terrible english teacher

mayogirlie1

Hi all! I'm in 5th year at the minute and I have got an awful Leaving Cert English teacher! She literally just reads the poem and tells us to read the notes in the book! I absolutely love English as a subject and got an A at Junior Cert any advice as to how I could get an A/B for leaving cert on my own in English?

Frigating

English poetry at leaving cert is about your own interpretation of the piece, and how it affects your view of the poet. Read the poem, and make your own notes, using the notes in the book as guidelines (or on CD if using Seasons). Use google. Include quotes for language, setting, impact on poet, etc. Honestly, the examiners will prefer if you come up with your own ideas, provided you can back them up. If you don't like a poem or a poet, mention that in the exam. If you give reasons (eg too gloomy) and back them up you'll get marks. It's all about you.

But it is also about the poet. Not sure if your teacher has explained this yet, but I'll mention it anyway. The questions are about the poet (eg how does X use metaphors in their poetry to get across their point of view) so you need to be able to link up each poem in the context of the poet, so read up about them and make a few notes.

Fiona G

This is a useful site: leavingcertenglish.net

One of the English teachers in my school is appalling too and my friends complain constantly about her. But honestly, I think if you have a natural flair for the language your teacher will not have a huge impact on your grade. The key to LC English is including your own personal response to the texts/poetry and this cannot be taught by your teacher. I can't emphasise this enough! Just keep including ''I'' statements and the marks will come easy.

And hey, you might find that while your teacher is poor at teaching poetry, you might find that she's great at teaching the comparative or some other aspect of the course. Don't lose hope so early!