English Guide Year 12

User Manual:

Open the PDF directly: View PDF PDF.
Page Count: 10

EXCELLING
IN ENGLISH
“ This above all: to thine own
self be true.”
TALENT’S HSC SUBJECT GUIDE
2HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
In 2019, the new HSC English
course will be examined for
the rst time. As the only
subject automatically included
in your ATAR calculation, your
performance in English has
a signicant bearing on your
overall result. In this article
Talent’s Head of English
Dr Jenny Wells outlines our
revised and updated HSC
English program commencing
Term 4, 2018 which has been
designed specically to cater
for the syllabus changes.
Our new English program focuses on
developing the skills necessary to
succeed in the revised Advanced
English course.
The primary aim of the program is to
guide and support students as they
explore challenging texts to investigate
complex and evocative ideas and
employ creative and sophisticated
ways to use language to shape
meaning. Students will be encouraged
to develop confidence in appreciating,
analysing and responding
imaginatively and critically to literary
texts drawn from a range of personal,
social, historical and cultural contexts.
Through an intensive study of the four
Modules and a close engagement with
the prescribed texts, students will
develop a strong understanding of
textual content, and enhance their own
ability to construct sophisticated
sustained responses, short answers,
and discursive, persuasive and
reflective responses in accordance
with the prescriptions of the new HSC
Syllabus. Most importantly, students
will be encouraged to enjoy the
literature and develop confidence in
their ability to produce cogent and
creative responses.
HSC ENGLISH IS
CHANGING; AND
SO ARE WE
ENGLISH
3
HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
1) Restructured modules, changed
texts. The new course will
comprise of 4 set texts instead of
the previous 5, but there is a
greater focus on literary texts with
Shakespeare, prose fiction and
poetry/drama as the mandatory
mediums of study.
2) No more Area of Study. The
Area of Study from the previous
HSC has now been replaced by a
common module called Texts and
Human Experience. In this unit,
students will study a prescribed
core text, selected other texts and
one related text. This will be the
module that ALL year 12 students
undertake in Term 4.
3) New Module C: will test
creative writing & self-reflection.
The creative writing component
previously assessed in the Area of
Study has been moved to a new
module named The Craft of
Writing, which asks students to
read a variety of short texts and to
What’s changing in the HSC
synthesise a creative, persuasive
or discursive piece while reflecting
on ideas learned from their short
texts.
4) Less exams, more
assignments. Schools are limited
to a maximum of 4 assessments in
Year 12 and only one may be under
exam conditions, for a weighting
of no more than 30%. Students
also must be assessed via
multimedia presentation for at
least 15% of their internal mark.
4HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
WHAT DOES THIS
MEAN FOR YOU
The new Advanced English HSC
Syllabus provides the opportunity
for a deeper and more intensive
engagement with challenging
texts and ideas. This is enhanced
by the reduction in the number of
prescribed texts, and by the
reduction of the number of
questions in Paper 1 of the HSC
Examination. Students will be
given more time to explore the key
themes and contextual influences
of texts, and to practise and refine
their own written responses. This
allows for a fuller and more
personal engagement with some
of the most important and
significant texts in English literature
and literature from other cultures.
The study of more intellectually
and emotionally demanding texts
encourages the development of
refined analytical skills and
knowledge of how to apply literary
terminology in meaningful ways. It
also encourages more
sophisticated written responses
which demonstrate an
understanding of the features of
key text types and an ability to use
language forms and features to
express individual interpretations,
creativity and personal reflection.
Students will be provided with
ample and ongoing opportunities
to hone their analytical skills and
produce coherent and cogent
interpretations of texts from a
range of cultural and historical
contexts
Harder to pre-prepare essays. The
new English HSC will challenge
students to engage more deeply
with their texts, and will make it
more dicult for students to tailor
prepared responses to the given
exam question. This is a positive
change, as the temptation to
present a prepared response to
HSC questions often produced
responses which did not address
the terms of the specific question,
leading to reduced marks.
ENGLISH
5
HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
Year 11: In our Preliminary
Advanced English course, students
will study challenging texts, with a
focus on appreciating, analysing
and responding imaginatively and
critically to literary texts drawn
from a range of personal, social,
historical and cultural contexts. The
Talent 100 course guides students
through the three prescribed
Modules: Reading to Write;
Narratives That Shape Our World;
and Critical Study of Literature.
Revolving around specific texts
and text types, the course enables
students to develop analytical and
creative skills which are
transferable across all three
Modules. This allows students to
extend and deepen their ability to
use language eectively, and to
refine their understanding of the
dynamic relationship between
language, texts and meaning.
Oered during the Term as a 10
week program or as an intensive
Holiday Workshop program, our
course oers a strong and rigorous
focus on critical study of texts
composed for dierent purposes in
a range of contexts.
COURSE DESIGN
