[inanimate alice in my undergrad. English class]

x-posted at iTeach Inanimate Alice


On Thursday (19th of November) I started the final unit of the term with my English 102s at Grant MacEwan University (Edmonton, Alberta). After essays and other academic texts, our final study would focus on the multimodal narrative, Inanimate Alice.


Before I began the lesson I recalled what I had done with other classes (mostly media or creative technologies while at De Montfort University in Leicester, England). But this time, it would be a little different. I could incorporate more of a "literary" analysis as this was for an English class...right?


Interestingly out of about 30 students, only one admitted to having read something similar to Inanimate Alice (but when he was "younger"). I gave a background to Inanimate Alice. I introduced the students to Alice, to Brad. I also explained what Alice's parents do. We talked about setting and character development, noting that Inanimate Alice can be read as a bildungsroman.


We agreed to spend the remainder of the lesson reading Episodes 1 and 2. Students were also given time at the end of the lesson to reflect on their first-time reading a multimodal narrative. Some of the questions I asked them to think about included:

• How reading this online fiction is different from reading the essays in the course books or reading the texts for your research assignment
• What can readers infer about the identity of Alice? What traits does Alice seem to possess?
• 1 instance of foreshadowing
• Complete this sentence: “I think the author is trying to say....”

 
 
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[teaching grammar]

As I craft an exciting lesson to help my students cope with the three-hour session, I came across this funny ransom note generator. After discussing what comparatives, superlatives, direct objects, indirect objects and predicates are, I'm going to ask my students to create their own ransom note. I've asked them to bring in newspapers and magazines and I'll supply the scissors. In the end, they'll have used all of the grammatical elements we've learnt.

[2 English lessons in 1: parody and bad grammar]

So when students ask us why grammar is important, another reason to add to the list includes maturity.  As the singer says:  "I never changed my verbal habits since I was three."

The video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj6QqCH7g0Q&feature=player_embedded

This video might be useful with younger classes or maybe ESL or EFL learners?

[txt spkish and learning english?]

At The University of Toronto there is an interesting development in the teaching of English as a second language...using tv colloquialisms ("eat my shorts man," "how YOU doin'" "I'm wasted"). Though these examples don't exactly suggest an "intellectual quest", they do however help students pick up "real-life" English.

"You can have academic English down pat, but that doesn't help when a classmate says `Catch you later' or `Get out of here!'" says Damjanovic, who dreamed up the notion of teaching conversational English through shared viewings of popular shows, with a cram session first on the phrases the class is about to hear.

When Damjanovic moved to North America as a high school student, she spoke English yet had no clue what kids meant when they talked about getting "wasted" on the weekend.

"I thought, `Wasted what? Wasted time? Money?' But these little phrases mean a lot when you're trying to communicate on a day-to-day basis, and sitcoms are surprisingly rich."

Damjanovic is careful to note which phrases are considered rude, a distinction the students carefully write down."

Read the whole article here.

[job opportunity - lecturer in creative writing]

An interesting position at University of Hull:

"Lecturer in Creative Writing, Department of English

A vacancy has arisen for a Lecturer to join the Creative Writing team in this RAE 5-rated department. You will be a prose writer with publications in fiction or non-fiction. Experience in teaching twentieth-century or contemporary literary topics at undergraduate level will be a distinct advantage. You will be expected to sustain and develop our existing undergraduate Creative Writing modules, participate in the Creative Writing MA, and assist in developing the activities of the University's Philip Larkin Centre for Poetry and Creative Writing. Depending on the particular qualifications of the successful applicant, the post will also involve teaching on mainline literary modules in the English Department. A job-share arrangement might be contemplated, so joint applications or single applications for 0.5 of the post will be considered.

Salary range £29138 - £33780 pa.

For more information and to apply please visit www.hull.ac.uk/jobs, phone: (01482) 465272 (quoting vacancy ref: FA343), or for candidates with a hearing/speech impairment textphone: (01482) 466851. Alternative formats available on request.

Closing date: 1 August 2008"

[may day 2008]

[are you posh?]

Well you know you're posh if you say loo/lavatory instead of toilet, sofa rather than settee, lunch not dinner, and napkin instead of serviette. This is according to BBC 2's Grumpy Guide to Class, a 30 min explanation of how language situates you as either lower or upper class. It was quite funny but I do wonder about the napkin/serviette distinction: should napkin only refer to those of the cloth variety while serviettes are only paper (but then there's that whole French/English divide)...

There was a very funny story about how to sound posh - talk about something not even mildly interesting (like a boiled potato) in excruciatingly effusive terms: that was the most fabulous boiled potato, utterly divine... But one must talk about grave events in mild tones: oh yes, he lost an arm.

Then there was a section on posh names. Posh people have long names: see this image: Hugo Ponsonby Fethergill, or Sebastien etc...Girls' names should end with the "e" sound as in Emily, Chloe, Emmy, Tilly, Ellie...


Hrm...important matters...