Veni Vidi Vici...

Famous words uttered by the famous Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar...who can tell me the context behind this quote? Prize up for grabs...Hudders got fat from all the chocolate...


Well done on your 'Speeches' Unit. It was not an easy couple of tasks to start with, yet I thought the vast majority of conducted yourselves with aplomb. You embraced the tasks and many have been rewarded with marks that reflect your effort. One term's assessment's down, three and a wee bit to go...


We now begin our unit entitled, 'Conflicting Perspectives'.


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What is a conflicting perspective exactly?


Conflicting: a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.


Perspective: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.


So, by those definitions, we are studying the serious disagreements that characters in texts have regarding their attitudes towards things. While this is a relatively simple assertion and manner of speaking, it will do the job for now.


Initially, we will study a plot overview of Julius Caesar. You need to know and understand what happens in the play. Then - and only then - will you be able to identify which characters have 'conflicting perspectives' in the play. Interestingly, there is one character who has 'conflicting' views in his own mind.


Please take the time to read the booklet I will give you. It is a simple text to understand. It should spark ideas within you...


M


PS - Please also keep in mind that we will need to find our own additional texts to study for this unit. We'll do some texts that other classes WON'T be doing. I will leave it up to you guys to decide. We'll need one film, one short story, one novel and one poem. There can be other texts - we'll decide ourselves. Ideas anyone? It will not be 'The Hangover'...

Vidu's Sadat Paragraph

There are some changes I've made but this is a very good example of how the 'P' and 'A' of GOPAL have been facilitated cleverly by Vidu to hold a cogent and persuasive argument regarding Sadat...well done, Vidu!

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Anwar Sadat conveys unity predominantly through interactivity with the Israeli audience, impacting and engaging the audience of the Knesset, by using commonly believed justifications to back up his argument, and by instilling a sense of immediacy. Sadat uses the imperative and the second person “You, bewailing mother, you, widowed wife; you, the son who lost a brother or a father; you, all victims or wars” to interact with the audience and convey a sense of immediacy, the imagery sorrow [T1] is evident and through the repetition of “you” it is evident that Sadat is emphasizing that all have lost something in war. Imagery and accumulation such as “the plight of bloodshed, death, orphans, widowhood, family disintegration and the wailing of victims”  impact the beliefs held by the Israeli Knesset of warring, and highlights that warring has effectively hurt both the Israelis and the Arabs in numerous way. Through the use of biblical allusion “Gods teachings and commandments are love, sincerity, purity and peace” Sadat sets about justifying the necessity for peaceful unity through quoting the teaching of God, a figure that is central to both Israelis and Arabs beliefs irrespective of religion.

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 [T1]sorrowful imagery

M

Mike Z's Deane Paragraph

With a couple of minor changes, please read Mike's Deane paragraph. Very clever. See how instead of writing a whole paragraph about context, he actually incorporates it into the paragraph itself? Adds a level of cleverosity...

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Sir William Deane’s phlegmatic[T1]  tone encourages those affected to be amalgamated in their unity. Deane is concise and perspicuous, ensuring the audience is kept in captivation and is left with a positive elucidation. Deane advocates unity between those affected by the tragedy, quoting John Donne, a prominent writer of Literature, “As John Donne wrote, no man is an island. Anyone’s death diminishes us all because we are all involved in humanity.” This personification involves all of the audience and embroils them all in humanity, thereby unifying them. Through[T2]  the juxtaposition, “ Australia and Switzerland are on opposite sides of the globe…bring our countries closer together,” Deane contrasts the countries as being opposite to each other, yet the commonality of lives being lost brings them together, furthering[T3]  John Donne’s quote. William Deane’s speech is more relevant to us today than when it was made, as more Australians are travelling overseas more than ever before and the probability of something like this incident happening is more likely. Deane’s discourse can be paralleled to Paul Keating and Anwar Sadat’s, as they all speak in the name of those who have died and seek to aid the situation. In Sadat’s case he aspires to end the conflict and therefore prevent lives being lost and also talks about those who died. Deane and Keating both seek to leave those related to the victims at peace and to mourn their loss[T4] .

