High School English

This term, the Year 8 students have been focusing on the concept of perspective while studying the novel “Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” John Boyne’s novel effectively visualises the concept for the students and educates them of the division of Nazi Germany and the atrocities of concentration camps like Auschwitz. Students composed a newspaper front page aimed at educating a peer about the Holocaust before writing journal entries for a minor character’s perspective. The term ended with the students’ comparing similarities and differences between the book and the movie while explaining the reasoning behind them.

Ms Rabia Khan, Mr Antonios Pagonis and Ms Penelope Dounas

This term, the Year 9 students have engaged with intertextuality from different points of view. After learning the concepts of parody, allusion and appropriation, the students were tested on their understanding of the concepts by researching, identifying and explaining intertextuality in couch gags from the popular TV show, “The Simpsons.” The students proceeded to tackle intertextuality through creating their own parodies in groups, changing lines from popular music to their own themes, including lyrics with an Islamic theme. Fairy tales are our oldest example of intertextuality and the students were given the opportunity to explore fairy-tale tropes along with the original and adapted versions of these ancient tales. The term ended with the students learning about film techniques and investigating how intertextuality is present in Shrek and the Star Wars franchise.

Ms Emine Atakan, Mr Antonios Pagonis and Ms Penelope Dounas

This term students have been learning about the life of William Shakespeare, looking at Sonnets and reading the play Othello. Students have been analysing sonnets of their choice, looking at the various parts of sonnets, and depicting the themes of Othello in a creative visual form following their representation of the theme with a writer’s statement.

Due to new implemented structure to the school year, students have had to adjust to completing all tasks by the end of Term 3 rather than Term 4. It has been pleasing to see students working diligently to create newsletter articles for their chosen context and working on analyzing posters. Students are looking at the audience, purpose, and language of posters.

Students working towards completing Assessment type three, which is the external task. As part of this assessment students are required to conduct an individual language study in the context of their choice. The chosen topics are from varying context; Islamic lectures directed at the youth, dialogue study in Hunger Games and the language used during online gaming specifically, Call of Duty. Inshallah having an opportunity to choose a topic of interest, students will stay motivated and engaged.

Ms. Noha Hanifi