Y13 Texts
Novel/ Extended
Text
Purple Hibiscus by
Chimananda Adieche
My Fine Lady by
Yolanda Joe
Richard III
One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest – Ken
Kesey
The New Girl by
Emily Perkins experience of the
three girls and their
friends
awaiting their exam
results after year 13 in
a stifling small town
summer
- (Plenty of
interesting male
characters, too)
Beautifully written.
Film
Short Text
Resources
David Riley
Jan Stuart – j.stuart@bdsc.school.nz
The Piano (gender /
sexuality /
entrapment)
Crash (equality /
racial issues)
Schindler’s List
Maya Angelou poetry
Claire Amos - Assistant HOD English Takapuna Grammar School
English Online Unit for The Piano: Voices and Signs: The Piano
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/piano/home.html
Angela Fitchett
Emily Perkins’ short
stories
The Bell Jar – Sylvia
Plath
Sylvia Plath in The
Bell Jar unless you are
nervous about
suicide issues.
Students I have used it
with in the past
thought it was
the best approach!
Fabulous language,
famously insightful.
Kathryn Reed
Te Mata Lodge
www.tematalodge.co.nz
07-868-4834
Chris Carrell – carrell@columbacollege.school.nz
“Once on Chunuk
Bair” – Maurice
Shadbolt
Claire Amos – Takapuna Grammar School c.amos@takapuna.school.nz
Jo Collins (LHS?)
Replay Radio tape
Merle Ramsay – merleramsay@clear.net.nz
Glenda Pearce
Regional Facilitator Sec English
University of Auckland, Faculty of Education
TEAM Solutions Northland
g.pearce@auckland.ac.nz
Aneta Dezoete
St Mary's College
ADezoete@stmaryak.school.nz
“Playboy of the
Western World” by
JM Synge
The Songmaker's
Chair by Albert
Wendt and The
Bellbird by Stephen
Sinclair
Juno and the Paycock
– Sean O’Casey
The Crucible – Arthur
Miller;
Death of a Salesman
Wilma Davis - wbeattie1@talk21.com
Anita Simpson - anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz
The Pianist - Roman
Polanski
O Brother Where Art
Thou? – Coen
Brothers
A Beautiful Mind,
The Truman Show,
The Piano
Run Lola Run,
Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind,
Gattaca, The
Station Agent
In My Father’s Den
Tsotsi
Lots of stuff available from Artemis/ British Film Foundation
Recommended by Anita Simpson - anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz ; also stuff in NCEA L2
Workbook
Amazing symbolism, camera work etc highly amusing in parts
Recommended by Anita Simpson - anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz
Recommended by Katie Betanzo - BetanzoK@rutherford.school.nz
Recommended by paccdc@clear.net.nz
Run Lola Run - Mark Mortenson – taught at Y11 in 2005? mmortensen@bayfieldhigh.school.nz
Recommended by Maureen Jensen – akjansen@xtra.co.nz
Tsotsi for 2007? Won Oscar for best foreign language film - South African - subtitles beautiful visually - a postcolonial southern hemisphere
country and alienated youth - ideas about his country and modern society using camera
and actors and soundtrack.
Erin Dent – erindent@gmail.com
Angela’s Ashes –
Frank Mc Court
Season of the Jew
Once on Chunuk Bair
– Maurice Shadbolt
Triage – Scott
Anderson
Falling – Ann Provost
The Things They
Carried
Atonement – Ian
McEwan
Merle Ramsay (when at Rotorua Boys High) merleramsay@clear.net.nz
Natalie Cowie – Katikati College
Atonement
Helen Sligo, HOD English, Dean - Studholme House,
Wellington Diocesan School for Girls (Nga Tawa)
164 Calico Line
Private Bag 1101
Marton
Phone 06 3276429 x 834 – sligohelen@ngatawa.school.nz
The Shipping News –
Annie Proulx
Robyn Richards – Robynr@stpeters.school.nz
“The Driftwood
Seekers” by D and D
Bradley
Dianne E.Armstrong – armstrde@hghs.school.nz - a really great challenging NZ text. I
did it with a extension Year 13 and they achieved very well with it. Lots of symbolism,
strong themes and characters. Interesting shifting narrative viewpoint and use of
flashback/flashforward that gradually becomes clear. See my blurb on the back of the
book!
