GCSE Language Non-Fiction

Q: Explain how the presentational devices (headline, images, text font/colour/size, use of text boxes, logos, structure) support the text's purpose.  8 marks (12 minutes)

(Remember to use PEA format for answering this ie Point, evidenence, analysis.
Aim to make 3-5 points and explain the evidence to support each point)

Of Mice and Men Revision

Here are some useful revision resources I have sourced for you.
When you revise Of Mice and Men:

1. Use the whole of this blog - you will find many older posts on Of Mice and Men (and An Inspector Calls) from previous years and all are relevant to you
2. Make sure that you know the text.  It is a short novel and can be read in one sitting.  Look through this blog (click on Of Mice and Men from the list of entries on the right hand side) and you will find a link to a website where the whole text is available on line.  Read it.
3. Follow the links on previous posts to great websites which are full of revision ideas and useful information.  I also hugely recommend this website: Schmoop.  Have a look and see what you think.

Of Mice and Men - Events from Mister Connor


 

Of mice and men from bmiller7210

Of Mice and Men - Language analysis from hunwix

Of Mice of Men - Animals from Mister Connor

Of Mice And Men Powerpoint from Barbara McQueen

Od Mice and Men - Animals/ Lennie from Mister Connor

Revision: OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck and INSPECTOR CALLS by JB Priestley

The big date in your diary should be our second English lesson after half-term - YOUR MOCK GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE EXAM UNIT 1: Modern Texts (that means An Inspector Calls and Of Mice and Men for you).

This is a 1 hour and 30 minute exam and you will be asked to answer two questions.  When you open the exam paper:
1. Read the instructions and then look for the question on An Inspector Calls (there will be a choice of 2) (5 mins)
2.Choose the question on An Inspector Calls that you have the best knowledge to answer.
3. Flick through the exam paper and find the questions on Of Mice and Men.  Read them and then go back to your question on An Inspector Calls,
4. Spend at least 5 minutes planning your answer (mindmap your plan or just list 4-6 points and a few key details)  This bit is essential and you are in danger of failing if you do not plan.  You can also be awarded marks for your plan if you do not manage to finish your essay.
5. Spend 35 minutes writing your essay answer.  Stick to the tried and tested winning formula:

•  Introduction:

• Name of the play and who wrote it and when (1946)
•  Priestley's purpose in setting the play in 1912 in an upper middle class Edwardian household 
• Gist of the play (J.B. Priestley’s 1946 play, “An Inspector Calls” is a drama which features a dramatic turning point. The play charts the disintegration of a family’s relationships after each member is accused of being responsible for a young woman’s death)
• Address the question using key words from the question (ie Throughout the play tension begins to emerge under the glossy veneer of the wealthy Birling family and this is evident even in Priestley's stage directions for the setting of the play and introduction of the characters.

 

• Main Body of Essay: 4-6 points which all address the question.  Each point will have the following:
• Evidence from the text to support each point (remember embedded quotations will get higher marks)
• Close analysis of the evidence - use technical language and focus on particular words or dramatic effects (eg ...this use of exaggeration develops the idea that...  this example of dramatic irony works to show Birling's blinkered vision, the word 'never'...)
• Evaluate how this effects the audience  (the audience would begin to see Birling as an opinionated idiot...)
• Link each point to Priestley's purpose (ie Priestley used Sheila as a symbol of hope...)
• Link each point back to the question  (...in this way tension continues to build.)

 

• Conclusion
• Finish you essay by drawing your points into a final direct response to the question.
• You can make your conclusion powerful  by introducing one final point or even just a short quote that works to reflect your ideas.  (ie Inspector Goole's words 'I find the young are more impressionable' emphasise how Priestley believed the hope lay with the young in post war Britain.)

6. Now go on the the Of Mice and Men question, which is a two part question and both parts need answering

• You will be given a text extract to analyse in relation to a particular aspect of the novel's context and Steinbeck's purpose. Spend about 20 mins on this section.
• Highlight or underline the sections of the text that best suit your answer
• Plan you answer
• Write a detailed analysis, focusing on specific words or phrases (use terminology ie adjective, the superlative, the dynamic verb etc)
• Evaluate how these words/phrases effect the reader and link to context and Steinbeck's purpose)

7. The second part to the question is your chance to link the theme to the whole novel and you must show knowledge of the whole novel.  Spend about 20 minutes on this question.  A few minutes planning and then writing a mini essay answer.

An Inspector Calls

Something to think about for September 2012 Inspector Calls

Father and Daughter

Cookie Monsters!

Here is the film we watched in class.  Watch it again and then imagine that you have been asked by the film director to write the opening and closing paragraphs to a book of the film.  Write your opening and closing paragraphs.

Be aware of the themes of the original film.  Think carefully about the father/daughter relationship.  Make sure that your opening and closing fit with the film's setting and is appropriate to the tone and nature of the film.

Write in a mixture of simple, compound and complex sentences for effect.  Vary your sentence lengths.  Try starting your complex sentences with a connective such as 'although'.  Use sensory imagery and description, but avoid being too descriptive and flowery.  Make sure your use of imagery is appropriate to the task.  Rather than use lots of adjectives and adverbs, aim to work hard to find the most appropriate nouns and verbs.

Stick to just two paragraphs.  Aim for between 3 and 6 sentences in each paragraph.

Hand in homework next lesson.

Good luck!

The AQA guide to reading and understanding Texts

This is the AQA guide to reading and understanding texts for Section A of your lanuguage exam.  Have a look as part of your revision. It is useful to know what your examiners recommend and what they are looking for.

Good luck on Tuesday

URGENT

Please do not think that you can waltz into your final exam with no preparation.  It is worth 40% of your total GCSE in English language and so is very important.

Read my posts for this exam (AQA GCSE English Language Non-fiction Unit 1).  Follow my links to the AQA website (enter GCSE and English Language into the seach options) to have a look at some past papers and look at the powerpoints we have used in class to prepare for this exam.  Also, have a look at this website.  It has been put together by a leading English teacher with decades of experience and is very useful.  If you have invested in the revision booklets for this exam, then read them and do some practise questions.

EQUIPMENT: You will need:

1. Highlighers for the exam
2. Pens that work
3. A reliable watch

REVISION TIPS:

• You need to revise the features of different types of writing (ie persuasive, descriptive, informative)
• Presentational features (font, image, headline, size, sub-heading, text box, bullet points etc)
• Language techniques (word choice, register, imagery, figurative language, emotive, technical etc)
• How to address and sign off a letter
• Persuasive techniques (AFOREST)
• Counter argument (Many people think...; however, evidense shows...)

SKILLS:

• PEEA (point, evidence, explanation, analysis)
• Writing with a variety of sentence structures and lengths for effect (simple, compound and complex)
• Paragraphs: organising your ideas into pargraphs (3-5 per side of A4)
• Linking ideas using connectives
• Writing with the appropriate register (ie formal or informal) for the task
• Calm reading and picking out the important/relevant facts and techniques
• Comparison - being able to draw links between two different texts (when in doubt just introduce each new point with a comparsion connective ie On the other hand, in contrast etc)

EXAM SCHEDULE:

1. Spend first 5 minutes reading the questions in Section A
2. Spend next 10 minutes reading and annotating the texts - picking out relevant language techniques, presentational features to answer the questions - use highlighters and pens for this
3. Spend approx 12 minutes on each 8 mark question
4. Spend 24 minutes on a 16 mark question
5. Spend in total 1 hour on Section A
6.  Spend 25 minutes on the first question in Section B
7. Spend 35 minutes on the second question in Section B

AQA English Language Unit 1

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English language exam writing questions

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