Charity and Change - Extract and Activity

Hello!

Today I wanted to share an extract and activity from a Stage 5-aimed drama text. This play, Charity and Change, is something I've been working on for a while and it's very exciting to now have it finished and in a published form. Here is a quick overview of the text's purpose before we look at the extract and an associated activity:

• Context - the characters and setting have been designed to be contemporary and familiar to Australian students in mixed-ability public high schools. 
• Practicality - a range of parts of varying sizes and difficulties have been included so a portion of the class can be engaged to read them aloud. 
• Content - the text touches on themes and ideas relevant to 21st century Australia; online bullying, whether people are 'good' or 'bad', and the differences between appearances and reality. 
  

The opening section of the first scene introduces most of the characters. In the classroom this becomes a good opportunity for students to learn who these characters are and the way they've been established within the play. 

Here's the extract: Act 1, Scene 1 Extract.

After reading through the play with a class, it can be useful to go back to the start again and look at ways in which students can reconstruct the text. One method of doing this is to storyboard and then film the first page of the text, which is where the above extract comes in. 

Students can use a scaffold to brainstorm their shot design, which can be found here: Storyboard Template.

This template includes five elements for each shot. Students should plan each of these elements ahead of filming so that they are forced to consider the way the shots are staged and edited together to support and/or form a working narrative. These elements are:

1. A box in which the shot can be roughly sketched. This helps visualise how it will look. 
2. Shot Size - extreme long shot, long shot, mid shot, close up, or extreme close up.
   
3. Angle - overhead angle, high angle, eye level angle, low angle, underneath angle, dutch angle.
4. Movement - will the camera be static? Or will it be moving, IE. Zooming in, zooming out, panning left, panning right, tracking, handheld?
5. Mise en scene - where will things be placed in the shot? Who is needed for the shot? This section can be useful if students struggle in particular with getting their sketching right.
   

After the planning is complete, have students negotiate in groups which storyboards they want to use and then let them at it. Students can have a lot of fun translating their storyboards into reality and it's also a great exercise in creative problem-solving, collaborative practice, and imaginative recreation.

The Plays 

The extract above is from a play called Charity and Change and is aimed at Years 9 and 10. A second play, Community and Family, is aimed at Year 10 and English Studies. This second play deals with themes related to leadership, homophobia, casual racism, and mental illness. The plays are both set within the same 'universe', a fictional school called Bexley Hill, and follows a cohort of characters across multiple years. Charity and Change features a group of Year 9 students and Community and Family, which has some overlapping characters, is set two years later with a group of Year 11 students. The plays can be read in any order and both texts come with in-built study guides too.

Single copies and class sets can be purchased through Five Senses Education.

The Secret River: A Study Guide

The Extension English 1 Elective Literary Homelands offers both teacher and student the chance to parse some quite accessible texts in a sophisticate fashion. The choice of texts for Extension English, perhaps more so than those prescribed for Advanced English, are representative of the fine-toothed wire upon which our culture sits. There's a sharpness, an edginess, a robust and stinging conversation that echoes through some of the texts that have been made available for study in this part of our syllabus.

One such text is Andrew Bovell's dramatic adaptation of Kate Grenville's The Secret River - a play that courted some degree of controversy upon its release and will no doubt provide fertile ground for discussion in the Extension English classes that grapple with its polemical and forthright narrative of colonial confrontation.

What follows is a study guide for the play that seeks to identify key quotes or examples from the text that allow for analysis in relation to Literary Homelands. Each example is paired with both the kernels of analysis (the second column) and an evaluative/critical breakdown of how this links to the elective (the third column). Approximately two out of every three examples are accompanied by some prompts outlined in bold, which students can use to demonstrate their understanding of how the text can be synthesised into an understanding of the elective. 

Study Guide: The Secret River (click to download)

A few key overarching ideas to note that will help students crystalise the play's placement within the elective:

• The impact of our postcolonial perspective on the way the colonial narrative of settler-era Australia has been represented in The Secret River. Think also of the colonial structures that exist in the way the Thornhills do things, express themselves, and project expectations onto the Dharug.
• The parallels, commonalities, and disparities between the Thornhill/Hawkesbury community and the Dharug people. This can be framed from the standpoint of cross-cultural transition and cultural exchange. 
• The way that notions of homeland shift and change from character to character, particularly Sal and Will Thornhill, over the course of the play. 
• The freed convicts as migrants. Keep in mind, however, that the migrants in this case exist within multiple hierarchies. When compared with the Dharug, the migrants are constructing a dominant power structure rather than settling into a marginalised space. In contrast with this though, the convicts have come from their own marginalised space as an underclass in British society. 
• Consider the above in relation to which voices are privileged marginalised or silence.
•  The role that beliefs play in the shaping of identity and claims to 'homeland'.
• The role of language and dialect as representational elements utilised by the author.
• The nature of transgression in relation to values expressed and reinforced by each cultural group within the text.

Happy reading!

Romeo and Juliet: A New Translation

 

About a year ago I put up a new 'translation' of Shakespeare's Macbeth that could be used in a mixed ability Stage 5 classroom. The provision of this as a single PDF allowed for the printing of booklets that could be read by the students without scanning back and forth to compare the modern English with Shakespeare's English (as is the case with the No Fear Shakespeare editions). Below you will find a similarly translated version of Romeo & Juliet that can also be used in a mixed ability Stage 5 classroom.

My reasons for doing this are as follows:

• I've gotten a lot of use out of the No Fear editions over the years but I wanted something that Western Sydney kids could engage in an easier way. Some of the language in the No Fear editions can feel 'clunky', or overly slavish to the original text - sometimes to the point of losing the essence of what Shakespeare was actually trying to say. For example, references to ancient Greek or Roman deities just don't make the same impact on teenagers these days. Why not replace such a reference with something else that gets the same point across?
• I've found that junior students can sometimes get confused by the reading pathway of the No Fear editions as they present the two versions of the text side-by-side. This is great for examining specific extracts but I think it can slow down the process of just enjoying Shakespeare's characters and plotting, especially if these are students who are already resistant to reading a 400 year old play.
• By working through the text and translating it myself I found I got a much clearer idea of what was happening in the play. This kind of close reading was incredibly valuable to me as a teacher. 

Undertaking this process also helped me form new opinions on things I hadn't really considered. I mean, it probably doesn't help that I'd never read the entire play from start to finish as an adult, but anyway... here are some of my favourite realisations!

