Author: Matthew McDonald

Language Analysis: Persuasive Techniques

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Persuasive Language and Techniques

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You will need to choose (or will be assigned) one of the following persuasive devices. Your task will be to create a poster to explain what is technique is and how it works. These techniques will form much of the METALANGUAGE of language analysis – the vocabulary that you will need to draw upon when analysing and explaining a piece of writing.

  1. Facts and Statistics
  2. Anecdotal Evidence
  3. Hypothetical Evidence
  4. Expert Evidence
  5. Attacks and Ridicule
  6. Clichés
  7. Generalisations
  8. Hyperbole/Exaggeration
  9. Humour
  10. Logic and Reason
  11. Repetition
  12. Rhetorical Questions
  13. Sensationalism
  14. Figurative Language (Similes and Metaphors)
  15. Figurative Language (Alliteration)
  16. Emotive Language
  17. Inclusive Language
  18. Exclusive Language
  19. Formal Language
  20. Informal/Colloquial Language
  21. Appeal to Fear
  22. Appeal to Safety
  23. Appeal to Patriotism/Nationalism
  24. Appeal to the Hip Pocket/Economic Concerns
  25. Appeal to Tradition
  26. Appeal to Family Values

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You will need to use Part 3 of your Using Language to Persuade textbook to complete this task, and you may need to undertake a bit of additional research online.

After selecting your Persuasive Technique, you will now need to create a POSTER that explains WHAT the technique is, WHY a person would use it (i.e. it’s effect) and HOW it can be used (i.e. provide an example). Your final poster should adopt a structure similar to this:

You will then need to submit your completed poster via Showbie as an A4 sized PDF document in a LANDSCAPE orientation.

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Homework: ‘I Have a Dream’

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The American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential and powerful public speakers of the twentieth century. His most famous speech was delivered at the Million Man March in 1963. You will probably recognise it:

URL: http://youtu.be/1UV1fs8lAbg

Click here for the full text of Martin Luther King’s speech.

After watching Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, you will need to go through it again and find both an EXAMPLE of each of the following techniques and EXPLAIN WHY each one is persuasive:

  1. patriotism
  2. inclusive language
  3. symbolism
  4. metaphor
  5. repetition
  6. emotive language

 

 

 

Preparing for Assessment Task 1

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By now you should be well into your preparation for the first Assessment Task and should have a clear idea of what you need to be working on in order to perform your best. All of the materials outlined below have been made available to you over the past several weeks – make sure you are using them.

Please remember to keep posting your work to the relevant Showbie assigment as a PDF document only so that I can return feedback to you as quickly as possible. Details of how to sign up to or access Showbie can be found in this post: Showbie

 

1. Still Developing Ideas regarding the Key Themes of the Novel.

If you are still at this stage then you have a lot of work ahead of you. The best course of action will be to start by revise some of the most widely applicable stories in the novel:

  • ‘A Temporary Matter’
  • ‘Interpreter of Maladies’
  • ‘The Third and Final Continent’

You will also need to know one or two other stories in detail. Select the ones that you feel you know the best/are most comfortable and familiar with. ‘This Blessed House’, ‘Mr Pirzada Comes to Dine’ and ‘Sexy’ can work quite well.

To revise these stories you can use the following resources:

  1. Student slides and materials from oral presentations
  2. Slides on A Temporary Matter
  3. Padlet Materials on the Motif of Food
  4. Basic Understanding: Comprehension Questions
  5. More Advanced: Discussion Questions

There are also further resources on the ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ STL Link page: ‘Interpreter of Maladies’

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2. Assistance required with Structuring an Essay.

Make sure you have gone through the sample essays carefully and completed the associated activities: Sample Essays and Incorporating Quotes

You may find this break-down and explanation of one of the sample paragraphs useful in terms of identifying the key structural elements required by a strong essay (click for a larger version):

Make use of the text response essay materials on STL Link: Planning a Text Response Essay

Revise the structure of an essay:

Introduction

  • Include the title of the stories and the author.
  • Refer to key words and concepts from the essay topic.
  • Present a clear contention that provides a direct response to the essay topic/question.
  • Provide some contextual background (give an overview of the text as it relates to this topic).
  • Present some reasons to support your contention (i.e. a guide to the ideas explored in your following body paragraphs).

Body Paragraphs (at least 3 or 4)

  • Begin with a clear topic sentence which presents the argument/idea which the paragraph will explore.
  • Body paragraphs must contain evidence (quotes). These will provide the backbone for your analysis. All quotes must be fully incorporated.
  • There should be reference to and evidence from at least two stories in each paragraph.
  • End with a linking sentence which summarises your argument. This should include a reference to what the author’s intention/message/ideas are. Key terms should be used.

