Standard English

1
Standard English

• Standard English is basically the English we
  are taught at school the form of English
  Language that uses all the correct grammar,
  spelling, vocabulary and punctuation.
• The following phrases are not Standard English
  because the verb/subject dont agree
• We was.
• She dont.
• I were
• He live
• I likes
• Try to write them correctly.
• Now, whats wrong with this?! Me and me mates
  was walking down the street. We sees this man
  coming towards us and he was looking right angry
  like I were a murderer or something. He dont
  saying nothing but we was proper scared like
• Try to re-write it in Standard English.

2
Standard English (Formality)

• Think of ten synonyms (different words with
  similar meaning) for the word good
• In the margin rate each word on a scale of 1-10
  for how formal you think it is
• Now, write down the most formal synonym for the
  word bad you can think of, and the most
  informal?

3
Modern Language

• Write down 5 words which are used today but which
  wouldnt have been used 150 years ago
• Think about different reasons for the
  introduction of these new words (new technology,
  foreign influences etc). You dont need to write
  these ideas down.
• Write two definitions for each of the below words
  (one using the word in its more traditional sense
  and one in its more modern form)
• - Gay
• - Boss
• - Buzzing
• Now, make a list of the reasons why you think
  language changes over time

4
Full Stop!

• Think about what full stops are used for.
• Work out where full stops should be placed in the
  passage below (dont write it, just do it in your
  head)
• My favourite subject at school is English I
  really like it because I get to write stories and
  read interesting books all of my friends like
  English too I suppose you could say its
  everybodys favourite!
• Now, re-write the below placing the full stops in
  the correct places
• Sarah loved. dancing and everybody said that.
  she was good at it she went three times a week
  and. Spent all her spare time practising
• Try to write a definition for full stop.

5
Commas

• Commas can be used in two ways to list things
  instead of saying and/or (listing commas) OR to
  separate additional information in a sentence
  instead of a bracket (bracket commas)
• Place the commas in the correct place in these
  sentences and note down what type of comma each
  sentence uses (list or bracket)
• Saturday morning TV is great. I especially like
  SMTV CDUK The Saturday Show and Sabrina the
  Teenage Witch.
• Chris Tarrant who presents Who Wants to Be a
  Millionaire used to present the Saturday morning
  TV show Tiswas.
• Now, try to write a sentence about school which
  uses listing commas and then a different
  sentence about school which uses bracket commas
• If you can, try to write a sentence that uses
  BOTH types of comma

6
Apostrophes - omission

• An omission apostrophe is the one you use when a
  letter is missing e.g. its (the letter missing
  is i because it should be it is)
• Write 5 sentences featuring five different
  examples of omission apostrophes

7
Apostrophes - possession

• The apostrophe we looked at last time (omission)
  was used to replace letters, this time it is the
  apostrophe that tells us something belongs to
  something else (possession). For this, we use an
  apostrophe () followed by an s
• e.g. Year 8s favourite lesson is English the
  apostrophe s is used because the favourite
  lesson belongs to year 8 it is THEIR favourite
  lesson
• Make the following sentences shorter by using a
  possessive apostrophe
• The shoes belong to Sarah.
• The ball belonging to the dog rolled away.
• The pattern on the wallpaper is horrible.
• BUT, what happens when the original word ends in
  an s already? You ONLY need to put the
  apostrophe sign () no extra s
• e.g. Miss Watts classroom
• Think of five more examples when this type of
  possessive apostrophe would be used
• Now, write a sentence featuring both an example
  of omission and possessive apostrophes

8
Colon

• A Colon has 3 uses
• The skills Sarah has are running, jumping,
  fighting, and sewing.
• (colon used to introduce list of items)
• Xena is a warrior she spends a lot of her time
  fighting
• battles.
• (colon used to restate what has already been
  said)
• Gabrielle was in pain she had just sprained her
  ankle.
• (colon used to elaborate on previous clause)
• NB. what goes before the colon MUST be a sentence
  on its own
• Write an example of your own for each one.

9
Speech Marks

• Note how punctuation is used in these sentences
  with speech
• Id love to come to the party, said Sheila I
  think itll be great!
• Will you be wearing that dress you wore last
  week? asked her friend.
• Add the appropriate punctuation to these
  sentences
• Matt said Im sorry, I cant remember.  
• Go to sleep now, Abbie whispered. But Im not
  tired replied her sister.  
• The man stood up. We dont want a new road he
  shouted.
• Which of these would require speech marks?
• I had asked if we could have crisps but my mum
  said that we couldnt.
• Can I have some crisps, Mum? I asked but she
  replied no
• Now, note down a conversation you have had today,
  using speech marks.

10
Plural Spelling

• Turn the below words into plurals think
  carefully about how they should be spelt!
• Horse case
• Hiss try
• Fly day
• Match book
• Calf cloud
• Fox path
• Boy scarf
• City lie
• Bus desk
• Church elf
• Lady object
• Cathedral candle
• Theif bully

11
Syllables

• Syllable one part of a word a bit like a beat
• e.g. Goal has one syllable, football has two,
  penalty has three
• Make a list of popstars where each artist/groups
  name contains one more syllable than the one
  before
• e.g. Cher, Will Young, Darius etc.
• Now, with the person next to you, have a
  conversation in which each response has one more
  syllable than the previous one
• e.g. Hi Hello How are you? etc.

