Mr Heys' English/Drama Page

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:46:00.000-08:00

We will continue looking at the extracts from The Crucible, and do a comparative commentary Friday. Remember: written tasks must be finished soon.

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:44:00.000-08:00

We will start Miss Julie and Medea, as well as taking a look at The Outsider.

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

You will start your projects on an aspect of language today and start preparing for your new boook presentation.

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

We will start on the coursework proper. And look at some of the poems we have neglected.

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

Continuing A View from the Bridge, plus a surprise workshop.

Week Seventeen

2009-01-19T03:37:00.000-08:00

Expect to do some talking and writing about your Christmas holdays! And there will be a focus on grammar the rest of the week, but we will be starting a new class reader.

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:49:00.000-08:00

Going over the examination. Looking at examination questions. Choosing topics for the written assignments.

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

Monday poem - a conceit - follow up work fro nexy Monday. We will be finishing Lolita and starting to look at Strindberg's Miss Julie - a 'naturalistic tragedy'. What could he mean by that?

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:44:00.002-08:00

You have another book project to complete, and we will be looking at some basic linguistics in class, with a language project for you to follow.

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:44:00.001-08:00

Enjoy the exams!

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:42:00.000-08:00

I want you to finish looking at the short plays you were working on last term. We will also start looking at a longer play together in class.

Week Sixteen

2009-01-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

Have a good skiing trip!

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:48:00.001-08:00

Exams most of the week. Good luck.

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:46:00.000-08:00

Monday poems - two Christmas poems for anlysis. Looking at extracts from Lolita. Holiday assignments.

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:45:00.001-08:00

Finishing your essays on The Catcher in the Rye. Choosing a book for the holiday and related project.

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:44:00.001-08:00

Continuing with your projects. Looking at the exams.

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:43:00.000-08:00

Monologues round two. And working more on your group pieces.

Week Fifteen

2008-12-14T01:41:00.000-08:00

We will have a special Christmas film with worksheets in the second half of the week. Remember that I need to know what topics you are presenting after Christmas.

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

We will go through some extracts from The Crucible some more and prepare for the mock exam essay.

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Lolita continues - be prepared to look in detail at a series of extracts. We may start another play - your choice. Essay on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to be set.

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Some presentations to finish. We will also look at the themes of The Catcher in the Rye and start preparing for an essay due by the end of term.

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:29:00.002-08:00

New reading groups start as well as other project and topic groups. Individual readers and grammar or language options are also available.

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:29:00.001-08:00

Monologues this week - be prepared!

Week Fourteen

2008-12-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

Some reading diaries are still due - make sure I get them Tuesday. Lesson over the next couple of weeks will be mainly grammar and reading.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

Essay writing continues and we should finish The Crucible, Expect an essay invloving the themes of the play to be assigned this weeek.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:37:00.000-08:00

We will start Lolita this week and finish Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and (I hope) Antigone.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:35:00.000-08:00

We will continue with The Catcher in the Rye, discussing themes and preparing for an essay on this to be given in next week.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:34:00.001-08:00

We will continue reading The Real Inspector Hound on Monday and there are, of course, some presentations to finish.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:32:00.000-08:00

Remember that I want to see your monologues Wednesday and Thursday. I'll be giving you the criteria for these Tuesday.

Week Thirteen

2008-11-30T06:31:00.000-08:00

Reading diaries are due at the end of the week. We will be focusing on grammar this week.

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:34:00.000-08:00

We will look at scenes from The Crucible in greated depth and start to prepare for your exam at the end of term.

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:32:00.000-08:00

The Nineteen Eighty-Four oral presentations will continue Monday morning. the rest of the week will be taken up with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Antigone.

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

The Catcher in the Rye will be looked at in greated detail. You will be expected to prepare an oral based on an extract and we will looking at themes of the book as well.

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

Presentations continue and then we'll have a new round of topic/activitiy options to occupy us for the next few weeks.

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

History of drama continues and so do your monologues - get them committed to memory!

Week Twelve

2008-11-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

Your presentations will continue from Tuesday and will will focusing on grammar from the Headway book for the rest of the week.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

We will continue The Crucible, discussing its major themes and looking at how we might do an oral on a extract from it.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:34:00.000-08:00

Your short presentations on 1984 will take place and we will continue reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Antigone Friday.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

We will continued reading The Catcher in the Rye and doing grammar from the Headway book. Your essays on Holden are due Tuesday.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

Presentations all week. Essays due.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Monologues mst be chosen by Tyesday and you will have time Wednesday to practise them. History of theatre will be rehearsing the Greek stuff on Thursday and the mystery plays.

