13 minute read
Faculty focus
F ACULTY FOCU S
Rachel Holland with a Year 13 English class.
ENGLISH
Unlike any other subject, the English curriculum requires teachers to foster an enjoyment of language and literature. This is a challenge we in Patteson Building take very seriously.
Reading and writing are at the core of what we do, and we showcase some striking writing from students here.
Communication also happens in oral and visual forms, so both are part of the
English curriculum. We celebrate the oral aspect of our curriculum through the annual speech competitions for
Years 7 to 10, with the winners speaking at Full School Assemblies. This is done to reinforce the importance of speaking well in today’s world. Developing and defending strong opinions, through the construction of persuasive argument is integral to the English curriculum, which is why we support debating and mooting. Unfortunately mooting fell victim to COVID-19 in 2020 but debating simply moved online.
All our teachers are outstanding, and we feature one in particular at present. Rachel Holland is making waves nationally with her writing and presentations. Colleague Michael
O’Brien comments: “As a now parttime English teacher, I sit back in awe at how full-timers manage the whirlwind. Rachel Holland takes the job to cyclonic proportions. She has wisdom and skills beyond her years, a passion for texts that challenge and turn children into citizens, and she delivers so emphatically in the classroom. She still has time to share her thoughts in
English in Aotearoa, as well as offering resources and national workshops for
NZATE (New Zealand Association for
Teachers of English). And then she still has time for Sudoku at morning break!”
Here is an excerpt from Rachel’s latest article on using sociology to support critical thinking in the English classroom:
“For our students, giving them the vocabulary to differentiate between the external forces a character feels in unison or in conflict with, can open up deeper pathways of investigation and insight. Vocabulary used throughout sociology, with which we can equip our students, includes: • norms (the expected patterns of
behaviour associated with societies and social roles), • values (the lasting beliefs around what is desirable and undesirable to a culture or society), • socialisation (the process of learning society’s norms and values), • value consensus (the agreement around shared values by a group, whether all or a select few on behalf of all).”
Spoken word, Tournament of Minds, Writing Club, Lit Club, Lit Quiz, debating, mooting, Spelling Bee … so many ways to have serious fun in P Block – come and check us out!
Year 11 debaters From left to right: Sarah Wong, Riya Raniga and Riya Puja.
LOCKDOWN
While in lockdown, the subject of English had to reshape itself within the codes of MS Teams chats. Often a place where discussion or argument can be found at the heart of the classroom, this was hard to do. Some of the spontaneity and fun was lost through the delay, dodgy wifi and circumspect students who didn’t want to reveal the insides of their bedrooms or the cut of their pyjamas. Not so for some debaters!
One of our premier junior debating teams took up the opportunity to move it online, taking part in the first nationwide competition – using
Zoom. The Year 11 students Riya Punja, Riya Raniga and Sarah Wong ‘met’ two to three times a week to practise how to approach a moot, and what the potential lines of argument could be, and then competed against students from all over New Zealand, often debating against teams from more senior competitions. The moots were relevant to our times – such as ‘This house would prevent emergency workers from striking’ to ‘This house would ban contact sports’. They report that it was a strange experience, especially not being able to talk to each other across the tables to plan rebuttal. They had half the normal time to prepare their case but said that in fact debating online took away some of the exposure a speaker can feel in front of an audience. The comfort of quarantine had at least some advantages. Our team performed creditably, coming away with three wins out of five rounds. We are tremendously proud of their gumption and grit and wish them well as they return to the Auckland Schools’ Debating competition, which restarted, albeit online, in June.
LOOKING FORWARD TO TERM 3
When the Dio community comes together to support a cause or issue, we bond as a collective and get to share in creating wonderful memories. In the English Department no goal feels more significant than fostering a lifelong love for reading, which sadly is often in direct competition with visual media rather than being enjoyed alongside it.
And thus, English Week was born – an opportunity for senior campus students to share their love of reading and join in engaging with the wide variety of ways that they access this passion in daily life, often without even realising it.
