Exam

Good luck for tomorrow, and all the best to you.

Here are some pages that apparently some of you didn't have answers for.

If you have any other issues, feel free to comment below

Exam

Dear grade 8s

I will be posting some information to help you with studying for English this evening. If you have any questions that you need help with, please post them in the comments section below and I'll deal with them tonight

The War of the Worlds

How do we know that is true??

A quick Google search for "conspiracy theories" will reveal a whole host of theories where people say that what we are told by the media and our governments  is far from the truth.
Did Apollo 11 really land on the moon?

Although... if it's just a load of bogus, then...

So it's probably safe to assume that it DID happen.
For the most part, we pay attention to what our governments and the media tell us. We need to, or there's be chaos (madness).

But what happens when the media tells you something, that can't possible be true... but SEEMS to be?

What if a zombie apocalypse was reported on the news in your city? What would you do?
What if aliens started invading??

For this term's project, you and one or two friends will have to write your own dialogue and perform it for the class. Imagine you heard this broadcast on the radio. There is no internet or TV, so you can't just google the information to see if it's true or not.
First, you need to listen to the radio broadcast of War of the Words, which was released in the 1930's.

The original radio broadcast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWD9Q6klzco

It may help you to read along while they speak. Here is a link to the script:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/mars/wow.htm


THE MUSICAL
(If you would prefer, you can listen to the story in this format, but this version is much longer and did not release the same hysteria as the original play.)
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk2FzqxV-oE

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RoPtTEswWM




Below is an article published in the New York Times:

The New York Times

---

Radio Listeners in Panic,
Taking War Drama as Fact

---

Many Flee Homes to Escape `Gas Raid From Mars'--Phone Calls Swamp Police at Broadcast of Wells Fantasy

---

A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners between 8:15 and 9:30 o'clock last night when a broadcast of a dramatization of H. G. Wells's fantasy, "The War of the Worlds," led thousands to believe that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and destruction in New Jersey and New York.

The broadcast, which disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic jams and clogged communications systems, was made by Orson Welles, who as the radio character, "The Shadow," used to give "the creeps" to countless child listeners. This time at least a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria.

In Newark, in a single block at Heddon Terrace and Hawthorne Avenue, more than twenty families rushed out of their houses with wet handkerchiefs and towels over their faces to flee from what they believed was to be a gas raid. Some began moving household furniture.

Throughout New York families left their homes, some to flee to near-by parks. Thousands of persons called the police, newspapers and radio stations here and in other cities of the United States and Canada seeking advice on protective measures against the raids.

The program was produced by Mr. Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air over station WABC and the Columbia Broadcasting System's coast-to-coast network, from 8 to 9 o'clock.

The radio play, as presented, was to simulate a regular radio program with a "break-in" for the material of the play. The radio listeners, apparently, missed or did not listen to the introduction, which was: "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in `The War of the Worlds' by H. G. Wells."

They also failed to associate the program with the newspaper listening of the program, announced as "Today: 8:00-9:00--Play: H. G. Wells's `War of the Worlds'--WABC." They ignored three additional announcements made during the broadcast emphasizing its fictional nature.

Mr. Welles opened the program with a description of the series of which it is a part. The simulated program began. A weather report was given, prosaically. an announcer remoarked that the program would be continued from a hotel, with dance music. for a few moments a dance program was given in the usual manner. Then there was a "break-in" with a "flash" about a professor at an observatory noting a series of gas explosions on the planet Mars.

News bulletins and scene broadcasts followed, reporting, with the technique in which the radio had reported actual events, the landing of a "meteor" near Princeton N. J., "killing" 1,500 persons, the discovery that the "meteor" was a "metal cylinder" containing strange creatures from Mars armed with "death rays" to open hostilities against the inhabitants of the earth.

Despite the fantastic nature of the reported "occurrences," the program, coming after the recent war scare in Europe and a period in which the radio frequently had interrupted regularly scheduled programs to report developments in the Czechosolvak situation, caused fright and panic throughout the area of the broadcast.

You can read the rest of this report at:
http://www.war-of-the-worlds.org/Radio/Newspapers/Oct31/NYT.html

The ADSF movie

What has been looked at 47 million times and was made by a possible idiot?

Have you heard of the ADSF movies on YouTube?

Once upon a time, not too long ago there was a young man. And he wanted to make animated videos for YouTube. But he couldn't draw and he wasn't famous.
Luckily, he didn't care.
So the young man hit the keyboard. Literally. He hit it. And the words
ADSF
appeared.
And so the name was born. From hitting a keyboard.

And now he's made several movies.
And they're not really like anything you've ever seen. But like I said.... he couldn't draw.
He still can't. However, now he IS famous!

ADSF movie 1

How to make your own blog

by special request: how to make your OWN blog!

If you are planning on creating your won blog, please post it in the comments. It would be nice if we could post all blogs on the sidebar of this page :)

go to:

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Blog-on-Blogger

I can has cheeseburger

In my continued attempts to educate you in all things internet, I was thoroughly mortified to discover that a terrifyingly large number of you don't know about the possible origin of the lolcat.

A lolcat is well, a cat you can lol at. (I hope you know what lol means.... if you don't, well..... then there really is very little hope for you: lol = laugh out loud)

I can has cheeseburger.com has become an institution.
Basically, people put funny captions on funny pictures of animals. At first, the site only had pictures of cats, but now it includes all sorts of other animals too. A large number of pics are lame and silly or don't make sense. But the site is addictive, and once you lol for the first time, you can expect to lose a large dose of your life to scrolling down that page, oogling  picture after picture.

