Class and Responsibility

Class in Britain

• Britain has become less class-ridden

Class and Language

Language Samples

• RP Received Pronunciation, University education
• The Queen's English
• "The Prince's English"
• Estuary English
• East London Soundboard
• London Accent 1
• London Accent 2

• Lorraine Chase-Campari Advert 1976 (at 1:29)

RP or Oxford English

A pronunciation of British English, originally based on the speech of the upper class of southeastern England and characteristic of the English spoken at the public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Until recently it was the standard form of English used in British broadcasting.

About two percent of Britons speak with the RP accent in its purest form. Researchers generally distinguish between three different forms of RP: Conservative, General, and Advanced. Conservative RP refers to a traditional accent associated with older speakers with certain social backgrounds; General RP is often considered neutral regarding age, occupation, or lifestyle of the speaker; and Advanced RP refers to speech of a younger generation of British speakers. - Received_Pronunciation

sound examples and spelling alternatives

Estuary English

• estuary:

- ger.: die Mündung, das Mündungsgebiet

• Def.:

- Estuary English is a name given to the dialect(s) of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the River Thames and its estuary (around London). It's called "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England". The name comes from the area around the Thames Estuary, particularly London, Kent and Essex. - middle-class speech - may evenetually replace received pronunciation

• special sounds

- Non-rhoticity - T-dropping (Cockney-influence) - Sometimes H-dropping - Use of intrusive R.

• Listening Example

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/received-pronunciation/london/

Being Middle Class isn't funny ...

When you are Middle Class

Musts	Problems/Fears
house in the countryside with big garden children must go to public school leading role in church gardener,swedish au pair horses, dogs educated friends garden parties membership in the conservative party	way of life could be too expensive (heating, school fees, personel, animals) biggest fear: losing friends and no longer being middle class

Social Exclusion - if you can't be middle-class

See David Batty. Social exclusion: the issue explained

Signs of/factors leading to social exclusion:

• unemployment, poor skills ==> low incomes
• poor housing
• high crime
• bad health, drug addiction
• lack of medical care in deprived areas
• family breakdown
• high teenage pregnancy rate
• homelessness
• high number of young people not in education/training or employment and truancy/school exclusion

Solutions: Government tries to establish institutions that

• analyse the causes and publish the results in reports.
• critically evaluate local governments' work to improve efforts to help socially excluded groups
• help to improve cooperation of departments / institutions to solve the multi-faceted problem
• initiate programmes to improve health of children, reduce teenage pregnancy and school exclusion and to counsel young people about education and employment
• coordinate efforts to encourage private investment in deprived communities.

Essay - Every child growing up in poverty is a ticking social timebomb

Collection of ideas

These children will often ...

Thesis Statement	Supporting Points (more general/abstract)	Examples (specific, images)
become criminals	don't have money to buy special things -> steal	girls steal e.g. a Prada handbag
turn to violence	can't express themselves, envy, surroundings are bad -> learn solving conflicts by violence, aggression as a way of getting money	throwing stones at expensive cars/ scratching with keys
have no positive idols	unemployed parents -> missing successful role models/ belief in working your way up	girl sees her mother prostituting herself -> role model for her later life
have no motivation	children think they don't have a chance to get out of poverty/bad money situation	parents don't give their children any hopes (no disappointing later) parents can't afford university -> tell them that from the start
be in danger of becoming depressive	can't afford, what makes your dreams come true; work hard -> nearly no result; often have been rejected	s.o. wants to found a company but he doesn't even get the money from the bank
have no education → find no jobs	no money/supporting background
elect extremists	believing in wrong promises, no achievement of big parties for poor people	total equality (left party), electing the right party against foreigners taking their jobs
develop anger and hatred	-> see violence
make money with prostitution	only way of getting money very fast, no need of qualification
face teenage pregnancy/parenthood	girls want something that loves them, role models -> seeing it as normal

Writing an introduction

Check if the introduction ...

• introduces the topic (+)
• gives readers an idea of what dirction the essay will take (+)
• provides an overview of the structure/line of argument (+)
• implies/poses a question and creates an expactation/interetst in the readers (+)
• states general truths/defines what needs no definition (-)
• asks questions/announces answers but does not give them (-)

Possible Introductions

• Question:

• Basic thesis/contrast ==> Definition:

• Surprising fact / statistic:

• Quotation: