William Wordsworth revision

Here’s a Quizlet set for those preparing Wordsworth for the Leaving Certificate. Even if you’re not learning these quotations, they should prompt thoughts about key ideas in the poems. The reverse ‘answer’ side includes brief comments on significance. The main thing: use the quotations for thinking purposes.

(Technical instructions: at the top right of the Quizlet, click the icon for Options, and make sure you choose Answer with Definition. Click Flashcard from Choose a Study Mode at the bottom right, and if necessary the arrows-icon just above it to start on the question side of the card.)

Reading

Our Librarian, Ms Kent-Sutton, has advice for all pupils and parents about reading now. Many pupils have a great opportunity to deepen and extend their reading both for academic reasons and pleasure.

Note that e-books are available on several platforms (including BorrowBox - see below), and Amazon's Kindle app can be downloaded for free on all devices (you do not need a physical Kindle). Many classic books are free.

First of all, visit Libraries Ireland who have relaxed their joining policies for the duration of the shutdown. Anyone can join and get immediate free access to their online services with their virtual library card: you need to download some free apps. The Borrowbox app will allow access to audio and ebooks. RB Digital is superb for comics books and graphic novels; the quality of the illustrations is not lost. They also do audio books. And finally in PressReader there is unlimited access to daily newspapers by country.

The Carnegie Medal is always excellent at highlighting the best of YA fiction for the year, and the 2020 shortlist is here. Each title on the list gives an age rating so pupils can access their appropriate level.

The Bookseller also has a Young Adult Book Prize shortlist.

If pupils/parents are looking for a challenge they could try the 16 Before 16 Reading Challenge. Pupils attempt to read 16 "classics" before they turn 16. A sample list is below, which is definitely not exhaustive but a rough guide.

• I Know why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou
• Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte
• Misery- Stephen King
• To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
• The Catcher in the Rye- J. D. Salinger
• The Outsiders- S. E. Hinton
• Frankenstein- Mary Shelley
• 1984- George Orwell
• The Crucible- Arthur Miller
• Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland- C.S. Lewis
• Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
• Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
• One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Never Let Me Go- Kazou Ishiguro
• Atonement-Ian McEwan
• All Quiet on the Western Front-Erich Maria Remarque
• Cider with Rosie- Laurie Lee
• Schindler's Ark- Thomas Keneally
• I Capture the Castle- Dodie Smith

Next, a list of some time-tested series:-

• The Mortal Instruments- Cassandra Clare
• Chaos Walking- Patrick Ness
• Noughts and Crosses- Malorie Blackman
• Throne of Glass-Sarah J Maas
• Gone- Michael Grant
• The Raven Cycle- Maggie Stiefvater
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before- Jenny Han
• His Dark Materials- Philip Pullman
• Uglies- Scott Westerfield
• Abhorsen-Garth Nix
• Lorien Legacies- James Frey
• Shatter Me- Tahereh Mafi
• Cirque Du Freak-Darren Shan
• Artemis Fowl- Eoin Colfer
• Young Bond-Charlie Higson

Some notable new releases in the next month, with potential for these to be big summer reads...

• The Kingdom of the Back-Marie Lu
• The Enigma Game- Elizabeth Wein
• Clap When you Land- Elizabeth Acevedo
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games prequel) - Suzanne Collins

And lastly, the following books have been adapted to films (some Netflix) and due for release before the end of the year:-

• Dune- Frank Herbert
• The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Artemis Fowl- Eoin Colfer
• There's Someone Inside Your House- Stephanie Perkins (Netflix)
• Death on The Nile- Agatha Christie
• The Stand- Stephen King
• Rebecca- Daphne Du Maurier (Netflix)

Time have a list of the best 100 Young Adult Books of All Time if anyone wants to attempt to read all 100!
Goodreads is pretty reliable for suggestions by genre and for suggesting titles/series.

'Hamlet' quotation practice grids

Here are 15 exercises on quotations in Hamlet. They are designed for pair-work 10-minute sessions in class, but work perfectly well for individuals. You need to know the play well, so these are for revision at a late stage. 

The purpose is to make your mind work hard: retrieving factual details, certainly, about the sequence of the play, individual quotations and so on, but more importantly know making you think and create connections. You don’t need to write on the original sheet itself: just take a piece of paper and jot down your responses. 

Take 10-15 minutes, and when finished find the quotation in context and then fill in any gaps.