YEAR 12 ENGLISH
HOLIDAY HOMEWORK
2015
Teacher/Subject
Coordinator Contact:
Holiday Homework
Required:
Recommended Work:
Resources Required
for Subject:
Key Links:
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Read White Tiger
Complete this booklet
Read the following books and make brief summaries about the key
events of each text:
 The White Tiger (we start with this novel)
 Death of a Salesman
 Stasiland
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Paper
Pens
Highlighters
Previous exams and Examiners reports for English:
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/english/englishexams.aspx
Unit 3: Year 12 English - Calendar
WEEK
Class content
Homework &
Assessment
Skills
Homework due at or before the
beginning of class
1 Orientation
Orientation- ‘The White Tiger’.
Jan 28- Jan 30
2
Feb 2 - 6
3
Feb 9 - 13
Practice SAC ‘White Tiger’
4
Feb 16 - 20
‘White Tiger’ SAC Thursday
the 26th and Friday the 27th.
5
Feb 23 - 27
6
Commence ‘Death of a Salesman’ for
Whose Reality.
.
Mar 2 - 6
7Labour day
Mar 9 - 13
8
Mar 16 - 20
9
Mar 23 - 27
HOLIDAY
Whose Reality Practice
Persuasive SAC
10
April 13 - 17
11 Anzac day
Whose Reality Persuasive SAC
Thursday the 23rd and Friday
the 24th.
April 20 - 24
12
Using Language to Persuade
April 27 - May 1
13
May 4 - 8
14
Written Language Analysis
Essay SAC Monday the 11th
and Tuesday the 12th.
May 11 - 15
15
May 18 - 22
16
Oral presentations this week.
May 25 - 29
17
Exam revision.
June 1 - 5
GAT week
Queen’s birthday
June 8 - 12
Mid-Year English exam June 9th
Unit 4: Year 12 English - Calendar
WEEK
Class content
Skills
Homework &
Assessment
Homework due at or before the
beginning of class
1
View ‘Wag the Dog’.
June 15 – 19
2
Wag the Dog’
June 22 – 26
HOLIDAY
3
Wag the Dog’
July 13 – 17
4
Wag the Dog’
July 22 – 24
5
‘Wag the Dog’ Creative
piece Thursday 23rd and
Friday 24th.
Wag the Dog’
July 27 - 31
6
Wag the Dog’
Aug 3 – 7
7
‘Wag the Dog’ Expository
piece Thursday the 6th and
Friday 7th.
‘Stasiland’
Aug 10 – 14
8
Stasiland
Aug 17 – 21
9
Stasiland
Aug 24 – 28
10
Stasiland
Aug 31 – Sep 4
11
Stasiland
Sep 7 - 11
12
Stasiland
Sep 14 – 18
HOLIDAY
13
Oct 5 – 9
14
Exam Preparation
Exam Preparation
Oct 12 – 16
15
Oct 19 – 23
Exam Preparation
‘Stasiland’ textual
response due the 13th and
14th.
Year 12 English
UNITS 3 & 4 - Course Outline 2015
The Year 12 English course essentially prepares and assesses students for the three essays they
must write in their end of year exam: a text response essay (on either Stasiland or The White
Tiger), an essay analysing persuasive language and a piece of writing (imaginative, persuasive or
expository) on the Context ‘Whose Reality?’ Students must satisfactorily complete coursework
requirements and the SACs in order to pass each Unit of work.
Refer to the Study Design available on the VCAA website for details of the key knowledge and
skills for each Outcome in Units 3 & 4. Past exams, sample responses and other advice are also
available at this site.
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html
*Note: Dates and details of SACs are available on the college calendar which can be accessed
from the school website.
UNIT THREE
Reading and Responding
Outcome 1
Read and analyse the novel The White Tiger
Write an extended, supported text response essay.
Length: Four or more A4 sides (800-1000 words approximately)
Context: Whose Reality? Outcome 2
Study ideas about the Context Whose Reality in the play, Death of a Salesman and
supplementary texts.
Write a persuasive piece of writing in class on a ‘Whose Reality?’ prompt.
Students must also write an explanation of their purpose, audience and writing choices.
Length of piece: Four or more A4 sides (800-1000 words approximately)
Using Language to Persuade
Outcome 3
Written Analysis
Write an essay which analyses the persuasive language, including visual elements, used in three
or more persuasive texts, including at least one visual text, that debate a current issue in the
Australian media.
Length: Four or more A4 sides (800-1000 words approximately)
Oral Presentation
Persuasive presentation on a choice of issue. 5-7 mins per person.
