English Language Arts

Grammar, No Need to Approach with Caution

To become a better writer, it takes a lot of practice and guidance. After all, how will you know that you are making mistakes if you have no idea what those mistakes are? In a regular classroom setting, you have a teacher there to watch, help and guide you through the writing process with feedback.

For the basics, the Khan Academy is a great place to start. Their site will come up a lot in my posts, but that mostly because they have been around and doing remote learning for years now. They have really become a catch-all for instructional methods to help students of all levels in an enormous range of subject areas. In the grammar series, they go over the basic parts of speech and develop into punctuation, then move into syntax. The videos and practice will help in review and beginning to understand new concepts.

Paragraph Punch is an interactive, online tool to help writers develop their paragraphs. The site takes the user through the writing process, from the introduction, pre-writing, editing and publishing phases. In understanding and practicing this process, you are sure to get better at it. Even at the beginnings, understanding the functionality and importance of strong paragraphs are the first stages to multi-paragraph writing in the form of essays through to full-length books.

I will mention NoRedInk at this time, if only because they are offering an expanded free section in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Users must sign up though, so be aware of the information that you may be asked for. As with many pay-to-play educational sites, what they offer is far deeper and individualized than free sites. While it is free, it may be worth a look to see if it is the right fit for you.

You city’s public library offers a wealth of digitally accessible language tools as well. While aimed at a broader portion of the population than our schools can, the Coquitlam Library offers resources to aid preparing for the International English Language Testing System evaluations at the academic and general level. Tense Buster is a grammar program with instructions, practice and pronunciation help.

If you are a lover of language and the way that is constructed (yes, they are out there), may I introduce Grammarphobia, a site investigating and cerebrating grammar, etymology and English language usage. They have certainly been honing their craft as their blog posts go back to 2006, where they investigate the origins of the word “cop.” Really interesting actually. Now that I’ve read it, maybe I will have to see what else they can offer as to the origins of the language.

Enjoy!

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Writing Wresources

I have to say that finding and compiling the links for English Language Arts is one of the most challenging yet. On one hand, there are plentiful resources out there to aid in the writing, editing and publishing of one’s own work. There are also a ton of things that can help with the development of language and understanding literature. The challenge is that they all seem to carve out their own microcosm on the web, finely honing in on one aspect of the subject. There are so many that I will have to cover other topics in further posts.

What I have tried to do below is present links about writing that are general enough to appeal to multiple aspects of this subject area and provide access to further resources that may better guide teachers and students onto discover things that might better suit their individual needs.

readwritethink is a site that is sponsored by the National Council of English Teachers and the International Literacy Association. While its main focus is to provide teachers with resources that will better aid them in presenting particular concepts, students may find use in information that they present as well, including celebrations of literacy and further links provided that will help them find information on topics that may be of more of a personal interest.

There are plenty of sites that will help get the creative juices flowing. The Story Starter is a simply designed randomizer to aid in giving the opening sentence of a story. Another favourite generator is Fantasy Name Generator, which leads to multiple generators and writing aids, including character descriptions and plot leads. Six Word Memoirs and Six Word Stories are similar, aimed at getting to the point and capturing the essence of ideas, moods and activities in only six words. It is amazing to me how much emotion can be captured in so few words.

For budding authors or those interested in looking deeper into the writing process, Writers’ Digest is a great place to start. There is everything that would be of help to aspiring authors, from worksheets that would help develop characters, plot and story, to how to get published. Sites like Mythcreants and A Writer of History provide genrefied guidance as to elements that make for successful writing in sci-fi/fantasy and historical fiction, respectively. There are many such sites, for all sorts of genres. Finding one that appeals to your tastes and writing style should not be an issue.

Writers association also have many of their own sites. While not really aimed at the educational market, they are interesting to fans of those genres as they often have their own recommendations, author profiles, reviews and upcoming releases. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Horror Writers Association are two that I visit regularly. The American Library Association has a young adult division that is also very helpful for readers of YA.

There are also sites to help the avid reader. BookRiot and Goodreads are go-to sites to get book information. There is also Novelist Plus for finding books that will interest you, but you must login to our library catalogue.

Hopefully this will give you a starting place to pursue your writing interests. I know they keep me busy. If you have any suggestions or links to add, please comment below, but don’t forget there will be multiple posts in this series.

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Want to Become a Shakespeare Buff?

Of course you do! Who doesn’t?

The Globe Theatre, the reconstruction of Shakepeare’ original Globe, is offering streaming plays for free beginning today. Hamlet, the play about the Danish prince, is available from April 6th for two weeks. Other plays follow on a two week rotation.

This is a huge opportunity to watch some of the best Shakepearean actors perform at the illustrious venue, for free. Shakespeare’s plays were always intended to be watched and taking this opportunity to see them “live” will certainly help viewers understand why the Bard occupies such an illustrious place in the English literary canon.

Stream them  through the Globe Player, here: https://globeplayer.tv/

Also available through the Globe Player’s free content is Shakespeare Lives, a collection of short films that illustrate the creativity and adaptation that artists have taken some of Bill’s most famous plays. The Sonnet Project NYC, where New Yorkers have at reciting Shakespearean sonnets, and interviews with performers of the plays.

There seems to be plans to release some of their Globe to Globe productions, plays performed in other languages, for free, beginning with a Korean A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I will update with dates for those when I find out more. The itinerary of their streaming English language plays:

‘Hamlet’ (2018), April 6-19

‘Romeo & Juliet’ (2009), April 20-May 3

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (2013), May 4-17

‘The Winter’s Tale’ (2018), May 18-31

‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’ (2018), June 1-14

‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ (2019), June 15-28

Interesting stuff all around for the Shakespeare buff or a student trying to figure out what all the fuss was all about.

 

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