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 [T1]I know what you mean by this BUT phlegmatic – as a word – has connotations that he was unemotional. He was far from that. In fact, it was his calm yet emotional manner that made the speech all the more poignant.

 [T2]Two good points here.

 [T3]reiterating

 [T4]Good points.

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Well done, Mike.

Simon's Keating Paragraph

Have a read of how Simon has used his well-chosen quotes to weave a paragraph around the Keating speech...

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The “Unknown Soldier” represents all those soldiers that went to war and lost their lives fighting for their country. Paul Keating’s emotional speech on this offered a sense of closure, appealing to the many families that lost someone due to the war. Keating speaks of uniting as a country and honouring these men. He uses juxtaposition to essentially contrast what Australia got out of the war, and what was lost. “We have lost more than 100,000 lives and with them all their love of this country and all their hope and energy…we have gained a legend…a deeper understanding of what it is to be Australian.” Keating is directly engaging all Australians and reflecting upon patriotism, furthermore, he is uniting the audience and instilling pride and passion within them for their country. He promotes a higher sense of unity in the audience by using colloquial language to appeal to what it means to be Australian, and the legend the war heroes created. “To endure hardship, to show courage, to be bold as well as resilient, to believe in ourselves and to stick together,” is the language Keating uses to achieve this sense of patriotism. His speech is still convincing today because it typically refers to peace, and with the world that we live in, many people can relate to this theme. The speech is a constant reminder of the immense costs of war.

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It's not a perfect paragraph but it gives some of you an example of how to structure your body paragraphs. Well done, Simon.

M

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Week Three and Easy...like a bird

Week 3 Essay Topic

You will note how the previous essay topic is designed around unity - a thematic essay. Now we need to ensure that you have an understanding of audience.


"A truly eternal speech must use clever techniques and devices to ensure it appeals not only to the audience at the time, but also for audiences in the future."


Discuss this statement with reference to the speeches of Aung San Suu Kyi and Anwar Sadat.


M

But, Sir, it's only Week 2...

Yes, but you still have to write me an essay.

Sadat, Deane and Keating all speak about unity in various forms. 


How do they do this and why would their speeches have been convincing to both their intended audiences and modern audiences? (900 words)


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For the purposes of this question, discuss each speech in order (whichever order you like). While your essay in Week 5 will need more sophistication, we will tackle the structure of this in latter weeks.


This is to be completed in the double period on Wednesday, though you may like to start thinking about your content or similarities/differences in each speech.


M

It's essay as 1,2,3...

Hi Chris and all others who are looking for essay topics...which, by default, should be all of you in the next week or so...

Please look on pages 33-35 of your yellow booklet for seven past questions. They are all very good examples and there are even helpful annotations that will assist in your decoding of the questions and formulating an answer that is absolute and plenary in nature.

In response to a question another lad asked me today, please be aware that your opinions, while necessitating a certain uniformity, can also be more heterodox in nature. Challenge the norms of what everyone else thinks. Remember, in English, while there are certain immovable constancies, if you think you can prove something that you believe in an academic and cogent fashion, reach for the stars.

M

Nick of time...

Guys, please read the following as an excerpt from Nick's essay - well done to him on its composition. There were many part of his essay that were very good. Please read what he has written and then read my comments below.
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One of Sadat’s most memorable themes is the value of “permanent peace based on justice”. Sadat employs a range of rhetorical devices such as emotive language, repetition, enumeration, imagery and juxtaposition to ensure his audience is convinced of the value of “permanent peace based on justice” and remembers the idea. Words such as “annihilate”, “bereavement” and “rejection” are used to force his audience to experience how it feels to live without “permanent peace based on justice”. The repetition of the phrase emphasizes that this idea is one of his key concepts, and also allows the phrase to be brought up again in the audiences mind allowing the concept to ‘sink in’. Sadat also uses enumeration, structuring his arguments as “the first fact”, “the fifth fact” etc, and later, when stating his conditions for peace he uses “first, second, third”. This technique allows his audience to better follow his train of thought and clearly understand how he has come to these conclusions and making his argument seem more logical and correct. Also, by stating his arguments as a “fact” he gives them more authority. Lastly, Sadat uses imagery to portray two possible futures. One is of “the ruins of what mankind has built and the remains of the victims of mankind”; the other is of “a smile on the face of every child born on our land”. By juxtaposing such extreme vision Sadat forces his audience to agree with his pint by appealing to a common goal of a better future. Sadat ensures his audience remembers the idea of “permanent peace based on justice” by employing a number of rhetorical devices to ensure they both understand and agree with the idea.

