GIFTED PROGRAMME SCHOOL BASED GIFTED PROGRAMME (ENGLISH) 15th September 2011 © Shung Tak Catholic English College School-based Gifted Programme (English) 2010-2011 Creative Language Analysis Workshop (CLAWS) Key objective: 2010-2011 brought us good news as 14 F1 students were entered into the English Gifted Programme. This year's programme plan followed last year's but brought out different strengths from this batch of students. Like last year's objective, F.1 students should be able to quickly recognize features of language and structures used in various text types and critique their intention, the effect they create, while taking into account different cultures and social values from the selected texts and be able to produce those texts for different purposes. Lesson Focus Objective Assignment 1 Ads and posters Analyze still images and captions/slogans Explore how choice of still images and selection of words create powerful messages (and show cultural/social contexts) by looking at various posters and ads Research and present: Find an effective/powerful poster Find a less effective poster and suggest ways to improve it 2 TV Commercials and movie trailers Analyze various (online) advertisements and movie trailers Examine what makes TV advertisements effective and how choice of movie scenes, sound, presentation styles, etc for trailers create different effects and convey cultural/social contexts Research and present: Find a “good” TV commercial or movie trailer and critique it (language and cultural/social contexts) 3 Reviews Analyze structures and features of language used in book/movie reviews Analyze how reviews function in relation to how they affect readers’ response by looking at the choice of words/writing style (looking at extracts of reviews and highlighting ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ comments) Write: Write a movie/book review taking a more analytical approach to writing it (using expressive ways to convey negative and positive comments) 4 Poems Analyze different types of poems Examine how culture and social values affect poet’s choice of words Research and write: Find a poem rich in cultural/social context and critique it. Write a poem that shares a culture/social context 5 Creative stories Analyze language used in creative stories Explore how language (form and style) is used to convey meaning, mood and different effects 4 main tips Show but don’t tell Change adj’s to verbs Use of images (similes/ personification/ metaphors..) Length of sentences/ paragraphs Rewrite: Rewrite a paragraph in a more creative way 6 Wrap up and Evaluation Students are expected to do research and add findings into a folder along with their notes taken in class and reflections of each lesson’s focus. 7th September, 2010.

In the academic year 2009-2010, 17 S1 and S2 students were screened to attend the gifted course focusing on language analysis. They had afternoon sessions looking at different forms of media and produced written and oral evaluations/analysis of their own choice of media. 2 English teachers devoted their time to giving these workshops to the gifted or more able students who demonstrate a high standard of English. Certificates were awarded to the participating students for their outstanding work and contribution in class.