English – Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn

Head of English

English Teacher

English

The English Department aims to provide pupils with a varied and stimulating programme of study. This consists of three key areas: reading, writing and speaking and listening.

Pupils are given the opportunity to read and experience a wide range of texts. These include non-fiction, such as newspaper or Internet reports and articles, and fiction, such as novels, short stories, plays and poetry. All pupils will study Anglo-Welsh literature, texts from different cultures and pre-1914 literature, including a Shakespeare play in each of the key stages. We explore many different issues throughout the literature we study, including homelessness, global issues such as Fair Trade and child slavery, and the holocaust of World War 2.

Texts are often used as a model and a stimulus for pupils to write for a range of purposes. Preparatory work usually includes multi-sensory resources, as well as an emphasis on pair-work and group discussion, in order for pupils to develop their own ideas and thinking skills. This links in with our aim to produce independent learners who are able to utilise strategies that facilitate their own progression.

In this current academic year we have had a visiting author, Joseph Delaney, talking to all Year 7 pupils about his books. The many and varied questions they put to Mr. Delaney were testament to the fact that they thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

A group of Year 9 Pupils were involved in the Dylan Thomas Educational Project. This entailed Aberaeron author, Cynan Jones, visiting us on three occasions and spending time with the pupils, discussing the process of writing from having the first inkling of an idea to publishing a text. A fourth session was taken by Lucy Caldwell, the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2011 and Annabel Pitcher, one of the shortlisted authors. The pupils were inspired by these visits and have written some extremely good narratives as a result.

For several years some of our pupils have participated in a Writing Squad, run by Academi in conjunction with Carmarthenshire L.E.A., giving pupils the chance to meet authors and poets such as Francesca Kay. We have always received excellent feedback on our pupils’ contributions.

A number of pupils are also given the opportunity to enter Public Speaking competitions and have a very good track record in this area.

KS3

At Key Stage 3 , Pupils study a range of units in English .

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3
Year 7	Study the novel: ‘Holes’	Fiction: Fairtrade UFOs	Drama: ‘Reaching Out’
Year 8	Study the novel: ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’	Fiction: The London Lootings	Drama: Shakespeare
Year 9	Study the novel: ‘The Hunger Games’ neu ‘Face’	Fiction: Studies of Society	Fiction: Kindles yn erbyn Llyfrau

In each season , the pupils complete a range of tasks that cover the three core objective assessment for English : reading, writing and speaking .

KS4

AS and A Level

English as a very popular subject at A-level , and we have a good-sized classes . All universities are considering English as a favorable level subject and some of our former pupils have gone on to study English at Oxbridge .

Term 1

Term 2

Term 3

Year 12

Set texts : ‘In Cold Blood ‘ by Capote

Creative Writing

Set Texts:

‘Streetcar Named Desire’ by Williams

Compare poetry and texts

Year 13

Coursework:

Gothic literature

(Carter, Poe a Wilde)

Testunau gosod:

‘The Tempest’ by Shakespeare a ‘Doctor Faustus’ by Marlowe

Set Texts:

‘The Wife of Bath’ by Chaucer

Pupils follow specification WJEC A Language and Literature for Wales and the subject is marked according to the marking schemes level.

Extracurricular Activities

We are proud to promote a variety of extra-curricular activities at the Department of English .

Use of the Library

We are delighted to have established a strong and robust links with Newcastle Emlyn Library thanks to our enthusiastic and dedicated librarian , Mrs. Jo Jones . Our recent project with CNE library contains at least thirty year seven pupils participating in the Summer Reading Challenge National where the children read a certain number of books promises over the summer holidays .

Competition success

Pupils Emlyn creative, imaginative and inspiring. In 2015 , gave our pupils offer poetry writing competition titled Conflict . We were delighted when our work is published in a book of pupils gardens .
Following their success , the new pupils submit proposals to Grim Tales Writing Competition with the aim of writing a fairy tale with a twist in the hut . The challenge ? They had to be written in less than a hundred words !
Click here to view their proposals

Theatre Trips

As part of our vision to enrich literature , the English department will embrace any opportunity to go to the theater . Of visits theater recently, trips locally to Cardigan to see a wide variety of productions of ‘ A Midsummer Night’s Dream ” by Shakespeare to ‘ An Inspector Calls ‘ by Priestley and trips further afield to Cardiff and London to see modern classics like ‘ Matilda ‘ by Dahl . Emlyn pupils behave outstandingly these trips each time and makes us proud that they are representing the school .