Journey’s End is a tragic play and one with valuable lessons about the futility of war – but maybe none more powerful than those Hibbert seems designed to convey. Sherriff described his characters as ‘simple, unquestioning men’ but Hibbert is far from either. As a construct, Hibbert enables Sherriff to show that some of the […]
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Learning to ‘face a few responsibilites’ Working with a student the other day, I realised that writing about the character of Mr Birling in ‘An Inspector Calls’ is probably the most difficult. When teachers who have taught AIC for years tell me it is ‘too clumsy’, ‘too obvious’, ‘too preachy’, they are referring in part […]
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One of the worst things about being unwell is setting cover. Everyone has those ghastly days of knowing they are too ill to function in the unforgiving environment of a school. This increases at the thought of trying to set meaningful cover work for 5 or 6 classes. There are very few jobs in which […]
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Effective Reading Strategies in the classroom This year in every English classroom across the land, classes will be ploughing their way through a class reader. The potential learning is immense. Tackled in the right way, students will be employing the full range of their mental or cognitive processes, developing their attention span, their recall and […]
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The Oxford Team had a fairly large collective To Be Read pile and an impending holiday approaching offering quality reading time. So was any progress made and were there any last minute substitutions? A few members of the team let us know! Susie: The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare “I did not complete the Infernal Devices series! I watched […]
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This much-anticipated holiday is the ideal time to make a start on reading your To Be Read pile! Members of the Oxford English and Secondary Schools marketing team share what they will be reading this festive period. Kirsty: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel tells the story of Cora and […]
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Part of our series of posts that focus on a key character from exam set texts. Offering alternative interpretations and insights, these are ideal for sharing with students as they revise and prepare for their English Literature exams. ‘Everything’s all right now, Sheila.’ For me, Gerald Croft is in many ways the most interesting character […]
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Part of our series of posts that focus on a key character from exam set texts. Offering alternative interpretations and insights, these are ideal for sharing with students as they revise and prepare for their English Literature exams. “I am the drudge and toil in your delight” When we first meet the Nurse in Act […]
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Part of our series of posts that focus on a key character from exam set texts. Offering alternative interpretations and insights, these are ideal for sharing with students as they revise and prepare for their English Literature exams. “Virtue itself turns nice, being misapplied” When we are introduced to Friar Lawrence, it is via his […]
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Author: Gwen Nelson The literature NEAs involve a comparison of different texts, linked via a theme, form, or authorial method with application of literary criticism. It is a demanding piece of work which is worth 20% of the A-Level as a whole. There are varying approaches across Centres, with some choosing to use one common […]
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