A load of pony?

Surprisingly not an April Fool... A business man is developing cash machines which issue instructions in a variety of languages,dialects and accents including Cockney English and Gaelic (Scottish).

Just make sure you keep your Huckleberry Finn (pin) secret when getting out your sausage and mach (cash). Read the full article here.

April Fools

Shakespeare loved a fool. This article from the BBC News Magazine explores modern equivalents, inlcuding Homer Simpson and Frank Gallagher from Shameless. Read it here.

Enjoying reading stories? It's as easy as learning your (Plan) ABC...

The Guardian newspaper has an article about Plan B's recent speech about inspiring children to enjoy reading. Find the article here. Alternatively, watch/listen to Plan B here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhtAfIw4qJY&feature=player_embedded&noredirect=1

Three new 'Gatsby' productions coming your way!

Three new adaptations of The Great Gatsby are set to run this year in theatres across the country. According to BBC News,  the rising popularity of F.Scott Fitgerald's 1920s novel and interest in its storyline is "thanks in part to a new spin-off novel that traces the fortunes of the character Daisy Buchanan's daughter Pamela."

For further details, follow the link above.

One to watch

AS English Literature students who studied Graham Greene's Brighton Rock may be interested to know that BBC2 are showing Rowan Joffe's film adaptation on 4th February at 9pm.

A review of the film can be read here:
http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/89165/brighton-rock.html

Youth sociolect...'nuff said, innit?

From The Guardian's Radio & TV blog comes an interesting article about 'teen speak' and youth sociolect - from the perspective of the scriptwriters of E20 and Skins. Read it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/jan/24/teens-tv-language

'Politics and the English Language': some "rules" to improve the accuracy of your writing

The Spring term marks the start of Unit 2 for AS courses, and Unit 4 for A2 courses - in other words: coursework time. English Literature courses will require you to write analytical academic essays and this can sometimes be daunting for A level students (the word count alone is scary for some of you at least!). A failsafe way of impressing the examiner - and your teacher - is to use appropriate language, and to make your writing clear and accurate.

In 1946, George Orwell wrote an essay entitled 'Politics and the English Language' in which he rallies against poor, inaccurate writing. AS/A2 English Literature students may wish to read this at it contains some helpful 'rules' when writing essays. AS English Language students may want to read it purely from the stance of the prescriptive v. descriptive debate surrounding language use.

You can read George Orwell's essay here. It makes for very interesting reading...

The Bible...in Jamaican patois

Can you read this? It's the Bible translated into Jamaican patois (Luke 1 verses 26-28). Read about its development here (link to BBC News Magazine page).

New words, or 'buzzwords' of 2011?

Neologisms and collocations ahoy! Read Charlie Brooker's article in The Guardian where he writes about the 'buzzwords' of 2011. It makes a for nice little revision reading for AS English Language students (morphology, semantics, lexis...need I say more?)

A festive article about language change

Sandi Toksvig has written an interesting article in The Telegraph about linguistics and language change - and throws in a little festive cheer as well. Read it here.

How to...study a novel (prose fiction)

English Literature students may find the following resource helpful for exam revision when studying prose texts. The Open University has designed a very accessible online course (it's free!) called 'Approaching Prose Fiction' and is useful for understanding the demands of AO2 - structure, form and language. I would advise you to pay particular attention to the following topics:

2.3 Narrative perspective

2.4 Setting

2.5 Characterisation

2.6 Genre

2.7 Style and language

 

A nice little (English-related) stocking filler...

Season's greetings! It's not long now until the end of term, but if you're stuck for a present for a student who studies A2 English Language (or AS if you're forward-thinkers), you might want to consider buying David Crystal's new book, The Story of English in 100 Words. Described as "an eye-opening tour of the English Language through the ages from Britain's leading linguistic expert", the book aims to explore the history of the English Language in an accessible manner. This topic is particularly useful for A2 students currently studying unit 3, 'Language Diversity'.

