Good marks In Literature?
Hi,
I have been an English Language and Literature teacher for over 18 years. I have noticed that for years the number of candidates taking Literature as a full subject at the O Level exams has gone down. It is a pretty sad situation because there are many compelling reasons to pursue the study of literature and I will offer 10 reasons in the next 10 postings. It will be very clear then to you if you are a pupil why you will be amply rewarded if you decide to hunker down and tackle Lit. as a subject.
I am sure quite a number of you would have experienced this: "You are doing really well either in Maths and Science subjects and/or another Language but you can't seem to tackle Literature. You read the texts, you take down notes diligently, and you read it all again. Why, you may even like your Lit. teacher! But every time you have Literature test, you find that the same people get the highest marks. But you are quite sure that you studied. What happened?"
Or worse, your Mum says to you, "But your English is good. Why are you doing so badly in Lit.?"
Don't you just hate it when you don't know why some people have it and some don't? And if you are a high achiever scoring high marks in everything else, this could be the only subject to frustrate you.
I will share with you secrets and tips to doing well in Lit.. Your teacher is undoubtedly a good student of Literature. If you think your teacher is the source of your problems, it could be because
a) your teacher feels he is fighting against the tide of parents who advise their children to choose only the subjects they can score well in and since your parent can't find a good tutor to solve your problems, just drop the subject
b) your teacher is so strapped for time to "teach" the story, he does not have the time to teach you answering techniques.
One of the key skills in the study of Literature, in any language even, is Empathy. So try to appreciate what your teacher is going through.
I will post the first reason tomorrow and explain what you do when faced with a certain kind of character sketch question.
I have been an English Language and Literature teacher for over 18 years. I have noticed that for years the number of candidates taking Literature as a full subject at the O Level exams has gone down. It is a pretty sad situation because there are many compelling reasons to pursue the study of literature and I will offer 10 reasons in the next 10 postings. It will be very clear then to you if you are a pupil why you will be amply rewarded if you decide to hunker down and tackle Lit. as a subject.
I am sure quite a number of you would have experienced this: "You are doing really well either in Maths and Science subjects and/or another Language but you can't seem to tackle Literature. You read the texts, you take down notes diligently, and you read it all again. Why, you may even like your Lit. teacher! But every time you have Literature test, you find that the same people get the highest marks. But you are quite sure that you studied. What happened?"
Or worse, your Mum says to you, "But your English is good. Why are you doing so badly in Lit.?"
Don't you just hate it when you don't know why some people have it and some don't? And if you are a high achiever scoring high marks in everything else, this could be the only subject to frustrate you.
I will share with you secrets and tips to doing well in Lit.. Your teacher is undoubtedly a good student of Literature. If you think your teacher is the source of your problems, it could be because
a) your teacher feels he is fighting against the tide of parents who advise their children to choose only the subjects they can score well in and since your parent can't find a good tutor to solve your problems, just drop the subject
b) your teacher is so strapped for time to "teach" the story, he does not have the time to teach you answering techniques.
One of the key skills in the study of Literature, in any language even, is Empathy. So try to appreciate what your teacher is going through.
I would love to see more pupils studying Literature and getting As for it. It is a great social leveller.....
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