The Bone People –
Keri Hulme
In My Father’s Den –
Maurice Gee
Mr Pip – Lloyd Jones
The God Boy – Ian
Cross (believe it or
not)
Anything by Gee
Tania Roxborogh – roxboroghpt@xtra.co.nz
The God Boy resources – hard copy – Rebecca Ball, Rutherford College –
wainamu@vivid.net.nz ; Jocelyn Dobson, Feilding High School –
jdobson@feildinghigh.school.nz ; Naomi Rosedale, Rosehill College – taught to
advanced Y11 with good results in 2008 – rosedanes@xtra.co.nz
Resources for Mister Pip:
http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676979275&view=rg
Janet Frame stuff
Atwood, as you say,
is great
‘Brave New World’ –
Huxley
Man, Knox’s Dream
Hunter books are
pretty cool.
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/uploads/documents/About%20the%20NovelMPQs.pdf
There is a full unit of work on Mr Pip in "English in Aotearoa" Issue 65, July 2008, on
page 55. It was developed by Anita Yarwood and Alastair Crawford at Hagley College.
Steve Langley – steve.langley@klc.school.nz
Y12 Texts
Novel
Film
Short Text
Tu by Patricia Grace
Gallipoli – Peter Weir War Poetry
Fish’N’Chip Shop
Song – Carl Nixon’s
short stories
A Fish in the Swim of
the World by Ben
Brown
Resources
G & J Finlay
Susan Radford – Marist College
For Tu, Tanya Phillips – Aorere College – taanphillips@gmail.com
Tania Roxborogh
Tania Roxborogh
Isobel Shepherd – Isobels@waihicol.school.nz
Valerie Rooderkerk –valandjoff@yahoo.com (Wanganui City College)
Jeanette - bevandjen@xtra.co.nz
Aneta Dezoete
St Mary's College Auckland
ADezoete@stmaryak.school.nz
Tsotsi
Coach Carter
Remember the Titans
Two Cars, One Night
– Taika Waititi
Sione’s Wedding
Diana Scrimshaw scrimshaw@infogen.net.nz
Valerie Rooderkerk valandjoff@yahoo.com
artemis.enterprises@clear.net.nz
www.artemis-film-guides.com (ready early 2007)
Hourglass by Sue
Wootton (poetry)
Recommended by Tania Roxborogh roxboroghpt@xtra.co.nz –“the feminine equivalent
of Glenn Colquhoun” ; Sue Wootton lives in Dunedin. She was awarded a New Zealand
Society of Authors mentorship with Elizabeth Smither in 2003, and that year was
shortlisted for the Lillian Ida Smith award. Her poem 'Countdown' was selected for Best
NZ Poems 2004. Sue has been published widely in newspapers, journals and
anthologies; this is her first collection; Sue Wootton does speaking: contact her at
suewoo@xtra.co.nz
Mississippi Burning
Catherine Blomkamp – taught to Y12 Unit Standards class using Level 1 Close Viewing
– has some viewing questions c.blomkamp@glenfieldcollege.school.nz
Janet Glen janet.glenn@onslow.school.nz posted this to Brian Hutching –
brianhutching@paradise.net.nz in May 2005:
1. Loads of results with a Google search especially good is FBI Missing Poster of the Three, Trial
notes, Images from the film and the actual trial, Film reviews...
2. If you can get hold of "Eye(s) On the Prize" documentary series there is a great film footage
of the background, search and trial. Parker duplicated some of the news film footage in the film.
3. Interesting article in Listener by William Greaves January 13, 1992
and in Time Magazine March 6 1989
Richard Corliss "A controversey That Blazes at Both Ends"
4. email memos from Parker to cimematographer et al, describing effects he wanted to
achieve/meanings he wanted to communicate (can't seem to find web link but happy to post this
and copies of articles mentioned above if you need)
John Downes in Dunedin got me hooked on teaching this movie, he may have more. I think he is
still on English forum.
