UK education system

  • How did Edinburgh influence the writing of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

    I think I’m getting a bit better at making these videos now. I produced this video for my GCSE pupils who have not been to Edinburgh but really need to know how the city influenced the writing of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for their English Literature exam. Robert Louis Stevenson had a love-hate relationship with […]

  • The unfair representation of a collective group in two media platforms

    Ryan Linham has written interesting answer to an A Level OCR Media Studies question here. What are the strengths and weaknesses of his answer?

  • Media Studies: John Dunford, Head of Media Studies, and student blog links.

    The Head of Media Studies at my school has his blog here. It is full of useful links and information. A2 students: http://linhamr3m4.wordpress.com/ http://danielbmedia.wordpress.com/ http://alexoconnor2.wordpress.com/ http://missemilystevens.wordpress.com/ http://joannebones.wordpress.com/ http://www.lukedarlingslifeblog.blogspot.com/ http://mollycliftona2.wordpress.com/ http://rachelhelsby2.wordpress.com/

  • Collective Identity — Media Studies, Youth Demonisation

    There’s a useful blog on Collective Identity connected with Youth Demonisation here, devised by a chief examiner at OCR.

  • Five reasons why Media Studies is a great subject

    I used to be a bit sceptical about the whole idea of Media Studies until I started teaching it at A Level. The process of choosing a suitable syllabus (we opted for OCR), devising schemes of work and delivering the lessons over the last few years has now convinced me that it should be an […]

  • Survey on autobiography

    Please take this survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q73L95Q the value of autobiography.

  • A grade essay on A Passionate Shepherd and The Nymph’s Reply

      Plan: Passionate shepherd… Nymph’s reply… Sims: -Direct language -Rhythm Diffs: -Imagery (remember caesura!) – Answer: In ‘The Passionate Shepherd’ a shepherd is pleading to a nymph (a beautiful woman) to go and live with him in the countryside. To persuade the nymph to go with him, Marlowe uses beautiful imagery of nature being harmonious […]

  • How does Hemingway develop a sense of anticipation and drama at the beginning of the Old Man and the Sea?

    Hemingway’s opening is dramatic for a number of reasons. Read through the first two pages and/or listening to my podcast, and then list FOUR ways Hemingway develops a real sense of anticipation in the opening of the novel. Do you agree with these points? 1. Hemingway immediately tells us that there is a great deal […]

  • Composed on Westminster Bridge — an explanation for GCSE English Literature Podcast

    Composed on Westminster Bridge; an audio explanation by Francis Gilbert “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is a sonnet by William Wordsworth describing London, viewed from one of the bridges over the Thames, in the early morning. It was first published in 1807. Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of […]

  • Town and Country quiz – revising the poems

    Please add in annotations to the poems if/when you see fit as you are answering these questions London What does Blake notice in every face he meets? (weakness, woe or sorrow) TRUE OR FALSE: ‘Mind-forged manacles’ are chains created by minds which have been oppressed or brainwashed They are a special type of clothing people […]

  • Is it harder than ever to be a teacher?

    There’s a crisis of identity at the heart of the teaching profession. We don’t know exactly who we are or what our roles should entail. Are we the founts of all knowledge who pour it like milk into the empty vessels of our pupils? Or are we merely facilitators of learning, guiding our pupils through […]

  • Comparing Poems from Town and Country — mock exam questions

    Comparing poem from Town and Country by FGI   Comparing The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd. Marlowe’s poem is very passionate. What imagery does the poet use to make the shepherd’s love seem so passionate? What are the delights that the shepherd is offering? In Ralegh’s poem, the […]

  • Comparing Lake Isle of Innisfree and A Dead Harvest In Kensington

     How to write a fandaglistic hyperpolished poetry essay in timed conditions. Use this frame to help you! Explore the different ways in which the poets portray nature  in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’’ and ‘A Dead Harvest in Kensington’ Introduction: where you introduce the poems by explaining BRIEFLY what they are about. Remember you get […]

  • Standardisation: presentation ideas and presentation on processes of semantic change, taboo words

      Presentation format:     On PowerPoint: give some history and a task for pupils to do. All presentations must include some definitions on standardisation. Ask FGI for help if necessary.     Devise a presentation on how spelling was standardised, the development of printing, dictionaries, mass education. Devise a presentation on STANDARD ENGLISH and […]

  • The changing discourses connected with health

     Starter activity: brainstorm the times when you were ill when you were a child. What did your carers say to you in connection with your illness? What are your memories of your first trip to the doctors, to hospitals? What language did people use to describe your illnesses etc? What did they say to comfort you? Learning […]

  • War Poetry – analysing and thinking about the poem, improving essays

    Learning objective: to learn how to use quotation to develop your criticisms of the poems Key quotes: “German guns” Eyes were wild blindfolded English bullet in his heart Abject fear of death Deserter’s grave Panicked down the trench Mother’s grief The Deserter “To add more sympathy at the end, the poet goes on to say […]

  • Compare in which the poets movingly portray sympathy for the loss of life in wartime in these two poems: The Deserter and The Hero.

    Format:     Explain poem 1   Explain poem 2   Similarities   In imagery and language   Structure and themes   Differences   In imagery and language   Structure and themes   Conclusion to the question.

  • The Opening of the Novel — True or false questions, analysing the opening

    True or false?   Gabriel Oak complains about Bathsheba’s vanity in the first chapter. Gabriel Oak is a shepherd NOT a farmer at the beginning of the novel. Oak rescues Bathsheba from dying of suffocation in his hut. Bathsheba doesn’t want to marry Oak because she does not love him. Oak would have been financially […]

  • Review of autobiography

    Task: Write a review of an autobiography Summarise briefly why you chose the book and what happened in your person’s life. Explain what interested you about their life, relating it to your life if you can. Explain what were your favourite parts of the book, quoting from your favourite passages and saying WHY the language and […]

  • Re-writing autobiographical extracts, editing and improving them

      Read these passages and answer the questions that follow: he looked like a turtle his little bald head with his oversized blazer, it looked like a home on his back! What is effective about this image? we seized every opportunity to get him back we didn’t care, we was going home after this and […]