How to Analyse a Political Speech

Here is a power point which can be used to teach the topic "How to Analyse a Political Speech". Link.

You can find some tips/pointers on what to look for when analysing a poltical speech. 

Some of these are: 
1)Most speeches are a reaction to something.

•So, it is important to understand the historical context about why the speech was made

2) Most speeches are arguments for a point of view.

• If you can find out what the speaker is arguing for, then the rest of the content is easier to follow

3) Most speeches use rhetorical devices to influence opinion

         •Look for the use of logos, pathos and ethos

4) Most speeches use stylistic features

         •Look for repeitition, slogans, imagery, alliteration, antithesis

I have also included some links to videos where you can see political speeches being analysed. You fill also find a link to worksheet that learners can use to analyse speeches. I have posted the document as a pdf file. Send me an email at jaspreetgloppen@gmail.com if you need it as a power point which you can edit. 

Best,
Jaspreet

Sample of a well-written text (with teacher comments) that shows how you can answer the long – answer part of the written exam.

The following text is written by my 16-year old student Camilla Lønningen, who is a student of general studies/studiespesialiserende.

She has kindly agreed to let me share her text for teaching purposes. She answered this task during her whole-day test / written mock-exam this semester. The whole-day test consisted of two tasks: one short answer task, and one long-answer task. Given that she only had 5-hours at her disposal, the ideas presented by her are very well-executed. I have placed the text into a table to show how the content has been organized. On the right-hand side, I have made some comments to provide an insight into what I think works in the text.

Here is the link to the text that Camilla Lønningen created, and which includes my comments.

The text that she wrote was a response to the following task which is what the students enrolled in Vg1 or Vg2English typically get for their written exam in English.

In literature and films, the main characters often take on a challenge. Compare and contrast two such characters you have studied in your English course and reflect upon the challenges they have met and how their actions and choices help us understand them and the world around us.

In your text, you should

·         in short, introduce the texts you have chosen and how you will answer the task

·         present the challenges of character one with examples

·         present the challenges of character two with examples

·         compare and contrast the two characters’ challenges in a discussion

·         conclude by summing up the main differences between the characters

    Give your text a suitable title.

If you are interested, you can check out this post here about how to prepare for you written whole-day test or written exam. 

On the blog you can also find an example of a well structured argumentative text with teacher comments.

Some sample tasks for oral exams in English Literature and Culture.

Here are a few sample tasks that can be used for the oral exams in the subject English Literature and Culture. Assessment criteria are included in the tasks. 

Teachers can use these as a point of departure to formulate their own tasks and the students can use these to prepare for the exams. 

Here is a task about:
1) Literary Devices: Link
2)Book analysis and discussion: Link
3) Literary-historical period: Link
4) Satire: Link
5) Character analysis: Link

Becoming a critical consumer - Advertisement Analysis/Reklameanalyse

How do companies persuade you to buy their products? Learn how to reveal the manipulations at work.

It is important for the youth of today to understand how advertising manipulates their choices and their spending. This can help them develop their powers of critical observation and reflection, and help them eventually become a more aware consumer.

Check out this article I wrote for Cappelen Damm about how to be a critical consumer. 

You can also read it on the website for the book Tracks here. 

Here is a task related to the article and images learners can analyze. Here is an assessment form which can be used by the teachers to assess the analysis. It can also be used by the learners for self-evaluation.

Working on this topic fulfills the following competene aims for Vg1 and Vg2 (both vocational and general studies):

• discuss and elaborate on English language films and other forms of cultural expressions from different media
• evaluate different sources and use contents from sources in an independent, critical and verifiable manner
• evaluate different digital resources and other aids critically and independently, and use them in own language learning

In International English, it fulfills the following criteria:

• analyse and assess the role of some English-language media in international society ( How do advertisements in English affect our daily choices.)
• analyse linguistic tools in different kinds of texts (rhetorical tools like logos, pathos and ethos)
• give an account of fundamental principles for constructing texts in a variety of genres (princilpes for creating an advertisement)

In Literature and Culture, the following competence aims are fulfilled:

• analyse and assess a film and a selection of other artistic forms of expression within English-language culture 
• elaborate on and discuss the relationship between form, content and stylistic register in sentences and texts