How to Write a Belonging Creative Piece

Although I usually focus my tutoring on the analytical aspects of English (the essay part), I do find that students do struggle with the creative writing aspect too. And they do so for the following reasons:

1. They feel like they are totally uncreative - they don’t know how to “make up” a story.
2. They have an idea of what they want to write, but don’t know how to go about it (how should it start?).
3. They don’t know what makes a good creative writing piece.

Drafting up a creative writing piece on Belonging that you can prepare and take into the exam is as important as the essay!

Writing a creative piece on the spot…will NOT turn out well. Unless you’re a creative writing genius. But even then, think of all the reknowned authors in the world – I’m sure they had to write several drafts!

So here is a guide to helping you to plan and ultimately write your Belonging creative piece.

My Random Insights (from Life) into HSC English Concepts

It seems like a lot of students tend to hate English because the ideas may sometimes seem stupid (too simple) or insignificant (too complicated and useless).

But it’s interesting to see these same ideas later crop up in unexpected ways. Here’s a few ways that I have “encountered” the English AOS and Modules in the past:

Wicked: The Musical

I saw this musical play 3 weeks ago. It was fantastic! I loved the sets, though the ending did seem a bit contrived and soap drama-esque. The play is actually based on a novel by Gregory Maguire.

As an (unofficial) prequel to The Wizard of Oz, it attempts to explain the origins of the Wicked Witch of the West’s “wickedness”.

Without spoiling it, I’d like to point out that this could be a useful related text for Belonging. There are definitely ideas about belonging/not belonging.

Past HSC and Practice Questions for Belonging ESL

The AOS for ESL English generally  has easier questions than Standard and Advanced. As such, this is a separate list of the types of questions that have been used for past HSCs and in schools. I’ve replaced the word “journeys” with “belonging” to fit the new AOS.

As you read through, you’ll note that the ESL questions tend to be much more “general” rather than a specific question/statement about Belonging.

Past HSC and Practise Questions for Area of Study: Belonging

Here is a loooong list of questions for the Area of Study: Belonging (Paper 1, Section 3).

I’ve grouped them according to the “type” of question they are. If you are able to confidently answer each “type” of question – you should be fine.

It’s important to be aware of the variety of questions that may be chosen for your HSC! The question may be very different to the ones given to you by your school for assessments or practice.

I will add more as I find them – otherwise, feel free to contribute, by commenting below.

Past HSC

2009:

‘Understanding nourishes belonging. A lack of understanding prevents it.’

Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing represent this interpretation of belonging.

General

1. You have been invited to speak at the book launch of a new collection of texts entitled belonging in our society. In your speech, explain and assess the ways in which belonging is represented in the texts in the collection
2. You have been invited to write an article for a teenage magazine called youth and belonging.
   In your article, analyse the ways in which belonging is represented in the texts you have studied.

Where to find Peter Skrzynecki’s poems?

Well, I can’t be the only tutor who struggled to find Peter Skrzynecki’s poems (for Area of Study: Belonging) online right?

Most students get the set of poems from their teachers, but for tutors (and students who lose their copy), here are some quick links to where you can the poems online. Otherwise, just leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll email you my scanned copies of them.

Links to the poems:

• Immigrants at Central Station, 1951
• Feliks Skrzynecki
• St Patrick’s College
• Ancestors
• 10 Mary Street
• Postcard
• In the Folk Museum

The reason why it’s so hard to find Skrzynecki’s poems online is because of some Australian copyright issue, I believe. It ’s a lot easier to Immigrants at Central Station, 1951, Feliks Skrzynecki and Postcard (and notes about them) online – those were used in the pre-2009’s Area of Study: Journeys.