DISCIPLINE AREAS

English

English at Shelford revolves around the basic human needs of reading, writing, speaking and listening. At all levels students are encouraged to read widely from a range of texts both classical and contemporary, to participate in film study and to develop their own responses and creative interpretations.

At VCE level, the texts are chosen from those approved by the VCAA. In 2008 the new study design incorporates both single text study and Context study. The former requires in depth analysis of a chosen text (this year in Year 12, either Romulus My Father or Look Both Ways) and the latter calls for personal writing in different forms inspired by the idea 'Whose reality?' Year 11 mirrors this pattern, with the context 'The Outsider' leading to an examination of the play Cosi and the film The Age of Innocence. As single texts the girls study Pride and Prejudice and Girl with a Pearl Earring.

In the middle school, texts are chosen both to provide relevance to the world in which the students are living and to awake in them an appreciation of the great writers of the past. The Year 7students watch the film Akeelah and the Bee which leads to their own Spelling Bee between all the classes; later they read The Hobbit and dress up for their own Hobbit Picnic. At Year 8 the girls study the situation of girls in different times and cultures - Pai in modern day New Zealand in Whale Rider and Bridie in famine- ridden Ireland in Bridie's Fire. Later in the year they look at classics in Gothic Literature. The Year Nines, participating in the school's Challenge program, learn about Muslim culture in Does my Head Look Big in This? (and, when undertaking their City Project, they visit a Mosque) before meeting Shakespeare for the first time in Romeo and Juliet. All of this study is supported by their Humanities curriculum and by Year 10 at the Centre of Excellence the two studies come together as, looking at the struggle for human rights over the world, novels and autobiographies are chosen to give a human face to facts and statistics. At the same time the Year10 students study Macbeth and Jane Eyre.

Students at all levels are required to reflect on their own writing and speaking tasks.