Junior English Information Evening

About me…Assistant Head of

English & Associate Dean of

Curriculum Innovation

Sam Lobascher

Fifth year at TSS

Bachelor & Masters in Education

Years 7, 8 and 9 Course Structure

Term 1 – Novel Study and Analytical Writing

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Text The Diary of Anne Frank

Class text (eg: The Old Man & the Sea)

Class text(eg: The Outsiders)

Analytical Focus

Habits of Mind

Habits of Mind

Text Transformation

Text Construction Focus

General essay structure

Perfect Paragraphs (structure and variation)

Persuasive Essay

Years 7, 8 and 9 Course Structure

Term 2 – Narrative Writing

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Genre Fantastic Worlds: myths, legends, fairytales

Horror: gothic vs modern horror

Teen Lives: coming of age & loss of innocence

Text Construction Focus

Narrative structure

Developing tension

Subverting narrative structure

Years 7, 8 and 9 Course Structure

Term 3 – News Reports and Feature Articles

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Genre News reports and television news

Human interest feature articles

Analysing journalism

Text Construction Focus

News report structure

Eliciting emotional response

Revealing silences and positioning

Years 7, 8 and 9 Course Structure

Term 4 – Poetry and Shakespeare

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Genre Poetry Poetry Shakespearean excerpts

Text Construction Focus

Performance poetry

My favourite poem: text reflection

Text analysis

Years 7, 8 and 9 Course Structure

Language Skills Program

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Spelling and vocabulary

Spelling and vocabulary

Spelling and vocabulary

Language Skills

Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Capital letters, Punctuation

Parts of a sentence; sentence construction; sentence types

Paragraphing, persuasion, symbolism, word play

Essay Structure

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Introduction1. Who sentence

2. What sentence

3. Thesis

4. Main ideas

According to Guardian film critic Andrew Pulver, there are a range of difficulties faced when transforming a novel into film. Pulver explores this in his review of the film version of the Nick Hornby novel A Long Way Down. Based upon Pulver’s critique, it is obvious that novels should not be turned into films. The text to film adaptation process is riddled with difficulties. Pulver notes that the sanitised expectations of a film audience differ from those of literary consumers. Similarly, the film medium faces limitations, primarily regarding length, that the novel medium does not. In suburban multiplexes, texts are also re-shaped to fit the structural simplicity of film.

Who What Thesis Main Ideas

Body Paragraphs

T – topic sentence states, specifically, the main idea of the paragraphE – explanation develops the main idea in detailE – evidence provides the supporting proof L –link to the overall thesis

A challenge of turning novels into films is that the film medium often simplifies the complexities of a novel. Whereas a novel has several hundred pages and the limitless capabilities of a reader’s imagination, film is limited by the visual requirements of audiences. Similarly, film audiences are likely to have certain expectations of how their ninety minutes in front of the screen will evolve; expectations that may be inconsistent with the initial author’s vision. Reviewing an adaptation of Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down, Andrew Pulver claims it is inevitable that “a good deal of the novel’s intricacies have been ironed out.” The film version instead becomes focussed, for one-third of its length, on an aspect of the novel that is rather insignificant; however, a trip to Tenerife surely excited the movie’s producers and the dismal English audiences. Sat in the warm glow of his Macbook, Pulver is also conscious of a “headlong rush for a neat ending” – another expectation of the Event Cinemas set. Clearly, text and film are not effective bedfellows.

Topic Sentence Explanation Evidence Link

Conclusion1.Refer back to question in a neutral way

2.Restate your thesis statement using different words

3.Restate your main ideas using different words

4.Make general statement about the topic

ConclusionThe transformation of a classic novel into a film is often a contentious choice. Despite some adaptations successfully reimagining the source text, the vast majority of films negatively impact the legacy of the original novel. Films offer compromised versions of novels, often missing the subtleties of the novel. Also, films fail to engage the imagination in the same way as a text.

It is essential that literature is kept in its literary form.

Refer back to question Restate thesis Restate main ideas Finish with general statement

Conclusion

Tip 1

Tip 2Tip 3

Tip 4

Tip 5