New English Curriculum

lou91

Hi, I'm in 6th year and trying to get my CAO sorted out. The details about the new JF English curriculum haven't been posted on the website yet and I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about what it will be like. Would people recommend having an A in higher level LC going in? I'm aiming for a B1. It's actually one of my worst subjects for results but I've always thought about doing it in college. I found this on Amazon and it seems like it'd be really interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Theory-Introduction-Literary-Beginnings/dp/0719079276/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232142652&sr=1-6

Is this the sort of stuff that'd be on the course? Also, do you have to be really well-read before you start? I'm not. Obviously I'd be expecting to be reading loads from all different genres in college but I don't have a good grounding yet...
Apologies for the rambling post, just trying to work out if English is for me.
Thanks.

Brian

If you have a real interest in the subject, your projected grades don't matter that much. You'll do the work to catch-up willingly.

claire h

Ah, Beginning Theory, everyone's favourite cheat-sheet to critical & cultural theory! That is the sort of book that would serve as a good intro to the kind of literary theories that one looks at.

You don't have to be well-read but it probably helps a little bit to have read a couple of the texts beforehand; you do need to be enthusiastic about reading and whatever about your actual Leaving Cert grade, it's probably a good idea to think about whether your paper 2 stuff is your strength - it's that sort of stuff rather than creative writing or general debate-style essays that will appear in English. If you find that you feel constricted by the 'acceptable right answers' on that paper, but do like the analysing-of-texts stuff, that's also another good sign.

What have you heard about the new English curriculum? I know they'll have to rejig it a bit for semerisation purposes for 2009/10 entry, but I'm curious to see whether they actually redo the entire course or whether they just fiddle about with the existing courses on offer (shorten the 15-week ones, lengthen the 9-week ones, and there you have a perfectly semesterised system).

Caoimhe89

I'm a first year English/History TSM student, and they haven't let us know about the changes that'll be coming in next term. I'm interested myself, actually.

That said, I was hoping for a B1 in HL English in the LC and it was definitely my weakest subject, but I'm so glad I chose to study it in college. It's quite reading-intensive, but I had only read two of the books on our year-long booklist (and one of those was for the LC ). Most people are in the same boat, to tell you the truth.

Mostly, you should just decide whether or not you like the subject: though claire h was right, the course is much more paper two-orientated!

Stevieo

On the whole curriculum change thing, we know about as much as you do. I can't even see them telling us either, unless someone actually goes to ask about it. I'd say your best bet is to send an email to the School of English to see whether they've actually done anything...

Regarding whole grades thing, I'd only be worried if you were going to get below a C1. As mentioned above though, don't expect writing to take any form of priority...it's pretty much only dalt with when you're handing in your 8 or so essays throughout the year. Highly recommended if you like reading, even more so if you're into your literary theory.

Oh, and your CAO; bear in mind that anything you whack down now can be changed in July. Some people (teachers, parents etc.) might like scaring you into thinking that you've got to chose right now about what you do in college. Don't stress. I'm sure you've got mocks coming up that can give you a much better reason for worrying, and even they're meaningless too! Best of luck...

lou91

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I went to the talk at the open day and it seemed like it'd be changing quite a bit. They said that they're not planning to have compulsory courses after SF which sounds good. Choosing everything that would contribute to my degree is definitely a plus. Although JS seems like it'd be pretty intense for the TSM subject you're minoring in, your whole degree would be based on your work for that year. I think... that's how they made it sound. Anyway, I might get one of those books secondhand from Amazon and have a look through. I'll leave the CAO as it is for the moment. Thanks, that cleared things up a lot!

Sir Ophiuchus

Hey Random!

I'm currently in second-year TSM English, so here's my take on your questions:

Semesterisation for English is going to be fantastic. No longer will you have to spend a year each studying "Modernism" and "Interpreting Shakespeare" to get your degree (you still *can* if you want to, it just won't be compulsory, AFAIK). Frankly, by the end of second year, you should have a good grounding in important areas and concepts anyway.

Third year for TSMs is *not* your whole degree. Your minor subject exams/project in third year is 33% or your overall degree. The degree you get doesn't give separate grades for your major and minor subjects, it's just (example): Honours B.A. in English with a minor in Psychology - I

The book "Beginning Theory" is the entire "Critical and Cultural Theory" course from first year English in a nutshell, and got everyone I know plus myself through the exam. You should read it.

You definitely need a good grade in English, but it doesn't have to be an A. Better criteria would be:
- Do you enjoy reading?
- Do you enjoy thinking about all the different meanings a story can have?
- Would you enjoy studying how literature influences people and vice versa?
Yes to all three and you'd probably enjoy the course a lot.

You don't have to be massively "well-read" (in the sort of books people mean when they say that) but to enjoy reading and to have read a lot (anything, not necessarily classics) is a major plus. The English Department isn't snobby about the kinds of works that are "literary", despite what people think. There's a whole masters degree course devoted to analysing popular literature such as Harry Potter, Philip Pullman, the Twilight series, and so on.

Hope you go for it - I had to transfer course to study this, causing major shenanigans, and hope you figure out what course is for you earlier that I did! PM me if you've any questions, and best of luck with the Leaving Cert.

lou91

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

Third year for TSMs is *not* your whole degree. Your minor subject exams/project in third year is 33% or your overall degree. The degree you get doesn't give separate grades for your major and minor subjects, it's just (example): Honours B.A. in English with a minor in Psychology - I

.

Wow, that example was scarily accurate...
Thank you so much, that went through each and every one of my questions!

Sir Ophiuchus

You're welcome. I picked that example because it's the degree I'm taking and the grade I'm hoping for! Feel free to hit me up with questions anytime, and best of luck!

Monkey61

Hey, I'd advise anyone considering English to think long and hard about whether they will really enjoy it or not.

I love books, I love reading and I love critical theory - but I absolutely hated studying English in college. I just didn't like a lot of the novels and plays that we studied and thus found it very hard to spend hours in the library collecting armfuls of secondary material to apply to essays and the like.

It's a very big step from LC English, miles away in fact.

I would only recommend it to those who

- are good at LC paper two in particular
- are big fans of the type of novels/plays studied on the TCD course
- really think that they will get more enjoyment from studying themes and styles of writing in novels then from just reading them for enjoyment in their own time.

My mistake was thinking "ah sure I love books" of course I'll love it, without really considering what books were actually on the course.

Noodle Abortion

I have only recently began to consider putting this course on my cao and I was wondering if anyone could provide me with an idea of what the tcd reading list consists of? Just in order to gauge what kind of texts i would be studying and whether or not it would suit me as a course.