AS Literature - Frankenstein in Context

A2 Literature - Sylvia Plath Research

Get started on your contextual understanding of Plath by watching this documentary:

A2 Literature - Hedda Gabler Quiz

Click HERE to take The Guardian's 'Hedda Gabler' quiz!

AS & A2 Literature; A2 LangLit - The Art of Comparison

AS Lit - Coursework Drop-in

Would you like some extra help with your AS Literature 1000 word project?
Would it help to talk to a teacher about how to improve your essay?
Need a quiet space to get on with re-drafting?
... then please come along to the AS Literature Coursework Drop-in > every Wednesday @ 4.15 in Room D22

AS Comms - Coursework Drop-in

Would you like some extra help with your Comms 1000 word project?
Would it help to talk to a teacher about the bits of the course you find difficult to understand?
Need a quiet space to make progress with your project?
... then please come along to the Comms Coursework Drop-in >
every Wednesday @ 4.15 in Room D22

A2 Comms - Coca Cola and Christmas

How has Coca Cola used Christmas (and even shaped our meanings of Christmas) as a way of constructing the soft drink as a desirable cultural product?

Haddon Sundblom's early pictures of Santa Claus for Coca Cola in the 1930s were inspired by the 19th century poem Twas the Night before Christmas:

Group 1: 1995 advert
Group 2: 1997 advert
Group 3: 1998 advert
Group 4: 2012 advert

AS Comms - 1000 word Coursework

Here are some articles to read, which may help with the 1000 word coursework:

single parent families
how has the family unit changed
same sex parents
same sex parents 2
sibling rivalry

A2 Comms - Objects of Desire

The HBO Drama MadMen perfectly encapsulates the role of advertisers for our cultural site 'Objects of Desire'. Here's the famous 'Carousel' clip:

A2 Literature - Hedda Gabler 1972 version

Click HERE for the full BBC version of Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler' from 1972. Remember that this constitutes a 'reading' of this play, so if you can talk about the screenwriter / director's decision making, this will boost your AO3 mark.

A2 Comms - The Effects of Technology

Here's an interesting article from The Guardian newspaper, which explores the influence of technology on communication: click here to read it.

A2 Comms - Independent Work 27th November

Created with Padlet

AS Comms - Useful Coursework Research Sources

As we launch Coursework B this week, please click on the links below for various sources / ideas that are relevant to many of the suggested topics

FAMILY

1) 'Dinner Makes a Difference' (TED Talk by Laurie David) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzB0BDstCI0

2) 'Outnumbered' First part of first episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fBBppLsu2s

3) 'The Seven Lives of the Only Child' http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/mar/04/familyandrelationships.family3?INTCMP=SRCH

4) 'Being a Single Parent' http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/mar/04/familyandrelationships.family3?INTCMP=SRCH

5) 'Facebook has changed adoption forever' http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/19/facebook-adoption-tracing-birth-mother?INTCMP=SRCH

6) 'McDonalds Family' (Family in advertising) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivxP-UujQak

RITES OF PASSAGE

1) 'Inbetweeners' Movie trailer (teenage holidays) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HzTKbsqsY

2) 'Don't Tell The Bride' (weddings) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3mIsQw9PY

3) 'Educating Essex' (starting a new school) http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essex/4od

4) 'My Sweet Sixteen' (landmark birthdays) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgc5kQhPza0

… and Charlie Brooker's take on them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b7mwTK564o

5) 'Music to Grow Up By' (Growing Up and Popular Music) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/nov/27/music-grow-up-by?INTCMP=SRCH

6) 'Second Life' (Growing Up in a virtual world) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/15/leaders-second-life-virtual-world?INTCMP=SRCH

A2 Literature - Hedda Gabler Independent Work 22/11/13

Due to the King Lear study day, we will not be having our usual A2 Literature lesson. However, as independent work, I'd like you to watch Act One of this 1972 television production of Hedda Gabler:




As you watch, write a paragraph in response to each of the following 3 questions:

1) To what extent do you feel the actors have been well cast in this production?
2) Which elements of the play are given particular emphasis in this production? Why do you think this is?
3) To what extent does this production lend itself to a Freudian reading? (Use your notes from last lesson to help with this question)

A2 Literature; A2 LangLit - What is a Symbol? What is a Metaphor?

A2 Comms - Hedda Gabler and Psychoanalysis

Click HERE for a podcast on psychoanalysis and literature to complement our Freudian reading of 'Hedda Gabler'.

A2 Comms

Postcolonialism: Listen to THIS podcast on 'Cultural Imperialism' and / orTHIS podcast on multiculturalism to revise your understanding of this unit.

Why Should We Study Grammar?

AS & A2 Literature - Study Days

We are running trips into Central London for students to take  part in the 'King Lear', 'Frankenstein' or 'Jane Eyre' study days. Details for these events are below:

  http://www.sovereigneducation.co.uk/courses/english/king-lear/

http://www.sovereigneducation.co.uk/courses/english/mary-shelleys-frankenstein/

http://www.sovereigneducation.co.uk/courses/english/charlotte-brontes-jane-eyre/


  ... we want you to go because the extra knowledge you gain could  make all of the difference to your exam performance in the  Summer. Don't let the students from around the country who do  attend get a head start on you ... sign up by taking a cheque or  card payment for £21 to the Finance Office today!