English Week in 2019 was a resounding success, with both students and faculty engaging and sharing in their passion for everything literature. Students were thrilled by teachers, beyond just the English Faculty, sharing their favourite novels from their own childhoods, as well as what they were currently reading. These recommendations given for all ages began meaningful conversations across many subject areas and highlighted to students that reading is not just for those who study literature.
Another highlight of the week came in the form of the shared reading time when senior student librarians formed reading circles. Junior High School students were able to join in and hear the senior students read aloud from their favourite childhood novels. This sparked a regular time for this activity throughout the remainder of the 2019 school year, as students became enthralled in senior students’ recounting of Harry Potter’s school years, and Bilbo Baggins’ action-packed adventure from Hobbiton.
Finally, the Scavenger Hunt provided the most blood-pumping activity, and the most anticipated event of 2019’s English Week. During this Scavenger Hunt poetic clues were posted around the School, leading students on a hunt based on the solutions: the name of a famous novel and its associated location, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory hidden in the Cafeteria. Students went on a mad dash around the senior campus, and especially enjoyed the Dio references, like a copy of Scarface Claw hidden next to a sleeping Ollie outside School House.
Based on the success of English Week 2019, the English Department is thrilled to announce our second iteration, occurring in Term 3 Week 6 for Senior School students. The most popular activities, as above, will be repeated for the Junior High and Senior students, while new events will be introduced to engage even more of the Dio community. We are looking forward to having another opportunity to share our passion for literature and reading with you, and we can’t wait to see the enthusiasm and engagement that the students will bring.
STUDENT WORK
Here we share some examples of our student work for your enjoyment.
DoN’T TuRn A BlInD EyE
Static image commentary
The key theme of my static image is that we as humans cannot turn a blind eye to the destruction of the earth. People are choosing to ignore their negative impact on the environment and the irreversible damages caused. We cannot go on living in blissful ignorance while the earth deteriorates until the point when it’s too late. This message is clearly conveyed using a series of visual techniques. the viewer and emphasise the extent of environmental damage. In the image the woman is refusing to see a landscape polluted with environmental issues and only focusing on a clean, green landscape. Her closed eye is a visual metaphor showing her choice to ignore the environmental issues facing the earth. She is turning a blind eye to industrial developments, landfills and pollution. I make this scene appear even more negative by removing all colour. Black and white give off emotions of sadness, lifelessness and destruction.
In contrast, the brightly coloured scene gives positive connotations – lands almost untouched by humans. Animals run free in this coloured scene, as symbols of happiness, freedom and a healthy lifestyle. In contrast a large rubbish tip and polluting factory cover the majority of the black and white scene, as symbols of industrial pollution and irreversible damage to the environment. An additional colour contrast used is the tone of the woman’s skin. The side closest to pollution is less vibrant, showing both despair and poor health, whereas the other half of the woman appears more healthy and happy based on her skin tone.
A final technique used is layering. The woman is placed on top of all the other images to portray the power of humans. Not only have we caused all this destruction, but we are also the only ones with the power to fix it.
Ivy wows with her narrative writing
For a recent assessment, Year 8 student Ivy Barrington produced a piece of writing that has warmed the hearts and wet the eyes of all of those who have read it. Her piece, The Butterfly Brooch, is a thoughtful and earnest piece about what it means to grieve, and how we are able to remember those we love when they are not with us.
THE BUTTERFLY BROOCH
When Grandma Anne died, Nina felt as if her whole life had been swallowed up by the dark empty space that was constantly chasing her.
She watched the raindrops race each other down the car window and smiled sadly at the memory of her and Grandma Anne betting sweets on which raindrop would win in the taxi ride to their hotel in London. As the car pulled into the driveway, Nina felt a slight flutter of light in her stomach, but it was squashed down by the realisation that her grandmother wouldn’t be there to greet her.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right sweetie?” her mother asked as she opened the car door. Nina nodded, and began to walk up the three small wooden steps. The same three steps where Grandma Anne had bandaged her leg up after she grazed her knee. She knocked on the door with a heavy heart, and seconds later Grandpa Sal opened it and wrapped his arms around her. “Hi Grandpa!” It felt good to embrace him, he who felt the same sorrow she did.
