Year 7 English Homework Week 1

Transcription

1 Year 7 English Homework Week 1 Main task Perfect Dickens Recall Your knowledge of Dickens is about to be tested! Use the words in the box to fill in the blanks below. Beware some words are there to trick you! Then write the answers in the spaces provided. articles Factory ten Christmas Victorian writers poverty Prison shorthand Dickensian 1564 Portsmouth Oliver 1870 school Dagenham Papers Cheryl Cole Charles Dickens is one of the most famous authors. He was born in Landport, near in 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Two years later, his family moved to London and then on to Chatham, where Charles went to. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because in 1821 his father fell into debt and was arrested. The entire family, except Charles, were sent to Marshalsea along with their father. Charles was sent to work to earn money for the family in Warren's Blacking, where he made polish for boots, and endured horrible conditions. He was only years old. In the years that followed, Charles showed great determination to improve his life. He taught himself, a style of writing, and eventually he become a newspaper reporter in London. He also started to write for magazines, using the pen name Boz. His stories were very popular. His terrible experience at the blacking factory haunted him all of his life: in his stories, he often wrote about and the hard social conditions experienced by many people living in London at that time. This theme is given the name. The first of his many successful novels was The Pickwick, which was published in He also wrote Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield and A Carol. In 1837, Charles married Catherine Hogarth, and they had ten children! Charles Dickens died on 9 th June. His books have become recognised as classics, and he is famously known as one of Britain s greatest ever.

2 Extension task Now answer the following questions in your books, using the information you have just read. Remember to write in full sentences. 1. What year was Charles Dickens born in? 2. What period in history was Dickens writing in? 3. Where did Dickens go to school? 4. Explain how life became difficult for the Dickens family in (3 points) 5. What did Dickens teach himself to do? 6. After learning this new skill, what job did Dickens get? 7. Explain what the term pen name means. 8. What is a common theme in Dickens stories and how was he drawing on his own experiences? (3 points) 9. What was Dickens first novel and when was it published? 10. What is Dickens contribution to English literature? (2 points) Challenge task Write a paragraph summarising all the information you have learnt about Charles Dickens. Aim to include a simple, compound and complex sentence as well as starting a sentence with a verb and an adverb. Use at least 5 different pieces of punctuation correctly as well.

3 Year 7 English Homework Week 2 Main task Read the extract below from the opening to Great Expectations, then answer the questions. My father s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. I give Pirrip as my father s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, Also Georgiana Wife of the Above, I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence. Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip. 1) Write down four things you learn Pip in the first two paragraphs (a) (b) (c) (d) 2) How has the writer used language in the examples below to describe the setting? Explain what type of setting Dickens has created. a) At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard b) Was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.

4 Extension task Write a paragraph answering this question How does Dickens create sympathy for Pip in the opening of Great Expectations? Remember to use evidence from the text to support your ideas. Challenge task Write a prediction of what you think might happen next to Pip. Use the setting that Dickens has created to help justify your ideas.

5 Year 7 English Homework Week 3 Main task Read the eight opening lines to different stories below. For each one, explain whether you think it is a good opening line for engaging the reader. If you don t think it is, explain how it could be improved. 1. All children, except one, grow up 2. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. 3. My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip 4. Where's Papa going with that axe?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. 5. The hottest day of the summer was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Close 6. The adventure really began on the day that Mollie and Peter went out to spend three shillings on a present for their mother's birthday. 7. Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess 8. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?' Extension task Pick one of the opening lines for above and plan the rest of the story you might write based on the opening line. Challenge task Write the opening three paragraphs of the story you have just planned. Remember to include a range of sentence structures and punctuation.

6 Year 7 English Homework Week 4 Main task Write down 2-3 characteristics of people that would appear in each of the following types of story: Horror Type of Story Characteristic 1 Characteristic 2 Characteristic 3 Romance Science Fiction Action/Adventure Crime/Detective Describing the way a character speaks, acts and moves can tell a lot about them. Write two words that mean the same as the one in the first column; one should be positive (good), one should be negative (bad). Positive Negative stroll Eat nibble Walk race Run Talk stomp devour hunt whispered hiss

7 Extension task Write a short descriptive paragraph about a character of your choice, entering into a room. Be imaginative. Challenge task Create a Facebook profile for your character showing their personality through the information you provide on the page.

8 Year 7 English Homework Week 5 Main task Spend 45 minutes doing private reading. In your planner, write down what you have read and ask a parent / guardian to sign this for you. Extension task Write a short review of what you read, summarising the main information / plot details and saying what type of reader you think would enjoy the book. Challenge task Design a new front cover and blurb for the book you are currently reading or for a book you have recently read.

9 Year 7 English Homework Week 6 Main task root words 1. Cross off any prefixes or suffixes to find the root word. a) imperfection = perfect b) disgracefully = c) impolitely = d) inexpensive =... e) dissatisfaction =.. f) refreshment =. g) carefully = h) disagreeable = i) unattractive =.. k) unfortunately=.. 2. Add prefixes and suffixes to these root words to make new words. Prefixes: re un in Suffixes: able ly ness ive ful less a)..+ kind + =. b)..+ turn + =.. c)..+ rely + =... d)..+ expense +.=. e) hope + + =.. 3. For each word you have created in task 2, write a sentence using that word correctly.

10 Extension task Write down a definition of a prefix and a suffix and what their function is. Challenge task. Create a revision poster showing year 5 pupils how to use prefixes and suffixes to change a word from having a positive meaning to a negative meaning.

11 Year 7 English Homework Week 7 Main task Read the poem below and answer the questions A Christmas Tree by David Keig A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree! With dark green needled memories Of childhood dreams and mysteries Wrapped present-like in front of me. A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree! I glimpse a past wherein I see The child that then grew into me Not forward fast but haltingly. A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree! A time for being with family A time that's gone so fleetingly Yet lives for always deep in me. A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree! When twelfth night comes whole hauntingly One lingered look and then i see No Christmas tree where it would be. A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree! With feelings now felt longingly No corner in my house to see The magic of that Christmas tree. 1) Does the poet have positive or negative memories of Christmas trees as he was growing up? 2) How does the poet s mood change in stanzas (verse) 4 and 5? 3) What words does the poet use to show the excitement surrounding putting up a tree? Explain why you picked these words? 4) What does the poet think is the most important thing about Christmas is? Look carefully at stanza 3.

12 Extension task Write your own poem about a celebration that is important to you and your family. Challenge task. What does the poem show about growing up and how the poet s feelings towards Christmas changed as he grew older? Think carefully about what seeing the Christmas tree each year makes him feel like.