Year 10/11 English
READING TASKS
Lord of the Flies
Read The Lord of the Flies by William Golding's to develop your understanding of post-war literature.
Skilfully exploring the tension between individuality and conformity, the desire for civilisation versus the lust for power, it is unsurprising that William Golding's debut novel went on to become such a triumph.
A plane crashes on a desert island, and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assembles on the beach and waits to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys’ delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's six volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement, and celebration.
In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s.
White Teeth
Read White Teeth by Zadie Smith
White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-listen.
The Kite Runner
Read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara - a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations.
Wuthering Heights
Read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's foster son, Heathcliff.
Journals
Access articles on texts you have read in Emag and The Literature Review magazines in the library.
Opinion pages
Read articles from The Guardian opinion page - share and discuss with friends.
The gothic
Read a gothic novel to further your understanding of the genre. This website has some good suggestions.
WRITING TASKS
Blog
Write a blog on an issue or subject that is important to you. Use websites such as this to understand how to write a successful blog.
Write an article
Write an article on an issue that is important to you and send to
office@stratton.school
to have it included in an upcoming parental newsletter.LISTENING TASKS
TED talks
Listen to a TED talk to develop your understanding of literature.
WATCHING TASKS
An Inspector Calls
Watch a performance of An Inspector Calls on Digital Theatre + and explore the resources they offer to enrich your understanding of the play.
Amateur theatre
Engage with local amateur theatre.
Watch a production
Macbeth
Watch a performance of Macbeth on Digital Theatre + and explore the resources they offer to enrich your understanding of the play.
Or
Using suggestions from This article, The Guardian watch an alternative cinematic adaptation.
Love & Relationship Poem
Explore the resources available on Digital Theatre + to enrich your understanding of the AQA Love & Relationships poems.
Jekyll & Hyde
.Watch a stage adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde on Digital Theatre + and explore the resources they offer to enrich your understanding of the novella.
Shakespearean tragedy
Watch an alternative Shakespearean tragedy on Digital Theatre+ such as King Lear, Othello or Hamlet.
Attend a Massolit Lecture
Massolit works with university academics to produce high-quality curriculum linked video lectures for GCSE students.
Students need to login using their sandstorm email.
RESEARCH TASKS
Murder mystery genre
Research the murder mystery genre looking in particular at murder mystery plays. Find out when were they popular, who wrote the most and learn about typical themes.
British Library research
Research a genre or writer of your choice using information on the British Library website: Discovering Literature
TRIPS AND VISITS
Places of literary interest
Using this link for ideas, visit a place of literary interest such as Roald Dahl’s house in Buckinghamshire or the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London.
Biggleswade
Take a walk around Biggleswade and write creatively about what you see.
British Library talks
Attend a free talk at The British Library: Whats On
STUDENT LED TASKS
Contact an author
Contact a writer via Twitter, their website or by letter to ask thoughtful questions about their work.
