The Big Dance: Preparing for VCE English.

[brenden]

Namaste, my Year 10 hombres.

It is upon ye. Gone! are the days of 100 word paragraphs and 3 quotes per essay. Lost! are the days of reading whole books out loud in class. Nay, VCE English is upon ye, and thus, these things must change.
So, how should Year 10s prepare for VCE English?

Well, they should start by checking out the VCE English Study Design. It's your one-stop-shop for everything you can come to expect from English for the next few years. Specifically in Year 11, in your first semester you can expect to study 'reading and creating texts' and 'analysing and presenting argument', before you turn to 'reading and comparing texts' in the second semester before capping off the year with another module of analysing and presenting argument.

Now, if reading the Study Design is Step 1, you might expect Step 2 to be “start studying” – but you’d be wrong.

Having a look at the study design is purely a forward-thinking strategy that will make learning new things much easier in Year 11. The earlier you feel comfortable with what you’re going to be learning, the longer it can incubate in your mind as some subconscious preparation, and the easier you’ll pick things up when the time actually comes.

You might like to have a brief discussion with your English teachers if you don’t fully understand the study design – some parts might be hard to decipher!

No, the second step is to start writing a blog.

If you want to be a bit of a “woahhhh man” type of hippy about it, then English is nothing more than reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Those four things are the bedrocks of any language, and they’re the only things that count.

Reading. Writing. Listening. Speaking.

Which of these do you do a lot of every single day?

The last two, obviously. No need to practise those too much.

 You read and write every single day, too – but nowhere near enough if you want to have high-level skills in those areas. You “read” through your social media feed, and maybe write some Instagram captions… but the vast majority of you will not be reading or writing in the type of way expected of you in VCE English.

Therefore, that’s what you need to practice. And what is the most important skill in all VCE English?

Writing.

So that’s what you need to do immediately – start writing, and write often. Make a private blog, and write a post to yourself every week. It doesn’t matter what you write, so long as you get into the habit of actually writing something. If you start writing a weekly blog now, by the time you get to Year 11 you will have written tens of thousands of words more than your peers. That’s a huge advantage!

Besides, blogging also has other advantages – like stress relief (and maybe even an income, for the lucky ones!).

Step 3 is, as you might have predicted, to start reading.

I would literally stake my life on the fact that if you manage to read 20 book of fiction between now and Year 12, most people would have their study scores go up by 5 points. Average students sitting on 30 would suddenly be getting 35s.

If you start reading fiction books now, you’re going to have read hundreds of thousands of words before you start writing your important essays. Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of words! Do you know how much of an impact that can have on your vocabulary? Your grammar? Your ability to write the type of gorgeous sentences that you’ve been reading?

As I said. English is nothing but reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and VCE English is almost entirely based upon reading and writing. So, if you want to prepare yourself to do really well in VCE English, you need to READ, and you need to WRITE.

You can read whatever you want. Fiction is highly recommended. Read young adult sci-fi fantasy, for all I care. It could be aimed at 13 year olds and still be really beneficial to you. In fact, starting easy might be a good idea, if it keeps you motivated!

You might think you don’t like books, but that’s a lie you’ve either been told or let society tell you. Everyone likes books. If you’ve never read a book that you liked, that’s because you’re reading the wrong books. The solution is to start reading the right books – and if you need help figuring out what the right books are, maybe make a post on ATAR Notes!

Reading fiction also has a host of other benefits, such as improving your empathy, your social skills, and decreasing your stress levels.

How good is this? You don’t even have to study. You don’t have to write essays… you don’t even have to read them! All you have to do is write a blog and read some books that keep you entertained. English is literally the easiest subject to study for – if only you listen to the good advice you’re given.