• Romeo isn't in love. He just wants to have sex. By modern standards, the relationship he has with Juliet is actually kind of toxic. It's hard to read it so closely and not get the impression that Shakespeare is knowingly exloring the emotional detriment of a codependent relationship.
• Nurse is an incredibly irritating and self-contradicting character, and possibly one of my favourite Shakespearean comedy creations.
• It's actually a really rude text - plenty of people have written about this, but I never quite realised how rude it was until I got to the bit about medlar fruits and open arses.
• I take back what I said about Nurse, I think Peter might be my favourite comedic character in this play. The bit where he tries to talk to the musicians who have arrived for Juliet's wedding is still funny after all these centuries.
• Friar Lawrence is the most important character in the whole text. He encapsulates the play's theme of duality and reflects the Elizabethan concept of the Great Chain of Being through his discussion of the spectrum that exists between sin and virtue.
• The random introduction of the character 'Petruchio' into the Tybalt-Mercutio-Romeo fight scene led me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about ghost characters. These are essentially characters that writers put in early drafts of texts and then later, while removing said character, accidentally remain in one or two references. Another ghost character, Valentine, is also mentioned earlier in the play - intended as Mercutio's brother but mostly removed when Shakespeare wrote later drafts.

Anyway, enough waffle, here is the play:

• Romeo & Juliet translated

(Disclaimer: apologies for any typos in the PDF above - I didn't get a chance to do a second draft as I was keen to give the text a try with my Year 9 students this upcoming term) 

Extension English: Elective 1 - Literary Homelands

The Literary Homelands elective asks students to explore how individuals and communities express their connections to place, ethnicity, and 'the other'. This is essentially an elective about diversity and voice, values and assumptions, and the impact of one culture on another. All the texts share this last thing in particular as a common thread - they portray worlds in which cultures overlap, intersect, and come into conflict.

There are three novels - two of which are set in India, albeit a century apart. One is written by an Indian writer, the other by a British one. The third novel is an Irish author's exploration of the Irish migrant experience in 1950s America.

The poetry option represents a Singapore-born Chinese-Australian's perspective on migration and cultural identity, and the drama option is an Australian-written exploration of the clash between European and Aboriginal worlds in the early 1800s.

The final text is a feminist one; a British film about London's Bangladeshi community.

Prose Fiction Options

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

What is it: Meet Balram Halwai, an impoverished Hindu who watches his father die unattended in hospital and thereafter vows to transcend the shackles of his caste. In his ambition to achieve financial security and independence, Balram becomes a driver for a wealthy Bangalore family engaged in dodgy political dealings in Delhi. His story, relayed in epistolary form to the Chinese Premier, charts his rise from extreme poverty to powerful business mogul. 

Scope for Study: In Balram, the author Aravind Adiga has created a complex and authentic voice that is representative of a class of Indian people often stereotyped or rendered voiceless. What's perhaps most engaging about Balram's narrative is that he is neither portrayed as a victim of circumstances or villified for his extreme actions throughout the novel. The line between satire and cultural expose become somewhat blurred as Balram's highly engaging second-person narration veers from the sharply comic to the brutally sobering and then back again. Students will be able to examine the significance of narrative voice, authorial intent, and literary value (The White Tiger won the prestigious Booker prize just a few years ago).

NESA Annotations: Notes can be found on The White Tiger in the annotations for the 2015-2020 syllabus, when the text was connected to the Extension 1 Elective: Navigating the Global. Most of these annotations focus on the novel's exploration of globalisation which, if you squint enough, can be co-opted to assist with reading the text in connection to the Literary Homelands elective (in that both electives allow for the examination of Adiga's depiction of India as a country shifting under a wide range of social and cultural pressures). The annotations also highlight Balram's role as an anti-heroic narrator.

Verdict: I think this would be a fantastic text to introduce to students. Adiga's novel is both very funny and quite confronting so there will be little chance for students to become bored, and the way the novel is constructed will also provide plenty of scope for lively discussion. In particular, there's a lot of mileage in examining the author's role in shaping his narrative as a complex but recognisable representation of a nation, a depiction that's familiar enough to the average student without losing a sophisticated depth of complexity that justifies the novel's critical acclaim. 

A Passage to India by EM Forster

What is it: Written and set in 1920s British India, Forster's novel concerns the tensions and misunderstandings that arise from the relationship between the British colonialists and their Indian subjects. Much of this is relayed through the friendship of Aziz, a young Muslim doctor, and Fielding, an independently-minded British headmaster - a relationship that is tumultuously tested when Aziz is falsely accused of sexual assault by a visiting Englishwoman who wants to see the 'real' India. 

Scope for Study: Forster's text remains highly relevant (despite its age) due to the complex commentary it offers on colonialism, imperialism, racial differences, and gender. At the time of its release it was considered inappropriate by Western audiences as it challenged and critiqued the concept of British superiority and flew in the face of contemporary Western views on Indian identity. From a 21st century standpoint, the text can be deconstructed from the opposite standpoint as ultimately reflective of Forster's inherent racism and other attitudes that have long since changed - something that students should have no difficulty picking up on.

NESA Annotations: Notes are provided in the new 2019-2023 Annotations, with emphasis placed on the novel's literary value as a key text written by a Nobel Prize-winning author. Opportunities for challenging teaching and learning include analysing the myriad forms that conflict takes within the text, looking at the way the author represents perspectives of different characters seeking a greater understanding of Indian society and culture, and examining the narrative's tripartite structure.

Verdict: If you count Bangladesh as a part of India (and it was at the time of A Passage to India's writing) then there are three texts in this Elective that focus on this multi-religious, multi-cultural country. I don't think I would teach all three of them but I think you'd have to be working very hard to avoid them altogether if you were doing this elective. A Passage to India is probably the most divisive and deconstructable of the three texts if you were choosing to utilise just one Indocentric work. Forster's novel challenged me at several points due to the backwards attitudes of its era, however, it also remains highly pertinent in that it offers a outlying critique of its time that was entirely apart from the common attitude of the 1920s British readership.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

What is it: Eilis is a young woman living in sleepy 1950s Ireland who finds herself presented with an opportunity to relocate to New York. Using her connection to a Catholic priest, Eilis moves into a boarding house filled with other Irish girls, gets a job in a department store, and goes to night school to become an accountant. She begins a cautious relationship with a young Italian-American man, however, when tragedy strikes back home in the village of Enniscorthy, Eilis is confronted with a difficult and life-changing decision.