How to Read a Novel

A2 Literature - Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'

Why not get a head start on coursework text 2 by watching one of Ibsen's other plays? Here's a full version of 'A Doll's House'

AS & A2 Literature - How to Create Effective Arguments

A2 Literature - Women in Gatsby

Watch this clip from the 1974 film version of The Great Gatsby. Bearing in mind that one of our key coursework focuses will be the presentation of women: how do successfully do you think Mia Farrow and Lois Chiles portray Daisy and Jordan respectively?

A2 Literature - Narrative in The Great Gatsby

AS Comms - Alan Bennett on 'Mixing'

Here's a clip from the 'Bennett on Bennett' programme:

A2 Literature - Gatsby on Film

Compare two trailers for the 1974 and 2013 versions of The Great Gatsby. (Remember that an understanding of 'other interpretations' is an AO3 requirement):

A2 Literature - F. Scott Fitzgerald Documentary

Find out more about our coursework novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald with this recent BBC Culture Show Special:

AS Literature - Alan Bennett on 'Names'

In lesson we'll be looking at the importance writers often place on their characters' names. Bennett is no exception. Watch this short monologue by Bennett himself on the relevance of the names he chooses:

A2 Literature - An Introduction to Shakespeare's texts

AS & A2 Literature

How to read beyond the set texts ...

AS Literature - Alan Bennett Documentary

Learn more about our coursework author Alan Bennett with this South Bank Show special:

AS & A2 Literature - What makes a text 'literary'?

What makes a text literary? Improve your knowledge of some of the basic assumptions of literature with this useful talk:

A2 Literature - How does Shakespeare persuade us his characters are using real speech?

Women and Writing

AS and A2 Language & Literature

Watch the following helpful talk on how to analyse a literary text with a linguistic approach:

A2 Communication & Culture

To support your learning on a Marxist approach to culture, click below for an in depth look at Marx's ideas and their relevance in contemporary life:

AS Literature - A Chip in the Sugar

Click below for an audio version of the Talking Heads episode 'A Chip in the Sugar'. Listen to this to help with this week's homework - due in on Thursday:

AS Literature

Thanks to Ozan, here are the images from our Emily Dickinson 'spectrum' task ...

A2 Comms

Click HERE for a useful online guide to Marxism.

A2 Literature

Click HERE for an interesting article on the death of Sylvia Plath's son, Nicholas. This is relevant to those of you studying the theme of parenthood and the theme of suicide for your coursework projects.

AS Literature - Independent Work

Your independent work this week is to listen carefully to THIS podcast and make at least ten bullet point notes summarising what you've learned.

A2 Literature

Read this article from today's Observer about the early life of Sylvia Plath: http://gu.com/p/3de7c

AS Literature

Below is a list of useful Tennessee Williams websites (courtesy of eMagazine). Use these as part of your research into Williams - this addresses AO3 (other interpretations) and AO4 (Context):

http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/williams_tennessee/

The Mississippi Writers Page is just that. This page belongs to the University of Mississippi and is thus understandably thorough and useful. It provides a good biographical introduction followed by a detailed bibliography in addition to links to Internet film productions of Williams’ works. This site is a good starting point if nothing else, the many photographs making it an interesting site to browse.

http://hipp.gator.net/scarplaywrite.html

This site belongs to the Hippodrome State Theatre in Florida. Usually I bypass such sites, but this one was particularly detailed, providing biographical information and accounts of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Perspectives. It offers basic outlines of characters and setting, poetic references and
discussion topics.

www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/table.html

This site, entitled Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide, composed by Paul Reuben, has been included here because it offers a good oversight into the entire spectrum of American literature. Although the section on Tennessee Williams found in Chapter 8 is small, it does offer a detailed biography, an outline comparison of Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, and some useful study questions. Worth remembering this site for future reference.

www.etsu.edu/haleyd/index.htm

This and the following sites take a more scholarly approach and all are worth a look. This site belongs to Dr. Darryl E.Haley of the University of Alabama. Here you can read his dissertation, Certain Moral Values: A Rhetoric of Outcasts in the Plays of Tennessee Williams. Although a very specific title, the subject matter appears to be interesting. The links on this page are also useful.

http://jackfritscher.com/tennessee

John Fritscher Ph.D. has produced this site containing his dissertation entitled Love and Death in Tennessee Williams. The site is well constructed, broken up into an introduction and six labelled chapters that one can dip in and out of. This attempts to place the works of TW into the broader picture of the ‘American Experience’. The themes of love and death are central to Williams’ works, particularly for A-Level study.

http://www.jackfritscher.com/Challenges_in_American_Culture.pdf

Fritscher has published a second of his works on this site, Popular Culture as Cyclic Phenomenon in the Evolution of Tennessee Williams. Worth a look but this is lengthy and challenging and not laid out well like his other site. Still, if you’re working along these lines yourself, there may be something here for you.

