1. English Language Paper 1 ‘City of Beasts’
Y11 Term 1
‘Walk/Talk’ class paper
Timed responses/Self assess Q1-4
Self Assess Skills and Teacher Mark/Grade Q5

2. Spend 5 min on this question
Skills:
Identify explicit information
Identify explicit ideas
Read lines 1 to 5.
List four things about the bird in Alex’s nightmare from this part of the source
Quote of paraphrase
This is a fast ‘low skill’ question
4 marks
Spend 5 min on this question

3. Q1 Self Assess Check your answer Possible responses:
It was part of Alex’s dream/nightmare
It was an enormous black bird
It flew into the house
It carried off his mother
It crashed in through the window
It had yellow claws
It disappeared into the dark, cloudy sky

4. Spend 15 min on this question
Skills:
Analyse how writers use language to create effects
Select textual detail
Use subject terminology Q2
Look in detail at this extract form lines 6 – 11 of the source What had awakened him was the noise from the storm: wind lashing the trees, rain on the rooftop, and thunder. He turned on the light with a sensation of being adrift in a boat, and pushed closer to the bulk of the large dog sleeping beside him. He pictured the roaring Pacific Ocean a few blocks from his house, spilling in furious waves against the rocks. He lay listening to the storm and thinking about the black bird and about his mother, waiting for the pounding in his chest to die down. He was still tangled in the images of his bad dream. How does the writer use language here to describe the effects of the storm? You could include the writer’s choice of: • words and phrases • language features and techniques • sentence forms 8 marks
Spend 15 min on this question

5. Q2 skill support
Skills:
Analyse how writers use language to create effects
Select textual detail
Use subject terminology
Identify juicy quotes. Think – what techniques and effects are present?
e.g. “lashing”, “sensation of being adrift”, “roaring Pacific ocean”, “spilling in furious waves”, “tangled in the images”.
Where can you spot: violent verb, present tense, personification, adjective…?
Think - What effects/impact do each of these quotations and techniques have on the way the storm and its effects are presented?

6. Q2 – writing your response
SQI technique
5 quotes
Zoom into individual words
Imagery/sound effects/rhetorical devices
Straight in – no intro/conclusion
15 mins/8 marks
eg.. The writer captures the ferocity and power of the storm through the personified image: “roaring pacific ocean”. The dynamic verb “roaring”……inference here……………..
Spend 15 min on this question

7. Skills:
Analyse how writers use language to create effects
Select textual detail
Use subject terminology
Q2 self assess
Highlight where you have shown these 3 skills in 3 different colours. Is a skill missing? Less confident?

8. Ideas: Q3 You now need to think about the whole of the source.
Movement from dream  reality
Focus widens from single character  impact on whole family
Shift from description/focus on Alex’s internal thoughts  dialogue/interactions of whole family
Deliberate contrast of life when mother was well  when mother ill/father in charge
Significantly, ends with Alex’s realisation and final pathetic image of his mother. Q3
Ideas:
You now need to think about the whole of the source.
This text is taken from the beginning of a novel.
How is the text structured to interest you as a reader?
You could write about:
What the writer focuses
How and why the writer changes this focus as the source develops
Any other structural features that interest you
8 marks

9. Spend 15 min on this question
Skills:
Analyse how writers use structure to create effects
Select examples
Use subject terminology
Q3 support
This question focuses on how things develop/change
KEY WORDS AND TERMS:
As part of your comments, use words like ‘focuses’, ‘at the beginning/at this point/by the end’, ‘earlier/later/subsequently’, ‘the writer then deliberately…’, ‘zooms in/out’, ‘widens/narrows the focus’…
Time (significance) – chronological, use of flashback, asterisks, shift in perspective, cyclical – ending linking back to opening;
change in character, setting, focus, pace, tension, mood/tone, attitude, introduction of something unexpected;
focal point: shifts, narrows, widens;
effect: suggests/signals/pinpoints, adds/reinforces/strengthens, transforms/alters/shifts/contrasts/juxtaposes
Spend 15 min on this question

