Improve your English! Extension Booklet Level 4+ Produced by Edmonton County Secondary School
Task 1 Vocabulary Jazz me up! Level of difficulty: Moderate Your task is to improve the basic sentences below by developing the vocabulary choices. To do this you need to improve the verb, add an interesting adjective and adverb. Look at the example that s been done for you first. Use a thesaurus to help you. EXT: Can you add in any techniques? (See task 2) Basic sentences Maria ate the chocolate. Verb Rebecca hit the child. Advanced sentences Maria speedily devoured the delectable chocolate. Adverb Verb Adjective Madryn walked through the park. The dog barked at the cat. Lisa looked at the picture. John ran away from the lion. Anna picked up the phone. Lou combed her hair. Tom played the guitar. Dru spoke to the girl.
Task 2 Vocabulary & techniques. Level of difficulty: Tricky Paint a picture with words! Link up the technique with correct example by drawing a line. Technique Simile Rhyme Example Mr Tack Hurt his back The car zoomed past. Alliteration Patrick s hair looked like blades of grass. Onomatopoeia The school devoured its prey. Metaphor The wild wind blew. Personification My brother is a cheeky monkey. Look out of your window, describe what you can see using the techniques above. Underline the ones you have used and label them to show how well you ve done. Think about how you can describe the trees, the sky, houses, the weather, the cars or any people.
Task 3 Punctuation & spelling. Level of difficulty: Moderate/tricky Put me right! Read the extract below. You will notice that there are a number of spelling mistakes and punctuation has been left out, it is your job to correct the mistakes you find. HINT: There are 10 spelling mistakes! You should also be adding: capital letters, full stops, commas, question marks, exclamation marks, speech marks and apostrophes. ever since he could rember peter had sharred a bedroom with kate most of the time he did not mind but there were times when he did mind shareing a room there were long aftanoons when he and kate got on each others nurves a squabble would lead to a row and a row to a fight a proper punching scratching hair-pulling fight since peter was three years older he expected to win these all-out batles and in a sence he did he could always count on making kate cry first but was this really wining kate could hold her breathe and make her face the colour of a ripe plum all she needed to do then was run downstairs and say to her mother mum look what peter did or she might lie on the floor making a rattling sound in her throat so that peter thought she was about to dye
Task 4 Tenses Level of difficulty: Tricky Now or then? Read the following extract. It has incorrectly been written in the past and present tense. Your job is to correct the tenses by changing it all into past tense. You need to imaging this is describing an event that happened last week. It wasn t human. It can t be. It is four times as tall as the tallest human. It was so tall its head is higher than the upstairs window of the houses. Sophie opens her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright. This is the witching hour all right. The tall black figure is coming her way. It was keeping very close to the houses across the street, hiding in the shadowy places where there is no moonlight. And on it comes, nearer and nearer. But it is moving in spurts. It would stop, then move on, then it would stop again. But what on earth is it doing? Ah-ha! Sophie can now see what it was up to. It is stopping in front of each house. It will stop and peer into the upstairs window of each house in the street. It actually has to bend down to peer into the upstairs windows. That s how tall it is.
Task 5 Reading Level of difficulty: Tricky Analyse This! Read the extract below, focusing on the language (vocabulary) and sentence length, and then answer the questions that follow on the next page. Arnold ran. The man was still out of his vision, round the curve of the staging, and Arnold, doubled up, went silently, hoping to get to the door unseen. But as he straightened up to open the door, a board creaked beneath his foot. The torch flew in his direction, pinning him in its bright light. He wrenched at the door handle and flung himself through the door. The man came after him. Instead of running straight, Arnold right-angled and ran down the back wall to the corner, then launched off among the pine trees in the direction of the river. The torchlight caught him, lost him as he leapt sideways and fell in landing. The uneven ground had dropped into a nice hole. Taking advantage, he turned and crawled and wriggled back in the opposite direction, keeping his head down, following an animal track. The man ran to the spot where the light had picked him out and stood there, flashing the torch all around. Arnold froze to the ground. His pursuer was about five meters away. Arnold buried his face into the earth and waited. The torchlight flickered all around like a will-o -the wisp over the dank heather. Arnold could hear the man s heavy, angry breathing and the squelching of his feet as he moved direction. The man knew he was there and persisted, searching, but when he decided to stamp his way around the area to flush Arnold out, he fortunately chose the downriver direction, and turned his back for a few moments.
Task 5 (continued) 1. How does the writer use language (vocabulary) to show that Arnold is frightened? Select words or phrases which show he is frightened and explain how they show this. Quote:... Explanation:... 2. How does the writer use language to show that the man is intimidating? Select words or phrases which show he is intimidating and explain how they show this. Quote:... Explanation:... 3. How does the writer use sentence length to make it sound exciting and tense? Make sure you refer to the text when explain your response. Quote:... Explanation:...
Self and Peer Assessment grid Use the grid below to work out your level (SA). Once you have done this, get someone else to check your work also, e.g. parent, brother/sister, friend (PA). Task Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Task 1: Jazz me up! Vocabulary Task 2: Paint a picture with words. Vocab & techniques Task 3: Put me right. Spelling & punctuation Task 4: Now or then? Tenses Task 5: Analyse this! Reading I have added adjectives and am beginning to use more interesting verbs. I have consistently used interesting adjectives, verbs and some adverbs. As well as using interesting adjectives, verbs and adverbs, I have included some techniques for effect. SA PA SA PA SA PA I have used at least 2 techniques and some interesting vocabulary. I have included at least 4 of the techniques and vocabulary is interesting throughout. I have used all of the techniques effectively and vocabulary is sophisticated throughout. SA PA SA PA SA PA I have corrected simple spellings and am able to add capital letters, full stops, commas and question marks. I have corrected all spellings and am able to add capital letters, full stops, commas, question marks, exclamation marks, speech marks and apostrophes. SA PA SA PA I have changed all nine is into was. I have corrected all 15 errors. SA PA SA PA I can select words or phrases to answer the question and am beginning to explain why I chose this quotation. I can select appropriate quotations and can explain, in detail, the effect of words and some techniques. I can select relevant and effective quotations. My explanations consider the effect of words, techniques, sentence structure and punctuation. SA PA SA PA SA PA