Search This Blog

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Anita and Me, Chapters 6 and 7


Chapter 6:
·         Main Events:
o   Meena meets Anita and tells her that her mother is in hospital after giving birth. Anita says that Deirdre is also in hospital after being beaten up by Deirdre’s father. Anita doesn’t believe this however and thinks her Dierdre has made this up.
o   Anita and Meena form a gang comprising of local children. They spend time reading magazines and walking around Tollington.
o   Anita encourages a peeing competition with the gang and makes a point of taking part. She then forces her sister Tracey to join in but after the rest of them make cruel jokes, Tracey runs off crying. Meena joins in but is shocked by the incident.
o   After Anita explains what sex  is to Meena, she steals her mother’s make up and asks Anita to help her apply it. Meena then goes out to try to attract a boy but fails. Unhappy, she writes a letter to Jackie magazine.
o   Meena’s father realises she is unhappy.
o   Pinky and Baby come to visit and stay with Anita and Meena. Anita steals sweets from the shop and Meena steals Mr Ormerod’s charity collection tin, giving it to Baby to hide.
o   When they Meena, Pinky and Baby return home, Mr Ormerod comes to accuse the girls of stealing. Meena blames Pinky and Baby who are taken home and punished.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena tells us about the new motorway being built and the small protests against it.


Chapter 7
·         Main Events:
o   Meena goes to the village fete, hosted by the Pembridges.
o   Sam Lowbridge appears, now dressed as a skinhead.
o   Sandy has a stall of badly knitted animals which the Ballbearings women are whispering about until Hairy Neddy claims they’re versions of expensive gonk toys. As the Ballbearings women buy the toys, Neddy proposes to Sandy.
o   Meena and Anita go to see a fortune teller who is new to the fete. The fortune teller is hesitant but tells Meena that help will come ‘from overseas’, to watch her mother’s health and that she is under a ‘bad influence’. Anita presses the Mysterious Stranger to tell her fortune but she refuses at first. Finally, she warns Anita that she must slow down, she will have babies young and her mother will leave.
o   The girls meet Sherrie who tells them she has a new horse, Trixie.
o   Mr Pembridge tells the crowd they have raised £307  and Reverend Ince informs everyone that the money will go towards the church roof.
o   Sam Lowbridge shouts out ‘Warra bout us?’, angry at the use of money. He also accuses Uncle Alan, who steps in to help, that he gives money to ‘some darkies we’ve never met’. The crowd is hald supportive of Sam, half annoyed. Meena is hurt deeply by this.
o   Anita mentions to Meena that Sam is ‘bosting’. Angry, Meena tells her she’s a ‘bloody stupid cow sometimes’ and goes home, shocked.
o   The next day, Meena sees Anita walking past, loudly calling Sherrie her best friend.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena comments on the spring cleaning habits of the village, particularly the Mad Mitchells.
o   Meena explains how little they saw of Indian people in the media and how it would become a big event when they did, like Miss India winning the Miss World contest.
o   Meena suggests to her mother that they drop Sunil off at the orphanage to give her mother a break. However, Meena realises how tired her mother is and how much time Sunil takes up.
o   Meena remembers Uncle Alan and Mr Ormerod discussing charity and if money should be used to spread Christianity. Later, Meena’s parents
o   Meena explains how her father enjoys gambling. 

