Monday 2 February 2015

English Language Skills Revision sessions

Dear year 11 - since so many of you are still struggling to do sufficiently well on Questions 1, 2,  and 3 [and I predict will also struggle with Q4] I have decided to put on revision sessions after half term.
Starting Tuesday Feb 24th and 3rd March straight after the lesson [period 5] we will be going back over question 1 and how to tackle this question;
then March 10th and 17th will be question 2 and
March 24th and 31st will be question 3.
We will do Q4 on Tuesday 21st and 28th April.

If you have already scheduled revision sessions for other subjects then it is your decision which you attend but if not mine then I will expect a note from the teacher holding the competing session to say they expect you there.

You need to attend these sessions if you are not getting 6/8 regularly. speak to me after tomorrow's lesson if this is going to be a problem.

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Yr 11 January 2015

Good morning everyone!
Since it is parents' evening this week and I know many of your parents will be wanting to know both what we are doing, what you should be doing and how you can be helped at home, what follows is, I hope, the answer to all these questions!

First
Until half term Feb we will be working on The Crucible.
By the end of the unit you should have notes and a good knowledge of:
a) the characters - their motivations + useful quotes
b) the background to the story - the author's concerns and how the events of Salem came about
c) the themes in the story

You can help yourself by:
i) checking your notes are full
ii) checking your understanding
iii) practice writing answers about the characters and / or the themes
See earlier post on this blog.

After half term we will finish the Conflict poetry unit - we have 7 still to do

You can help yourself by:
i) checking your notes are full
ii) checking your understanding of the poems and the authors' concerns
iii) practice writing answers about the themes in the poems
iv) practice comparing 2 poems with similar themes

DOCUMENTS WITH QUESTIONS WILL BE POSTED ON SHOW MY HOMEWORK BUT THERE ARE ALREADY SOME ON THIS BLOG ELSEWHERE.

Near the end of March there is a formal English Literature mock exam in which you will be examined on:
a) Of Mice and Men
b) The Crucible
and another on
The poetry:
c) Conflict and
d) an unseen poem

Then we will be revising Of Mice and Men YOU WILL NEED TO REVISE FOR THIS IN ADVANCE OF THE MOCK EXAM.

After Easter we will be revising English Language Exam skills and doing checks on your literature knowledge and understanding...

Ongoing Homework:
In addition to work set in class:
  1. rereading
  2. writing notes up
  3. writing Act summaries
  4. finding quotes
 you have all been given copies of 4 texts [pages numbered 105, 113, 117 and 121]
and the question for each is Question 1:
What do you understand from this article about................... [8 marks]
Point
Evidence
Explain
Each point that you make in your own words needs evidence quote and explanation where you develop the point to show you understand the implications of it is worth 2 marks
Always start with an overview of the author's view.

Look back at your reading skills booklet [from yr 10] for reminders of how to answer this type of question.

Next you will be given copies of texts as below and are to practice Question 2 answers on each of them.
125 'Usain Bolt'
151 'Whale massacre'        'Explain how the headline are effective and link to the
145 'Running to music'               text' [8 marks]
141 'Charity swimmers'

Then you will be given texts for question 3 style questions:
p133 'Spiro'
131 'Camping'
129 'A boat journey'
127 'Sailing in polar seas' 'Explain some of the thoughts and feelings in the extract....' [8marks]
107 'Camel wrestling'
77 'I can't take...'

And finally question 4 asks you to compare the language used in 2 of the texts
A   p107 / 151 / 117
B   p131 / 113 / 145    'Compare the ways in which language is used for effect....' [16 marks]
C   p125 / 105 / 77

Do 2 examples of each question each week:
 this week 2x question 1
If you are not getting at least 6/8 marks you need to do the other two texts as well!
next week 2 examples of question 2
If you are not getting at least 6/8 marks you need to do the other two texts as well !
etc