Teaching in the English Faculty, as in most Cambridge Faculties, takes three main forms: lectures, seminars and supervisions. Homerton College supports the teaching work of the Faculty with classes and supervisions.
Lectures are arranged centrally by the Faculty. They usually last about fifty minutes, and usually a lecturer offers a course of eight lectures, one in each week of full term. There are no compulsory lectures, and students are free to attend lectures on areas which appeal to them and which are given by lecturers whose style they like. Some are on general topics, others are on particular authors.
Seminars are also arranged on a wide variety of topics. These usually consist of groups of around ten undergraduates, who meet to discuss their work with one or more member of the Faculty. Discussions are often informal, and there is usually plenty of opportunity for undergraduates to contribute. The bulk of seminar work is concentrated in Part II when each specialised paper has a corresponding seminar.
At supervisions undergraduates discuss their recent work with a supervisor. For many students this is their chief point of contact during a week with a member of the Faculty. The supervisor is very often a Fellow in English at the Student's own college. Many colleges, however, also send their students to see experts from other colleges for some subjects. Since supervisions are arranged by the colleges rather than by the Faculty what happens in them varies from college to college. Usually they last about an hour and take place once a week; usually they consist of two undergraduates and one supervisor; and usually each undergraduate would write an essay on a different topic for each weekly supervision.
The Course
Part I of the Tripos (studied for the first two years) is historical, critically examining texts from the Middle Ages to the present day, but that doesn't mean you have to read everything in order. We encourage students to make selections, with their supervisors, from the whole range of the course and to develop their own interests, within the parameters of the papers being studied that term.
In Part II students may offer two 7500-word dissertations on subjects of their own choice and one special subject chosen from a range of 40 or so papers (or one dissertation and two special papers). All final year students take Tragedy and Practical Criticism, which are at the core of the Part II course.
At Homerton, weekly supervisions are offered on the term's main topic, sometimes supported by classes widening the discussion of the paper concerned or, in most terms, by classes in Practical Criticism. In addition, in the first two years, teaching is provided in preparation for the Foreign Language paper in Part I (or alternatively by the University for the paper on the History of the English Language).
Homerton offers the Modern (1830-present day) period as the first to be studied, in the Michaelmas term of your first year, followed by the eighteenth century in the Lent term, and Shakespeare in the Easter term. In the second year the first term explores Medieval Language and Literature; the second explores Renaissance and the seventeenth century; and the final term of the second year is used for revision. This programme is flexible and at all times will be linked to the lectures and seminars offered centrally by the Faculty of English.Application and Interviews
Applicants should be taking English Literature (or English Language and Literature, if combined with a good deal of further literary reading) at A Level (we can certainly consider equivalent qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate). If you are following an A Level curriculum, the usual conditions of the offer will be that you obtain specified grades at A Level: typically A*AA (without specifying which should be A*).
Those who are invited to attend for interview will have a general and a subject-specific interview as part of the admissions process: one interview will be with a Tutor or college officer who may well have an academic interest in one element of your subject, and your second with the Director of Studies in English. We try to conduct our interviews in a friendly and informal manner and no special preparation is necessary. We ask, in advance, for two pieces of written work, composed as part of a school course. Send us the work you most enjoyed writing, the material which in your view shows your skills and potential to best advantage. Your work may form the basis for some discussion in interview. We also ask candidates to take a short written test in the form of a practical criticism of an unseen text.