Scope for Study: Brookyln's placement as part of the Literary Homelands elective makes a lot of sense as it provides students with ample scope for examining the notion of a cultural and physical homeland and the effect this can have on a person's sense of loyalty and growth. Eilis is a strange character in that she manages to come across as paradoxical in that she is both strong-willed and unassuming, and students can examine this as a symbolic representation of the way an increasingly divided cultural identity can manifest itself. The dichotomy between 1950s America and Ireland also provides scope for examining the increasing complexity of the modern world; with Brooklyn's social modernity acting as a counterpoint for the cultural decline of the 'village' represented by the rural landscape of Enniscorthy and the backwards attitudes therein.

NESA Annotations: Brooklyn was introduced in 2015 as an Advanced English novel for the now defunct Module C Elective 'Representing People and Landscapes'. As such, notes on Toibin's text can be found in the 2015-2020 Annotations, and concern themselves with the Advanced module rather than the new Extension Elective. That said, there are some useful pointers on the differences between Enniscorthy and Brooklyn, and what Toibin's authorial choices for his character might represent in relation to the novel's themes.

Verdict: Brooklyn is one of a couple of 'new' texts from the 2015 text prescriptions that have been shifted from Advanced into Extension (another that comes to mind is Melissa Harrison's Clay), which may leave a few English faculties across NSW expressing frustration after recently purchasing large class sets. That aside, Brooklyn seems a much better fit with the Extension Elective in comparison to the previous Advanced one. I would be careful about selecting this text; the themes and characters are the sort that would traditionally appeal to a middle-aged literature-conscious crowd, and some teenagers (yes, even the ones who choose Extension) may be significantly alienated and resistant to Brooklyn as a matter of taste.

Poetry Options

Burning Rice by Eileen Chong

• Burning Rice
• Mid-autumn Mooncakes
• My Hakka Grandmother
• Shophouse, Victoria Street
• Chinese Ginseng
• Winter Meeting
• Singapore

What is it: Eileen Chong is a Singapore-born Australian poet who has attracted a diverse array of accolades for her work. The selected poetry from the volume Burning Rice focuses on Chong's migrant and cultural background, straddling her Chinese ancestry and Singaporean upbringing with particular attention paid to the importance of food as a ritualised expression of identity.

Scope for Study: The seven poems selected here offer portraits of captured moments fraught with the emotional charge associated with memory and self-awareness. Chong's use of structure is fluid and free-form, allowing for word placement to slip into unexpected places via the joys of enjambment and split clauses, thus providing scope for students to examine the effect of representing moments in this stylised fashion. In relation to the elective, Chong's hyphenated identity (China / Singapore / Australia) allows for a relatively straightforward examination of the rubric provided in the syllabus. 

NESA Annotations: Featured in the newest annotations, NESA's advice on the selected suite of poetry highlight "the poet's exploration of the tensions of the diaspora" - calling to mind years past when a lot of NSW English teachers taught Peter Skrzynecki's Immigrant Chronicle as part of the 'Belonging' Area of Study. Attention is paid to the poet's use of narrative, imagery, and intertextuality to explore the impact of the past on the shaping of the present.

Verdict: I really love Burning Rice, and not just the poetry selected for the elective. My three favourite pieces from the volume are Chinese Ginseng, Bathhouse Ritual, and Mid-autumn Mooncakes - two of which are featured in the prescribed suite. It's worth noting that this text doesn't just focus on cultural heritage; it's a lot deeper in that it also deals with very personal issues such as infertility and family relationships. A lot could be done with this text in the Extension classroom.

Drama Options

The Secret River by Andrew Bovell

What is it: William and Sal Thornhill are pardoned convicts who, upon hearing that anyone can claim land for themselves by the Hawkesbury River, decide to head into the un-colonised bushland west of Sydney. William finds a few fellow settlers along the river, all battling hardship to make a new life for themselves, but doesn't bargain on the fact that the area is already inhabited by the Dharug people, whose close connection with the land challenges William's concept of what constitutes ownership and civilisation. 

Scope for Study: The foreword before the play goes into Bovell's process of adapting Kate Grenville's iconic novel into play-form and therefore provides great scope for discussing the necessities and strictures associated with crafting a story bound by the dramatic conventions of the stage. Students will also be able to draw connections between the text's content and their own personal context as Australian citizens, perhaps in relation to family histories with a basis for contrast and comparison. Bovell's extensive use of indigenous language is also a unique gift for teachers and students to explore within the totality of prescriptions available across all the English syllabuses.

NESA Annotations: Notes can be found in the 2019-23 Annotations. These outline the clash between European settlers and the Dharug people as representations of conflicting worldviews. Mention is also made of the Thornhill family as a symbol of the fledgling Australian identity, the author's use of parallels to demonstrate ideological similarity and difference between the two races, and the significance of this dramatic adaptation of a novel in that it gives the Dharug characters more defined identities and voices.

Verdict: It's worth carefully reading all the text that preludes the main bulk of the play in The Secret River as it describes Bovell's writing process as a partially collaborative one. His use of the Dharug language is probably one of the most engaging aspects of the text and reflects the input of Dharug performers, making this play at least partially representative of an Indigenous perspective (and in a way that Grenville's novel is not). I really like Grenville's novel and I can understand completely why she would not include the first person perspective of the Aboriginal characters, however, Bovell's pared-down version of the narrative is highly evocative of a lost era and I think there's a lot to be gained through its bi-cultural examination of interracial conflict on Australia's 19th century frontier.

Film Options

Brick Lane, directed by Sarah Gavron

What is it: Set in East London's Bangladeshi migrant community of the same name, Brick Lane tells the story of Nazneen, who leaves behind her home in the rural heart of the sub-continent to raise a family in England with her husband, Chanu. Their marriage is an arranged one and therefore not particularly loving, and Nazneen's isolated life and the increasing racial tension following the 9/11 attacks sees her begin to explore her individuality with a much younger Muslim man.

Scope for Study: In a reversal of A Passage to India, Gavron's film shows the West through an Eastern lens, and can be examined quite easily with multiple readings - a gender-based reading could examine Nazneen's sexual awakening and burgeoning independence as a reflection of the Western values that her daughters have adopted, and a historical reading could examine the significance of using the 9/11 attacks as a backdrop for a story about assimilation and integration. Gavron's direction is also of note in that she represents a female viewpoint in a profession (film directing) where women are few and far between.

