yourself as a reader. Label this post with the ‘As a Reader’ category.
2. Describe yourself as a writer. Label this post with the ‘As a Writer’ category.
August 2011
Welcome to IGCSE English! Major assignments will be posted here, with the most recent ones at the top.
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