Mr Gunn's English Room

Has it ever been easier to find good films to watch whenever you want? With Netflix, Amazon Prime, and now Disney+ available online, the options are almost endless. No matter what kind of films you like, there are sure to be multiple examples on at least one of the streaming sites. Or, if you're still a bit old-fashioned, you might have an extensive collection of films at home, collected over the years. Your challenge today might be the best one so far (or is it just the easiest?). Wednesdays are rubbish - we need a reason to enjoy them! Step One - Pick a film. I would recommend trying one you've never seen before, but maybe you're like me and enjoy going back to old favorites. Step Two - Watch the film. Enjoy it. Step Three - I want you to write up a review of the film, explaining why you enjoyed it/why you didn't (and how it could be improved if you didn't). Your review shouldn't just tell me how good/bad the film is, however, and I don't want ...

In these strange times, it's very easy for us to become a little lazy. We can't go outside much, unless you're lucky enough to have a garden to use (in which case, it's lovely outside, so get out there), and as a result we are left to sit around at home trying to find things to do. While sitting down and watching a TV show or reading a book are great ways to pass the time, we have to make sure that we are still exercising as much as possible to stay fit and healthy. I know I'd much prefer to be out training and playing football with my team, but unfortunately that's not possible, and the same is true no matter what sport you take part in. Right now, we have to be inventive about how we exercise - running, home-workouts, walks, swimming laps in the bath (make sure you put plenty of towels down for that one). What else could people do? Your job today is to create a persuasive  and informative  article or leaflet, which explains to your readers how they can exe...

A mixture of poetry and history today, as we look at a poem from over 2000 years ago. This is also an excellent example of why learning context is important for poetry, as it would be hard to analyse this very short poem without knowing a little bit about the poet himself. Catullus was an Italian poet who lived in Rome around the time of Julius Caesar. It's believed he was around from about 84-54 BC, and during that time he wrote about 116 poems, most of which were about his personal life. Most poets around this time wouldn't have written about themselves very much, instead writing about mythical heroes or famous people (often so they could be paid by those people), which makes Catullus an example of a neoteric  poet. This means he focused on smaller ideas and themes - mainly his life and the people around him. Now here comes the important context: A lot of Catullus' poetry revolves around his relationship with a woman he calls Lesbia - who historians think was marrie...

Book Recommendation: No specific recommendation today, but have a look at Epic Reads, who have put together a whole page detailing different ways to read for free online:  https://www.epicreads.com/blog/read-free-books-online/ Film Recommendation: My Life As A Courgette - Don't let the silly title fool you, this Swiss/French animation starts out on a pretty dark note, as our main character is sent to an orphanage after the death of his alcoholic mother. We follow Icare (or "Courgette", as he prefers to be called) as he adapts to his new life and the new people in it. Not a laugh-a-minute by any means, but a film with an important message behind it.  https://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-life-as-a-courgette/on-demand/70346-001 Things to Do: Learn British Sign Language - British-Sign.co.uk  are offering a pay-what-you-can deal for their online BSL courses. This is a fantastic life skill for young people to learn (and parents of course).  https://britis...

A few more interesting finds from the web and some more recommendations from me: Book Recommendation: The Hobbit  by JRR Tolkien - A genuine classic. The precursor to the Lord of the Rings series, The  Hobbit  tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit with a very comfortable life, who is recruited by the wizard Gandalf and joins a crew of dwarves as they attempt to take their ancestral home back from a powerful dragon. Adapted into a series of films recently, I beg any fans of the movies to give the book a go. There are plenty of places to read it online for free!  https://novels77.com/242600-the-hobbit.html Film Recommendation: A Monster Calls - Starring Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, and Felicity Jones, A Monster Calls  tells the story of a young boy dealing with his mother's terminal illness and his relationship with a giant, monstrous, talking tree. Written by Patrick Ness, who wrote the original novel, this is a great family film which...

It's officially the Easter break. By rights, we should all be piling into cars today for excruciatingly long family drives to the coast, or to visit long-forgotten relatives, or to wander aimlessly round some country-estate with a backpack full of sandwiches. As it is, of course, none of that will be happening this year, and all of a sudden those hours packed into the back of a Ford Fiesta with The Beautiful South blaring over the speakers sounds like heaven. For the last two weeks, I've been (somewhat successfully) adding a lesson a day to this blog, but since it's technically a holiday, I'm going to change approach for the next two and search for fun things to do that will, hopefully, keep any bored students out there entertained until we can get back to the real  fun of organised education. As well as that, I'll be recommending books, TV shows and films that I feel are worth a look. Book Recommendation: Noughts and Crosses , Malorie Blackman You may hav...

In my first lesson, the myth of Prometheus, I referenced Circe  by Madeleine Miller, an excellent piece of fiction that reimagines the witch, Circe, from Homer's Odyssey  as a powerful, misunderstood sorceress who is forced to remove herself from society before being plagued by the very people who banished her in the first place. In the original story, it's easy to see Circe as an "evil" character, turning Odysseus' men into pigs, before Odysseus works his infamous charms and subdues her. All of a sudden, the witch is devoted to our masculine hero, and he sticks around on her island until he fancies moving on again. Miller ingeniously alters our opinion of this character by altering the perspective  of the story - allowing us to see the world from Circe's point of view. Perspective is hugely important in story telling: the voice of the story helps to determine our response as a reader - which characters we like, how certain actions affect us, who we support ...

Medusa is one of the most infamous monsters in all of Greek Mythology: one of the three mythical Gorgons, with a head covered in snakes and a face that would turn you to stone with a single glance. The story of Perseus is also well-known, particularly his use of a mirrored shield that guided him towards Medusa without looking directly at her deadly visage, before slicing said head from its shoulders and returning home as a hero. A classic archetype of Greek story-telling - hero faces impossible task, uses guile and godly assistance to complete task, returns to be lauded and rewarded, then suffers tragic later life (for Perseus, it was the accidental murder of his grandfather, Acrisius). When you delve deeper into the Perseus myth, however, you find something much more complex and symbolic, particularly in regards to the question of fate and destiny. Namely: is it possible to avoid fate? Or will our prophesied destiny forever stick to us like proverbial bolognese on a proverbial w...

On the basis of social media over the past week and a half, its clear to see that people are having to find new and inventive ways of keeping themselves fit and healthy. I've never seen so many challenges: toilet paper keepy-ups, planking, blindfolded ball-catching, the list goes on and on. Obviously, we're all missing our sport. The football season should be reaching its exciting peak, the Six Nations was cut short, tennis officials have been postponing tournaments left, right and centre court - but it's not just the mainstream sports being affected. A few years ago, I found my way into Flag American Football - a 5-a-side, non-contact version of the full contact sport (which I'd always avoided due to my propensity for breaking easily). The Flag season should have been starting in the next few weeks, but instead we have all been left wondering how much - if any - football we will get to play this season. While it isn't as popular in the UK as some of the other spo...