English
The English Department at SACS has a wonderful diversity of teachers, from the young and passionate to the more mature and highly experienced…..and passionate.
It is a large department with nine teachers, meaning that there is a healthy teacher-pupil ratio from which everyone benefits. Amongst the teaching staff are a number who have Matric external marking experience, and this is something that is encouraged as it gives invaluable experience to the department as a whole.
In the junior grades there is a focus on the technical skills of English, whereas in the more senior grades we move on more towards the creative side, focusing on visual literacy, etc. The old tried-and-tested stalwarts of English, for example Shakespeare, are never forgotten as we believe there is great value in studying their works.
SACS English classrooms are all equipped with computers and digital projectors, so the use of audio-visual aids is a daily part of our teaching. This means that film-study, and the use of films to back up setwork books, is an integral part of what we do. For example, we might show an extract from “Shakespeare in Love” to support the study of Marlowe’s “Dr Faustus” poetry extract. Power-Point presentations are also of great help in various aspects of English, even in the teaching of grammar!
Any boy who attends SACS is assured of the highest quality of English teaching and will leave the school with a passion for the subject. This is probably best illustrated in the fact that two of the five male English teachers are SACS Old Boys.
We love our language and do our best to instill this love for English in our pupils.