Unfamiliar Text Paper. 3 credits.

1. Unfamiliar Text Paper. 3 credits. • Unfamiliar texts are those which you have not previously studied. • Your assessment will be based on written and visual and oral texts. • You will be tested on your understanding on the ideas expressed in the texts and the style and language used. • You must answer the questions precisely and use quotes or examples to support your ideas. • You will be expected to know technical terminology to describe the features of the texts and be able to explain their effect.

2. The Texts • A range of unfamiliar texts will include at least one from each of the following text types: • Transactional writing (eg persuasive, journalistic) • Poetic writing (poem, descriptive prose) • Verbal/visual (eg poster, advertisement) • Oral (eg transcript of a speech, drama script, transcript of a conversation).

3. The Questions. Judgement statement – 2008 English: Read unfamiliar texts and analyse the ideas and language features (90380) There are 4 texts and 8 questions. All 8 questions offer opportunities for Achievement, Achievement with Merit, or Achievement with Excellence.

4. The Approach. Hints from the Assessment report 2008. Candidates who achieved this standard most commonly demonstrated the following skills and knowledge: • ability to address the key words in the question and pay attention to details like the line numbers and number of examples • knowledge of language features • ability to quote evidence to support their points • ability to explain ideas in their own words • ability to carefully read text and notes • understanding of purpose and audience • basic understanding of the texts and a willingness to attempt all questions.

5. The Approach. Hints from the Assessment report 2008. In addition to the skills and knowledge required for Achievement, candidates who achieved the standard with Merit commonly: • understood why techniques were used and considered the intended effect on the audience • used a number of different examples or quotations to support their answers • incorporated language terminology into their answers to show a more sophisticated understanding of how the texts were constructed.

6. The Approach. Hints from the Assessment report 2008. Candidates who achieved the standard with Excellence commonly: • appreciated the finer details of meaning, such as irony or how the text might be relevant on a global scale • made original and perceptive responses • understood that they had to be analytical in their response • understood that writers use a range of techniques to influence readers on a number of levels • considered the overall effectiveness of texts or the combined effects of features • could articulate audience response • demonstrated fluency of expression in their explanation of ideas

7. The Texts. Visual texts. e.g. posters, adverts, What to look for/think about. Purpose. What is the text doing - informing, persuading, entertaining? • Audience. Who is the visual text aimed at and how has this been conveyed? Alignment. How are the texts, logo and graphics aligned? Is it organised. Think about how the ideas are placed on the paper. Colour This can be powerful is conveying tone and meaning. Think about the connotations colours have e.g. black, green and red. Brighter colours emphasise smaller objects. Light colours on dark backgrounds emphasise those areas and similar colours create a relationship and harmony between the elements. Contrast. This produces tension and drama – it can be caused with use of colour, lines, images, horizontal and vertical contrast. Font. This gives visual flair. Sans serif (without tails) is used in headlines and Serif fonts are used in the body. Repetitions. Repeating an element can create order in a design. This can be text or image. White space. This is any blank space no matter what the colour. It guides reader’s eye to important design elements and creates more emphasis and focus on the elements that are present. Remember. In a visual text, the visual and verbal (writing) should combine to make meaning. It can be straightforward or uses irony.

9. READING VISUAL TEXTS Text C: ‘40 Hour Famine’ (poster) Read Text C in the Resource Booklet, then answer questions Support all answers with specific examples and include language terminology as appropriate. 1. By referring to the 3 sections down the right-hand side of the poster, explain how a variety of visual features has been used to attract our attention. 2. Analyse how verbal features are used to encourage young people to help take part in the 40-hour famine. 3. Analyse how visual features are used to support the central words of the poster (‘Spread the word’/‘Give basics’/‘Give life’). (NB: Do NOT repeat features you have mentioned in answer to question 7).

11. Look at the layout. What are the differences, why are they different?

12. 1.Explain how TWO photographs in the poster are used as symbols. • 2.(a) Identify any TWO visual features used to catch the eye of the viewer. • (b) Analyse how EACH feature is designed to catch the eye of the viewer. • 3. (a) Identify any TWO verbal features used to appeal to New Zealanders to take action to help save the kiwi. • (b) Analyse how EACH feature is used to appeal to New Zealanders to take action to help save the kiwi.