PRACTICE EXAM (Compulsory Coursework Requirement):
Tuesday 10th June 10am
UNIT FOUR
Context: Whose Reality? Outcome 2
Study ideas of ‘Whose Reality?’ in the film Wag the Dog and supplementary texts. After
participating in several writing workshops, students write two pieces for assessment, one
imaginative and one expository piece.
Students must also write an explanation of how they shaped their language to suit the audience
and purpose for each piece.
Length: Four or more A4 sides each (800-1000 words approximately)
Reading and Responding
Outcome 1
Read and study the book Stasiland.
Write an extended text response essay.
Length: Four or more A4 sides (800-1000 words approximately)
COMPULSORY COURSEWORK: PRACTICE EXAM OCTOBER 9 10AM
END OF YEAR ENGLISH EXAM (Worth 50% of Total Score):
Date to be published by VCAA in May.
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiva
Summarise ‘The White Tiger’ in 50 words or less. What is it primarily about?
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As you read the novel make a summary in the table provided below about the key events
that occur and development of characters as the story progresses.
The First Night
The Second Night
The Fourth Morning
The Fourth Night
The Fifth Night
The Sixth Morning
The Sixth Night
The Seventh Night
The Caste System In India: 1500 B.C.E. to 1949
C.E.
BRAHMIN
KSHATRYIA
VIASYA
SUDRA
JOBS FOR EACH SECTION OF THE CASTE SYSTEM:
Outcast-Out of Caste, Untouchables
Brahmin: only class allowed to be priests, religious leaders of Hinduism, honored and respected by those below
them, can study the Vedas (Hindu holy book)
Kshatryia (KUH SHAT REE YUHZ): royalty, rulers, kings, queens, and warriors, expected to protect the people, can
study the Vedas (Hindu holy book)
Viasya (VEEZ YUHZ): merchant, peasant, farmers, trade, can study the Vedas (Hindu holy book)
Sudra: the working class, their duty (dharma) is to serve the top three castes, they were not allowed to study the
Vedas, or even hear the Vedas read out loud
Untouchables: butchers, gravediggers, collectors of trash, clean human waste ,they were seen as unclean or dirty
people, usually lived on the outside of a city, were not allowed to go near the other castes, they were not allowed to
study the Vedas, or even hear the Vedas read out loud
The Caste System
Brahmin (priests)
Kshatryia (rulers/ warrior)
Vaisya (merchants/ farmers /traders)
Sudra (,peasant, servant)
Floor
Untouchables (street sweepers, latrine cleaners)
3. NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH:
Despite the fact that “untouchability” was abolished under India’s law in 1950, the
practice of “untouchability” … remains very much a part of rural India. “untouchables”
may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes.
They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, drink from the same cups in tea stalls,
or lay claim to land that is legally theirs. Dallit children are frequently made to sit in the back
of classrooms, and communities as a whole are made to perform degrading rituals in the
name of caste. Most Dalits continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or
opportunities for better employment or education. With the exception of a minority
who have benefited from India’s policy of quotas in education and government jobs,
Dalits are relegated to the most menial of tasks… removers of human waste and
dead animals, leather workers, street sweepers, and cobblers. Dalit children
make up the majority of those sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors.
-Adapted from BROKEN PEOPLE: Caste Violence Against India’s “Untouchables” a Human Rights
Watch Report:www.hrw.org/reports/1999/India/
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
Using the image above as inspiration, write an imaginative piece that has a character who
has dreams and aspirations that don't match actual reality.
Stasiland
Stasiland
by Anna Funder
Look at the maps of East Germany and Berlin in the Stasiland book.
Read the three epigraphs to the book:
“…. A silent crazy jungle under glass.”
Carson McCullers, A Member of the Wedding
“The two of you, the violator and victim(collaborator! Violin!), are linked, forever perhaps,
by the obscenity of what has been revealed to you, by the sad knowledge of what people
are capable of. We are all guilty.”
The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist, Brenton Breytenbach
“Let the jury consider their verdict,’ the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
‘No, no!’ said the Queen. ‘Sentence first – verdict afterwards.”
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
What do you expect the book to be about?
Read the book. Write down three quotes and find an image that matches each one.
Quote
Description of image and the effect on the reader
Did the book match your expectations?
Wag The Dog
by Anna Funder
Make a list of conspiracy theories that you know or believe in:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Write about one of the following:
1. Write an interview with a person who claims that they have insider knowledge of one
of the following conspiracies:
OR
2. Write an “official” document announcing what really happened about one of the
following conspiracies:
1. “The Moon Landings Were Fake”, it all happened in a Hollywood Studio.
2. The US Military failed to intercept the hijacked planes on 9/11.
3. The remains of crashed UFO spacecrafts are stored at AREA 51, an Air Force base about
150 miles from Las Vegas.