Exploring Literature for AQA A

Review (1)

• This is one of those text books that immediately makes you feel you’re in grown-up territory, without being daunting. When I took it is to school to give my y 12s a look, one lad cried out amazed, ‘There are no photographs! Not even one of Shakespeare.’ No, this is a serious handbook, despite the holiday cover inviting you to explore that untravelled world gleaming beyond. It is divided into 5 sections, logically arranged from ‘Encountering Literature’, which introduces prose, poetry and drama in separate chapters and gives any teacher of any Literature course useful information to tap into, through ‘Developing your Language Criticism’, ‘Writing about Literature for AS’, and ‘Writing about Literature for A2’ to Preparing for Assessment’. It ends with a thorough glossary and a brilliant chronology, which I keep coming back to for the sheer pleasure of seeing how social and political events link with literary ones: a stroke of genius! The sixth-formers – 12 & 13 – I invited to browse through the book all said they thought they’d find it useful to have as an extra resource, despite the fact that none of them are doing this particular course, for it is designed to support the new specifications AQA A. But ‘extra’ is the key word. The activities, boxed in a pleasing blue, hark back to a time when all students of Literature enjoyed reading and loved nothing more than discussing texts. While worthy and certainly useful if carefully selected, this would be a deadly dull diet to have to work through, task after task. I’m sure it was not meant to be plodded through, but has set activities after bite-sized portions of reading precisely to allow the teacher to pick and choose tasks. Probably more useful are the extracts on which the creative teacher can base more engaging activities, aiming for a similar outcome in ways more suitable for the modern range of AS students (admittedly I’m thinking of comprehensives here). I have particularly enjoyed dipping into it for those extracts, which range from Maya Angelou to Chaucer – my favourite ‘find’ is ‘Drinking with Hitler’ by Owen Sheers – powerfully evocative if you know Africa and ‘small’ men with too much power. Each chapter begins with clear objectives using the correct terminology and easy to adapt to a lesson plan should the need arise. Headings are clear in a turquoise font that stands out without being demanding on the eye. The requirements of the course, complete with AOs, as they pertain to the particular subject area, are set out clearly at the start, again very useful for easy reference as teachers plan lessons. The annotated text and mind mapping is useful, but there's not much of it, reflecting the more scholarly, less student-friendly, approach. What I really like is the breadth in this approach: maybe more a tribute to the course designers, but Oxford have done them proud. The Shakespeare section, for example, gives any student an excellent overview of especially his drama, a firm foundation for a life-time of exploring his work. And in essence that is what this text book offers, a firm foundation for both student and teacher to build on, rather than to take as a prescription. I’m glad I have my copy, for ‘me’, not just for my teaching. If you’re planning to do the AQA Spec. A, I suggest you get at least a copy for the teacher and the reference library. It will be a sound investment.

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  19:06
  25 March, 2008