ENGLISH Faculty

Term 4 in English

In English, Years 8-10 have been studying an imaginative and reflective writing unit for their first unit of the new school year. This is a fun unit to end Term 4 with, as students are experimenting with their imaginative writing skills and developing their ability to create mood and interesting characters in their narratives. Students have been encouraged to experiment with their writing and have fun using their imaginations to create thought-provoking and engaging pieces of writing. All year groups have been honing their reflective writing skills, learning to analyse their own writing and explain the effects they aimed to achieve through their imaginative compositions. They had their first assessment task at the start of this week, in which they wrote an imaginative composition in response to one of two prompts given, then a reflection on their own writing.

Year 11 and 12 students studying the English Standard and English Advanced courses have just completed the Common Module: Reading to Write for the Preliminary Course. This involved reading and analysing a variety of imaginative, persuasive and discursive texts and using inspiration from these texts to further hone their own ability to write all three types of text. A lot of time and attention was given to learning to identify the wide variety of writing techniques used in the texts and to analyse the effect of those techniques on engaging the reader and communicating the ideas of the texts. Students completed their first assessment task at the start of Week 10.

This term, English Extension 1 students have been immersed in the Gothic world of 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, exploring how the genre gives shape to social fears and anxieties. Through close study, students have analysed key Gothic features and conventions, with a particular focus on the representation of women and the gender stereotypes embedded in the text. Alongside this, the class has been introduced to literary theory to deepen their interpretations, including Viktor Shklovsky’s Theory of Ostranenie (defamiliarisation) and how writers make the familiar strange in order to challenge readers’ assumptions. As part of their first assessment, students composed original Gothic texts that draw on the techniques studied in class to explore a contemporary social fear or anxiety. These creative pieces demonstrate how the Gothic remains relevant today, considering how it is still capable of reflecting the tensions of modern society in haunting, imaginative ways. Students have also been progressing through their Independent Research Tasks. Each student has nominated a specific literary feature, element, or concept to investigate across texts from different time-periods and cultures, and have selected two texts as the focus of their analysis. Additionally, they have begun analysing how their chosen literary focus is shaped by context and how texts can reflect, critique, and influence society.