Short stories are a great way to engage with a writer without having to access a whole novel. They are quick ways to improve your own accuracy and vocabulary as well as giving you an insight into how other writers (like yourselves) create tension, build characters and use structural devices like pivotal points, tense changes and climax. This week's task involves reading the short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway and answering the questions at the end. Consider what the couple SEEM to be talking about and what they are ACTUALLY talking about... CHALLENGE task - 1) Write a similar story about a couple in a foreign land. Use ambiguity and try and emulate the style of Hemingway. 2) OR write the next chapter of this story building on the story you have read. Ernest Hemingway short story
I have lost count of the amount of times I have told you guys that you need to be READING prolifically - whether that be newspapers, online blogs and articles, magazines, autobiographies or fiction...it really will do wonders for your cultural capital (knowledge of the worlds and places other than the ones with which we are familiar) AND help your vocabularies to get more amazing. In addition, it will help your accuracy which is all-important in the Language exams this summer and next.
I love to read - reading takes me to places I have never visited before and introduces me to new characters, philosophies and worlds. MY personal top ten list (not definitive as there are just so many fab books that I have read in my lifetime as well as many more that I have NOT read but have been meaning to...) is below. I have sorted it into my Top Ten books from my teenage years, my Top Ten books of ALL TIME and my Top Ten authors. Please feel free to ask me any questions and to swap with your own recommendations. If you would like to leave a comment with ideas and suggestions, please do!
MY TOP TEN AUTHORS
1) William Shakespeare (yeah yeah...)
2) Jane Austen
3) Stephen King
4) Charles Dickens
5) Agatha Christie
6) Roald Dahl
7) Margaret Atwood
8) J.K. Rowling
9) Philip Pullman.
10) John Steinbeck
I am going to go through them at the rate of 3 a week so try and keep up!
1) THE MAN himself - William Shakespeare.
Yes, it's cliched, but how could I not have him at the top of my list? I'm an English teacher after all and he is the man who gave us such wonderful plays to teach and study like Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet. He gave us memorable characters like Falstaff (the fat, alcoholic, comic sidekick to Henry V); Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet (the famous 'Prince of Cats', so-named because of his amazing aptitude in sword fights; and Lady Macbeth (scheming wife who goads her husband into murdering his King so that they can gain power.)
He gave us countless memorable quotes (can you think of any?):
-"A Horse, A Horse, My Kingdom for a Horse!" and "Now is the Winter of our discontent." (Richard III)
-"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me Your Ears..." (Julius Caesar)
-"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."(Romeo and Juliet)
-"If music be the food of love, play on..." (Twelfth Night)
-"All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players"
-And this wonderful Hamlet monologue featured in my favourite film Withnail and I...
Shakespeare also invented a huge array of words and phrases that we use today, without really knowing that they came from him for the first time:
"All the glitters in not gold"
"Bare-faced liar"
"Break the ice"
"Wear your heart on your sleeve"
And even if the language puts you off a bit, it's worth persevering with because in Shakespeare's plays you get exciting, dramatic story lines and plot twists with gory battles, gender confusion, romance, death, racial tension, double-crossing and betraying, manipulation, comedy word play, humorous interludes, BFFs who look out for each other, accidental murders, intentional murders, madness, suicides, historical events, fantasy and magic and much, much more...
Really, what a guy!
