S2 Homework Task - September

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S2 Homework Task - September
Newspaper Articles
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S2 Homework Task - September
Checklist
Section A
Section B
Activity 1
Activity 1
Produce a summary
Produce a summary
Activity 2
Activity 2
Answer questions
Answer questions
Activity 3
Activity 3
Connotation questions
Rhetorical devices
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Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and
Outcomes

• Learning Intentions
• I can summarise a piece of non-fiction writing
  using my own words as far as possible.
• I can recognise techniques used to persuade the
  reader.
• I can comment on the writers use of language, in
  particular denotation and connotation.
• I can comment on the writers use of figures of
  speech.

LIT 3-14a
LIT 3-18a
LIT 3-19a
LIT 3-19a
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This month we are looking at newspaper articles.
Newspapers contain two particular types of
writing 1 Report - a factual account of persons
and/or places 2 Discursive - persuasive or
argumentative writing that has a point of view
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Section A Report
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There are 3 activities to complete in Section A.
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Section A - Activity 1
Read the report on the following pages and answer
all of the questions that follow.
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Sighthill pupils turn down lavish school prom
The Scotsman newspaper, 17th June 2013
END of term used to mean the chance to take a
board game to school or, if you were lucky, the
chance to wear jeans and a T-shirt instead of
your uniform. Then came the Americanisation of
schools out and a proliferation of prom parties
that have become increasingly lavish and
brash. Stretch limos, diamanté studded prom
gowns and even helicopter ferry rides (for the
grandest of grand entrances) have all become part
of prom season. The heady mix, which is
everywhere at this time of year, has spawned a
lucrative sub-culture. But a group of primary
seven pupils at one Edinburgh school have brought
their own refreshing slant to the now ubiquitous
grand prom, voting to reject a large bash in
exchange for a smaller affair simply enjoying
pizza as a gang of chums. The Sighthill Primary
pupils, who will soon make the move to high
school, voted decisively to spare their parents
the headache of shelling out a considerable
amount of cash and will instead settle for a day
of bowling (and that pizza) instead.
The 21-4 vote means mums and dads will pay only
2 per child rather than the hundreds of pounds
forked out by increasing numbers of parents
across Edinburgh, amid a growing trend towards
marking the passage from primary to secondary
school with a glitzy leaving dance. Sighthill
parent council chair Amanda Campbell, 42, whose
daughter, Erin, is in P7, said I know of
parents at other schools who have paid out for
limos, kilts and fancy dresses for their kids
it can cost up to 400. Its one thing the school
being able to afford it and the parent council
providing some of the funds. But if youre
talking about parents having to provide a limo or
a kilt just to keep up with everybody else, lots
of them just dont have the finances for that,
especially in this economic climate. Ms
Campbell said Erin and her 24 classmates were
really excited at the chance of Laserquest,
bowling and Pizza Hut. And she said many P7s at
Sighthill had told their class teacher they had
no interest in an expensive prom because they saw
each other as equals and wanted to make sure
everyone could join in before saying goodbye to
primary school.
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They just want to go out together and do
something that theyll really enjoy and
remember, she said.
Headteacher Eileen Littlewood said Its all
become very Americanised and I dont know if its
come from programmes that the children are
watching. We dont want parents or children to
feel stressed, left out or under pressure and
that they have to comply with the expectation and
demands from other people.
You shall go to the ball... in a helicopter
PARENTS today are going to extravagant lengths to
celebrate their childs move to high
school. Limo reservations likely to set mums and
dads back nearly 300 have become increasingly
commonplace and thats before parents consider
whether to spend 200 on hiring a gown. In one
particularly extreme case, a parent in East
Renfrewshire asked the local council if they
could send their child to the prom in a
helicopter. It is understood the parent wanted
their child to make a big entrance but the idea
was dismissed by education bosses. One parent of
a P7 pupil said We never had them in our day
but I can see how exciting it is. The kids love
it.
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• Section A Activity 1 - Questions
• Examine the headline.
• What information can you gain from it?
• Explain the meaning of lavish.
• B. Find two places identified in the article.
• C. Find and quote two examples of statistics
• D. Find an example of an interview. Write down
  the first few words and say who was interviewed.
• E. Write down an example of two contrasting costs
  that have been given.
• F. Write down two phrases which make the article
  sound critical of lavish school proms?
• G. Which famous fairy tale is being alluded to
  with the phrase You shall go to the ball?

