English
As the year draws to a close, it is important to reflect upon what we have learned and celebrate our successes. The English faculty staff are proud of our students, and commend them for remaining engaged with their learning under difficult circumstances.
It is time for a well-earned break, and some rest and relaxation prior to beginning a new school year in 2021.
From an English perspective, this forthcoming break is the perfect time for your student to read their set texts in preparation for next year. When it comes to reading, the support and encouragement a student receives from home is a crucial factor. If your student is unmotivated to read, help them schedule time each day to sit down with their book. You can also read the set texts so that you are able to discuss them with your student, or look for an audiobook copy. Audiobooks make reading more accessible by allowing students to listen as they read along, keeping them on track.
The text list at John Fawkner College has been curated to provide students with a variety of perspectives. As students move through the year levels, they are exposed to a range of stories from different times and places, covering a range of contemporary and historical issues. Below, you will find a list of all the set texts in our English curriculum. If you're looking for some books to read over the holidays, we recommend that you begin here!
On behalf of the English faculty, we would like to wish you a safe and happy break. We look forward to welcoming your student into our classrooms in 2021!
Ashleigh Hudson
English Domain Leader
Year 7
Holes by Louis Sachar
A boy is wrongfully sent to a brutal camp, where the camp warden and her staff force the children in their care to mysteriously dig holes all day long in the desert. Their rehabilitation is questioned, as they think something sinister is involved.
Year 8
Once by Morris Gleitzman
The story of a young Jewish boy who is determined to escape the orphanage he lives in to save his Jewish parents from the Nazis in the occupied Poland of the Second World War. Everybody deserves to have something good in their life. At least Once.
Year 9
When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah
When Michael Met Mina tells two parallel stories: in one, a young refugee and her family are catapulted into a world where casual racism is the norm; in the other, a young man slowly comes to realise that he has grown up following his parents' beliefs without questioning their underlying logic.
Year 10
Coming of Age: Growing Up Muslim in Australia
edited by Amra Pajalic and Demet Divaroren
In this refreshing and fascinating collection, twelve Muslim-Australians - some well known, some not - reveal their candid, funny and touching stories of growing up with a dual identity. Muslim people in Australia come from over seventy countries and represent a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 during the Salem witch trials. The play is a fictionalized version of the trials and tells the story of a group of young Salem women who falsely accuse other villagers of witchcraft. The accusations and ensuing trials push the village into a hysteria which results in the arrest of 200 villagers and the deaths of 19. The play was written by American playwright Arthur Miller, who was wrongly accused of communism and un-American activities during McCarthyism in the 1950s. Miller wrote the play as an allegory, revealing the political and moral parallels between the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy trials of his own time.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Published in 1937, Of Mice and Men narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.
Year 11
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
In this short story collection, Clarke captures the anger, hope, despair, desperation, strength and desire felt by members of minority groups, and many others. This extraordinary collection experiments with language, dialect and structure to capture the perfect form for each of the narrative voices it contains.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The novel examines a futuristic society, called the World State, that revolves around science and efficiency. In this society, emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children at a young age, and there are no lasting relationships because “every one belongs to every one else” (a common World State dictum).
Year 12
Extinction by Hannie Rayson
Extinction wraps an important conservation message around a unique and personal human story. ... A wild, rainy night, a twist of fate and an injured tiger quoll bring together a passionate environmentalist and an unlikely Good Samaritan. Both are hell-bent on saving the species, but intentions are murky.
I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
I'm Not Scared explores the playful and volatile world of childhood through the eyes of nine-year-old Michele, who is forced, again and again, to make the hard choices that will define his character. As the book opens, he must choose between helping his younger sister or winning a race.
Ransom by David Malouf
A novel of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, Ransom tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and Priam, king of Troy, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles.