A-level 课程资源

A- level课程资源及教学参考

1. GP Power by Robert Wilks (New Edition)

Cannon International Block 86 Marina Parade Central #03-213 Singapore 440086 Tel: 63447801 Fax: 64470897

E-mail: cannonintel@singnet. Com. Sg Brief introduction of the book.

The book includes three sections: section one-advice; section two- word power; section three: examination practice. Section one:

The GP tests both your maturity of language and your maturity of thought. The two areas are obviously complementary. In addition, both abilities are developmental---you can not cram for G.P. in the same way that you can ―burn the midnight oil‖, doing desperate last-minute revision for content-based subjects. Instead, you must adopt a conscientious, consistent and continuous approach to ensure steady, gradual improvement. You must realize that such a strategy requires perseverance---there are no miracle overnight cures for improving your language skills or increasing your depth and range of thought. As well as being persistent, you also need to proactive and purposeful in order to improve your command of English, increase your awareness of current

events and enhance your appreciation of important issues. Below is a list of good habits that you should practice everyday.  Listen to BBC World Service news on the radio every morning.  Watch the news in English on television

 Subscribe to English newspapers and current affairs magazines(eg. TIME, Newsweek)

 Take an active interest in world events and topical issues.  Speak English whenever and wherever it is appropriate.  Buy and use a good dictionary.

 Compile a vocabulary list of new and useful words.

 Keep a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine articles relevant to G.P..

Finally do not be discouraged if your performance does not improve immediately---your persistence and diligence will be rewarded eventually.

Unite 1. Malapropisms Unite 2. Little word mean a lot.

Absolute dictators: by absolute adj. and adv., I mean those rough characters which allow no ―buts‖ oor ―maybes ‖. such words are not relative or measurable by comparison with other things but are total and unconditional. Here are a few to watch out for.

All, greatest, none, best, never, worst, always, completely only, totally.

Eg. Music is merely for relaxation.‖ Do you agree?

Here, the absolute adv is merely which is no more than a craftily disguised synonym for only or solely. Obviously, the student can not sit comfortably on the fence here; he has either to agree or disagree with the statement. The sensible thing to so is to disagree, since music is nit exclusively for relaxation (consider, for instance, its role in religious rituals and its aesthetic, cultural and social function.) therefore, even if you feel that music’s main or primary purpose is for relaxation, you still can not justifiably agree with the statement given the unqualified way in which it is put.

The problem here is that many students are frightened to response in absolute terms(eg. With a definite yes or no)in case they are wrong. Many prefer to hedge their bets by using the infamous phrase to certain extent. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this phrase in itself. The point is that it cannot be applied to such essays. This is not a question of opinion: it is a question of logic. Logically speaking, it is impossible to agree only partly with questions such as:

Should all forms of gambling be completely banned? War has never been justified. Do you agree? The poor will always be with us? What is your view?

These are put in such a way that you have to be restricted to a brief ―yes‖or ―no‖: it does harm, however, that you must make your position

clear initially. After this, you can proceed to expand, explain and justify your stance. Here, for example, is an acceptable opening paragraph: Music is merely relaxation, do you agree.

Although modern music is admittedly listened to by the majority of people for the purpose of relaxation, I can not agree that this is its sole or even primary function, aside from just resting the body and soothing the mind, music can stimulate, evaluate, enrich and inspire the individual listener. On a societal level, music has also played an integral role in man’s aesthetic, cultural and religious life science the dawn of history. In the rest of the essay, you can delineate particular areas in which music is played for purposes other than pure relaxation(eg. At ceremonies/ rituals) and give specific examples to illustrate each one.

In your conclusion, you may want to reiterate your stand. This does not mean that you should merely repeat what you have said earlier; this would be both boring and redundant. You can, however, emphasize your main point that whilst you acknowledge that music is popularly played for relaxation, you have demonstrated that it is not employed purely for such a purpose ---indeed, if such were the case, music would not have such a central and significant role in both the life of the individual and the history of mankind.

Unite 4 of Frankenstein and fences

“Let us advance worrying become advance thinking and planning”

Winston Churchill A logical path

Before we examine the five stages of essay planning, it is important to realize that all good plans are structured on logical principles. The content of your essay must be selected based on its relevance, organized according to its nature and ordered to produce a consistent and coherent argument. Unless you use logic at every stage of this process, your final plan will not be sound. A five-fenced course

Planning is a five-fenced course and you must successfully each hurdle in its proper sequence to win the race. Fence one---Appreciate Essay Requirements

If you fail to understand the question, you can not give a relevant reply. Many students fall at this first fence because, although they identify the general topic, they fail to locate the focus of the essay. Take, for instance, the question.

