Word cloud: Key words for 'Of Mice and Men'

Remember this! Of Mice and Men writing tasks

Hi everyone,

This week, I´m going to give you some writing tasks for Of Mice and Men, which might help you explore and recall some of the themes that you read about back in the first semester. Remember, this book will be on the CAE exam in December and the writing tasks can be very specific, so trying to tackle this should only be contemplated if you feel comfortable about what content you have to include.

Anyway, now to get down to some practice. What you need to do here is read the tasks below, all of which deal with the book´s central themes, and then write one of them. After that, you have to post it here as a comment - that way other students will be able to compare their ideas and recollections with yours, the way they´ve structured, say, a report, compared to the way you have.

Before you look at the tasks, it´s probably a good idea to listen to the podcast about the book, and you will find that on the previous blog.

The tasks:

1. The idea of the American Dream is prevalent throughout the story. Write a report, explaining its significance to the story and giving examples from the book. (180-220 words)

2. ´Friendship or a lack of it are what the book is really about.´ Discuss.
Write Your essay. (180-220 words)

3. Steinbeck includes several marginalised characters in the book. Write an article as to what this might say about society of that time - paying particular attention to how Crooks, Candy, Curley´s wife and Lenny are portrayed. (180-220 words)

I look forward to reading your compositions.
Have a great weekend,
Steve

Exam revision: Wªriting

Hi everyone,
Do you feel as though you know enough about the different CAE compositions? If not, what not share your ideas here?

The idea of this post is to create a mini file containing information about the different formats and structures that you might find in typical CAE exam writing tasks - Reports, Articles, reviews etc. And as they are posted here, you´ll be able to look at what others put and compare them with your own ideas.

Please post your notes below, and feel free to comment on what other people have written too. Remember, you have plenty of sources to revise from - the notes you´ve made in your noteboks, the information in the CB, www.flo-joe.co.uk - to name but a few.

Things to include in your posted comments: Composition Type, Target reader, style, structure/layout, useful language

Enjoy your weekend,

Steve

Of Mice and Men Podcast

Hi everyone,

I've just come across a fantastic podcast that was on www.flo-joe.co.uk - which is about the book we read in the first semester, John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men. In it, Fiona Joseph talks about an overview of the plot, the main characters and exam-type questions.

When describing the plot of the story here are some useful words/collocations that are mentioned.

obey

taunt

lynch mob

And here are more when describing the main characters.

savvy

a wiry physique

snappy

fiercely protective

sense of moral duty

a lumbering giant

petting small animals/stroking the puppy

utterly defenceless against the...

a handy man

old and frail

a flirtatious encounter

When talking about an exam-type question, Fiona goes through some dos and donts, while talking about the idea of friendship, which is key to understanding the book.

She mentions that the question about this book in the CAE exam could be an article, essay review or report.

The podcast is about 12 minutes long and clicking here will take you directly to the link.

I hope this podcast will make you feel better prepared to tackle such a task in December.

Have a great week,

Steve

Ted World

This week in class we have looked at some of the hundreds of videos uploaded onto the excellentTed.com website. I´m sure that there´s something there of interest for all of you. What I´d like you to do is to write a little bit about one video you´ve seen, briefly explaining the content and saying why you like it.

Have a great week.

Let him have it

Hi everyone,
In 1952 Derek Bentley was hanged for murder of a policeman in London in November 1962. Read about the case here. I´d like to know whether you think this was a great miscarriage of justice or a deserved punishment. And can you think of any other cases which rested on the interpretation of a simple phrase?

Elvis Costello was clearly moved by the story and recorded the song Let him Dangle in the late 1970s. This is a live version. Enjoy...

Crime + what punishment?

Hi everyone,

Now that we´ve been looking at crime recently I thought that an article I came across in today´s Guardian might work for the blog. A brief synopsis: A famous German singer became infected with the HIV Virus and knowingly had other partners afterwards. They too became infected and now, after a long court case, she has received a 2-year suspended sentence.

Of course there´s more than meets the eye, as with most stories that you read in the press, but click here to read that article and then get back to us with your views on the outcome of the trial.

Too harsh? Too soft?

Have a great week!