The Daily Mail has recently written a review of Crystal's new offering, and you can read this here.


The Story of English in 100 Words is available now in all good bookshops priced £12.99.

emagazine A level English Language Conference 2012

Attention all AS and A2 English Language students! Emagazine (English and Media Centre) have just released the date for their next conference for students of English. It takes place on 6th March 2012 and as always, will be packed full of relevant and interesting seminars related to English Language. Speakers include Professor David Crystal, who will be discussing Pragmatics, and Dr Marcello Giovanelli who will be looking at 'Texts, Modes and Meanings'.

For further details, incuding the programme of events, please follow this link.
Please let your teacher know if you would be interested in attending.

In other (related news), the December issue of emagazine will be in the library - and available online - very soon.

Whose font is it, anyway?

When I decided to set up this blog, I agonised over which fonts to use for the headings, blog posts etc. No, I really did. But why? Does the type of font you use say something about you as a person - does it affect how you gauge a business' credentials? How did different fonts come into use? I am fascinated about these aspects of language. If you are too, it may be worthwhile listening to the BBC Radio 4 programme, Book of the Week, which explores the history of the font and the people responsible for them via Simon Garfield's new book Just My Type. 


You can listen to this programme - and others in the series - via BBC i-Player (follow the link above).

Are you a writer? Do you dream of becoming a journalist..?

Why not enter The Guardian's blogger competition for student writers: tell them how you think higher tuition fees will change student behaviour. More details can be found by following this link.

Closing date: 4th December, 5pm

Language and Gender

Next week (w/c 7th November), AS English Language students will be looking at theories and concepts related to Language and Gender as part on their Unit 1 Presenting Self exam topic. Those students who would like a comprehensive introduction to this topic, should head to the Emagazine - English and Media Centre - website and view the emagclips featuring Professor Deborah Cameron - an eminent academic of language and gender at the University of Oxford. Catch these short videos whilst you can! (also available via Coulsdon's library pages - following the link on Moodle).

AS Language students would be wise to remember that their first Moodle assessment is due on 14th November and will involve researching theories and concepts related to Language and Gender - this would certainly be an excellent place to start...

RIP RP

With a little help from Emagazine - well, their Facebook page to be precise -  I have recently discovered an excellent language website by Alison Ross called RIP RP. AS and A2 English Language students may already be familiar with this name as Alison is one of the authors of your Edexcel Student Book and is an Edexcel examiner (for those of you who have looked at child language acquisition transcripts and recordings, Alison also goes under the guise of Techno nanny..!)

Alison's website is still in its infancy, but it looks really interesting as it focuses on news and issues related to language study. Upcoming topics include idiolect and non-fluency features - and information related to Unit 2 of English Languge (coursework) which we will focus on in the summer term.

TOWIE: It's educational (linguistically speaking, of course...)

It's official. Watching TOWIE can be educational - or certainly insightful - from a linguistic perspective. A recent article in The Sun discusses TOWIE in relation to dialectal difference and the casts' use of spoken language. The article is written by Paul Kerswill, a professor of sociolinguistics at Lancaster University; you can read it here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3885529/TOWIEs-dialect-continues-a-lengthy-linguistic-tradition.html

AS English Language students will be studying 'Language and Region' after the half term break, as part of their exam unit, Presenting Self (section B).

Reminder: AS English Literature study day

Just a reminder to all AS English Literature students that the Edexcel study day takes place on Monday 21st November. Adrian Price has sent out a letter to all students with details of the event and timings. If you would like to attend, please speak to your teacher ASAP after the half term break, so your place can be reserved.

It costs £19 and you should bring your money along to the Finance Office before 14th November.
(Transport is free if you are able to meet us at East Croydon station at 09.45am.)

Michael Sheen plays Hamlet

A new adaptation of Hamlet opens on 28th October at the Young Vic, starring Michael Sheen as the tortured protagonist. Read his interview below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/23/michael-sheen-interview

The play runs until 21st January 2012