Montana 1948 –
Larry Watson
Atonement – Ian
McEwan
http://karamuyear12english.wikispaces.com
Erin Dent (Karamu High School) - erindent@gmail.com
Raewyn Donnell - RDonnell@sunderlandcollege.school.nz
Monica Simmons (tackling it for first time in 2008) simmonsm@freyberg.ac.nz
Marilyn Rainier – rainier@primus.com.au – Western Australia
Liz Gormack – Christchurch Boys’ High School – gormacklj@staff.cbhs.school.nz
Andrew Jones, HOD English, Ellesmere College, Leeston/Dunsandel Road, P O Box 52
Leeston – jonesa@ellesmere.school.nz
Helen Sligo – sligohelen@ngatawa.school.nz HOD English
Dean - Studholme House - Wellington Diocesan School for Girls (Nga Tawa) 164 Calico Line,
Private Bag 1101 Marton Phone 06 3276429 x 834
Gwenda Egerton, Learning Area Leader, English, Aorere College, 234 Regent Street,
Invercargill – gegerton@auroracollege.school.nz
There is currently a student study guide available for Atonement (the book) available
from Resource Room for $24.99 incl GST. You can download the Philip Allan
catalogue from my website www.resourceroom.co.nz in the English section and have a
look at pages 2 and 3.
There is a teacher resource folder on The Second World War Novel which includes
Spies and Atonement. It is 185 pages in the form of reproducible pages in a folder for
$295.
If you require further info about these guides, you can go to the Philip Allan site in the
UK
Student guide: http://62.8.97.161/content.aspx?page=SUB6:QUAL28:TYPE1:SER59:
Teacher folder: http://62.8.97.161/content.aspx?PAGE=SUB6:QUAL28:TYPE2:SER41:
Any enquirires welcome to resource.room.nz@gmail.com.
Five People You
Meet in Heaven –
Mitch Absolom
This Present Darkness
– Frank E Peretti
Mr Pip – Lloyd Jones
Letters from the
Inside – John
Marsden
In My Father’s Den –
Maurice Gee
The Crucible – Arthur
Miller
The Handmaid’s Tale
– Margaret Atwood
I Heard the Owl Call
My Name – Joanna
Orwin
Smashed – Mandy
Alison Cleary – Tuakau College – lots
of interesting structural techniques and universal themes love endures, all acts in life are connected, learn to
forgive, sacrifice ...paccdc@clear.net.nz
Jo David, Kaikohe Christian School – Christian Novel - Full of Angels vs demons
battles.The guys analytical writing was great too.
miltonberry@xtra.co.nz
Julie Scott, St Peter’s College, Cambridge - 8279899 ext 408
- JulieS@stpeters.school.nz
Robert Davidson – suggestion for lower ability Unit Standard Y12 – not enough for
externals – robertd@ihug.co.nz
Tanya Phillips – Aorere College – strong themes, characters, conflicts –
taanphillips@gmail.com
Petra Verbeek – petrav@hamiltonchristian.school.nz
New text 2008 – alcoholism, physical, sexual abuse – Catherine Blomkamp –
Hager
The Edge – Alan
Gibbons
c.blomkamp@glenfieldcollege.school.nz
franke@marcellin.school.nz - fast-paced, changing perspectives and
relevant to young people, male progatonist. Our 12 Unit Standards students loved it and
produced some really good essays for US 8825
Gwenda Egerton – gegerton@auroracollege.school.nz – may be under Level 2 ?
Malcolm and Juliet –
Bernard Beckett
Donnie Darko
Touching the Void
Into the Wild
Anya Satyanand – Anya.Satyanand@whs.school.nz
Anita Simpson – anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz
Anne Gorman – Otago Boys’ High School – anne.gorman@obhs.school.nz
Christopher Waugh – chris@chris.net.nz
Judy Lewis – Artemis Guide – judy.m.lewis@clear.net.nz
Robert Everett - HOD English, Wellington College, 8022520 ext 836, r.everett@wellingtoncollege.school.nz - I am teaching alongside Catcher in the Rye with an eye on the self
alienation thing and how depressing it is to go through life seeing everyone as false ‘phoney’.
The American Dream and the inevitability of having to conform…
If anyone has any great ideas activities etc I would love to see them, play with them. I am
creating the programme from scratch. I love that the film is so polarising in peoples’ reaction to
the main character.
Schindler's List, Life
is Beautiful or
The Pianist? Along
the same lines would
be things like Hotel
Rwanda or
Tsotsi
The Kite Runner
Fionna Halliday – HallidayF@rutherford.school.nz
Fionna Halliday – hallidayf@rutherford.school.nz – has a booklet she developed in 2008
Chris Carrell – carrell@columbacollege.school.nz - has been engaing and worthwhile
with some really good writing from a class of mixed lower ability and International
students. With a mixure of cultures in the classroom we found everyone began on an
equal footing , knowing almost nothing of the Afghani setting. The brighter students
found it satisfying too.
