Summer Reading Programme Grade 12 English Literature HL/SL Class of 2014-2016 An integral part of the UNIS Hanoi English and World Languages Department is our focus on wide reading and independent study. When you begin each year of your Diploma Programme, you will be expected to have done some reading, writing, and preparation in the preceding holidays. You should make sure that you have read this document thoroughly and that you have all the necessary materials, have selected the right level (HL or SL), and understand what is expected of you. _________ Grade 12 Higher Level and Standard Level Reading texts: Hamlet by William Shakespeare Instructions for Study: Find an audio version of Hamlet that you can listen to over the summer holiday. [Here is a link to a youtube audiobook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfDCcJSW7yQ - I think this version is MUCH better than various “Libravox” versions you can also find on youtube.] Also, have the text1 of Hamlet in front of you while you listen. Finally, complete a few tasks, described below. I suggest you do the following procedure if possible: 1. Tell yourself this is going to be fun. Sure, Shakespeare is hard and you won’t understand a lot of what you hear/read. Even famous critics argue over some parts of the text because some things just are not clear. BUT, how brilliant is it that you get to read maybe the most famous piece of literature ever produced?? And, research shows that even if you don’t get it, reading/listening to Shakespeare actually makes your brain measurably smarter.2 And, that brain smartening is cheaper than an SAT course, and it comes with a story. So enjoy. 1 By the way, there is NO definitive version of Hamlet. Why? Because we have never had a copy of the play, as originally written by Shakespeare, to work with. Instead, there were several versions printed after his death, and it is uncertain which, if any, is most correct. So, when you read Hamlet and simultaneously listen to Hamlet, you may notice some differences – because the modern editors of those versions made decisions about what they thought Shakespeare really wanted to say. The end result: you get two different plays. What a bargain! 2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9797617/Shakespeare-and-Wordsworth-boost- the-brain-new-research-reveals.html; 1 Summer Reading Programme Grade 12 English Literature HL/SL Class of 2014-2016 2. Find five consecutive days, and try to listen to the whole play during that time. I’d suggest taking about one or one-and-a-half hours for each of those five days to cover each of the five acts of the play. Five days. Done. 3. After listening to/reading an act, do the work described on the following pages. 4. Feel free to read summaries to help you out. Do NOT read analysis. We need to come up with our own ideas later. For now, just try to get the story a bit. Tasks to Be Completed After Listening to/Reading Each Act: ACT 1: As you listen/read, quickly jot down the names of ALL characters that are introduced, with a short note about whom that character is (you might check the list of “Characters in the Play” or “Dramatis Personae” at the beginning to see if there are any helpful notes). When you finish the act, create a rough draft of a “character web.” To the left is an example web from Macbeth (taken from http://cparr.weebly.com/shakespeare2.html). In creating your version, do the following: 1) Put Hamlet (the character) at the center. 2) Place characters who seem most important closest to Hamlet. Make them larger. 3) Include a brief description of the character beneath that character’s name. 4) Include lines connecting characters, and write brief descriptions of the nature of those connections on those lines. 5) Don’t work too hard on this at this stage – it is just a rough draft, because you will add a few more characters later, as you read acts 2 - 5. 2 Summer Reading Programme Grade 12 English Literature HL/SL Class of 2014-2016 ACT 2: Watch a couple versions of the early part of act 2, scene 2. I think watching is not nearly as effective as listening/reading for our study; still, it can be nifty to see how a couple different film teams interpret the play. So, I offer you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_qRvheXEYk; and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8C4gPU_hEU. In this bit, Hamlet has to deal with “tedious [ ] fools” such as Polonius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He pokes a bit of fun at them, but it’s a tragedy, so it’s got some not-so-funny undertones. Also, add any new characters from act 2 to your character web. ACT 3: Create a blueprint of the rooms in the castle wherein scenes 1, 2, 3, and 4 take place. Shakespeare gives us very little information about set and setting, so it is up to you to imagine what it might be like. Be sure to do the following: 1. Have at least 3 different rooms 2. Give each room a name (dining room, bedroom, etc.) 3. Indicate which room is the location for which scene (3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4). More viewing . Another interpretation of Hamlet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a38HZFbhB-M. Don’t watch until you’ve finished reading/listening to all of act 3. Then enjoy crazy Mel Gibson. Finally, add any new characters from act 3 to your character web. 3 Summer Reading Programme Grade 12 English Literature HL/SL Class of 2014-2016 ACT 4: Create a comic strip or graphic novelization of the primary action in act 4, scenes 1 – 7. 1. Be sure that you have at least three panels for each scene (the comic to the left has four panels) 2. and that you create a comic or graphic novelization for each of the scenes in act 4 3. so, 7 scenes x 3 panels = a minimum of 21 panels. 4. Also, be sure to include some words with the pictures 5. and no, your pictures do not have to be good. Also, add any new characters from act 4 to your character web. ACT 5: Listen to one or more of these songs about (sort of) Ophelia: “Ophelia” by The Band - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8 “Ophelia” by Natalie Merchant - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GryxQEhYRr4 “Hey There Ophelia” by MC Lars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niuzbyLgIq0 Also, add any new characters from Act 5 to your character web, AND finish your character web; then, take whatever rough draft you have of that character web and make it into a finished product. Hooray! You’ve done it! You read Shakespeare! You read Hamlet! And you loved it. So now you can go back to boring old summer, but with some new thoughts in your head, and a lot of really famous lines you can quote in casual conversation. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”! Don’t forget to bring all the work you did to our first class of the 2015-16 school year. I am excited to see what you came up with, and your classmates need to learn from your experience. 4 Summer Reading Programme Grade 12 English Literature HL/SL Class of 2014-2016 ASSIGNMENT #2: Grade 12 Higher Level (and Standard Levels who wish to be a part of the world of ideas and emotions . but this is NOT required for Standard Level students) Read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Note: Do not do anything with The Great Gatsby over the summer — just try to enjoy your reading. By the way, I really dislike the first few pages of Gatsby; they’re slow and hard to make sense of at times, and the narrator, Nick Carraway, sounds like a real jerk sometimes. But by the end of chapter 1, with the introductions of Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and (just barely) Gatsby, it starts to get interesting. And by chapter 5, it becomes, for me anyway, one of the most gorgeous things ever put down on paper. It’s not easy, you may struggle with some of the vocabulary and witticisms — but it actually has a great plot (many books we make you read for English, sadly, do not), and it is one of the few “classics” that continues to excite interesting/interested people, generation after generation. Welcome to the club. This work should be completed before you return to school in August. 5 .