Small Town Matters

Alexandra Sayer 5L Small Town Matters As I stared out of the window, intently watching a small leaf being motionless, a quiet 'Psst' was the only noise to interrupt the monotonous drone of my teacher's voice. It was Carol Brisko, the girl who sat next to me in almost all my classes. As my name was Bracher and hers Brisko it seemed inevitable that we should sit next to each other as our teachers had a penchant for children sitting in alphabetical order. She handed me a small note ripped out of an exercise book. I ignored the Spanish grammar on the one side and read the large scrawled note on the other. Anyone who might have been watching me at that point must have seen my face turn ashen, for I was truly shocked. The subject written was not something we talked about frequently at Catholic school, and the nuns also told us never to put anything like that into writing. The note quite bluntly said, 'Have you had sex?' I quickly rubbed out the note (luckily it was written in pencil) and wrote a large 'NO!' back and swiftly handed it back to her. Nothing could have prepared me for what she wrote back in reply. I almost fell out of my chair in shock when I saw those horrific words, 'I have, with my brother.' I dropped the note on the floor and didn't reply; I was too repulsed. I had heard of this before, there was a name for it so it must be quite common. I, myself have three

  • Word count: 1537
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Explain how Willy Russell intends us to respond to the charters Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs

Mrs Kay is a very easy going teacher but the children still respect her because she cares about the children and tries to help them to learn to read and write. Mr Briggs is strict and believes that children come to school to learn and that the children should respect teachers. He also believes that the only way to teaching is with strict discipline. At the start of the play Willy Russell intends us to see Mrs Kay as a caring and friendly and informal. However he suggests that this is the wrong approach. She has asked them to call them Helen but they still call her Mrs Kay this means they don't see her as a equal. On the coach she sits next to Carol. The stage directions tell us "Carol has arms linked through Mrs Kay's and snuggled up they look more like mother and daughter than pupil and teacher." Russell intends use to see that this is not right no children link arms with their teachers. Mrs Kay is on the children's side as she lies to the driver about the children never having any sweets to stop them form getting told off for having sweets, She says " Ronny these kids with me today don't know what is to look at a bar of chocolate." We feel that she has the children at heart but we feel uncomfortable as she is lying to another adult which we do not expect her to do. Mrs Kay understands the difficulties the pupils in the progress classes are going through because

  • Word count: 1126
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Our day out-essay.

Our day out-essay. Out day out is a play based on a group of students and teachers. The two main characters are Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs (the teachers). Both Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs have completely different ideas about how the day should be organised. Our day out was written by Willy Russell, who was inspired to write this because after working and having the experience of working at a school in Liverpool called shore field comprehensive. This play was based on Liverpool, in the 1970s. In the 1970s there was a lot of unemployment and a lot of parents were poor. Willy Russell has made his characters to show this. The kids ware seen as to be very cheeky, scruffy and impolite. This is because Willy Russell is trying to make the point of what children were like in the 1970s. Willy Russell has made the character of Mrs. Kay to be very easy going, nice, polite and caring. Mrs. Kay is a very easy going teacher but she listens to her pupils and cares for them. In scene 2 Mrs. Kay shows this by what is said in the play script, "Mrs. Kay has taken off her shoes and has her stocking feet curled up under her. Carol has her arm linked through Mrs. Kay's and is snuggled up to her, they look more like mother and daughter than teacher and pupil.. This shows how much Mrs. Kay is more than a teacher. Our very first impression on Mr.Briggs is not very good because in scene 1 les says about Mr

  • Word count: 1811
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why is Yosser so special in Yosser story?