12
GHT

• List as many words as you can which include the
  letter string ght eg. might, ought
• These words can be difficult to spell, come up
  with a rhyme to help you remember the ght
  letter string e.g. Giants Hate Trolls (!)

13
Speaking and Listening

• List the qualities of a good speaker
• Pick one skill from the list that you would like
  to actively try and improve (I will be asking for
  feedback on how well youve done with this next
  lesson and will expect specific examples)

14
Speaking and Listening

• Last lesson you picked out an area of your
  speaking skills you need to work on. How have you
  done this? Write down some examples.
• If you have not done this, write some ideas for
  how you can try and work on this area.
• Prepare to feedback to the class.

15
Speaking and Listening

• People often say Shes a good listenerwhat
  exactly do we mean by this?
• List as many different types of listening as you
  can think of
• e.g. listening to your teacher, listening to the
  radio
• We have to act very differently for each type of
  listening. Think about how.
• Now, write down how you can prove that youre a
  good listener.

16
Speaking

• Think about when part of a text is being read
  aloud in class some students are enjoyable to
  listen to, whereas others can be a little
  painful!
• Complete this sentence A bad reader does the
  following
• Now, list as many techniques that you can think
  of that can be used to improve delivery of the
  reading of a passage.

17
Commentary

• In your life, when might you hear a commentary of
  some kind?
• What are the features of a commentary? i.e. how
  do you know when you are listening to one?
• How would a commentator try to make it exciting
  for listeners?
• Prepare to have a go at commentating with the
  class

18
Presenting

• Think of the WORST presentation you have ever
  seen (e.g. an assembly, on a trip, a lesson, at
  an extra-curricular club, on TV etc.)
• List the qualities that made it so bad
• So, what SHOULD you do when giving a
  presentation? (e.g. speak to the audience,
  present with high energy etc.)
• Now, choose what you think is THE most important
  thing to remember when delivering a formal
  presentation and explain why

19
Similes

• Similes are when you compare something to be
  like or as something else.
• Read the below similes and try to figure out what
  they are describing.
• Im as tall as a tree and as skinny as a
  matchstick. Im as bright as a star but only when
  its as dark as the deepest black.
• Now, choose an object of your choice and write
  your own riddle of similes like this. The class
  will try to guess what your object is so make the
  similes good!

20
Similes

• Think of a person in your family and write a
  list of similes that could be used to describe
  them. Make sure you include similes that describe
  their physical appearance as well as ones that
  describe their personality.
• e.g. My dad whistles like a bird in the morning.
• My dad thinks hes as funny as a comedian!

21
Similes

• Think of a beach on a hot sunny day and write a
  list of similes which could be used to describe
  it. You should try to come up with at least five
  similes covering each of the senses
• See
• Hear
• Touch
• Smell
• Taste

22
Metaphor

• A metaphor when you compare something to
  something else by describing it as that other
  thing
• e.g. the teacher is a demon, the boxer was a
  lion waiting to pounce, the candy floss puffs in
  the sky drifted slowly in the breeze
• Write three reasons for why we might use
  metaphors in writing
• Re-write the below passage, putting in a number
  of metaphors (you may continue it if you wish)
• It was a dark night and the sky was black and
  dark. The wind could be heard in the trees and
  the houses looked big and tall in the distance.

23
Metaphors

• Think about why we might use metaphors instead of
  similes to describe a character. Write down 3
  ideas.
• Now come up with some examples of metaphors you
  could use to describe a person/character in your
  life (you could write about a person who you are
  in love with e.g. She is the light of my
  life)

24
Metaphors

• Look around the room and choose an object/item.
  Then think of a number of metaphors that could be
  used to describe it
• E.g. metaphors for a cactus plant could bean
  exploding firework, a bad hair day etc.

25
Personification

• List the ways in which a tree is similar to a
  person (e.g. branches are like arms)
• Now, write a description of the tree as if it is
  a person (e.g. His arms wave to friends closeby)
  

26
Plural Spellings

• Look at the below passage, spot the spelling
  mistakes and re-write it using the correct
  spelling for each plural spelt incorrectly.
• I love big citys like London. I like the red
  busses that you see and the sightes that you can
  visit. There are lots of big churchs and
  cathedrals to see. You just have to be careful
  that theifs dont steal your belonginggs.

27
Plurals

• Create two columns one labelled singular and
  one labelled plural.
• In the singular column, write all the words
  below.
• Then, in the plural column, write the plural
  form of each word (e.g. glasses)

28
Mistakes!

• Re-write the below passage placing full stops and
  capital letters in the right places. Also, if you
  notice any spelling mistakes, change them!
• (HINT there are 13 mistakes!)
• wen i got home my mum told me I must practise my
  violin becouse I had been lazy resently she sed I
  would never be in any conserts if I didnt start
  putting more efort in i was so tired and had lots
  of homework to do so I stomped upstares to my
  room in a rage

EXTENSION Can you spot anywhere in this passage
where it would be good to insert a comma as well?
29
Possessive Apostrophes

• Re-write these sentences adding in the missing
  possessive apostrophes.