IGCSE With Mrs C

Hello everyone, As we shed our school bags and timetables, this can be a lovely moment to pick up a book ... I've just finished Michael Morpungo 's Born to Run (as I saw him give an online reading only last night! it was fab) and have started Rachel Joyce's The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (which I am enjoying greatly). So what's the best way to choose what to read this summer? Well, the best is always to go into a bookshop! There are plenty in Strasbourg, but a good starting point is always Librairie Kleber , and especially their International bookshop (which is next to Starbucks and Apple store). Most second-hand bookshops also have an English book section. Another way is to go through Reading Lists. For example, NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels Goodread's Summer Reading List  (which has Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a favourite of mine at the top of the list). Here Random House's " high school reading list " ... ...

If you've ever thought of approaching literature from a historical approach (English through the ages, if you like) or from a thematic approach (Romantic, realism, Naturalism), this website is a great starting point. The site considers the different literary periods, and is really very thorough: Literary Periods Renaissance Literature The Enlightenment Romanticism Transcendentalism Victorian Literature Realism Naturalism Modernism Bloomsbury Group Existentialism Beat Generation English Literature History From the Conquest to Chaucer 1066-1400 From Chaucer to Spenser 1400-1599 The Age of Shakespeare 1564-1616 The Age of Milton 1608-1674 From the Restoration to the Death of Pope 1660-1744 The Death of Pope to the French Revolution 1744-1789 The French Revolution to the Death of Scott 1789-1832 From the Death of Scott to the Present Time 1832-1893 Appendix American Literature History Preface The Colonial Period 1607-1765 The Revolutio...

Dear students, For our last WhatsApp meetings of the year, I thought we would shake things up a little! Let's play "21 Questions"! What's the concept? Well, the game is pretty simple.... we ask each other a set list of questions that should help us to explore our opinions about life, the universe and everything. But we don't have time to answer 21 questions in 30 minutes and, Mrs C, don't you know your classes always run over the allotted time? Yes, I know... which is why I would like you to prepare the following steps before class. 1. Read through the list of 21 questions at the bottom of this page. 2. Choose 5 questions you would like to ask the people in your WhatsApp group. 3.  Consider how you might answer the other questions... 4. Turn up for class ! Here is the list: 21 Questions List 1. How would you sum up your life in one sentence? 2. What should they teach in high school but don’t? 3. What inscription do you want on your gr...

Hello everyone, I have a little tradition at the end of each year.... I ask everyone to take 20-30 minutes and to write a letter to our future Pontonniers students. What do I mean? Well, at this very moment, over a hundred students in troisième are enrolled to join us in September and have no doubt a full range of thoughts and emotions about what September will bring. Consequently, I would like to invite you to write a letter to one of those students with the idea that they will receive your letter in September 2020, during their first week at Pontonniers. The moment when they receive the letters is really lovely, and so I would love for you to email me a letter I could print and pass on. What can you write in the letter? The key is that I don't read the letters and so you shouldn't at all write to me or for me. The idea is that you welcome them to the English section and to Pontonniers and give them an introduction to the school. You can describe yourself and ...

Hello everyone, as we begin to close up the school year, I would like you to look at the following ten poems and decide which two or three you like more than the others . In our small groups, we can then discuss which ones you liked and why. In addition, in the comments section of the blog, you can leave poems that you like or images that you feel link into the poems listed (a painting that you feel evokes the words of a poem etc). Poem One  This poem - William Blake 's The Tyger - can be found on this page . Why do you have to find the poem within a list of the "Ten Greatest Poems"? Because this page exemplifies the idea that so much of what we study in school and uphold in society is written by 'dead, white European men". Their work is fantastic, don't get me wrong (I've dedicated my life to studying and teaching their words). However, sometimes we have to lift our head up off the page and see what else is out there.  Poem Two Ready to s...

To make it clear, your homework for this week is to read these 2 short stories and be ready to discuss: Read  GIRL  by  Jamaica Kincaid Read  SWEETNESS  by  Toni Morrison However, in order to really engage with the material, why not (before and afterwards) read through this blog I've just written.... --- Dear students of 2IGCSE1, 2AGA, 1AGA, 1AGD: As you are all fully aware, I have changed this week's programme to give us time to reflect upon the important call for change that is being made just now not only in American but all around the world. The Black Lives Matter 's movement is vast and complex and important, and worth engaging in whatever your mindset and preconceptions of self-worth. As with any movement, one can enter by many doors. As a white women, I only have limited rights and only so much say in the matter; however, that is a good thing!  This is not my turn to talk but to listen. As I have already said to so many of you, ...

Hello, As discussed during our online classes, I would like you to read a short story by my dear friend Leah H. and reflect upon her writing style and the messages contained within her work. Here's the link to her writer's page:  https://leahkhampton.com/ If you are shocked by the name of her upcoming book, I am sorry but I also encourage you to read the short story for which the book is named before drawing your final conclusions.  However, the story we are going to discuss is called BOOMER and can be found here:  https://issuu.com/eastcarolina/docs/2018_nclr_online_issue-final/40 North Carolina Literary Review Online 2018 p 40-47. If you can't read the online version, I can email you the pdf version (just email me). As you are reading, I would like you to consider her characters, the setting and symbolism. Suggestions: take notes for each of the characters, find quotes that seem particularly meaningful, and look for the symbols. Write down your ideas an...