The primary purpose of education should be enable people to gain employment. Do you agree?

Here many students either make the mistake of writing a general essay describing the important role that it plays in preparing people for the world of work. Both approaches fail to answer the question, which is asking whether such training is the most important task of education: if so,

why? If not, why not? This requires not only a discussion of the other purposes of education but also an analysis of their relative value compared to preparation for employment. If you disagree with the proposition, you will have to focus on a different role or roles which you consider to be more important and justify your selection.

Where appreciation of essay requirement is concerned, it is always a good idea to mentally rephrase the essay in your own words to clarify your interpretation and ensure that you fully understand its various demands and implications.

E.g. 1 Do you agree that if people are poor it is largely their fault? Paraphrase: is it true that people mostly mainly have themselves to blame if they are poor?

E.g. 2 A world without racial conflict is an impossible dream, do you agree?

Paraphrase: no matter what we do, will there always be hostility between different races or might it eventually be possible to live in complete harmony?

Fence two---Generate Points

Once you have appreciate essay requirements, you have to use GP power you need here, however, is the ability to generate points. This involves brainstorm list for the very straightforward expository essay question: How can we individuals become more healthy?

Regular exercise Workout(duration/ intensity) Eat the right food Stress management Proteins Jogging Stay healthy Do not smoke Leisure time No fats Do not drink Regular medical checkups Safe sex Vitamins Avoid unhealthy things Keep clean Moderation in all things Comprehensive exercise Avoid alcohol Watch weight Balanced diet Government campaigns R. D.A. (recommended daily allowance ) Cardiovascular fitness Minerals Relaxation techniques See a psychiatrist Join a health club Additives Fiber/ roughage Nutrition No drugs Education /awareness Immunization Carbohydrates Time management should have You will see that:

a. some points are better than others both in terms of relevance

and relative importance.

b. The list is in no particular order, either in terms of category or priority.

c. Some points overlap or are subsections of more general category(e. g. eating the right food/ roughage/ vitamins ) d. Some points are repeated(e.g. “avoid alcohol/do not drink and eat ”)

e. Some points are either vaguely or poorly phrased(e.g. “hygiene” would be a better substitute for keep clean”) f. Some points are irrelevant. Fence three ---Select

Your job mow is review your brainstorm and select the points you want to keep. Selection also involves rejection--- you have to decide what to throw out as well as what to retain.

Exercise : which points in the previous brainstorm list would you want to throw out and why?

The points that could be thrown out are: 1. stay healthy

2. avoid unhealthy things

3. government should have campaigns 4. see a psychiatrist 5. do not drink

6. eat right food

the first point merely repeats the overall purpose of exercise, whilst the second only states the obvious in the most general and unhelpful way. Points three and four are both irrelevant in different ways---what the government should do is not the same as what the individual can do and regular visits to the psychiatrist are hardly something that an average person needs to pay as part of a normal health programme.

Points five and six, as we have mentioned earlier, are straight(but more clumsily expressed repeats of avoid alcohol and balanced diet respectively.)

Fence four---Organize

Many students do splendidly in the race until they reach this formidable obstacle often it is not enough that you compile a list of relevant and worthwhile points for your essay ---you must proceed to organize them on a logical basis. Depending on the essay, this might involve grouping points into common categories.

This is a difficult task and needs careful thought. Different essay topics may require you to employ different types of categories moreover, some categories will be more broad and general than others and may contain subdivisions, so surmounting this fence involves not only logical thinking but also considerable initiative. The article categorically speaking in unit 5 offers more specific advice on this subject, together with examples of

various categories you can use.

Exercise: How would you group the points in your final brainstorm list?