NESA Annotations: Annotations can be found in the 2019-2023 Annotations document, where particular attention is paid to the film's context as an exploration of challenges faced by Muslims in the post-9/11 world. Note is also made of the concept of 'home' in relation to the migrant experience, and the director's use of visual metaphor and flashback to portray complex cultural perspectives and the impact of the past/memory on the present.

Verdict: A moving and beautifully-shot film, Brick Lane manages to tell a relatively straight-forward story about cultural dislocation without sacrificing the complexity that comes with living in the interstitial places afforded by close-knit migrant groups such as the Bangladeshi-British community based in East London. Pairing this film with a study of A Passage to India would be a valuable use of the elective in that both texts deal with Indian culture from near-antithetical standpoints. Brick Lane also contains a powerful and heartbreaking portrayal of the impact that 9/11 had on long-integrated Muslim communities in Western countries such as the UK, which links to the unassessable 'values' part of the syllabus in that it allows for exploration and expression of varied dimensions of the human experience.

Macbeth: A New Translation

Macbeth is, for many teachers, the gateway point for attempting to get students to love Shakespeare. Many schools teach it in Stage 5 English as an introductory point for students because of its accessibility and relative brevity. It has witches in it, lots of medieval violence, and that weird stuff about Lady Macbeth's milk ducts turning into bile. How could that not be interesting? It also happens to be one of Shakespeare's major Tragedy plays, and it works well as an access point for this genre if you're a teacher preparing students for Advanced English later in their schooling. Whether it's Hamlet, Othello, or King Lear, all of these plays make use of the Ancient Greek dramatic concept of hamartia (a fatal flaw that brings down a heroic character) and this is something that can be introduced with much discussion when teaching Macbeth. 

This year is my fifth time teaching Macbeth to Year 10. I've taught it to a wide variety of classes - from the high achieving to those who would rather see the play sacrificed to Hecate herself, and each time I've found the biggest challenge to be the language. Even the most literate and classically-minded student will struggle with decoding a lot of Shakespeare's highly stylised use of blank verse. This has often left me in a bit of a quandary; do I focus on Shakespeare's language and finding ways for students to come to a better understanding of the way he wrote? Or do I focus on Shakespeare's sophisticated use of plotting, characterisation, and concepts to create timeless works of universal worth?

Sometimes these two things aren't always compatible, especially when there's also Johnny McRandom, age 15, smearing pen ink all over his table, asking to go to the bathroom for the third time in the space of an hour, and asking me repeatedly which football team I go for while I try to teach the class about the wonder of iambic pentameter.

In the past I've used No Fear's version of Macbeth with students but I haven't always found a lot of success with the No Fear editions. So this year I decided instead to create a fresh translation of the text that could be used with my class. Reasons for this are as follows:

• No Fear makes use of two columns for each page - showing the original text side-by-side with the modern translation. Some students tend to find this both distracting and confusing.
• I wanted the dialogue to be a little bit more naturalistic and less stilted. I don't think I necessarily succeeded at this in the earlier scenes but I felt like I got into the swing of it a bit more as the play went on.
• Shakespeare's plays are notoriously light on stage direction when compared to their modern counterparts - I wanted to layer an interpretation of the characters' actions into the text so that students could visualise the energy of the play a little bit more.
• I found that, by working through the original text and translating it piece by piece, I also personally arrived at a much better understanding of the play.

The last reason given here is driven more by self-interest than the others. Just because I'd taught Macbeth several times that didn't mean that I'd really read it properly that many times. Sometimes I would just work through a couple of key scenes with particular classes and then give them plot summaries - but I found that this was becoming a carbon-copy version of understanding the play. I knew the essence of it, but I couldn't always answer with the complete confidence why certain characters did what they did. By reading through the entire play really carefully, and having to consider how I would translate each and every line for an audience made up of 15-year-olds, I was able to arrive at a whole new sense of clarity in regards to the text.

For instance, here are some things I realised for the first time (no judgement please!)

• Ross and Macduff are cousins. 
• There's an 'unseen' scene between Act 1, Scene 6 and Act 1, Scene 7 where Macbeth entertains King Duncan at his dinner table.
• I was finally able to pinpoint the exact parts of the play that obliquely refer to Lady Macbeth having once had a child. 
• The 'bell' that Macbeth refers to at the end of his soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1 is an actual bell that Lady Macbeth rings off-stage to signify that the poisoned drinks are ready for the servants.  
• There are several references to owls throughout the play - this motif is symbolic of the fact that this bird of prey hunts under cover of night and, therefore, is somewhat representative of Macbeth's duplicity and subterfuge. 
• There is a rivalry between Macbeth and Macduff long before Macduff actually suspects Macbeth of murdering the King. You can see this in Act 2, Scene 3 when Macduff and Macbeth both compete to be the one to wake the King up. Yes, Macbeth is hoping to control the flow of events here as he has just murdered Duncan, but Macduff is unaware of that at this point and is quite insistent on being the first person the King sees in the morning, suggesting that Macduff is not willing to defer to Macbeth in any situation.
• Macbeth starts using the collective pronoun 'we' in Act 3, Scene 1. This royal pronoun is used to expressed the monarch's collective grouping with God, and demonstrates a subtle shift in how Macbeth presents himself after assuming the throne.
• The 'Murderers' that Macbeth sets onto Banquo aren't actually hired killers but are apparently just really angry peasants. Macbeth has somehow convinced them that Banquo is responsible for every piece of bad luck in their lives (we aren't actually told how Banquo is supposed to have done this, Macbeth just tells the peasants this and they buy it almost immediately).
• During the banquet scene, Lady Macbeth tells the other guests that Macbeth suffers from seizures (to cover up for his seeing Banquo's ghost). What isn't clear here is whether Macbeth truly did suffer seizures at some point prior to the narrative of the play or whether Lady Macbeth has made this up on the spot. 
• Also in the banquet scene, Macbeth makes a reference to nature moving the trees in order to enact revenge on the guilty (foreshadowing the apparition's premonition about Birnam Wood in Act 4).
• Hecate, the evil spirit that rules over the witches, actually seems to think that Macbeth isn't a good target for the witches. Is this because he is unsuited to the demands of evil? She also mentions Macbeth's destiny, which implies that he was always meant to become King - perhaps the witches haven't actually manipulated him into this position as much as we might think?
• When Macbeth threatens the witches in Act 4, Scene 1, he says that he is willing to destroy churches in order to get more information - a symbolic threat that indicates the full extent of his tyranny and his new alignment with evil.
• The witches refer to the apparitions as their 'masters' and reprimand Macbeth for talking directly to them. Previously I had believed these apparitions to be a conjuring trick, but now I see them more as spirits that the witches are servants to.
• The King of England, Edward, is described but not seen in Act 4, Scene 3. He provides a point of contrast with Macbeth in that he is a Christian and good King, and has inherited the power to heal people through his family line - illustrating the idea that God works His power through official royal lines of succession such as Edward's (rather than those who have established themselves as King through unholy means, such as Macbeth). Another interesting aspect of Edward is that he is said to have the power of seeing into the future - like the witches!
• The whole bit with Macbeth killing Young Siward makes a bit more sense after reading the part where the older Siward, who presides over Northumberland (the land between Scotland and England), is introduced. Siward-the-elder is said to control a large army populated by teenage boys who will prove themselves in the battle to come. This harkens to the values of the time in which violence is seen as the test of true manhood. Compare old Siward's introductory scene here with his final scene in the play, where he hears that his son died fighting Macbeth and is quite cheerful about the death provided that his son died with battle wounds in the front of his body (rather than the back). There is also a line prior to this where the older Siward remarks that you can't win a battle without a few losses (a fine example of dramatic irony as the audience is already aware here that his son has died, even though old Siward is yet to be informed).

