Reading Beyond the Lines

This episode is a recording of a conversation with Nathan Armstrong (St Leonard's) on two of the poems from Ellen van Neerven's poetry collection Throat - 'Expert' and 'I used to have a name (for this)'. The session was recorded with student preparation for the upcoming Literature exam in mind.

In this episode, we are joined by Nathan Armstrong, to discuss Joanna Murray-Smith's incredible play, Berlin.

In this episode,  we welcome Philippa Elder, passionate VCE English and Literature educator, currently teaching Year 12 English at Strathcona Girls Grammar, to discuss one of the most troubling chapters of Trevor Noah's Born A Crime.

In this episode, the first in a series of discussions of favourite chapters from Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, Mr O'Toole shares his thoughts on one of his favourite chapters from the text: Chapter 17 - 'The World Doesn't Love You'. We discuss Noah's fear of his mother's discipline, the notion that language unlocks an understanding of humanity, and the insidious nature of racist sterotypes.  We also touch on the power of voice in memoir, and Noah's ability to gently characterise his adolescent self while also critiquing the naivete that underpins the events in the chapter. Enjoy!

In this episode, Ruby and Maya, our English Captains for 2024, have taken over the airwaves to share some English news! Hear what they are reading and tune in for some information on Kilvington Reads, the Kilvington Writers Festival and some other exciting English, Literature and Library  initiatives coming up this year.  Be sure to look out for the form that will be sharedshortly, with some suggestions about themes for KWF 2024. Have your say!

In this episode, the Year 12 teaching team at KGS offers some last minute SAC preparation and advice.

In this episode, the Year 12 English teaching team at Kilvington offers last minute advice on approaches to the 2023 English exam, working through some tips in response to some of the common mistakes made in each section of the most recent trial exams. The trial exam discussed is the 2023 Insight trial exam.

In this episode, we are joined by Philip Thiel, Kilvington's Academic Dean of English from 2020-2022. Currently teaching Ted Chiang's short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School, Philip was keen to chat about this extraordinary text. 

In this episode, we are joined by VCE Literature students from Kilvington Grammar, to discuss van Neerven's poem Paper ships. Among other things we discuss form - the shape of the poem, the unconventional spelling, the use (or  otherwise) of capital letters and repetition. The students also had very interesting things to say about the title of the poem and the way that this poem (among others in the collection)  may have found inspiration in the 'poet warrior' Audre Lorde and her seminal essay collection Sister Outsider.

In this episode, Ronnie (aka @ronniesramblings) chats with Mel and Hamish - two very successful members of the Kilvington class of 2022, about their hot takes on The Women of Troy.  She is joined by Sonia Murr, along with Joanna and Abbey from the Kilvington class of 2023, to discuss characters, approaches to getting moving on essay writing, and answers to the big question: was Euripides a feminist before feminism was even a thing?