SENIOR YEARS
No longer will students and teachers be able
to look to last year’s lessons and assessment
tasks for easy learning short cuts. Everyone
will be experimenting together.
6HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
Year 12: Our HSC English program
has been specifically designed to
help students develop confidence
in appreciating, analysing and
responding imaginatively and
critically to literary texts prescribed
by their schools.
In Term 4, the Common Module
will be taught over the 10 Week
term, building analytical tools and
skill sets to be able to take
allocated schools texts and frame
ideas into cogent supporting
arguments.
In 2019, Modules A, B & C will each
be taught as an intensive 3 day
workshop during the January
Holidays (Module A), April holidays
(Module B), and July holidays
(Module C) with an optional
Assessment Package for each
module.
Our program focuses on teaching
students how to think critically,
analyse texts and build supporting
arguments without “rote-learning”
essays. This is particularly
important to address the recent
changes in the HSC curriculum
which will see students responding
to more challenging and
unpredictable questions compared
to previous years.
Each course module will comprise
two teaching components being:
A. Intensive Workshop (15+ hours)
These 3 day workshops will be run
by Dr Wells and taught in small
group format (max 25). Designed
to ensure students understand the
requirements of each module, by
the end of the workshops students
will be able to:
- perform close textual analysis and
refine analytical and creative skills
- enhance their ability to
engagement with complex and
sophisticated ideas
-create an essay ‘scaold’ and
write short answers that ‘answer
the question’
-use that scaold for a text specific
question in an exam environment.
Although not all of the prescribed
texts taught in schools will be
specifically covered, the most
commonly taught texts will
certainly be addressed. However,
the skill of textual analysis is
transferable to all texts and is
relevant to the treatment of the
themes/ideas/context of all texts.
B. Assessment Package (5-6
hours)
This optional package is a
comprehensive essay development
program oered one-to-one for
students to critique and develop
their ‘scaold’ and apply it to two
sample questions (including your
own school assessment tasks).
The objective of this additional
option is to consolidate the
learnings gained in the workshops
and to cater to the specific needs
of the individual student.
A one-on-one relationship will be
established with a tutor who will
guide the student in organising
their ideas, and in constructing
tables or mind-maps of key
themes, examples, and analysis.
Using this information, the student
will be supported in producing
responses to essay questions.
These responses will be assessed
and marked by the tutor, and the
student will then be encouraged to
use this feedback to further refine
the response and to achieve the
most eective response.
In this way, the student will be
provided with a model of how to
approach the preparation of essay
and examination responses in an
organised and systematic way
which will help to build confidence,
eciency, and quality.
ENGLISH
7
HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
Years 9-10: In these Stage 5
courses, the units of work focus on
developing students’ ability to
respond to and compose a
comprehensive range of
imaginative, factual and critical
texts using dierent modes and
technologies. There is a strong
focus on close textual analysis as a
crucial aspect of interpreting and
evaluating meaning, perspective,
cultural assumptions, ideologies
and language. Students are also
provided with a wide range of
strategies used to shape
imaginative, critical and analytical
compositions. They are assisted in
working through the composing
process, including planning,
researching, drafting, conferencing,
editing and publishing. In
preparation for HSC English, the
Stage 5 courses provide students
with the skills of reflecting on their
composing process and assessing
how it has aected the final version
of their text.
COURSE DESIGN
JUNIOR YEARS
Years 7-8: In these Stage 4 English
courses, each unit of work is
designed to interest and actively
engage students. The focus is on
guiding them to respond to a
variety of texts critically,
imaginatively and interpretively
and compose accurate, clear and
coherent texts. They are
encouraged to use English with
increasing control and
understanding of the form and
features of language and structures
of texts, and with increasing
awareness of purpose, audience
and context. In speaking, writing
and representing, students are
given opportunities to develop
their skills in shaping meaning
through the thoughtful selection
and ordering of appropriate
content and by drawing on a
widening repertoire of language
choices. They experiment with
form and language in dierent
modes and technologies to
produce various types of texts,
and they are given guidance in
how plan, draft and edit to
produce polished texts.
78
8HSC STUDY GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
8HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
Teaching Experience - 35+ years
Qualications
• PH.D from the University of Sydney
• Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Sydney
MEET THE
HEAD TEACHER
DR JENNY
WELLS
Head of English, Talent 100, Present
Head of Studies, APGS, 2014-2016
Head of English, Presbyterian Ladies’ College, 2007-2012
Head of Student Support, Kambala School, 2005-2007
Head of Academic Support, Kambala School, 2002-2005
Head of English, Ascham School, 1994-1995
Lecturer in Continuing Education & Tutor in English Dpt, USyd, 1989-1992
MATHEMATICS
9
HSC STUDY GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT 9
HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT

Navigation menu