ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SCRAPBOOK
A guide to a successful year 12 task
Getting Started!
You should have
purchased a scrapbook for your unit of
study for Year 12
English Language.
You could also
purchase a plastic
pocket book to store
information obtained
from newspapers or
online which has
anything to say about
language (in
Australia primarily,
but elsewhere could
be relevant.)
So what now...?
This means that the information may find could specifically discuss these topics. Or,
a writer or speaker may be making use of any of the above topics in a natural
context or format. Date all sources and keep anything from Newspapers, Texts,
Film, TV, Radio, or the Internet. In some cases you may have to record
information you have heard from direct speech - so, write it down, including
source and date, and keep that in your scrapbook/display book. Keep this
information safe as it will be useful for forming the basis of some of your Unit 3
essay writing as well as analysis and annotation for your scrap-book.
You will be
asked to
report on your
finds in class
regularly.
It will comprise
a percentage
of your grade.
Newspapers
Provide a wonderful source of language in
use (magazines also prove useful). Regular
columns, especially in The Age, The Age Green
Guide – and Good Weekend - often discuss
language directly, providing plenty of
material for discussion and analysis.
Texts
Read, read and read. Choose from the
Supplementary Reading list
suggestions AND any of the following
which give good information about
English Language:
•
•
•
•
•
1984 George Orwell
Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
A Concise History of Australia Stuart
Macintyre
Fowler’s Modern English Usage
VCE English Language Exam Guide Kirsten
Fox
The Castle
They’re a Weird Mob
Frontline (1990’s comedy program)
Summer Heights High
We can be Heroes
Kath and Kim
The Black Balloon
Television and Radio
provide excellent resources for analysis. Both domains are useful to
study the differences between planned/unplanned and
spontaneous/scripted speech. Try to look at some of the following
• Enough Rope (also website, especially Chopper Reed and Steve
Irwin interviews in the archive; see abc.net.au )
• Reality TV, such as Idol, Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor,
America’s Next Top Model, Super Nanny - (useful to compile
snippets)
• Can we help? (Kate Burridge segment- ABC TV 6.30pm Fridays)
• The Sounds of Aus
• Anything on SBS featuring ethnolects (ethnically based accents)
such as Kick or Fat Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers,
• Bogan Pride
• Listen to or download Lingua Franca from Radio National 621
(abc.net.au/rn). It is broadcast at 3.45pm on a Saturday.
• Live football or sporting broadcasts with lively commentators, like
Rex Hunt
The Internet and Technical
Communication
NOW this is your specific domain - your
generation’s speciality, so to speak! In the
area of e-language you could look at actual
transcripts of email, msn and texting for
analysis. You will have your own authentic
examples here but you could also look at the
following....
• You Tube for stand up
comedians, e.g. Mitchell
& Webb, Russel Peters,
• Official sites for different
show clips, e.g. mister
potty mouth himself,
Gordon Ramsay
• Wikipedia – for obscure
points of grammar in easy
to find and digest form