Preparing for 3/4 english?

[Swagadaktal]

Hey guys, I'm really keen to do well in English next year (because it's the biggest obstacle in between my dream atar and me)
I'm studying Medea, Life of galileo and the Lieutenant
I've been receiving As/A+ in year 11 but I still feel like I have a long way to go
How should I prepare for English over the holidays?
btw if there is already a thread that's covering this can you please direct me to it

[Alter]

If time allows for it, I'd make sure to read the books a first time around. It can be pretty time-consuming and tedious if you're not a fan of books, but it's definitely worth it in the long wrong. It makes reading over them again when you're in the school year so much more manageable as when the year gets going you'll be drowned with SACs and work for all subjects.

Have a good understanding of the demands of the course and three different sections that you'll need to master eventually. If you're particularly keen, reading through good examples in this forum is a nice place to start if you're not sure where you're lacking.

If you still want to do more work on top of that, writing up notes that you'll use for Section A/B could be a good place to start. For text response, focus more on themes, characters, quotes, structure of the text, etc. For context, you'll moreso just be looking at the main ideas of Encountering Conflict.

[99.90 pls]

I discussed this in another thread but I'll just copy-paste the main points:

1) A really easy way to get into your texts over the holidays is just to read the text once or twice, or have it played to you by an audiobook, watch film/play adaptations and read critical commentary/literary essays and critiques on your text. Not much writing involved, so it shouldn't be hard to do, and you will start developing your own very unique and nuanced interpretation of the text as you do this. Someone who's read a few commentaries (these are usually like 5-20 pages each) and watched a film adaptation or two will have a far deeper understanding of their text than someone who's just rote-learned themes off Sparknotes for ten hours. You can borrow critical commentaries from your school library or the State Library of Victoria, then photocopy them before you return them.

2) Another thing you can do is watch the news, read the newspaper or read news online (particularly opinion pieces), and start thinking in your head why the writer's used certain words, phrases or tones and what ulterior motives they might have. Think about any images they've attached, and what their purpose is. Again, you don't have to write anything - it's very easy to do, and over time, it will become second nature. This is crucial for Language Analysis.

3) Other than that, yes, writing quote banks and plot maps and summaries will also help you gain a deeper understanding of your text, so if you're motivated, don't forgo all that as well.

[thaaanyan]

Hey there,
I studied both life of galileo and medea and used both on the exam, so i guess I wanted to answer this because i can be a bit more text specific & general with my advice. Also I was in a similar position this year where I was really desperate to succeed and do well in English, so I get where you're coming from. I'm just going to give you with an in depth over view of various things you could do, both throughout the year and in the holiday which will provide you with a good background for what English asks of you.

CONTEXT
Your teacher/tutor is probably going to spend some time building your knowledge of the five big ideas within context:
•    People’s responses to conflict vary.
•    Conflict occurs between the powerful and the powerless.
•    Conflicts may be difficult to resolve.
•    Conflict can be a catalyst for change.
These are essentially the five core themes within the conflict prompts that you get in the end of year exam as identified by Bob Hillman, the chief examiner of English. Often high schools structure there learning of conflict in accordance to these ideas, and it can therefore be a nice starting exercise to familiarize yourself with the concepts behind these big ideas:

For example, with "conflict can be a catalyst for change" you may recognise that conflict acts to challenge pre-existing beliefs and ideals people possess, forcing us to recognise the legitimacy of other existing viewpoints. However true moral changes cannot occur if we choose to ignore and avoid these challenges etc.
In doing this you're able to get an understanding of the different types of conflict prompts which fit into each category. For example, the prompt "Our beliefs are challenged when we encounter conflict" falls into the "conflict can be a catalyst for change" big idea.

You can find a little bit more background information on the big ideas behind conflict here: https://www.insightpublications.com.au/pdf_preview/Insight-Contexts-2012-Encountering-Conflict-10-pages.pdf It's a preview from Insight publications to their 2012 guide, and it goes into depth with the big ideas and the types of conflict.
What i did was make general mind maps for these ideas, and then as i went to class and participated in discussion i would add to these throughout the year. Furthermore once you have an understanding of these key ideas behind conflict you can read with a purpose in mind. For conflict in particular this is quite important because you don't need a holistic understanding of the text in order to write on your text, you just need to pick an example. I'm the type of person who prefers to read context essay where students quote from the text (I believe it shows specificity in knowledge) but if you're interested in creative or persuasive style this may not be necessary.