Anyway, here's the play itself: the play's the thing.

The Common Module (English Prescriptions 2019-23)

Prose Fiction Options
In total there are four prose fiction titles to pick from.

• Three of these are novels and one is a novella (Vertigo). 
• Two of the texts are new to the English Prescriptions list (All the Light We Cannot See and Past the Shallows). 
• Two of the texts are written by Australians (Vertigo and Past the Shallows).

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

What is it: Anthony Doerr's Pullitzer Prize-winning novel is a 500+ page opus that tracks the experiences of two children on opposite sides of World War II. The chapters are short and episodic (they average 3 pages each) and mostly take place from the perspectives of a French vision-impaired girl and a German orphan boy drafted into the Hitler Youth. It's very well-written; each sentence is a little work of poetry, and the scope of events and themes covered by the narrative is ambitious, to say the least.

Scope for Study: Students with an interest in Modern History, or World War II fiction, will find a lot to like in this novel, as will those who have a real interest in reading literature. The chapter-lengths and style allow for a surprisingly brisk read provided that the students are interested. In relation to the Common Module's rubric, the book is perfect for examining the paradoxical nature of humanity in the face of war. The author's unique but accessible style also allows for involved study of figurative language, grammatical structure, and literary value.

NESA Annotations: The 2019-23 Annotations point out the impressive array of awards that American author Doerr has picked up for All the Light We Cannot See, and the historical significance of the events covered within the novel's narrative. The document also points out the challenging nature of dichotomising people into categories of 'good' or 'evil', and the way that the text provokes discussion around this and the motif of 'light' as a symbol of hope. The non-linear plotting, the use of science and intertextuality, and the perspective of the character of Marie-Laure, are also pointed out as fodder for provocative teaching and learning.

Verdict: Alas, this is a novel of terrifying length and it would be a very brave teacher that dares to teach it in the space of a term to 17 year-olds. I could only see it working with an Advanced English class but even with students of this ability I think it would be a big ask for them to read something of this length and read it deep enough for purposes of study. The text itself is also, from the viewpoints of some, quite problematic (if it wasn't for the length, I would say these issues provide great scope for discussion with higher ability classes, but not all teachers may feel this way if they take personal offence).   

Vertigo by Amanda Lohrey

What is it: Luke and Anna are a young couple who decide to move to a coastal country town as an escape from the pollution and pace of life in Sydney. Lohrey's novella is compact but thematically dense and lyrical, gradually bringing the alarming danger of bushfire closer whilst teasing the audience with the presence of an unnamed boy who continues to haunt and flit about the edges of the narrative.

Scope for Study: The novella provides scope for discussion of the way a narrative is constructed, with particular attention potentially paid to the use of foreshadowing and (if you read the blurb, which gives things away a bit) dramatic irony. The coastal/rural setting is somewhat personified throughout the text, with its salience rendering it as equally important as the characters. Lohrey writes in a deceptively accessible way, seeming to 'skate' over the top of her characters and their journey as they deal with rather weighty and complex issues.

NESA Annotations: The 2015-2020 Annotations highlight the evocative imagery of Lohrey's descriptive and largely dialogue-free writing, and the motif of 'the boy' is similarly identified as a force that drives the reader's curiosity in relation to the narrative. The annotations also imply that the text could be considered multimodal (there are several photographs interspersed throughout the book), and students are encouraged to engage with this aspect during their study.

Verdict: Whilst the length of Vertigo is a lot less daunting than All the Light We Cannot See, there are certain thematic considerations that could prove very challenging when teaching this text to teenagers. Vertigo is quite typical as far as Australian literature goes: set in the bush, concerned with a thirty-something couple who have experienced a late term miscarriage, and largely free of dialogue or memorable secondary characters. To be frank, I'm not sure how well teenagers would be able to connect with a text that is far more likely to appeal to the upwardly mobile, middle-aged, book-buying crowd. 

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

What is it: Orwell's dystopian classic needs no real introduction. The story of Winston Smith's struggle for individuality and privacy under the oppressive eye of Big Brother has become the stuff of pop culture legend. It's also the only science fiction text in the Common Module, and one of the few science fiction texts across the entire English Prescriptions list.

Scope for Study: Students will (and do) find quite a few alarming points of similarity between Orwell's nightmare vision of the future and our own current state of affairs. The appointment of Donald Trump as American President and his rhetoric of 'alternative facts' and 'fake news' hits a little too closely to the way the Party manipulates information and history in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell's use of rhetoric, careful sentence construction, and disturbing imagery also allows students to attack the text at a micro-level whilst simultaneously examining the big questions it raises.

NESA Annotations: Notes for Nineteen Eighty-Four can be found in the 2015-2020 Annotations, albeit as part of the 'Intertextual Perspectives' module. Orwell's hugely influential novel is deemed significant due to its impact on the English language (and Western culture in general). It's legitimacy as a 'canon' text for classroom study is supported by the role that context plays in its construction, with students able to draw upon Orwell's political, social, cultural and historical background to deepen their understanding of the novel.

Verdict: Orwell is intellectually challenging but also very relevant, and I've found that many students respond quite passionately to the concepts portrayed in Nineteen Eighty-Four. I will note, however, that it's perfectly pitched for an Advanced English class and, as such, I'm not sure it would be a successful teaching-and-learning experience in a Standard English context.

