As with all programmes in the London Nautical School Department of English, the Learning Plan for Year 11 is unique to this year and this group of students. It is devised, within the guidelines set by the over-all Key Stage Four programme, to best meet the needs and engage the passions of my class and it arises as an extension of my own passions and my best professional judgement about what 16 year old boys should be learning.
As always your feedback about the content of this, or the English department’s over-arching scheme, is most welcome.
The GCSE Final Run
Main Project
SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA – The Taming of the Shrew
Throughout this programme we will be reading this play as a class. We will be enacting key scenes. We will be modernising scenes from the play. Shakespeare’s language will be an important focus for us – particularly his use of the poetic devices of rhythm, rhyme, metaphor and alliteration to create voice and character. The boys will research the social and historical context of the play as well as explore its modern interpretations. We will delve into the universal themes that are implicit in all of William Shakespeare’s works and explore how these apply to our lives today.
There will be many moments where students skills as readers, writers, viewers, performers and researchers will be tested and extended. Some assessment of these functions will be informal, and some formal – including a literary essay, an enacted modernisation and a visual presentation.
Assessment Focus
Controlled Assessment – Taming of the Shrew, Poetry of Sylvia Plath – Week Commencing 12 November
Thinking Focus and Extension
Critical Theory, Metaphor and Character
With an indisputable feminist bent, this Shakespearian study explores the varying facades that people erect for social success.Language Analysis
Exploring the connections between Shakespeare’s use of language and the characters he creates, with a particular focus on metre, alliteration, rhyme, metaphor and punExtension
Extend the comparative analysis to include the modernised version of The Taming of the Shrew by the BBC and 10 Things I Hate About You – exploring the modern counterparts for the social norms of Elizabethan England and how the character’s voices were re-created for the modern audienceWider Reading and Speaking & Listening
Wide Reading Project
This multi-modal ‘Theme Study’ culminates in a spoken presentation to parents and interested parties to be held on Thursday 8 November at 5:00pmNon-Fiction Reading
As an integrated programme, many opportunities to explore non-fiction texts and practice the approaches best matched to the GCSE Examination in non-fiction reading assessments will be created – practice examinations occur in December and again in March focussing on this English Language skill.In conjunction with the reading of The Taming of the Shrew, opportunities to enact and dramatise various elements of the play will be seized. A formal assessment opportunity will be offered to students who wish to present a Shakespearian Monologue – Some of Petruchio or Katharina’s invective might prove an appealing option to some students.
Main Projects
EXPLORING MODERN TEXTS – Touching the Void
Read in conjunction with a viewing of the respected film this novel allows the boys to explore non-fiction writing and enables the canvassing of ideas from the nature of death, through the morality of mountain climbing to the reliability of autobiographical writing.Assessment Focus
The Modern Texts final assessment occurs in the English Literature examination in June, however frequent opportunities will be given to students to practice their literary essay writing and to examine the results of their efforts. Online writing collaboration is a significant feature of this process this year.
Thinking Focus and Extension
Moral Dilemma, Philosophical Thinking and Socratic Debate
The novel Touching the Void offers many opportunities to explore some of the big questions and moral dilemmas of our time – a mock-courtroom where Joe Simpson is put on trial always offers a good opportunity to debate the issues of the novel as well as allows the students to flex their dramatic speaking muscles.Extension
Comparison between the novel and film versions of Joe Simpson’s story allows for the exploration of narrative perspective and viewpoint as well as for extended discussion on the difference between imagery in writing and images in film.Non-Fiction Reading and Speaking & Listening
Non-Fiction Reading
As an integrated programme, many opportunities to explore non-fiction texts and practice the approaches best matched to the GCSE Examination in non-fiction reading assessments will be created – practice examinations occur in December and again in March focussing on this English Language skill.Debating
A mock-courtroom where Joe Simpson is put on trial always offers a good opportunity to debate the issues of the novel as well as allows the students to flex their dramatic speaking muscles.Main Projects
POETRY STUDY: Poetry Across Time
This key assessment in the GCSE English Literature examination is best approached after an immersive and creative exploration of the 14 poems prescribed. The boys have worked on the conflict cluster of these poems and have already approached them using a variety of interpretative tools – including their creation of film visualisations of individual poemsAssessment Focus
Final GCSE Examinations in English Language and English Literature
Thinking Focus and Extension
Veracity and Representation in Modern Media
The programme of learning in relation to reading and producing non-fiction texts will look at the sophistication in modern advertising and media in its effort to seduce, misdirect and control its consumer. A wide range of critical articles and spoof advertisements will allow the students to deconstruct what they see in the media around them and reveal the publisher’s true intentions.Extension
The creation of highly sophisticated texts in the non-fiction genre (investigative journalism, political speeches and rhetoric, analytical treatises) to communicate ideas and issues vital to contemporary society and delivered though the students’ individual blogging mechanismsSpeaking and Listening
Speaking and Listening in Journalism
The journalistic focus of this term’s work will lead to the students engaging in interpersonal and small-group discussions and interviews – including the inviting of specialists to class for personal interviews and panel discussions