English Works

Year 12 Featured classes

I conduct regular and book/theme specific essay-writing sessions on all aspects of the Year 12 course.

These essay-writing sessions target the planning process and help you write sharp and accurate topic sentences. You must use relevant quotes and evidence for each paragraph and show a keen awareness of the author’s views, values and concerns. We will discuss what evidence seems to be typical or “most critical” to most essays.

Upcoming Specialist essay-writing classes :

Terms 1 – 2:
Saturday 12.20 – 1.20 – This Boy’s Life and Whose Reality

Terms 2-3:
Saturdays 3-4 pm: Conflict and Language Analysis *
Thursdays 7 – 8 pm: Conflict/Medea and Language Analysis *
Wednesdays 7 – 8 pm: Identity and Language Analysis **

* We will compile our “favourite” examples from the text for “conflict” and our favourite, meaningful, and (uncommon) parallel real-life examples. In each lesson, we will write 1-2 paragraphs on a different conflict prompt and 1-2 paragraphs on language analysis based on a persuasive text and/or exam samples.  Please bring a plastic-sleeve folder so that we can keep organised!

Conflict

  1. Conflict causes harm to both the powerful and the powerless.
  2. Conflict can test people’s resilience and ability to adapt to change.
  3. The strength of our beliefs is tested when we encounter conflict.
  4. We grow through conflict.
  5. The way we deal with conflict shapes who we are.
  6. In times of conflict people decide what is worth fighting for.
  7. Experiences of conflict change our priorities
  8. Facing conflict demands strength of character.
  9. The human spirit grows strong from conflict.
  10. The victims of conflict show us what is important.
  11. It is almost impossible to remain a bystander to conflict.
  12. Life is rarely without conflict; it is how we resolve it that matters.
  13. Experiences of conflict lead to change.

**  We will compile our “favourite” examples from the text for “identity” and our favourite, meaningful, and (uncommon) parallel real-life examples. In each lesson, we will write 1-2 paragraphs on a different identity prompt and 1-2 paragraphs on language analysis based on a persuasive text and/or exam samples.  Please bring a plastic-sleeve folder so that we can keep organised!

Identity

  1. Sometimes the groups we belong to prevent us from being ourselves.
  2. Having a sense of difference makes it difficult to belong.
  3. Discovering who we are and where we belong can be challenging.
  4. Rarely are we free to be who we truly want to be.
  5. The search to discover who we are is one of life’s greatest challenges.
  6. Our sense of wellbeing depends upon the groups to which we belong.
  7. Our connections with others make us who we are.
  8. The search for self is a constant struggle.
  9. Sometimes our inner self is at odds with the world around us.
  10. Each person has different identities for different relationships and situations.
  11. Sometimes we need to accept change in order to grow.
  12. The need to belong can completely change who we are.
  13. Sometimes we need to accept change in order to grow
  14. The value of identity is that it comes with a purpose.
  15. Over time, our identity shifts and changes.
  16. An individual’s sense of identity and belonging changes throughout life.
  17. Sometimes our inner sense is at odds with the world around us.

PLEASE NOTE:

I have a lot of essay plans and sample essays that have been modelled/perfected over the past few years. If you would like to join us for an essay writing session to perfect your skills, please fill in the contact form below. (Cost: $40 to $55 depending upon numbers – from 3 to 5 students.)

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Essay questions on the agenda

All About Eve

  1. How do women in the film defy or adhere to the 1950s feminine idea?
  2. We do not fully sympathise with Margo or Eve. Both are driven by enormous egos. Discuss.
  3. How does Mankiewicz encourage us to empathise with Margo Channing in spite of her flaws?
  4. None of her machinations ultimately make Eve happy in All About Eve. Discuss.

Mabo

  1. It is pride just as much as native land rights that is at stake in the story of Mabo. Discuss.
  2. The film is not just about racism. Discuss.
  3. Mabo is as much a work of fiction as it is a story of facts”. Discuss.
  4. Eddie is a strong but flawed hero in Mabo. Discuss.
  5. The refusal to accept injustice is at the heart of the film. Discuss.
  6. In the film Mabo, the land becomes a main character because of its significance. Discuss.
  7. To what extent does Perkins suggest that the Mabo decision was more significant for Australia than for Eddie Mabo personally?
  8. To what extent is the viewer left with a sense of optimism at the end of Mabo?

 

Stasiland

  1. “I’ve been having some odd adventures in your old country! Curiouser and curiouser – I’ve a lot to tell.” How does Funder’s perspective on coming to terms with the past evolve through her experiences in Stasiland’?
  2.  “Things have been put behind glass, but they are not yet over”. There is no justice achieved in Stasiland. Discuss.
  3. Stasiland demonstrates the irrepressible power of the human spirit and that people can rise above crushing social oppression. Discuss.
  4. Even though the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Stasiland shows that one can never be free from the horrors of tyranny. To what extent do you agree?
  5. “When I got out of prison, I was basically no longer human.” What do Funder’s interviews reveal about the impact of the Stasi on its survivors?

Burial Rites

  1. “I am knifed to the hilt with fate.” What role does fate play in Burial Rites?
  2. In what ways is Agnes disempowered in Burial Rites?
  3. This text is about Agnes being restored to humanity
  4.   “Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites is essentially a critique of Icelandic society and the patriarchal strictures that bind”. Discuss.