Handling Unfamiliar Text Benchmark 2014

Well Done If You Tried All Three Those who try!

Grade Boundaries Notice how easy it is to reach Achieved if you try all three texts. Remember: 1. Focus on the aspect asked about 2. Read for both meaning and methods! If you comment with even some degree of accuracy on both you are likely to earn at least 3 points per text.

Non Fiction Text: Transit of Venus What does the essay topic ask you to do?

Topic Keywords Analyse how he describes to analyse = explain what is it that is being said and which language methods are being used to say it? 1. His experiences of science 2. His understanding that the boundaries of scientific discovery are expanding

Your first sentence should… Use the essay topic keywords and Explain the writer’s purpose / message DON’T go straight into “spot the technique”

e.g. The writer wants to share his lifelong love of science and to express his belief that the possibilities of future discoveries, because of technology, seem endless. (Remember: for prose, work out SPLATT before you begin writing)

Then move your way through the text The writer does this first by communicating his great enthusiasm for astronomy and the natural world. He creates a sense of drama, excitement and wonder by using violent words such as “pummelled” and “crashed” as a build up then contrasts this with the gentle beauty of personification such as “kissing the Sun” in line 12. The gradual transit of Venus is made to seem magical, mystical then flirtatious in lines 9=13 with its “concealment” and “masking” contrasted with it taking an “obvious bite.”

Marking Schedule Methods First person: “I” me my establishes perspective Word choice: “sweeping”, “pummelled” etc evokes dramatic setting Listing of scientific equipment suggests focus Oxymoron (opposites next to each other) “visible by concealment” Imagery of Venus’s movements detailed and strong Simile “fluttering like fantails” –excitement of children

Wait There’s More Exclamatory statements “just like the Moon!” adds to tone of excitement Antithesis “As the known world expanded. The unknown world shrank” lines Jargon: “latitude and longitude” l29

Choose one term and P.E.E. it Point + Example + Explain the effect / purpose linked to the writer’s purpose/message e.g. When the writer is visited in his observatory by a class of young children he uses a simile and alliteration to describe them as “fluttering like fantails”. This comparison conveys their excitement with science as fantails move very quickly and their enthusiasm adds to his own.

Poetry: Cracked Warning: Flexible Thinking

Levels? “Literal is the word we use when we mean exactly what we say, and metaphorical or figurative is what we say when we’re playing around. When we’re being figurative, we say “it was a million miles away”, meaning “I walked for hours.” When we’re being literal, a million miles away is somewhere between the moon and Mars.” The Economist

Levels of Meaning Literal / surface? Metaphorical / deeper? The poem seems on the surface to be just about a cracked wall which a builder doesn’t think needs fixing. However, if you read it with a different set of glasses it could be about a failing relationship, which one member wants to fix.

Note Any “deeper meaning” must be supported by evidence in the poem. It is easy to go off on a wild goose chase with possible meanings if you don’t pay close attention to what is actually in the poem.

Use the hints at the top of the page Check both the Resource Booklet and the Essay Topic for guidance as to how to read the poem. Can you see the hints? The poet may well have been inspired by a real crack in the wall but as the poem goes on it seems to be more about the relationship between the speaker ‘I’ and the other person ‘you’

How Do You Start? Use the essay topic keywords to make an opening claim about the poem. Do more that just list] Stanza not paragraph