English Language Class of 2016

[sunnysideup]

How many people on here are doing Lang 3/4 next year? Anyone? Would be super great if this forum stayed active, because I really have no faith in my teacher.
So if you are out there - hi! How are you feeling about Lang, how are you preparing, what are your aims?
I'm nervous, but can't wait to get started.

[babushka818]

Hello

I am doing English Language next year, and I'm in the same situation- we've been given a rather disappointing teacher and are struggling to find answers. This thread should become very important next year, hopefully we can post resources, links, news, ideas, questions and answers for each other

I'm feeling very, very anxious about next year's prospects. My teacher, who we had for first semester (in Unit 1), is biased, doesn't work hard, hardly knows the course, understand nothing, can't give us appropriate feedback and doesn't do much for revision. My whole class is shaken and disappointed
 I'm buying resources where I can and trying to invest in tuition. Dmitri Dalla Riva is unfortunately booked out, so I'm trying to find other options. I really wanted over 40 in the subject and a 99 ATAR, but all our hopes are just out the window now English isn't a strong point for me, so I really need all the help I can get.

Hope the year goes well for all of you and I'll definitely be active on this thread!!

[dave101]

Yep, I'm doing Eng Lang next year. Our teacher this year for 1/2 was atrocious. She literally let us play games all lesson and thought we were doing work lmao.
I'm thinking of getting a tutor.

[The Usual Student]

YES OMG I LOVE THIS SUBJECT!
As someone who loved normal English and took a big leap of faith to join EL, I can definitely say it was worth it. However, my school teachers suck

[ekay]

Hey guys,

Not exactly part of your cohort hahaha but I just want to say don't let "having a bad teacher" demotivate you and make you give up! I also had a disappointing teacher so I know how you feel. However, most, if not all, Eng Lang students you will talk to from other schools will also complain about their teachers (I rarely met anyone who praised theirs) so you can still do extremely well despite this. A lot of the work you do for Eng Lang is by yourself and so your success is really determined by you. Spend a lot of time doing your own research and analysis, try to find areas that interest you and you'll be just fine!

tldr: Having a good teacher is obviously favourable, but it's not the end of the world if you don't

[dmitridr]

How many people on here are doing Lang 3/4 next year? Anyone? Would be super great if this forum stayed active, because I really have no faith in my teacher.
So if you are out there - hi! How are you feeling about Lang, how are you preparing, what are your aims?
I'm nervous, but can't wait to get started.

Hi there!

Firstly, don't lose faith. Never lose faith. It's all about grit and hard work. In year 12 I simply worked harder than everyone else and to be honest, English Language is often about independent study. While tutoring this year, I noticed that many students complained about their teachers because of their lack of enthusiasm and/or knowledge. If you've been blessed with a great teacher, then that's fantastic news, but if not, then you just need to power on. Expose yourself to as many resources/notes/workshops as possible and even source a tutor (if it's within your budget - but only if you think you need it). Many of my students this year got 40+ with one getting 48 (and her teacher, according to her, was hopeless - this student simply powered on and did a ton of work beforehand for me every lesson).

I'd recommend creating a FB group for your class and sharing ideas that way. Go to Google News and type in key jargonistic terms to see what's happening out in the real world (e.g. euphemism).

I hope that helps!

Dmitri.

[TwinNerd]

Im doing English Language this year, I have a really bad teacher last year and honestly I think went backwards our class didn't learn anything. All the other classes with other teachers received different notes and thus their class averages were well above ours. I really enjoy English Language and hope to do well, but it's quite difficult when you consider the fact that we have no foundation to build upon in English Language compared to the rest of people in my cohort.

[Joseph41]

Hi there.

I'm looking forward to contributing to this thread this year. This post is really just so that it pops up on my 'new posts' thingo, but please feel free to ask any questions throughout the year.

As mentioned above, a poor teacher does not cause a poor study score.

EDIT: Just quietly, EngLang is the greatest subject in the VCE curriculum. Don't give up on it.

