A day of academic lectures, student presentations, and topical debates
The English Department was delighted to host its first Key Stage 5 English Conference this term, bringing together our A level English Language and English Literature students with A level students from North Leamington School.
We hosted a whole day dedicated to academic lectures, student presentations, and topical debates.
The day began with a lecture from eminent academic Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, who has lectured at universities all over the world, including London, Harvard, Oxford and Chicago. He gave us a thought-provoking lecture on Shakespearean Tragedy with a particular focus on ‘Othello’ given it is the students’ examination text. This was followed by a talk from prominent Linguist, Dan Clayton, who delivered a fascinating talk entitled ‘Language Discourse and Language use in the Media’.
Despite hosting such renowned academics, the most exciting part of the day was platforming our own Sixth Form students, as well as our guests, giving them the space to explore different areas of academic interest and deliver personal papers on topics of their choosing.
Titles included:
- ‘Literature, Humanity and Music’ (Johnty Tenant and Frank Foakes)
- ‘The Evolution of the Horror Genre and its Contemporary Relevance’ (Ethan Metayer)
- ‘Narrative Theory and its Application to Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘How Women Interact in Literature’ (Annabel Dockar-Drysdale Charlie Dodridge, Agatha Tweedie)
We enjoyed complementary talks delivered in panel-style from our guests from North Leamington.
The afternoon also provided opportunity for robust panel debates, seeing our KS5 students go head-to-head with both teachers and guest students. Debate motions included: ‘American Literature has no place in the British Curriculum’, ‘Othello’ is a Racial Motivated Play’ and ‘Women’s Language is Policed more Aggressively and Condemned more readily than Men’s’.
Thank you to our guest speakers, panelists and debaters!
