Leaving Certificate resources 2022

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In April 2020 I created a first version of this advice (primarily directed at remote learning following the sudden closure of schools in March 2020). Here is another version, particularly for teachers and candidates heading towards the summer 2022 Leaving Certificate in English. It will be added to through the year.

Also, for English teachers: some recommendations here, as well as general teaching recommendations here, Shakespeare here. Some of the resources below, such as the book reviews, are mainly for teachers rather than students.

Although Evelyn O'Connor has shuttered her site Leaving Cert English, you can still avail of lots of helpful resources and advice.

You can read my reviews of the Paper 1 and Paper 2 in the 2021 Leaving Certificate and a subsequent post on how misleading and lazy the idea of ‘rote learning’ is. In the reviews there are comments on how best to prepare for the exams.

Othello

  • Quizlets for using as revision/retrieval practice. Think of the missing word or phrase, and then think about the quotation’s significance in the play, before flipping the flashcard. There is one Quizlet for every Act, and one which gathers all the quotations together across the whole play.

  • Essays/reflections for revision purposes: 1) On the first scene (‘Knowing and Satisfaction’). 2) On the Duke and the Turks in Act I scene iii (‘Judgment’).

  • BOOKS: Laurie Maguire’s book Othello: language and writing is an excellent refresher for teachers (originally directed at students). Graham Bradshaw’s short Connell Guide poses interesting and provocative questions about the play. Othello’s Secret: the Cyprus Problem by R.M. Christofides is a fascinating personal as well as academic account, rebalancing the play towards the island most of it is actually set in.

  • The Othello 2020 project from Red Bull Theater in New York was ‘a multi-part initiative of Red Bull Theater to provide an engaging and educational experience for all who are interested in Shakespeare’s Othello and and its relationship to the world in which we live today … [and] is seeking to deepen our exploration and understanding of the intersection of race and classical theater.’ Particularly recommended is a detailed exploration of Iago’s psychopathy by the actor Patrick Page.

  • Patrick Huff has a fine Twitter thread here, drawing together some resources, and a YouTube playlist.

  • INOTE has started English podcasts, including some on the play here.

  • An excellent talk by Arielle Battice-Wedderburn at the 2020 Team English conference: ‘Othello & historical ideas of blackness’ (her slides are here).

  • The first podcast in Emma Smith’s Oxford University lecture series is on Othello, and of course the chapter on her book This is Shakespeare is essential reading (my notes on the Othello chapter).

  • As usual, the British Library resources are worth looking at: articles, items from the collection (including the Cinthio source).

  • The BBC’s Shakespeare Sessions has a full-length audio version, and discussions by Islam Issa (‘What it means to be a Moor’) and Hugh Quarshie (‘Looking for the Moor’: is the play racist? An excellent compendium of intelligent opinions).

  • A Folger Shakespeare discussion on ‘Othello and blackface’: there’s also a transcript.

  • Ayanna Thompson in a Bloomsbury podcast on the play: she wrote the introduction for the revised Arden edition. This discussion has a particularly strong focus on race (she is also the Editor of the 2021 Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race)

  • The Othello Teacher Conference in July 2021 had several interesting and helpful presentations, which can be seen on Amy Smith’s site here.

Poetry:

  • The Patterns of Poetry: 15 five-minute podcasts on poetry techniques (useful for both the unseen and the prescribed sections). Podcasts 1-8 here (including alliteration and personification) and 9-15 here (including rhyme and metaphor).

  • A podcast on Yeats’s poem ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’.

Other Literature:

  • Jerome Devitt has helpfully put online an audio version of Philadelphia, Here I Come!

  • Macbeth (for the comparative question this year): see a lot of resources here.

  • Oedipus the King: I recommend this clear translation by Ian Johnston.

  • Film: Conor Murphy is the expert, and nothing I could put here would match his expertise, so check out his site The Video Trolley.

Language:

  • Here are lots of Articles of the Week for keeping your mind going (especially for the Comprehension sections of the exam).

  • Of course the best thing you can do is read. As widely as possible. A great site for pointing you towards excellent reading is Five Books - recommendations from some of the most expert people around. If you find it difficult to get books right now, there's always Kindle delivery.

  • Everything starts with vocabulary: check out ‘6 useful vocabulary sites’ from a top expert in this area, Alex Quigley. Spend 10 minutes every few days on Describing Words, for instance.

Revision strategies:

Below are some excellent proven strategies -

  • The Learning Scientists have excellent advice: check out their videos here. Don't waste your time re-reading notes and using the highlighter like a paintbrush. Instead, test yourself by retrieving material (see below), space your learning out and so on. 

  • And here's a fine guide on those strategies from Carl Hendrick of Wellington - 'How should students revise? A brief guide.' 

  • Flashcards are always good, and of course they can simply be on paper. See above for Quizlet exercises on Othello, for instance (the main thing is that answers should prompt thought about the play more generally. You could always compose flashcards that you share electronically with your peers).