Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Static Electricity

Some years ago, I worked with a student who lived on one of those apartments where every time he touched something or someone, he received a mild electric shock. He didn’t much like this, and wanted to find a way to stop it. I don’t know if this reading on static electricity and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet, which I prepared for him, helped with reducing shocks, but he was quite interested in the subject.

Otherwise, I am not sure why this document exists or what possible utility it might have. If you use it, I sure would appreciated hearing how and why.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Battle of Hastings

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This is a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. In other words, a concise introduction to what is a seminal event in the history of Western Europe (and the basis for the hilarious 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman).

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Canard

“Canard (noun): A groundless and hence false report, especially one deliberately fabricated and spread; specious anecdote; rumor or hoax.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

Impunity (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun impunity. It means, of course, “exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss,” and Merriam-Webster offers this usage tip: “<laws were flouted with ~>.”

Yes, yes they were. Now, let’s get to the bottom of this business and start prosecuting miscreants.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, 19 August 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Idora Park”

It’s Friday again, so that means it’s time for the Weekly Text: here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Idora Park.” This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on nuance: it’s half-page document with a single-sentence reading and three comprehension questions, one of which calls upon students to think of some nuances.

To investigate whatever unlawful act occurred at Idora Park, you’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence against the alleged perpetrator. To bring charges and secure a conviction, you’ll need this typescript of the answer key.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Archie Bunker

He came up in conversation with a couple of friends after an evening at Jazzmobile in Harlem the other night, so here is a reading on Archie Bunker along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I remember All in the Family when it was in broadcast–I was 11 when it started its run; I was not, alas, old enough to understand, let alone appreciate, the bitter irony of the superb writing and acting. I hadn’t realized the show ran until 1979. I stopped watching television in 1975. preferring to run the streets of Madison, Wisconsin with my friends in search of the sort of kicks that Archie Bunker would have frowned upon.

Now is a good time to congratulate All in the Family’s legendary producer, Norman Lear, on his centenary birthday. He turned 100 on July 27 of this year.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Quit

Here is a worksheet on the verb quit as it is used with a gerund. It’s time to quit writing curricular materials that no one will ever use.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Stephen Hawking

I don’t know how germane they are to the high school curriculum in general (I prepared these documents for two students several years ago, and haven’t used them since), but here are a reading on Stephen Hawking along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Professor Hawking has always been in my mind something in the line of Nietzsche’s ubermensch, especially in that terms expectation of self-overcoming.

In any case though, a certain kind of student (e.g. the two for whom I developed this material) finds Stephen Hawking, appropriately enough, a fascinating figure. This material is for that student.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Battle of Britain

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Battle of Britain. This is a half-page document with a reading of three relatively involved compound sentences and three comprehension questions. It explains the Battle well, and so is a good general introduction to this epochal event in World War II.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Calumny

“Calumny (noun): A deliberate or malicious false statement injurious to another’s reputation; defamatory report or accusation; slander. Adj. calumnious; adv. calumniously; n. calumniator; v. calumniate.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.