English Department
Welcome to the Glasgow Gaelic School’s English Department
website. The English Department endeavours to provide a
stimulating, inspiring and nurturing environment for all pupils.
Courses Resources Reading Lists Useful Links Library Extra-Curricular
Course Content
The English courses are designed to develop the skills of Listening and Talking,
Reading, and Writing. Pupils will have the opportunity to prepare and deliver talks
to an audience. Collaborative learning is an essential component of English, building
pupils’ confidence and encouraging collective responsibility.
Private reading programmes are an essential part of learning. Pupils are expected
to follow a rigorous routine of reading both fiction and non-fiction. Writing of
various types, including imaginative, personal and functional, is based on texts
studied within the classroom.
In S3/S4 pupils follow a National Qualifications course at one of the following
levels:
•
Intermediate 1 or 2
In S5/S6 pupils’ progress to the next level of English, depending on results at the
end of S4/S5 and courses are offered at:
•
•
•
Intermediate 2
Higher
Advanced Higher
Homework
Homework is an essential element of the English curriculum. Personal reading
should be undertaken as a matter of course. Tasks to be completed at home are
normally linked to classroom activities.
Resources
Each year pupils are given the opportunity to explore and enjoy a range of texts,
designed to challenge and progress knowledge about language. Included in the
selection are novels, plays, short stories, poetry, non-fiction and film.
Understanding, analysis and evaluation of a text are the expected learning
outcomes.
Reading Lists
The lists below are not exhaustive, nor should any pupil feel constrained to read
only from those books selected for a particular stage.
S1/S2
Ahlberg, Allan
Blackman, Malorie
Bowler, Tim
Boyle, John
Branford, Henrietta
Breslin, Theresa
Brown, Martin
Cann, Kate
Colfer, Eoin
Cormier, Robert
Dann, Colin
Deary, Terry
Doyle, Roddy
Farjeon, Eleanor
Fine, Anne
Forde, Catherine
Gibbons, Alan
Gleitzman, Morris
Grant, K. M.
Gray, Keith
Horowitz, Anthony
Ibbotson, Eva
Jones, Wynne Diana
Mr Tick The Teacher
Hostage
River Boy
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Fire, Bed & Bone
The Medici Seal
The Ruthless Romans
Crow Girl
Artemis Fowl-The Arctic Incident
Heroes
Just Nuffin
The Joke Factory
Wilderness
The little Bookroom
Jennifer’s Diary
The Drowning Pond
The Cold Heart of Summer
Boy Overboard
Green Jasper
Ghosting
The Night Bus
The Morning Gift
The Game
Kemp, Gene
Lee, Carol Ann
MacLean, Campbell Allan
Malley, Gemma
McKay, Hilary
McKenzie, Sophie
Mooney, Bell
Muchamore, Robert
Nicholls, Sally
Pratchett, Terry
Pullman, Philip
Rowling, JK
Smith, Alexander McCall
Stratton, Alan
Turnbull, Ann
Turner, Barry
Valentine, Jenny
Webb, David
Wilson, Jaqueline
Nothing Scares Me
Anne Frank’s Story
The Hill Of The Red Fox
The Declaration
The Exiles In Love
Blood Ties
I Wish
The Recruit
Ways To Live Forever
Diggers
The Amber Spyglass
The Philosopher’s Stone
The Bubble Gum Tree
Chanda’s Secret
No Friend Of Mine
One Small Suitcase
Broken Soup
Dinosaur Diary
Dustbin Baby
S2/S3
Almond David
Arkey Neil
Blum Paul
Bowler Tim
Boyne John
Brooks Kevin
Brooks Kevin
Butcher Tim
Fine Anne
Forde Catherine
Gray Allen Alison
Gray Keith
Hatton Ricky
Horowitz Anthony
Jensen Marie Louise
The Fire Eaters
MacB
Atlanta
Frozen Fire
The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas
Bloodline
Martyn Pig
Blood River
The Book Of The Banshee
Firestarter
Unique
Warehouse
The Hitman
Raven’s Gate
Between Two Seas
MacPhail Catherine
Masters Anthony
McCaughrean Geraldine
McKay Hilary
Sachar Louis
Sally Prue
Shearer Alex
Singer Nicky
Smith Jeff
Swindells Robert
Roxy’s Baby
Stalker
The Kite Rider
Saffy’s Angel
Holes
Cold Tom
The Hunted
Feather Boy
Bone : Eyes Of The Storm
Snapshot
S4
Anderson, Lin
Barlow, Gary
Blackman, Malorie
Bono
Brazi,l Alan
Clarkson, Jeremy
Clarkson, Jeremy
Cornwell, Patricia
Cornwell, Patricia
Gerritsen, Tess
Gross, Philip
Haddon, Mark
Hammond, Richard
Hornby, Nick
MacPhail, Catherine
Marks, Graham
McCarthy, Cormac
McDermid, V.L.