By reading for the purpose of understanding these big ideas behind context you've automatically ensured that there depth behind your interpretation of the text.

Throughout the holidays for context I also made a general folio of examples for my text, as I was interested in expository. If you're interested in creative or persuasive my advice is a bit more general - look around and gather inspiration from various sources: books, magazines, various apps (pinterest etc.).
 
For example a friend who I was helping with context had a love of gaming; we ended up writing a piece together which discussed her love of gaming in the context of piracy laws - as for our connection to the text we made a metaphorical connection between 'the war waged on pirates of copyright material' and 'the war in Afghanistan' discussed by Megan Stack in Every Man in this Village is a Liar. For the same template of that piece we also made connections between the role of the Church in Life of Galileo and the role of the Government in prosecuting copyright pirates.
As you can see conflict provides for flexibility of interpretation with creative form, and it's a good idea to maybe have some rough ideas of what you'd like to explore throughout the year in your pieces in regard to context.

TEXT RESPONSE
I'd advise you - particularly for Medea to get a good understanding of socio-historical context. While this is not a criteria in the exam for text response, most texts a product of social climate and texts like Medea which articulate powerful anti-establishment messages are thus product of eras undergoing seismic political turbulence. Research things like the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE), the rule of Pericles (460 BCE), the culture of Athens at the time as well as Euripides' own backstory. I'm not saying learn irrelevant things - e.g. Euripides' mother was a green grocer (well she was!), but understand the connection between the role of women in the play and the culture of Athens at the time. I have a strong classical studies background so I have a good understanding here, but here are some general links to get you started:
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/peloponnesian-war
http://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_euripides.html
http://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_euripides_medea.html
You don't have to read the whole thing - though the last link is quite good, but just get a general understanding of who he was in his contemporaries are, as when i went into English my class did not study this too much. Therefore I had a lot of rough background knowledge that aided my interpretation of the text. Using this knowledge go through and read your text, get a general feel for the plot. If there's things you don't understand ask google or AtarNotes. Try to walk into school with a rough knowledge of the time period and a sound understanding of the plot and structure of the play. Text response prompts for Medea can you give you questions on anything - the importance of use language, manipulation, the idea of exile, the way Euripides creates a sense of place, therefore unlike context you need to read the whole play and understand the point of every scene. As school starts when everyone else is reading the text for the first time, you're enriching your knowledge by exploring it a second time.

LANGUAGE ANALYSIS
READ! Read widely and broadly is my advice. You don't need to write any practice papers or anything just now and again pick up a newspaper, maybe four or five times and ask yourself "what are they trying to persuade me?" when you listen to things on the news, in particular, look at the use of language. This sort of impromptu analysis is important because it lets you pick out the importance of a single word :
"Parakeets are just birds - they don't deserve to die!"
Look at the use of the word "just" and the alliteration of "don't deserve to die" consider the use of exclamation mark. Ask yourself what the word "just" does. It makes the birds seem innocent, right? Incapable of decision making capability or thought process, and therefore not guilty - in contrast the people persecuting the bird are bound to look evil & awful in harming the innocent. Just little 30 second thinking now and again goes a long, long way to the end of the year. It take a while to get the hang of it, and sometimes you may not understand why something is persuasive, but this process of questioning allows you to understand more subtle persuasive techniques and how they impact an individual.

GENERAL ADVICE
- Have a basic grasp of ideas behind context and read context texts with a purpose
- Research some basic history to text response texts and have a good grasp of plot and character
- Practice everyday tiny analysis in order to build stronger skills by the end of the holidays.
- If English is your weakest subject look at some of the high scoring responses - I'm going to post up a couple of mine for Medea (I notice there aren't a lot for this text), context and language analysis in the future. But literally lauren's pieces, and EZ's pieces in particular are what informed my writing. Reading good quality work - bangalilok, literallylauren, EZ, shinny, Pi etc. enriches your vocabulary and gives you a good understanding of what high quality responses look like.

GOOD-LUCK! I hope this helps! 
And don'd hesitate to ask questions on this thread or PM me for further clarification!
Thaaanyan