[TheProphetPancake]

Hello there
Thought I'd just contribute a little, instead of lurking around haha. As with what seems to be quite the trend, I was unfortunately left with a teacher who is known for going off on random tangents, and generally leaving the learning up to us and our textbook  . I chose to do English Language because the subject struck me as being quite unique and an opportunity to learn about something I'd never really thought about before. As a person who was quite good at English, the subject was a challenge, at first. After Unit 1, though, I was getting into the rhythm of it.

 I was given a holiday booklet to complete, and I am reading through our textbook. I suck at note writing so I'm just reading through it and trying to understand as much as possible. I have a good memory, which I found helps, but cautious me still trys to at least get some main points down.

I don't really have a solid 'goal' as much as I have a belief that I will do as much as I can to the best of my ability, but I am aiming towards a 30-35 SS. Now with Units 3 and 4 approaching, I can only describe the nervousness and excitement, the thought of the future and what it holds as the atmosphere surrounding the last moments of a year, the 11:59 pm feelings abundant. Hopefully my teacher can be a tiny bit more helpful this year  !

[The Usual Student]

Im doing English Language this year, I have a really bad teacher last year and honestly I think went backwards our class didn't learn anything. All the other classes with other teachers received different notes and thus their class averages were well above ours. I really enjoy English Language and hope to do well, but it's quite difficult when you consider the fact that we have no foundation to build upon in English Language compared to the rest of people in my cohort.

The only real foundation for English Language is the Metalanguage and the A.C writing. TBH you could catch up in a day if you wanted to. The history of language content won't be too necessary but you can always learn it for some more depth. I wouldn't be worried if i was you, just do read up on some ML and do an A.C or two, get some feedback, and you should be in good stead.

[howlingwisdom]

Hi guys!
As someone who has recently completed English Language (last year) and quite passionate about the subject, I am more than willing to offer any advice/answer any questions as well .

[The Usual Student]

Hi guys!
As someone who has recently completed English Language (last year) and quite passionate about the subject, I am more than willing to offer any advice/answer any questions as well .

oh yes!
1) What is your biggest regret through the year? I ask this because I like to leanr form people's mistakes Eg Not doing enough essays, and then watching out for that through the year
2) How do you learn the concepts best since there is no set textbook for my year

Thanks!

[howlingwisdom]

oh yes!
1) What is your biggest regret through the year? I ask this because I like to leanr form people's mistakes Eg Not doing enough essays, and then watching out for that through the year
2) How do you learn the concepts best since there is no set textbook for my year

Thanks!

1) A very good question! I think what I regretted the most was not doing analytical commentaries as frequently as I could've throughout the year. I tended to focus more on the essay component because of its perceived difficulty, but both sections are weighted equally in the exam. I would recommend balancing out preparation for these two components evenly, and to try to tackle various modes and styles of text for the ACs (e.g flyer, opinion pieces etc)
2) With regards to learning concepts, I did a balance of following what my teacher taught in class, annotating class notes and tried sending a lot of emails to my teacher to clarify concepts whenever I was unsure. I also did some quick google searches which was also quite handy. I think the best way to learn a concept is to try applying it in a real context (e.g I'd try to find some articles in the news that revolved around the concept of euphemism or doublespeak.) I don't think a textbook is necessary, but 'Living Lingo' is a quite useful resource that explains concepts simply with a lot of examples albeit in a very wordy way!
If you have any further qs feel free to PM me

[Joseph41]

Some of you might be interested in this video, which I was shown at the beginning of English Language 1/2.

It's not strictly content-related, but it may provide a different perspective to the use of the English language.

[illfightvcaa]

I had a pretty good teacher for 1/2.

This year, our school hired a new Englang teacher. I'm pretty concerned right now, since I haven't had classes with her. The other 3/4 Englang teacher we have is AMAZING and I really wanted to be in his class. Apparently the new teacher has been teaching Englang for years now, so hopefully that means she'd be good at it. I'm meeting her tomorrow haha. Hope it goes well.

I'm aiming to get a 40+, which I'll have to really work for, since languages are my weakest area. Yes, English is included under 'Languages'.