ENGLISH SAVE THE WHALES!
On February 3rd, Year 7 students enthusiastically attended an informative presentation about whale and dolphin conservation. The students had been discussing issues surrounding whale and dolphin preservation as part
of a non-fiction unit in English lessons. Students had the opportunity to speak to Bernard Purrier, a marine biologist and volunteer from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Chippenham. The feedback was excellent; students really enjoyed hearing from an expert, and the highlight of talk was using a rope to measure the length of a blue whale, up to 30 metres! Some are very passionate about the issue and donated money to the WDC to adopt a whale. Overall, it was an exciting day.
DAVID CRYSTAL EVENING EVENT
When visiting Bath on Wednesday, 15 March 2017, we attended a talk with David Crystal, whom is well known for his books about using grammar correctly. During his talk, David connected with us by making it humorous rather than solely factual, making appropriate links to things such as Tom and Jerry to enable a common ground to be established and make the audience feel comfortable with his topic.
David made the topic of active and passive voice very relatable and informative, by expressing what could be a more confusing topic in the form of a more relatable example it meant the audience remained engaged. Throughout the talk he approached everything with humour, detracting from a potentially boring subject.
By providing the word ‘table’ to a group of people it could have a variety of meanings and therefore relies on context. He related this back to his personal education where the same word was described to him as only one thing, even though it had multiple meanings. At which point, he began dipping in and out of a liverpudlian accent, although entertaining, it helped to express his point in a more understandable manner.
www.matravers.wilts.sch.uk
During question time, David explained that he believes that due to the rate our language is changing, English will always be the most globally spoken language, no matter which other languages are evolving or at what rates. This was interesting to hear due to the rapid growth of languages such as Chinese. Despite this, Crystal was certain that English will maintain its status as most widely spoken language internationally.
Overall, our trip to David Crystal was very humorous and enjoyable, while still being very informative and educational and helping understand sections of our course.
OTHELLO
On Thursday 2nd March, twenty seven students from Matravers Sixth Form and three staff from the English Department visited the Tobacco Factory in Bristol to see their widely acclaimed production of ‘Othello’.
This production was performed ‘in the round’ in the intimate theatre that gives this venue its quirky reputation. All of the seating is very near the stage and there is no margin for poor acting. The set was very simple but a combination of clever lighting, innovative sound and the judicious use of a few key props more than compensated for this.
There was not a weakness in the cast of fourteen actors and Abraham Popoola displayed a commanding stage presence as Othello. Iago, played by Mark Lockyer was a manipulative and entirely credible villain. Norah Lopez Holden played Desdemona as a naïve, innocent and tragic victim of the misogyny of the
time.All of the students agreed that this modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s hard-to-like drama was entirely gripping and entertaining. It proved to be an excellent way to revise the text ahead of the exams. The pizza enjoyed on the waterfront was very well received too.
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