Help with English - Y8 equivalent so themes of novels, creative writing etc

[BiddyPop]

Hi,

DD is not home ed'ed but has ASD (Aspergers) and ADHD, so her brain does function differently. As a result, I have done a fair bit at home with her in the past - to help some things, and stretch others. She is very logical and structured in lots of ways, doesn't do empathy or "standing in someone else's shoes", or imagery ("it's not raining cats and dogs, it's raining heavily"....).

This year, she is starting to work on texts for GSCE equivalent (Junior Cert) and needs to talk about characters, themes, imagery.....in the various books and play and poems.

And just can't.

We've got audiobooks as well as the kindle version to be able to manipulate text (she prefers big text with lots of space around it) in the past to help her, as well as the physical book for school. I am about to get these again for the relevant novels. And a film version if I can. (And she's reading more this year as she got glasses which seemed to make a difference too - but she is still not a lover of reading).

But are there any hints or ideas for how to help her understand concepts like themes and characters etc, or places I could go to help me help her. I'm not looking to help her rote learn these if possible, I would like to get towards understanding them.

I'm looking for general guidance on how to, but if it makes a difference, the 2 novels I am looking at are "of Mice and Men" and "Animal Farm".

DD's current way of dealing with creative writing assignments is to Google it, find something that appeals to her, and then change enough to make it "hers" - she cannot create something from nothing (an assignment to do a "Poem about Hallowe'en" was a recent example!). So any hints here would also be great.

I'm not a teacher, but I have worked with DD(14) since toddlerhood, and I am trained in non-formal education through being a Cub Scout Leader, so I'm happy to look up things and find ideas and do visual or other methods rather than just the book - but I'm a bit lost on this one.

Thanks in advance!

Are you in Ireland OP, because year 8 is much younger than your DD in the rest of the UK and might affect the answers (I see that your DD is 14, not 12/13 as a Year 8 would be elsewhere).

Have you tried a live play in a theatre or drama lessons for her to see how things are put together (although if you think she would have an issue with improvisation in drama then it may not be for her).

When I studied Animal Farm at school I had to research the Russian Revolution as well so we could see what it referred to - would that side of things appeal to her?

Yes we're in Ireland, DD is in 2nd year, and JC is 3rd year so they start working on the JC texts this year.

Hmm, Russian Revolution and its context may be a good idea when they move on to AF! At least I know the basic story of AF, even though I never studied it - I have just bought OM&M to read for myself as I never looked at it before.

At the moment, they are working on (chapter 4 of) Of Mice & Men. The assignment on ch.3 was thrown at me at the last minute when I was already manic, so we cobbled it together. And last week, another one on ch.4 was slightly more generic, but I need to read the book this weekend (as things finally slow down) and start talking to her in odd moments about it.

Theatre is a good idea as well though - maybe not drama lesson but finding a production on stage.

Please don't let her steal work any more. As an author if someone did that with my work I'd be really upset and it isn't helping her. (and of she keeps doing it through Uni she'll probably get caught out through the plagiarism checkers.)

I'd look at character work sheets and get her to create her own character first of all. Then explore some themes using said character. If you look online there are loads.

Questionable, I don't let her steal work - she uses a poem that appeals to her as a basis for structure, and then changes it quite a lot (not just 1/2 words) - but at 7.50am when we need to leave the house at 8am and she's only just mentioned this homework, that is due today and teacher won't accept a note explaining a delay, what am I supposed to do? I made up 4 poems on the spot and none were acceptable, and no ideas I was coming up with to get her creative juices flowing were working either!! This was her way of dealing with it - and I agree, it might work for homework when google is available, but not in exams nor in wider real life. And not fair on authors either - their copyright has been hard fought for and royalties well deserved.

This is why I am trying to get ideas to help her on a more structured basis. And character work sheets to work through might be what I need, thank you. This is just something I hadn't dealt with before and didn't know what to search for/under.

I'd actually look at blogs for writers, as they really help explain these things. Janice Hardy's Fiction University site is excellent, it has posts on different aspects such as character and theme,

blog.janicehardy.com

You could also try to analyse a TV series or film, it's quicker than reading a book, and you can pause and discuss things en route. Then it might be easier to apply to actual books.