13. The Texts. Written texts E.g. Poetry, prose, non-fiction extract, diary. Anything in written form. What to look for in written texts? Point of view – who is telling the story? Look for pronouns and bias. If the text has he or ‘she’ it has an omniscient point of view. Description. What language and techniques are used to describe characters and features on the text? Theme. Think about what is the main topic or subject. Characters. What do you learn? How? Structure. How is the piece arranged? Style. E.g. formal, informal, Tone. This refers to moods or feeling associated with the passage e.g. angry, tense, cheerful. Audience. Think about who the piece is directed to. Purpose. Is it to entertain, inform, persuade? Is it arguing or biased? Language. Figures of speech, any patterns of words or phrases, emotive language.

14. In The Wintry Gloom • In the cemetery great mossy trees stand naked in the wintry gloom • Their branches twisted and tangled like Medusa’s hair • They watch the temporary residents pouring out of the city • In angry buses that bully their way through the traffic • Traffic lights shining bright in the half-light create waves of noise 5 • As cars cut the road’s wet veneer redistributing the watery film • They race to catch the light cutting deep into the road ahead • Red light reflected onto the wet greasy road struggles to keep up • Wind and rain arrive together turning umbrellas and collars upward • The eyes of those crowded together beneath inadequate shelter do not meet 10 • Uncomfortable with forced intimacy some stand in the rain • Raised hands fall in frustration as already full buses pass without stopping • Later the gloom becomes the dark of night and lamps are haloed by the rain • The noise of people and traffic recedes and the traffic lights signal to nobody • Leaves with membranes like cobwebs have blown into the gutter in great drifts 15 • In the cemetery the city’s permanent residents settle in for another night’s sleep. • Tommy Gorden: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/mpd_poems.htm. 2007

15. In The Wintry Gloom • Tommy Gorden: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/mpd_poems.htm. 2007 • Explain the mood of lines 1-8. • Analyse how the poet creates this mood. • 2. Analyse how the poet helps the reader imagine the scene in stanza 3(lines 9-12). • 3. Analyse how the poet changes the mood of the poem in lines 13-16.

16. TEXT A Prose: THE WAIT Silence. Dead silence. Hear the clock ticking. Click clock click clock. So monotonous, so dull, so heavy. Two strangers sit across the waiting room. Routine visit. An old married couple. Monthly medicine, weekly injection? None of my business. Probably.. What’s the time? Tick tock tick tock. Hurry up! Need to get out of here, need to get out of here. Sick to the stomach, saliva creeps into my mouth. Must be nervous-or is there another reason? No,no,no,no,no. The old couple’s eyes are creepy. I bet they’re wondering why I’m here. Well, it’s none of their damn business, and they can keep their wrinkly eyes off me. Damn it! The suspense in here is incredible. Need to go, neeeeed to go. All around the walls are covered with posters. Cancer, unwanted pregnancy, STD’s, meningitis. I hate to be reminded of such gross things. Yuck! How depressing. This place sucks with its plain bogey walls covered with its hideous morbid posters. This place is damn silent. The only sound is the tick tock of the ugly clock, the tap tap of a keyboard, and cars speeding past. Oh, to be able to speed away in one of them! A Ferrari or a pink Cadillac would be good to take me far, far away from my mess of a life, to a beautiful castle with a handsome prince and my very own gorgeous garden. But that is just a fairy tale. Life never happens that way. The sound of the old man clearing his throat brings me back to this dense place. The tension in here is insane. A lady pushes a pram past me. Salty tears come to my eyes but, luckily, don’t manage to escape. Fear and panic replace the unformed tears. Faster and faster my heart beats, like when hearing “on your marks, get set…” right before a race at primary school. Now it’s beating so fast, I can’t keep up with it. Focus, need to focus. Dad calls from the sidelines, “You’ll be fine, sweetie.” I need him here to say that again but that could never happen. He can never know about my visit. Not ever! A voice disrupts the thoughts, “Mr and Mrs Foster? The doctor is here to se you.” Thump thump. Thump thump. That was my heart. The old couple get up and go into the lethal room. Funny how closed doors can hold the story of a life. My head is spinning-the green walls keep going around and around. Brown chairs, creepy posters popping out, huge pram, drugged lady, green walls, brown chairs. Over and over again. Then I hear a voice. “Kirsten Reeves?” I look up. “She’s ready to see you now.” Okay, okay deep breaths. I will be all right. I can do this. After all, I did win all my races didn’t I? Only just. Ruby Little, Year 13, Hagley Community College, Christchurch. TEXT A