Firstly, it is important to remember that there is no one correct way to categorize your points and different answer may adopt different approaches. What matter is that your groupings are logical and consistent. Another thing to remember is that essays are not jigsaw puzzles---all your points not fit neatly into set categories to produce a perfect picture---there will inevitably be loose ends and isolated ideas which you will have to accommodate into your general plan. What matters most is that you do so with minimum disruption without marring your overall pattern. One way of categorizing the brainstorm list is by using the following classification and subdivisions:

1. Psychological (mental and emotional health) Do learn to cope with the stress

Positive thinking---fulfilling interpersonal relationships(family/ friends/ colleagues )

Efficient time management---getting your priorities right (balance between work and play)

Relaxation techniques---fruitful leisure(holiday/hobbies) ---sufficient sleep. 2. Physical

a. Exercise

Do (recommended activities, eg, jogging, swimming)  regular

 balanced/ comprehensive (all muscles )  sufficient duration/ intensity (cardiovascular) Don’t  Over do it. b. A balanced diet

Do (eat nutritious food, eg, fish/fresh vegetables/ fruits)

R.D.A. of : vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates(energy), fiber/ roughage

Don’t (consume unhealthy /harmful substance)  addictives  drink alcohol in excess  drugs

 high cholesterol / fatty foods  get overweight  smoke c. Health /hygiene

Do (take preventive measures)

 ensure you are properly informed/ educated regarding health matters (eg. Infectious diseases)

 monitor your own healthy (heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol level, ect.)  practice safe sex

 get regular medical check-up and tests  get requisite vaccinations/ immunizations

You will see that a few additional points have been added to certain categories. This is because the actual process of categorizing not only enables you to structure the points you already have but also provides a sharper focus within specific areas which helps you to develop and supplement your exciting material. Fence five ---Order

Having organized your material, the final fence is relatively simple---all you have do now is to place your points in order. Again, your final sequence will depend on the essay, but some of the main considerations to bear in mind here will be how best to arrange your material in terms of continuity and development to make your argument as coherent as possible. In some cases, you will also want to prioritize your points in order to of importance if your points are divided into categories, this may involve not only deciding which category to place first, but also reordering points within a category in terms of relative importance. For some essays, these decisions are self-evident but for others it is not so obvious, especially if the question actually asks you to select and justify

your own preference.

Whatever the case, your final order, both between and inside categories, must have a logical basis.

Exercise: what is wrong if anything with the order of the main categories and subdivisions given in fence four?

Do not change the order of points within a particular category or subdivision at this stage.

Here is a more logical order for the categories and subdivisions in this question.

1. Physical a, A balanced diet; b, Health and Hygiene; c, Exercise;

2. Psychological

It makes more sense to begin with the physical well-being category since it is not only the most obvious but also arguably the broadest and the most basic consideration. It is also the category in which you will have the most to say.

Within this category, it again makes more sense to rearrange the subcategories to begin with the most fundamental requirement. To use a term from logic, a diet providing the minimum of nutrition is a SINE QUA NON---a Latin phrase meaning ―without which, nothing‖. The term refers to a prerequisite: that is, a condition which must necessarily exist first BEFORE the relative value and importance of the other things can be

considered. In this case neither hygiene nor exercise is relevant unless the body consume sufficient nutrition---hence, diet is a more basic, primary consideration and should properly be discussed first.

Points can also be reordered within categories or subdivisions on the same basis.

Exercise: Look at the don’t points in the balanced diet subdivision, how would you reorder them?

At the moment, these points are neither in order of priority nor are they consistently grouped. Here is a more logical sequence bearing in mind both factors.

Don’t Take drugs Smoke

Drink alcohol in excess Consume high cholesterol/ fatty foods

Get overweight

This new order brings us to a final point---although this arrangement is better than original, it is arguably neither the only nor the best since the first point is still vague and general in that some drugs. This realization could prompt the planners to either change drugs to more specific description or adopt a new category differentiating between substance abuse and harmful eating habits.

But a line has to be drawn somewhere, as we have said there is no such entity as the perfect plan and such fine distinctions and subtle alteration eventually become counterproductive, especially given the time constraints of an examination. The finishing touch

After this final stage, you will need to divide your material into paragraphs. This decision is usually quite straightforward, with your categories and subcategories determining your basic paragraph divisions where you have great material in one category or subcategory, however, (eg. As in the section on Health and hygiene in this essay) you may want to divide your points into two or more different paragraphs employing finer logical distinctions.

Exercise: How many paragraphs would divide the section on ―health and hygiene‖ into? Explain your reasoning. Conclusion

Where planning essays is connected, whilst it may be impossible engineer a perfect creation, it is important to avoid manufacturing a Frankenstein monster. This can be done by correctly recognizing and successfully surmounting the five fences to essay planning which have just been outlines.