2) Jane Austen Jane Austen
With biting satirical wit, Jane Austen was sort-of a feminist before her time. She wrote fictional stories, often containing romance, but was unafraid to hold a critical mirror up to the social practices of her class and fellow mankind. She has been criticised for ignoring events of historical significance (such as slavery) but her social commentary is more about PEOPLE and their fallibility and foibles (issues and negative traits.) Her work has been updated numerous times for a modern audience (Emma was turned into teen movie Clueless; Pride and Prejudice was modernised for Bridget Jones' Diary) which proves that her stories and characters are still universal. Even if a man with a large fortune is no longer necessarily 'in need of a wife', the love-hate relationship between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett is still fascinating and the insufferable character of pompous idiot Mr Collins can relate to many people in today's life and world too! I would highly recommend her beautifully written, comic and dramatic books. Plus there are only six of them so it's not impossible to read them all :)
Austen's famous love-hate couple Mr Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice in two film adaptations (top- Kiera Knightey in a more recent but nowhere-near-as-good version and bottom- Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the WONDERFUL BBC version from back when I was growing up. Don't let that put you off, or its length; it's a great film. Watch the clip where they first meet)
3)
Stephen King - THE MASTER OF HORROR
American horror author Stephen King used to be a high school English teacher before he became so famous that he didn't need to do it anymore! He still lectures about creative writing. He lives in Maine in the USA and bases many of his stories there. He has written so many successful books, series' and short stories that it would be impossible to talk about them all but my favourite book of all time has to be IT - the story of an ancient child-killing evil that takes on numerous forms to gobble the souls of terrified children, even as the adult inhabitants of the town of Derry attempt to look the other way and pretend that everything is hunky dory. The most well known incarnation of this old curse is Pennywise the clown and if you weren't already scared of clowns after the recent internet memes and stories that circulated, then you need to watch the TV film of this novel and you won't ever be able to visit the circus again! I would personally recommend only watching the first half of the DVD (it comes in two parts) as it gets considerable weaker by DVD 2 when the adults feature more than the kids and the original Writer/Director had been replaced. There is a new film of this due for release in Sep 2017 - it'll probably be an 18 certificate but I am extremely excited. No matter how good the film might be though, it'll never beat the book. It's a monster book in terms of length too, but don't let that put you off. I read it in my teenage years and have tackled it again about 5 more times, getting something new out of it at each reading.
If you like scary stories and prefer short, one-before-bed type tales, then Skeleton Crew is another personal favourite of mine and utilises a lot of urban myths. Other favourite Stephen King books include The Stand (zombies, another looooong one though), Carrie (a teenager who is bullied and gets her own back using her psychic powers) and Pet Cemetery (about killer vampire animals who come back from the dead).
(This is not the monkey from Toy Story 3 - although it is equally as scary!)
Stephen King is also good to follow on Twitter: he tweets as @StephenKing
More next week when I will tackle the next three authors on my list. Get a head start by reading something by Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie or Roald Dahl!
Miss Fowler x
ADDITIONAL READING LISTS- Teenage Kicks - the best books for all young adults
The link above is a great list by The New Statesman that recommends the top books that people your age should all read at some points in their lives! Get some of them out for the Easter and summer holiday period. Dip in and out of them and try something new that you haven't tried before.
Also check out this ranking of the best authors and their literary works:
(You can vote to change the order) BEST books Ranking
Want to exert a galvanising influence through the deployment of revolutionary locution?
OR in more easy-to-understand terms, want to hit a level 8 or 9 by showing the examiner some sophisticated vocabulary? Look no further!
TIPS
1. Read the words below and make a list of 10 of your favourite. Learn their definitions and see how many times you can use them in school lessons over the next week :)
2. See which words you already know and feel confident using. See if you can define them and then check your own definition against mine.
3. Choose a poem or one of the books / plays that you have studied and look through these words. Find 5 words that you could link to your analysis eg The arcane (secret) nature of Romeo and Juliet's relationship makes the reader consider the pressure on reputation and the formality of love in Elizabethan times.
