Persuasive writing: Movies are better than books.

Topic: Books are better than movies.

Ideas:
Your imagination is needed.
Better learning.
Can go into more detail.


Books have been a part of our lives for centuries, teaching us valuable lessons about our own world whilst including us in another's. Books are better than movies because they need your imagination, increases your learning ability and can provide more detail about the plot and characters. These points and others alike show how books are superior to movies.

Books entice us because they need our mind for the story to work. The author can build worlds using beautiful language but we are the ones imagining how this would be. What entices us about book characters is how we can imagine them to be the most relate-able to us. This relate-ability  makes us emotionally invested in these characters and makes us feel what they feel. We are invested in the fate of these characters, making the story better and more intriguing. Using our imagination to relate to these characters is how authors can keep us invested in their stories, wanting to know what happens. Not only do books make characters more relate-able, they help increase our knowledge and learning.

We will never stop learning, letting our minds grow with more knowledge. Books are some of the best ways to increase learning. When reading a book, our minds learn knew ideas, language features and increase our reading comprehension. " A mind needs books like a sword needs whetstone" is a quote from George RR Martian in his book 'A storm of swords', explaining that literature is vital to keeping our brains healthy and sharp. Despite the ability to make a world more personal or our knowledge of our own more in-depth, often books can not stimulate the senses to the extent movies can.

Movies stimulate our senses and make us want to keep watching, hooking us in with action filled fighting scenes or using clever camera shots to convey symbolic messages. Many people love the way movies can make us laugh, fill us with fear or make us sympathise with a character. 'The Handmaids tale' shows how camera shots can be used to send messages or convey emotions. Keeping the handmaids on the edges of the shot shows how they are oppressed and overlooked, non important slaves to the new world. They seem to be pushed out of the shot, or low down to show how little is thought them. Many of the shots are also extremely close to the protagonist's face, making us feel as restrained and claustrophobic as she is. These are examples of how the shots convey the oppression and helplessness of the handmaids. Despite using visual tricks to push messages, movies can seldomly go into as much detail as books, making it harder to entice the audience with just the plot.

When a book is converted to a movie or show, many parts of the plot are left out or changes, to make the story faster and more simple. This is because movies and t.v shows have to keep your attention through the story, they no longer have the tool of the viewers imagination to keep them hooked. 'Game of thrones is an excellent example. When the ' A song of fire and ice' books by George RR Martian were converted to the HBO show 'Game of thrones' many plot points such as Tyrion's experience in Essos or the full extent of Danerys's experience in Quarth were discarded. This made the show quicker but missed out on some character development, as well as certain characters as a whole. Books can explore more plot points because they have the time to, compared with a movie with easily can lose an audience after the two hour mark. Once a reader is invested in a story,we are hooked in. The author can take as much time as needed to include more about it, making it more complex and interesting. This allows authors to have a more complex story, showing greater skill and encouraging a wider audience.

In conclusion, books are better than movies because they use the readers imagination and emotion to get them invested in the story, encourage more learning through language and symbolism and can go into more depth about their story.


Reflection:
I am planning to improve in sentence structure, spelling and punctuation.
Sentence structure: included a shorter paragraph where I felt I could.
Spelling: double checked a work which I wasn't sure was spelt right.
Punctuation: Checked through and corrected some incorrect puntuation

Persuasive writing: Team vs individual sports

Ideas

individual sports:
all improvement/failure is on you and only you
- your hard work will show
-if the outcome isn't what you want, you can personally improve yourself
self discipline
-you put all the hard work in and the results shown are yours alone
-you can't slack off
-you teach yourself what works for you
respect for competitors
-teaches gracious winning and losing.
-learning how to accept defeat and self improve.

Sport is a part of many people's lives and has shaped cultures and people alike. Sport gives you an opportunity to be better and succeed. Individual sport is the best way to grow as an athlete due to the outcome being yours alone, the self discipline needed and the respect for all those around you.

Everyone loves to succeed, feeling accomplished when your hard work pays off. With team sports, individual effort is overlooked and those who struggle can fail to grow as a sportsperson, due to the rest of the team. With individual sport, the success is a product of your hard work and commitment, the failure a lesson which will encourage you to improve. Failure in a team can result in negative feeling towards certain individuals and a potentially toxic environment to those who struggle. Not only does individual sport help you improve as an athlete, it can improve you as a person.