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett

What is it: Past the Shallows tells the story of two brothers, Miles and Harry, who live on the south-east coast of Tasmania with their difficult father. Much like Vertigo, this is a text heavily informed by the environment - an arresting story that's as enigmatic and bracing as the great Southern Ocean that hugs the Tasmanian coast and looms so large as a threat to Harry. Past the Shallows is the first award-winning novel from Australian author Favel Parrett, who previously wrote zines.

Scope for Study: Past the Shallows is wonderfully evocative of place and features memorable, finely-sketched characters that will stay with the reader long after they've finished with the novel. Students won't find it difficult to read, and Parrett's background as a zine-writer means that she is able to craft poetic yet accessible imagery that will appeal to teenagers and adults alike. The use of the southern-most parts of Australia as a setting also gives the text an edge over the many similar pieces of literature that focus on the country or outback.

NESA Annotations: The annotations describe the text as 'powerful', 'poignant', and 'traumatic', and it's hard to disagree. Note is also made of the 'distinctive voices' of the two protagonists, Miles and Harry - essentially highlighting the strength of characterisation in Parrett's writing. Suggestion is also made in regards to exploring the genre of bildungsroman and the way the novel touches on elements of this storytelling tradition, and the way Parrett mimics the 'rhythms of the ocean' through her use of grammar and figurative language.

Verdict: I love this book and would absolutely love the chance to teach it. The text is beautifully written, the characters are engaging and raise lots of questions, and there are some big themes around family, loss, neglect, etc. Most of all, the perspective of the two adolescent brothers provides the perfect way-in for teenage readers!

Poetry / Drama / Shakespearean Drama Options

There are five options to choose from here, with a few notes:

• The Merchant of Venice gets counted as a Drama option if chosen for Standard English, but a Shakespearean Drama option if chosen for Advanced English.
• None of the options here are entirely new to the prescriptions list, although I think it's been a while since The Merchant of Venice was a prescribed text.
• Both poets are Australian, as is the playwright Jane Harrison (who is also Muruwari).

Collected Poems by Rosemary Dobson

• Young Girl at a Window
• Over the Hill
• Summer's End
• The Conversation
• Cock Crow
• Amy Caroline
• Canberra Morning

What is it: Whilst Dobson has been on the prescriptions list before, it's worth noting that the suite of poetry chosen by NESA is not exactly the same as the selection in previous years - only two of the above poems ('Young Girl at a Window', 'Cock Crow') were in the prior prescriptions. Dobson's poetry spans a full lifetime, she wrote as a child and was first published at the age of 17 in the 1930s, and released her last collection of poetry in 2008 just four years before her death. The poetry itself shies away from the political and the personal, instead offering artistic observations of what Dobson called 'the fugitively glimpsed'.

Scope for Study: Dobson's poetry was previously placed as a prescribed text for Discovery, and it's easy to see her observations of the enigmatic as a window into the role of the artist as an explorer. As a text in the Common Module, the suite of selected poetry allows for students explore the role of perspective in creating a relationship between the subject and observer, and the figurative language used to express this. Dobson eschews the use of difficult language in much of her poetry, which is welcome considering the obscurity that permeates the subjects she describes.

NESA Annotations: This text is covered in the 2015-2020 document but not in the most recent annotations, which means that the notation provided is about the text's use in regards to Discovery and therefore concerns the previous selection of poetry. That said, the annotations aren't really that specific, so it's still relevant in terms of providing some information on the author's value in terms of study. The annotations do tend to highlight the intertextual dimensions of Dobson's work in relation to art, literature and mythology though, with an emphasis on imagery and allusion. The techniques will still be there in the new collection listed above but in their selection of these poems NESA have somewhat de-emphasised the intertextuality of Dobson's oeuvre, so this element is not as applicable. 

Verdict: I'll just say it straight up - Dobson is about as Anglo-Australian as you can get. Her work is described by NESA as 'interrogating connections between Australian and European traditions in art and culture'. I would keep that in mind when looking at the socio-economic nature of my cohort, as there are a lot of students in NSW's metropolitan and outer suburban areas who won't appreciate where she's coming from as much as some teachers will. The poetry is fairly accessible nonetheless, and the poet's attempts to capture mood, memory, and place will hold some interest for more creatively-minded students.

Selected Poems by Kenneth Slessor

• Wild Grapes
• Gulliver
• Out of Time
• Vesper-Song of the Reverend Samuel Marsden
• William Street
• Beach Burial

What is it: Kenneth Slessor was a journalist, editor, and war correspondent who left his mark as one of Australia's most significant 'modern' poets. The bulk of his poetry was written in the 1920s and 1930s, and helped inaugurate Australia's shift away from the balladry of 19th century poetry to sharp, intense and contradictory explorations of emotion, death, place, and time. Slessor is also noted for his flexibility in style and content, from the tragedy of 'Beach Burial' to the jokey tone of 'Wild Grapes'.

Scope for Study: Students will be able to drill down not just into individual poems but also into single lines and specific word choices as the poet's expertise in crafting dense imagery is perfectly suited for Stage 6 study. Slessor's mastery of language is both cajoling and disruptive to the reader, and forces attention rather than asks for it. Students will able to examine the overall themes of his work, as well as the way that verse can be employed to these ends.

NESA Annotations: There are currently no available NESA annotations for this text.

Verdict: With only 6 poems, and none more than a single page in length, this is possibly the shortest of the poetry options on offer in the English Prescriptions 2019-2023. I think Slessor's poetry would work best with an inquisitive Standard English class, and the brevity of the text on offer here will offer breathing space for teachers wanting to provide lots of scaffolding and room for curiosity. It also helps that the poems are excellent.

Rainbow's End by Jane Harrison

What is it: Jane Harrison's play about three generations of Aboriginal women living in 1950s rural Victoria has been a popular teaching option since its introduction as part of the 2009-2014 prescriptions. Drawing upon an Australian context of acute disparity between Aboriginal people and their European-descended neighbours, Rainbow's End is essentially a character study that mixes comedy with tragedy to capture the voices of marginalised generations in our recent past.

Scope for Study: Harrison has become a much-loved writer in the past decade or so, and her inclusion on this list makes her the only Indigenous Australian author in the Common Module. Rainbow's End is the most 'obvious' option in this section of the list, and it explores the vernacular of a class system in a rapidly disappearing era with an engaging sense of energy and pace that's achieved, in large part, through sharply memorable characterisation.