Some chapters eg Ch 7 reward very close reading so useful for language discussion as
well as novel features.
The Lovely Bones –
Jennifer Kemp-Smith, Nelson College for Girls (2008) – jennifer.kemp-
Alice Sebold
smith@ncg.school.nz
Feed – MT Anderson
It's a harrowing portrayal of North American destroying humanity through over
consumption and has one of my favourite opening lines: "“We went to the moon to have
fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” For my last assignment at Teachers'
College I worked on a draft unit on Feed aimed at an advanced Year 11 class. I love the
novel but I'm not sure if it's suited to reluctant readers. There's quite a few neologisms in
the novel and one feature of the novel is the contrast between the quite literary
vocabulary of Violet (a character who uses words such as 'picayune') and the limited
vocabulary of her peers. I'm not sure if reluctant readers are going to enjoy Feed. Still,
it's a powerful novel. – Harvey Molloy, Newlands College - harveymolloy@gmail.com
Hone Tuwhare Poetry: Kiewiet van Deventer, St. Matthew's Collegiate, Masterton
No Ordinary Sun,
Rain, Friend
No Ordinary Sun,
The Old Place and
To the Sea to the
Mountains to the
River.
Rain
. If you are doing To
Sea to the Mountains
to the River you could
also look at Bus
Journey South, Deep
River Talk and Not By
Wind Ravaged.
Heemi, Burial and
Ron Mason are 3 that
can be looked at in
comparison before the
students having a
crack at writing their
own poem, Hone
Marcella Robertson - marcella@fiordlandcollege.co.nz
I have used this poem with a class of year nines and have several resources (it will be in
your schools soon via the MoE Making Language and Learning Work DVD) if you are
interested.
Desire Truter, Edgewater College – TRD@edgewater.school.nz
There is a great doco “Hone Tuwhare – The Return Home” about his Northland tour –
instigated by Glen Colquhoun. Fantastic to see our tohunga in action.
Tony Greaney – t.greaney@kingscollege.school.nz
Pan’s Labyrinth
greg.semmens@woodfordhouse.school.nz
Y11 Texts
Novel
Film
Short Text
Romeo & Juliet –
Baz Luhrmann
Strictly Ballroom –
Baz Luhrmann
Night – Elie Wiesel
Spider
“On the Sidewalk
Bleeding”; “The last
Spin” - Evan Hunter
Resources
www.tki.org.nz
British Film Commission
Pearson Revision Guides?
Karl Signal sg@hastingsgirls.com
http://www.romeoandjuliet.com/ - Official Movie Website
http://www.enotes.com/romeo-lesson-film/table-contents - ENotes Full Study Guide US
$16.95
http://web.channel4.com/learning/main/netnotes//seriesid22.htm – Channel 4 (UK)
http://web.channel4.com/learning/main/netnotes//programid1506.htm – Channel 4
(English)
John’s recommendation – knowledgeshopnz@xtra.co.nz
Good ideas on Spider in ESA NCEA L1 Study guide
These recommendations are from Anita Simpson - anitanz@yahoo.co.nz
Heinemann Study Guide for Lost
Lost - Heinemann
Tomorrow When the
War
Began - John
Marsden;
The Whole of the
Moon;
Genesis by Bernard
Beckett;
The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the
Night Time – Mark
Haddon
Owen Marshall short
stories
Isobel Shepherd - ishepherd@manawatucollege.school.nz; Resource Room has
Cambridge Wizard Student Guide - $19.99 incl GST resource.room.nz@gmail.com
Good study guide available from Du Bois Enterprises.