Discipline is a thing we all must posses, making ourselves the best we can be through respect of our self and others. In a team sport, people can perform poorly (or not at all), because they know somebody else can pick up the slack.  This can discourage people from trying to succeed and will have negative consequences on the rest of the team as a result. With individual sport, the outcome is a result of your hard work, you are the one putting in the effort and nobody else can do it for you. This encourages people to try their best, wanting to succeed after the hard work they put in. In order to succeed, one needs to practice and become better than they once were. This is a great attitude to have in all areas of ones life.

Part of life is working with others towards a common goal. In team sports, you are made to work together in order to succeed. This builds respect and trust among the participants, valuable qualities in every bodies lives. There is only one problem. Being in a team can automatically put people off if the environment created is uncomfortable. In most teams, there are those that always get all of the credit, making it difficult for others to be comfortable and ready to improve in the team. People only notice what they want to, eg. the silver ferns, I am sure most of you can name a few of them- the great players remembered by everyone- but can an average person name every silver fern in the last ten years? I doubt it- due to the media coverage we only pay attention to a few, leaving the others out of the spotlight. If somebody is scoring all the goals or taking all the credit, whats the point in even trying? This discourages self discipline and the want to improve in an individual. Not only do individual sports encourage more self discipline, they encourage more respect for others.

Respect is a vital foundation on which society sits, if it isn't present, everything will crumble into disaster and anarchy.  Individual sports teaches you to have respect for yourself, for those who have helped you and for any opponent. Understanding that people work hard to get where they are is a massive part in how people work together. This respect for other people's efforts is essential in any situation, not just sport. Respecting yourself is extremely important, because if you are lacking this respect, you will not have the drive to improve.

Hard work, discipline and respect are all essential in everyday life and for society as a whole. Individual sports encourages these qualities, they are all vital to any success. Individual sport is better than team sport because of the self discipline needed, the respect for others and the drive to improve to succeed.

Persuasive writing: The South Island is better than the North Island

The topic of our persuasive essay is ' The South Island is better than the North Island' and we had to choose to agree or disagree. This is purely my opinion with a few facts to back me up.

points
SI:
-home to the southern alps
-less population
-cooler weather
-home to the Matau/Clutha river
-more stunning lakes
-home of fiordland national park.


NI:
holds two of the three biggest cities
most international flights are directed to Auckland as a stop
home of lake Taupo

Argument: The South island is better.

Points: Home to more natural attractions, less populated, cooler weather.

Introduction:
New Zealand is home to some of the most beautiful natural sights on earth, from our rivers to our forestry. Through out our beautiful country, there is one major debate, which main island is superior. Despite the North Island having two of our three largest cities, the South Island has more natural attractions, less population and cooler weather. Here is why the South Island is better.

Aotearoa is most well known for our amazing natural attractions, from our lakes and rivers to our forests. The south Island is home to Mt. Aoraki, our largest mountain, several breathtakingly beautiful lakes and many of our native species. Mt. Aoraki/Cook is an extremely popular attraction and rightfully so, our lakes are clean and beautiful and our native species are unlike what you could find else where. New Zealand fur seals are only found around the coast of New Zealand, primarily in the South Island.
New Zealand's climate changes greatly throughout the seasons, being much more pleasant in the South Island.

Directly above New Zealand and Australia is a large hole in the ozone layer. This means there is much harsher sun, which can cause skin cancer, and a drier climate. The north Island is closer to the Equator, meaning its temperature is higher and our Kiwi summers are much more intense. Further south, the temperature is lessened, meaning the summers are more tolerable. Not only do lower temperatures in such a dry climate make sunny days more tolerable, they help reduce the risk of fires,dehydration and heatstroke. Further more, the South island is much less populated, meaning more comfortable lives.

