ENGLISH

As we come to the end of our first year of the new Year 9 English Core Elective program, I thought it timely to get some student feedback on what they have been doing recently and what they enjoyed the most about being able to select from a wide variety of genres to study English. This is what they said: 

Celeste Eicholtz – English: Horror 

Recently in English Horror, we have been studying the film Dracula Untold a 2014 film directed by Gary Shore. We have looked at different themes and have explored how they are portrayed in the different characters. Along with, how camera angles, positioning and lighting can interpret different moods and enhance the story. This all lead to us writing an essay, breaking down the film and analysing the different themes and characters. Personally, my favourite part of the subject so far has been learning how to structure paragraphs within an essay using ‘TEECEEL’. This has massively helped my understanding in how to make my essay more informative and help my ideas come across clearer. The best part of being able to pick our core English electives this year has been the creative freedom we get to develop when studying a subject that really interests us. I specifically put horror at the top of my list as I have always been intrigued by horror novels and films and wanted to dig deeper into the elements that go into constructing a narrative like that. This year English has felt a lot less repetitive then in other years and I got the chance to learn about more complex ideas than in other years. 

Kirsten Wheeler – English: Dystopian Futures 

In Dystopian Futures, we are working on our Oral presentation where we can pick any topic relating to Dystopian Futures, for me I’m studying Tropes and iconography in the film, WALL-E. My favourite thing that I learned in English this year would be researching the tropes and iconography of The Maze Runner. The best thing about being able to pick the English electives would be the choice of what you study. It feels as though you are independent and it helps to let you learn what you want to learn. 

Jordan Roache – English: Dystopian Futures 

In English currently we have just started working on our oral presentation unit. Within the unit we get to talk about anything related to the dystopian genre, whether it’s a movie iconography or the behind the scenes. We’ve been brainstorming and creating ideas for what we want to create a speech about. My favourite task was studying and creating an essay for The Maze Runner as we got to learn lots about the film and analysis of it much more than in other years. I liked this the most as it involved lots of open-ended elements. The best part about picking our English core electives is the fact we can learn what we want. We get to go a lot more in depth about a certain element of English rather than briefly going over it as you would in core. Picking our own English allows us to be more aligned with our interests. 

Tanisha Sivaskanthan – English: Teen Stories 

Currently, in English, we are learning about different tropes in teen movies and how we can apply them in our own stories. My favourite thing that we studied in English Teen Stories so far is the film 10 Things I Hate About You. We uncovered more in-depth concepts that were very interesting to learn about and helped us further understand how teen films are made and structured. The best part of being able to pick your electives is that you choose subjects that are interesting to you might be in link with the career path you want to follow, or they are subjects that you want to learn more about. Picking your own electives makes you feel more independent and makes you feel excited coming to school knowing you are going to learn about things you actually find interesting. 

Ava Simons – English: Teen Stories 

Currently, in English, we are learning about teen tropes and all the different types of ways they can be represented in books, movies and even in real life. My favourite thing to learn this semester in Teen Stories was when we were working through lots of short writing prompts, called quick writes to get ready for the creative writing CAT. We got to watch clips from different movies to help us understand tropes better. The best bit about being able to pick the English core electives has to be that I could choose what interested me and gave me more power over what I wanted to learn about, it also made English a lot more fun. 

Micah Cove – English: Teen Stories 

In English Teen Stories I am currently learning about the different tropes in teen films and preparing for the CAT which is currently about first, second and third person writing methods. My favourite thing to study this year in English would be the film response in the film 10 Things I Hate About You because it was something that I take interest in and will benefit me further on in my life. The best part about English electives would be that I get a choice in an English subject and that makes me interested and more keen to learn. 

Molly Fitzgerald – English: Sporting Greats 

In English we have been learning how to write an essay on the movie Remember the Titans using the structure TEEEEVL. We started off by learning how to place together an intro, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Now we are currently learning/practicing how to write three main body paragraphs, by doing this we split the paragraph into different parts – T: topic sentence, E: evidence 1, E: explanation 1, E: evidence 2, E: explanation 2, V: views and values and L: linking sentence. My favourite thing that I have been able to learn this year in English would have to be when we did our creative writing CAT. The reasons I loved doing this was because we could learn many incredible facts about our favourite sport players/teams and we wrote about it in different writing styles. The best bit about being able to pick my English core electives is that you can pick something you are passionate about. This can also help staying more focused and interested in what you are learning. I wished that we could be able to pick different English’s in different year levels as I was more absorbed into what we are learning.   

Sienna Haywood – English: Crime 

At the moment in English, we are focusing on the legal system and different crimes. My favourite thing to learn/study in English is looking at the character development from Enola Holmes and analysing the movie. It’s great being able to choose the English core electives in year 9 because although we are still learning everything we would in a normal English class, we get choice on what topics we focus on! We got to choose what would engage and interest us the most and it definitely gets me more involved and loving English more. 

Amy Broekmann

ENGLISH KEY LEARNING HEAD