Secondary English T1 2021

Assalamu aleykum everyone,

This term at Irfan, our students have been engaged in a number of activities that we hope has enhanced their skills and knowledge in English.

Year 9 students were involved in a novel study, where they had to analyse the first book of the Lord of the Rings. Students underwent a listening essay task and I am pleased to announce our students have performed significantly well. We had spent many lessons practising our essay writing skills, where students were able to construct unique thesis statements and argue their points throughout.

Year 10 students completed the novel study on Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Similar to year 9, year 10 students completed a listening essay task and they all did relatively well. Students have been exposed to contemporary issues and were asked to connect the context of To Kill a Mockingbird to their own context in Australia.

Year 11 Standard students completed their Reading to Write Unit, where we hope they have transitioned to senior school successfully. They completed reading Animal Farm and Flowers for Algernon. They were all asked to write an essay and I am pleased to announce that everyone did significantly well.

Year 12 Standard students completed Module A, where they were exposed to a variety of Asian Australian poems. Students were able to analyse the struggles that many migrants had experienced and they were asked to write an essay based on the certain challenges.
Year 12 English Extension 2 students are progressing well with their Major Work drafts. They have completed their second assessment task and both students have performed really well.

I wish all our students a pleasant break and look forward to seeing you all in Term 2. 

Ms Elif Tirkiz

Year 8 students were transported back in time to Nazi Germany through their study of the novel 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. They were given the opportunity to consider the context of WWII through the point of view of the young Bruno, especially through his growing yet ultimately tragic friendship with Shmuel.

Year 11 Advanced English students began the year with an intense comparative study of two literary greats, George Orwell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The two texts couldn't be any further apart with Animal Farm a political satire of the Russian Revolution in promoting democratic socialism and the A Study in Scarlet being the inaugural Sherlock Holmes detective novel, which gave students a broad exposure to literary texts across historical contexts and genres in preparation for Year 12.

Year 11 Extension 1 English introduced students to the "Encounters with 'the Other'" program that focuses on Post-Colonialism, its impact throughout history and its materialisation within canonical texts. Students were exposed to various postcolonial texts include Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' as well as the introduction to Edward Said's 'Orientalism'. The final leg of the term began looking at the core prescribed text, 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.

Year 12 Advanced continued their study of Module A Textual Conversations. The beginning of the term saw them consolidate their understanding of the Margaret Atwood's novel 'Hag-seed'. Students then proceeded with their study of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', with a focus also on context and the way both texts resonate with each other whilst also having dissonances. Students will have the exciting opportunity to attend a theatrical production of the Tempest in term 2 insha'Allah.

Year 12 Extension 1 English commenced their study of the 'Worlds of Upheaval' elective, kicking off with their study of Mary Shelly's novel 'Frankenstein'. Students explored the Romantic and Victorian impulses within the novel whilst also researching an appropriate related text of their own choosing to complement their study of this idea of 'upheaval' by transposing their contextual focus from one text to another. The end of the Term 1 saw a transition to the second prescribed texts for students, being Samuel Beckett's short play 'Waiting for Godot'. Students grappled with Modernist ideas of Absurdism in the text, but ultimately where gained a broader contextual awareness of upheaval as a result. 

Mr Ozan Angin