Well, the dust has barely settled on the 2009 English Exam (more posts about that particular 3 hourexperience later) and we’re already thinking of next year.

This week we saw the brand-new, pre-release, freshly minted and entirely rewritten Issues Book, which we’ve been working on for a while. It’s great to see it ready to go for the year ahead.  Contact Cengage for purchasing details.

This week it had to be from the AFL Grand Final and the AGE headline: ‘The Cats Get the Dream’.

The AGE is always a great resource of interesting articles and opinions. Today’s edition contained two letters with diametrically opposed views on the the issue of W-Class trams.  Keep your analysis skills intact and have a go at analysing these two letters in a short essay.

Retire these relics

THERE will be regret at the passing of the historic W-class trams. But the fact is that elderly and disabled people can’t cope with boarding and alighting these old trams. The sheer vertical ”drop” of the boarding step is unsafe for those with balance problems.

I have cerebral palsy and use a walking stick, and also have a severe hearing loss. The Jam Factory, in Chapel Street, Prahran, is the only cinema showing open-captioned movies for deaf people. W-class trams are used in Chapel Street. Because I can’t board and alight these trams safely, I have to use taxis to get there.

Low-floor trams would make Chapel Street’s shops and facilities much more accessible to me, and others unable to manage the W-class trams.

While history buffs may regret the passing of these old trams, the travelling needs of today’s public must be borne in mind. Our ageing population makes a fully accessible public transport system throughout Melbourne vital, and the W-class trams don’t meet this need.

Kaye Gooch, Prahran

Remember the Hitachis

SURELY now is not the time to be retiring so many of our heritage W-class trams. Our fleet of trams is not coping with patronage levels, and with commuter demand for public transport expected to continue to increase, it seems like a no-brainer that we should keep as many trams as possible, no matter what their age.

You would think that this Government had learnt its lesson from the hasty retirement of the Hitachi train fleet. Sure the W-class trams are a little slow and old, but why can’t the state spend some money to upgrade them and extend their life span? They are a part of magnificent Melbourne and our history and would be sorely missed.

James Christou, Thornbury

Looking to improve your visual literacy skills in preparation for language analysis? And have a laugh at the same time? We’re pretty certain that some kind of visual will be part of the language analysis in the exam so it’s a skill you need to develop.

So, maybe check out the new exhibition, Behind the Lines: the Year’s Best Cartoons, on as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival and taking place in Melbourne now. You’ll get a chance to view the best political cartoons of the year AND tell your mum you’re doing homework.

More details are HERE

Students doing language analysis may like to know that the start of the footy season is often the silly season for headline writers, but cycling was the inspiration for my silly headline of the week.  This was from the Herald-Sun today on the news that cyclist Lance Armstrong had broken his collarbone:

‘Not So Arm Strong’

The things they all must learn in journalism school!