Why is Yosser so special in Yosser story? 'Boys from the Blackstuff' is a play written by Alan Bleasdale set in Liverpool in the early 1980's. At this time many heavy industries were reducing their workforce and therefore unemployment was rising. The play shows the effect of unemployment on various individuals, in the episode 'Yosser's Story', Yosser Hughes is separated from his wife and he has his three children, after a number of problems he loses his children and begins to have a chain of nervous breakdowns from time to time, he gets beaten up by the police. He pits a window through with George and gets arrested having no home to go to after being evicted, he then escapes from the police and tries to commit suicide in the lake where he dreamt his kids drowning, he fails to commit suicide and get arrested again. One of the main reasons Yosser is so special is that he faces a huge number of problems, for example: Physiological problems, mental issues, he's in debt, he is receiving no dole money, he feels as if its him Vs the world and that everyone is out to get him, his house gets repossessed and he is separated from his wife. In Yosser's Story, Alan Bleasdale uses language for a dramatic and entertaining effect. Yosser's words and catchphrases give a hint as to how desperate he has become, for example he continually says "giz a job", this shows how hopeless Yosser has

  • Word count: 1019
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Our day out - Willy Russell

Our day out The play our day out, by Willy Russell was written during the 1970's. The play is set in Liverpool, which in the 1970's was not holding well economically, which had the population on a low morale. For example during this period of time Britain had become part of the European market, which left the docks in Liverpool desolated and no longer in use. This now left the city, which was once known throughout Europe for its great docks very deprived, and in recession with the coal industry also dying out and leaving the country yet more grief economically. The play is on the subject of a progress class (which is a class consisting of children with poor literate skills e.g. reading and writing etc). The class has a trip arranged to Conwy in Wales. On the way to their destination the audience are entertained in the midst of hilarious acts of cunningness and stupidity (a good example of this would be when the children visit the zoo on the way to Wales and end of stealing various zoo animals). In addition to the funny side of the play the audience also learn a serious note to the play, which I will comment in detail later in this assignment. The main characters in this play consist of two teachers and one young girl at the age of thirteen. Carol is the young thirteen-year-old student attending the progress class; she is branded for being shy and for possessing delicate

  • Word count: 4002
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In 'Our Day Out', with whom does Willy Russell intend the audience to sympathise and identify, Mrs Kay or Mr Briggs?

In 'Our Day Out', with whom does Willy Russell intend the audience to sympathise and identify, Mrs Kay or Mr Briggs? Willy Russell wrote the play 'Our Day Out', in 1977. This play is about a class of school children. It takes place in Liverpool. These kids are in a class called the Progress Class, and they go on a trip to Conway Castle in North Wales. At the last minute a strict deputy head teacher called Mr Briggs joins the trip. The play is set in a poor part of Liverpool and the characters speak with a Liverpool accent. Mrs Kay is a laid back teacher who thinks the kids come first, whereas Mr Briggs is old school and very strict. They are both the main characters and they are total opposites of one another. Mr Briggs plays a really important part in this play because at first the audience are turned against him by the way he is so horrible with the kids, for instance when he was on the coach he shouted at the kids to sit down . In the middle of the play the audience start to like him because he starts to loosen up, lets the kids go to the fair and he really enjoys himself. At the end of the play he realises what he has done and begins to go back to his old self. None of the other characters liked him at the start but most of them did at the end. He begins by being strict and snappy with the kids and eventually builds a good relationship with the kids and

  • Word count: 651
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs represent two different dramatic portrayals of teaching . Discuss these two characters and their two styles deciding upon which is the better suited to the children in

Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs represent two different dramatic portrayals of teaching . Discuss these two characters and their two styles deciding upon which is the better suited to the children in "Our Day Out". The author Willy Russell wrote our day out. Willy Russell sets a lot of his plays in Liverpool and bases them around the theme of education e.g. "Educating Rita". Other plays that Willy Russell has written are "Blood Brothers", "Stags and Hens" and "Shirley Valentine". Mr. Briggs is a disciplinarian who believes that the only way to control children is to keep a firm restriction on what he will allow them to do, this is shown when he says, "I've learned that trust is something you people don't understand. Now, I'm warning you, all of you, don't expect any more trust from me!" The children see Mr. Briggs as a monotonous teacher that they are unable to have fun with, this is shown within the stage directions stating, "At the back the kids are all stifled and bored by Briggs's presence." Les thinks that Mr. Briggs is an arrogant git, this is shown when Les says "Arrogant get, that one is". Mrs, Kay treats the children like friends rather than students which gives her a better relationship with them, this is shown when Mrs. Kay smiles and links arms with Carol, Mrs. Kay also says to Mr. Briggs "I'm not going to let you prevent the kids from having some fun". We can

  • Word count: 1321
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Willy Russel gives his characters a day out at the sea-side. How and why are they stranded?