New Zealand is an ever growing country, taking in many people from different nations. Auckland is our biggest city, holding over a quarter of our population. Wellington is our capital and has the third largest population in New Zealand. The North Island is obviously more populated and therefore is harder to buy/rent a house, travel through the cities, secure a job and visit certain destinations. In the South Island, the biggest city is Christchurch, with about 396,000 citizens, less than half that of Auckland. There are far less cities and there fore make life easier.

Aoetearoa is a beautiful country, with many natural and man made attractions. The debate on which Island is superior would have to end with the fact the South Island homes more of the Natural attractions, has safer and less intense summers; and is less populated, meaning less challenges in every-day life. The South Island is naturally incredible, safer and easier to live in, thus meaning it would be the superior Island.

Compulsory military service: Persuasive writing.

Topic: All citizens must enrol in the military service for a minimum of two years.

Side: Against.

points: injury/mental illness, held back from starting their working career, lack of further education.

Introduction:Young people should be trained to make our society better, to change the world and to help people. Having a law which states 'all citizens must enrol in the military service for a minimum of two years' would cause more harm than good. Those who are forced to join the military could be injured or develop Post traumatic stress disorder, they would be held back from their lives and working career and the idea of their post secondary school education could be terminated. 

War effects millions, including the soldiers who fight it them. Soldiers have a very high chance of being injured or developing PTSD if they are subject to actual fighting. Even training and observation missions have their risks. If we send all our citizens to the military, there is a guarantee many will develop physical or mental injuries. Not only could being forced into the military be negatively consequential immediately, there are long term issues too.

Forcing all citizens into the military will give them a disadvantage when it comes to carers. In two years, people can learn a lot of information about working, weather it be about the actual job or about how to live whilst working. Taking away a valuable two years from every person in a country could be devastating for not only them, but their countries economy. Although there are some benefits to joining the military, they are outmatched by the negatives.

Joining the military builds trust with your fellow soldiers, teaching valuable lessons about respect, hard work and dedication. In the military, there is no slacking off, teaching people to work hard and push themselves. Bonds are formed with others and you are forced to trust on and be trusted by your team members. Despite these positive consequences, forcing all citizens to join the military can disrupt and negatively influence the country as a whole.

People are constantly coming up with new ideas, ideas to make lives easier, to help people and to help the environment. These people often need additional education to support their ideas. Post secondary high school education is extremely hard to gain if someone joins the military. A minimum of two years are wasted when they could be spent learning how to improve people's lives. With the increase of health issues, we need more doctors and scientists to help our population, these people will find it extraordinarily difficult to learn the skills needed if they are held back from their education for a minimum of two years.

Conclusion: In conclusion, forcing all citizens to join the military for a minimum of two years will cause more harm than good. People could be injured, develop PTSD, negatively effect their working caeer and stop them from helping others. Forcing all into military service would hurt not only the soldiers, but society as a whole.

Persuasive writing: reptiles as domestic pets.

argument: Reptiles should not be allowed as domestic pets.
Points: Reptiles are potentially dangerous to pet owners due no domestication. It is hard to give the reptiles a natural environment to live in.
they are wild animals.

thesis: Reptiles should not be kept as pets.

Intro: With the change in technology, more things have been made available to make people's lives more enjoyable. Over thousands of years, people have been taming and even domesticating animals for their skills and companionship. The problem here is, people are now keeping pets that have not been domesticated. Keeping reptiles as pets can endanger not only their lives and well being; but yours. Reptiles haven't been domesticated, meaning they are unpredictable and could cause you harm at any moment. Keeping reptiles in an environment much different from their own, can cause great harm to them. They are wild animals which have not evolved to live beside humans, making life dangerous for both parties.


Reptiles haven't been domesticated and there fore could pose a risk to whoever is keeping them. Domestication means to tame generations of an animal, over thousands of years, so it will live beside you. The best example of this is dogs; over many millennia, dogs have been bred and trained to live with humans, providing both with companionship and safety. Reptiles have not been domesticated and there fore are not suitable as pets. Reptiles have not been trained to not attack humans, they have been trained to fight anything that may harm them. Keeping a reptile as a pet could not only endanger you, but could endanger the reptile itself.

