All Saints English Department A Guide to GCSE

All Saints English Department: A Guide to GCSE English Language and English Literature for Parents. q For English Language there are 2 papers. Simple! q The marks work out at nearly 50/50 for Reading and Writing. q Paper 1 is on Fiction texts (you read one, answer questions and then write one). q Paper 2 is on Non-Fiction texts (you read two, answer questions on them, compare them and then write one. q We do Speaking and Listening which doesn’t count towards marks and grades but does certify a students’ communication skills as PASS, MERIT or DISTINCTION. q Our exam board is Edexcel.

PAPER 1: FICTION AND IMAGINATIVE WRITING Read the text below and answer Questions 1– 4 on the question paper. In this extract Jo March attempts to cook for her sisters, friend of the family Miss Crocker and next door neighbour Laurie. Little Women: Louisa May Alcott Having rekindled the fire, she thought she would go to market while the water heated. The walk revived her spirits, and flattering herself that she had made good bargains, she trudged home again, after buying a very young lobster, some very old asparagus, and two boxes of acid strawberries. (lines 1 -4 of 42) Limited glossary 1 dirty 2 hidden at the bottom so the imperfect fruit cannot be seen 3 to pucker the lips to show distaste 4 quickly Context

Other examples we’ve seen: Tess of the D’Urbervilles-Thomas Hardy The Woman in White-Wilkie Collins The Tell-Tale Heart-Edgar Allen Poe So, 19 th Century Fiction. In Y 10 we read ‘A Christmas Carol’ which is some preparation for this but there’s no doubt that this is a challenge many of our students. Bad news: this reading exam is not tiered or differentiated. Good news: the questions are very predictable. Helping Hand: • One lesson a cycle is a Reading Lesson • Mrs West’ Reading club on a Tuesday • You can download lots of Victorian Lit for free! • If you email me I can send you some extracts to talk through. • We have a revision booklet with examples of this paper. • Audiobooks on Youtube for long drives. .

Here are Paper 1’s predictable questions. . SECTION A – Reading Read the text in the Reading Text Insert provided answer ALL questions. You should spend about 1 hour on this section. Write your answers in the spaces provided. 1 From lines 1– 5, identify a phrase which shows that Jo needed cheering up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Total for Question 1 = 1 mark) 2 From lines 7– 13, give two ways in which the writer shows that Jo is not a confident cook. You may use your own words or quotations from the text. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The skill here is inference and 2 deduction: reading between . . . . . . . . . . the lines, basically. This is . . . . . . also tested on Paper 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Total for Question 2 = 2 marks)

3. In lines 26– 37, how does the writer use language and structure to show the reactions of those eating the dinner? Support your views with reference to the text. Our analysis suggests that this is the skill we need to improve on both Paper 1 and 2. It can be revised for. It’s easy to find lists of language techniques or rhetorical techniques online and then look for how they’re used in texts of all kinds. 4 In this extract, there is an attempt to show the experience of trying to do something new. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the text. Structure’s not as difficult as it sounds either. .

Question 3 Examiner’s suggested LANGUAGE responses

Question 3 Examiner’s suggested STRUCTURE responses

SECTION B – Imaginative Writing Answer ONE question. You should spend about 45 minutes on this section. Write your answer in the space provided. EITHER *5 Write about a time when you, or someone you know, tried to learn something new. Your response could be real or imagined. *Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (Total for Question 5 = 40 marks) OR *6 Look at the images provided. Write about an experience in which food played an important role. Your response could be real or imagined. You may wish to base your response on one of the images. *Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (Total for Question 6 = 40 marks) • • • That list of language techniques! Useful for both READING and WRITING! Speed planning- the timing for this question works out as roughly 10 minutes to plan, 30 minutes to write, 5 to check. Can be ‘real or imagined’ so perhaps use family photos to encourage students to remember and describe key moments.

Writer’s Checklist Punctuation “ “ Structure Simple Sentence : Compound Sentence ; Complex Sentence . . . ? ! One-word paragraph Subordination Fragments Language Features Structural Devices Simile Listing Metaphor Personification Tripartite Structure/Rule of 3 Alliteration Repetition Onomatopoiea Opening Rhetorical Question Resolution

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PAPER 2: Non-Fiction and Transactional Writing Text types studied should include a range of nonfiction forms, such as journalism (for example articles and reviews), speeches, journals and reference book extracts. Text types should also include literary non-fiction, such as selections from autobiography, letters, obituaries and travel writing. There’s a step-up in challenge on this paper from 1 hrs 45 mins and 5 tasks on Paper 1 to 2 hrs and 9 tasks!