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Some of you may have picked up on this but see how Nick has listed the techniques before going into more detail of his analysis? This is a no-no. Just have a little more contextual information at the beginning of your paragraphs (if you choose to structure your work in this way) and then get into your analysis.

Remember GOPAL? Don't worry about sticking to GOPAL perfectly but you must understand that each body paragraph (and they can be only a third of what Nick has done above) must be either thematic (that uses techniques in analysis) OR technique-based (which speaks about themes).

Looking closely at Nick's work again, I would prefer him not tohave used the word 'lastly'. I also think his final sentence is a little bland. Have another go, Nick?

Has anyone else got comments on what he's written?

Well done, Nick.

Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humor...

Who said the above? Prize for the winner...smart money's on Hudders...

I truly hope that you all enjoy your holidays and have some time with your family and friends. These holidays and your next three breaks need to be times when you unwind but must also stay focused on the task at hand. A two-week hiatus from your studies will wreak havoc with our carefully laid plains. Keep your work by your bedside, if it works for you, and just do fifteen minutes when you wake and fifteen minutes when you duck off to bed. That's your holiday work done!

Your tasks for the holidays (when completed) will position you all very well for not only this unit but also in terms of understanding the teacher-student relationship we will employ during the HSC to maximise our time together.

Without further ado...

1. You MUST MUST MUST have read the first 19 pages of your yellow speeches booklet. It is not only of massive benefit in terms of understanding what will be asked of you in your HSC assessments, it will also - as we have done before - offer you a wonderful vocabulary - remember how we had a similar kind of list for Satire? Highlight the keywords, it will help you for the next 12 months. 
2. Moving now to the green booklet (pages 13-18) you MUST MUST MUST have read and understood all the concepts within these pages. A couple of you have spoken to me about "finding techniques difficult". Indeed, I agree with you. I remember finding them difficult myself. This six-page piece of perfection clearly outlines the purposes of and devices used in rhetorical language (the basis of all oral language) and will signpost them for you in our set speeches.
3. Read (again, for some of you) the speeches by Paul Keating, Faith Bandler and Aung San Suu Kyi.
4. Read (again, for some of you) the notes from our green book on each of these three speeches.
5. Look at page 23 of your yellow booklet. This is (what we will call) a 'Table of Tidbits'. It will be your guide for each of the speeches. I saw Year 12 scholars studying these notes as they sat their trial HSC exams this year. They are gold-dust. Your penultimate task will be to fill out these forms for Sadat, Keating, Bandler and Suu Kyi. There is ONE table for each speaker. Please note that you will have these for the next 12 months - do them with diligence, precision and care.
6. Pages 32 will help you understand the universality of some of the speeches' ideas.
7. Pages 33-35 are past essay questions. The keener students among you may like to look at the sample answer (on pages 36-38) and write your own essay. I will be overseas all holidays but will mark your work upon my return.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

See you in two weeks.

M

 

Would the real Anwar Sadat please stand up?

And we're done with Anwar.

The reason why we have taken so long in going through his speech is simple. I truly believe that the mentality for your HSC revolves around the simple adage, 'give a man a fish, he eats for a day - teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime'. You are now armed with the ability to dissect a speech, to ponder its meaning and to understand its purpose.

We have tried to unfurl the speech the Egyptian President delivered to the Knesset in 1977. We have spoken at length about its context, tone, techniques, themes and objectives. We have acknowledged its passion and seen its repetitive mention of the term "permanent peace based on justice".

We must now look at the common themes for all the speeches. In viewing them and being able to deftly explicate them, we must also be able to talk about their universality as ideas.

I will put up another post before the holidays and your job will be to read it and complete the work that is explained within it.