Week Eleven

2008-11-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

This week will be taken up mainly with your presentations. Please be ready with those and your pieces of writing about them.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

We will continue reading The Crucible this week and practice orals will also continue.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

Expect and essay for Nineteen Eighty-Four to be set this week. Jack will do his talk on Goldsetin's book and Monday will involve an extract from Fra Lippo Lippi for you to comment on. The cat is still on the roof and will be there Wednesday. Antigone Friday - Creon as a tragic figure.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Grammar with Headway continues. And we shall start looking at The Catcher in the Rye in depth - read it.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

You projects should be well underway and your short piece of writing about the American elections is due Friday.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

We need to wok out in detail how the next scene of our history will look - the Greeks. Also, remember that your scenarios must be ready by Tuesday.

Week Ten

2008-11-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

We will go over the grammar that was set for the holiday in full and you will continue reading from Completely Unexpected Tales and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You will have time on Friday to finish your presentations.

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

First drafts of written assignments are due. Get on with it, please. We will start looking at The Crucible and keep practising for the written commentary. Have a nice break!

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

Monday morning will be poetry/Browning morning and this Monday we will look at a short poem from Mr Poe the poet. Cat on Hot Tin Roof will be our drama and we will bash though Antigone (poor girl)as fast as we can. Macbeth essays are due and we will continue with Nineteen Eighty-Four - please look at links opposite. Have a nice break!

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:31:00.000-07:00

We will continue and finsh our presenations, which will all be graded. Then we will start looking at the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Grammar from the Headway book continues.

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

Keep following your news story. On the right in an excellent link from the BBC that tells you about the various 'battleground' (why in the media are these elections always talked about in terms of being a war?) states and how they may vote. (Note the number of Elctoral College votes each state has.) Historically, southern states voted Democrat solidly and would have done so in Atticus Finch's days, but this started to change in the post-Second-World-War period. How is this accounted for in social, economic, political and demographic terms? As well as your news story, start preparing for you projects, which will start as soon as we get back. Have a nice break!

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:17:00.000-07:00

We will continue creating our group-devised piece and also look at Commedia dell' Arte as a performance style and how to do it. To prepare, look at the links on the left of the page: information about Commedia and a video of how it looks. Have a nice break!

Week Nine

2008-10-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

Remember: you must have read The Hitch-hiker and answered the questions and written the summary. If you feel that you can, try reading two other stories of your choice and write fifty-word summaries for each. Also, you are to do the exercises from the first two pages of Headway Upper-Intermediate - tenses overview and forming passives. Have a nice break!

Week Eight

2008-10-18T01:16:00.000-07:00

Another comparative commentary and (as requested) we will do the orals together. We will definitely start a new book. A reminder: a first draft of your written tasks is due after the half-term break.

Week Eight

2008-10-18T01:09:00.001-07:00

We must look at Fra Lippo Lippi on Monday and I'll give you some more essay questions on Macbeth as well. We'll start looking at Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Nineteen Eighty-Four and finish (it is to be hoped) Agamemnon Friday.

Week Eight

2008-10-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

We will continue with the grammar work, but prentations on your book choice will start as well. There will be half-term-break project to be talked through as well.

Week Eight

2008-10-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

Your presentations will be taking place and your book choice essays are due. A series of new topics will also be introduced and you holiday project will involve following a news story: the US presidential election. More during the week.

Week Eight

2008-10-18T01:02:00.000-07:00

We are going to recap all we've done on the history of drama in the past few weeks and try to put it together into a performance piece.

Week Eight

2008-10-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

Your presentations will continue and we are going do some practice with the grammar points we covered last Friday: verb patterns. All essays on your topics are due Monday and reading diaries are due Thursday.

Week Seven

2008-10-11T02:12:00.000-07:00

Andrea del Sarto Monday. Then you will continue working on your chosen extracts from Macbeth for presentation. Agamemnon should be close to finishing by Friday. We must start looking at a novel or short stories - I'm happy for to decide which to do first of all.

Week Seven

2008-10-11T02:11:00.000-07:00

We will wrap up Gatsby this week and look further into The Crucible. Expect to have practice orals toward the end of the week.

Week Seven

2008-10-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

Your reading project contnues: start to collect material for your presentation. Grammar work continues frow Headway Upper-Intermediate.

