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In the Classroom - English Department

The English Department has had a busy and exciting start to the year, with all year groups exploring different texts and looking into how the power of English can help us better understand the world around us. The Year 7 and 8s have been reading “The Whale Rider” by Witi Ihimaera. They have been looking at the expectations of women in the novel versus what is expected today and how this has changed over the last 30 years.

The Year 9s have been using their English skills, combined with social studies, to explore migration as well as keeping a reading journal to keep track of their reading. The year 10s started the year looking at short stories and then wrote their own, putting what they had learned about the text structure required for a good short story into practice. They then moved on to their first taste of Shakespeare, starting to study some of the world's most famous pieces of literature.

In Year 11, they started the year with poetry from New Zealand authors and then looked at advertising strategies and how women are targeted by certain advertisements designed to sell products on the basis of womens’ insecurities. Year 12 have been studying war poetry, covering poetry from WW1 to the recent war in Ukraine and analysing differences in attitude towards war and how these have changed over the century.

In Year 13 English, they began the year examining poetry written by women. They have focused specifically on poems about Māori and Pacific women, looking at their experiences through a post-colonial critical lens, as well as feminist approaches. Classes have also studied Macbeth, while also preparing their internal which involves teaching the class something about English.

It has been a great start to Term 1 for all, with students being encouraged to explore different text types and topics to broaden their knowledge and grow in their love of English.