1. Evie, Lauren, Alice, Katie and Erin

2. List of Possible Questions and Themes  Symbolism Topics to focus on: -Tie “red with bold green squiggles on it, it was a terribly hopeful tie.” NAIVEITY -Tie “His tie was wider than normal ties.” OPEN-MINDEDNESS -Hatch “I lifted the counter flap.” CONFIDENCE -Bird in the cage “Everybody heard it singing but no one could find it.” TRAPPED -Colleague relationships “He stitched a nice smile.” INGENUINE  Emotive Language Topics to focus on: -Empathetic attitude “It was a terribly hopeful tie.” ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCES - “Colleagues don’t wear blue overalls and white caps and work for £3.89 an hour.” LONELINESS + LACK OF RELATIONSHIP AND THE FEELING OF BEING ISOLATED - “A smile lit in his eyes and ran to his mouth” HOPEFULNESS - “He doesn’t mean to be funny but they cant keep a straight face. It’s the way he talks.” “And his ties!”[…] “You’ve never seen anything like them.” JUDGEMENTAL LACK OF UNDERSTANDING  Imagery Topics to focus on: -Simile “It went through me like a knife through butter.” MEMORY+SHOCK or “He was as tense as a guitar string.” UNCOMFORTABLE AND INSECURE -Rule of three “Surprise, Uncertainty, Pleasure.” FLOW OF EMOTIONS IN MORE COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT -Repeated negative lexis “I’d never had letters like that before, and I was never going to again, not after Steve knew who I really was.” INSECURITY  Friendship Topics to focus on: -Discriminatory hierarchy “Oh, er- Mrs, er- Carter.” “IS it for yourself?” LACK OF IMPORTANCE -Close relationships between more important colleagues “We’re most grateful for your hospitality.”[…] “Mrs Kenward flushed.” CARLA IS NOT WORTH THE TIME -New friendship blossoming between Carla and Stefan “I wanted to talk about poetry” GENUINE INTERESTUNLIKE MRS KENWARD

3. Stories For Comparison  Something Old Something New Links because of: - Different cultures: MPTT “It’s the way he talks.” and SOSN “Please, stop it you’re embarrassing me.” - Class and status: MPTT “Colleagues don’t wear blue overalls and work for £3.89 an hour” and SOSN “They would be offended, she had explained, if you come empty-handed, they would think you didn’t care for me enough” - Myth and Symbolism: MPTT “I lifted the counter-flap” and SOSN “In no time the sky turned a dark purple with sharp little stars. It was the first time he had swam under the night sky.” - Change or development: MPTT “I liked that poem. It made me think maybe I’d been missing something, because I hadn’t read any poetry since I left school” and SOSN “No you needn't do that […] It’s lovely”  When the Wasps Drowned Links because of: - Appearance and Reality: MPTT “it was red with bold green squiggles on it. It was a terribly hopeful tie” and WTWD “Pouting Smartie-red lips” - Memory and the Past: MPTT “It sounded a bit like the rhymes my mother used to sing” and WTWD “That was the summer Therese stepped on the wasps nest” - Woman’s Point of View/ First Person Narrative: MPTT “I wear a uniform, blue overall and white cap with the school logo on it” and WTWD “I had a pair of green plastic sunglasses”  The Darkness Out There Links because of: - Appearance and Reality: MPTT “it was red with bold green squiggles on it. It was a terribly hopeful tie” and TDOT “She seemed composed of circles, a cottage-loaf of a woman, with a face below which chins collapsed one into another, a creamy smiling pool of a face” - Memory and Past: MPTT “It sounded a bit like the rhymes my mother used to sing” and TDOT “a raw November night, and that sight under our noses” - Myth and Symbolism: MPTT “Everyone heard it singing, but no one could find it” and TDOT “After they were twelve or so, the witches and wolves went away”

4. Exemplar Answer – How is symbolism used to present strong feelings? Dunmore emphasises Carla and the Head’s contrasting strong feelings towards Steve, through symbolism. The short sentence “it was a terribly hopeful tie” shows Carla’s appreciation for Steve’s efforts and she is accepting and supporting of different cultures. The Head however, abuses his power and behaves in a derogatory fashion towards Steve, acting as if his culture is a disability, when he was “talking very loudly as if he was deaf”. This is very patronising and condescending, treating him as an outsider, much like how Carla is treated. His tie is said to be “wider than normal ties”. This could suggest that he is more open-minded, than the other narrow-minded teachers, as the width of their ties are reflecting this. The tie was a “flag from another country, a better country than the ones either of us lived in”, suggesting that what they have is not quite real but represents an ideal of friendship and understanding. Symbolism is used to present strong feelings shown within the poem Steve sends to Carla as it suggests that Carla is like the poetic “bird in a coal mine” – and that everyone could hear it sing but which “no one could find”. This implies that Carla feels lonely, until she is “found” by Stefan. Moreover, other readers may interpret that,like the bird, she feels trapped, as the relatability with the poem links with “the bird […] got lost in the tunnels”. It suggests that she feels uncomfortable and insecure in her culture, and therefore finds it easy to relate with Stefan due to their similarities and Polish background.