Week Seven

2008-10-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

reading projects continue and, at last, we start on The Lord of the Flies. I will be giving you some notes on chapter one and ask you to produce similar work on subsequent chapters. We will look at the next poem on the list: Hone Tuwhare: Monologue. We will also start looking at language in general and English in particular.

Week Seven

2008-10-11T02:02:00.000-07:00

More songs! We move on to the Mystery Plays by devising our own versions of stories from the Bible, using puppets etc. Expect some Gregorian Chant!

Week Seven

2008-10-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

You have your projects that you have to hand in on Thursday and you should be on a new English reader as well. In grammar we are going to focus on future forms, particularly going to and will and the differences between them and when they are used. Expect a test on this!

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

I will be asking for outlines of your Written Tasks by the end of the week. We will be doing some close reading of some extracts from Gatsby and start looking at The Crucible by Friday.

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

Monday will involve looking at the final two poems from the worksheet I gave you. Macbeth continues and it would be nice to get near to finishing Agamemnon this week; keep thinking about likely esay topics for World Literature. Your Frankenstein analysis is due by the end of the week.

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

We will finish with Inherit the Wind this week and do some other reading around the topic. Also, you will start a reading project based on a book of your choice (with my approval). Grammar work will continue with the next unit of Headway Upper-Intermediate.

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

Continue with reading project. We will look at the Arthur Hugh Clough poem Monday and start some group work on The Lord of the Flies. Watching and discussing Romeo and Juliet continues.

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

We will want to look both of our short Greek plays in a bit of detail and start looking at Medieval drama with a view to performing our own mystery play, with singing and puppetry! Also, we will continue looking at dialogues and interpreting them.

Week Six

2008-10-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

You've got lots to do! First of all, your reading diaries are to be handed in this week - Thursday at the latest. Then you go and choose another book. Also, you are to continue with your project work - I want to know exactly what you are doing and how you are looking at your project on Tuesday. Grammar work continues.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

We'll go through the questions on advertising on Monday and Tuesday and spend the rest of the week looking at Gatsby in detail - get it read! We'll start a new work Friday - it'll be a play as we have to have a variety of genres for the oral commentary.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Monday will be taken up with discussing how we could write a commentary on the Frankenstein extract. You will be writing one and then I'll give you a model one to compare it with. Macbeth, of course, continues as does Agamemnon Friday (with the somewhat better translation). I'll be giving you copies of a couple of Browning poems for study at home.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

We will be finishing off Inherit the Wind with some notes on the trial and the effcts it has had since it happened. I will want you to produce a piece of journalistic writing on the trial.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:41:00.001-07:00

make sure that you have Romeo and Juliet read up to act one, scene four. I'll will be giving you work to do on The Lord of the Flies, its structure and themes. Your comparative essay on The Crucible and A View from the Bridge is due Monday.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:39:00.000-07:00

Don't forget your masks for this week! We will be finishing off our short Greek drama productions and looking in some detail at Greek theatre, what it looked like and how it worked.

Week Five

2008-09-27T02:36:00.000-07:00

We will be looking at the past perfect tense from the Headway book. There will be a little test on this towards the end of the week. You should be reading your new library book and preparing to write a new diary entry for it. I will introduce a new project as well this week based on a topic of your choice.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

Remember that you are to look at examples of advertising to answer the questions form the worksheet we were looking at Friday. Most of this week will concentrate on The Great Gatsby, looking at likely extracts for commentary. Friday afternoon will be taken up with either your writing an analysis of a Gatsby extract, or doing a past paper comparative commentary - your choice.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

We will look at poetry more closely on Monday with a worksheet on it. The middle part of the work will be taken up with Macbeth (class reading)and we will return to Agamemnon Friday. Start to think about the type of essay you would like to write for the World Literature assignment. To find out now what the options are look at the IB A1 link on this page.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:40:00.001-07:00

We will come near to finishing Inherit the Wind as a class reader and look at some other writing about the trial. Grammar work will continue from the Headway book.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Remember that there is a essay due on Thursday (The Crucible and A View from the Bridge compared). We will go back to looking at the the IGCSE poetry list and continue reading Romeo and Juliet. Homework will be on The Lord of the Flies.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

A little bit more ritual - we need to decide which ritual we can use for our drama piece. Also, we need to look at a couple of Greek myths/legends to decide how we can present them on stage. As homework I'd like you to make yourself a simple mask and think about how you would act with it.

