Lockdown Literature 4.1

Hi all,

Thanks for all your hard work. Your quiz results and short written responses continue to be excellent even though you’ve been learning from home. Keep it up! 

We’re going to try to blast through some shorter chapters this week. The next two chunks of reading will be a bit bigger, but it’s mostly just reading and it’ll get easier again after that. Stick with it. 

Here’s your next set of tasks (to be completed by Friday):

1) Do this quiz on Chapters 40 and 41.

2) Read Chapter 42. Make a page of notes under the title: Magwitch’s backstory (Chapter 42). Get down as many details as you can about his life.

3) Read Chapters 43 and 44. I’ll send my notes shortly to help you annotate your text. Chapter 44 contains a key moment in the Pip and Estella story. I’ll ask you about it next time.

Hope that’s okay. Let me know if you need anything.

Mr M

Lockdown Literature 3.2

Hi folks,

I hope everyone is okay.

Here’s the next set of tasks for you:

1) Do this recap quiz on Chapter 39.

2) Make sure you’ve added annotations on this key chapter (sorry I sent them late) using my notes.

3) Learn about how the criminal justice and prison system has changed over time by using the following resources (make notes on the first two if you like, but no more than a page):

• Victorian Prisons andPunishments – The British Library
• Victorian Police and Prisons –Adam Hart-Davis (YouTube) (you've probably already seen this one)
• Inside Wandsworth Prison (BBC) – Part 1 and Part 2  (just watch this one for interest’s sake – it’s a grim look inside a Victorian-era prison in 2016)
  

When you’ve read/watched these resources (note-taking is optional), you should be able to answer the following questions (don’t do it on paper though – that’s too much! Just think about them…):

4) Read the next two chapters, 40 and 41, by Tuesday.

Again, I’m trying to strike a balance between doing what we would have done anyway and not overloading you with stuff to do. Don’t spend much more than an hour on this work. It might take 1 hr 15 (including the reading) – but don’t do more than that.

I hope that all makes sense. If not – please ask! I’ll send my notes on 40-41 later today.

Mr M

P.S. Here’s couple of images from my lesson notebook for this chapter. This updated 'Pip's London' map shows where Pip is living now:

An old picture of Garden-Court in the Temple (imagine Pip in a room near the river at the end):

Here's some notes with details that foreshadow the convict's reappearance:

Finally, here’s a link to an old blogpost of mine about Dickens’s London.

 

Lockdown Literature 3.1

Hello again,

 
I hope you had a good Easter. 
 
Thanks for all the emails with photos of your work. I thought that last task might have been a bit tricky, but you seem to have got it! A few of you need to go back and check that you've done the work from last time.

Here’s this week’s work (for Friday):

1) Do this recap quiz on Chapters 37 & 38.

2) Use some of the links below to revise the Gothic genre. 
Focus on the resources in bold. The others are optional extras:

• Gothic terms and concepts (Quizlet)
• Gothic motifs (video andarticle)  
• The Gothic in Great Expectations (video)
• The Gothic in Great Expectations (article)

3) Write a single paragraph about Dickens’s use of gothic language and imagery in Chapter 38. 

You should use at least three quotations. I have given you instructions and a topic sentence to start with on the doc below. This task should only take 15 minutes or so: five minutes to find your quotes and ten minutes to write. You can work on this Google doc, the Word doc below or in your book. 

4) Read Chapter 39 of Great Expectations by Friday.

It’s a very important one! I’ll send notes on this chapter later today – or possibly tomorrow.

I hope this all makes sense. I think I’ve given you about an hour’s work here (5 minutes for task 1; 10-15 minutes for task 2, 15 minutes for task 3, 20-25 minutes for the reading.)

Let me know if you need anything.

Mr M

Lockdown Literature 2.2

Hi folks,

This is the final set of tasks before your Easter break. I advise you to do this work today or on Monday 20th April so that you have a full two weeks off. (Maybe the smartest move would be to do steps 1-4 now, and do the reading on the Monday.)

At this rate, we'll finish the book early in June, even if we're not back in school.

Here are your new tasks:

1) Do this recap quiz on Chapters 35 & 36. 

2) Write the date and a title in your exercise book:

Shifting tones: irony, satire and sincerity at Mrs Joe's funeral (35)

3) Remind yourself of these useful terms. Write down any that you not sure about:

irony: when the literal sense of the words says one thing, but the writer's true meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning
 
satire: when a writer holds up bad behaviour or foolishness to mockery with the aim of changing that behaviour (often involving hyperbole, caricature, incongruity, juxtaposition, irony)
 
authorial intrusion: when the writer/narrator steps away from the normal narrative perspective to give us their view of events
 
cynical: having a lack of trust in the motives of others; having a negative view of human nature
 
pathos: a quality that stirs up emotions of pity, sadness or sorrow

4) Choose two of the terms above.

In your exercise book, write two sentences about Pip's narration in Chapter 35 (the funeral), using one of the words above in each sentence. You can use variations on these words (e.g. ironic, satirical, satire, cynic). Make sure your sentences are punctuated properly.

Your sentences could be about:

- Pip's genuine feelings of sorrow

- Pip's satirical mockery of others (what kind of behaviour does he mock?)

- Pip's satirical self-mockery

- Pip's ironic tone

- Pip's negative views about most of the people at the funeral

Do more than two if you like. If you get stuck, ask. 

When you've finished writing, it would be great if you could take a picture of your page and send it to me.

5) Finally, read Chapters 37 & 38 of Great Expectations. 

Here are my chapter notes:


That's it. Feel free to email me any time if you need anything. Otherwise, you'll hear from me next at the end of the Easter holidays.


Mr M