Prepositions: IN, ON, AT

Hey 7th graders,

Here is a helpful little chart about prepositions of time and place (location) for you to look at as you prepare for your test! Hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Carmen 

The Elements of Poetry

Poetry is not just an intellectual activity; poetry is about feeling. Poetry is not just meant to be read; poetry is also meant to be responded to. Responding to a poem means getting emotionally involved with the poem. This is how you uncover what the poem means to you. Poetry reading, then, is a subjective emotional experience. There is no right or wrong way to read and interpret a poem. There are, however, tools that literary scholars use to analyze poems in order to find their deeper meaning. These are the same tools that poets use to convey the poem's deeper meaning. These tools are called the elements of poetry and you will learn more about them below.

Mood: The feeling a poem creates for the reader

Metaphor: An implied comparison between two objects or ideas

Tone: The attitude a poet takes towards his or her subject

Alliteration: The repetition of the beginning consonant in two or more words near one another in the line of a poem

Refrain: The repetition of one or more phrases or lines, usually at the end of each stanza (similar to the chorus in a song)

Rhyme Scheme: The pattern in which the end rhyme occurs

Simile: A direct comparison between two objects or ideas that uses the words "like" or "as"

Stanza: Lines in a poem grouped together as a set

Personification: Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objects

Imagery: Representation of the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound and smell. Creates mental images about a poem's subject.

Assonance: The repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words in a line of poetry.

Reflecting on Malala

Hey 7th graders,

I hope you found today's lesson on Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to fill out my survey about Malala - I am excited to read what you have written as students always provide teachers with fresh perspectives and interesting ideas.

If you would like to learn more about Malala, you can read about her here:

http://www.malala-yousafzai.com/

Have a nice evening! See you bright and early tomorrow morning!

Carmen :)

English Idioms

Hey 7th graders,

Your English idioms homework is due on Friday, November 21. Here is a little more information about idioms in case they pique your interest:

An idiom is a word or phrase that has a different meaning than would usually be found in a dictionary. This is because idioms have figurative and not literal meanings. For example, if I say that Clara is feeling blue, I don't mean that she is blue or that she is touching the color blue; I mean that Clara is feeling sad, maybe even depressed.

Different languages have different idioms - in English, for example, it is estimated that there are about 25,000 idioms. Being able to use idioms correctly is a sign that your competency in a given language is very high.

So try to remember the idioms from the homework packet! And make use of them when you can (but make sure to use them correctly).

Have a nice weekend!

Carmen :)

Stockholm International Poetry Festival

Hey 7th graders,

Since we have started our poetry unit, I thought I'd let you know that there is a poetry festival taking place in Stockholm at the end of November - the Stockholm International Poetry Festival, to be exact:

http://stockholminternationalpoetryfestival.com

Check out the website above! Maybe some of you can go with your friends or family.

See you tomorrow!

Carmen :)

Haikus and Couplets

Hey 7th graders!

It's been a lot of fun to work on haikus and couplets with you as an introduction to our poetry unit. Writing poetry is an excellent way to learn English because poets have to be so careful with their words - they must know exactly what each word means and how it fits together with the other words in the poem in order to bring forth vibrant images and interesting themes. 

Just so you remember...

A couplet is a two line poem and the last word of each line rhymes.

A haiku almost always has three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, the third line has five syllables. Haikus are a form of poetry that originated in Japan, but they are now popular all over the world. They are often about simple things and nature.

Have a nice evening! See you Friday!

Carmen :)

Invictus + Student-Teacher conferences continued

Hey 7th graders,

Don't fret if you didn't get a chance to have a conference with me today! Your turn will definitely come on Friday!

Meanwhile, you should all be working on memorizing Invictus. Here's a snippet from the film for inspiration:

Have a nice evening! See you on Friday!

Carmen :)

Student-Teacher Conferences

Hey 7th graders,

I hope you have all had a relaxing break! I wanted to let you know that tomorrow, Tuesday, we will have student-teacher conferences during class so that I can speak to you individually about your essays and grades. This will also give you an opportunity to ask me questions and give some suggests for how I can be more helpful to you during lessons. So if you have time, think about it!

Carmen :)