2017 School Magazine

English

STUDENT VOICES

Year 12 students with the author of the novel Bereft , Chris Womersley

Year 10 English has taught me the value of expanding my vocabulary — who would’ve thought I’d be able to use ‘hubris’ in a sentence!

English has been a highly rewarding experience for me this year. I have learnt that if I am willing to put in the effort with English then my hard work will pay off. A consistent teacher-student relationship, involving seeking and receiving feedback is just the first step to making improvements in English and is vital if you want to do well. Personally, I know by practising this and pushing myself that little bit harder in class I have reaped the benefits and achieved marks I am proud of. This year I have thoroughly enjoyed English. This year, the course has pushed me to improve my precision, succinctness and overall confidence in writing, enabling me to gain a newfound respect and enjoyment for this practice. In particular, I have especially enjoyed the Hamlet unit we studied in Term III. I found this unit particularly valuable and eye-opening as I learned how such an old, classic piece of literature can resonate so accurately in its themes and issues to both myself and the twenty-first century in many forms. My favourite part for Year 12 English would definitely have to be the persuasive speech. I wanted to improve in the way I expressed my opinions so it was in a positive and constructive way. Being able to combine a strong passion of mine allowed me to do this to the class and my teacher in a comfortable environment where no one judged me. My goal was to change people’s views on organ donation and I feel I had a great impact on them.

I enjoyed exploring the different ways Macbeth portrays gender, and being able to observe gender roles in the 1600s and in the twenty-first century.

I liked learning about Animal Farm and how it relates to the political world of today.

As the topics we learnt this year were related to our modern world, I really enjoyed studying and learning in English. I am also happy that we improved our writing a lot, for example through nominalisation.

I really enjoyed designing a dust jacket for Term III assessment. I also have a more extensive vocabulary and my sentence structure is improving.

The most memorable thing we did in English this year was the vocab practice; there was a LOT of vocab practice!

076 | CURRICULUM | BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2017