Create a 'Wordle' about yourself T1Wk5 Task Due 7/3

Two tasks this week:
1. Start reading a novel.  You have a reading assessment coming up which is worth level one credits.
2. Create a Wordle about yourself and display it on your blog.

What are your strengths? Interests? Personality traits?  Tell me in a Wordle.
A wordle is a word cloud (if you don't have a computer you can make a paper poster or pop in an make one during a break time) which you can generate on the Wordle website.
You type in a bunch of text and it will make the word picture for you (like our 4 C's posters around the school).  If you want some words to appear bigger in your word cloud, type them in the text box a few more times than the other words before creating your wordle.
I'll post some info up on how to get Wordle images to display on your blogs shortly.

Photography

So, for your instruction following task I've asked you to include photos if possible.

There are millions of photography help sites around on the net, so do a google search and find something that appeals to you.  This page has a basic Top Ten list of tips, which is a good place to start.
There are also some great tips on the blog 'A beautiful mess' and Elsie (who writes the blog) has recently posted up some 'tip' posts.  There's info on food photography, taking outfit photos, outdoor photography, photographing with back light and sun flare, and how to get great indoor photos.  These posts are quite short and include photos to help you understand what is being shared.

I find when I am taking pictures for my baking blog (which I share with my friend who used to teach English at AC too!) that taking them in a place with lots of natural light is best and to never use the flash on the camera (it makes ugly shadows on the food and the colour isn't right).

Think about the background of your picture too - we try to use nice papers and fabrics in the background of our pictures so it's not just the same boring old table visible.

Also, think about the composition of your picture.  Sometimes close up photographs of little details can be great - if your camera has a macro setting try using this :)

You can always try editing your photos before posting them up too.  Picasa is a great free programme you can download or Picnik is a great on-line site you can try out (not for long though, it's apparently moving).

Have fun!

Procrastination...

I thought this video would appeal to some of you as you are very refined in the art of procrastination!

Remember you have your 'How well can you follow instructions?' homework due on Wednesday 29th Feb.
I'm slowly getting through marking your Creative Writing pieces - sorry if you don't have a comment from me yet, it's been a busy week.  I aim to have them done before the weekend is through.  Speaking of which, have a great weekend!  See you Wednesday :)

How well can you follow instructions? T1W4 Due 29/2

Your task this week is to follow some instructions.
You need to find something like a recipe, some instructions on how to make some origami or something similar.  Why not make your family dinner one night or bake them a yummy treat?
The instructions need to be for something you've never made before and they can't be something simple like how to boil an egg or make toast! (show me them to get them approved if you are unsure.)

Your post needs to:
-Explain why you choose your particular instructions and where you got them from.
-Give the instructions.
-Have a photo of your finished product (and can include step by step photos if you can manage it).
-Summarise how you found everything - were the instructions hard to understand?  Did your finished product turn out as you had hoped?

I'll post up some photography tips later in the week :)

The picture is from my blog Baking Makes Things Better

Creative Writing T1W3 Task Due 22/2

This week you have to produce a piece of creative writing.
However, you need to use a dice (here's an online tool you can use) to help you decide what needs to be included in your creative writing from the lists below.

Roll one - Character:
1. A photographer
2. An alien from outer space
3. A homeless child
4. Your best friend
5. A famous pop star
6. A 93 year old woman

Roll two - Setting:
1. A wedding reception
2. A fancy restaurant
3. A shopping mall
4. At school
5. At a swimming pool
6. At a sports event

Roll three - Time:
1. After a big meal
2. After an argument
3. Late at night
4. During the first week of the school year
5. During a forest fire
6. During a concert

Roll four - Situation / Challenge:
1. An important decision needs to be made
2. A secret needs to be confessed to someone
3. Someone has found or lost something
4. Something embarrassing has just happened
5. A death has occurred
6. Someone feels like giving up

So, if I rolled the dice shown above, my story would: include a famous pop star, a shopping mall, take place during the first week back at school and something embarrassing would have happened to one of the characters.

Your piece of writing needs to be at least four decent sized paragraphs and needs to be completed before our class on Wednesday 22nd February.  You could post a paragraph or chapter up a day and keep your readers in suspense!

Also, if you haven't done so already, you need to follow this blog through your blogger account.  You can do this by scrolling down to your 'reading list' on the blogger dashboard page.  Click 'Add Blog' and type or paste in this blogs web address. 

Welcome to English in 2012!

Welcome back to AC and to English for 2012!

I'm so excited to continue teaching all the awesome people I already know from teaching 9IC and I am looking forward to getting to know all the new faces from 9IN.

So, it is the first proper week back and that also means it is your first week of homework.  Here's what you have to do...

1. Create a blog.
2. Send me the link - either leave a comment on this post with the link or email it to me.
3. Follow this blog.

If you already have a blog that was being used for English in 2011, it is on the 9IC blog list and you can still access it, then you do not need to start a new one or send me then link.  DO NOT DELETE YOUR OLD POSTS!

    4.  Write a post about your holidays.

• You need to include either a link (try make the link just a word that you can click that will take you somewhere else on the internet - for example, I went and saw Tin Tin in 3D during the holidays) or a picture.
• It needs to be at least 2 paragraphs.
• This needs to be completed by Wednesday 15th February.