Shakespeare’s tragedy about race and manipulation is an established favourite for senior students. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay responds to the question: The existence of an Outsider is one of the most enduring narratives that shape our world. We need outsiders to help us define ourselves – and if they don’t exist, we create them.’ How is this the case for Othello?’

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay responds to the question: ‘It is only the sacred things that are worth touching.’ How does Wilde’s novel explore this idea?

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. Each chapter has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. These tasks get students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay.

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. Since the bulk of English literature units focus on close textual analysis, the ability to perform ‘close readings’ is essential for students of literature. This handout provides a a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading actually is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage.

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. Many students regard essays as memorizable activities; they may disregard the question and continue to provide the same pieces of textual evidence paired with the same analytical remarks regardless of the question that evidence should address. This activity presents students with a brief piece of textual evidence and shows how it must be differently handled when answering three different questions. Students are then given another piece of evidence with which to practice, using it to answer three different questions.

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. This 55-page unit of work has been tested successfully with a mixed-ability class and provides material for a full 10-week school term. Pre-reading research tasks introduce students to the late Victorian period and the Decadent movement, before the bulk of the unit focuses on close textual analysis. There is a mixture of tasks which gets students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay. There is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage. Each chapter has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. There is a discrete analysis task which shows students how to evaluate the same piece of textual evidence against three different questions, preventing them from regurgitating the same remarks regardless of question. A guided essay which breaks an essay down into manageable steps for lower-ability students or those who struggle to form and maintain an argument. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses whether ‘touching the sacred things is the only thing worth touching’.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses whether we can think of the novel as a tragedy.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. This set of chapter questions comprises a single-page task sheet for each chapter. Each chapter has three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. The tasks lay the foundation for a critical essay at the end of the unit of study.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. This is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading is and how to perform it, followed by a thoroughly detailed sample close reading of the opening passage which models the principles of close reading.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. These pre-reading research tasks introduce students to the Roaring 20s, and can be given as homework or group work. The four task sheets cover Long Island life; Prohibition; Cars; and Americans in WWI. They involve a link to useful online reading and knowledge-building questions which engage students briefly before they go on to close textual study of the novel. Teachers can differentiate the tasks for students of varying ability.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. This 30-page unit of work has been tested successfully with a mixed-ability class and provides material for a full 10-week school term. Pre-reading research tasks introduce students to the Roaring 20s, before the bulk of the unit focuses on close textual analysis. There is a mixture of tasks which get students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up a their own unique interpretation to the work, and eventually express this in a formal essay. There is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage. Each chapter has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses whether we can think of the novel as a tragedy. FREE 4 Contextual research tasks Explanation of close reading method Sample close reading 9 chapters with close reading, writing at length, and creative writing tasks FREE 10 essay questions suitable for senior students Sample essay

This is a three-part resource for students undertaking the NSW HSC Advanced English Module A: Textual Conversations. A generic essay plan shows students how to compose an essay suitable for Stage 6, progressing them from the simpler PEEL/TEAL models of Stage 4 and 5. A sample essay for the prescribed texts The Outsider and The Meursault Investigation answers the 2020 HSC question: In textual conversations, the later text is often seen as a shadow, lacking the originality and power of the earlier. To what extent is this statement true of the texts you have studied in this module? There is also a second copy of the essay, marked up to show how it follows the plan, and with five short questions which require students to engage critically with the essay and its form.

Memorized essays betray a lack of confidence and an unwillingness to commit to authentic answers. Examiners have always advised students to prepare ‘talking points’ instead - a selection of ideas that they can draw on and which convey solid analysis and interpretation of the text. These talking points can be used by teachers, to focus discussion on higher-level or less-noticed features of the text and context. They also form effective student revision materials for formal assessment. Each point is supported by a piece of evidence from the text, and there are sufficient points to generate solid responses to almost any essay question. The Talking Points also model how students can articulate more complex thoughts about the text, and adduce evidence in natural and well-integrated writing.

This substantial resource provides THREE different answers to the following question: **A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. **Sir Winston Churchill Use the lines above as a stimulus for the opening of an imaginative, discursive or persuasive piece of writing. In your piece of writing incorporate at least ONE example of figurative language that you have learned about through your study of the prescribed texts for Module C. There is an imaginative, discursive AND persuasive answer so that you can show students how the same idea can be turned three different ways, to answer this question. Students can read through the answers alone or you can use the resource to test their knowledge of factors involved in good exam writing and how one mode differs from the other. Each answer has a response to the (b) question, requiring students to **Explain how your writing in part (a) was influenced by what you have learned about figurative language through the study of your prescribed texts for Module C. **The (b) sections draw on ‘How to Live Before You Die’ by Steve Jobs, a prescribed text for Standard English, although no knowledge of this text is required to read or teach this resource.

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Choose a character, persona or speaker from ONE prescribed text that you have studied. Express the thought processes of this character, persona or speaker by exploring a moment of tension in the text from an alternative point of view. This answer uses Camus’ novel The Outsider (a set text for Module A) and the figure of the mother. There is also a brief reflective statement for the part (b) question, requiring students to justify their creative decisions. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care, for speech is but the dealer of thoughts, and every fool can plainly read in your words what is the hour of your thoughts. Use this warning as a stimulus for a piece of persuasive, discursive or imaginative writing that expresses your perspective about a significant concern or idea that you have engaged with in ONE of your prescribed texts from Module A, B or C. This answer uses T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ in a discursive piece about living up to your interpretations. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Choose a character, persona or speaker from ONE prescribed text that you have studied in Module C. Express the thought processes of this character, persona or speaker by exploring a moment of tension in the text from an alternative point of view. This answer draws on the figure of Bentley Drummle from Dickens’ novel Great Expectations. There is also an answer to part b), which asks students to justify their creative choices. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Choose a character, persona or speaker from ONE prescribed text that you have studied in Module C. Express the thought processes of this character, persona or speaker by exploring a moment of tension in the text from an alternative point of view. This answer draws on the figure of Adele Ratignolle from Kate Chopin’s novella The Awakening. There is also an answer to part b), which asks students to justify their creative choices. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Choose a character, persona or speaker from ONE prescribed text that you have studied. Express the thought processes of this character, persona or speaker by exploring a moment of tension in the text from an alternative point of view. NOTE: the sample paper asked students to choose from a prescribed text that you have studied from Module C. This answer involves a Module B text (Henry IV, Part 1) in order to show how more substantial and complex literary texts like Shakespeare can also produce fruitful Craft of Writing responses. There is also an answer to part b), which asks students to justify their creative choices. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

‘New Accents’, by the Chinese-Australian poet Yu Ouyang, is a set text for HSC Standard English study. This set of notes gives a full analysis of the poem with a relevant image and a handy grab-box explaining the poem’s significance and poetic techniques. A simple, one-stop analysis of this complex poem which students can work through in class or take home for private study.