10 minute read
UNIT 1: World Cup fever
UNIT 1: World Cup fever
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Reading and Viewing:
1. Comprehension – types of texts, compare texts. 2. Work out the meanings of unfamiliar words. 3. Answer comprehension questions from low order to high order. 4. Identify features of the text. 5. Understand visual texts: Cartoons.
Language Structures:
Understand the meaning and use of punctuation marks in texts.
Listening and Speaking:
Complete an assessment task on a listening comprehension.
Writing and Presenting:
Write, edit and present an essay for an assessment task.
INTRODUCTION
This unit is designed to practise reading and viewing skills, as well as understanding and being able to use language structures in context. By now, candidates should be familiar with all language structures, as well as verbal and visual texts; it is a matter of practising their skills.
Vocabulary development is an important factor of being able to decode texts effectively; so reading the passages provided and discussing the texts (“World Cup Fever”, “Bookshelf” and the visual texts), forms an important part of (a) development of vocabulary in making meaning of texts and unfamiliar words; as well as (b) allowing candidates the opportunity to express their opinion and responses to texts.
To understand the satire in cartoons, candidates must have some knowledge of current affairs. This and the understanding of the verbal texts means that they must be encouraged to read as widely as possible: The set works, newspapers, novels, short stories, texts on the Internet. Baseline knowledge for the cartoons is provided in the lesson itself in the study guide.
IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY
Not new, but may need revising! All of these can be found in the glossary provided in Addendum C.
Figures of speech: e.g. metaphor, rhetorical questions, pun, etc. Features of texts, e.g. style, diction, genre, satire, irony Advertising terms: slogan Features of visual literacy, e.g. font, caricature
LESSON 1: Reading and viewing – comprehension (1)
DEFINE
Refer to Addendum D (Terms used in Comprehension and Literature Questions) and STYLE and DICTION in the glossary (Addendum C).
The comprehension passages are to be read and discussed – first stage is to sharpen reading skills by the reading process (preferably aloud, particularly for auditory candidates) and appreciation of the passage via the discussion.
Note that TEXT TWO is a visual text – again, discuss the texts, and don’t simply use them to answer the questions.
The questions are to be answered and checked against the memorandum. Discuss any answers that require it.
Read the two texts provided for this lesson – the passage entitled “World Cup Fever” and the visual texts labelled Text B – and then complete the comprehension activity.
ACTIVITY 1: MEMORANDUM
1. At Rugby school, a boy broke the rules of soccer by picking up and running forwards with the ball, and this became the game of rugby. (2)
2. The excitement associated with the World Cup is compared to a fever. A fever is a condition which involves high temperature, and some fevers can spread rapidly. Similarly, the excitement surrounding the World Cup (or rugby) is infectious and leads to high temperatures as people hold heated discussions about the sport, or is passionate about it. (4)
(REMEMBER: (a) what is compared with what; (b) features of a fever that will be relevant to the World Cup; (c) what is being said about the World Cup).
3. It is used as a device to make the reader wonder, and then introduce the next paragraphs in which the origin of rugby – based in soccer – is given. (2) 4. “Kicked off” has two meanings here: It means that the tournament started; but also plays on the idea that a rugby match starts with a kick-off. (2) (NB: ALWAYS give both meanings of a pun: The obvious meaning and the other (often implied) meaning.)
5. His interest in rugby history is purely personal or as a hobby; he is not a professional historian. (1)
6. “forward”. (Soccer players in those days could pick up the ball and run backwards with it. Webb Ellis was the first to run forward.) (1)
7. It is colloquial, conversational and informal. “Naughtiness” and “kicked off” are examples of informal and colloquial diction. Contractions such as “wasn’t”, “I’ve” and “isn’t” are used. Because contractions are normally used in direct speech, they give a more informal or colloquial feel to the passage. Use of the first person (“we”) makes the style more personal and conversational. (6)
8. “Sizzling” links up with “hot” and “the Gospel” links up with the religious idea of “faithful”. (2)
9. The adverts rely mostly on the word “scrum” which will catch the eye of any rugby fan. However, the white shape containing the website and information is shaped like a rugby ball, and the full stop for “dot com” has been replaced with a miniature rugby ball poised to be kicked. (3)
10. The adverts drum up excitement for the Rugby World Cup, and target people who are very excited about not missing a thing, so it echoes the metaphor of “World Cup Fever”. (2)
LESSON 2: Listening and speaking
The candidate should study the tips provided for listening comprehensions in the study guide.
LESSON 3: Writing and presenting
Refer to the portfolio book for the task instructions on writing an essay.
LESSON 4: Language structures – Punctuation
DEFINE
Definitions and functions of the various punctuation are provided in the study guide.
Punctuation affects meaning: It either makes meaning clear, or in the case of literature, creative work or speaking (use of pauses, emphasis, etc.), it enhances meaning.
Candidates need to know: a. how to use punctuation correctly and effectively; and b. how to appreciate nuances in texts by understanding the functions of punctuation marks. Read and discuss the “Bookshelf” passage then complete the activities. More punctuation practise.
ACTIVITY 4: MEMORANDUM
1. Omission: “you’re” – “you are”. 2.1. Indicates the title of a book. 2.2. Block letters (capital letters) or underline the title [NOT inverted commas!
