English Learning Area

The 2019 school year in the English Learning Area has started with gusto at all year levels. From Years 7-12, there are many wonderful texts being explored and English experiences happening!

Years 7-9 English

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his needs, is good for him. —Maya Angelou

All students in Years 7-9 have one scheduled English class per fortnight in the Resource Centre for the RAD (Readers Are Dynamic) program. This is an opportunity for students to browse new release books (both print and digital), talk to the library staff about book recommendations and to also immerse themselves in the world of books in a comfortable reading environment. Our students have enjoyed getting to know our fiction and non-fiction collections more closely, as well as reading with Kindles and online. In Semester two, we look forward to visits by guest authors: Tim Pegler (Year 9) and Michael Gerard Bauer (Years 7 and 8)

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work learning from failure.” - General Colin Powell

Our Year 9s and 10s are about to embark on a very busy Examination period, beginning with the English examination for both year levels happening on Thursday May 30. For our Year 9 students, it will be their first Examination at St Bede’s. Both cohorts of students have been adequately prepared with a study and revision guide to Examinations as well as a Revision Booklet specific to both the Year 9 and 10 English Courses.

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing…” – Richard Branson

Our Years 7-9 students spend one lesson per fortnight using the online learning platform, Education Perfect, to help understand and improve their literacy skills. Activities that seek to help improve students’ capabilities with spelling, grammar, punctuation, literary devices and reading comprehension are scheduled so that students can complete them in a friendly and exciting online environment. Recent feedback from students has included, “Great, would love to do it again”, “I learned a lot and this reminded me of having to read between the lines” and “Helpful and excellent revision.” Students are more than welcome to complete activities of their own choosing on Education Perfect in their own time as extension or revision work to complement their classroom work.

Years 10-12 English

Our senior English students have been on a journey into the depths of human psyche in recent weeks. Their chosen texts have been leading them to consider both the darkness and nobility that exists in each of us.

“Life is but a walking shadow.” ‘Macbeth’

In Year 10 English, students have been grappling with Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and contemplating the catastrophic consequences of unbridled ambition. They have been pondering the meaning of life, the existence of the supernatural and the tragedy of a fallen hero. Collecting their key quotes, they are currently preparing to write an essay which will test their perseverance in decoding Elizabethan English and unlocking the devastating beauty of Shakespeare’s words; a task that they will hopefully find ultimately rewarding and enriching. Following this assessment task, Year 10 students will begin revising and preparing for their mid-year examination.

“We all go a little mad sometimes.” ‘Psycho’

The shrieking violins featured in the musical score of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ have been filling the corridors outside the Year 11 classrooms as the students inside are exposed to the sheer brilliance of Hitchcock’s cinematic masterpiece. Students have been watching and re-watching key scenes with a critical eye, seeking to identify and analyse the film techniques used by Hitchcock to shock and manipulate viewers. Developing their skills in the detailed analysis of key film elements such as sound, camera work, lighting and mise en scene will stand students in good stead in Year 12 when they will analyse another Hitchcock classic – ‘Rear Window.’ For now, students have enjoyed the classic charm of the film and the meticulous craftsmanship; the shock and horror felt by the original viewers of this 1960 classic has been somewhat lost on this modern audience! Thematically, we have been discussing the ideas of inner darkness, duality, guilt and punishment. As Norman Bates famously said, “We all go a little mad sometimes.”

‘You did your duty, that was all.’

‘How feeble that sounded. What did duty have to do with a man undone by feeling?’

‘The Lieutenant’

In Year 12, students have completed their second SAC which was an analytical text response to Kate Grenville’s ‘The Lieutenant.’ The novel is a historical fiction which places a spotlight on the first contact between British settlers and the local Cadigal tribe of Botany Bay. In preparing for the SAC, students have been contemplating issues of racism, colonialism and power and the ability of the individual not just to overcome but challenge the prevailing values of the era. The novel provides an unflinching but ultimately hopeful view of a dark time in our nation’s past. The students have relished the analysis of Grenville’s rich prose.

We look forward now to the upcoming exams for Year 10 and a return to analysing argument in Year 11 and 12; a somewhat less inspiring but no less challenging part of the senior English curriculum. We hope that their sojourn into the past and into the genius of these diverse literary creators will leave an indelible mark on our students.

Kalli Dimitrokalis and Robyn Kensley,

English Learning Area Leaders

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