The homework assignments can be accessed on the Class Blog for each year group which can be found when you scroll down under More... in the menu above.
Read Seven Days a Week! (30 minutes)
Read 25 minutes every evening, then spend 5 - 10 minutes logging your personal response to your reading. Seven days a week! Every Tuesday you will show your reading log to Iain and one of you will be invited to share your log with the class. Happy reading!
CGP books provide a range of workbooks to support students with their literacy skills. These can be easily obtained online. ● CGP Key Stage Three Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar (The Workbook) ISBN 978 1 84762 408 6 ● KS3 English Workbook (with answers) ISBN 978 1 84762 258 7 Useful websites: ● BBC Bitesize can give helpful overviews of texts and assist with literacy skills. . Students should be reading for pleasure at home. The library is well stocked and many pre-twentieth century texts can be accessed free online or through Kindle.
It would be helpful if students could research contextual factors (what life was like when the texts were written and what the writer’s purpose might be). At GCSE level, students are expected to apply contextual information into their interpretation of their English Literature texts. Entire plays/extracts from other Shakespeare texts could also be read, or texts from the same genres that we study in class (for example, gothic and dystopian texts).
LEARNING LINES! Here are twelve practical techniques for learning lines. These should be effective whether you are an actor, lecturer, speech-giver or storyteller. Good luck – and practise, practise, practise!
Read the lines aloud. By speaking the lines you will hear them and they are more likely to stick.
Ask a friend to help you. Friends can correct you on any mistakes you make, give you the cue lines and go back over any weak areas.
Practise, practise, practise. This is the only way to make the lines stick. There is no such thing as a “photographic” memory. Everybody has to do this, even Kenneth Branagh.
Little and often. Go over them first thing in the morning, a few times during the day and last thing at night.
There are several apps which can help with learning lines. Here are some I have reviewed and recommend: With Line Learner you record all the lines including those of other characters and then listen to them leaving silent pauses to speak your own lines. With Rehearsal Pro you can upload a script and watch it scrolling by as you record your lines to listen to.
Even if you don’t use an app you can make a recording of the scene with a tape-recorder or smartphone. Listen to it while you are shaving/washing up/driving (but keep your eyes on the road). It’s a good idea to leave gaps in the recording to speak your own lines.
Move around while you are saying your lines. This has been scientifically proven to aid memory. The best thing to do is to act and feel the emotions of the character so that you are learning the meaning of the speech as much as the words. Or just for a change you can even do something entirely unrelated like juggling or sweeping the floor.
Go for a drive or better still a walk. Walking and saying your lines can be quite relaxing (though beware of strange looks from passers-by).
Learn the cue lines that lead in to each of your lines. Being prompt with your lines will give you and your fellow actors more confidence.
As you say or read the lines, follow the thought pattern of each speech and the overall progression of the scene. Your lines are a part of the play. They don’t exist on their own.
In rehearsals, listen to and think about what the other actors are saying. Don’t just concentrate on what you’ve got to say.
Make a recording of the cast reading the script and use this to practise with so that you get used to hearing the other characters’ voices.
Course outlines
Key Stage 3 (Years 7 - 9)
Year 7:
Course outline
There are a range of units in Year 7 that assess your child’s writing skills, along with other units that assess your child’s ability to analyse texts (such as commenting on a writer’s use of language for effect).
Myths Unit (The Knight´s Tale from Chaucer´s Canterbury Tales): communicating ideas clearly, vocabulary, spelling and the organisation/development of ideas.
Shakespeare Unit (A Midsummer Night’s Dream): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form. Drama.
Novel Unit (Skellig by David Almond): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form.
Poetry Unit: language analysis, context, comparing the poets’ attitudes and analysis of structure and form.
Creating Non-fiction Texts Unit: vocabulary, punctuation, discourse markers and using appropriate features for the text type/purpose/audience.
Year 8: Course outline
There are a range of units in Year 8 that assess your child’s writing skills, along with other units that assess your child’s ability to analyse texts (such as commenting on a writer’s use of language for effect).
Novel Unit (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form.
Poetry From Different Cultures Unit: language analysis, context, comparing the poets’ attitudes and analysis of structure and form.
Analysing Non-fiction Texts Unit (including pre-twentieth century texts): language analysis, understanding, comparing the poets’ attitudes and analysis of structure and form.
Shakespeare Unit (Twelfth Night): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form. Drama.
Year 9: Course outline
There are a range of units in Year 9 that assess your child’s writing skills, along with other units that assess your child’s ability to analyse texts (such as commenting on a writer’s use of language for effect). We have also made sure that the skills we work on at KS3 prepare students for the new and more challenging GCSE content, along with a range of fiction and non-fiction texts (including pre-twentieth century texts).
