‘Byron Bay: Winter’ by the Australian poet Robert Gray, 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.
‘Sunrise on Huampu River’ by the Australian poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 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. Important points are in red.
A simple, one-stop analysis of this complex poem which students can work through in class or take home for private study.
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.
TALKING POINTS: 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.
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 text-pairing The Tempest and Hag-Seed, answers the 2019 HSC question: Everything is being dismantled, reconstructed, recycled. To what end? For what purpose?
To what extent is this true of the texts you have studied for 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.
This poem by the Australian poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 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. Important points are in red.
A simple, one-stop analysis of this complex poem which students can work through in class or take home for private study.
This is a three-part resource for students undertaking the NSW HSC Advanced English Module B: Close Study of a Text.
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 text, Good Night, and Good Luck, answers the 2019 HSC question:
No one changes; no one grows. A disturbing paralysis prevails.
To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Good Night, and Good Luck?
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.
This is a three-part resource for students undertaking the NSW HSC Standard English Module B: Close Study of a Text.
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 text, Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, answers the 2019 HSC question: Literature reinforces or challenges our understanding of ordinary situations.
Discuss this statement, making detailed reference to your prescribed text.
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.
This is a three-part resource for students undertaking the NSW HSC Standard English Module A: Language, Identity and Culture.
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 text, Henry Lawson’s short stories, answers a sample question for 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
HSC Module C: The Craft of Writing offers students complex texts from which to draw for their own writing. Because of their complex construction and ideas, students can be at a loss for ‘ways in’ to the text, and teachers can often struggle to break down these complex texts in the time available.
This teacher’s version of Diving Bell’s ‘Ways Into’ for Module C provides the answers to the student worksheet (also available). These comprehensive answers help teachers to lead classes through complex texts in the brief time available.
With the ‘Ways Into’ Module C both teachers and students should be clear on the content, meaning, construction-strategies, and ways to use George Orwell’s famous and fabulous essay ‘Politics and the English Language’.
NOTE: the final question, addressing ways to appropriate the text for the student’s own work, is undone since it invites an individual, creative response.
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 text-pairing of John Donne’s poetry and Margaret Edson’s play W;t, and answers the 2019 HSC question:
Everything is being dismantled, reconstructed, recycled. To what end? For what purpose?
To what extent is this true of the texts you have studied for 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
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 text-pairing of Plath’s and Hughes’ poetry answering the question:
Later texts rarely agree with their textual mentors; the conversation is always a challenge, a rebuttal to what has gone before.
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
Comparative units are a great way to examine how the same preoccupations appear in different times, styles, and forms.
This senior unit of work invites students to compare Fritz Lang’s 1927 expressionist sci-fi extravaganza Metropolis with George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984. They consider the two texts’ handling of themes, narrative strategies, and representational techniques through a side-by-side reading and viewing of the text pairing.
The unit has been designed for a 10-week term, and this resource includes:
A brief list of useful websites and readings which students should research to gain a sense of the film’s context and to give them time to read the first chapters of the novel.
A breakdown of the text-pairing over seven task-sheets corresponding to 7 weeks of a school term. Each week contains
A nominated section of the film and novel for study
Topics and questions for class discussion which students should prepare either verbally or in writing.
A writing task to consolidate the week’s work
The final weeks of term can be given over to an assessment task, which will be put up on this shop.
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
Thirty-five high-level reading questions and ten essay questions for students reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s masterly study of ambiguity and self-fictionalisation in post-war Japan. The questions are designed to draw students’ attention to Ishiguro’s mastery of language strategies and his handling of Masuji Ono’s deceptions, fictions, and shifting portraits.
Can be used together with the Talking Points and sample essay (https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12365546) available as a bundle. here
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.
The essay is a three-part resource for students undertaking the NSW HSC Common Module Texts and Human Experience.
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 text, The Merchant of Venice, answers a sample question for 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.
Short stories are a vital part of English literature. These short story studies can be used to build a short story unit, to supplement other texts, or as a standby lesson.
[Use this with our FREE Introduction to Short Stories two-page handout.]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12564488)
Each classic story is copyright free in Australia, the U.K. and U.S. Paragraphs are numbered for ease of reference.
Activities correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy of lower- to higher-order tasks.
A comprehension question checks knowledge and understanding
Application questions ask students to apply their knowledge of literary or rhetorical technique
Analytical questions interrogate the story’s effect, mood, and construction-strategies.
Creative writing tasks use an aspect of the story as a springboard to write creatively, discursively, or persuasively.
Tanizaki’s classic horror story has been successfully used with a Stage 5 / Year 10 class ( 15 years).
Short stories are a vital part of English literature. These short story studies can be used to build a short story unit, to supplement other texts, or as a standby lesson.
Use this with our FREE Introduction to Short Stories two-page handout.
These activities support Cecil Castellucci’s recent short story ‘We Have Always Lived on Mars’, which can be found free online by searching for the title.
Activities correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy of lower- to higher-order tasks.
A comprehension question checks knowledge and understanding
Application questions ask students to apply their knowledge of literary or rhetorical technique
Analytical questions interrogate the story’s effect, mood, and construction-strategies.
Creative writing tasks use an aspect of the story as a springboard to write creatively, discursively, or persuasively.
Castellucci’s sci-fi story has been successfully used with a Stage 4 / Year 8 class (12-13 years).
Short stories are a vital part of English literature. These short story studies can be used to build a short story unit, to supplement other texts, or as a standby lesson.
Use this with our FREE Introduction to Short Stories two-page handout.
These activities support Fritz Lieber’s short story ‘A Pail of Air’, which can be found free online by searching for the title.
Activities correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy of lower- to higher-order tasks.
A comprehension question checks knowledge and understanding
Application questions ask students to apply their knowledge of literary or rhetorical technique
Analytical questions interrogate the story’s effect, mood, and construction-strategies.
Creative writing tasks use an aspect of the story as a springboard to write creatively, discursively, or persuasively.
Lieber’s sci-fi story has been successfully used with a Stage 4 / Year 8 class (12-13 years).
Short stories are a vital part of English literature. These short story studies can be used to build a short story unit, to supplement other texts, or as a standby lesson.
Use this with our FREE Introduction to Short Stories two-page handout.
These activities support Deborah Ellis’s recent short story ‘Boot Camp’, which can be found free online by searching for the title.
Activities correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy of lower- to higher-order tasks.
A comprehension question checks knowledge and understanding
Application questions ask students to apply their knowledge of literary or rhetorical technique
Analytical questions interrogate the story’s effect, mood, and construction-strategies.
Creative writing tasks use an aspect of the story as a springboard to write creatively, discursively, or persuasively.
Ellis’s story about growing up and making mistakes has been successfully used with a Stage 4 / Year 9 class (15 years).