Mündliche Partner-/Gruppenprüfung

Here is the link I promised to post last time - it will take you to a PDF file at the site of the "ISB" (Staatsinstitut für Schulqualität und Bildungsforschung, München), which is responsible for developing most of the guidelines and test formats that we have to deal with. The file contains two pages, the first one of which gives you the rubric of criteria in combination with a description of what kind of performance earns you how many points; the second page is a form to be filled by the examiners during (and after) the exam.

Bewertungsraster Abiturprüfung: Mündliche Teilprüfung

Richard III., once more

Let's be fair ... let's give Richard a chance to say how it really was:

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18/Writing task

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Task: Write a text beginning with "Shall I compare thee to ...", between six and twenty lines. It can be either a traditional poem or a modern one, it may even be prose. It can be a love poem, but doesn't have to be. If you are looking for a paraphrase of the sonnet in order to understand it better, you can look here: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html

Cartoons

One of the tasks encountered in both 'Schulaufgaben' and the 'Abitur' exam is the analysis of a cartoon.

In order to get some practise, it is advisable to look at a couple of cartoons and describe and interpret them. You can find innumerable examples at Daryl Cagle's website. Cagle, a cartoonist himself, set up this very useful site that covers professional cartoons from newspapers all over the world, with special emphasis on US affairs and topics.

Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index

William Shakespeare: "Richard III"


This is the beginning of a film of Shakespeare's play. Richard is played by Sir Ian McKellen, a renowned actor who has won numerous prizes.

Here you can see McKellen explaining the famous speech and talking about its importance:
Sir Ian McKellen explains Shakespeare's Richard III.

Hey, what song are you listening to?

People in New York and London went around their cities, asking people with headphones what song they were listening to (you'll find the playlists below).

Watch the following two clips on YouTube. But first, please read the tasks that I want you to do while and after watching them:

1. Is there a song in these lists that you also know and like? Name one (or two), and say why you like it (them).
2. Remember one person in each video clip that you find likable. Make a note of what you like about him or her (at least two details). What would you talk about if you met them?
3. If you compare the New York and the London video, which one do you like better? Why? (4 - 5 sentences)
4. Would you want to do a similar video about the place you come from? Would you like to do it rather in Regensburg, Nuremberg or Munich? (4 - 5 sentences)
5. Bonus task: Which of the songs would you nominate for "most intelligent" and "most stupid"?
   

Hey You! What Song Are You Listening To? (New York) - by Tyler Cullen [TyCullen] (24 May 2011)
http://youtu.be/tvHRUY0tBcs

1 The Bee Gees: More Than A Woman
2 Fenix TX: Abba Zabba
3 Eminem: Not Afraid
4 Keni Burke: Keep Rising to the Top
5 Beyonce: Smash Into You
6 LCD Soundsystem: Dance Yrself Clean
7 The Black Keys: Too Afraid To Love You
8 Kanye West: Blame Game
9 Kinky: Mas
10 Lil Wayne: Lollipop
11 Oasis: What's the Story Morning Glory
12 Frank Sinatra: The Best Is Yet To Come
13 Korn: Counting on Me
14 Britney Spears: How I Roll
15 Panic! At the Disco: From A Mountain In
The Middle Of The Cabins
16 Kid Cudi: Day 'n' Night
17 Bob Marley: Buffalo Solider
18 Wiz Khalifa: Black & Yellow
19 Big Punisher: Still Not A Player
20 NPR2
21 Tub Ring: No One Wants To Play
22 Lady Gaga: Just Dance


Hey London! What Song Are You Listening To? - by Kate [Maasive] (31 May 2011)
http://youtu.be/IQMPR4PNxws

1) Beres Hammond - 'Reggae Calling'
2) RHCP - 'Otherside'
3) BEP - 'Dirty Bit'
4) Turin Breaks - 'Mirror'
5) Kiss - 'Rock n Roll all night!'
6) Mohombi - 'Coconut Tree'
7) The Ramones - 'Psycho Therapy'
8) Miike Snow - 'Animal'
9) Ron Sexsmith - 'The Less I know'
10) The Dandy Warholes - 'Holding me up'
11) Kaah - 'Kaahlla Mej'
12) Chipmunk - 'Champion'
13) The doors - 'The End'
14) Rihanna - 'Umbrella'
15) The Game - 'Dreams'
16) Elvis - 'Shake, Rattle n Roll'
17) Muse - 'Uprising'
18) N Dubz - 'Bad Behaviour'
19) Guttermouth - 'Pee in the Shower'
20) Belle & Sebastian - 'Sleep the Clock Around'
21) The Who - '5:15'
22) The Joy Formidable - 'Whirring'
23) JLo - 'On the Floor'
24) Depeche mode - 'People are People'


picture credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/4669106391/sizes/z/in/photostream/
CC by Kris Krüg, Vancouver, Canada (kk+ on flickr.com)

May 2011

Your homework this week consists of two parts.

1. Write a blogpost on what you do to improve your English. Think about it before you write it down. There may be a number of ways that you don't think of at first.
   At the same time - let me tell you that in some cases I'm sort of worried. There are blogs that haven't seen a new post in months. Does that mean those people do a lot of written homework the traditional way, hand-written ... and I just don't get to see it? Why could that be? Do those people think their English will improve by magic?
   
   
2. Have a look at this text plus worksheet: George Mikes, "How to Panic Quietly".
   You can do task 1 for warm-up, but you should write something for tasks 2, 3 and 4.
   Either publish your work on your blog, or send it to me via mail - by Thursday 19th.
   
   

I hope you'll enjoy working on your own. You can ask questions, of course, either here in the comments or via Twitter. See you soon.

Preparing for the Royal Wedding

Please watch this documentary about William and Kate (ZDF Mediathek, 45 minutes).

Also very interesting (and much shorter):

• Royal wedding preparations for Household Cavalry (BBC)
• Couple arrive at Abbey for rehearsal (BBC)

Pygmalion: Performance in Amberg

All the 11th form pupils (who chose English as a foreign language subject) went to see this performance of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion on 3 Feb.
As usual, the quality of the show was very good. What I liked particularly was the fact that they didn't need any pre-recorded music, but sang themselves, no matter what was needed: Dance music for the ball, a little something to last for the scene changes, a love song. - What did you like or dislike?