Taking any animal out of its natural environment is cruel, especially if they are kept somewhere drastically different than the environment they need. Imagine taking a salt water fish and keeping it out of water; that seems wrong right? Then why would keeping a ten meter python in a glass case be considered alright? Keeping any animal in a place where they are not suited, could cause them harm. A Tuatara whose natural environment is the forest shouldn't be taken out of it, with the purpose to be kept in an enclosure. They are wild animals, not display objects, and should be looked after.

We would consider a lion a wild animal, needing space to explore and thrive in. We wouldn't keep a lion as a display, then why is it legal keep a snake as one? Reptiles, just like any other animal, need space to thrive and live, places to explore. They should not be kept in glass boxes for people's amusement. The average reptile enclosure in a zoo is about four square meters, much less than what they would live in when in the wild. The amount of space given for a reptile kept as a pet would be much less, seeming as the owner would have less experience in animal keeping.

In conclusion, it is extremely wrong to keep an undomesticated reptile as a pet. Keeping reptiles as a pet can harm you, the reptile and can mess up future generations of reptiles due to different- and much worse- living environments. Keeping a reptile as a pet can be harmful for all parties involved, and shouldn't be permitted.

WTE sentences ( sports and recreation)

This term in English we are learning about sentences which will help us with future essays. There are twelve different sentence types, all potentially contributing to a great essay.
We are learning: WTE sentences.
How does this show my learning:
I am wondering


I am writing an essay about why sportsmen ( and women) shouldn't be paid for competing. This topic is what I will base my sentences on.

1. The simple sentence:
Sportsmen shouldn't be paid for a typically recreational sport.

2. The very short sentence:
Paid sport wastes money

3. the power sentence:
Paying athletes to play sports is a waste of citizen's money.

4. Red white and blue:
Paying people to play sports is a waste of time, effort and money.

5. The adverb start.
Unsurprisingly, sport is a big part of peoples lives.

6. Begin with a preposition:
After being injured, players lose their main source of income.

7. The ing start:
Aspiring to be a paid athlete is not the best way to provide others with a service.

8. The -ed start:
Injured players can lose their main source of income in a second.

9. The semicolon: Paying people to play sports doesn't help the player or the people paying to watch them; just wasting both parties time.

10 The em-dash:
sports are a fun activity- loved by many- which have a big impact on some peoples lives.

11. The w start:
why should athletes be paid when they are playing a game.


12. explore the subject:
Injustice, when things are not just or fair, can be used to describe how some sportsmen are paid and how some are not.

sports and recreation essay

Pick your essay topic from the ‘persuasive writing’ Google Page.

It can be from the slides or from the Google Doc. 

Sportsmen should not get paid for playing sport.

Plan your writing either in the table below or the persuasive writing template we have been using.

(You’ll need to make a copy of this.)

Your writing needs to be on the Year 10 Persuasive Writing 2018 Google Doc in your google Drive.

Points FOR

They are playing a game which is recreational.

Playing sports doesn’t contribute to our society in a way which will help others

If one sportsman gets paid then everyone else should too,
resulting in unnecessary spending. 

Paying sportsmen will encourage people to grow up and,
instead of doing something that will help others, play sports.

Points AGAINST

Sportsmen work hard to be ‘game ready’ and do their best for those they are playing for.

3) Gathering of ideas. List your points in order of your best to least below.

6

7

8

9

10

4) Organise your ideas (pick your best 4 points for or against,
and 1 other point arguing to opposite viewpoint):

1. Playing sports doesn’t contribute to our society in a way which will help others

2. Paying sportsmen will encourage people to grow up and, instead of doing something that will help others, play sports.

3. If one sportsman gets paid then everyone else should too, resulting in unnecessary spending. 

4. Sportsmen work hard to be ‘game ready’ and do their best for those they are playing for.

5.They are playing a game which is recreational.

5) Write your essay based on the template below.
You may wish to use copy and paste this onto your Google Doc to help you plan and organise your writing. 

Introduction: 

Catch ‘em: Sports have been a part of lives for centuries,
perhaps millenniums,
helping us to learn and practice skills that apply to not only the games,
but our lives as a whole..

Thesis: Sports are activities which we can learn from,
be social and bring pride but sportsmen don't need paid for these activities.