Remember you have TWO booklets. The green-covered one is for us in 11E only. It is a quality handout that will give you a wonderful base upon which to build your knowledge of this unit. Please consider it somewhat of a 'vade mecum' for the contextual issues behind these speeches.

Please be aware that in Period 2, October 31st (Week 4 of Term 4) you will have your listening task. It will comprise excerpts from 2 or 3 of our set speeches (we will narrow these down for you closer to the date) and you will answer multiple choice and short-answer questions on their content. There will be no extended response or essay in this assessment. It is worth 7.5% of you HSC English mark. This might not seem like much but trust me, it adds up.

This means your knowledge of the speeches must be iron-clad. More solid than oak.

Gone are the holidays where you do no school work. Gone are the holidays where you leave things until the last minute. You MUST complete each and every one of the tasks I set you over the holidays in order to achieve in this unit.

If I was rating our start to this unit in class - I would give it 6.5/10. It is time for us to lift for our last 4 lessons of term and to head into the break with the desire to achieve.

M

I have a dream...

We now begin our study for your HSC English. Our first unit is 'Speeches'.

Essentially, it comprises seven famous historical speeches that have many overlapping themes. Their purposes are different. They are delivered in different manners to different audiences.

Your job will be to understand every facet of every speech. We - and later, the HSC markers - will want you to demonstrate your genuine engagement of a text's ideas and features. We want you to provide detailed analysis of the text. We want you to understand how a speaker has delivered their speech - what rhetorical devices have they used to engage their audiences? To what purpose? Finally, you will need to understand the context and history of the speeches AND acknowledge their ongoing relevance; their unerring value over time.

1. 1977 Anwar Sadat's 'Statement to the Knesset'
2. 1993 Paul Keating's 'Funeral Service of the Unknown Soldier'
3. 1994 Margaret Atwood's 'Spotty-Handed Villainesses'
4. 1995 Aung San Suu Kyi's 'Keynote Address at the Beijing World Conference on Women'
5. 1996 Noel Pearson's 'An Australian History For Us All'
6. 1999 Faith Bandler's 'Faith, Hope and Reconciliation'
7. 1999 Sir William Deane's 'On the occasion of an ecumenical service for the victims of the canyoning tragedy'

Your first task will be to read all seven of these speeches.

We will then analyse and annotate these speeches in class and there will be a definite emphasis on using your own ideas. This is your HSC. This is your future. Let's start well.

M

Let's Open The Satchel...

Take your marks. Set. Bang.

And we're away.

Welcome to an online brain-organising system. Welcome to a place where pennies drop. Welcome to a place where, just possibly, you may just find an answer to a question that has been lingering in the desolate recesses of your subconscious.

The purpose of this blog (prize for the person who tells me what 'blogging' is short for) is to provide an online opportunity for you to share your English work and have others attempt to take it to a new level.

We, as a learning team, should acknowledge (or at least be in the processes of understanding) the importance of literature. It is our written word that lingers in eternity and offers people a polished window into our brains and our souls. It shows what we think and what we cherish.

I stress the need for this forum to be a place of inclusion and inspiration. I stress the need for this forum to be a place of positivity and optimism, offering aegis and support for those whose opinions are laid bare for us all to benefit from.

In my posts, you will find some words are in bold. Good words, sophisticated words, key concepts. In your pursuit of excellence in English, each student must attempt to attain a level of expression that is multifaceted, highly developed and cogent. Take your readers on a journey that not only proves your argument but that is engaging and interesting. To do these things, you need to expand your vocabulary. It is paramount in your quest to improve.

The visible posts will be limited to 10. However, in the 'Units' tab on the right hand side, we will organise our previous posts into sections that will be easy to navigate. It will be easy for you to find some inspiration on a topic you are having trouble with.

Basically, you will be asked to do three main things:

1. Write a response to a 'post' that is put up.
2. Ask questions about the 'post' that is put up.
3. Write your own 'post'.

I will act as the mailman, posting and delivering. However, I will not wear a uniform. Just imagine I look like this.

Again, I say welcome. As somewhat of a mantra for 'It's Called A Satchel', think about these words...

"Literature has been the salvation of the damned,

literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed despair and

can perhaps...save the world."

John Cheever, American author

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Let us improve and learn together.

M