Tanya Phillips phillipst@ellesmere.school.nz
Katie McColl kmccoll@mags.school.nz
Emily.duncan@obhs.school.nz
Susan Carryer – Massey High School - scarryer@masseyhigh.school.nz
Oonagh Beharrell – obeharrell@gmail.com
Katrina Ward – Marist College – kw.tree@gmail.com – resources in CI folder
Kate Holmes (Y10 resources) – Kateh@stpeters.school.nz
The Whole of the
Moon
Owl – Joanna Orwin
Coach Carter
The God Boy – Ian
Cross
The Wave – Morton
Rhue
The Lovely Bones
The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the
Night Time – Mark
Haddon
Coming Back – David
Hill, Q & A – Vikas
Swarup, Noughts and
Crosses – Malorie
Blackman
Joanne Dillon-Mayne – DY@manurewa.school.nz
Tanya Phillips – Aorere College – taan.phillips@gmail.com ;
Phil Maw – pjmaw@xtra.co.nz – Curious Incident Unit in English in Aotearoa 2007 –
presented at NZATE Conference in Nelson 2007.
Phil Maw – pjmaw@xtra.co.nz – Units published in English in Aotearoa 2007 –
presented at NZATE Conference in Nelson 2007.
Elizabeth MacNeill – lmc@lincoln.school.nz – Coming Back
Q & A - Annemarie Josey, Samuel Marsden Collegiate, Marsden Ave, Karori,
Wellington, Ph 476 8707 - annemarie.josey@marsden.school.nz
Pleasantville
Gangsta Rap –
Benjamin Zephaniah
Drama Script
Grace by Patrick
Spillane
Takes Two by David
Hill is
Recommendations from Angela Fitchett - FT@nelcollege.school.nz;
Phil Maw – pjmaw@xtra.co.nz – Curious Incident Unit in English in Aotearoa 2007 –
presented at NZATE Conference in Nelson 2007.
Recommended by Valerie Rooderkerk - valandjoff@yahoo.com
Recommended by MG/LT; Brian Hutching – brianhutching@paradise.net.nz
Rebecca Ball - ballr@rutherford.school.nz
Artemis Guide – Benita Robinson – blatchford@slingshot.co.nz
Anita Simpson – anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz
Well received by boys and girls – Aneta Dezoete – St Mary’s College –
Adezoete2stmaryak.school.nz
Recommended by Tania Roxborogh roxboroghpt@xtra.co.nz - a really good play comes with teaching notes - published by Longman. Tania has the notes which she can
forward if you like the play. The notes were written for the old (current?) curriculum
and has a SC focus but the hard yards have been done for you.
Our Day Out by
Willy Russell; the
scripts of Of Mice
and Men and Daz 4
Zoe
Poetry
“For Heidi With Blue
Hair” – Fleur Adcock;
“Teenage Sky” –
Rona Adshead
Recommended by Wilma Davis – wbeattie1@talk21.com
Alison Cleary – Tuakau College paccdc@clear.net.nz ; Vanessa Lamont – Southland
Boys’ College v-lamont@xtra.co.nz
'On the Sidewalk
anneke@ponotahi.school.nz
Bleeding' & 'My
Name is Osama' prejudice theme, and
lots of man vs
self/man vs man
conflict ‘My Name is
Osama’ is quite
topical after
9/11conflict.
Doris Lessing “Flight” Tina Johnson tina.blaze@xtra.co.nz
& Michele Roberts
“Your Shoes” – great
symbolism;
“The Pedestrian”
paired with
“Examination Day” –
great for building
ideas of control in
images
“The Wasteland” Deon & Kiewiet van Deventer KDVD@xtra.co.nz
Alan Paton; “The
Sniper”; “Looking for
a Rain God” - Bessie
Head; “The Rubbish
Tin” - Apirana Taylor;
“Going for the Bread”
- Patricia Grace; “The
Vendetta - Guy de
Maupassant; “The
Necklace”; “Miss
Brill”; “The Bath”
“Through the
Tunnel”; “The Garden
Party”; “Yellow Brick
Road”
“The Birthday Party”
by Eva Burfield
“Hooks and Feelers”
by Keri Hulme – more
symbols than a brass
band!
“In the Rubbish Tin”;
“How Dare You”;
“The Bitter Bread”
“The Whale” by Witi
Ihimaera
The Outsiders
Susan Lawrence slawrence@qec.school.nz
Martin Wright MartinW@mrgs.school.nz
Isobel Shepherd Isobels@waihicol.school.nz
Caroline Inwood caroline.inwood@buller.ac.nz
Resource Room (Steph) has a reproducible curriculum guide for $39.95 (paired with
Durango). resource.room.nz@gmail.com
Activities
Critical reading; brainstorming; freewriting; research; what-if and role-play situations;
debate; analysis of characterization; examination of peer pressure and the structure of
gangs
Description
Description of class warfare and teenage gang violence; written from viewpoint of gang
members; portrays human hopes, frailties, and possibilities.
