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English
About English
HOW DOES THE ENGLISH FACULTY HELP BOYS AT ASQUITH BOYS HIGH SCHOOL?
At Asquith Boys High School, the English Faculty have become very experienced in engaging boys in the study of English from Years 7 to 12. We know that we play a vital role in the education of boys at this school, because our subject is the only subject that is compulsory for all students from Years 7 to 12.
Therefore, we have developed a clear, simple and practical philosophy on how to teach English to boys at Asquith:
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 Giving the boys clearly structured parameters through which to engage with the intellectual depth of English at all levels of study.
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Emphasising to the boys the significance of what we do in class by consistently engaging with texts and topics which appeal specifically to boys.
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Creating a quality learning environment in each classroom, where each boy feels valued, and has a part to play in the learning relationship shared with his peers and his teacher.
Years 7 to 10
In the junior years, boys are given the structure, self regulation and resources which allow them to learn how to experience success in their studies.
- Each English Unit covers mandatory learning outcomes, key competencies and cross curricula content ranging from the media to Shakespeare to everyday workplace texts.
- Year 7 begin with an Area of Study on “The Hero’s Journey”, then progress to units on “Extreme Sports”, “Poetry”, “Dragons”, and a “Drama” unit featuring Shakespeare.
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Year 8 start with an Area of Study on “War”, then go on to “Poetry and Technology”, “Genre study - Anime”, “Multiculturalism” and “Drama”.
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Year 9 starts the year with an Area of Study on “Journeys”, then continue on to our very popular unit on “Picture Books and Visual Literacy”, Shakespeare’s ”Romeo & Juliet”, “Popular Culture” and a close study of “Poetry”.
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Year 10 begin with an Area of Study on “Institutions”. They then study “Gender”, “Drama”, “Non-fiction”, complete some serious preparation for their external School Certificate examination and then round up their junior studies with a unit on “Poetry”.
Years 11 and 12
In the senior years boys are guided through the highly complex demands of the HSC Syllabus, with a clear emphasis on building them up to being able to achieve their personal best results in formal external examinations. The emphasis is not only on deep understanding of texts, but also giving them the structure and skills to present this in a range of extended, complex forms of writing, the most readily identifiable of which is the dreaded essay.
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The boys are split into either the Advanced Course, the Standard Course for those who struggle in English and the ESL Course for boys with a significant non English speaking background
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We also offer the extremely challenging Extension 1 and 2 English Courses for those boys with a particular panache for English.
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In all Courses, the boys are taught texts which are carefully selected from the list of texts available for study. We are confident that the texts studied at ABHS are the best texts for boys in terms of content and accessability.
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In Year 11 the boys in Standard are introduced to the skills of analysing and writing about poetry, novels and film. In the Advanced Course, this is taken further with the introduction of comparative studies of film and prose fiction, and a close study of Shakespeare – in which boys are taught to describe the different perspectives from which these texts are valued.
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For boys who are talented in English, the Extension Course is offered which addresses the topic of Crime Fiction. Through the study of many popular texts, boys delve in far greater depth into the many different ways that audiences come to value texts.
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In all courses, the importance of structuring and planning extended written critical responses, particularly in examination situations, is constantly stressed through the work we do with the boys in scaffolding their work to ensure that all their bases are covered.
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By the time our boys start their HSC Courses, whether they be Standard, Advanced or Extension students, we are confident they have a firm grounding in the necessary skills and concepts.
- Our results over the last few years in the HSC examinations clearly show that we are able to guide our boys through their patterns of study and assessment to achieve the best result that they are capable of.
Submitted by: R. Smith & N. Bodley
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