Willy Russel gives his characters a day out at the sea-side, but leaves them stranded. How and why are the characters stranded? 'Our day out' written by Willy Russell is set in liverpool 1977, where every child was held to a high social standard regardless of their ability, status and background. The play was based on Willy Russell's own personal experiance during his teaching years while participating in a school trip out. Progress class is a class full of 'backward like' children that are illiterate, whom of which have no other hope of ever escaping their lives. This class is ironically named as no progress is made in 'progress class'. The children are metaphorically stranded on their trip out by the desperation of their stuations back in Liverpool. This essay is going to discover the reasons why each theme has been chosen and why Willy Russell left his constructs emotionally barefit. His characters each represent a different opinion and lifestyle, this will also be discussed and the reasons as to why each character is strikingly different but subtly similar using the themes that are displayed throughout the text. The children of progress class are stranded, however this is only so when the meaning is applied metaphorically, as the children are never figuritivly trapped or stuck anywhere. There is no literal meaning behind the use of the word 'stranded'. Although no

  • Word count: 3244
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A major theme in Our Day Out is the lack of education and opportunity for young people in the inner-city. Using scenes from the play, show how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of this theme.

A major theme in Our Day Out is the lack of education and opportunity for young people in the inner-city. Using scenes from the play, show how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of this theme. This book is about a school in Liverpool and the kids who go to the school and live there, who are both poor and disadvantaged. Willy Russell shows that in 1977 some of the schools in the inner-cities were not very effective, so the kids who go there do not have a very good education and do not have the opportunity to leave Liverpool and live a better life. Willy Russell writes about this because it is what he experienced during his own childhood. Willy Russell makes the audience aware of some of his ideas and themes by making suggestions in the stage directions of scene one; He illustrates the poverty in the inner schools in Liverpool by the statement, "eating a half eaten sandwich and clutching a supermarket carrier bag". He also shows that the children do not show any respect for authority because they ignore the lollipop man. The children are told, "don't cross the road without the assistance of the lollipop man". The children are just ignoring the fact that the lollipop man is there to help them. Throughout the book Willy Russell introduces humour for the enjoyment of the reader, for example, "only when the car is within striking distance does he walk out with his

  • Word count: 2335
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Family future? A family, who lives together,eats together, prays together, and works together is a nuclear family. In theearly 1960's the term nuclear family was used to describe the start of thefamily that was suggested to be dominant in the cul...

Family future? A family, who lives together, eats together, prays together, and works together is a nuclear family. In the early 1960's the term nuclear family was used to describe the start of the family that was suggested to be dominant in the culture of the time. Divorced and single parent families rarely received any positive attention. Today, social scientists estimate that less then 15% of US families fit the two parents, two offspring family. It's important to consider that for a society to survive its population must reproduce, or the results are going to be reduction of the population. The young must learn to perform adult roles, values and attitudes. For this to happen we need a family that can teach us all this. Today fewer people are getting married. Marriage is understood as a social obligation and a path towards self-fulfillment. "Marriage today is a voluntary relationship that an individual can make and break at will," says David Popenoe from "Break up of family" in USA Today magazine. If this continues, our population will reduce tremendously, families will scatter, and America will decline. For this particular reason nuclear families should be preserved. Further more, fertility declined in the US by almost 50% between 1960 and 1987. It was below the necessary rate for the replacement of the population according to Mr. Popenoe and still is today. Scientists

  • Word count: 1508
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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