Grammar is really important, both for your Language GCSE and for your Literature GCSE, where you are now assessed on your spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG).
Below are a list of websites to help you out when it comes to learning grammar, and improving it!
Equally important is your use of vocabulary, especially in the Language Section B, but also in your literature, making sure you're choosing the right words to talk about writers' intended effects. Below is a website that aims to help you develop your vocabulary.
These are skills that you need not only for success in English, but are vital for success in Post 16 study, where ever that may be. Good luck.
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
Benjamin Franklin
Friday 28 March 2014
Thursday 27 March 2014
English Literature: Are you ready to take a big step?
Now that you are ready to do some serious revision, here are some tasks below that you can use to make sure you're revising effectively:
1) Print off/access blank copies of the poems you have been studying. From memory, annotate onto this copy everything you can remember. Then, compare this to your notes. What have you missed out? What do you need to focus your revision on? Once you know what you don't know (!), make yourself some flash cards to help you remember this.
2) Do the following exam questions for the Short Stories (some of you may not have studied these). You can use the questions as many times as you wish (as long as it's appropriate for the story!):
- Write about the ways that growing up is presented in one of the short stories
- 'Morals are important'. Write about the ways that morals are shown to be important in one of the short stories.
- Explore the portrayal of character in one of the short stories.
- 'With age comes responsibility'. To what extent is this true of the short story?
3) Find a quote for each of the following things from Of Mice and Men:
Dreams, Light, Dark, Setting, Symbolism, The Great Depression, Lennie, George, Crooks, Curley, Curley's Wife, Hands.
4) For each of these quotes, mind map them with all of the things you can say
5) Follow one of the links below to an 'unseen' poem. Answer the question next to it.
Links:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-do-not-love-you-except-because-i-love-you/ How does the poet present love in this poem?
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-2/ How does the poet present nature in this poem?
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/do-you-remember-childhood/ What do you think the poet's views on childhood are?
Good luck- there's plenty here to be getting on with! Remember to bring your work to your teacher for feedback, or come along to the English Clinic, S12, 12:45-1:15 Every Thursday lunch time.
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
- Mark Twain
1) Print off/access blank copies of the poems you have been studying. From memory, annotate onto this copy everything you can remember. Then, compare this to your notes. What have you missed out? What do you need to focus your revision on? Once you know what you don't know (!), make yourself some flash cards to help you remember this.
2) Do the following exam questions for the Short Stories (some of you may not have studied these). You can use the questions as many times as you wish (as long as it's appropriate for the story!):
- Write about the ways that growing up is presented in one of the short stories
- 'Morals are important'. Write about the ways that morals are shown to be important in one of the short stories.
- Explore the portrayal of character in one of the short stories.
- 'With age comes responsibility'. To what extent is this true of the short story?
3) Find a quote for each of the following things from Of Mice and Men:
Dreams, Light, Dark, Setting, Symbolism, The Great Depression, Lennie, George, Crooks, Curley, Curley's Wife, Hands.
4) For each of these quotes, mind map them with all of the things you can say
5) Follow one of the links below to an 'unseen' poem. Answer the question next to it.
Links:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-do-not-love-you-except-because-i-love-you/ How does the poet present love in this poem?
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-2/ How does the poet present nature in this poem?
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/do-you-remember-childhood/ What do you think the poet's views on childhood are?
Good luck- there's plenty here to be getting on with! Remember to bring your work to your teacher for feedback, or come along to the English Clinic, S12, 12:45-1:15 Every Thursday lunch time.
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
- Mark Twain
Revising for English Literature - taking baby steps towards success.
Sometimes, you need to split your revision into smaller chunks, or have some tasks that will take you shorter amounts of time. Therefore, on this post, you will find a range of tasks that you can do as revision for your English Literature exam. Most of these shouldn't take you longer than 20 minutes, so if you're struggling to get started and a cup of tea or cleaning your bedroom seems much more appealing, start with one of these. It's short and you'll feel more successful afterwards!!
1) Write down definitions of the following terminology: simile, metaphor, alliteration, oxymoron, rhetorical question, rhyme, rhyme scheme.
2) Re read the short stories.
3) Make a summary of the chapters in Of Mice and Men
4) Write down, from memory, key quotes from Of Mice and Men
5) Look at the targets you have been given on previous pieces of exam work. Are you making progress towards them? Re write your answers based on any targets that you don't feel you are progressing towards.
Good luck
1) Write down definitions of the following terminology: simile, metaphor, alliteration, oxymoron, rhetorical question, rhyme, rhyme scheme.
2) Re read the short stories.
3) Make a summary of the chapters in Of Mice and Men
4) Write down, from memory, key quotes from Of Mice and Men
5) Look at the targets you have been given on previous pieces of exam work. Are you making progress towards them? Re write your answers based on any targets that you don't feel you are progressing towards.
Good luck
Wednesday 26 March 2014
On Using 'completeissues' to revise for your Language Exam
http://www.completeissues.co.uk/
Step 1: Click on the above link
Step 2: You will need to sign in - you can get the login details from your English teacher or email forrestera@cockermouthschool.org to be emailed them.
Step 3: Click on 'browse'. This will take you to a page where you can access a whole range of non fiction texts that you can use for practice questions.
Step 4: Choose an article
Step 5: Read it.
Step 6: Decide which question it is best for.
