A Level English Literature:
What texts do we cover?
Across the 2 years you will cover:
- Othello – William Shakespeare
- The Duchess of Malfi – John Webster
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
- John Donne: Selected poems
- Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry
- A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams and another text of your choice for coursework
What should I start reading?
It would be great if you could start to read Othello, as that’s the text we’ll start with in September. We recommend the Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare: Othello. You could start by thinking about the main themes in the play and some of the key images Shakespeare uses to explore these ideas.
A Level English Language and Literature:
What texts do we cover?
Across the 2 years you will cover:
- An anthology of speech and writing where you look at how different voices are created. We will provide you with this.
- The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
- The Whitsun Weddings – Philip Larkin
- A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams
What should I start reading?
Anything and everything! In English Language and Literature we look at writing and speech in all its different forms and genres. To get a head start, we recommend you read magazine and newspaper articles which interest you, perhaps search out a couple of interesting blogs and even try and discover a genre of literature you might want to explore in your coursework (horror? thriller? romance?). By reading widely and by reading different kinds of texts you will come to the course with a wider vocab and a greater knowledge of how writers use language to achieve different effects.
A Level English Language:
Here are some really useful book for getting ahead in English Language
- AQA English Language: A Level and AS (AQA A Level English Language) by Dan Clayton, Angela Goddard et al.
- The Language of Literature (Cambridge Topics in English Language) by Marcello Giovanelli
A Level Spanish
Lower Sixth
In your first year we study the film ‘El Laberinto del fauno’. Now would be a great time to watch this film!
Alongside this you could read the Hodder ‘A Level MFL film study guide- Laberinto del Fauno’- Jose Sánchez, that will help you analyse in Spanish key themes and techniques used by the director. The director Guillermo del Toro with Cornelia Funke have also written a novel based on the film ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’.
To understand the context behind the film and gain a deeper understanding of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship you could read:
- Ghosts of Spain- Giles Tremlett
- The Spanish Holocaust- Paul Preston
- The Spanish Civil War- Paul Preston
Upper Sixth
In second year we will study ‘Como Agua para el Chocolate’ by Laura Esquivel. This can be read in your native language first (free PDF copies online).This is usually set during the summer holidays at the end of the first year. We will also use the Hodder ‘A level MFL literature study guide- Como Agua para chocolate’-Sebastián Bianchi. You will also need a Spanish copy of the novel.
To understand the context behind the novel and gain a deeper understanding of the Mexican Revolution you could read:
- The Mexican Revolution- a short history 1910-1920- Stuart Easterling
- Zapata of Mexico- Peter E. Newell
A Level French LOWER SIXTH In Lower Sixth we study the film ‘La haine’. Now would be a great time to watch this film! You can access it online here: http://pjesme.online/la-haine-1995-with-english-subtitles_4668982c1.html Alongside this you could read the Hodder ‘A Level MFL film study guide- La haine’- Karine Harrington, that will help you analyse in French key themes and techniques used by the director. To understand the context behind the film and its social significance, you could read the following: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/03/la-haine-film-sequel-20-years-on-france https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/la-haine-mathieu-kassovitz https://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/twenty-years-of-hate-why-la-haine-is-more-timely-than-ever-24180/
UPPER SIXTH In Upper Sixth we will study ‘No et moi’ by Delphine de Vigan, published in 2007. This can be read in your native language first (free PDF copies online). This is usually set during the summer holidays at the end of the first year. We will also use the Hodder ‘A level MFL literature study guide- No et moi’- Karine Harrington. You will also need a French copy of the novel. The themes of this novel are linked to those of the course, but to read further on the theme of adolescence in literature, you could read:
|