Ethical Values
Courage, Justice, Loyalty, Respect
s-kerren@lawrence.schoolzone.net.nz
Kerren has a copy unit written by a NZ teacher who died last year. Her husband has
closed her business. Can photocopy the unit and send it to you if you send me your
contact details.
Spider
Gangsta Rap
(Heinemann)
‘The Running Man’
by Michael Gerard
Bauer
Good unit in ESA publication & NCEA Level 1 workbook; Anita Simpson
anitaznz@yahoo.co.nz
Robyn Richards Robynr@stpeters.school.nz
“A Martian Sends a
Postcard Home”
"The Jungle Husband"
by Stevie Smith
and "A Postcard from
the Jungle" by Branko
Manojlovic
Jocelyn Foord jfoord@cheviot.school.nz
To team with “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home”; Both full-to-bursting with language
features: students can wade through the
undergrowth of literary devices; Fiona abiding@paradise.net.nz
Dear all,
You might find it useful to have a look at the texts which have 'worked well', according to the markers in 2007, in the Level 1-2 Assessment Reports. (Those of
you who read the Sunday Star Times will know that the journalists have already plundered these lists for ‘depressing' texts!).
As always, the advice is to select texts with which students can engage, but also ones that provide sufficient scope for students to respond to in appropriate depth. I
have copied the relevant sections below....
Reports available on: http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/resources/english/index.html
EXTENDED TEXTS LEVEL 1:
Choice of text is critical for this standard if students are to be able to reach the highest levels. In some cases, text choice limited opportunities for students, while
quality texts of substance were more likely to generate quality answers.
Texts which worked well:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, The Whale Rider, Krystyna's Story, Angela's Ashes, Looking for Alibrandi, Of Mice and Men, The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Nightime, Animal Farm (although candidates' responses to the latter tended to be less fresh than for other texts).
Responses in the examination - in which students referred to "the movie"- suggested that some candidates were studying films alongside, or as a substitute for,
reading the original novels. Such candidates were unable to provide quotations or they provided examples from the film that did not occur in the text.
SHORT TEXTS LEVEL 1
Text choice continues to be critical for this standard, with poetry often tending to lend itself towards the more perceptive answers, rather than short stories. The
hyperfiction / print media response still remains somewhat of a rarity. More challenging or 'substantial' texts, in which students could go beyond literal text
details to show their understanding and appreciation, produced more effective answers and the importance of being able to explore the effects of language and
style remains paramount.
War poets still dominate responses but it was pleasing to see more New Zealand poets being included - Glover, Baxter, Dallas, Adcock, Curnow, Colquhoun,
Apirana Taylor, Tuwhare, Manhire. The usual short story writers still featured prominently (Grace, Ihimaera, Evan Hunter, Dahl, O'Flaherty - now even
Mansfield and Sargeson ('A Great Day'), and a few others). Interestingly, there seemed more science fiction stories this year, a genre which seemed to offer the
potential for students to make links with contemporary society, setting, characterisation and altered features of language - Ray Bradbury, Henry Slesar
('Examination Day'), Kurt Vonnegut (various, including 'Harrison Bergeron'), Robert Heinlein, Asimov, James Blish ('Surface Tension') and Terry Bisson
('They're Made out of Meat').
VISUAL/ORAL TEXT LEVEL 1:
As for other standards, choice of text remains critical for this standard if students are to be able to reach the highest levels. Documentaries tended to result in less
successful responses and oral texts were in a small minority. In some cases, text choice limited opportunities for students, while quality texts of substance were
more likely to generate quality answers.
Texts which enabled many students to produce pleasing responses included: The Truman Show, Remember the Titans, Billy Elliot, Bend It Like Beckham,
What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Dead Poet's Society, Rabbit Proof Fence, About a Boy, Looking for Alibrandi, Gallipoli, Schindler's List, Whale Rider and The
Power of One. The Shawshank Redemption* and Heavenly Creatures provided some students with material for outstanding answers, while some texts
- In my Father's Den, American Beauty - appeared too challenging for students at this level.