NESA Annotations: Both the 2015-2020 and 2009-2014 Annotations contain (differing) notes on the text, with some attention paid to the valuable social and historical contexts provided by its study. Irony, 'gentle humour', and characterisation are highlighted as key dramatic techniques used by Harrison to deal with complex themes in a deceptively simple way. 

Verdict: I like this play a lot, and I think it works well as a Standard English text due to the fact that it builds on mandatory content that NSW students will have covered in the Rights and Freedom topic from Year 10 History. Sequencing this easily-appreciated drama as a follow-up to study of the Stolen Generations, generational inequity via the missions, and pre-1967 Referendum society in Australia, allows for students to construct a truly valuable understanding of Rainbow's End that should contribute to life-long learning. 

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

What is it: Miller's intense dramatisation of the infamous Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century follows the story of Abigail Williams, a young girl who uses accusations of witchcraft to wield power over an ignorant and puritanical society. The object of her scorn is John Proctor, a local farmer whose affair with the young Abigail will spell certain doom. 

Scope for Study: The Crucible stands tall as a damning allegory for McCarthyism in the 1950s, reflecting Arthur Miller's thinly-shrouded criticism of the House of Un-American Activities at that time. Miller himself would go on to face the wrath of Senator Joe McCarthy, who targeted the playwright as a potential communist sympathiser. The Crucible is a complex, dark, and ultimately rage-inducing indictment of mob mentality and the misuse of power. 

NESA Annotations: Notes for the play can be found in the 2015-2020 Annotations, extensively referencing the importance of the text as a window into context. The duality of themes such as 'good and evil, love and malice, respect and respectability' are also mentioned but the focal point remains largely contextually-driven, with commentary highlighting the play's role as a political instrument for its past, present, and future.

Verdict: The historical cadence of the language and the significance of context make The Crucible undoubtedly suited to an Advanced English class. As such, teachers would be crazy not to team it up with Good Night and Good Luck, a Module B text for Advanced English that deals more directly with McCarthyism. The marrying of these two texts together across multiple modules will only serve to strengthen the field of knowledge that Advanced students can draw upon for in-depth contextual understanding. 

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

What is it: The Merchant of Venice is perhaps one of Shakespeare's more famous comedies and also one of the more controversial when viewed from a modern context. The play remains somewhat challenging due to its depiction of Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who becomes consumed with the need to collect a 'pound of flesh' from the Venetian merchant Antonio when a debt isn't paid on time. There's also a bunch of stuff about various foreign suitors having to solve a puzzle so they can win the hand of a much-desired Venetian noblewoman, and the usual gender-bending that often shows up in Shakespearean comedy, but no one tends to remember that stuff due to Shylock's unreasonable compulsion to extract actual flesh from Antonio.

Scope for Study: Like the other older texts on this list, The Merchant of Venice provides ample scope for the study of historical context - particularly the values of the Elizabethan era in regards to race, commerce, and gender (Shakespeare pretty much conflates these three big themes into one interwoven depiction of Venice as a potential future for his English audience). Eagle-eared students will also do well in picking up the differences in dialogue-styles employed by characters from very different backgrounds, with Shylock sounding quite unlike any other character in Shakespeare's body of work. 

NESA Annotations: There are currently no available annotations for this text, possibly because it was added late to the 2019-2023 Prescriptions list.

Verdict: I've had difficulty teaching Shakespearean comedies in the past, however, I think there's quite a bit in The Merchant of Venice that lends itself to contemporary discussion. Sure, there's the obvious stuff like the antisemitism of the character of Shylock and his apparent greed, but there's also a lot of to talk about in regards to the themes of commerce and commodities. And whilst everyone is very aware of Shylock as a Jewish stereotype, there's perhaps even more racism in the depiction of the Moorish Prince who seeks Portia's hand in marriage.

Non-Fiction / Film / Media Options
There are five options in this section; two non-fiction novels, a fictional film, and two documentaries (1 film, 1 TV series).

• There are three new texts - The Boy Behind the Curtain, I Am Malala, and Waste Land.
• Of the texts, two are Australian - The Boy Behind the Curtain and Go Back to Where You Came From.
• Both Go Back to Where You Came From and Waste Land make partial use of subtitles.

The Boy Behind the Curtain by Tim Winton

• Havoc: A Life of Accidents
• Betsy
• Twice on Sundays
• The Wait and the Flow
• In the Shadow of the Hospital
• The Demon Shark
• Barefoot in the Temple of Art

What is it: Tim Winton, Australia's contemporary 'golden child' of home-grown literature, turns his sharp lyricism onto himself in this highly personal memoir of growing up in Albany, Western Australia. Each chapter is a non-fiction essay, covering topics such the motor vehicle accidents that shaped Winton into an adult, the impact of being part of a strict sect of the Christian Church, and a plea for the conservation of sharks.

Scope for Study: Whilst certainly economical at times, Winton's writing could never really be accused of being dry. Each sentence reads as carefully crafted, and students will be able to examine the role of synonyms, wide vocabulary use, and connotation in controlling the relationship between reader and writer. Winton's use of both non-linear plotting and the essay form to explore his own past will also allow students to gain an understanding of the way the truth can be bent to fit a narrative.

NESA Annotations: As a fairly recent release, Winton's memoir is addressed in the new annotations for 2019-2023. In terms of the 'needs and interests of the students', the focus is described as being on Winton's representation of human experiences and the ways that these have informed his art and life. Winton's masterful control of language and a wide variety of literary techniques are also mentioned as grist for the student mill. 

Verdict: Look, I love Winton, but some of the pieces selected from his memoir would be incredibly difficult for certain Stage 6 students to fully comprehend (I'm primarily thinking of the religion essay, 'Twice on Sundays'). Winton's use of obscure language whilst also simultaneously playing with grammatical and literary forms of expression may stretch some students beyond patience. As such, I could only really see this text working with a high-performing Advanced English class. The full resonance of The Boy Behind the Curtain may also be lost on students who A) Don't have a working knowledge of who Winton is, and/or B) Aren't old enough to fully appreciate the meditative nature of a middle-aged artist reflecting on his own life.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

What is it: Malala Yousafzai recounts the story of her life as a teenager growing up on the Pakistani / Afghanistan border in the years following 9/11 and the American invasion of Afghanistan. Although politically enclosed within the comparatively moderate nation of Pakistan, the remote community that Malala grew up in was heavily-influenced and partially-controlled by Taliban theocrats from Afghanistan, meaning that Malala's education in her father's school came under direct ideological and physical attack from terrorists. This memoir follows her tumultuous journey from student to passionate campaigner for female rights to education across the entire world.

