Thinking AloudEnglish Blog

An occasional blog concerned with the world of English Language and Literature. Featuring insights from examiners and past students as well as encouraging and inspiring everyone to pick up a book and get lost in a new world.

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The Dogs of Literature

Reading a book or watching a film and a dog appears, steel yourself. It is most likely about to be devastating shorthand for human despair.

Sophie Welsh

Mar 132 min read

Reading Between the Lines: The Bee Sting, Paul Murray

And that’s the power of reading, isn’t it? Stories settle differently in the mind when they pass through the eyes rather than the ears.

Sophie Welsh

Mar 82 min read

Lost in Literature? Good! Interpretation's the Whole Point.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an English student in possession of a novel must be in want of the right answer.

Sophie Welsh

Feb 33 min read

The Power of Maggie O'Farrell

If I Am, I Am, I Am is about the individual’s fight for survival, Hamnet is about the collective weight of loss.

Sophie Welsh

Jan 73 min read

Pushing Boundaries: Lessons from Bacon, Bowie, and the Brave

There’s nothing quite like a Francis Bacon exhibition to remind you that life is equal parts grotesque, tragic, and utterly captivating.

Sophie Welsh

Dec 10, 20242 min read

Page to Stage - the unwritten adaptation (just as the West End beats me to it)

Shush, I know we shouldn’t have favourites. But if I had to choose, go on then, it would undoubtedly be the IB’s Literature and Performance

Sophie Welsh

Aug 19, 20242 min read

Shakespeare Reworked

Shakespeare is nothing if not a crackingly good storyteller. That he stole most of his plot lines is neither here nor there, just don’t ask

Sophie Welsh

Aug 12, 20243 min read

A Trip of a Lifetime, with a Nice Little PhD Attached

There's an unmatched thrill in perusing the dusty shelves of a second-hand bookshop, where the scent of old paper and the promise of...

Sophie Welsh

Aug 5, 20243 min read

Tune In, Turn Up, and Geek Out: How BBC Radio 4 Can Be Your Secret Weapon in Acing English Lang Lit

Remember, reading is something that draws you into other worlds. Listening does that too… So let me introduce you to Radio 4.

Sophie Welsh

Jul 24, 20244 min read

Summer Reading for aspiring A Level / IB students

Pens down, books away - you’ve done the exams, you’re just waiting for the results. Nothing more to be done. IT’S THE SUMMER!

Sophie Welsh

Jul 22, 20242 min read

When the Summer Comes...

When the summer comes it comes with long sunny days to catch up on your reading, educational blog posts and revision courses. Not always.

Sophie Welsh

Jul 22, 20242 min read

Theresa, Abu Dhabi

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