Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Just on those job interviews, Mark says how interviewers behave is also important. Our daughter was offered jobs by all companies after three interviews. She chose the company because of the way the interviewer interacted with the receptionist while waiting to be called into interview. Her future boss treated the receptionist as a colleague.
Something for people to bear in mind in the current jobs market. Today, we are starting a new series of Study Hub to help Leaving Cert students as they prepare for their exams, which begin in just over four weeks time. Twice a week, we're going to talk to experts in particular subjects.
Today, we're kicking off with English with students sitting paper one on the 3rd of June and paper two on the 4th of June. I'm joined in studio by Clodagh Havel from the Institute of Education to guide us through the English papers. Clodagh, thanks so much for coming in.
It's an absolute pleasure to be here, David. Thank you.
Start us off with the format of the papers, because there are those that split.
Well, of course there is. I mean, the two papers obviously overlap in that you have to be able to write. But paper one is a language based paper. Paper two is a literature based paper. So paper one is two hours 50. So that is where you are tested for your comprehension. You're tested for your functional writing and basically how you can take your pen for a walk. It's a it's a paper.
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Chapter 2: What is the purpose of the new Study Hub series for Leaving Cert students?
Very often students go, oh, how can I study for it or whatever? Because it's a responsive paper on the day. Paper two is the literature paper. It's three hours 20. It's a marathon. But you go in there armed with information. It's where you examine on texts that you have studied. And a lot of students prefer that because they feel they have more evidence.
But either way, they are very, very interlinked in that you have to be able to write.
Yeah, and that's the key thing. Once you can write an essay.
Absolutely.
And answer the question that's asked.
Well, that is my main say today. You have to do that. And if you don't, you are going into waffle land. And waffle land, your marks are deteriorating by each sentence. Keep focused. Paper one, paper two. Read the question and after every paragraph, read it again to make sure that you are staying on task.
And while that might sound, oh, you're going to use a lot of time there, it's actually worth it.
And would you restate the question a couple of times during the course of your response?
Yeah, you do. I mean, you have to have a thesis.
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Chapter 3: What is the format of the English papers for the Leaving Cert?
That actually, I always say, bookend your essays, whether it's in paper one or paper two, with a strong thesis approach. linked to the actual question asked. So to remind the examiner, hey, look, I am on task at the beginning and to remind them when they're about to give you marks at the end that you have been on task.
OK, tell me about paper one in a bit more detail.
Paper one has, without question, the most important question on it. 36% of the entire two papers is your composition. Choose your composition wisely. There are discursive essays, there's personal essays, there's short stories, there is speeches. You find the genre that suits you best. And that's an individual decision. What comes to you, choose that well. It is also a comprehension.
Question A is comprehension. It's about being able to read between the lines what's really being said. That's the skill there. Three questions on that. Functional writing is question B. And that is, I always tell the students, that is the question that you're going to take out into life. It's the functional use of our language. You'll use it in emails, blogs, podcasts.
You know, it's the English of life long after you've finished studying English and then the composition. So it's two hours 50. You can actually walk in off the street and do paper one, have a go at it. You know, it is something where... People enjoy the freedom that it offers because paper two is much more curtailed. But that's what it is. It is a language paper.
It's the power of your ability to express yourself within the confines of your own knowledge, current affairs, your own knowledge of yourself, how you feel about things. It's a very responsive paper. It's actually a very, very beautiful paper, I think.
Okay, so you can't prepare for it in the sense that you can't, there's nothing for you to study per se, but presumably you can prepare for it by practising.
Of course, and look around you, what's happening? I wouldn't, I'm telling, go in and know something about AI, know something about the environment, know something about politics, know something about, you know, the wars going on. It's a very topical topic. Current paper. So you can prepare by reading as widely as you can, listening to shows like this, being aware of your environment.
And that, mixed with your own interpretation of that, personalises everything. And that is the key to a top grade in English, personal responses to things.
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Chapter 4: What should students focus on when preparing for Paper One?
But if you actually breathe in. read it, you will find the motivation part of the question and you will find the technique part of the question. And that will actually give you a sense of, OK, I'll get my thesis from that because, you know, the question is complicating me, but I have my thesis based on that.
In 10 seconds or less. Timing for paper two.
Timing for paper two. Three hours, 20. 55 minutes for Shakespeare. 65 minutes for comparative. 50 minutes for prescribed. 20 for on scene.
Brilliant. Clodagh Havel, English teacher. Thank you so much for that guide to the Leaving Cert English exam and best of luck to everybody doing it.