Finally, a familiar objection from students is that these five fences are too formidable to face given the meager fifteen minutes available for

planning in the GP examination. This objection is both unreasonable and invalid. Whilst jumping the five fences is initially a time consuming and exhausting exercise, like any other skill, you get faster and more efficient with experience. This means that, far from persistently avoiding theses hurdles, the students should practice leaping them at every opportunity. In learning a new sport, skills first painfully clumsy and show to acquire eventually become automatic and rapid with continuous training, in the same way, efficient essay requires the same amount of mental exercise and practice to attain expert status. Moreover once mastered the obstacles in the race, the speed at which they travel will greatly increase; so much so that, for the rapid hurdle, the five fences begin to blur into one and surmounted almost simultaneously. Part two consideration and complication

In the last advice, you were take through the basic five –fence course you have to complete in order to produce a good essay plan. To refresh your memory, the five fences involved are: 1. Appreciation essay requirements 2. Generate points 3. Select points 4. Organize points 5. Order the points

In the previous advice article we used the essay question:

In what way can we as individuals become more healthy?

To surmount each fence in turn and eventually produce a final plan. As we noted at the time, however, the above essay is an unusually “straightforward” one of a purely descriptive expository natue. In reality, very few GP essays are of this type. Exercise 1---jumping higher

Consider the following essays. In what ways are they more demanding intellectually and more difficult to plan than the essay on improving our healthy?

“The internet has been more of a curse than a blessing”

Do you agree with the view that human relationships have been affected for the worse by modern methods of communication?

You will have noticed that both essays are of a discursive nature, requiring you to evaluate an issue and argue a case. This means that you will have to:

1. Consider the question more carefully in terms of its implication and requirements.

2. Generate a range of arguments both for and against the proposition in question

3. Evaluate these arguments

4. Decide your position, adopting a clear and firm stand 5. Make a persuasive case to support your position

6. Provide balance by acknowledge opposing viewpoint.

All of the above requirements make planning the essay more difficult at each of the five stages discussed. In particular, the create complications at stage four(organizing your points) and five (ordering your points), making the fences considerably higher and thus harder to surmount. Using the first question as an example, let us now examine the new challenges such essays pose at these particular fences and how to best tackle them. Imagine that a student has already successfully tackled fences 1-3 in the planning race, selecting the following points to include in his final essay: ADVANTAGE DIADVANTAGE  Enlightening broadens one’s  It can corrupt a person with intellectual horizon  It can help introverts pornography  Information inaccuracy  Forum for political debate/  Addiction—it can trap people in a participation  Information accessibility  News online virtual world, eschewing reality availability/  Interpersonal communication skills deteriorate business  Internet crime/ online fraud  Atrophies brain---lack of critical and creative thinking/ indiscriminate cut and pasting/copying opportunities  Online education  It can liberate a person by

eliminating geographical  Chat room predators/ cyber bullying  Computer games desensitize people to violence boundaries to communication  In authoritarian / repression regimes, it can provide an outlet  Online gambling for political debate and dissent  Information overload  Convenient/ timesaving(online  Encourages dependence /over reliance shopping)widen friends circle of  Irresponsible/ offensive /inflammatory blogging  Job opportunities/ applications  Racism/terrorism site  Intellectual dishonest—plagiarism  Healthy problems eyesight/ posture /lack of exercise /repetitive stress syndrome Now that we have reached fence four, you will see that the above list of points is far more difficult to organize than the list we generate for the essay: how can we as individuals become more healthy? Because there is much wider range of different arguments to consider in two opposing camps.

Exercise 2---Beat the clock

Before we look at one possible way of organizing the above material, try to do this yourself.

Remember that you are only concerned with talking fence four here: that

is organizing / grouping your points, do not worry about their final order of appreciate at this stage.

Here is one way of grouping above the points: ADVANTAGES Economics

 Job opportunities/ application  New online business opportunities Intellectual/ informational

 Enlightening broadens one’s intellectual horizon  Information availability/ accessibility  Online education Individual

 Convenient/ timesaving(online shopping )widen circle of friends  Particularly, it can help introverts

 It can liberate a person by eliminating geographical boundaries to communication  widen circle of friends Political

 In authoritarian / repression regimes, it can provide an outlet for political debate and dissent

 Democratic forum for political debate/ participation DISADVANTAGES

Health

 problems eyesight/ posture /lack of exercise /repetitive stress syndrome Interpersonal skills

 Reduces social interaction with families and friends  communication skills deteriorate Social and moral  Racism/terrorism site

 Chat room predators/ cyber bullying  Online gambling

 It can corrupt a person with pornography  Irresponsible/ offensive /inflammatory blogging  Computer games desensitize people to violence

 Addiction—it can trap people in a virtual world, eschewing reality Intellectual / informational  Intellectual dishonest—plagiarism

 Atrophies brain---lack of critical and creative thinking  indiscriminate cut and pasting/copying

 Information inaccuracy Encourages dependence /over reliance  Information overload  inflammatory blogging

although there arguably other ways to organize the brainstorm list,

employing the above categories is perfectly sensible and successfully way of imposing a valid conceptual framework to a previously random list of points, indicating to the examiner that the writer has made a thoughtful attempt to logically organize his material. But we still haven’t completed the course. What about fence five? Decision, decision!