Conclusion

  • Restates your contention, linking it back to the overarching essay topic (use key terms).
  • Summarise the main points discussed in your above body paragraphs.
  • Provide a broader answer to the topic, commenting upon the broader message that the author is trying to communicate.
  • Leave a lasting impression in relation to language and ideas. It can be good to incorporate a key quote from the novel.

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3. Developing an Understanding of Essay Writing.

If you are feeling confident enough to complete an essay, but still need extra guidance in planning and generating ideas, then make sure you use the Guided Text Response Essay activity to gain some extra practice.

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4. Editing and Reviewing Key Essay Writing Techniques

Make sure you are familiar with embedding quotes: Sample Essays and Incorporating Quotes

Remember that, by this point, your essays must include the following:

  • A topic sentence that outlines the IDEA or ARGUMENT that you will be exploring in this paragraph. If you have a tendency to simply retell the story, try to avoid references to specific stories in your topic sentence (or the following sentence) – begin by explaining the IDEA before you jump to the examples.
  • Several FULLY INCORPORATED QUOTES in every body paragraph. This is not negotiable – it must be done in every body paragraph.
  • Follow up each quote, example, or reference to a story with YOUR OWN ANALYSIS/EXPLANATION of what the author is trying to explore/explain/reveal to the reader.
  • AT LEAST TWO stories should be discussed in each body paragraph.
  • Your paragraph should conclude with a Linking Sentence that explains what the AUTHOR’S PURPOSE was in doing whatever you have just been discussing (i.e. there should be at least one reference to ‘Lahiri’ in every body paragraph).

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5. Writing Practice Essays

Use the topics which have been made available on the blog to plan, write and edit your own responses. This is the best possible practice for the upcoming assessment task and where you will ideally be at this stage. You can find practice topics in the following posts:

There are also a series of practice questions here that you can choose from: interpreter_of_maladies_practice_essay_questions

When you complete an essay, mark yourself against the Year 11 Text Response Essay Assessment Sheet and see if  you can make any improvements. Then pass it on to me for feedback.

If  you are confident with you ability to write a well-structured essay under timed conditions (this confidence can only come after having completed at least two practice essays under timed conditions as part of your revision) a good revision technique is to choose an essay topic and plan the ‘skeleton’ of an essay, including a brief introduction, topic sentences and dot-points of quotes and analysis for each body paragraph.

 

 

Sample Essays and Incorporating Quotes

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Sample Essays

Here are copies of the high-quality student essays that we studied in class. You can access both an unhighlighted copy to complete the activity with, and a highlighted copy to compare with your own results.

Sample Essay 1

Sample Essay 2

  • Highlighted Copy: TBC

Activity

Read each essay carefully, and then take out four different coloured highlighters.

  1. In the first colour, highlight all references to KEY TERMS, WORDS AND IDEAS (including their synonyms) in the essay’s introduction.
  2. In the second colour, highlight the MOST IMPORTANT SENTENCES in each body paragraph. These should be the sentences which set up the key ideas/arguments that the paragraph will explore.
  3. In the third colour, highlight any QUOTES (note: only highlight the quotes themselves, NOT  the entire sentence).
  4. In the fourth colour, track the development of the WRITER’S IDEAS (i.e. the student’s ideas) as they develop through each body paragraph/the essay. This is not simply where they make reference to a story, but where they offer an interpretation or conclusion about the author’s intention.

Vocabulary: As you are highlighting the essay, make a GLOSSARY of any useful vocabulary that you come across. Include definitions of any words that you are not 100% familiar with, and pay close attention to any LINKING WORDS that the writer uses.

 

 

Incorporating Quotes

By year 11 is essential that you are fluently incorporating all quotes that you use in your essay. An examiner will give no leniency to sloppy writing and perceived unfamiliarity/uncertainty with a text that you have studied.

It is evident that many of you need to further develop this skill. This skill was introduced in year 7, and was expected to be embedded by the end of year 8. Therefore, your first point of reference will be the Year 8 Essay Writing Guide (click here to access it). Scroll  down and go through the section ‘It’s Elementary: Finding and Using Quotes’ carefully. Pay particular attention to the embedded Prezi, which explains the process of finding and incorporating quotes through using examples from The Ghost’s Child (while the specific examples are not relevant/more basic than what is expected at year 11, it nevertheless illustrates the necessary skills).

This next document will then give you some examples of acceptable and unacceptable quoting and includes some activities that build upon your study of Interpreter of Maladies. Read it carefully, use it to review your own previous work, and then complete the activities at the end:

 

Text Response Essay Practice Topics

Below are some options for further practice in essay writing. The more you write, the more  you improve, as long as you take the time to plan and review your work, with close attention paid to responding to previous feedback.

Topic 1: Jhumpa Lahiri has said: “the characters I’m drawn to all face some barrier of communication.” How are communication barriers explored in Interpreter of Maladies?