Rennison, Louise
Sebold, Alice
Steinbeck, John
Swindells, Robert
Wild, K.
Driftnet
Take That
Noughts and Crosses
U2 By U2
An Awful Lot of Bubbly In Brazil
And Another Thing vol. 2
The World According To …
Predator
Trace
The Bone Garden
The Storm Garden
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time
On The Edge
Slam
Nemesis –Into The Shadows
Tokyo
No Country For Old Men
Common Murder
…then he ate my boy entrancers
The Lovely Bones
Of Mice and Men
Stonecold
Fight Game
Higher Specialist Study
Adiche, Ngozi Adichie
Atwood, Margaret
Barker, Pat
Bronte, Charlotte
Brookmyre, Christopher
Brown, Dan
Brown, Mackay George
Coelho, Paul
Conan Doyle, Arthur Sir
Dickens, Charles
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Faulks, Sebastian
Gale, Patrick
Gibbon, Grassic Lewis
Gregory, Phillippa
Guterson, David
Heller, Joseph
Hosseini, Khaled
Jenkins, Robin
Kenedy, A. L.
Lamming, George
Levy, Andrea
MacLaverty, Bernard
McCall, Smith
McCourt, Frank
McEwan, Ian
Orwell, George
Orwell, George
Remarque, Erich
Salinger, J D
Smith, Sadie
Steinbeck, John
Tolstoy, Leo
Walker, Alice
Half Of A Yellow Sun
The Handmaid’s Tale
Regeneration
Jane Eyre
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Duck
The Da Vinci Code
Magnus
The Alchemist
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Oliver Twist
Crime and Punishment
Bird Song
Notes from An Exhibition
Sunset Song
The Other Boleyn Girl
Snow Falling on Cedars
Catch 22
The Kite Runner
The Cone Gatherers
Day
In The castle Of My Skin
Small Island
Lamb
The World According To Bertie
Angela’s Ashes
Atonement
Homage To Catalonia
Nineteen Eighty Four
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Catcher In The Rye
White Teeth
Grapes Of Wrath
Anna Karenina
The Colour Purple
Weir, Alison
Zusak, Marcus
Innocent Traitor
The Book Thief
Non-fiction
Beah, Ishmael
Bryson, Bill
Coll, Steve
Cooke, Alistair
Ecott, Tim
Gallmann, Kuki
Gray, Hoturoa Nathan
Hawes, Annie
Mortenson, Greg
O’Hanlon, Redmond
Orwell, George
Seierstad, Asne
Sinclair, Ian
Sinclair, Ian
Steinbeck, John
Stewart, Chris
Summerscale, Kate
Thurbron, Colin
Thurbron, Colin
Tully, Mark
a long way gone
Shakespeare
Ghost Wars
Letter From America
Neutral Bouyancy
I dreamed Of Africa
First pass Under Heaven
Ripe For The Picking
Three Cups Of Tea
Trawler
Down And Out In Paris And London
The Bookseller of Kabul
London
Lights out for The Territory
A Russian Journal
Driving Over Lemons
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
In Siberia
Shadow of The Silk Road
India In Slow Motion
Useful Links
www.sparknotes.com/
www.pearsoned.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar
www.spelling.hemscott.net
www.theherald.co.uk/
www.guardian.co.uk/
Library
Although, the main library is not yet functioning fully, there are books held in each
English classroom. The pupils have easy access and can borrow any book applicable
to their age and stage.
Extra-Curricular
From time to time opportunities arise for pupils to take part in various challenges,
such as debating competitions, poetry competitions and Readathon. Pupils are
encouraged to enter and given every support.
The Department endeavours to enrich the pupils’ experiences of literature with
trips to the theatre particularly when productions of texts studied are on show.
Supported Study is also offered at the end of the school day and at specific times
of the year.