Poetry Unit (on the theme of relationships): language analysis, context, comparing the poets’ attitudes and analysis of structure and form.
Dystopia Unit: understanding, language analysis, context and analysis of structure and form.
Shakespeare Unit (The Tempest): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form.
Key Stage 3 Assessment Assessments will be completed at the end of each unit, this is often at the end of term. However, some assessments may overrun into the next term; this can sometimes happen when your child is studying a novel or Shakespeare, simply because there is more content to cover.
We always give students time in lessons to prepare for their assessments and students are aware of the skills we are assessing for the unit they are being assessed on.
Key Stage 4 (Years 10 & 11)
We follow the Edexcel and Cambridge exam board. Pre-Twentieth Century Texts Unit (Jane Austen, or Bronte text; The Time Machine): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form.
Twentieth Century Texts Unit (Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird): understanding, language analysis, evaluation and analysis of structure and form.
IGCSE exams: See English GCSE Revision tab for more guidance.
IGCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE INTRODUCTION The Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Language ‘A’ syllabus is primarily designed for students whose first language is English. Students whose first language is not English will be given the opportunity to study towards this qualification if their level of proficiency in both written and spoken English is deemed sufficiently advanced for them to be able to access the relevant syllabus materials. PURPOSE IGCSE English Language is a respected qualification and students who complete it successfully will have learned how to analyse a wide range of different texts, evaluate evidence and communicate ideas effectively. They will have acquired a high degree of literacy which will stand them in good stead for further study in their chosen field, whether at AS, A2 or university level. AIMS The Pearson Edexcel IGCSE in English Language (Specification A) enables students to:
develop their understanding of the spoken word and the capacity to participate effectively in a variety of speaking and listening activities;
develop the ability to read, understand and respond to material from a variety of sources, and to recognise and appreciate themes and attitudes and the ways in which writers achieve their effects;
develop the ability to construct and convey meaning in written language, matching style to audience and purpose.
CONTENT The IGCSE English Language course is a varied and stimulating programme of study. Based primarily upon an anthology of fiction and non-fiction texts, students are required to respond to writing in a range of different forms. These texts have been carefully chosen to illustrate the range of reading required at this level. Through studying these texts students will learn about the conventions of different forms and styles of writing, and can use these as models for their own writing. This approach has the added benefit of helping students prepare for their final exams, as they are assessed on both the anthology pieces they have studied, and their responses to unprepared reading material. ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES All students will be required to demonstrate ability to: AO2: Reading
read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them;
follow an argument, distinguishing between fact and opinion;
understand and make some evaluation of how writers use linguistic and structural devices to achieve their effects.
AO3: Writing
communicate clearly and imaginatively, using and adapting forms for different readers and purposes;
organise ideas into sentences, paragraphs and whole texts using a variety of linguistic and structural features
use a range of sentence structures effectively, with accurate punctuation and spelling.
TEACHING METHODS Teacher led lessons will provide students with exposure to a variety of styles of writing. There will be large group and small group discussion and some lessons will be pupil led, giving students the opportunity to gain confidence in oral work. Students studying IGCSE English Language will also use ICT regularly in their lessons for the purposes of research, text production and information presentation, using a wide range of media and applications. RESOURCES
Edexcel English Language Anthology
Edexcel English Language Student Study Guide
DVDs, audio books and other media resources
Various online resources
A range of wider reading texts, including fiction and non-fiction, prose, poetry and drama
A variety of IGCSE past papers
EXAMINATION
IGCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE This IGCSE covers, within a programme of wider reading, three set texts including:
the study of one novel
the study of one selection of poems
the study of a play
Students also study additional texts in the process of preparing their coursework portfolios. TEACHING METHODS Teacher led lessons will provide students with exposure to a variety of writers and genres. There will be large group and small group discussion and some lessons will be pupil led, giving students the opportunity to gain confidence in oral work. Students studying IGCSE English Literature will also use ICT regularly in their lessons for the purposes of research, text production and information presentation, using a wide range of media and applications. Students are expected to work outside of the lesson, particularly in note-taking, research, reading and thinking in preparation for essay writing. RESOURCES
Set texts
DVDs, audio books and other media resources
Works of literary criticism
Various online resources
A range of wider reading texts, including, prose and poetry
A variety of IGCSE past papers
ENGLISH LANGUAGE IGCSE Cambridge IGCSE First Language English is designed for learners whose first language is English. The course enables learners to:
develop the ability to communicate clearly, accurately and effectively when speaking and writing
use a wide range of vocabulary, and the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
develop a personal style and an awareness of the audience being addressed.
Learners are also encouraged to read widely, both for their own enjoyment and to further their awareness of the ways in which English can be used. Cambridge IGCSE First Language English also develops more general analysis and communication skills such as inference, and the ability to order facts and present opinions effectively.