This document provides guidance for structuring an essay response, including introducing the question and thesis in the first paragraph, analyzing the form, structure, and language in separate paragraphs, exploring themes and messages, and concluding. It then summarizes the short story "My Polish Teacher's Tie" by Helen Dunmore, about a Polish dinner lady who begins corresponding with a Polish teacher and discovers they have more in common than she thought. Key points are that Stefan's bright tie is a symbol of hope and Carla's language becomes more elaborate as her love of poetry grows. Symbolism, repetition, and juxtaposition are used effectively in the story.

1. • Structuring your answer
• 1st paragraph - Introduction:
• Mention the question straight way and introduce
what you are going to explore in your answer
• Use a quotation that links to the Question which
shows the writer’s ideas/themes
• Refer to form/structure/ language in first few
sentences
• 2nd paragraph – Form:
• Analyse the form of the text and link it to the
Question
• 3rd Paragraph – Structure:
• Analyse the structure, linking in to the Question

2. • 4th Paragraph – Language:
• Analyse the language, linking in to the
Question
• 5th Paragraph – explore message & themes:
• Explore the message Lee is trying to present in
reference to the question. Consider other
interpretations
• 6th Paragraph – conclusion:
• Anything else you want to add? Make a
conclusion relating to your interpretations.

3. ‘My Polish Teacher’s Tie’ by Helen
Dunmore
•
• What happens in the story? Carla Carter, a half Polish
dinner lady at an English school starts corresponding
with a Polish teacher from Katowice, Poland. Their
correspondence is mainly about poetry which they
both like. In the end the Polish teacher, Stefan Jeziorny,
comes to England on a teacher’s exchange scheme and
he and Carla discover they have more things in
common than Carla originally thought.
•
• Themes: identity, friendship, stereotypes, change.
•

4. • Symbolism is used throughout the story to suggest something
about the personality of each character:
• ‘the Head got up to speak…as usual he had a pile of papers in front
of him’ indicates his status of authority and busy/demanding work
schedule
• ‘This bird flew down the main shaft and got lost in the tunnels
underground, then it sang and sang until it died. Everyone heard it
singing, but no one could find it.’ This is a clear metaphor of Carla’s
own story and how she feels lost because of neglecting her Polish
heritage. However, perhaps it’s also about lost dreams and the
difficulties of being a single mum in a low-paid job
• ‘His red tie with its bold green squiggles was much too wide and
much too bright. It was a flag from another country, a better
country than the ones either of us lived in.’ Stefan’s tie is a symbol
of all the hope and positive change he brought about in Carla’s life.

5. • Carla’s language seems to change throughout the
story:
• At first she seems to use very simple words, sometimes
colloquial English, almost supporting other people’s
view of her: ‘Let him think I’d written once and then
not bothered.’ Later in the story when her love of
poetry is becoming more and more apparent her
choice of language is more elaborate using powerful
imagery and similes: ‘He was tense as a guitar string.’
‘It went through me like a knife through butter’; ‘ the
way a child does when he doesn’t know anyone at a
party’

6. • Figurative language:
• Metaphor: ‘his big bright tie blazing’ combined with
the alliteration has a positive, optimistic effect on Carla
and the reader.
• Pathetic fallacy is used to mirror Carla’s anxiety ‘The
nest morning-break the buns were stale.’
• Repetition:
• ‘his face looked much too open, much too alive,’ and
‘His red tie…was much too wide and much too bright’
clearly distinguishes Stefan from the rest of the
characters who are bland and uninteresting.

7. • Structure:
• Dunmore uses juxtaposition (contrast) of teachers and
catering staff ‘I wear a uniform, blue overall and white cap
with the school logo on it’; ‘The teachers pay for their tea
and buns’ creates antithesis
• Carla uses some short sentences: ‘It’s not a bad job.’ ‘I
wasn’t lying.’ Both sentences are added towards the end of
different paragraphs and seem to be contradicting what she
is actually saying. We don’t get the impression that Carla
actually likes the people that she has to work for and
equally we understand that she realises she has not been
honest and wants to justify her actions.

8. • Links to other short stories:
• Pathetic fallacy used to highlight negative feelings in
‘Compass and Torch’, ‘The Darkness Out There’, ‘Anil’
and ‘Something Old, Something New’.
• Symbolism is used in ‘When the Wasps Drowned’,’
Compass and Torch’, ‘Anil’ and ‘Something Old,
Something New’.
• Different cultures are also present in ‘On Seeing the
100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning’, ‘Anil’
and ‘Something Old, Something New’.
• Stereotypes are also present in ‘The Darkness Out
there’.