Homework, October 17th, 2016

Hi,

Today I would like you to complete the comprehension questions based on the extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 

You will find the extract and the questions in your homework folder.

This is due tomorrow (Tuesday, October 18th). 

Good luck!

Homework, 10th October, 2016

Hi,

Read the extract from The BFG below, then answer the questions that follow. 

This is due on tomorrow (Tuesday).

Good luck!

The Giant ran on and on. But now a curious change took place in his way of running. He seemed suddenly to go into a higher gear. Faster and faster he went and soon he was travelling at such a speed that the landscape became blurred. The wind stung Sophie's cheeks. It made her eyes water. It whipped her head back and whistled in her ears. She could no longer feel the Giant's feet touching the ground. She had a weird sensation they were flying. It was impossible to tell whether they were over land or sea. This Giant had some sort of magic in his legs. The wind rushing against Sophie's face became so strong that she had to duck down again into the blanket to prevent her head from being blown away.

          Was it really possible that they were crossing oceans? It certainly felt that way to Sophie. She crouched in the blanket and listened to the howling of the wind. It went on for what seemed like hours.

          Then all at once the wind stopped its howling. The pace began to slow down. Sophie could feel the Giant's feet pounding once again over the earth. She poked her head up out of the blanket to have a look. They were in a country of thick forests and rushing rivers. The Giant had definitely slowed down and was now running more normally, although normal was a silly word to use to describe a galloping giant. He leaped over a dozen rivers. He went rattling through a great forest, then down into a valley and up over a range of hills as bare as concrete, and soon he was galloping over a desolate wasteland that was not quite of this earth. The ground was flat and pale yellow. Great lumps of blue rock were scattered around, and dead trees stood everywhere like skeletons. The moon had long since disappeared and now the dawn was breaking.

The BFG comprehension questions

Read the extract and have a go at answering the questions below on the lined paper provided. They get more difficult as they go along.

1. What word does the author use to describe the change that takes place in the way the BFG runs?

2. Complete the sentence: ‘He seemed suddenly to ...’

3. What happens the landscape as their speed increases?

4. ‘She had a weird sensation they were flying.’ What is the adjective in this sentence?

5. Look at the last sentence of the first paragraph (it begins ‘The wind rushing …’). How does the author create a sense in this sentence that they are going very, very fast?

6. ‘She crouched in the blanket and listened to the howling of the wind.’ What two verbs are used in this sentence?

8. Which of the following literary techniques are used in the sentence?

a)   Simile

b)   Personification

c)   Metaphor

d)   Rhetorical question

9. ‘Sophie could feel the giant’s feet pounding once again over the earth.’ How does the writer create a sense in this sentence that the BFG is very, very big?

10. Look at the last five lines of the extract (beginning ‘He went rattling through a great forest …’) How does the writer describe the landscape?

EXTENSION ACTIVITY (You only have to do this if you want to push yourself!):

Write your own description of the landscape that is described in the extract. Try and avoid using the words used by the author in his description.

Homework, 3rd October, 2016

Hello!

This week I would like you to read a short story and answer the comprehension questions that go with it. Unfortunately I only have hard copies so I can't provide you with a link, but everything you need is in your homework folder. 

This is due tomorrow (Tuesday). 

Good luck!

Homework, 3rd October, 2016

Hello!

This week I would like you to read a short story and answer the comprehension questions that go with it. Unfortunately I only have hard copies so I can't provide you with a link, but everything you need is in your homework folder. 

This is due tomorrow (Tuesday). 

Good luck!

Homework, Monday 19th September

This week I would like you to read the short story, Digging to China, and answer the comprehension questions on the back. Everything you need is in your homework folder. 

This is due tomorrow (Tuesday). 

Good luck!

Homework, Monday 12th September, 2016

I only found out late on Friday that Monday was going to be the homework day for Year 8 English, so I have not had time to prepare any worksheets. 

Therefore, this week, it would be great if you could find an example of a short story and bring it in to share with the rest of the class. It could be in a book, or on a piece of paper, or you could provide a link so that we can find it online. At the very least, try and think of a story you have read which you can tell us about. 

This homework is due tomorrow (Tuesday, 13th September).

Good luck!

Welcome!

Welcome to Mr Quillfeldt's Year 8 English blog. There are already loads of posts on here, but they're from several years ago, so ignore them.

The main purpose of this blog is to keep you up-to-date with homework, so if your son or daughter's homework diary has mysteriously disappeared and/or they tell you there is no homework, you can check.

I will, from time-to-time post other stuff here, like suggested reading, copies of worksheets and maybe even some of the pupils' work (with their permission, of course). I will also keep you up to date with what we are studying in class.

On that note, we will be doing some creative writing this half term, building on the work done on the same topic this time last year. This will involve writing the first draft of a short story of between 300 and 1000 words before spending some time learning about genre, themes, how to structure a story, how to create characters, how to describe settings, how to use dialogue, how to use paragraphs and various other important elements of the creative writing process. The pupils will then revisit their first draft and make improvements to it based on the things they have learnt in lessons so that they end up with a final, finished piece that would make Dickens himself envious. We will also spend some time learning how to answer fiction-based reading comprehension questions using a variety of texts from different genres.