Language+Arts

Vocabulary Words for Homeless Unit Some of these words will not be in the dictionary. We will go over the definitions in class.


 * 1) homeless
 * 2) poverty
 * 3) unemployment
 * 4) eviction
 * 5) welfare or government assistance
 * 6) vagabond
 * 7) migrate
 * 8) hobo
 * 9) hunger
 * 10) helplessness
 * 11) hyperthermia
 * 12) frostbite
 * 13) soup kitchen
 * 14) homeless shelter
 * 15) affordable housing

** Narration: Short Story ** ** Due Dec. 15, 2010 **

A short story is a brief creative, fictional narrative.

**Assignment:** Write a short story about an interesting or original situation evolving homelessness that will capture readers’ attention. You will be given an age and gender of the main character.

**What to include:** Your short story should feature the following elements:
 * One or more well- developed characters
 * A conflict that keeps the reader asking, “What will happen next?”
 * A clear story line or sequence told from a consistent point of view
 * Effective pacing
 * Narrative that develops dialogue, suspense, and other literary elements and devices
 * A title that catches the reader’s attention
 * Precise vocabulary and effective word choice
 * Error-free writing, including correct use of comparatives

**Identify the conflict:** A conflict is a struggle between two opposing forces. A character’s conflict may be e

xternal or internal. By identifying the conflict inside your story idea, you can focus your topic and get your story moving. To identify the conflict, answer these questions:
 * Who is the main character of my story?
 * What does the main character want?
 * What is preventing him or her from getting it?

**Using listing and itemizing:** Your next step is to gather details to include in your story. Follow these steps: ü Quickly jot down a list of everything that comes to mind about a general idea. ü Circle the most interesting item on the list. ü Itemize that detail – create another list of everything that comes to mind about it. ü After you have generated several list in this way, look for connections among all the circled items on your lists. These connections will help you decide which details to include in your story.

**Create a plot:** Begin by mapping out your plot. A plot is the arrangement of actions in the story. In most stories, the plot follows this pattern:
 * The exposition introduces the main characters and their basic situation, including the central conflict or problem.
 * The conflict intensifies during the rising action.
 * The climax is the high point of interest.
 * The story’s falling action leads to the resolution, in which the conflict is resolved in some way.

**Use literary elements and devices:** Found on pages R11-R18 **Use details to define characters and setting**. **Show, so not tell**: Choose words that show your characters’ thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions. v **Dialogue**: Write conversations that show how the character speaks, using the words and phrasing he or she might use. v **Movement**: Describe a character’s movements using words like, rushed, timid, or excited. v **Gestures**: Include information to show whether characters use their hands when they talk, whether they stand tall or slouched, and insert other details that show how characters look and act. v **Feelings**: Consider the way events will make your characters feel, and include words and details to reveal these emotions. v **Expression**: Tell your readers about the facial expressions your characters make to convey their ideas and feeling without words.


 * Musical Connections to Homelessness Theme: Journal Entry Responses**

Describe paradise. View Phil Collin's video for the song "Another Day in Paradise" and interpret what "paradise" means in the song.

Song examines hunger, poverty and the plight of the homeless in America. Often associated with love songs and sentimental movie theme songs, Phil Collins has previously expressed a degree of frustration with those fans who dismiss his more serious songs and question his sincerity. "It's because people put me in the balladeer box and think I'm not capable of doing anything of substance." The music video for this song includes powerful words and images. Data and statistics regarding the numbers of people living in poverty are superimposed over pictures of the homeless and street people. In a 1990 interview Collins explained. "Yes, I'm projecting a different side, but people don't think there's any sincerity in that, and that's what annoys me, I don't mind if people don't like the music - well, I mind, but I can handle that - but there's been a questioning of my sincerity in doing a song like Paradise. They insinuate that I've got a lot of money so what do I know about the homeless and the poor, and that's absolute rubbish. I see what is happening on the street from my car, the same as everybody else. I see life, I don't live in a cocoon, so I get insulted when people assume my reasons for doing it are wrong or dubious."

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 * Have you ever met or seen a homeless person. Describe your experience.**

Listen to Arrested Development's song "Mr. Wendel"that was written after the lead singer's experiences with homeless people in Atlanta.

Arrested Development lead vocalist Speech wrote this song. He told us: "The song is not based on a person named Mr. Wendal at all, but it is based on some experiences that I have had in Atlanta, which is where I live, and sung to the homeless people that I had become friends with here, and just their way of looking at it. Some of them were more like hobos where they purposely were wanting to be homeless, they didn't want to play to the way society was going, and they just decided to go off another beaten path. Others were hungry, had a run of bad luck, an

d just couldn't survive with the competition of the real world. So they were out there. One of the people that I look to the most as the real Mr. Wendal, to me, died the year that that song came out. So he never got to hear the song and the tribute to him. We gave half of the proceeds of that song to the National Coalition For the Homeless in the United States, because of how closely all of us felt to the cause of the homeless, and the fact that everybody, whether they're homeless or not, there's some times in all of our lives when we need some help, we need a boost."

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