English Department News
EXAM REVISION:
Year 11, 12, 13 - Final after school revision classes are on the noticeboard in 6th Form and outside Room 10. Please attend if you can and good luck to all of you for the next few weeks. DON`T FORGET TO RETURN ALL ENGLISH BOOKS (for coursework etc) before you leave.
YEAR 8 TRIP:
In July, as part of their preparation for SATs and studying the Shakespeare play, Richard III, all Year 8`s will visit the Globe Theatre in London for a performance workshop. More details will follow shortly.
ENGLISH IN ACTION:
A group of selected Year 11 boys have just finished their joint PE / English Project, which included five boxing sessions at `Spit `n` Sawdust`. Keep up the revision boys and thanks for some great laughs.
Year 11 - Don`t forget coursework deadline for GCSE is FRIDAY 15th FEBRUARY - NO EXTENSIONS!! Why not come to after school catch-up to make sure you get the best grades?
Mrs Watts
ALL YEAR GROUPS:
Come to the first BOOK CLUB Debate on Friday 18th February from 1.45pm - 2.15pm in Room 10. The topic is:
`THE DEATHLY HALLOWS` is the best in the Harry Potter series. If you do/do not agree and fancy some good literary discussion, biscuits and house points, join me and have fun!
Mrs Watts
SIXTH FORM:
Thanks for all the hard work getting in AS/AS Coursework on time.
ALL YEARS:
Ar you a Harry Potter fanatic? Come to our first BGN Book Club on FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY 2008 to discuss:
Is `The Deathly Hallows` the best of the Harry Potter series? Biscuits and House Points up for grabs!! This will take place in Room 10 with Mrs Watts (and her wand!)
Years 7, 8 and 9:
Have you been reading enough! Remember you can achieve your Bronze Certificate and HOUSE POINTS if you have read and recorded FIVE books by Christmas. See you English teacher for forms and details!
Review by Callum Fairbrother - Year 12:-
Starting with Othello - cool and calm? bold and brave? More of a paranoid coward, following the so called `honest Iago` like a lap dog. Unable to think for himself we saw very little evidence of his other side. In addition, his mumbled voice frequently left the audience confused and even annoyed after being left unable to understand many key lines.
Review by Tom Wyatt - Year 12:-
Does the story of race, ambition and tragedy still come off fresh for a contemporary audience or has this tale become irrelevant and out of date? The Birmingham Stage Company evidently believes the former as they attempt the Shakespeare classic `Othello` at the Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham. Whether it was intentional or coincidence, the play has been put on at the same time many thousands of A Level students will be studying the play for English Literature ensuring the play a high attendance, but also placing high pressure on the play to give an accurate reflection of the play whilst ensuring an appeal for a younger audience.
So, could the players pull it off? For some, a resounding yes, Most notably Iago who had real depth and diversity and truly captivated the audience, making clear the character`s charisma juxtaposed with his enticing psycopathic nature. Another benefit of Iago is his visual respresentation of `a black ram tupping your white ewe` just in case anyone was unsure to the meaning of this statement. Emilia was another outstanding character and a very powerful actress who always made her presence known on stage and could always ensure silence in an otherwise disruptive audience.
A character to which my feelings are ambivalent is Othello himself. His acting was strong and as an overall performance it was good but so often, in comparision to reading the text, you find yourself thinking `oh, that`s not how I imagined it`. Just something about the overall presentation made it a rather unconvincing performance of the Shakespeare wrote of and one reads.
The character who is truly the star of the show is Desdemona. When I say star, of course, I mean a tacky, gold sprayed, Morrison`s own, buy one get one free (this being the more damaged of the two) kind of star positioned precariously at the top of an otherwise relatively nice christmas tree. You just can`t help but ask yourself why is she there? Her performance is weak, unconvincing and boring. When she first came on stage I assumed she was acting in such a manner on purpose and that she would reveal her true bold nature soon after, I was sadly mistaken. Her singing was just cringeworthy.
Review by Chris Tustian - Year 12:-
The Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham`s production of Othello potrays a pre-1914 setting with British Army officerscarrying out their duties in a foreign land. The production included outstanding performances from Neal Foster as Iago and from Emma Christer as Amelia, Iago`s wife. However, the performance lacked strength in depth in its characters. Cyril Nri`s performance as Othello depicts an over sensitive mood, and never captures the calm and confident aura that a truly great Othello character should exude. A weak performance from Desdemona could have brought the whole play crashing down, but the excellent performance from Neal Foster held the performace together, his interpretation of Iago as a deranged yet humorous pyschopath worked surprisingly well and added a comedy factor to the play; however the ending to the play also had the audience in fits. The ending of Othello may be difficult to portray in a serious way, but it should not have the audience in hysterics.
POETRY CHAMPIONS! YEAR 7 & YEAR 8 - NOVEMBER 2007
Congratulations to Isabelle Mutton in Year 7 for winning the Oxfordshire National Poetry Day Competition. Well done Isabelle!. Isabelle won a digital camera for the school
Runners up were Tia Shawyer Year 7 and Ashwin Bhandari Year 8, so congratulations to both of you too.
To see the poems, visit the OCN ICT website.
As Year 9 tests are fast approaching, I would like to remind students and parents that English, Maths and Science revision should be a homework priority in the coming weeks.
The SATs for Year 9 pupils will take place between 8th and 11th May. All pupils will receive a timetable nearer the time.
Whats on during the Spring Term 2007
GCSE coursework deadline for Year 11 is Friday February 9th.
Extra GCSE English lessons after school on Tuesday of week A.
AS coursework deadline end of February
A2 coursework deadline beginning of March
Year 9 SATs exams: Thursday 10th Reading Paper a.m. and Shakespeare paper p.m Friday 11th May Writing Paper a.m.
Year 11
English exams are approaching what can you do?
Now is the time to be sorting out your revision timetable to make sure that you are practising the right skills for each paper. Refer to your English Department Revision Booklets to find lots of useful activities. If you have lost your booklet, please collect another from Mrs Watts.
Practise writing in timed conditions set your alarm for an hour and write your essay in this time, leaving 5 minutes for checking. Give it to a friend to mark what have you done well, what have you done incorrectly? Raise any issues you cannot resolve with your English teacher.
Make sure that you know when the exams are and which paper is on which day! Look at your exam statement to check this or ask your English teacher.
Keep reading newspapers, biographies, any non-fiction and learn those spellings in the back of your planner.
Attend after school classes, if you can.
Well done to all those who submitted excellent coursework and on time. Your hard work is much appreciated, but dont forget that the exams count for much more than the coursework, so keep up the momentum with lots of homework and lots of revision!
Poetry ICT Competition
Very Well Done to TAMSIN SMITH 8 ARROWSMITH and CHARLOTTE STJOHN 7 WELLS for gaining Commendations in the Oxfordshire County Poetry and ICT competitions. Both girls will receive certificates and books for their wonderful poems, which are mounted and displayed outside the English Office. Take a look for yourselves!
Well done to both girls and thank you to Ms Braund for organising this.
Sixth Form
Tension is running high (or at least it should be!) for our Year 12 and 13 A Level English Literature students. Coursework deadlines are looming so check final dates with your English teacher.
And CONGRATULATIONS to two deliciously diligent students in Year 13 CAMILLA CONCANNON and JOE PEECOCK for meeting all of your targets in English! (Sorry, no cash this time
)