Sunday 27 January 2013

Anita and Me, Chapter 5


Chapter 5:
·         Main Events:
o   Meena meets Tracey with her new dog but is shocked to discover that they’ve named it a racist term. When she tells this to her mother, she is shocked although her father insists that this is more ignorance than racism.
o   Anita comes and asks Meena if she wants to go and watch the fairground being put up in the village.
o   On the way, Anita tells Meena about a witch living in the Big House and the pair of them recite prayers to ward off evil.
o   At the fairground, Anita warns Meena to avoid the gypsies and meets Sherrie and Fat Sally. They see three older boys setting up the rides and Anita strikes up a conversation with one of them before introducing them to the other girls who quickly pair up.
o   Anita tells the girls that the boy she is with, who Meena refers to as ‘The Poet’, wants to ‘shag the arse’ off her. Anita presses Meena to see if she understands. The girls go back to the boys and Meena, feeling left out, leaves.
o   Back at home, Meena puts on her mother’s make-up before the Aunties and Uncles arrive for Diwali. However, this just amuses the adults and she is made to wash it off.
o   Her father sings a song to the group and Meena is encouraged to do the same. She sings a traditional song but her Birmingham accent causes amusement. Meena then sings a modern pop song with the dance moves but ruins it by repeating the phrase ‘shag the arse off it’ that she overheard earlier to describe the song. Horrified, her parents send her to bed.
o   Meena goes downstairs to help her parents serve food but overhears her mother telling Auntie Shaila everything about her behaviour. Meena is mortified and sneaks back out to the fairground.
o   Once there, Meena meets Sam Lowbridge who helps her fire a gun at a shooting range stall, and also meets Sherrie who shows Meena a love bite. Meena is confused and thinks that Sherrie has been beaten up.
o   Meena sees Anita with her mother, Deirdre and is impressed. However, when Anita goes to get food, Meena sees Deirdre and The Poet disappearing off into his caravan. Meena lies to Anita and they go on rides together.
o   Afterwards, Anita takes Meena to sneak into the garden of the Big House. Inside, Meena finds a statue of Ganesha but then they hear dogs and escape. Meena doesn’t tell Anita what she saw.
o   On return, Meena discovers her mother going into labour.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena talks about Diwali and is shocked that no-one else around her knows about it.
o   Meena recalls being introduced to religion by Auntie Shaila and asks to visit a temple. Meena’s mother agrees to take her but the journey is marred by her mother’s terrible driving. At one point, Meena is told to ask a line of cars to move backwards and is shocked by a racist response from another driver. The visit itself is taken up with Meena’s mother worrying about the drive home.
o   Meena mentions a girl called Jodie who went missing and was discovered to have drowned in the ponds behind the Big House.
o   Meena remembers her mother having to give a lift to a family called the Mad Mitchells after offering them one but not expecting that they would say yes. 

Anita and Me, Chapters 3 - 4


Chapter 3:
·         Main Events:
o   Anita approaches Meena who is sitting outside eating sweets. Anita asks Meena to join her, making Meena feel proud.
o   Outside Mr and Mrs Christmas’s house, Anita encourages Meena to run up an alley way, shouting. Mr Christmas comes out of the house and shouts at them for making a noise. Whilst Meena is apologetic, Anita says ‘Tell me mom. I don’t care’. Anita is shocked and impressed by her attitude.
o   Back at Anita’s house, Anita asks her sister Tracey where her mum is but Tracey doesn’t know. Upset by this, Tracey bursts into tears and Hairy Neddy invites the girls in for food. Anita is about to hit Neddy with a stick when his back is turned but Deirdre, her mother appears.
o   Deirdre tells Anita and Tracey to come in for fish fingers. Meena is at first excited at being invited in too but then surprised when Deirdre says goodbye to her instead and shuts the door.
o   At home, Meena finds her mother getting a vase out of their outhouse for Mrs Worrall, whose husband has knocked hers over.
o   Meena begs her mother for some English food. Her mother confronts her about stealing the money that morning.
o   Mrs Worrall asks Meena to come and help her make jam tarts. After, Mrs Worrall introduces Meena to Mr Worrall, an invalid who was seriously wounded in the war. Meena feels sympathy for Mrs Worrall but runs out, taking her jam tarts with her.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena comments on Anita’s friends, Sherrie and Fat Sally.
o   Meena recalls that she last saw Mrs Christmas a long time ago when she was collecting things for the Christmas Fayre. She also mentions that it is known around the yard that Mrs Christmas is ill with cancer.
o   Meena talks about Uncle Alan – a friendly man in his twenties who encourages the children to get involved in various activities for the church. She refers to him as a ‘sex symbol’.
o   Meena remembers the clothes that Mrs Christmas gave her as being very colourful, which contrasted with her knowledge of Mrs Christmas as an old lady.
o   Meena talks about Hairy Neddy who plays in a band. She recalls a time his car broke down and his organ (old fashioned keyboard) turned on and started playing music. Neddy was rescued by Sandy who lent him some stockings to tie the organ on the car. After this, Meena saw Sandy change her appearance and make excuses to speak to Neddy. After a while however, Sandy goes back to wearing her old clothes, much to Meena’s confusion.
o   Meena tells a short story of two mothers fighting and compares them to her own, placid and calm mother.
o   Meena introduces Sam Lowbridge, a local teenage troublemaker, and his mother Glenys.
o   Meena mentions asking her mother about Mrs Worrall, who has children who live in Wolverhampton who never visit. Meena’s mother tries to hide her disgust at this fact.

