Ultra-Curricular Work
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
Read and explore
• Read a pre 20 th Century novelist, pla y wright or poet in depth - the whole of Jane Austen , for example. Other authors of note, the Bronte sisters, Eliot , Dickens, Hard y , Wordsworth, GB Shaw, to name but a few! Try searching on Amazon for critical material on the novels that you have read or start with a Connell Guide on a novel of your choice.
• Explore a particular genre or an era. For example, read British fiction between the wars, the A ngry
Young Men of the fifties, Magical Realism, or the romantic poets of the early Nineteenth Century.
Aim to have read ten books from the period or movement that fascinates you.
• Start exploring critical theories or approaches to Literature. You could read Critical Theory: A Very
Short Introduction by Stephen Eric Bronner and then investigate further any theories you find particularly interesting. For example, Feminism, or Marxism or New Historicism would be good places to start.
• Keep a record of your reading and share reviews with others by joining a social networking site for booklovers such as Good Reads. If you’re not a fan of technology, keep a detailed reading journal of everything you read in a notebook.
• ‘Shadow’ a literary award by reading all the books on the shortlist. The Carnegie Award is one of the most famous prizes awarded to young adult authors and the Costa Book Award also gives a prize to a young adult author. Awards for adult books are the Man Booker Prize and the Bailey’s Woman’s
Prize for Fiction.
• Read a famous writer in translation, and do it in depth. Not just The Outsider by Albert Camus, but all his published work. Find out who the major names are in modern European literature and make yourself an expert in one writer or in one country by reading a guide to that country's literature as well.
• Read a novel that has been turned into a film. Watch the film version and then write a comparison between the two.
• Explore a controversial historic a l r e l a ti o nship through its literature – the vexed r e lations between
Britain a nd I r e land, for example, throu g h modern Irish pla y wrights. Brian Friel is a good place to start.

• Read a book about the history of the English language such as The Adventure of English by Melvyn
Bragg or Mother Tongue: The Story of the English Language by Bill Bryson.
Write
• Start a blog or web site on y our literar y p a ssions or share your own original writing. You could also make substanti a l contributions to other literature sites. You could use Schoology for this. Blogspot run by Google is another good place to start.
• Enter an essay writing competition such as Amnesty International’s Young Human Rights Reporter competition, Baillie Gifford’s Young Writer competition or Babelzine’s language essay competition for 16-18 year olds.
Visit
• Go to London and do some of the liter a r y walks in the footsteps of f a mous writers
( http://www.walks.com/Standalone/Literary_London_Walks/default.aspx
). Visit the home of a famous writer such as Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, Bronte Parsonage
Museum in Yorkshire or Dove Cottage (home of Wordsworth) in Grasmere, Lake District.
• Get yourself to Stratford-upon-Avon or The Globe, with the play text in hand and make yourself an experienced Shakespeare enthusiast , so that y ou can talk about Shakespeare in performance, naming actors, directors and approaches. You could compare any productions you see with film versions of the same play.
Perform
• Take part in the ‘Poetry by Heart’ competition, which runs very year in the Autumn/Winter and involves preparing a dramatic reading of several poems.
• Sign up to Peripeteia ( http://peripeteia.webs.com/ ) which hosts a variety of free seminars on different topics relating to literary study. This site aims to bridge the gap between A-level and university students.