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.

Good luck to all the students doing the English exam this Friday! If you’ve prepared well, you’ll be fine.

Download this short audio podcast by David Baxter as he talks through the exam preparation process for the English Exam.

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The most recent issue of Teacher magzine (yes, there is such a thing) had some exam preparation advice from Su Dorland (author of Exam Stress: No Worries). A summary of that advice is here:

1. Understand the signs of stress,and recognise that they are likely to occur: irritability, procrastinating, sleepiness, ‘butterflies’ in the stomach etc.
2. Set reachable goals; set goals for revision week, and even the day. Half-hour goals are as important as larger goals
3. Manage your time, especially the demands of part-time jobs.
4. Seek support from your teacher or peer study groups if you need it.
5. Learn calming and relaxation techniques: deep breathing, calming words etc.
6. Remember the positive aspects of your previous study experience; you can do it!
7. Replace negative thinking with positive thinking.
8. Work out how to get a good night’s sleep, and try to achieve it. Basics such as a dark, quiet room, layered bedclothes to adjust temperature, turning mobile phones off etc.
9. Vary your revision methods; try summary cards,  concepts maps, group study, role play.
10. Schedule some ‘time out from worry’ sessions.

Exam Stress? No Worries is by Su Dorland and published by John Wiley and Sons

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

We hear a lot about the diversity of our press, especially in comparison with other countries such as China, but it wasn’t really in evidence in the sports pages in Melbourne this week. Maybe some good advice would be to ‘think of the most obvious headline, and then think again!’.

‘Dream team’ 28/7/2009

Jumping Jack Flash 27/7/2009

If you think 1984 is challenging to read, imagine trying to write it!

This article talks about Orwell’s writing of the novel in an isolated Scottish farmhouse in 1948. And how it just about killed him.  Students studying the novel might find this article interesting, especially about his thinking on the title of the novel.

From the GUARDIAN

It probably doesn’t make a big difference to students doing Year 12 this year, but teachers might be interested in a slight change in the VCAA instructions for Part B (Context) of the exam this year.  Below are the new instructions for this part of the exam. There are more details on the VCAA site.

Instructions for Section B:

Section B requires students to complete an extended written response.

In your writing, you must draw on ideas suggested by one of the following four Contexts

Your writing must draw directly from the selected text you have studied for this Context and be based on the ideas in the prompt/stimulus material

Your response may be an expository, persuasive or imaginative piece of writing.

If you write on a selected film text in Section A, you must not write on a selected film text in Section B.

Section B is worth 30 marks.

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