JC
I’m an English teacher so you won’t be suprised to hear me say how much I absolutely believe that English is a genuinely important subject! Maybe I should leave the promo to Charli XCX & YUNGBLUD!
Here Charli talks about the importance of critical thinking – a key focus within the English classroom.
Elsewhere in the video, Charli talks about liking art because it was a creative space and she was trusted to do the work she wanted to do. And then she talks about jobs and reminds us how many jobs are out there!! Having a good English Literature qualification prepares you for ALL of them!
Next, she reminds us that sometimes it’s good to break the rules! English learning is pretty lawless! It encourages you to break free of routines and to forget the idea that there is only one answer. This kind of free-thinking is so valuable in the modern world.
Okay, so – of course – I’m concentrating mostly on my favourite pop stars today. But let’s just a quick shift away from music for a moment, because it’s certainly not just musicians who value English and reading. It’s football commentators too! And if you listen to this short clip below (from 2 mins 37 secs to 5 mins 25 sec), you’ll quickly recognise that it’s not just commentators who would benefit from the ability to understand language and how best to communicate!
Anyway, back to music. Here’s Jacob Alon…
And now to YUNGBLUD. Just watch the start of this video.
Listen to how he starts. Why are we sitting in silence? Rhetorical question! We shouldn’t be! We should be communicating! English allows you to become skilled and confident communicators! Be like YUNGBLUD! Communicate! Connect! Bring a positive message to the world. Articulate it in a way that brings joy to the people around you and makes them feel understood!
Look at how his ability to communicate has joined so many people together…
And studying English doesn’t just enable to build friendships and community. The skills you’ll develop will underpin your success in business too. Once people know you and trust you and love you, they will really buy into what you’re doing. So don’t think of English as an abstract, floaty subject – it will help you pin down lots of the transferable skills you’ll make use of every day of your life.
Look at what YUNGBLUD’s achieved. He’s opened a shop, he’s started a festival – and his success can be linked back to his ability to communicate ideas that resonated with people; mostly through his own articulation of thaose ideas – but also because he did things like get his Irish friend to go up and down in the lift all day talking about YUNGBLUD (don’t show the actual clip in classroom – too much swearing).
And don’t forget that – at A-Level – you study other subjects too. It combines well with EVERYTHING. Even scientists and engineers have said that they’ve loved English Literature because it made them think about things much harder than anything else they were studying! Throw yourself into the subject with full energy and you will find that too. And your English teachers won’t tell you what to think, they’ll help you learn to think for yourselves!!
Studying English will help you to be YOU! What can be more important than that?!