Scope for Study: Placed from within a prism of current affairs that will be familiar to students, I Am Malala builds off ideas that many Stage 4 and Stage 5 English classes will have already explored; namely advocacy, agency, gender stereotypes, protest, and non-Anglo cultural perspectives. Malala's memoir reflects her youthful optimism and resilience, and the smattering of localised language throughout helps to extend students in their understanding of Afghan/Pakistani region.

NESA Annotations: The 2019-2023 Annotations emphasise the text's credibility in order to convince the teacher of its worthiness, highlighting Malala's status as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as the impressive credentials of her co-author, the British foreign correspondent Christina Lamb. The way that memoirs construct and re-structure narrative will give students room for analysis but the main point made by the annotations is that I Am Malala provides a welcome insight into the experiences of women and girls in the Muslim world.

Verdict: The danger and survival of Malala's story will be impressive to just about anyone. I could see this text working really well (with supporting material from the teen edition of the book) for a lower/mixed ability Standard English class or an English Studies group, and the ongoing nature of Malala Yousafzai's story (she recently just signed up to Twitter) means that there is considerable scope for students to draw connections between the text and the significant themes that it discusses.

Billy Elliot, directed by Stephen Daldry

What is it: Set against the backdrop of the UK miners' strike of 1984, Billy Elliot depicts the coming-of-age of a working class boy who swaps his boxing gloves for a pair of ballet shoes. The film arrived as part of the wave of working class British comedy/drama films that came into popularity with The Full Monty in 1997, and remains a finely-acted and well-scripted piece of cinema that successfully blends context and characterisation to build a meaningful connection with its audience.

Scope for Study: The 1980s coal miners' strike may seem like an obscure context for 21st century Australian students but there is a lot of common ground that can be forged in regards to themes of class and labour. Stephen Daldry's relatively straight-forward construction of a dramatic narrative also allows for a lot of discussion around themes, characterisation, and setting.

NESA Annotations: Billy Elliot is covered by the 2015-2020 Annotations with a particular focus on its inclusion as a Discovery text. Even with the demise of the Area of Study the arcs of growth for Billy, his family, and the wider community all remain relevant as highly teachable elements of the text. The annotations highlight the thematic core of the film, being the fact that the narrative is largely driven by Billy's subversion of gender norms. 

Verdict: This film works well as a Standard English text, with a lot of scope for challenging stereotypes and gender roles in relation to generic conventions. The juxtaposition of Billy's tough background and his burgeoning love of dance may also invite students to challenge their own understanding of cultural and socio-economic pressures.

Go Back to Where You Came From (Season 1), directed by Ivan O'Mahoney

What is it: Six participants representing a cross-section of contemporary Australian society embark on a reverse-journey that traces the footsteps of refugees. Part reality TV, part social experiment, Go Back to Where You Came From is a unique television event that explores the Australian metanarrative and challenges viewers to examine their own views on refugees, detention centres, and the context that has created this ongoing 'hot topic'.

Scope for Study: Go Back to Where You Came From is perhaps the ultimate Discovery text, examining six individuals as they confront political issues head-on and undergo transformations to varying degrees. The Area of Study is now a moot point but the text itself is still incredibly relevant in terms of encouraging students to build their own personal response to both the text and the political dimensions that birthed it. Combining a variety of persuasive techniques and documentary tropes, Go Back to Where You Came From is fertile ground for in-depth analysis, and definitely a thought-provoking stimulus.

NESA Annotations: Notes can be found in the 2015-2020 Annotations, although these predominantly concern the text's relevance to the Discovery Area of Study. That aside, there is mention of the usefulness of the final post-series episode, The Response, as a way for students to measure their own evaluations against those offered by the participants. The role of the media in shaping public opinion is also highlighted as a key area for challenging students.

Verdict: Go Back to Where You Came From is a rare beast - a very easily understood and accessible text that's also quite cerebral in its treatment of contentious themes. Students from both the Standard and Advanced courses will quite easily form personal opinions in response to the diversity of perspectives offered by the participants, which range from the refugee-sympathetic far left (Gleny Rae) to the nationalistic and conservative (Darren Hassan, Raye Colby). The use of modern generic conventions associated with the reality TV and documentaries genres are also identifiable to students, and provide ample fodder for student analysis.

Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker

What is it: In this documentary, director Lucy Walker follows artist Vik Muniz as he embarks upon a new project centering around Jardim Gramacho, one of the world's largest garbage dumps (located in Brazil). Muniz creates huge, room-sized portraits of some of the individuals who make their living from collecting the rubbish; a project that that makes uses of recycled materials and sees Muniz become increasingly involved in seeking agency for these marginalised people.

Scope for Study: The project that Muniz embarks on provides scope for students to investigate the socio-economic issues surrounding the catadores (garbage pickers) and the ingrained poverty of the Rio de Janeiro favelas (slums). In addition to this, there is a twofold opportunity for students to explore the social commentary imbued in Muniz's art, and the documentary techniques used by Walker to affect the viewer's impressions of her constructed narrative of this subject.

NESA Annotations: The 2019-2023 Annotations identify Waste Land as "an engrossing and uplifting documentary that celebrates the dignity of the human spirit" whist also highlighting the sheer wealth of awards that it attracted in 2011. The motif of garbage is mentioned as a prompt for discussion of the paradoxical nature of Muniz's art, which is simultaneously beautiful and depressing. The annotations are also careful to establish the constructed nature of Walker's documentary as a piece that deliberately focuses on individuals rather than the wider political issues of Brazil.

Verdict: A 'big' documentary with significance, Waste Land encompasses themes of shame, pride, making a living, the cycle of 'rubbish', and advocacy. The fact that Muniz makes the pickers partners in his artistic process (whereby he transforms their images into huge portraits constructed from garbage and recyclable materials) goes a long way towards engaging the viewer in a narrative that moves beyond the idiosyncrasies of the art. This text would most likely work well with either Advanced or Standard classes, with fantastic (in the original sense of the word) imagery of pickers scaling mountains of moving trash as it pours from the back of trucks, and Walker and Muniz working together to draw out stories and pathos from these individuals - the woman who fell in love with a married truck driver, the man who found Machiavelli's The Prince in the trash and began reading it, the uneducated ageing picker who is proud to represent 2500 other pickers, and the young man who becomes a inspirational mouthpiece for his fellow catadores.