They are only used for the chapter in a book, but not the title]. 3. Marks off a single word (“however”). 4. Parenthesis: Additional information is added between the brackets, not essential to the sentence. 5. They form compound adjectives: “light-hearted” is a compound adjective. “Oh-so-separate” and “yet-to-be-charted” have been joined to form compound adjectives. All of them would be hyphenated even if they weren’t split at the end of the line.
6. “Simunye” is italicised to show that it is a foreign word. 7. The colon shows that a list of the variety of material is going to follow/an explanation of why it is a “variety of material” follows. 8. Separating items in a complicated list/list of phrases (… relish; … nation; …). 9. To separate direct speech from the rest of the sentence. 10. To provide the English translation of the foreign words. 11. It indicates an acronym: VAT = Value Added Tax. 12. It separates two main clauses not joined by a conjunction. 13. It separates the name of the website from its domain (.com is the domain extension of the website name). 14. “You must complete the course of antibiotics”, the doctor explained, “or you will not recover from the infection.” [Note the comma after explained –because the doctor hasn’t finished his sentence; and when he continues his sentence “or…” starts with a small (lower case) letter.] 15. Mrs Buthelezi, the new Zulu teacher, arrives at our school tomorrow. [Extra information about Mrs Buthelezi – but the sentence still makes sense if you remove the part between commas.] 16. The hyphen indicates that two words have been joined to make a compound word (noun).
LESSON 5: Language structures – The apostrophe
The apostrophe is often used incorrectly and required special attention. The core content is found in the notes for Lesson 4 (Punctuation). Go over these again and then do the activity.
Focus on the apostrophe in the punctuation notes and complete the activity.
ACTIVITY 5: MEMORANDUM
1. Correct: The tennis teams of all the girls (plural): apostrophe after the “s”. 2. “It’s funny” is correct: “it’s” = “it is”. “It’s tail” is incorrect: possessive adjective “its” gets no apostrophe. 3. Correct: No possession here, just the plural of Jones = Joneses. 4. Incorrect: “Jack Jones’s dog…” (singular: add ’s). 5. Correct: Omission – “Who’s” = “Who is” 6. Incorrect – It’s in the wrong place: “doesn’t” (apostrophe must be in the place where the letter is omitted, not where the words are joined). 7. Incorrect: “Whose” – possessive adjective has no apostrophe.
8. All correct: “you’re” = “you are”; “I’ve” = “I have” (both omission) and “your integrity” correct to have possessive adjective with no apostrophe.
DEFINE
Techniques of cartoonists include pun, irony and caricature which are defined in the glossary after the addendums.
Candidates are taught how to analyse cartoons, including the detail required when analysing the visual elements. There are several different cartoons to analyse, with a variety of questions to answer.
Read and enjoy the cartoons. Spend some time looking at the visual elements (body language and facial expressions of the characters, interaction between characters, speech/thought bubbles, and the way the font has been printed/punctuation which gives clues to hidden meaning. Then answer the questions.
ACTIVITY 6: MEMORANDUM
1.1.1 South Africa and Australia (Springboks and Wallabies) (2) 1.1.2 The springbok, emblem of South Africa, is looking at a diagram of a kangaroo/wallaby (associated with Australia). (2)
1.2 The springbok, which has its braai equipment ready, is planning how to carve up the wallaby (its “game”, or “prey”), which has been marked out in different cuts of meat. This suggests that the Springboks are going to massacre/thrash the Wallabies in their match: The Springboks will take the Wallabies apart, or make mincemeat of them, have them for lunch, etc. (2)
1.3 South Africans are known for their outdoor eating – the braai is ready with the charcoal; South Africans (and rugby fans) are seen as being beerswilling enthusiasts (the Castle Lager carry-pack). (2)
1.4 Game plan – referring to the planned tactics of the rugby game to be played, and referring to the wallaby as being fair game for the aggressive/hungry springbok/the springbok planning how to cut up its meat (game) for the braai. (2)
[10]
Pretoria News Cartoon: public servant
2.1 Public Services workers are supposed to serve the public politely, to help solve problems. The workers in the cartoon are completely disinterested.
OR: Messages such as the “How’s my Public Service?” are usually displayed so that service may be improved by getting feedback from the public. This public servant “doesn’t care”.
2.2 One is drinking tea while lounging in her chair and showing no interest in manning the information desk. The other is reading the newspaper at his desk.
MADAM & EVE
3.1 She is unhappy. She is lying on the psychiatrist’s couch, staring up into space, her mouth is downturned to show her unhappiness; in frame 2 she lifts her hand in despair. [NOTE: start by identifying the emotion/s. Then explain how the visual clues make this clear].
3.2 She is shocked and possibly angry: She has come to see him professionally to help her resolve her problems, not to speak of friendship.
3.3 No, she is not. The three bubbles indicate a thought.
3.4 A psychiatrist is supposed to help their client work through a problem. Here the psychiatrist becomes part of the problem because he is also caught up in social networking like the rest. Madam is complaining about.
DENNIS THE MENACE
4.1 It is slang.
4.2 He strides in with his arms stretched out wide, with upright posture and chin tilted upward.
4.3 “How are you, Dad?” [“What’s up, Dad?” still contains a contraction, which is relatively informal.]
4.4 His father thought he was rude and disrespectful.
4.5 Omission: tryin’ = “trying”. It is used to convey Dennis’s manner of speaking.
Refer to the portfolio book for the task instructions.
