February- Easter term

3rd year 2024.

Sense of place.
What places have we come across in our
previous studies?
What places have we come across in our previous studies?
Brainstorm:
• Take five minutes to individually
brainstorm a place of importance
to you.
• You do not have to write full
sentences; just jot down words or
ideas you associate with this
place.
Introductory
writing task:
• Based on the place you have just
brainstormed; you will take fifteen
minutes to write about what this
place means to you.
• Include information on why this
place is special or important to you,
use descriptive writing to describe
this place to your readers.
Time to share:
‘But you Didn’t’
By Merrill Glass.
 ‘But you Didn’t’
By Merrill Glass
• Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented it?
I thought you’d kill me…
But you didn’t.

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was

formal, and you came in jeans?
I thought you’d hate me…
But you didn’t.

Remember the times I’d flirt with

other boys just to make you jealous, and
you were?
I thought you’d drop me…
But you didn’t.

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,

to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam…
 ‘But you Didn’t’
By Merrill Glass
• Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented it?
I thought you’d kill me…
But you didn’t.

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was

formal, and you came in jeans?
I thought you’d hate me…
But you didn’t.

Remember the times I’d flirt with

other boys just to make you jealous, and
you were?
I thought you’d drop me…
But you didn’t.

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,

to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam…
But you didn’t.
 Pair work:
• In pairs, take a few minutes
to learn quotes from ‘But
you Didn’t’ by Merrill
Glass.
• Test each other.
• Test with kindness!
‘But you Didn’t’ worksheet:
1. Every student will get a
worksheet.
2. We will go through the success
criteria for each task.
3. In class time, you will complete
the worksheet to the best of your
abilities.
4. You will submit the worksheet to
the teacher for correction.
Exam style question on ‘But you Didn’t’:
• (a) ‘The more familiar you become with a poem, the deeper your
understanding of that poem becomes’.
Select a poem you have studied and explain how this statement applies
to your understanding of this poem. Use the poem to support your ideas.
(15 marks)
Exam style question on ‘But you Didn’t’:
• (b) Identify at least two poetic techniques used in your chosen poem
and explain how the poet makes effective use of these techniques in
this poem.
• Support your ideas with reference to the poem.
• (20 marks)
A sense of place: New
York City:
• We have had New York City
as the setting for our studied
film ‘Spiderman into the
Spiderverse’.
• Based on your studied film,
what do you think of New
York City as a setting?
 A sense of place: New York City:
• We will now watch a tourism advertisement for New York City.
• As you watch, jot down anything that is sticking out to you.
• What do you see? Why did it stand out to you? Does it look like a
positive or negative city?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qFeLsoXmfg
A sense of place: New
York City:
Writing task:
• Like every city, New York City
also has a darker side. You may
have seen this in films or TV
series.
• There is pollution, busyness and
crime.
• You now have 15 minutes to
write a short story entitled ‘The
Darker Side of the City’.
• I look forward to hearing your
stories!
‘Fire and Ice 2’:
• Turn to page 256 of ‘Fire
and Ice 2’ where we will
read the short story ‘After
Twenty Years’ by O.
Henry.
• This story shows the
darker side of city life.
‘After Twenty Years’ by
O. Henry.

• Please complete explore

questions 1,2 and 3 from
page 258 into your copies.
Group work: ‘Fire and
Ice 2’ page 259
1. In small groups, try the
create activity and write a
short story with a plot twist
at the end.
2. ALL groups will read to the
class at the end.
 ‘The Early Purges’ by Seamus Heaney
• I was six when I first saw kittens drown.
Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the scraggy wee shits',
Into a bucket; a frail metal sound,

Soft paws scraping like mad. But their tiny din

Was soon soused. They were slung on the snout
Of the pump and the water pumped in.

'Sure, isn't it better for them now?' Dan said.

Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced
Them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead.

Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung

Round the yard, watching the three sogged remains
Turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung

Until I forgot them. But the fear came back

When Dan trapped big rats, snared rabbits, shot crows
Or, with a sickening tug, pulled old hens' necks.

Still, living displaces false sentiments

And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown
I just shrug, 'Bloody pups'. It makes sense:

'Prevention of cruelty' talk cuts ice in town

Where they consider death unnatural
But on well-run farms pests have to be kept down.
Group work discussions:

• The title:
• What possible meanings
might there be in the word
‘early’?
• For whom is this particular
purge ‘early’? The kittens?
The boy? Both? What is the
poet purged of in this poem?
Group work
discussions:

Opening Line:
• Why do you think we are
told what age the poet
was when he first saw
kittens drowned?
• Why does he tell us that
this was the first time?
Group work discussions:
• First Stanza:
• Why do you think that the farmhand is named? What do you think of
Dan Taggart’s language?
• Do you think Heaney agrees with him? Do you think it is significant
that Heaney separates Dan Taggart’s words from the rest of the poem
by placing them in inverted commas?
• What word suggests that the kittens are small and weak? What does
Heaney’s choice of words to describe the kittens tell us about his
attitude to the drowning?
Group work discussions:

• Second Stanza:
• What words evoke our
sympathy for the kittens?
• Can you find an example
of alliteration in this
stanza? What is the effect
of this?
Group work discussions:
• Third Stanza:
• What do you think of Dan Taggart’s claim? Why does he feel this
way?
• Does this give you the impression that life on the farm is harsh?
• Can you find a simile in this stanza? What does it bring to mind?
Group work discussions:

• Fourth Stanza:
• Do you think it is significant that the dead
kittens were thrown on the dunghill?
• What does it say about the attitude
towards animals?
• Why was the young boy frightened by the
death of the kittens? Do you think it made
him realise anything about life?
Group work discussions:
• Fifth Stanza:
• Why does the boy’s ‘fear come back’ when rats, rabbits
and old hens are killed?
• Look at the verbs used to describe Dan’s actions. Does
he seem decisive? Cruel? Matter-of-fact?
• Is there any word in this stanza, apart from ‘fear’, that
shows how upsetting and distasteful the young boy
found these killings?
Group work discussions:
• Sixth Stanza:
• In what way does the poet’s language now echo Dan Taggart’s in the
first stanza?
• How has growing up on a farm affected the poet?
• Do you think that the poet really believes his sentiments, or feelings,
were ‘false’? Why/Why not?
Group work discussions:
• Final Stanza:
• Why do you think the poet has put the words
‘Prevention of cruelty’ in inverted commas?
• Are the deaths that take place on the farms natural?
• Do you believe Heaney agrees with the argument that
‘on well-run farms pests have to be kept down’?
Final Thought:
• If you were going to write a poem
arguing in favour of the need to control
animal populations on farms, which
stanzas would you have changed and
why?
 ‘The Early Purges’
• Take some time to learn quotes from the poem.
Exam Papers: