The Power Of Words

1. The Power Of Words

2. GCSE English Language GCSE English Literature

3. Year Ten English Lessons There are two key areas that we will focus on English in year ten: • Developing reading and writing skills • Completing English Language Unit Three Controlled Assessment.

4. Unit One Language • An exam taken at the end of year eleven. • Students read three texts and answers questions about them. • Students produce two short pieces of writing for a specific purpose and audience.

5. Unit One Language To be successful students must be able to: • Make inferences • Offer interpretations • Use quotations • Make connections • Read an image • Analyse Language

6. With this in mind . . . • We aim to make students curious about language. • We want them to be observant and notice things about language and question how people use language . . .

7. It can be used to say stupid things Peter Kay all about idiomatic expressions http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2nez3_peter-kay-stupid-things_fun

8. We want students to be able to appreciate how others use language to persuade and influence others and learn how to adapt their own language for a variety of purposes and audiences . . .

9. It can persuade and unite One voice can change the world Obama speech 2.22 mins in length could show up to 1.22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRqLRLI0q4g

10. We want students to enjoy English and understand the power of language. We want students to be able to make connections between the texts that they read and the images that accompany it. They need to be able to evaluate how successful writers’ choices of language and images are.

11. For example

12. For example: • Here you would be expected to comment on: • The awkward-looking pose of the Prince! • The long, medium and close-up pictures – showing us the scale and height of the building and the abseil • The pun in the headline • The honest statement of fear in the sub-heading! • Also perhaps… • The amount of safety equipment • The army guy instructing him • The building itself and its name

13. Unit Three Language Controlled Assessment • This comprises four pieces of writing produced in controlled conditions (high control): • Two pieces of creative writing • A piece of writing analysing spoken language • A piece of writing responding to a literary text (eg ‘Lord of the Flies’, ‘Great Expectations’) which assess their ability to read and interpret. These are the same skills that are developed when studying unit one – inference, analysis, making connections, offering interpretations, crafting a piece of writing for a specific purpose and audience.

14. Controlled Assessment This means: • Students have a time limit • Produced under the supervision of their teacher but their teacher cannot help • They can not take a draft in with them • They cannot use the notes that they have in their files.

15. The Challenge

16. Reducing their notes

17. And then expand them again

18. This means • Students must take every opportunity to prepare thoroughly. • Students should reread and review their notes. • They should complete short writing tasks for homework and hand them to their teacher for feedback and guidance. • They must talk to their teacher before the assessment lessons begin.

19. General Tips • Read as widely as possible. • Encourage your child to read newspaper or magazine articles and newspaper letters pages. • When a controlled assessment is approaching they will have homework. Please ask them to talk to you about it. • Encourage them to check their spelling, punctuation and grammar.