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Section A - Activity 2
You are to produce a summary of the previous
newspaper report. You must use your own words as
far as possible.
Sighthill pupils turn down lavish school prom
Newspaper report
The Scotsman newspaper, 17th June 2013
Your summary
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What we have just learned
Newspaper article checklist

• Writing is set out in columns
• A headline is used, sub-heading too
• The article is about real people and places
• Statistics often appear in parenthesis ( )
• Interviews with people are presented using
• Dramatic language may be used
• Paragraphs are quite short

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Section A - Activity 3
Denotation and Connotation
The additional meaning(s) associated with a word.
The basic meaning of a word
A. What connotations are created by the word
chums ? B. Find a more basic word or phrase for
shelling out.
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End of Section A
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Section B Persuasive Writing
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There are 3 activities to complete in Section B
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Section B - Activity 1
Read the article which follows. It expresses an
opinion on reality television.
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A Curse of cruelty T.V.!
Shows such as The Weakest Link have all garnered
huge success by creating a modern theatre of
cruelty in which contestants are humiliated - and
coarsened audiences laugh at their expense. Some
programmes, such as The Jerry Springer Show, seem
deliberately to dehumanise them. The schedules
are dotted with films about men and women with
diseases or disabilities, who are treated like
freaks. We are living in the era of "Mean TV".
These are forums sustained by the overweening
modern obsession with celebrity, in which people
of little talent make fools of themselves chasing
a hopeless dream. The best programmes - and
there are many - prove that the skills which
informed programme making in the Sixties are
still there. The brilliance of The Apprentice
turns each Wednesday night into an event. The
glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing warms
our winter Saturday nights and has been sold
around the world, topping the ratings everywhere.
Yes, these are reality shows, but they are also
beautifully produced. So the good news for my
daughter and her young contemporaries is that
great programmes are still being made. All the
medium needs to do for its survival is to restore
respect. Respect for the people who take part in
programmes, respect for the standards of honesty
and integrity and, above all, respect for the
audiences. Only then will the television industry
regain our respect, and the pride of place in our
lives it had, back in the dawn of television time
40 years ago. Ignominiously shameful,
embarrassing ChildLine free and confidential
telephone service for young people in distress
The Daily Mail, April 2008
Back in 1968, when I started out, there were only
three channels, no satellites or downloads, no
YouTube, no day-time television, no naked bodies,
no chat shows.   Since then I've had huge fun
working in front of and behind the cameras. My
job has taken me behind the scenes of great and
glorious events, into hidden places and remote
hide-outs, and I've met heroes, villains and the
funny, compassionate "ordinary" people of
Britain.   How radically television has
changed. Rude, brusque interviewers, humiliating
formats and unfair editing often reveal a
contempt for programme-makers' subjects and for
their viewers. Take Britain's Got Talent. Here
we saw wannabe performers ranging from the
brilliant to the absurd. Some are treated with
compassion other were booted off ignominiously.
While I find myself horribly mesmerised by the
most grotesque - and least talented - acts, I
wonder why it has to have this edge of
cruelty. Is it just coincidence that bullying is
the biggest single problem children bring to
ChildLine, with 37,000 calls from deeply
distressed victims last year alone? Bullying
flourishes not just in schools but on our
screens, and it's glorified. Once it would not
have been tolerated.
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Section B - Activity 1
A Write a short summary (2 or 3 sentences) of the
writers argument. B Look at paragraphs 1 and 2.
How is the writers argument introduced?
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Section B - Activity 2
A Identify the key points, where they are made
Paragraph Key Point(s) Position in paragraph (e.g. start, middle, end)



B For each point, what evidence has been used by
the writer?
C Is every point made by the writer negative?
D Does this strengthen his/her argument?
Explain.
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Section B - Activity 3
Rhetorical devices are features of language that
aim to be persuasive.
A Match the examples to the devices, and then
write a definition explaining the meaning of
each one.
To stop the cruelty, we have to stop watching
Television can be terrific or just trash.
The audience howl at the judges brutal comments.
How would you feel in that situation?
If we continue to watch these programmes
Imagine this happening to a member of your family.
(1) sometimes entertaining, (2) exciting or (3)
simply embarrassing
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B For each rhetorical device, refer back to the
article and find one example of each device.
C Write a sentence or two explaining the effect
that the writer wants to have on the reader.
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End of Section B
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S2 Homework Task - September
Checklist
Section A
Section B
Activity 1
Activity 1
Produce a summary
Produce a summary
Activity 2
Activity 2
Answer questions
Key points
Activity 3
Activity 3
Connotation questions
Rhetorical devices
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End of homework!