Class of 2017 Discussion Thread!

[geminii]

Tried to read my English text and 2 pages already and I don't even know what it means

GG VCE

What text is it?

[Shinkaze]

What text is it?

Year of Wonders haha! I had to search up almost every word and it really frustrates me because it distracts me from the storyline and I forgot what happened previously T.T

[Biology24123]

I'm from 2016 thread

[qazser]

I'm from 2016 thread

Welcome Old Man jks jks

[literally lauren]

Year of Wonders haha! I had to search up almost every word and it really frustrates me because it distracts me from the storyline and I forgot what happened previously T.T

Aaaah, I did this one in Year 12 and I know the feeling Pro-tip: skip the first chapter ('Leaf-Fall 1666') and go straight to the second ('Spring, 1665.') As you can probably tell be the dates, the first chapter is a flashforward to a point that's 3/4 of the way through the story. It's called an 'in media res' opening where the author picks a point in the middle to begin, and then cuts back to the beginning. Movies do it all the time - Gone Girl comes to mind as a great example of this, but many others do the 'omg how did we end up here!? *flashcut* Once upon a time...' kind of thing to grab the audience's attention. Later, you can actually analyse the chronology of the novel and think about why Brooks would do it this way, but for now, skip that section and come back to it at the end of Deliverance (ie. when the story catches up with where it began in 1666 - it's on page 260 in my version.)

Also, if you're coming across new words - write the definitions in your book! (Or keep a page in your workbook free to write them down if you don't want to scribble all over the novel.) This'll make it much easier for you to remember them since finding a new word, looking it up, and then continuing with your reading will usually mean you'll have forgotten the word in a couple of hours. Granted, some aren't useful (eg. it's not crucial to know what a 'tallow stub' is) but others might be useful in other contexts (eg. 'unctuously.')

I'd highly recommend consulting some resources to help you make sense of this text too. This is a good place to start for basic summative details, and this is a great article for refining your interpretation.

I know it can be tough to get through so let me know if you have any questions, or drop by the English forums

[Glasses]

Oh my god, I did Year of Wonders in year 11 last year too - I think lots of English teachers try and study old year 12 books in year 11, which is quite a good idea in my opinion.

I found it a bit tricky to get into at first, but once you get started it's actually quite an enjoyable book. If you like history, the plague context is also quite interesting to learn about If you don't know what happens or how it ends yet, don't read any summaries or anything as the storyline is pretty good and unpredictable (well, it was for me at least, haha).
- Although that being said, if you're having trouble understanding what's going on, it might help to read a chapter summary before or after you read the chapter.

Best of luck!
 

[qazser]

Oh my god, I did Year of Wonders in year 11 last year too - I think lots of English teachers try and study old year 12 books in year 11, which is quite a good idea in my opinion.

I think its good because you kind of imitate what year 12s are doing, and there are old essays that show the standards expected of such an undertaking. Shouldn't we do the current texts in Y11 and Y12 to know it inside out

[Glasses]

I think its good because you kind of imitate what year 12s are doing, and there are old essays that show the standards expected of such an undertaking. Shouldn't we do the current texts in Y11 and Y12 to know it inside out

I think there actually are some schools that do that!! Or they do one context in year 11, and another in year 12. So rather than doing a random context in year 11 (e.g. - justice), they'll do one of the year 12 ones, and then do another one in year 12 so the students have more options for the exam

Although I'm not sure whether you guys will even do context, haha

[qazser]

I think there actually are some schools that do that!! Or they do one context in year 11, and another in year 12. So rather than doing a random context in year 11 (e.g. - justice), they'll do one of the year 12 ones, and then do another one in year 12 so the students have more options for the exam

Although I'm not sure whether you guys will even do context, haha

For ex. If Romeo and Juliet was a Year 12 Text, do it in Year 11 and Year 12. After all you can only test so much from a particular text.

Whats context?

[Glasses]

For ex. If Romeo and Juliet was a Year 12 Text, do it in Year 11 and Year 12. After all you can only test so much from a particular text.

Whats context?

I'm pretty sure it's been removed from the new study design, but basically it's when you studying an 'idea' or 'theme'. I.e. - the options are encountering conflict, identity and belonging, the imaginative landscape and whose reality

[qazser]

I'm pretty sure it's been removed from the new study design, but basically it's when you studying an 'idea' or 'theme'. I.e. - the options are encountering conflict, identity and belonging, the imaginative landscape and whose reality

Ahh, said for "example" and "if" haha.

[geminii]

I'm pretty sure it's been removed from the new study design, but basically it's when you studying an 'idea' or 'theme'. I.e. - the options are encountering conflict, identity and belonging, the imaginative landscape and whose reality

Yeah, 2016 is the last year that year 12's will be doing context essays.
Anyone have any idea what will replace context for the year 12s in 2017?

[Photon]

Yeah, 2016 is the last year that year 12's will be doing context essays.
Anyone have any idea what will replace context for the year 12s in 2017?

Comparing texts...

[clarke54321]

Comparing texts...

How do you find comparing texts?

[literally lauren]

Yeah, 2016 is the last year that year 12's will be doing context essays.
Anyone have any idea what will replace context for the year 12s in 2017?

There will be a proper (read: hella long) post explaining all this soon-ish (read: before school starts, hopefully) but basically the changes are as follows:
- No more context
- New compulsory creative SAC
- Text comparative section that replaces context on the exam using one of the pairs of texts on pg 6 of this thing.
- The oral SAC has gone from being 20% of Unit 3 to 40% of Unit 4 -.-
- Language Analysis is a bit more argument-based and a bit less techniques-based.

Unfortunately VCAA have mostly chosen awful texts or text combinations, though pairs 3, 5, and 8 look okay. And there are a bunch of repeated texts that have either been on the English or Lit lists before (even very recent ones like Stasiland) or texts by the same author as other texts on the list (eg. Margaret Atwood, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc.) but that's a rant for another time...