Chapter 4:
·         Main Events:
o   Meena’s parents are waiting for her and ask he to come and speak to them. Meena’s father tells her an Indian version of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ although Meena is disappointed by the story.
o   Meena asks her father about being in a war and he tells her a story about how he was asked to deliver a package which turned out to be a bomb. She is very grateful for this story and her mother brings her out some fish and chips for dinner.
o   That night, Meena is woken by ambulance sirens. Looking outside, she watches as Mrs Christmas is taken off on a stretcher, dead, and Mr Christmas is led away by police. Meena overhears Deirdre explaining that she’d gone to speak to Mr Christmas about Anita’s behaviour earlier and had found Mrs Christmas who had been dead for weeks.
o   Mr Christmas dies three weeks later and Meena’s mother attends his funeral. Afterwards, her parents sit talking about their grandparents in Punjabi.
o   Meena’s parents then decide to tell her that they are expecting a baby. Meena makes it clear that this is not something she wants.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena recalls her parents mehfils, parties with the Aunties and Uncles. On one occasion, Meena wakes up to hear shouting during one of these parties. She overhears her Aunties and Uncles talking about the horrors of Partition.
o   Meena talks about her grandparents who she has never met. She also talks about her parents relationship and their way of constantly showing affection, uncommon amongst other families in Tollington. She compares them to the Ballbearings women, who drink and shout about their partners in the streets.

Anita and Me, Chapters 1-2


Chapter 1:
·         Main Events:
o   Meena’s father takes her to Mr Ormerod’s shop to force her to admit that she stole money. Meena had claimed that she’d been given sweets for free but in the end admits that she took money to avoid the shame of Mr Ormerod knowing what she did.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena recalls Mrs Worrall showing her a photograph of Tollington when the mine was still open.
o   Meena explains that the Big House has been bought by someone mysterious who sometimes gets expensive deliveries.
o   Meena first mentions that their garden is full of herbs and plants unlike the colourful gardens around her.
o   Meena recalls first meeting Anita, who lies and claims her dad is a sailor in an advert. Confused by this, Meena spoke to Anita’s dad and asked him if he missed the sea.
o   Meena explains about the ‘Ballbearings women’ who work in a factory. Their husbands used to work in the mines and now stay at home.
o   Mr Ormerod is introduced as an overly enthusiastic Christian.
o   Meena recalls being punished in class that week for kicking a boy who had made a racist comment.
Chapter 2:
·         Main Events:
o   Meena overhears her parents arguing when they get home.
·         Background Stories:
o   Meena recalls a birthday when she went into Wolverhampton with her parents. On the way home, she choked on a sausage but was saved when the car went over a bump and the sausage flew out.
o   Meena also comments on the Indian clothes her mother wears when out and the fact her mother refuses to eat out.
o   Meena comments on how the neighbours respect her mother and see her as ‘the epitome of grace, dignity and unthreatening charm.’ However, Meena also notes that her mother makes fun of the English behind their backs. This is made clear when Meena tries to encourage her mother to grow flowers and have gnomes in her garden, a suggestion met with sneers.
o   Meena talks about her ‘Aunties and Uncles’, not actual relations but Indian friends who regularly visit and act as extended family. Meena does try to explain this to her neighbour, Mrs Worrall.
o   Meena remembers overhearing romantic stories of her parents meeting and describes her parent’s life in India.
o   Meena remembers a favourite story of how her mother witnessed a murder a long time ago.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Comparing Articles

Comparisons are all about what is different and what is similar in texts. Once you have identified those then you need to think about the reasons for the differences. Possibly a different audience will require a different format or they may have a different aim in mind. What do the texts want the audience to think and feel about them? 


 Also, remember to use comparative language. Look at the example below;


The first kitten is a mix of orange and yellow colours and the second is black all over except for a few white bits.


 This has no comparative language so doesn't count as a comparison. However, this is;


The first kitten is a mix of orange and yellow colours although the second is black all over except for a few white bits.


 Comparative words you can include are:




similarly, likewise, equally, not only, but also,
both, also, the same as, alike, like, just like ,
just as, comparable to




but, yet, however, although,
even though, though, unlike, not like,
not the same as, dissimilar, different from, in contrast (to),
contrary to, compared to / with, in comparison, while,
whereas, on the other hand

English Today

Lollibop Festival website:

 The key to this website is that is is aimed at both children and their parents at the same tine. As a consequence, the website has a colourful and exciting appearance. The purpose of the site is also a mix of informative and entertaining, getting their target audience interested in the festival whilst also giving key information in an easily accessible format.
 Things to look for include; the wide range of child friendly images that allow the younger audience an understanding of what to expect without being dull, the subtle inclusion of useful links for the parent with little time to spare and the mixture of attention grabbing language that remains short and snappy.

Sneinton Festival poster:

 This poster is clearly aimed far more at an older audience; it's muted colours and less cluttered appearance indicate that it's purpose is to deliver information in a quick and effective way. The poster relies on black and white alternated text deliver the information in a simple language with the occasional adjective as promotion. The inclusion of 'Amy' s a contact makes this poster feel more friendly and intimate.
 Things to look for include; the personal pronoun in the title, the circular layout and colour co-ordination between the text and the image which lends a sense of cohesion, the instructional language with well judged information for parents and adults.



More from Unit 1: Festivals