4. Write 4 words on a post it note and see if you can work it into conversation with your friends or family!
*Remember that these words can help you in your formal writing too - your non-fiction AND your fiction for both Language papers. Better still, choose three words that you can use in ALL your English exams. Whoop whoop! #winning
aberration
(n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1974, Poland won the World Cup, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and Poland have not won a World Cup since).
abhor
(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up getting hit in the head when he tried to play cricket, Marcin began to abhor the sport).
acquiesce
(v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Pospieszny wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)
alacrity
(n.) eagerness, speed (For some reason, Simon loved to help his girlfriend whenever he could, so when his girlfriend asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)
amiable
(adj.) friendly (An amiable fellow, Neil got along with just about everyone.)
appease
(v.) to calm, satisfy (When Jerry cries, his mother gives him chocolate to appeasehim.)
arcane
(adj.) obscure, secret, known only by a few (The professor is an expert in arcaneKashubian literature.)
avarice
(n.) excessive greed (The banker’s avarice led him to amass an enormous personal fortune.)
brazen
(adj.) excessively bold, brash, clear and obvious (Critics condemned the writer’s brazen attempt to plagiarise Frankow-Czerwonko’s work.)
brusque
(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (Simon’s brusque manner sometimes offends his colleagues.)
cajole
(v.) to urge, coax (Magda's friends cajoled her into drinking too much.)
callous
(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.)
candor
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the politician’s speech because she is usually rather evasive.)
chide
(v.) to voice disapproval (Hania chided Gregory for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.)
circumspect
(adj.) cautious (Though I promised Marta’s father I would bring her home promptly by midnight, it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a time.)
clandestine
(adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the library, Maria actually went to meet George for a clandestine liaison.)
coerce
(v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that David Beckham did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.)
coherent
(adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (William could not figure out what Harold had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)
complacency
(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger (Simon tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)
confidant
(n.) a person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, he became my chief confidant.)
connive
(v.) to plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my plans to start up a new business.)
cumulative
(adj.) increasing, building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours spent using the World English website was a vast improvement in his vocabulary and general level of English.)
debase
(v.) to lower the quality or esteem of something (The large raise that he gave himself debased his motives for running the charity.)
decry
(v.) to criticize openly (Andrzej Lepper, the leader of the Polish Self Defence party decried the appaling state of Polish roads.)
deferential
(adj.) showing respect for another’s authority (Donata is always excessively deferential to any kind of authority figure.)
demure
(adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going crazy, she remained demure.)
deride
(v.) to laugh at mockingly, scorn (The native speaker often derided the other teacher’s accent.)
despot
(n.) one who has total power and rules brutally (The despot issued a death sentence for anyone who disobeyed his laws.)
diligent
(adj.) showing care in doing one’s work (The diligent researcher made sure to double check her measurements.)
elated
(adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When he found out he had won the lottery, the postman was elated.)
eloquent
(adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The best man gave such an eloquent speech that most guests were crying.)
embezzle
(v.) to steal money by falsifying records (The accountant was fired for embezzling€10,000 of the company’s funds.)
empathy
(n.) sensitivity to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own (I feel such empathyfor my dog when she’s upset so am I!)
enmity
(n.) ill will, hatred, hostility (John and Scott have clearly not forgiven each other, because the enmity between them is obvious to anyone in their presence.)
erudite
(adj.) learned (My English teacher is such an erudite scholar that he has translated some of the most difficult and abstruse Old English poetry.)
extol
(v.) to praise, revere (Kamila extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving boyfriend.)
fabricate
(v.) to make up, invent (When I arrived an hour late to class, I fabricated some excuse about my car breaking down on the way to work.)
feral
(adj.) wild, savage (That beast looks so feral that I would fear being alone with it.)
flabbergasted
(adj.) astounded (Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am always flabbergasted when I learn the identity of the murderer.)
forsake
(v.) to give up, renounce (I won't forsake my conservative principles.)
fractious
(adj.) troublesome or irritable (Although the child insisted he wasn’t tired, his fractious behaviour - especially his decision to crush his jam sandwiches all over the floor - convinced everyone present that it was time to put him to bed.)
furtive
(adj.) secretive, sly (Claudia’s placement of her drugs in her sock drawer was not as furtive as she thought, as the sock drawer is the first place most parents look.)
gluttony
(n.) overindulgence in food or drink (Helen’s fried chicken tastes so divine, I don’t know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.)
