Term 1, Week 6

 Here's what we covered in English Skills last Thursday: 

1. Things to learn from errors in our own writing: 
(a) Only use "gonna" in direct speech, when using the exact words of the person speaking.
"I'm gonna go home now," said Jessica. But, Jessica said that was going to go home now."

(b) When writing  a story using an iPad or the computer,  it is usually always correct to have the writing lined up against the left hand side margin  - as in this page.

2.  Correct Usage: The difference between allowed and aloud
(a) I am allowed to go to camp this year. (My parents will allow me to go.)Most of the time, this is the word we would be wanting to use in our writing.
(b) He worked out his maths strategy aloud so the teacher knew he understood how he got the answer. (If the meaning has anything to do with noise or being heard, then aloud is the word to use.)

3. Grammar:Simple Sentences 

A simple sentence can also be called an independent clause

It contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought. A simple sentence can contain more than one subject (compound subject) or more than one verb (compound verb)

In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.

(a)  Some children walk  to school in the morning.

(b)  John and Andy play football after school.

(c)  Jessica  went to the shop and bought some bread.

These are all simple sentences. Sentence (b)has a compound subject, and sentence (c) has a compound verb. 

4. Figurative Language:  Alliteration 

We are still looking at ways alliteration can be used in poems, songs, writing, and film.

Here's a link to a video clip from The Masked Man, giving a very vivid version of alliteration using the letter V.






Here's some examples of alliteration in  songs.

5. Oral Language: Tongue Twisters
Today  our  tongue twister was: Dust is a disc's worst enemy.

6.  Punctuation: Capital Letters 

Capital Letters are also used for the titles of plays and musicals, paintings, tv programmes and movies and computer games

(a) A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Wicked, Mama Mia

(b) Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

(c) Star Trek, Top Gear, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Despicable Me

(d) Minecraft, Angry Birds Rio Game Ultimate Edition

7. Writing:  This didn't get finished because we had a fire drill. 

Mrs Vincent's favourite picture for this week. 

And we listened to the music of Johann Strauss II -  and a German ballet version of the Tritsch Tratsch Polka.