Read the text below and answer Questions 1– 3 on the question paper. TEXT 1 Extract from ‘Love Letters of the Great War’, an anthology of letters written to and from soldiers during the First World War. This edited letter was written by rifleman Bert Bailey to his wife Lucilla. Bert and Lucilla had married in June 1915, when he was last at home on leave. A few hours after writing this letter, Bert was killed. Wednesday, 27 October 1915 My Darling Wife, Another night has passed another morning come and I am still in the trenches and in good health. Although all day and night on Monday it rained steadily yet Tuesday (yesterday) morning broke fair and fine and we had a nice day except that underneath everything was mud and slosh. We were employed all the morning and afternoon in putting down boards along the trenches and have greatly improved it for walking… At home compare two news stories on the same topic. There are the same question types here as for Paper 1 with the addition of: 7 (a) The two texts show people taking care of others. What similarities do Bert and Jack share in these extracts? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer. (b) Compare how the writers of Text 1 and Text 2 present their ideas and perspectives about changes in their situations. Support your answer with detailed references to the texts. Read the text below and answer Questions 4– 7 on the question paper. TEXT 2 Extract from ‘A Girl Called Jack: 100 Delicious Budget Recipes’ by Jack Monroe (2014). Jack Monroe is a journalist, food writer and campaigner against hunger and poverty in the UK. This extract is taken from the introduction to her book, where she discusses her experience of living on a budget to feed herself and her son, who she refers to as ‘Small Boy’. I spent a year unemployed from 2011 to 2012, with a budget of around £ 10 per week for food for me and Small Boy. I moved from shopping online and having swanky organic fruit and vegetables delivered in a recyclable cardboard box, to living out of the orange and white livery* of the Basics range at my local supermarket. The ardent foodie in me was utterly miserable. Cheap, processed ready meals and a lack of fruit and vegetables led to poor sleep patterns and a constantly hungry child, and for the first time in my life my skin broke out in big angry spots. Something bad was going in, and nothing good was coming out of it.

Write a section for a text book to help people manage changes in their lives. Your local newspaper has published an article called ‘Is it really more expensive to eat healthy food? ’ Write a letter to the newspaper giving your views. A local newspaper has been publishing a series of articles on theme of ‘Young People Today'. You have been asked to write an article on the topic of 'young people today have no understanding of manners'. Write a letter to a busy shop applying for the position of a Saturday Assistant THERE IS A CHOICE OF 2 QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS HERE. IT’S GOING TO HELP IF THEY’VE WRITTEN IN THESE FORMATS BEFORE.

We study a second GCSE: English Literature. • There are 2 papers. • Paper 1: Shakespeare and An Inspector Calls • Paper 2: A Christmas Carol, Poetry Anthology and Unseen Poetry. • These are ‘closed book’ exams so students need to have their own copies of texts to take notes and learn quotes. • An extract is given on the Shakespeare question and A Christmas Carol. • For the Poetry Anthology question one poem is given and the student has to compare it to one of their choice that they’ve studied from the Anthology (15 poems). • Finally, there are 2 ‘unseen poems’ to compare.

ENGLISH LITERATURE PAPER 1 Overview of content ● Study a Shakespeare play and a post-1914 British play or novel. ● Develop skills to analyse how the language, form, structure and context of texts can create meanings and effects. ● Develop skills to maintain a critical style and informed personal response. Overview of assessment Most groups will do Romeo and Juliet ● Section A – Shakespeare: a two-part question, with the first task focused on an extract of approximately 30 lines. The second task is focused on how a theme reflected in the extract is explored elsewhere in the play. ● Section B – Post-1914 British play or novel: ONE essay question. ● The total number of marks available is 80. ● Assessment duration: 1 hour and 45 minutes. ● Closed book (texts are not allowed in the examination) We study ‘An Inspector Calls’. Students need to show they understand the ‘context’ of this text.

ENGLISH LITERATURE PAPER 2 Overview of content ● Study a 19 th-century novel and a poetry collection from the Pearson Poetry Anthology. ● Develop skills to analyse how the language, form, structure and context of texts can create meanings and effects. ● Develop skills to maintain a critical style and informed personal response. ● Develop comparison skills. Overview of assessment A Christmas Carol ● Section A – 19 th-century novel: a two part question, with the first part focussed on an extract of approximately 400 words. The second part is an essay question exploring the whole text. ● Section B – Part 1: ONE question comparing a named poem from the Pearson Poetry Anthology collection to another poem from that collection. The named poem will be shown in the question paper. Part 2: ONE question comparing two unseen contemporary poems. ● The total number of marks available is 80. ● Assessment duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes. ● Closed book (texts are not allowed in the examination). There are marks for commenting on the context of these poems.

79% of marks for English Literature are for: AO 1 Read, understand respond to texts Students should be able to: ● maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response ● use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations (37%) AO 2 Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate (42%)

Links to revision sites BBC BITESIZE ‘A Christmas Carol’ UNIVERSAL TEACHER: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ http: //www. bbc. co. uk/education/topics/zcs 8 qty/ http: //universalteacher. org. uk/shakespeare/romeoandjuliet. htm BBC BITESIZE ‘An Inspector Calls’ UNIVERSAL TEACHER: ‘A Christmas Carol’ http: //www. bbc. co. uk/education/topics/zxmb 4 j 6 http: //universalteacher. org. uk/prose/achristmascarol. htm BBC BITESIZE ‘Romeo and Juliet’ http: //www. bbc. co. uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/dramaromeojulie t SPARKNOTES: ‘An Inspector Calls’ http: //www. sparknotes. com/drama/an-inspector-calls/ REVISION SCHEDULE FOR GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE- Use this checklist to organise your revision SPARKNOTES: ‘A Christmas Carol’ Plot http: //www. sparknotes. com/lit/christmascarol/ Character Themes Key scenes Language, structure and form Context Key quotes SPARKNOTES: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ http: //www. sparknotes. com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/ SHMOOP: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ http: //www. shmoop. com/romeo-and-juliet/ SHMOOP: ‘A Christmas Carol’ http: //www. shmoop. com/christmas-carol/ UNIVERSAL TEACHER: ‘An Inspector Calls’ http: //universalteacher. org. uk/drama/inspectorcalls. htm

English Revision starts next Thursday in S 1 ahead of the Mocks. REVISE WITH VIDEOS AND AUDIOBOOKS. Targeted Revision will start after Half-Term. Mr Docherty: 4801 kdo@allsaints. dorset. sch. uk