Week Four

2008-09-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

In our grammar lessons we will be looking at the differences between the past simple and past continuous tenses (Headway, unit 3). Remember that you must get yourself a new library book by this week that you will have to write about it in your reading diaries. We will have a test on irregular past tenses towards the end of the week and a quick test on past simple vs past continuous.

Week Three

2008-09-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

We will be looking at a list of literary terms and start to decide how to use them when talking about literature in your oral assessments. Don't forget to bring a favouite poem with you for analysis. We will continue with Macbeth as far as Duncan's murder. I'll be doing a short talk of scansion in verse and how it affects the reading of a poem.

Week Three

2008-09-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

We will continue the topic of propaganda, looking at how some propaganda techniques work, particulary with regard to advertising. We will look closley at the first part of The Great Gatsby for themes and character portrayal and try to define Fitzgerald's style and how to describe it.

Week Three

2008-09-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

We will continue looking at Inherit the Wind, reading from our copies and watching the film. I will expect you to write some short character studies of the main people involved and we will look a bit further into the issues surrounding the play. There will be a language focus on compound nouns and auxiliary verbs.

Week Three

2008-09-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

We will continue reading A View from the Bridge and should finish it. We will then discuss the main themes and tie these in with the themes of The Crucible. Expect that you will have short essay to write on the treatment of a common theme. Make sure that you have finished reading The Lord of the Flies. I will be giving you some work to do on this.

Week Three

2008-09-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

The monkeys will evolve this week and will start to perform rituals to the gods of your choice. You will have to devise your own ritual. Think about the elements that rituals contain and how we can put them on stage. In our classroom lesson we will be working from the first chapter of our drama textbook.

Week Three

2008-09-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

Remember that you should be working on your reading diaries, as well as renewing any books you have finished. We will be focusing on grammar again this week, looking again at articles and how they are used in English. Also, we should be introducing to you a new project.

Week Two

2008-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

We will contnue looking at The Great Gatsby and explore the main ideas of the book and how the charcters are presented. Also, I expect to see more detailed evidence of holiday study and for you to start presenting your findings on the theme of pulp fiction. In addition, we will start looking at the language/media and culture theme of propaganda.

Week Two

2008-09-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

We will be looking at poetry in general and going back to look a little more closely at Browning's My Last Duchess and the relationship bewteen the verse form and charcterisation. We will continue reading Agamemnon and exploring potential WL essay questions. Also, we will start looking at Macbeth and its major themes and preoccupations.

Week Two

2008-09-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

We will continue with Inherit the Wind, reading the play and watching the film. We will also be looking at grammar from the Headway book, starting with a review of tenses.

Week Two

2008-09-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

We will continue looking at The Lord of the Flies and A View form the Bridge in class. Please look at the links for both these works on this page. Also, we must go back to looking at poetry in general with some worksheets on it. We will also be looking as short passages for comprehension and summary practice.

Week Two

2008-09-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

We will watch the second groups 'Showroom Dummies' presentation. Also, we will start looking at the history of drama and how to do that as a stage presentation as well as looking at some theatrical terms in our classroom lesson.

Week Two

2008-09-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

We will be looking at how to keep a journal for your book as well as continuing to look at grammar from the Headway book: making questions and negatives and the differences between present simple and present continuous.

Week One

2008-06-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Be prepared to finish the presentations we started at the end of last year. Plus, I will also expect you to have ready your work on pulp fiction. We will start looking at the media and culture option and the language and culture option in more detail. I will expect you to do some reaserch into the history of your own language and present your findings. Furthermore, we will be looking at propaganda as an option - look at the links on the right and think about what propaganda has meant in the modern world and the techniques used. For example, the clip from Triumph of the Will features a speech by Hitler at a Hitler Youth gathering. Look at the way Hitler delivers his speech and its contents - how does he make what he does effective? What does the director of the film do to help his message?

Week One

2008-06-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

You should have done the summer reading that I gave you. We will start by looking at the exam and what is expected of you. We will also look at Greek drama - starting with Agamemnon. Have a look at the links on the right for the IB programmes and information about Greek tragedy.

Week One

2008-06-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Much of the work that you will do this year will be in preparation for the IB. We will be looking at a number of works of literature, with a focus on poetry and developing a personal response to what you read. We will also be looking at analysing various different types of texts and how to write effectively about them.

Week One

2008-06-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yous should have read The Lord of the Flies in the summer. Be prepared to discuss the book in class. What do you thinks its main themes are? Look at the links on the right for information about the book. We will also continue looking at poetry and working through the booklet I gave you last year.