Taking on the World – Ellen MacArthur
Mr I Elkin-Jones IGCSE English Language revision lecture 3 March 2011 [email protected]
Where does this come in my exam?
IGCSEEnglish LanguageSpecification A
The AnthologySection A of anthologyNon‐fiction
Ellen MacArthur comes in section B of the exam
Eh?
Watch…
This is a sample of what your exam could look like (although not with the same content as the real exam)
Front page
Time
Tasks
Sample English paper 1 exam paperSection A: Reading – 45 minutes Second page of the unseen reading
Section A Reading (continued)Comprehension questions Analytical type question on the un‐seen passage
Section B: Reading and Writing
45 minutes, 20 marksThis is where the Ellen MacArthur
section might come(But in this sample we have Touching the Void, instead)
Section B: Reading and Writing
Section B: Reading and WritingA question on the non‐fiction text:
10 marks for reading
An ‘imagine’ question, related to the non‐fiction text:
10 marks for writing
Finally, for Paper 1
Section C
Focus on Writing
This is an ‘explain’question
45 minutes
20 marks for writing
Total for whole paper is 60 marks
Ellen MacArthur ‐ context
• Extract from her autobiography
• An emergency on her 44th day on Vendee Globe in 2001
• A solo journey round‐the‐world yacht race
• 24 years of age
• Alone in heavy seas near Antarctica
• She needs to replace a sail; it’s also Christmas time
• She is a small, female sailor
• Others in race were large men, and strong
• This has an impact on how we are to read the material
• Affects how we admire her achievement
10 language features, 10 comments
Technical language
Mostly, the absence of it (although 6 examples are listed in the end glossary)
Creates a sense of normality
Includes the reader
Effect = we can relate to the anxiety, challenge, frustration
Direct language and active verbs
Direct, crisp language
Active verbs (climbed, worked, agonized, streamed: strong verbs, as they end in –’ed’)
Precise use of adverbs (describing verbs) – resists temptation to overuse –lyendings
First person sentences=immediacy of experience conveyed
Repetitively structured sentences
Words, phrases, clauses that suggest struggle, effort, challenge
Words – obvious!
Phrases – group of words forming conceptual unit but not a sentence (usually without a verb)
Clauses – distinct part of a sentence; includes subject and predicate
The hardest climb to date; there would be no second chance to climb this one.
Conversational features
Used to create immediacy, as if we’re being related the story in person
Contractions used I’d
Fillers odd massive wave
Imprecise nouns thing
Verb to get
Repetition for emphasis
But this does spoil the refinement (polish) of the writing – too colloquial
Syntax breaking at climax (grammatical agreement of
words, showing their connection and relation)
Makes the reader feel present
Indicates the highpoint of the extract
MacArthur breaks into direct speech, as if talking to herself, to boost her morale
Not far now, kiddo…come on
We want to join in!
Elaborate phrasing and comparisons
As if I was stepping onto the moon (simile)
This is what it must look like to the albatross
I felt a million dollars (metaphor)
But mostly, the writing is uncompromisingly literal:
I couldn’t feel my fingers
A focus on detail
Helps us create an image of her world in our minds
Equipment on boat
Height of mast
The weather
The waves
Important, as most readers know little about sailing
Strong sense of actuality created
Direct language to details her feelings
Vital if we are to empathize with her; grasp her sense of isolation against the elements
Agonised, exhausted, rallied
This captures the physical (body) and psychological (mental) effort required
This was by far the most dangerous part
Strongest phrasing at moments of greatest danger
It’s specifically like this so we can appreciate the magnitude of her jeopardy
Complex words often used
a world over which I had no control…
you are a passive observer…
the frustration was unreal…
no time for complacency now…
Humour towards the end
This signals the end of this narrative section
It’s Impossible to sustain jeopardy without the climax to it, and the subsiding from it (pace)
Thus lighter tone with Santa reference (prefigured at the start of extract)
Santa had called on the Kingfisher early…a new halyard.
Sample questions
Reading
• How does this passage bring out the thoughts and feelings of Ellen MacArthuras she sails alone in a race around the world?
• Write about an occasion when you were in a difficult situation. Explain how you overcame the problems.
Writing
Further source material
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/sailing/4229079.stm Good review of her life and achievements, and the public’s view of her, on this BBC website
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_MacArthur The usual easy to consume approach from Wikipedia
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8289226.stm News of her retirement, with a radio interview included
• http://www.ellenmacarthur.com/ Naturally, her website, like a link to her charity and environmental work and campaigns
• Images from Wikipedia and MacArthur’s website
• Sample pages from Edexcel inset information
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