TY Subject Profile: English

In the first of a series of TY subject mini-profiles Mr Julian Girdham discusses English.

The English TY programme has been running for almost 18 years. While it is tweaked from year to year, the basic successful structure remains the same. 

Last term the main focus was on the Extended Essay, a major project comparing at least three books, which makes pupils examine literary texts in the sort of detail they have never done before, and often develops their writing and critical skills dramatically. The best of these essays are currently being posted on the SCC English site, www.sccenglish.ie, such as Siobhán Brady's analysis of racism in 20th century America, Lilian Glennon's piece on relationships in books by Arthur Golden, Adeline Yen Mah and Jennifer Donnelly, and Sadhbh Sheeran's essay on three books with 'room' in their titles, which received a Commendation. Pupils in Transition Years in the future will benefit from these impressive exemplars.

While those essays were being written, pupils studied Shakespeare's great comedy Twelfth Night in class (all forms from II on look at Shakespeare's work in one form or another), and have now after Christmas moved on to Harper Lee's evergreen novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Also this term at least half of the Work Portfolio must be done: this provides practice and development in short essay and story writing. In the spirit of the idea of more independent learning in TY, and academic self-organisation, pupils hand this work in when they wish (as long as they bear in mind the final deadline).

They have also completed three of four modules in a rota, going to different teachers for these: some creative writing, the poetry of W.B. Yeats, Old/Middle English and Geoffrey Chaucer, and Images in Poetry. Excellent poetry often comes from the last of these, under Ms Smith's tutelage, and some poems have already been posted on SCC English.

The relatively short summer term sees the completion of the Work Portfolio, as well as a study of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. The course ends with the annual (18th!) English Evening, on May 29th, when some of the best work of the year is heard in the presence of a distinguished guest. 

At the end of the whole process, all pupils will fill in an online questionnaire giving feedback on the course. This enables us to plan next year's course, but also is designed to make pupils reflect on the progress they have made. We hope they have made considerable strides in their critical skills and their writing abilities.