Year 11 English English Language GCSE English Literature GCSE AIM TRY ACHIEVE

What does English Language include? AIM TRY ACHIEVE

What do the courses include? GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: 60% Exam Non-fiction reading Writing skills exam Writing to explain and describe Writing to persuade and argue 40% in Class Controlled Assessment based on a set text (Of Mice and Men). Controlled Assessment based on a study of Spoken Language. 2 Creative writing Controlled Assessments. In addition, students will complete 3 S&L assessments which are now not part of their GCSE but for which they will receive a numerical level alongside their GCSE result.

What does English Literature include? AIM TRY ACHIEVE

What do the courses include? GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE: 40% Exam Examination on a set novel (Of Mice and Men) and a set play (The Crucible/An Inspector Calls). 35% Exam Poetry comparison (Anthology) and unseen poetry exam. 25% in Class Controlled Assessment based on a Shakespeare play compared with poetry or a novel.

What have Year 11 already covered? English Language: Controlled Assessments: (worth 40%) Spoken Language Study Extended Text Study (‘Of Mice and Men’) Some Speaking and Listening Tasks (accredited separately on their examination certificate)

Exam practice: Teaching of exam skills throughout year Mock exams June 2015 to use to prepare and reflect on.

English Literature: Studied ‘Of Mice and Men’ Studied ‘The Crucible’/ ‘An Inspector Calls’ Studied some Poetry from Anthology Controlled Assessment – Shakespeare and the English Literary Heritage – worth 25% of Final Grade.

What’s left to cover this year? English Language One piece of Extended Reading on The Crucible/An Inspector Calls Two Creative Writing pieces of Controlled Assessment – will be completed by the end of this term. Revision and Practice for Exam paper – technique and timings.

English Literature Revision of ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘The Crucible’/ ‘An Inspector Calls’ – practice exam papers. Mock exam in October. Study of more poems from Poetry Anthology – practice exam papers. Exam Technique and Timings.

How pupils can revise Please use the ‘Revise English’ booklets, which they will receive before any assessment weeks. These are full of practical advice and activities – you CAN revise for English Language and Literature! Read the poems, plays and novel, re-read them, and then read them again! Pupils need to have a very good knowledge of the all their texts to ensure they can respond well in the exam. AIM TRY ACHIEVE

How pupils can revise Re-read the targets which your teachers have written on your marked work. Re-read your work; think about how it could be improved, and spot the recurring errors. Swap notes and essays with your friends – if someone got a higher grade than you, read the work to find out why! Make sure you know exactly what EVERY question in the exam will be asking you to do so you can hit all the right assessment objectives. You may want to buy your own copy of the texts so you can annotate and re- read at your leisure AIM TRY ACHIEVE

Talk to your teachers… Go back and improve work that you weren’t happy with. You could even ask for it to be remarked in light of your improvements. Use the ‘green pens’ provided in lessons to tell your teacher which areas you want more help with by reflecting on your own work. Tell your teachers the areas you are least confident with – ask for extra support outside of class if necessary.

How Parents Can Help Ensure students attend extra sessions for revision Encourage pupils during Controlled Assessments to try their best. Make sure they revise ‘in between’ the sessions. Make sure they improve any practice work in advance Test pupils on knowledge of any of the plays/poems/novels. Encourage pupils to read as many non-fiction texts as possible as well – e.g. magazines, broadsheet newspapers, adverts, information guides, autobiographies etc. Promote hard work and really detailed revision Give them a newspaper article and 5 minutes reading time. After that, they should be able to tell you the 6/7 key points/arguments that are being made in the article Help support the accuracy of their writing. Test them on their common spelling mistakes, encourage them to proof read all their work before submitting it Encourage wider reading (fiction as well as non-fiction) to improve vocabulary choices and punctuation. Get them to look up words they are unfamiliar with and tell you what they mean.

Suggested revision guides and websites General: – BBC GCSE Bitesize website – Revise AQA: GCSE English and English Language Revision Guide Higher (REVISE AQA English) By David Grant – Mr Bruff’s You Tube channel Literature: – York Notes – AQA English Literature: Revision Guide (Collins GCSE Essentials) by Ian Kirby