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How can I revise English?How can I revise English?

What can parents do to help?What can parents do to help?

What’s the difference between a C What’s the difference between a C and D grade in English?and D grade in English?

How can I make the difference How can I make the difference between a C and D grade?between a C and D grade?Some really simple but effective ideas for

Paper 1 English:

1. Read newspapers (broadsheet & tabloid)

2. Ask your child to summarise the argument

3. Have discussions about contentious and

difficult issues – encourage a row!

4. Debate and don’t be afraid to talk!

5. Read leaflets, information sheets, adverts

and discuss why it has been written and

for whom

How can I make the difference How can I make the difference between a C and D grade?between a C and D grade?English Paper 2: Writing:

1. Buy a thesaurus and use it when doing written

tasks

2. READ as much as possible

3. Keep a log of new vocabulary and use new

words

4. Learn synonyms. e.g. For the verb ‘said’

use ‘retorted’, ‘replied’, remarked’,

‘muttered’, ‘hissed’ or ‘whispered’ instead

How can I make the difference How can I make the difference between a C and D grade?between a C and D grade?

Spelling Strategies

• Use mnemonics: accommodation (remember: cosy cottages and massive mansions)

• Practise: Look-Cover-Write-Check

• Word roots: autobiography (auto=self and bios=life and graph=write)

• Break word into parts (separate = there’s “a rat” in separate)

How can I make the difference How can I make the difference between a C and D grade?between a C and D grade?For poetry and set texts:

• Read the texts yourself if you can

• Encourage discussion about themes,

characters and what the text means

• Watch the film version together

• Purchase or borrow study aids and

guides

• Talk about the texts – take an active

interest

Statement 2:Rhetorical Questions are used, by this

writer, to create an effect of:

withholding information and provoking the reader to read on in the text in hope of finding the answershowing an ironic point or humorous idea that requires no answer in the textexpressing outrage or anger at a particular situationrevealing the inner thoughts of a personmaking the reader have some kind or emotional responsemaking the reader questionengaging the reader’s interestmaking the reader get involved by creating their own answersemphasising the message/moral of the story

Improving Word Level Expression

Improving Sentence Level Expression

Improving Text Level Expression

Click on these links to access the templates for improving expression.

ExampleWhat’s the difference What’s the difference

between a C and D between a C and D grade?grade?

How can I revise English?How can I revise English?

iLearning Reading and Writing

Other People

Podcastrevision (revision podcasts on key poems and exam techniques)

www.samlearning.com www.bbc.co.uk/schools www.universalteacher.org.uk englishbiz.co.uk  (A straightforward site which focuses on helping you

to achieve higher grades in English and English Literature GCSE exams. You are also invited to send in questions.)

englishplus.com (A site on English grammar; If you struggle with your apostrophes or semi-colons then this is the site for you)

www.novelguide.com  (Study guides for almost all GCSE novel and including full texts of some novels and plays such as “Of Mice and Men” and “Romeo and Juliet”)

sparknotes.com  (Comprehensive study guides for most GCSE texts) s-cool.co.uk (A great resource with notes on many popular GCSE

texts. It also contains revision notes to help you with some of the poems from the anthology)

Past papers

Revising English:iLearning

Reading of poem and commentary

www.podcastrevision.co.uk/podcasts.html

www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gcse/eng_a_assess.php

Index cardsRe-annotationStudy guidesLiteracy Booster Packs

Revising English: Reading and Writing

Help! Where do I begin?

Cluster 1: Poetry from Different Cultures Title: Night of the Scorpion

Setting: India, rural area, ‘mud baked walls,’ scorpions

Community and their beliefs: Poor, religious / superstitious, supportive, concerned, believe in reincarnation, believe that the scorpion is the ‘devil’

Language: Narrator finds them irritating, ‘the villagers came like swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a thousand times.’ Use of simile and onomatopoeia makes it sound as though there is a swarm or many of them. He continues the image of them as flies with the use of ‘buzzed.’ In this ways, we can almost HEAR the number of villagers and the sound they are making.

Structure: Narrative poem

Revising English: Index Cards

Download blank poems Annotate everything you know

about the poem, using SLIP (Structure, Language, Imagery, Personal response).

Check new annotations against previous notes.

Revising English: Re-annotation

ISBN 0-563-50122-7 ISBN 0-435-10288-5

ISBN 0-435-10602-3

ISBN 0-435-10604-X

York Notes: available online and at major bookstores

CGP GCSE English Revision Guides – various titles available:www.cgpbooks.co.uk

• Parents• Study Partners

Other People

Working/Home Environment

MotivationStudy

Resources

What can parents/carers do to help?

Support for Success

Nutrition and

Sleep

• Desk• Good light• Quiet• Noticeboard/wall space• Bookshelf• Access to Internet: Shared Documents,

useful websites• Block chatrooms and messaging sites!

Working/Home Environment

• Water/smoothies• Fruit and vegetables• Nuts and healthy snacks• Fresh Fish• No fizzy drinks or processed sugar!• 8 hours of sleep

Nutrition and Sleep

• Ask how they are doing• Ask them to tell you something

they have learnt• Praise, praise, praise• Rewards, sanctions

Motivation

• Pairs: look at sample questions and discuss, plan an essay together, quizzes, etc

• Groups: choose 4 poems to compare and contrast, debate, etc.

How can study partners help?

““A year from now A year from now you may wish you may wish

you had started you had started today.”today.”