gratuitous
(adj.) uncalled for, unwarranted (Every evening the guy at the fish and chip shop gives me a gratuitous helping of vinegar.)
haughty
(adj.) disdainfully proud (The superstar’s haughty dismissal of her co-stars will backfire on her someday.)
hypocrisy
(n.) pretending to believe what one does not (Once the politician began passing legislation that contradicted his campaign promises, his hypocrisy became apparent.)
impeccable
(adj.) exemplary, flawless (If your grades were as impeccable as your brother’s, then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)
impertinent
(adj.) rude, insolent (Most of your comments are so impertinent that I don’t wish to dignify them with an answer.)
implacable
(adj.) incapable of being appeased or mitigated (Watch out: once you shun Grandmother’s cooking, she is totally implacable.)
impudent
(adj.) casually rude, insolent, impertinent (The impudent young woman looked her teacher up and down and told him he was hot.)
incisive
(adj.) clear, sharp, direct (The discussion wasn’t going anywhere until her incisivecomment allowed everyone to see what the true issues were.)
indolent
(adj.) lazy (Why should my indolent children, who can’t even pick themselves up off the sofa to pour their own juice, be rewarded with a trip to Burger King?)
inept
(adj.) not suitable or capable, unqualified (She proved how inept she was when she forgot two orders and spilled a pint of cider in a customer’s lap.)
infamy
(n.) notoriety, extreme ill repute (The infamy of his crime will not lessen as time passes.)
inhibit
(v.) to prevent, restrain, stop (When I told you I needed the car last night, I certainly never meant to inhibit you from going out.)
innate
(adj.) inborn, native, inherent (His incredible athletic talent is innate, he never trains, lifts weights, or practices.)
insatiable
(adj.) incapable of being satisfied (My insatiable appetite for blondes was a real problem on my recent holiday in Japan!)
insular
(adj.) separated and narrow-minded; tight-knit, closed off (Because of the sensitive nature of their jobs, those who work for MI5 must remain insular and generally only spend time with each other.)
intrepid
(adj.) brave in the face of danger (After scaling a live volcano prior to its eruption, the explorer was praised for his intrepid attitude.)
inveterate
(adj.) stubbornly established by habit (I’m the first to admit that I’m an inveteratecider drinker—I drink four pints a day.)
jubilant
(adj.) extremely joyful, happy (The crowd was jubilant when the firefighter carried the woman from the flaming building.)
knell
(n.) the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death (Echoing throughout our village, the funeral knell made the grey day even more grim.)
lithe
(adj.) graceful, flexible, supple (Although the dancers were all outstanding, Joanna’s control of her lithe body was particularly impressive.)
lurid
(adj.) ghastly, sensational (Barry’s story, in which he described a character torturing his neighbour's tortoise, was judged too lurid to be published on the English Library's website.)
maverick
(n.) an independent, nonconformist person (John is a real maverick and always does things his own way.)
maxim
(n.) a common saying expressing a principle of conduct (Ms. Stone’s etiquette maxims are both entertaining and instructional.)
meticulous
(adj.) extremely careful with details (The ornate needlework in the bride’s gown was a product of meticulous handiwork.)
modicum
(n.) a small amount of something (Refusing to display even a modicum of sensitivity, Magda announced her boss’s affair to the entire office.)
morose
(adj.) gloomy or sullen (David’s morose nature made him very unpleasant to talk to.)
myriad
(adj.) consisting of a very great number (It was difficult to decide what to do on Saturday night because the city presented us with myriad possibilities for fun.)
nadir
(n.) the lowest point of something (My day was boring, but the nadir came when my new car was stolen.)
nominal
(adj.) trifling, insignificant (Because he was moving the following week and needed to get rid of his furniture more than he needed money, Kim sold everything for a nominal price.)
novice
(n.) a beginner, someone without training or experience (Because we were all novices at archery, our instructor decided to begin with the basics
nuance
(n.) a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression (The nuances of the poem were not obvious to the casual reader, but the teacher was able to point them out.)