Topic 2: What are the roles and significance of rituals in Lahiri’s stories? Pay attention to both the rewards and drawbacks that maintaining long-established rituals brings to the characters.

Topic 3: ‘In many of these stories, it is the final sentence which leaves the reader with something both profound and troubling.’ To what extent to you agree with this statement?

Topic 4: The narrator of ‘The Third and Final Continent’ ends his story with the statement: ‘Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept.’ In what ways are Lahiri’s characters bewildered?

Topic 5: How does Lahiri explore the importance of families in Interpreter of Maladies?

 

When approaching each topic:

  1. Identify the Key Words in the essay topic. What do they mean in relation to the text?
  2. Find the evidence (both ideas, stories and quotes) that will form the basis of your response.
  3. Find ideas the connect different stories (i.e. find stories that share similar ideas/themes/symbolism/etc). Make sure that you pay close attention to key terms.
  4. Use your answers to Steps 2 and 3 to create a detailed, dot-point essay plan.
  5. Write your essay.
  6. Review your essay, paying close attention to your use of structure, topic sentences, quotes and vocabulary.

 

 

Showbie

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We are going to trial the use of Showbie, and online work submission system, to assist with the submission and provision of feedback on some of your written work. Showbie can be accessed via  their website (http://www.showbie.com/) or via their iPad app.

You will need to sign up to Showbie and create a student account. Please use your real name, your school email and the below class code to join our VCE English group. Please choose a password that you will be able to remember.

Our class code is: 9G2K6

Please note that this code is for our class only (ENG-11-C1).

Please submit your practice paragraphs/essay that you have been completing on the topic ‘Lahiri features food in her stories to reflect her characters and their lives.’ Discuss. through Showbie by the end of school this Friday 7 March. I will aim to send you feedback via the Showbie app.

If you want to submit hand-written work instead, please hand it to me in person during class time or when I am in my office.

 

 

Padlet link for food essay research; Slides on ‘The Third and Final Continent’; Essay Materials

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Padlet Wall: Role of Food in IOM

Below  is the link for the Padlet wall where you will be posting the results of your research into the role of food in the various stories in Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. This is in preparation for a practice essay on the topic: ‘Lahiri features food in her stories to reflect her characters and their lives.’ Discuss.

 

Third and Final Continent Slides

If you would like to download a copy of the slides from today’s class (going through the key quotes of the final part of ‘The Third and Final Continent’, with a focus on the process of assimilation and the growth of the narrator and Mala’s relationship), you can access them here:

 

Planning Resources

When planning an essay response, you will need to:

  1. Identify the key terms of the essay topic.
  2. Use these key terms to turn the essay topic into a series of questions.
  3. Use these questions to brainstorm what will go into each paragraph.

Once you have an understanding of the essay topic and a general plan for the focus of each body paragraph, you will need to plan your response in detail to ensure that you have a clear argument/focus  for each paragraph and adequate evidence.

When planning your response, you may wish to use this template as a way of organising your ideas and notes:

 

Sample Paragraph

We will be studying some sample essays next week. In the mean time, you can access a sample essay paragraph of a previous high-quality student response in the below document. Pay close attention to the structure of the paragraph and how quotes have been incorporated:

 

 

 

IoM Writing Practice

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Essay Practice

The first Assessment Task for Year 11 VCE English will be a text response essay. You will have a double period in which to write an essay in response to an unseen topic. You will not be permitted to make reference to any notes, electronic devices or books, including your novel.

It is highly recommended that you take time over the coming week to practice your essay writing. It is therefore encouraged in the strongest possible terms that you complete the below task.

Select one of the following topics and write two TEEL paragraphs in response, including reference to ‘The Third and Final Continent’:

  1. ‘Lahiri’s stories all have, at their core, a tone of despair.’ Discuss in relation to two or more stories from Interpret of Maladies.
  2. Changing one’s life almost always comes at a cost. Discuss.
  3. It is those who leave their homeland who struggle most in Interpreter of Maladies. Discuss.
  4. ‘Lahiri’s stories show that all people face challenges no matter where they live in the world.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement?
  5. ‘Lahiri’s stories show that all relationships are fraught with difficulties.’ To what extent do you agree?
  6. How does Lahiri explore the concept of loneliness in Interpreter of Maladies?

 

Guided Essay

The below document will help guide you through a full text response essay on the topic: ‘It is impossible to bridge the gap between two people.’  Discuss.

The document takes you through the key terms, ideas and stories, and gives you a model that you can use to help plan and write a full-length response:

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Comprehension and Discussion Questions

If you want further guidance with any of the stories, the below document has a series of comprehension questions that will take you through each of the stories. The document includes three sections: (1) A general overview of short stories, their characteristics and a general guide to analysis; (2) a series of relatively basic/straightforward questions to ensure comprehension of key story details; and (3) a series of more complex questions on each story to prompt further reflection on the key themes and ideas associated with each story.

