English 8 Notes

First Quarter
1. Introduction to African Literature
o It is also considered as “The Dark Continent”
o Etymology:
Greek “Aphrike” meaning without cold
Latin “Aprica”- meaning sunny
o Second Largest Continent next to Asia
o Islam is the most dominant religion of Northern Africa and replaced Christianity in the
17th Century
o Literary Rates for men are higher than women
o Only a small fraction of Africa’s young people attend universities
o Interesting Facts about Africa
It is the wealthiest continent in natural resources
It is where we can see:
o Nile River- longest river in the world
o Congo River- deepest river in the world
o African Elephant- largest mammal
o Cheetah- fastest animal
o Nile Crocodile- largest reptile in the world
 African Literature
 Started with “ORAL LITERATURE” called ORATURE coined by Pio Zirimu
 Prose-Mythological or historical, written or spoken language
 Call and Response Technique- spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between the
speaker and the listener
 Features of African Literature
Features Poem Chant
Purpose • Introduce an entity to a group of • Transmit and record
people ideas or messages

Subject • The praise name can be about the • Could be any event on
place of birth, parents, or deeds or one person’s life
skills of the person being praised

Technique • Uses the call and response technique • Uses the call and
• The main singer sings the line and response technique
the audience responds with another • Tone of chanting is high
line praising the subject of the poem to impress the audience

Structure • Each line is another praise name for • Repetition of a line or a

the person word
• No connector words
• Repetition of line or word

 Features of African Folktales

 It can be argued as the “Best known of African oral tradition”
 Have important functions in the African way of life
1. The characters are humans or animals with human attributes
2. Stock Characters
Type of characters that show a conventional vice or virtue in a story (trickster, damsel in
distress and etc.)
3. Great humor and irony
4. Trickster Tale
Small animal or character uses intelligence to protect itself from more powerful animals
and characters
5. May feature a heroine or a hero who needs to go on a quest
6. Usually a three situation challenge in which the hero/heroine needs to overcome three
problems
7. Explain occurrences in nature and the reasons for life and the world are like what it is
8. They have lessons about life

3. The King and the Juju Tree (Found in your book)

4. Idiomatic Expressions
Idioms are expressions which have a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words.
The best way to understand an idiom is to see it in context.
Most idioms are fixed in their form and cannot be changed or varied.
As it can be difficult to work out what an idiom means, you will often need to look them up
in a dictionary.
Group of words where the meaning of words that do not make sense literally
CONTEXT CLUES words or phrases surrounding a word or in this case, the idiomatic
expression, so that you can understand its meaning

Examples:
1. He Spilled the Beans- He told the secret
2. Get off my back!- Leave me alone
3. We were in stitches!- we were laughing very hard
4. He kicked the bucket- he died
5. Go fly a kite- go away
6. She was dressed to kill- he was dressed in her finest clothing
7. I’m at the end of my rope- I’m so frustrated
8. You have to bite the bullet- You need to put up with this difficult situation
9. Teachers always stick to their guns-Teachers never change their opinions
10. Money talks- Money influences a lot of people
11. A penny for your thoughts- This idiom is used as a way of asking someone what they are
thinking about.

12. Once in a blue moon- When something happens very rarely.

13. See eye to eye- idiom is used to say that two (or more people) agree on something.
 14. Kill two birds with one stone- This means ‘to do two things at the same time'.
15. Costs an arm and a leg- When something is very expensive.

5. Of the Seven Jealous Women (found in your book)

6. Types of Speech According to Purpose and Prosodic Features of Speech
Types of Speech According to Purpose
1. Informative Speech
• Delivered to give details about a certain topic
2. Persuasive Speech
• delivered to inform an convince listeners to do something
3. Entertainment Speech
• more informal than persuasive and informative type of speech. It is a type of speech that is
used in social gatherings.

Introduction to prosodic features

1. Stress
In a speech, it is the strength of emphasis given to a syllable in a word or in a word in a
sentence.
It helps the speaker convey meaning
It helps listener understand what a speaker exactly said
2. Intonation
It refers to the rise and fall of speech
There are 3 types of intonation:
1. Rising Intonation
• Is used for “Yes or No” questions for repeating what someone has just said, or for saying words
in a series
• Examples:
1. Has this happened before?
2. Would there be a penalty for late payment?