After tea and cakes, Nina politely excused herself. She ran her hands up the cool smooth bannister. The atmosphere just wasn’t right without Grandma. She walked over to the small antique cabinet and picked up the photo of her and Grandma Anne at the park, feeding the ducks, and touched the cheerful, loving face behind the glass. “Oh, how I miss you Grandma.” Suddenly, she remembered the attic filled with boxes of old love letters and photos. She reached for the cord, dangling above her head and pulled hard. Cautiously, Nina climbed the steps and hoisted herself up into the old musty room. It was just as she remembered: letters, photos, old war medals. Nina moved over to a box and as she carefully lifted the heap of letters from the top, something shiny caught her eye. A brooch, possibly belonging to her grandmother. She picked it up and was filled with a strong connection, as if her Grandma Anne was there. And suddenly, without warning she was in a garden. Not any garden, but Grandma Anne’s garden from when she was a little girl. Nina had seen it in photos. She was shocked but somehow felt as if she were in the right place, as if she was meant to be there.
Dizzily, Nina picked herself up and started towards the veggie patch, as if she’d known the place her whole life. Vibrant spots of colour blowing in the breeze jumped out at her and a few bumble bees buzzed by. Nina breathed in the sweet-smelling air and felt as if that dark empty space had disappeared. Then, soft as ever, she heard a voice. She turned around but there was nothing there. “Nina!” she heard again and realised it was a little girl’s voice; her grandma’s voice. It was coming from behind the garden shed. Nina ran over and there was her grandma Anne as a little girl, playing with her puppy.
“Hello Nina!” the girl said.
“Don’t worry, everything’s fine. But to escape your past you must find the brooch, the matching brooch to the one you’re holding.”
Nina looked down and saw that she was still holding it, only now feeling the weight of it in her palm. “So, you mean to get out of here – the past – I need to find a brooch?”
Anne nodded.
It didn’t feel real. This was the sort of stuff that only happened in books. “But where is it?” Nina questioned.
Anne shrugged. “In your memories.” And with that the little girl skipped off, out of Nina’s grasp. She was gone, just like Grandma.
“In my memories, in my memories…” she recited. What had Grandma Anne told her when she showed Nina the photo? Grandma Anne did gymnastics on the lawn… that’s all Nina remembered. She racked her brain for hints about the brooch. Nina retraced the steps of her grandmother and walked over to the rose bushes. This was where Grandma Anne did cartwheels when she was bored. “Perhaps the brooch fell off there!” Nina exclaimed. She hurriedly got on her hands and knees and searched for it on the drying grass. Her eyes searched frantically but her mind stayed on one question. Did she really want to leave this garden, Grandma Anne’s past? She had felt such a strong connection here, such a strong feeling that the person she loved most would come back. Nina desperately wanted to escape that dark empty space, but would going back to the present make her forget about her grandmother? I must, she thought and determinedly marched over to the bird bath. Nina had been told that the bird bath was most fascinating to Anne. She would stand on her tippy-toes every day after school to take a peek at the tiny, winged creatures sipping happily. Staring into the murky water, Nina studied her reflection. It was nothing like how it used to be. She looked gloomy and upset instead of happy and curious. It was then that Nina noticed something. A shiny butterfly shape submerged in the water: the identical brooch to the other. Relieved, Nina put her hand into the cold water and looked around sadly. “Goodbye garden, goodbye Grandma.” And with a tear in her eyes, she picked up the wet, slimy brooch.
She was back in the present. Back in the attic of Grandpa Sal’s house. But instead of the sick feeling that she constantly had in her stomach, Nina felt fresh and new. All of the tense feelings and worries were gone, all left behind in Grandma Anne’s garden. The dark empty space was finally gone. The weight on her shoulders had been lifted. However much she missed Grandma, she had decided to move on. Not forget or stop loving her, just start a new chapter. Once again, she studied herself in the old round mirror hanging on the wall. Her cheeks were full of colour again and her short blonde hair was shining. And for the first time in months, she smiled.
