Bringing English to life

This term has been a busy one in the English and EAL faculty. We have been lucky to host a range of wonderful authors and performances at school, as well as an excursion to Ceres in Brunswick:

Year 12 EAL - Jane Harrison on her play, Rainbow’s End
Year 12 Literature - Clare Land on decolonising solidarity
Year 11 English and Year 10 Literature - Tony Birch on the craft of writing and his short story collection, Shadowboxing
Year 10 English - Alice Pung on her novel, 100 Days
Year 9 English - Nova Weetman and Paul Connolly running memoir writing workshops
Year 9 English - incursion performance of Romeo and Juliet
Year 8 EAL - excursion to Ceres to explore First Nations perspectives for their study of Black Cockatoo.

These incursions and excursions are designed to enrich and extend students’ learning and give them an opportunity to ask questions, challenge themselves and make connections between the learning of the classroom and their local community.

A reflection on Tony Birch by Safiyeh, Year 11

When Tony Birch came to our school he spoke about his life in relation to the short stories we were reading such as The Lesson, and The Butcher's Wife. He spoke about how to write our own stories and encouraged us to write without thinking and to just get our ideas down.

I liked how he transposed his own personal stories into his fiction work. Towards the end of his talk he gave us some advice for when it comes to writing a fiction story. Mr Birch suggested that we picture the setting of our story first and write all our ideas down without giving it much thought in the beginning. We were able to see his own thought process and it felt like such a privilege to hear him talk about how he mixed his personal life stories with fiction to create his writing.

It was definitely helpful having him come to our school and giving us advice on writing, as I found myself referring back to his stories for ideas and inspiration throughout the term when writing a short story and mixing both my personal experiences with fiction to create art. When Mr Birch talked about his upbringing, the way he spoke about his issues made me reflect on my own. I personally found Mr Birch very relatable throughout his talk at our school.

A reflection on Alice Pung by Navnitha, Year 10

My first impression of Alice Pung was quite a contrast to the protagonist of 100 Days, Karuna, who is featured in her novel. The minute she starts talking, her causal and humorous personality is exposed; resilient in portraying the mind that depicts the ordeal teenager Karuna is represented as. Throughout the talk, I come to realize, along with many others, that multiple personal encounters and experiences are what had led to Pung creating such a realistic, raw masterpiece.

In terms of Pung’s writing manner, she contrasts romantic ideals with a harsh reality that can seem crude at times, but is necessary for the realisation and acceptance of what the world and its people are truly capable of - the good and bad, and the misunderstanding of the inbetween. For example, Pung emphasised how movies or fictitious stories paint certain images of how caring mothers are and how nurturing, patient and understanding they can be. Any mother figure that opposes this stereotype is effectively related to the ‘Monstrous Mother’ trope. I admired how Pung colors the gray of the black and white of motherhood; highlighting how difficult relationships can be, and how love between a mother and child can be tedious, hard work and not entirely caring. I felt it was understandable and important to highlight how children could go to find their mothers angering and intolerable as well as dependable and safe.

Overall, it was an amazing experience to meet an author whose stories are confronting yet captivating, and to understand the ideas and concepts behind such realistically harsh concepts that Pung chooses to express through writing. She is a great person who knows how to embrace and encompass reality for what it is, through relatable personas such as Karuna and Grand Mar.