oblivious
(adj.) lacking consciousness or awareness of something (Oblivious to the burning smell emanating from the kitchen, my father did not notice that the rolls in the oven were burned until much too late.)
obsequious
(adj.) excessively compliant or submissive (Donald acted like Susan’s servant, obeying her every request in an obsequious manner.)
obtuse
(adj.) lacking quickness of sensibility or intellect (Political opponents warned that the prime minister’s obtuse approach to foreign policy would embroil the nation in mindless war.)
panacea
(n.) a remedy for all ills or difficulties (Doctors wish there was a single panacea for every disease, but sadly there is not.)
parody
(n.) a satirical imitation (A hush fell over the classroom when the teacher returned to find Magdalena acting out a parody of his teaching style.)
penchant
(n.) a tendency, partiality, preference (Fiona’s dinner parties quickly became monotonous on account of her penchant for Indian dishes.)
perusal
(n.) a careful examination, review (The actor agreed to accept the role after a three-month perusal of the movie script.)
plethora
(n.) an abundance, excess (The wedding banquet included a plethora of oysters piled almost three feet high.)
predilection
(n.) a preference or inclination for something (James has a predilection for eating toad in the whole with tomato ketchup.)
quaint
(adj.) charmingly old-fashioned (Mary was delighted by the quaint bonnets she saw in Romania.)
rash
(adj.) hasty, incautious (It’s best to think things over calmly and thoroughly, rather than make rash decisions.)
refurbish
(v.) to restore, clean up (After being refurbished the old Triumph motorcycle commanded the handsome price of $6000.)
repudiate
(v.) to reject, refuse to accept (Tom made a strong case for an extension of his curfew, but his mother repudiated it with a few biting words.)
rife
(adj.) abundant (Surprisingly, the teacher’s writing was rife with spelling errors.)
salient
(adj.) significant, conspicuous (One of the salient differences between Alison and Helen is that Alison is a couple of kilos heavier.)
serendipity
(n.) luck, finding good things without looking for them (In an amazing bit of serendipity, penniless Mark found a $50 bill on the back seat of the bus.)
staid
(adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained (The staid butler never changed his expression no matter what happened.)
superfluous
(adj.) exceeding what is necessary (Samantha had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)
sycophant
(n.) one who flatters for self-gain (Some see the people in the cabinet as the Prime Minister’s closest advisors, but others see them as sycophants.)
taciturn
(adj.) not inclined to talk (Though Magda never seems to stop talking, her brother is quite taciturn.)
truculent
(adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn’t really attract the dangerous types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?)
umbrage
(n.) resentment, offence (He called me a lily-livered coward, and I took umbrage at the insult.)
venerable
(adj.) deserving of respect because of age or achievement (The venerable High Court judge had made several key rulings in landmark cases throughout the years.)
vex
(v.) to confuse or annoy (My boyfriend vexes me by pinching my bottom for hours on end.)
vociferous
(adj.) loud, boisterous (I’m tired of his vociferous whining so I’m breaking up with him.)
wanton
(adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful (Joanna’s wanton demeanor often made the frat guys next door very excited.)
zenith
(n.) the highest point, culminating point (I was too nice to tell Emily that she had reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one top 10 hit of hers.)
Overwhelmed by GCSE? Welcome Year 10 and 11! Help is at hand :)
Do you sometimes feel like the New Spec for English Language and English Literature is piling everything on top of you with no space to breathe???????
Well, this blog is here to help you out! I am going to give you exam tips; go through each paper; attach revision booklets; give you revision ideas and tests; upload good work and not so good work AND give you literature reviews of books and DVDs that can help you to understand English literature and improve your vocabularies. Go on, give it a look!
Tess says hi. She will pitch in when needed. And anytime I don't get anything uploaded on the blog, it will no doubt be Tess' fault so please remind yourselves of how cute she is so you forgive me!
THE MAN himself - William Shakespeare.
Jane Austen