Here is the site:
http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/lolcats?ref=navbar


Good luck doing your homework now!!

English weekly 3

What to study

English Weekly 3

1.       comprehension

                - quoting , synonyms, antonyms

2.       direct and reported speech

                - worksheet

3.       active and passive voice

                - worksheet

4.       Run-on sentences    -----     You only need to know how to use and, but and or in a sentence!! Look at page 234 of your textbooks.

                - worksheet

5.       Conjunctions – coordinating and subordinating

                worksheet

                TB: 234 WB: 116

                TB: 248 WB: 123

6.       Adjectives

                Worksheet

                TB: 248 WB: 123

Answers from Weekly 2

Important!! Pay special attention to the underlined words. These were the most common mistakes.

Question 2

Direct and reported speech (10 MARKS)

Fill in the following table

Today	1. that day
Last year	2. the previous year /  the year before
This	3. that
Will	4. would
May	5. might

Change the following from direct to reported speech.

1.      John said, “I have decided to go overseas next year.”

John said that he had decided to go overseas the next year/ the following year.

2.      "Leave it here tomorrow," Peter told Michael.

Peter told Michael to leave it there the next day.

3.      "I will park my car here,” Tommy said.

Tommy said that he would park his car there.

4.      "I am not going to tolerate this anymore," said Sarah.

Sarah said that she was not going to tolerate that anymore.

5.      He said, "Mary used to exercise every day.”

            He said that Mary had used to exercise every day.

Question 4

Active and Passive (5 MARKS)

Change the following from active to passive voice.

1.      My dad has fixed the roof.

The roof has been fixed my by dad.

2.      My parents give me some pocket money.

Some pocket money is given to me by my parents.

3.      The teacher will show slides to students.

Some slides will be shown to the students.

4.      The bank is giving enough money.

Enough money is being given by the bank.

5.      The earthquake destroyed the whole town.

The whole town was destroyed by the earthquake.

Answers from classwork
Adjectives

Page 3

	Adjective	Noun
1.	old	castle
2.	golden	key
3.	fifth	day
4.	baby	birds
5.	flat	tire
6.	left	hand
7.	beautiful	music
8.	latest	story
9.	sly	fox
10.	large	Coke

 Page 4

	The Adjective…..	Describes…..
1.	shiny	spaceship
2.	big	eyes
3.	tiny	hand
4.	beautiful	planet
5.	brown	rabbit
6.	frightened	alien

Page 5

Note: you DO NOT need to know the names of each type of adjective (positive, comparative or superlative), only how to USE them.

positive adjective	comparative adjective	superlative adjective
The positive degree is used when simply describing persons or things.	The comparative degree is used when comparing two persons or things.	The superlative degree is used when comparing three or more persons or things.
	Formed by adding er   ----or------ adjective with two or more syllables is formed by adding more before the adjective.	Formed by adding est ------or-------- adjective with two or more syllables is formed by adding most before the adjective.
large	larger	largest
nice	nicer	nicest
hard	harder	hardest
old	older	oldest
tall	taller	tallest
short	shorter	shortest

beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful
interesting	more interesting	most interesting

You do not need to be able to complete the next exercise on page 5.

Page 6

1.       sharper
2.       fastest
3. 3.    more colorful
4.  4.   more interesting
5.               younger / youngest
6.        warmer
7.  7.    most difficult

Answers from classwork
Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions

A. circle the subordinating conjunction in each sentence

1.       After
2.       when
3.      whether
4.     even though
5.       since

A. circle the subordinating conjunction in each sentence

After

when

whether

even though

since

B. Use a subordinating conjunction to write each pair of sentences as one sentence.

1. I will pay you back when I get the money       OR:   When I get the money, I will pay you back.
2. When the ball went into the basket and bounces out, we all groaned in disbelief.
3. Although Kelly is small, she is a strong player.
4. Because this is an important game, we will try to play our best.
5. Because both teams had the same score at the end of the game, it went into overtime.
6. Julie will work  on her father’s farm when she graduates next year.
7. Although he preferred to go to the park, he agreed to go to the movies.
8. Even though/ although he was happy in his new home, he missed his family and friends.

C. Underline the independent clause

1. Because it was raining, I took my umbrella.
2. He was wearing a coat although it was hot
3. I don’t drink coffee as it makes me nervous
4. Paula got the job even though she had no experience
5. Since Mei Li doesn’t speak English, she can’t go to university in Canada.
6. I will be late today because my car has broken down.
7. Jerry passed the exam the first time while I had to take it three times.
8. Whereas my wife likes to travel abroad, I prefer to stay at home for my vacations.

D. Write whether the sentence is compound or complex

Important: A compound sentence contains a coordinating conjunction (and, but, yet, nor, so, for, or.)

A complex sentence contains a subordinating conjunction (example: while, because, until, since, when)

1. compound
2. Complex
3. Complex
4. compound
5. Complex
6. compound
7. compound
8. Complex
9. compound
10. Complex

Additional practice exercises

Active and Passive

We do not change the tense!!!!!!!!

Go to the following sites and try the tests. Once you are done, you can check your answers online!!

• http://www.learnenglish-online.com/grammar/tests/passive.html
• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/complex_tests/passive1/index.php?action=start2&aufgid=11&Submit=Answer+a+special+part

Direct and reported speech

If the sentence says "said" and NOT says, then the tense must move one step backwards:

Present ----> past   ------> past perfect

Go to the following sites and try the tests. Once you are done, you can check your answers online!!

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/reported-speech-mixed3.html

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech/exercises?10

Important!!  only complete the sentences with "said". Do not worry about sentences containing a question, because we did not do those in class!! :)