First assignment (Choose A or B)
A) film review, concert review or art review
Write about a film, a concert or a work of art that you have seen lately. It can be one that you just loved or one that you really hated. Your text should be at least 300 words long.
More information in Open Road 5 p. 128-130. Tell about your reactions and impressions and analyse why you like / do not like what you saw or heard. Deal with at least four of the following things:
Film: The plot, characters, casting, camerawork, soundtrack, special effects, genre
Concert: Genre, programme, performers, their skillfulness, sound / acoustics, visual effects, atmosphere, audience reactions
Art: name of the work, artist, technique or materials, age, genre (abstract/representative), colours, texture, themes, cultural context
B) Fan fiction
Urban dictionary defines fan fiction like this: “Fanfiction is when someone takes either the story or characters (or both) of a certain piece of work, whether it be a novel, tv show, movie, etc, and create their own story based on it. Sometimes people will take characters from one movie and put them in another, which is called a cross-over.”
Your assignment:
Choose a novel or a film or a TV show that you like.
Tell a little about the original story or characters so that the reader can follow your ideas (one paragraph).
Write your own version of the story or continue the story.
You may try cross-over as well if you like.
The second assigment: Book review on an English novel
Choose a novel that was originally written in English. Make notes during the reading process and then write a review. You have a fairly open hand in what to include in your analysis. The content depends quite much on what kind of novel you read.
The main instruction is that your review should be clear and understandable to anyone who has not read the book. Using the following checklist may help. Remember that you may deviate (=poiketa) from the list and be creative.
Paragraph 1: the title and the author of the book & the year it was published. You may write a few sentences about the author or about his/her other books.
Paragraph 2: Tell about the theme of the book. Is it a love story or a detective story or a thriller? How does it fit into its genre? What other books might be similar to this one?
Paragraph 3: Who are the main characters? What is their relationship to each other? Do they represent certain stereotypes? How are they portrayed?
Paragraph 4: Plot summary (keep it short or leave out)
Paragraph 5: The language of the book (with examples) and the narration. Who is telling the story? One of the characters or an omniscient (=kaikkitietävä) narrator?
Paragraph 6: Comments on your reading experience. Did you like the book? How did it feel to read an English novel?
Minimum length 300 words.
Commenting:
Choose either one (or both) of the following assignments! The more the better!
A) Choose review about a film, a concert, an artwork or a book that you have seen/read. Do you agree with the writer about it? Did you like it? Let us hear about it!
B) Choose review about a film, a concert, an artwork or a book that you have not seen/read but which you would like to see/read. What made you want to see/read it?
When you write your articles:
You may:
- Search the web to find what other people have said about something.
- Quote these ideas as long as you tell whose they are and where you found them.
- Use pictures whose owners have permittedtheir use.
- Find CC-licenced pictures!
- What is Creative Commons?
You may NOT:
- State ideas that you have found on the Net as if they were your own.
- Use pictures that are not copy-right free.
- Copy any parts of your source unless you quote it.
To sum up:
- Browse the net for sources.
- Use the sources as inspiration.
- Write your own text.