Transition Year English

GaleStorm

Hi,
I have transition year English for the first time. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what to do with them?

Was leaning towards maybe starting some comparitive studies with them..

Any Help would be great!

thesimpsons

son was in TY last year. One thing they did was they had to choose a book from a list drawn up of popular modern authors and review it, compare it to other books by the same author, and then compare it to another book by different author on the same list. For the majority of the teenage boys who didn't read at all, it made them read at least 3 books which were interesting to them without being in the usual school prescribed reading. son did Boy in Striped PJs and then other books by John Boyne and moved on from there. For a son who would never normally read unless it was a set school book he is now finishing a book a month so I'm happy if he keeps this up. Nephew used Harold Colban as his author. Another kid used a few sports autobiographies for his project. I'd recommend use TY to develop an interest in reading for the fun of it, not cos you have to pass an exam in it. Get them into reading for leisure and show them they can de-stress with a good book as they head into leaving cert.

GaleStorm

Thanks a million for this idea.
It would be great to get the students interested in reading for themselves rather than just for exams.

biohaiid

Hi,
I think it's a good idea that you want to start some of the LC curriculum with them.
I'm not a teacher or anything, but I am a past TY student and we never even had English class in TY, and if we did we certainly never did anything.
So I think getting some out of the way is a good idea.
I'm not sure about comparative though.
Even though when it comes down to it it's one of the easiest parts of the LC English course, most students seem to hate it, so this might out them entirely off the LC course.
Maybe you could introduce the comprehensions and unseen poetry, they're easy marks in the exam but most students aren;t taught how to answer them properly, and it can get them used to reading prose and poetry.
Again, I'm not a teacher or anything so my opinion may be completely invalid, but as a student this is what I would suggest.

GaleStorm

Thanks biohaiid,

I really want to start something that they won't find boring, was thinking about concentrating more on the film if I do start comparative.

Having a look at poetry is a really good idea.
I have them until the end of the year so will keep this advice in mind.

thesimpsons

think you're not allowed to start too much of the LC course in TY so maybe check with your school English department before planning too much. How about poetry for the fun of it .... find some funny poems rather than Wordsworth and the like which IMO would turn any teen off poetry.

Heydeldel

Hi,

I'm out of work at the mo but volunteering on a TY film project with a school I do some subbing in. I think film studies is a great one for TY.

There are lots of little short films on YouTube/Vimeo etc. that can be used for inspiration.

Even if you don't have the equipment to make a film with them, maybe you could do some play-writing? Or do a film club and do reviews and analysis etc?

TY has the scope to me more creative than the LC and lets you as a teacher have some fun. What are you interested in??

Also I love, love children's books/ graphic novels. TY would be a great place to do a short course on these kinds of books. Someone like Shaun Tan makes books that are childlike in nature, but contain strong themes.


Or, do a creative writing project? They write a story over a period of time, rather than the 'throw it down quick' kinda thing they might be used to from JC. The story could be accompanied by: an illustration they've done/ review others' stories/create a book jacket for their story/ have to create a sales pitch for their work/ make a mock film trailer of the story. Gaaaa! The list is endless.

A group of TY's from a Dublin school have a book of stories published called, Not Yet Told. As part of TY, they took workshops at Fighting Words in Dublin. At the end, each had a finished story to put into a collection. Nice idea, could be done on a smaller scale. Sometimes I read these to kids if I'm subbing and we talk about how they could be improved etc. Seeing a peer's story in print could be a nice motivation for some.


What about a project on the history of the English language? There are some great video from the BBC I think on YouTube about the evolution of the language. Might be too boring for some though...

Or a project on a favorite author etc? X -factor style author mash - ups?


Maybe some of those are useful? I think my brain is in overdrive. Someone give me a job! lol!

GaleStorm

Thank you so much Heydeldel! These are some brilliant ideas...I'm definitely gonna use some of them!I hope you get sorted with a job. I'm doing the PDE at the moment and not looking forward to looking for one!



Thanks thesimpsons I'll look into how much or little the school want to start into the LC course... hopefully not too much, would be nice to have some fun!

tbahh

Too much time is focussed on all the texts in Leaving Cert and less is given to Paper One. Perhaps help them concentrate on their writing and encourage them to improve it. Perhaps do a competition where they have to write a short story, analyse a certain topic, etc.. Personally, I'd do something that is short in terms of texts like poetry or even reading short stories. When I was in TY, we did have English but it was crap. We had to do a novel but was never completed in class. Therefore, you could simply give them texts where they have to respond (like Section A of Paper One). Get them thinking.

GaleStorm

Have started doing Irish Books on Film with them. They seem interested. Should be interesting and fun. Gonna read sections of books then watch some of the film. So far have looked at Roddy Doyle "The Snapper". Going to move onto "The Field" today.

faughs

Hi Gale. I have both transition year groups in our place for English this year. I started off with creative writing in September and encouraged them to talk about things in their own life. I then moved on to poetry which seemed to really grab their interest. Then moved on to comparative studies. Have done quite a bit n strictly ballroom and I am currently looking at the the social settings in inside I'm dancing. Hope that helps...