List of reasons/points/ideas: Playing sports doesn't help others,
paying people for playing encourages people to use their skills which don't contribute to society,
causes unnecessary spending and inequality,
and pays certain people for participating in a recreational activity.

Body:

1 S Paying people to play sports rather than contributing to society in a positive way is a waste of time and money.

E Playing sports as a hobby is common but being paid to participate in a recreational
hobby rather than focusing your time and effort into a career or education that will help others or yourself
is not a good idea.

X Focusing all your effort into paid sports rather than using it as recreation,
and focusing on a career will almost ensure you lack skills and habits used in the real world.
The moment you get injured or become, in some way, unable to compete, you are struggling.
Well known athletes can make decent amounts of money but that takes years to achieve.

Y Encouraging younger generations that this is what you should aspire to be,
an athlete whose career could end in a second, is not a good message.

2 S Having our youth aspire to be sports players rather than something that will help others will make our
country suffer.

 E If everyone who wants to be a paid sports play becomes one,
there will be deficiencies in other careers such as medical professionals, lawyers, teachers ect.
Focusing all your energy on something that will only last for a short term will leave people lacking skills.

 X We need these people to work in industries that will help people, families and our society as a whole.
Aspiring to be,
and putting all your effort towards becoming a paid sportsman will leave you without skills needed for other careers.

 Y Despite the deficit in other skills, paid athletes work exceptionally hard to get where they are.

3 ( rebuttal)
S Sportsmen work extremely hard to train their bodies and minds to compete to the best of their ability.

 E Athletes devote their time and effort to be the best they can be, sacrificing their body and time.
They work hard to achieve their goals.

 X Sportsmen train regularly for the spot, as well as conditioning their bodies to be 'match ready'.
They devote hours a week to be better than they once were, all ways improving.

 Y At the end of the day, they are devoting themselves to something that will not last long,
something which normally a game. They devote themselves to a recreational activity.

4 S Despite all their efforts, sportsmen are only participating in a recreational activity and shouldn't be getting paid for it.

E Following the logic that people can be paid for recreational activities, should people be paid for shopping, walking?
Of course not, that sounds ridiculous right? Then why are people getting paid for playing games?

X Sportsmen are focusing all their effort and getting paid to win a match, not on helping others.
The top sportsmen get paid up to five million dollars every year. This is ridiculous.

Y Money is being wasted on people playing sports, not helping us in any way.

Conclusion:

Restate thesis:Sports are activities which we can learn from,
be social and bring pride but sportsmen don't need paid for these activities.

Restate List of reasons: Paying for people to play sports has no positive impact on others.
It trains people to devote their effort into something which will not help them,
causes unnecessary spending and is just paying people to play a game.

Punch line: In conclusion, paying people to participate in sports does not help society,
does not help our economy and does not help the players.

The Ingredients of persuasion.

Today in English we are learning about the ingredients of persuasion ; pathos, ethos and logos.
 We are learning: about Pathos, Ethos and Logos, the ingredients of persuasion.
This shows my learning by: I have found the definition of each word, explained what it means and given an example.
I am wondering: how the English language adopted these words.

Pathos:

Pathos is a quality of something which can stir up emotions, more specifically, sympathy, sorrow and pity. Pathos is used to pull the strings of the audience's hearts to get your point across or set a scene.
An amazing example of the use of pathos is in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

Maya uses Pathos to get our sympathy and helps explain how two things that seem the same can be different eg a free bird and a caged bird. I know they don't sound exactly the same but the word ' bird' is what I'm referencing.

Ethos:

The word Ethos comes from the Greek language and means character when directly translated. Ethos uses the main narrator or author as credibility eg. Luke sees Darth Vader as a bad guy and hes the main character so Darth Vader must be a bad guy. Ethos uses a trusted voice as credibility to get a point or idea across. An example of ethos is something you will hear many times, something along the lines of ' 9/10 dentists recommend Colgate toothpaste'.

Logos:

Logos is the ingredient of persuasion which uses logic and reasoning. Logos is present when we use facts and statistics in our arguments. Using words like data, numbers and basic common sense that people can agree with will strengthen your argument using Logos. Eg.

"You won't find any deer along this road. In 25 years of driving the same route, I haven't seen a single one."