*Note: It is important to be aware of the censor restrictions governing movies. The Shawshank Redemption has a R16 classification. Schools should adhere to
guidelines available from the Office of Film and Literature Classification regarding how films should be chosen and used in school (Guidelines are also available
from the archives of Education Gazette: Vol. 83 Number 10, 7 June 2004.)
EXTENDED TEXTS LEVEL 2
Texts that elicited strong responses in 2006 included: The Kite Runner, Out of the Dust, Into the Forest, A Crime in the Neighbourhood, Montana 1948, St Agnes'
Stand, About a Boy, The Secret Life of Bees, The Lovely Bones, Tu, Bulibasha and In My Father's Den.
Texts that were generally poorly handled included The Wave, The Outsiders, Tomorrow When the War Began, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Of Mice and Men, Jolt, Romeo and Juliet, Looking for Alibrandi, The Tempest, and Thunder Road.
In 2007:
It was clear that historically fine works such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye were still the most popular and allowed
the students to respond thoughtfully at all levels of achievement. These "classics" still work for students and allow them to comment on a wider range of features,
ideas and character development than some more recent texts. This is not to say that such texts should be privileged, but rather that they be used as a benchmark
with which to judge the level of depth and sophistication of texts required at this level. Markers felt that many candidates were hindered by their study of texts that
were more suited to Level 1 or earlier such as "Jolt", "Thunder Road", "Water in the Blood", "Slide the Corner", and "The Wave". These texts did not give the
students enough scope to "analyse" at Level 2.
SHORT TEXTS LEVEL 2
2007:
* Suitability of text choices remains an issue; those texts which too often provided insufficient depth for candidates to respond to beyond an Achieved level
included "The Sniper", "The Last Spin", "On the Sidewalk Bleeding", "It Used to be Green Once", "A Game of Cards", "Big Brother Little Sister", "Lamb to the
Slaughter", "Eight Dozen Beer and Nothing to Do", "Snakes", "Bats" and other animal poetry (Blake, Heany, Tennyson and Hughes), and Edgar Allan Poe's short
stories.
* Texts / authors that worked well include war poetry (however overused, this still provides some of the best responses), Hone Tuwhare, Katherine Mansfield,
Witi Ihimaera (some), Glen Colquhoun, Kapka Kassabova, Karlo Mila, Patricia Grace (some), Lauris Edmond, Carol Ann Duffy, Owen Marshall (some), Frank
Sargeson, Apirana Taylor, Henry Lawson, Sylvia Plath, Janet Frame "The Bath", Brian Turner's poetry, Fiona Kidman, Grace Nichols, Sia Figel, Fleur Adcock,
Alice Walker.
* Some texts that proved too difficult for many candidates to write well about, and to work for the questions, included Shakespearean sonnets, poetry by Donne,
Joyce and Shelley.
* Poetry that consisted of only seven lines became too difficult for some candidates to provide enough textual evidence to support their discussion.
VISUAL/ORAL TEXTS LEVEL 2
In 2006:
Texts that worked well:
Gattaca, The Truman Show, The Pianist, Schindler's List, Crash, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, In My Father's Den, In the Name of the Father, Mona Lisa
Smile, Mississippi Burning, Dead Man Walking, Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Strictly Ballroom, The Hurricane, A Beautiful Mind.
Texts that did not generally contribute to good analyses included
Remember the Titans, Coach Carter, Looking for Alibrandi, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Moulin Rouge, The Outsiders, Stand By Me, The Power of One, and Titanic.
In 2007:
* Nearly all responses were about film; one marker's tally showed nearly 25% of all responses nationally were about The Shawshank Redemption.
* Many students do not take a critical view of the film studied. They tend to accept, for example, that The Shawshank Redemption has a gritty realism to it
without questioning whether that is, in fact, the case.
* Candidates usually had good film vocabulary and were keen to use it. Some "trotted out" the vocabulary without showing an understanding of it.
* Some films are totally unsuitable at this level. Films such as Bend it like Beckham and The Outsiders rarely enabled candidates to demonstrate sufficient
analysis. On the other hand, many films, especially those that have depth and encourage a discussion of "meaty" issues, worked well. Films that worked well,
apart from the perennial Shawshank, were: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Piano, The Ice Storm, Billy Elliot, In the Name of the Father, In My Father's
Den, Life is Beautiful, Tsotsi, and Gallipoli.
Some of the films that did not work as well for many candidates included: The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta, James Bond films.