2. Falling Intonation
It is used for short commands and for counting off
Hold on for a second
One, two, three, four

3. Rising-Falling Intonation
It is used for declarations, for questions asking for information, and for giving long
commands.
3. Volume
• It refers to the loudness or softness of one’s voice while speaking
4. Projection
It is the process of adjusting the loudness or softnes of one’s voice so that the audience
can clearly perceive the message
5. Tempo Rhythm and Speed
 How fast or slow the speaker speaks
6. Pause
Refers to the intentional breaks before uttering the next word
NON –VERBAL CUES
1. Facial expression-
Facial expressions are responsible for a huge proportion of nonverbal communication. Consider
how much information can be conveyed with a smile or a frown. The look on a person's face is
often the first thing we see, even before we hear what they have to say
2. Gestures-
Deliberate movements and signals are an important way to communicate meaning without
words. Common gestures include waving, pointing, and using fingers to indicate numeric
amounts. Other gestures are arbitrary and related to culture.
3. Stance and Posture
Posture and movement can also convey a great deal of information. Research on body language
has grown significantly since the 1970's, but popular media have focused on the over-
interpretation of defensive postures, arm-crossing, and leg-crossing, especially after publishing
Julius Fast's book Body Language.
4. Proxemics
Refers to the SPACE
People often refer to their need for "personal space," which is also an important type of
nonverbal communication. The amount of distance we need and the amount of space we
perceive as belonging to us is influenced by a number of factors including social norms, cultural
expectations, situational factors, personality characteristics, and level of familiarity. For
example, the amount of personal space needed when having a casual conversation with another
person usually varies between 18 inches to four feet. On the other hand, the personal distance
needed when speaking to a crowd of people is around 10 to 12 feet.
5. Eye gaze/ Eye Contact
People also utilize eye gaze as a means to determine if someone is being honest. Normal, steady
eye contact is often taken as a sign that a person is telling the truth and is trustworthy. Shifty
eyes and an inability to maintain eye contact, on the other hand, is frequently seen as an
indicator that someone is lying or being deceptive.
6. Haptics
Communicating through touch is another important nonverbal behavior. There has been a
substantial amount of research on the importance of touch in infancy and early childhood.
7. Appearance
Our choice of color, clothing, hairstyles, and other factors affecting appearance are also
considered a means of nonverbal communication. Research on color psychology has
demonstrated that different colors can evoke different moods. Appearance can also alter
physiological reactions, judgments, and interpretations.

7. Parallelism
 A crucial reminder in combining sentences is to make sure that grammatical forms
should be parallel with each other.
  This means that a noun should be with a noun, a verb with a verb, a phrase with a
phrase and a clause with a clause
 Using words, phrases, or clauses that have the same grammatical forms.
 Balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases, clauses that have the
same grammatical structure
 Repetition of chosen grammatical form within a sentence
 When is Parallelism required?
For items in a list
For words or phrases joined by a coordinating conjunction
(and, or, but, for, nor, yet, or, so)
For words or phrases that follow each half of a correlative conjunction
( both/and, either/or, neither/nor, whether/or)
For words or phrases introduced by a comparison word
( than, as)
Example!!
1. “ ing” verbs
Example:
We went running biking and to fish.
(Not Parallel/ Faulty)
We went running, biking and fishing.
(Parallel)
2. "ed" verbs
Example
We walked, jumped and were skipping on the way.
( FAULTY)
We walked, jumped and skipped on the way.
(PARALLEL)
3. Nouns
Example:
We drove to the lake, mountains and we drove to the beach all in one day
(FAULTY)
We drove to the lake, to the mountains and to the beach all in one day.
(PARALLEL)
4. Adverb
Example:
She helped us lovingly, graciously and she was also generous to us.
(FAULTY)
She helped us lovingly, graciously and generously.
(PARALLEL)
Other Example:
Not parallel:
Elen likes hiking, the rodeo and to take afternoon naps.
Parallel:
Elen likes hiking, attending the rodeo and taking afternoon naps.
Elen likes to hike, attend the rodeo and take afternoon naps.

8. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

What is a Misplaced modifier?
• It is a word, or phrase, or clause positioned too far away from the word it modifies
• It is a word, phrase, or clause that is separated from the word it modifies or describes
• Often awkward, ridiculous or confusing
• misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it
modifies / describes.
• Because of the separation, sentences with this error often sound awkward, ridiculous, or
confusing. Furthermore, they can be downright illogical.
Example:
• The hunter crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to come along with a bow and arrow.
(MISPLACED MODIFIER)
• The hunter with a bow and arrow crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to come along.
(CORRECT)
Whar is a dangling modifier?
• It is a word, phrase or clause that does not modify any word in the given sentence
• It is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence
• a dangling modifier cannot be corrected by simply moving it to a different place in a sentence.
• In most cases, the dangling modifier appears at the beginning of the sentence, although it can
also come at the end.
Example:
* Raised in Texas, it is natural to like barbeque. (dangling)
* Raised in Texas, I naturally like barbeque. (correct)

9. Informative Speech
What is an informative text?
► It is a type of text whose purpose is to explain a topic
► It is a called “expository text”
► It contains facts and develops idea through various means, including comparing and
contrasting.
► It is composed of 3 parts :
1. Introduction
2. Body
3. conclusion
Parts of an Informative Text
Parts Definition
1. Introduction  Contains attention getters such as a
question, an anecdote, a fact, or a
historical account
 Contains the thesis statement

2. Body  Contains examples, facts, or other

supporting details that will expand and
 support the main idea you put in the
introduction

3. Conclusion  Summarizes the points in the body of

the essay
 Restates the main idea
 Contains a call for action or an image
or thought that will stay with the
readers

Writing an Informative Speech

► Seeks to inform the audience about a particular subject
► The purpose of the informative speech is to inform, you can still spice up your speech by using
anecdotes or illustrations so that the audience will not get bored
Steps in writing an informative speech
1. Choose and narrow a topic.
2. Formulate the purpose of writing
3. Write the central idea or the thesis statement of the entire speech
A thesis statement is a single declarative sentence that contains the main idea of the entire speech.
Hence, it gives the main points of the speech
4. Come up with a Title
• Your title must be concise, relevant to your speech
5. Choose the method of speaking
► Memorized
► Impromptu
► Read from a manuscript
6. Write your outline