English News
A ‘Deep Dive’ into the external assessment for English and Literature
In one Covid-related happy piece of happenstance, the English Teachers Association of Queensland (ETAQ) was forced to cancel their State conference this year and instead, imaginatively recreated the event as a webinar for students about to sit the external English and Literature exams.
In a ‘normal’ year, we would not have been able to participate in a live event (these things only ever take place in Brisbane!) but this year, thanks to Mr Harrison’s generosity in funding the 47 students who are studying English and Literature, our students were able to engage with a range of ‘text experts’ delivering sessions via a webinar.
Students sacrificed a couple of hours of their own time to participate (the session was held after school) and, in another piece of cosmic luck, was delivered the day before they sat the mock English exam. ETAQ assembled a collection of English gurus to talk students through the response type for the exam (analytical essay) and then we watched an extremely valuable presentation from a master of all things 1984 (the book, not the year!) After this, we were able to participate in a live zoom Q and A session.
Resources from the session are available until the exam and will be used by class teachers at the start of term four in the lead up to the testing period. All students have been emailed links and passwords for the videos and I have included these below for any parents who are interested.
Feedback from our students was really positive and I am delighted that we were able to offer this experience for them.
We are looking forward to reading some stellar essays!
The analytical essay video is at https://vimeo.com/453530144
The 1984 video is at https://vimeo.com/453117229
The Mrs Dalloway video (for Literature students) is at https://vimeo.com/452044910
The password for everything is divingin2020
Mrs Kean – Head of Department (English)