A Level English Language: Summer Work for Incoming Year 12
Right then, incoming Year 12s doing English Language A Level: here’s your summer work!
All of the tasks below must be completed in advance of your first Language lesson next term.
1. Make sure you have a copy of the AQA English Language Student Book and the Revision Workbook.
We will be making regular use of both in class next year, and you will be expected to bring them with you to every lesson.
The texbook is available on Amazon here, and the workbook is here.
2. Create a ‘language scrapbook’.
This scrapbook will form an integral part of your first term’s worth of lessons, and needs to contain the following items:
(Note: for electronic texts, you’ll need to screenshot and print them.)
- A text message/WhatsApp interaction
- An interaction on Facebook (e.g. a status and some replies to it)
- An interaction on Twitter (e.g. a tweet and some replies)
- A printed advertisement
- An online advertisement
- A poster
- A menu
- A film review
- A newspaper comment piece (e.g. from The Guardian’s Comment is Free section)
- A speech
- A piece of unsolicited post (‘junk mail’)
3. Have a look at this blog post and respond to it in the comments section.
Your comment should be around 200-300 words. Make sure you watch both videos before responding. You might also want to read through the comments that are already on the post. (Avoid anonymous comments.)
4. Make detailed notes on the Nouns section of the Grammar Glossary.
We’ll be having a little test on this when you return, so make sure your notes are up to scratch!
And that’s that!
If you have any questions about any of the tasks above, or the course in general, contact Mr Parry-Shovlin (s.shovlin@lutterworthcollege.com).
Enjoy the hols!
English at Lutterworth College 
A platform supposed to be used for the greater good has gotten out of control. Social media obtains a power so immensely large and eloquent, that its omnipotence is corrupting society and human interaction. It impacts behaviour, communication, and promotes unhealthy trends, as well as setting unrealistic expectations for the users, especially children.
I can’t deny that I, too, am a very frequent user of social media, I thought that it was a place created for interaction and communication, but the saddening reality is that it disconnects users from the people around them in a subconscious way that people themselves don’t realise. Almost as if it drags you into another realm or dimension. Not only does social media have the ability to grant people (perhaps those without a voice) a platform, which could be influential, it also has the ability to destruct those with existing recognition. This is explored in Jon Robson’s TED Talk. He goes on to say that “power shifts fast”. what people don’t realise is how easily social media can make power shift. Its alarming. With the help of anonymous people behind their screens and devices, they choose who to shame and who’s life to tear apart, without considering the catastrophic consequences it brings upon those people, and so effortlessly destroying those lives when there’s the option for them to remain unscathed. Then immediately after, somebody else is cursed with the ephemeral power, which vanishes in the blink of an eye.
Social media is a creation aiming to bring people together, Turkle expresses, however this could be seen as fabricated, as currently it is perceived as doing the complete opposite. Even though technology is prospering and evolving in this generation, it is fatal and impacts the world we live in negatively, causing conflicts between everyone, bringing dejection. Furthermore, Turkle emphasises how although you may be present in a group, physically, mentally, you are in a world of visionary unattainable schemes, disassociating your from the real world and transporting you in a zone of solitary isolationism.
Overall, in my personal opinion, I believe that social media is a platform that has been created for the soul purpose of communication, creativity and a place for relationships to cultivate, but has been taken advantage of and now has completely damaged the society we live in today as whole, and led to many people internally change who they are and will continue to affect future generations if not resolved.
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