Step 7: Have a go at doing an exam style answer for the question
Step 8: Give it to your English teacher for feedback.
A reminder of the questions:
Q1) Explain what you learn about in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q2) Explain how the headline, subheadline and image link to the text (8marks, 12 minutes)
Q3) Explain some of the thoughts and feelings the writer has in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q4) Compare the language used in 2 of the articles (16 marks, 24 minutes)
If you are not sure whether the question is appropriate for the article, send it to your English teacher to have a look at and ask them which question you should be using it for.
In the mean time:
1) Read the article and work out the following things:
2) Who is the intended audience? How do you know?
3) What is the purpose of the article? How do you know?
4) Find as many language devices in the article as you can- highlight them and note down what you would say about them
5) What genre is the text? How do you know?
6) If you had to write about the presentation of the text, what things would you pick out and what would you say about them?
The more practice like this that you, the better grade you will come out with. Remember, if you need any help at all, leave a comment, email your teacher/go and see them or use the English Clinic on a Thursday lunchtime in S12 12:45-1:15.
Good luck - work hard, and you will succeed.
Step 1: Click on the above link
Step 2: You will need to sign in - you can get the login details from your English teacher or email forrestera@cockermouthschool.org to be emailed them.
Step 3: Click on 'browse'. This will take you to a page where you can access a whole range of non fiction texts that you can use for practice questions.
Step 4: Choose an article
Step 5: Read it.
Step 6: Decide which question it is best for.
Step 7: Have a go at doing an exam style answer for the question
Step 8: Give it to your English teacher for feedback.
A reminder of the questions:
Q1) Explain what you learn about in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q2) Explain how the headline, subheadline and image link to the text (8marks, 12 minutes)
Q3) Explain some of the thoughts and feelings the writer has in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q4) Compare the language used in 2 of the articles (16 marks, 24 minutes)
If you are not sure whether the question is appropriate for the article, send it to your English teacher to have a look at and ask them which question you should be using it for.
In the mean time:
1) Read the article and work out the following things:
2) Who is the intended audience? How do you know?
3) What is the purpose of the article? How do you know?
4) Find as many language devices in the article as you can- highlight them and note down what you would say about them
5) What genre is the text? How do you know?
6) If you had to write about the presentation of the text, what things would you pick out and what would you say about them?
The more practice like this that you, the better grade you will come out with. Remember, if you need any help at all, leave a comment, email your teacher/go and see them or use the English Clinic on a Thursday lunchtime in S12 12:45-1:15.
Good luck - work hard, and you will succeed.
On revision....
We hope that all year 11s are revising hard at home in preparation for their GCSE exams.
Rather than offering stand alone revision sessions, we are taking a slightly different approach this year. We have set up an 'English Clinic' in which students can pop along with:
* something they're struggling with in their revision
* essay plans for essay questions
* questions they might have about the exam
* some practice answers that they have completed
* basically, anything that they need help on!
These will take place on Thursday lunch times every week in S12 from 12:45-1:15.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Rather than offering stand alone revision sessions, we are taking a slightly different approach this year. We have set up an 'English Clinic' in which students can pop along with:
* something they're struggling with in their revision
* essay plans for essay questions
* questions they might have about the exam
* some practice answers that they have completed
* basically, anything that they need help on!
These will take place on Thursday lunch times every week in S12 from 12:45-1:15.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Tuesday 25 March 2014
Year11: A list of great revision websites
Students learn in many different ways. We hope we can provide you with some useful ideas on different websites you can use to help you revise in ways that suit you.
So, here are some recommendations:
http://www.completeissues.co.uk/ - a website ideal for those sitting their English Language exam this summer. You will need to login (your English teacher can provide you with the login details - it's free!) so do ask them. There is a huge amount of brilliant articles to use to help you with sources for Q1-Q4 of the exam so you should never be stuck for practice questions! Remember to bring them in for your English Teacher to mark and give you feedback on.
http://getrevising.co.uk/resources/level/gcse
- this is ideal for all of your subjects and general revision as well as being
useful for English. There’s a wealth of information on it, from being able to
create your own revision timetable to over 600 resources on Of Mice and Men,
there’s something there for everyone!
http://www.youtube.com/mrbruff
- Mr Bruff is our second favourite English Teacher, aside from Mr Lawson-Ellis,
obviously. He has created an amazing YouTube page, full of excellent videos
that help you with your revision. There’s videos on moving from A to A* and
they’re all on a range of topics, from ‘Unseen Poetry’ to ‘Of Mice and Men’. It’s
a must-use website for anyone wishing to succeed!
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/
- ahhhh, our ever faithful friend, Sparknotes. This is a link to their stuff of
‘Of Mice and Men’, but there are hundreds of other texts on there, with very useful
information to revise from, and it’s all really reliable, too. Check it out.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/
- BBC bitesize is a really reliable website that covers lots of information,
both for your Language GCSE and your Literature GCSE. Get involved.
http://wildernenglish.wordpress.com/tag/responding-to-an-unseen-poem/
- struggling with unseen poetry? This school has an excellent blog post on
responding to unseen poems, and also some practise questions for you.
We’ll add a new post with some more useful links on for you
in the coming weeks, but this is more than enough to get you started. Get off
FaceBook and onto something that will help you excel your potential. Now.
Monday 24 March 2014
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