The following document contains a different, longer set of discussion questions for each short story, with each one building towards a writing task.

 

 

Notes from Group Oral Presentations

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Here are the slides and summary notes from each group’s presentation on an Interpreter of Maladies short story:

 

A Real Durwan

 

Sexy

  • Slides: NONE PROVIDED
  • Notes: NONE PROVIDED

 

Mrs Sen’s

 

This Blessed House

 

The Treatment of Bibi Haldar

 

 

 

Work for Week 4: Group Presentations; The Danger of a Single Story

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You will need to complete the following 2 tasks by the beginning of Week 5 (Monday 24 February):

  1. Interpreter of Maladies Group Exercise: Oral Presentation on a Story
  2. The Danger of a Single Story: Video and Questions

Completing both of these exercises will require work to be done both inside and outside of class, so organise both your class and homework time accordingly.

Details of these exercises are found below. If a year 11 English teacher is taking your class, then you will be able to ask them for assistance. If the teacher is unable to help you, you should seek help from the other members of the class. Finally, if neither of these options work, you can contact me by email, but be aware that my ability to respond will be limited, particularly in the latter half of the week.

 

Interpreter of Maladies Group Exercise

You can download these instructions as a PDF here: IoM Group Exercise 2014

 

The Danger of a Single Story

The following TED talk is by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. It is an insightful and thought-provoking look at the role of literature, and provides a fantastic context for our study of the Lahiri’s short story collection Interpreter of Maladies.

Watch the following TED talk (it runs for about 20 minutes) and then answer the questions that follow.

 

  1. Adiche read only books written by British writers as a young child. How did this impact on her view of literature and the world?
  2. Adiche’s flatmate had a single story of Africa. Identify and outline what this mindset consisted of and then discuss how such a mindset limited the flatmate in their understanding of Africa.
  3. How are ‘single stories’ created? What role does ‘power’ play in the creation of those stories?
  4. Why does Adiche introduce Mourid Barghouti’s viewpoint on single stories and dispossession (how we “Start” a story)?
  5. Why do the audience applaud and laugh when Adiche uses the “American Physco” example?
  6. Reflecting on your own world, identify a ‘single story’ that you are presented with, ‘buy into’ and engage with. Outline the single story and then tell it from another point of view so that you have a “different” story.
  7. Adiche claims that a “single story” robs “people of dignity”. She then suggests that we have an “equal humanity” and that a “single story” focusses on our differences and not our similarities. What do you think will be the similarities between the people in our texts from other cultures and yourself? What human traits do you think you will all share?

 

 

Essay Writing Practice: Paragraphs

You may wish to use some time this week to gain some more practice in essay writing (remember that the first assessment task will be in week 7).

At this point this is not mandatory, but if you know you need extra practice, then take the initiative and set aside some homework time to complete one or more TEEL paragraphs, using the stories we have studied and which you are using for your Group Exercise presentation.

You may want to use one of the following topics as a starting point:

  • Alienation is a common result of migration. Discuss.
  • What do Lahiri’s stories suggest is important and valuable to people?
  • Lahiri’s stories show the importance of communication in relationships. Discuss.
  • “She guessed that he was used to it now, to the sound of a woman crying.” the women in the collection seem to struggle more than men. Is this how you see the stories?
  • The settings of Lahiri’s storeis are crucial in helping us understand their key concerns. Do you agree?
  • “Tell me a secret. I want to know.” To what extent do the secrets the characters keep affect their lives?

 

 

 

‘Interpreter of Maladies’

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Use the story ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ to work through the below activities (they can also be downloaded as a PDF below, or clicked to enlarge). Record your answers in detail in your exercise books, and remember to keep a record of any useful quotes that you come across while working through the story.

 

Following in the footsteps of the Das family and Mr Kapasi, you have decided to journey to the fabled Sun Temple of Konarak. Your journey begins with a long, bumpy car ride through the Indian countryside. In an effort to pass the time, you pull out your notebook and begin writing…Arriving at the Sun Temple, you discover that there are no maps left. The only one available was once the property of an aquaintence (and possible stalker) of the tour guide Mr Kapasi. Search through your novel and answer the questions raised. You will need to provide a fair bit of detail, answering each one in a paragraph and using quotes to support your claims.

The day is over and it’s time for the long journey back from the Temple. Reflecting on the day that’s been, you decide to get a bit creative. Pulling out your trusty notebook one last time, you begin to think about the complicated problems facing Mr and Mrs Das and Mr Kapasi, and complete one of the following…

 

You can download the activities as a PDF here: ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ Activities.