AS Comms

As you start to decide upon the content and style of your own audio-visual coursework piece, you might like to watch some projects from other Comms students around the country. They are easy to find on YouTube, start with this thoughtful piece on life as a female footballer:

AS and A2 Literature

Login to Moodle and after accessing your course (AS or A2 Literature), scroll down  to the 'Gareth Watts' folder. There you will find:

AS Module 1 and Module 4.2: A Yates and Williams Research Pack
AS Module 3: A Frankenstein Study Guide
A2 Module 5: A Sylvia Plath Question Pack.

A2 Literature

Click HERE for an interview with Sylvia Plath. As you listen, take notes as her responses could be quoted in your coursework essays as (AO3) 'Other Interpretations'.

A2 Comms

In class, identify at least  one of the sources below which might be relevant to your project. Read / watch it and then provide an evaluation.

Giorgio (Cultural Mix in Football): http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20938573
Ellie (The Power of the Brand): http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_leberecht_3_ways_to_usefully_lose_control_of_your_reputation.html
Rose (Consumerism): http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2004/09/18/ten_commandments_lunchtime_feature.shtml
Kourosh (Commercialism at the Olympics): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/29/dreams-triumph-commercialism-olympic-park
Lucinda (Consumerism): http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jun/14/collaborative-consumption?INTCMP=SRCH
Sam (Otherness and Gaming): http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/jan/20/heritage.artsfeatures?INTCMP=SRCH
Kristine (Consumerism): http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/25/shopping.features?INTCMP=SRCH
Lina (Consumption): http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_case_for_collaborative_consumption.html
Chelsi (Football and commercialism): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/18/letfootballeatitself
Sarah (Otherness - Females in Comedy) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/05/television-panel-shows?INTCMP=SRCH
Amy (Consumerism): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20893400
Nikita (Otherness): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4611682.stm

AS & A2 Comms

Click HERE for a BBC 'In Our Time' special on the history of culture.

A2 Comms

Click here: http://gu.com/p/3ck3z for some interesting reflections on the slavery test you all took before Xmas

AS Literature

Frankenstein Reading Journal

Throughout our study of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein your homework each week will be to:
1. Read one or two chapters of the novel
2. Read the relevant section of the Frankenstein Study Pack
3. Answer the accompanying questions in your exercise books.

How to access the study pack:
Go to the AS Literature page on Moodle > Scroll down to the folder labelled ‘Gareth Watts’ > Open (or, more sensibly ‘Save’ and download the pack to your own computer) the file labelled ‘Frankenstein Study Pack’ > Scroll Down to the appropriate page(s) as outlined in the plan below.

Schedule
Your exercise books will be checked regularly to ensure you are keeping up with the reading and activities. It is imperative that you complete this independent work – reading the novel outside of the classroom gives us more time in class for analysis, discussion and exam preparation.

This week make your reading focus / Read the study pack and answer the questions on / Complete this section by
Chapter Four / PDF Pages 27 – 28 (Study Pack Pages 20 - 21 ) / Friday 11th January
Chapters Five and Six / PDF Pages 29 – 31 (Study Pack Pages 22 - 24) / Friday 18th January
Chapter Seven / PDF Pages 32 – 33 (Study Pack Pages 25 - 26) / Friday 25th January
Chapters Eight and Nine / PDF Pages 34 – 37 (Study Pack Pages 27 - 30) / Friday 1st February
Chapter Ten PDF Pages 38 – 39 (Study Pack Pages 31 - 32) Friday 8th February
Chapters Eleven and Twelve / PDF Pages 40 – 41 (Study Pack Pages 33 - 34) / Friday 15th February
Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen / PDF Pages 42 – 44 (Study Pack Pages 35 -37 ) / Friday 22nd February
Chapter Fifteen / PDF Pages 45 – 46 (Study Pack Pages 37 - 38) / Friday 1st March
Chapter Sixteen / PDF Pages 48 – 47 (Study Pack Pages 40 - 41) / Friday 8th March
Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen / PDF Pages 51 – 52 (Study Pack Pages 42 - 43) / Friday 15th March
Chapter Nineteen / PDF Pages 50 – 49 (Study Pack Pages 44 - 45) / Friday 22nd March
Chapters Twenty and Twenty One / PDF Pages 53 – 55 (Study Pack Pages 46 - 48) / Friday 29th March
Chapters Twenty Two and Twenty Three / PDF Pages 56 – 58 (Study Pack Pages 49 - 51) / Friday 5th April
Chapter Twenty Four / PDF Pages 59 – 60 (Study Pack Pages 52 - 53) / Friday 12th April
Language / PDF Page 63 (Study Pack Page 56) / Friday 19th April
Themes and Motifs / PDF Pages 64 – 65 (Study Pack Pages 57 - 58) / Friday 26th April

NOTE: In some editions the novel is arranged into three volumes. As such, ‘Chapters 1 – 8’ refers to the 8 chapters in Volume One, ‘Chapters 9 – 17’ refers to the 9 chapters in Volume Two and ‘Chapters 18 – 24’ refers to the 7 chapters in Volume Three.