10. Q3 writing your response
Skills:
Analyse how writers use structure to create effects
Select examples
Use subject terminology
Q3 writing your response
SQI method
6 quotes (beginning/middle/end)
Narrative viewpoint/tense/time/place/patterns/start &end/outside to inside
Discuss chronologically
15mins/8 marks
Spend 15 min on this question

11. Skills:
Analyse how writers use structure to create effects
Select examples
Use subject terminology
Q3 Self assess
Self assess – highlight where you have shown these 3 things in 3 different colours

12. Spend 25 min on this question
Skills:
Critically evaluate effects on readers
Analyse writer’s methods
Select textual references
Critically respond to statement Q4
Focus this part of your answer on lines 16 to the end.
A student said ‘This part of the story, set during breakfast time, shows that Alex is struggling to cope with his mother’s illness.’
To what extent do you agree?
In your response, you could:
Consider your own impressions of Alex
Evaluate how the writer shows that Alex is struggling to cope
Support your response with reference to the text
Clear grasp of the debate – all points made are focusing on the statement given and your agreement/disagreement. Use key words from the statement (or synonyms).
As part of your critical evaluation, you must identify and explore aspects of language (writer’s methods, using terminology) in this question.
Pepper plenty of mini quotations throughout response.
Spend 25 min on this question

13. Q4 Support Evidence you might discuss/statements:
Disturbing aspects of his dream; the storm
Attitude towards getting up; description of the air in the house
Conflict with his siblings
The way he recognises the differences between life before and during his mother’s illness
His realisation at the end
The sad final image of his mother from Alex’s perspective

14. Spend 25 min on this question
Q4 writing your response Skills: Critically evaluate effects on readers Analyse writer’s methods Select textual references Critically respond to statement
Highlight 6 quotes (agree/disagree/method/inference in margin)
3 chronological paragraphs (beginning/middle/end)
Statement (opinion) +Quote + debate +method
Build debate ‘established when’ ‘developed by’ ‘most apparent’ ‘contrasts with’
Do not forget to include the method and keep opinion focused on the statement
25mins/20 marks
Spend 25 min on this question

15. Q4 Self assess Skills: Critically evaluate effects on readers
Analyse writer’s methods
Select textual references
Critically respond to statement
Q4 Self assess

16. Section B Writing Task Q5
A magazine has asked for contributions for their creative writing page.
Either:
Write a description of a stormy sea as suggested by this picture:
Or:
Write a story that begins with the sentence: ‘This was going to be a terrible day, one of those days when it’s best to stay in bed because everything is going to turn out bad.’
40 Marks (24 content and organisation +16 technical accuracy)
45mins
This question will be teacher assessed (mark/grade) after you have highlighted methods and proof read to ensure accuracy of SPAG.

17. PLAN (5) – WRITE (35) – REVIEW/EDIT (5)
Q5 Skills Ambitious Q5 skill support Full range of punctuation Sentence & paragraph length Crafted whole text structure
Describe
Describe – draw boxes around details of image (background/foreground)
Annotate boxes – multi sensory description
Camera moving across image – sequence paragraphs in order
3rd person/past tense
Expanded noun phrases/imagery/sound effects/rhetorical devices
Narrate
1st/2nd/3rd person narrative viewpoint
Past/present/future tense
Opening = equilibrium>disruption>recognition of disruption(Todorov)
Structural devices = hook/foreshadowing/time passing/flashback/nvp shift/anaphora/ending echoes the start
Can include direct speech & internal thoughts
Expanded verb phrases/imagery/sound effects/rhetorical devices
PLAN (5) – WRITE (35) – REVIEW/EDIT (5)

18. Using the Personal Learning Checklist (PLC)
This helps you to identify the skills you need to practise in order to improve in different questions.
It will help you to track your progress in these skills over time.
Green = secure
Yellow = developing/emerging
Red = not evident