Holiday Leaving Cert Revision

Our VI formers are, no doubt, already deep into holiday revision before next term's Leaving Certificate exams.  

Here are some resources from this blog and elsewhere that will be useful. But bear in mind: keep focussed mainly on the texts themselves, and keep reading and thinking about topics for the composition question.


MACBETH:
1. Seven revision podcasts, including:-

• The crucial moment : the soliloquy in Act I scene vii before the murder.
• The real Lady Macbeth.
• King Macbeth - law and order in Scotland.
• Malcolm the hero?
• The Witches and the Supernatural.
• A quotation auto-test.
• Macbeth's tragic end - 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow ...'

2. The whole text of the play in a variety of formats - put it on your computer/tablet/e-reader for easy access. 3. Notes from a thought-provoking talk on the play given by the playwright Frank McGuinness at the Abbey Theatre. 4. BBC Bitesize microsite for revision (level - GCSE). 5. Times Educational Supplement resources, including our own podcasts [requires registration]. 6. Shakespeare Searched: a 'Google for Shakespeare' - terrific resource for looking up quotations, self-testing and so on. 7. 'Macbeth in Monaghan' series on RTÉ radio [podcasts]. 8. A series of ShowMe analyses of key moments in the play, using video and audio annotation.  9. Newbridge College 'resource pack' on the play.  10. Evelyn O'Connor at LeavingCertEnglish.net has a series of posts on the 'Blame Game' in the play here. 


THE GREAT GATSBY:
1.  15 key moments from the novel analysed via ShowMe.
2. Lots of good background and activities from the New York Times Learning Channel.


POETRY:
15 short talks on 'The Patterns of Poetry' (runner up in the 2010 Edulog Awards). Useful for any poetry question, and certainly for the Unseen Poem.


LANGUAGE:
Evelyn O'Connor's site LeavingCert.net has lots of good advice on Paper 1 (and 2, too).  Have a hunt through Categories on the left.