5th year higher level English prep.

nailvarnish16

During the summer I'd love to start preparing for 5th year English and I'm just wondering what books, plays or poems, I should be reading. I understand every teacher has their own preference and study different books etc. to others, but even an idea would be helpful.

purplepapillon

http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/cl0001_2012.pdf?language=EN

Here's the prescribed material for your examination year. Usually, teachers will cover Shakespeare in fifth year (Macbeth in your case). Maybe have a look at a few of the authors and buy some novels secondhand or on amazon to get a feel for themes, styles etc. It depends on your reading preferences what you'd like to begin with really! Enjoy and best of luck

kathryn 95

first of all Shakespeare is compulsory in higher level just done my leaving and im sure most people will agree that the Shakespeare is by far the worst we had to do Hamlet for the single text but it changes every year.
for the comparative study i used 'How many miles to Babylon' by Jennifer Johnston, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' by Brian Friel and 'Inside i'm dancing' by Damien O'Donnell. Your teacher will be the best bet to ask about Poetry section, my teacher predicted the top 5 were Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Philip Larkin and Eavan Boland. There's 10 poets on the syllabus and 5 come up so if you know 5 you will guaranteed that one will come up.
This is for higher level tho im not sure what the ordinary syllabus is like. Hope this is some kind of use to you

UnholyGregor

hmm... perhaps your BOOKLIST is a good place to start?

SureYWouldntYa

kathryn 95 wrote: »

first of all Shakespeare is compulsory in higher level just done my leaving and im sure most people will agree that the Shakespeare is by far the worst we had to do Hamlet for the single text but it changes every year.
for the comparative study i used 'How many miles to Babylon' by Jennifer Johnston, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' by Brian Friel and 'Inside i'm dancing' by Damien O'Donnell. Your teacher will be the best bet to ask about Poetry section, my teacher predicted the top 5 were Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Philip Larkin and Eavan Boland. There's 10 poets on the syllabus and 5 come up so if you know 5 you will guaranteed that one will come up.
This is for higher level tho im not sure what the ordinary syllabus is like. Hope this is some kind of use to you

8 on syllabus and 4 come up.........

kathryn 95

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

8 on syllabus and 4 come up.........

Sorry my bad I forgot :rolleyes:

Chuchoter

Just read loads and proper, adult books at that, not Young Adult stuff or chick lit. Also lots of newspaper and good blogs about politics. Analyze it stylistically for what makes it good or bad.

nailvarnish16

UnholyGregor wrote: »

hmm... perhaps your BOOKLIST is a good place to start?

The teacher we were supposed to have changed to pass English for next year so he said the books etc. will be different and I found this out from friends when I'd finished transition year

nailvarnish16

purplepapillon wrote: »

http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/cl0001_2012.pdf?language=EN

Here's the prescribed material for your examination year. Usually, teachers will cover Shakespeare in fifth year (Macbeth in your case). Maybe have a look at a few of the authors and buy some novels secondhand or on amazon to get a feel for themes, styles etc. It depends on your reading preferences what you'd like to begin with really! Enjoy and best of luck

thanks a million I'll try and read the majority of them anyway

Namlub

kathryn 95 wrote: »

first of all Shakespeare is compulsory in higher level just done my leaving and im sure most people will agree that the Shakespeare is by far the worst we had to do Hamlet for the single text but it changes every year.
for the comparative study i used 'How many miles to Babylon' by Jennifer Johnston, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' by Brian Friel and 'Inside i'm dancing' by Damien O'Donnell. Your teacher will be the best bet to ask about Poetry section, my teacher predicted the top 5 were Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Philip Larkin and Eavan Boland. There's 10 poets on the syllabus and 5 come up so if you know 5 you will guaranteed that one will come up.
This is for higher level tho im not sure what the ordinary syllabus is like. Hope this is some kind of use to you

tbh I found the comparative worse because it's just waffle. Love me some Billy Shakespeare.

user.name

taylorconor95 wrote: »

I have some great Hamlet notes books on eBay for cheap if you are interested http://www.ebay.ie/sch/dentay007/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Hamlet is not on the Leaving cert now, Macbeth is now for 2013 and 2014 leaving certs.

taylorconor95

user.name wrote: »

Hamlet is not on the Leaving cert now, Macbeth is now for 2013 and 2014 leaving certs.

Ah bummer what is Macbeth like to study then?

user.name

taylorconor95 wrote: »

Ah bummer what is Macbeth like to study then?

Depressing.. your better off doing a winter's tale, but most of the time the teacher decides the text

biohaiid

Honestly, the best advise I could give is RELAX.
Your not gonna get the chance come Leaving Cert year really, so enjoy the lack of pressure now while you can.
Don't end up OVER preparing and OVER thinking, that could be worse than doing zero study.

moriz

user.name wrote: »

Depressing.. your better off doing a winter's tale, but most of the time the teacher decides the text

Am I weird cos I found Macbeth pretty easy? haha. As in I followed the storyline really well. The actual play in a theatre was a pain in the butt to sit through, though! Never was I so bored in my life!

fizzyorange

I'd suggest finding a few books to read over the summer. Some decent ones mind you. I'd personally suggest a bit of Wilde, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, and a few classics like Withering Heights, Emma, Pride and Prejudice etc. Reading is really the best way to improve vocabulary, ability to write etc.