Where can I practise my close reading skills?

The following news websites may have some articles of interest. They also have free apps for mobile or tablet.


https://www.theguardian.com/uk


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/






Remember that you should be reading regularly in order to practise for the exam. Five or six longer articles a week would be reasonable, which will boost your vocabulary and your ability to identify language features.

Popular posts from this blog

Character Development - Walt Kowalski - 'Gran Torino' (dir. Clint Eastwood)

The following item gives an account of the development of the character of Walt Kowalski in 'Gran Torino'. Reading it may be useful in understanding the sorts of things you could explain in a critical essay. Also, the development of the character of Walt is important in the film, because it goes hand in hand with the development of his relationship with Thao and the development of the theme of respect. Clearly, since this is taken from the internet, it cannot be copied. This would be plagiarism.. A film in which there is a character who becomes a hero is ‘Gran Torino’, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. The story is set in modern day Detroit, where the central character, Walt Kowalski, a retired car plant worker and Korean War veteran, struggles to come to terms with the changes in his community. In particular, the plot revolves around his unlikely friendship with Thao, a teenage boy from a Hmong immigrant family. The first time we see Walt is a close up of his a...
Read more

'Hotel Room, 12th Floor' - poem - Norman MacCaig

Hotel Room, 12 th Floor   This morning I watched from here a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect the Empire State Building, that jumbo sized dentist’s drill, and landing 5           on the roof of the Pan Am skyscraper. But now midnight has come in from foreign places. Its uncivilised darkness is shot at by a million lit windows, all ups and acrosses.   10         But midnight is not so easily defeated. I lie in bed, between a radio and a television set, and hear the wildest of warwhoops continually ululating through the glittering canyons and gulches – 15         police cars and ambulances racing to the broken bones, the harsh screaming from coldwater flats, the blood glazed on sidewalks.   The frontier is never 20         somewhere else. And no...
Read more

'Gran Torino' (dir. Clint Eastwood) - some useful links

Image
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489/                         - IMDB https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gran_torino/         - Rotten Tomatoes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ecW-d-CBPc     - trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1MCAHSHXS8  - opening sequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQN-3p2HqPA    - 'sacrifice' sequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJLbR9TEMD8    - final sequence There are plenty more clips available to view on YouTube.
Read more