First the writer has to decide whether to start with the advantages or disadvantages of the internet. Usually, the decision will be determined by his overall position. As a rule of thumb, it is best to start with the points that oppose your thesis and finish with those that support it. This is because you want to end by emphasizing your position (instead of appearing to undermine it) as well as segue returning to the arguments you made in the first part of your essay. Let us imagine that you have decided that, on balance, the internet has done more than good and penned the following thesis.

Despite the obvious advantages the internet has brought in terms of accessibility of information and ease of communication, I believe that its deceptive, corruptive and addictive nature has harmed many more people than it has benefited. Given this position, you will want to begin by acknowledging the benefits of the internet in the first part of your essay and end with the arguments that support your thesis.

Order, please!

But we still haven’t finished! What about the order of categories within each section, as well as the sequence of points within each category？

Here is one way that gives the most important arguments priority as well as makes logical connection between overall categories and individual points. Advantages

Intellectual/ informational

 Information availability/ accessibility enlightening/ edifying (broaden one’s intellectual horizons)  Online education Individual

 It can liberate a person by eliminating geographical boundaries to communication.

 It can widen your circle of friends  Particularly it can help introverts.  Convenient/ time saving (online shopping) Political

Democratic forum for political debate/ participation

In authoritarian/ repressive regimes , it can provide an outlet for political dissent.

GP MATTERS VOLUME ONE by ROBERT WILKS CANNON INTERNATIONAL

COLLINS COBUILD STUDENT’S GRAMMAR : helping learners with real English. By Dave Willis Harper Collins publishers

Grammar plus by Ann Seaton Rosalind Fergusson Printed by Seng Lee Press Pte Ltd, Singapore. English grammar for students

Printed by B and Jo Enterprise Pte Ltd,Singapore. 配相应的主题文章

Essay writing Sophie Fuggle ADVANTAGE QUEST PUBLLLISCATIONS Step1 breaking down the question

Breaking down the question should not take more than 5-10 minutes and will give you a realistic idea of what will be involved in producing the essay. It will also help you avoid misreading the question before you start planning the essay.

Eg. Why was Paris often described as the capital of modernity? Is this view justified?

Why---the question word should define how you construct your answer. While you also need to establish who described Paris as the capital of modernity, how they did this and in what context they made this statement---it is the ―why‖ that should constitute the focus of your discussion.

Paris---this is the primary object of your discussion. However although it is clear that you should talk about Paris, this is a very broad topic so you will have decide which aspects to concentrate on. E.g, architecture, artists, ect.

“often described”---suggests you need to discuss more than one instance in which Paris has been described as the ―capital of modernity‖.

“capital of modernity”---this indicates the texts or examples you should concentrate on(those where Paris is described or presented in these terms) , the period of Parisian history you should focus on (modernity is usually used to describe the 19th and early 20th centuries)and the terms you will need to define. Does capital of modernity suggest that Paris defined itself as a capital city during the 19th century or does it mean that Paris represented the city of modernity?

Is this view justified?---here you have the opportunity to develop your own argument. Do you agree or disagree with the statement that ―Paris represents the capital of modernity‖ ? remember, you will need to provide evidence to back up your argument. In this case, you could either

compare Paris to other cities during the same periods, such as New York or London, or look at the status and identity of Paris during other historical periods.

Step 2: Selecting your sources

Primary source: are authentic data, research reports, contemporary accounts of events such as diaries and speeches in humanities or novels, paintings.

Secondary source: interpret, analyze, and drawn conclusions from primary source. They include textbooks; journals articles and book-length are arguments.

 Focus your secondary reading in relation to the essay question.  Making a plan

 Structuring your argument

P.E.E. Structure: point ---example----explanation---structure

1. Wake up 2. Get to bed 3. Brush teeth

Having woken up, I will now get of bed before proceeding to brush my teeth.