Upstart English Tuition
Welcome! Please enter your email address to subscribe to my weekly newsletter.
HOW TO ... select the 'Doof Doofs' (and other bits that 'might come up')
"Rhyming Slang AND Iambic Pentameter - you're 'having a giraffe, Bill, me ol' mate!" We -could- use Love Island, as some kind of extended metaphor today, but I havenāt seen it, and never will. So Iām going to go for soap operas, partly based on the old chestnut that says that Shakespeare would be writing Eastenders or Emmerdale if he were alive today. Itās probably true, by the way ā¦ Thanks to Josh Spector, who suggests we blog about the questions we are answering for our clients. Well, this...
š¶ļøš±š¶ļø I need your help, please ...
Upstart English EXTRAordinary Tuition Hi everyone, I NEED YOUR HELP. š¤ Imagine a revision resource for Shakespeare plays with 2-3 dozen quotations, plus instructions on various revision games students can play, and other ways of using the resource more creatively in exam prep. So far so good. Hopefully. But ā¦ Iāve been sitting on various versions of the above for ages. Iāve never quite settled on a design which does what I think it should do: 1 - help students IDENTIFY key quotations 2 - help...
š„µThings are warming up at Upstart HQ (250311)
Upstart English EXTRAordinary Tuition Hi everyone, and welcome especially to my new subscribers! Not yet a subscriber? Let's fix that ... This week's big news ... ... is that I'm a chilli-daddy ... already! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Remember the chillies I planted on 28th February? I wasn't expecting anything for at least another week, maybe two, but, as you can see, one tiny seed has decided to get going ... those incredibly cute leaves (I call the first to appear two the...
šWBD, Opera, What to Revise, and the Shakespeare vs Dickens showdown!
Upstart English EXTRAordinary Tuition Hi everyone, and welcome especially to my new subscribers! I hope this oneās interesting, mildly entertaining, and useful enough for you to share with someone else who needs to see it! And happy World Book Day to you all! In the News: š¶ Err, boss, he's over there? š¶ Aria Ahoy! If youāre one of the very many who has tried to read Moby Dick and failed (no shame in that - it took me more attempts than I did driving tests), you should look out for Moby Dick:...
Pulp Friction: it's Shakespeare vs Dickens for the world title
āā¦ when it comes to important subjects, thereās only two ways a person can answer. For instance, thereās two kinds of people in this world. Elvis people and Beatles people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis. And Elvis people can like the Beatles. But no-one likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice tells me who you are.ā - Mia Wallace [1] At last. Step aside, Coke vs Pepsi! I always hated you both, anyway. Thank you, Peter Conrad, for focussing on a truly...
š you know what they say about the devil and idle hands ... ?
Upstart English EXTRAordinary Tuition Howdy Reader,, I seem to be busier than I ever was when I taught in the classroom: a big difference, it has to be said, is that I'm spending my time doing more of what I enjoy, and less of that nasty other stuff. I'm thinking of calling this the 'ICYMI' (In Case You Missed It) episode. Let's cut to the chase about what I've been up to (as well as chasing around for new business, which is a big part of working for yourself). Blog Posts: G KNEW he'd read...
A Level English Literature - Marxist Critical Theory
Dangerous ideas? Me? In the 'real world' Marxism might be readily confused with Communism, and spoken about in hushed tones ... In our world as Literature students, Marxist critical theory is a different beast entirely - a school of literary interpretation which is really useful for AO5. A quick reminder of the Assessment Objective: explore literary texts informed by different interpretations Here are the essentials for ambitious students. Marxism is devoted to achieving the utopian...
A Level English Literature - how to create a coursework bibliography
G knew he'd read something about this a few months back ... Your coursework bibliography is a key part of your submission to the exam board. It's also good experience for the demands of your degree course if you're heading that way. Let's get yours sorted ... What is a bibliography? Simply, a bibliography is a record of everything that you read, watched, or listened to during the āformativeā process for your coursework, when you were developing your argument. It should include sources you...
š¶ļø pretty much everything APART from the 2025 chilli-growing season ...
Upstart English EXTRAordinary Tuition Howdy Reader, It's been about two weeks since my last newsletter, but they've been a busy two weeks! So let's get going! Finally! The Blog Post: remember the guy who commissioned the post? No, me neither, practically! Despite chasers, he never got back to me, so I published the post on my own terms. I know it's definitely useful for English Lit students (so it's absolutely his loss): you can read it here. All feedback, as usual, gratefully received....
āŖļø 'Jake, you get wise. You get to Church!' Lit Students NEED to know the Bible
Upstart English Extraordinary Tuition pic: www.movieweb.com [1] Cultural Capital for Literature Students: The Book of Genesis (Donāt worry - the purpose of this post isnāt to convert you, but to raise your grades.) Have you ever dreamed about appearing on 'Desert Island Discsā? You know, that radio show where a celebrity is āmaroonedā, and asked to pick eight songs they would take with them. Every so often I change my mental list to add a new track thatās become important to me for some...
Welcome! Please enter your email address to subscribe to my weekly newsletter.