A2 Comms - welcome back!

Welcome back to A2 Comms  - this blog is the place to come for extra help as well as for extension work to push you harder.

There is a course book for A2, which you might want to buy:

AQA Comms & Culture (click here for link to Amazon)

If you are looking for other texts to buy to help support your study in the second year, you might consider the following:

Marx: a very short introduction (Amazon link)
Postcolonialism: a very short introduction (Amazon link)

Advice from previous A2 students: click here

A2 Literature - Welcome back!

Hello and welcome back to English Literature!

This is the place to come for extra support, guidance and extension work. First things first:

Timetable:
Monday 10.15 - 1E6
Wednesday 9.00 - 1D7
Thursday 10.15 - 1E6
Friday 3.05 - 1D7

Texts you need to buy for my side of the course (coursework):
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (click here for link to Amazon)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (click here for link to Amazon)

{No need to buy our 3rd text, Collected Poems by Philip Larkin, as I will give you a booklet with them in.}

AS Language and Literature: Welcome to the course

Hello and welcome to AS Language and Literature.

Try to get into the habit of checking both this blog and the materials placed on Moodle regularly in order to gain as much support as possible for this subject. Good luck for the year ahead!

First things first:

Timetable
Monday 9.00 - 1E7
Tuesday 10.15 - 1E1
Thursday 12.35 - 1E6
Friday 1.50 - 1E1

There is one text that you must buy for my side of the course:

All My Sons by Arthur Miller (click here for link on Amazon.)  

I would also recommend the following if you are looking for further texts to support you in AS Language and Literature:
AQA course book
Usborne Grammar
Usborne Punctuation

(These last two look a bit childish but are great for explaining grammar and punctuation)

If you have a smartphone, I'd also like you download the following 3 (free) apps:

• Socrative student
• The Guardian
• iGE lite

Please don't hesitate to come and see me if you are worried about anything on the course - I can be found in either 1D11 or D8 when I'm not teaching.

AS Comms - 3 week return: Shreddies

AS Language & Literature - Welcome to A2!

What do you now wish you'd done differently this year? What are you glad you did - what worked well for you? Share your wisdom with the new students who will be starting in September by clicking below:

If I'd known then what I know now...

Curious about what an A2 Language and Literature exam paper looks like?
Click here and select Unit 3 (ELLA3) to have a look.

AS Comms & Culture - Welcome to A2!

What have you learned about yourself as a student this year?
Share your wisdom with next year's AS students by reflecting:

If I'd known then what I know now ... 

Click anywhere on the wall to leave a comment reflecting on what you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight.

Fancy seeing what an A2 exam paper looks like for Comms & Culture? Click here and select a Unit 3 exam paper.

A2 Lit - Lear character questions

1. 'A man more sinned against than sinning': Do you agree with this estimation of Lear's character?

2. 'Edmund represents no more than the inevitable fight of the young to claim the world from the old.' Discuss this viewpoint.

3. 'Unlike some antagonists, Edmund has a motive - and it's a motive which secures the sympathy of the modern audience.' To what extent do you agree?

4. 'Goneril and Regan's role in King Lear is purely to enable Lear's downfall. In themselves, there is no development or interest.' Do you agree?

5. 'It is Edgar's journey, not Lear's or Gloucester's, which is most significant for the play.' To what extent do you agree?

6. 'The Fool acts as a dramatic mechanism in the play - he is both the antithesis of Lear and the mirror image of Lear.' To what extent would you argue that this is a valid viewpoint?

{We have already looked at a question on Cordelia in class.}

Good luck everyone!