General Approaches to Paper 1 and Paper 2 ENGLISH

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General Approaches to Paper 1 and Paper 2 ENGLISH

• Reading and writing sections
• Mr Russell, 2009

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How to answer paper 1, section A, media question

• Response to media texts

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Paper 1, section A

• Unseen media text
• Essay
• How well youve understood
• How well youve read between the lines
• How well you understand how the texts have been
  crafted (using news media techniques)

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Media
Inform Entertain Persuade Get across an
opinion Report on events Encourage involvement To
sell and make money Keep readers coming back

• This part of the exam tests how well you read and
  understand MEDIA texts. This means newspaper and
  magazine articles and pictures or cartoons.

• What are media texts for?

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News media techniques

• Journalists have different ways of reporting
  events and writing about real life issues. Some
  articles are bias whereas some are neutral or
  objective.

• What techniques are used in media texts?

Using expert opinion and different
sources Facts Opinions that look like
facts Tone Headlines Persuasive
techniques Presentation techniques Pictures Order
of paragraphs
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What to include

• the use of fact and opinion
• the persuasive techniques used to convince the
  reader
• the images and pictures used
• the headlines
• the language used
• the order its written in
• the way its presented and laid out
• the tone of the writing

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Fact and opinion

• What is fact
• What is opinion
• Whose opinion is it?
• Why have they used this opinion?
• Is it easy to tell fact from opinion?
• Do some opinions sound like fact?
• Whose opinion is most forcefully stated?

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Persuasive techniques

• Rule of three
• Emotive language
• Rhetorical question
• Statistics
• Playing on readers guilt
• Playing on readers sympathy
• How effective are these techniques to convince
  you of the argument or the viewpoint of the
  article? To what extent to do you agree and why?

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Images and pictures

• What is in it?
• What isnt in it?
• Colour?
• Size?
• Whats the focal point of the image? What is your
  eye drawn to first?
• Whats the connection between the image and the
  writing?
• Why have they chosen to use THIS image?

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Headlines

• What does it make you think before reading the
  article?
• Whose point of view is it from?
• What are the key words?
• Pun
• Metaphor
• Opinion
• Human interest?

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Language

• Pick out individual words and phrases
• Formal or informal who is it appealing to?
• Emotive verbs
• Strong adjectives and adverbs
• 1st,2nd or 3rd person
• Metaphor, simile, personification (imagery)
• Alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia (sounds)

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Order

• What comes first? Why? What is the impact on the
  reader of this being first?
• How is fact and opinion organised? Are they in
  the same paragraphs or are facts and statistics
  in one and personal experiences and opinions in
  another?
• What comes last?
• Long or short paragraphs
• Connections?

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Lay out and presentation

• How does it look on the page?
• Whats your eye drawn to?
• Headline and sub-headings
• Bold, underline, bullet points, font size
• Headline
• What does it make you think before reading the
  article?
• Whose point of view is it from?
• What are the key words?
• Pun
• Metaphor
• Opinion
• Human interest?

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Tone

• What is the overall feel of the piece?
• Funny?
• Serious?
• Ironic?
• Sad?
• Happy?
• Critical?
• Supportive?
• Angry?

• Tone is the way the piece sounds, the way it
  makes you feel. You can get a feel for what the
  writer really believes because of the tone of the
  piece.

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FOOTPILL

• Fact
• Opinion
• Order
• Tone
• Persuasive technique
• Images
• Language
• Lay out

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Paper 1 answering questions in section A

• READING PAPER

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Assessment

• Interpret with understanding
• Follow an argument
• Be clear between fact and opinion
• Select quotations and other references
• Evaluate language and layout
• Evaluate the presentation of information

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C grade

• CONTENT related
• Comment on the structure
• Comment on fact and opinion
• Comment on imagery
• Comment on headlines
• Comment on pictures
• MUST comment on the significance, impact or
  effect of quotations not just quote without
  comment.

• SKILLS related
• Full and detailed response (5 paras)
• Lots of quotations
• Show understanding of writers intentions
• Comments on language and technique (analysis and
  evaluation not just description)

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Step 1

• Read the question and underline the key words
• What do you have to do?
• How many marks is it worth?
• Which texts do you have to refer to?
• How much time do you have?

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Step 2

• Read the text and underline the key words that
  you wish to refer to in your answer (keep looking
  back at the question)
• Emotive words and phrases
• Highly descriptive words and phrases
• Imagery and figurative techniques (Simile,
  Personification, Metaphor)
• Sound effects (alliteration, onomatopoeia,
  assonance)
• Persuasive techniques
• Facts and opinions
• Whose opinions?

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Step 3

• Write a very quick plan of what you want to
  include
• e.g.
• Para 1 context (purpose, audience, style)
• Para 2 news techniques (fact and opinion,
  sympathy, irony, exaggeration, layout,
  presentational devices)
• Para 3 vocabulary emotive words and phrases
• Para 4 figurative techniques
• Para 5 other persuasive techniques
• Para 6 conclusion - effectiveness

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Step 4

• Write and check. As you write each paragraph tick
  off the quotes/parts that you have used and check
  back over your paragraph for accuracy, looking
  out for
• Capital letters
• Punctuation
• Spelling
• Making sense

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Step 5

• With 10 minutes to go, check that you have
  answered the main part of the question if not
  do so now. Write for another 5 minutes and then
  check overall work
• Paragraphs
• Connectives

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Paper 1 exam practice

• 2005 Foundation Paper
• Question 2

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To gain confidence in answering the unseen text
question.

• Whats the difference between F H question?
• How do I find the quotations?
• How do I start?
• What do I need to write?

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Foundation/higher question 2

• Foundation
• 30 minutes to read and write
• Shorter
• Less complex vocabulary
• Write about
• 2 bullet points
• What
• how

• Higher
• 30 minutes to read and write
• Longer
• More complex vocabulary
• Write an essay
• 3 bullet points
• Explain
• Describe
• analyse

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The approach

• Step 1 read and underline the key words in the
  question
• Step 2 read the text and underline the relevant
  parts look out for the best quotes read twice
  to help understanding
• Step 3 number the quotes linking them to the
  appropriate bullet point
• Step 4 start writing stick to the bullet
  points
• Step 5 keep an eye on the clock tick off the
  quotes as you go make sure that you write about
  each bullet point
• Step 6 5 minutes to go check work thoroughly
  paragraphs then punctuation and making sense then
  capital letters and spelling

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Step 2

• Which words and phrases would you underline?
• Which techniques can you spot?

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Finding the quote

• Thoughts and feelings
• Admiration
• Hope
• Nervousness
• Frightened
• Relieved
• Questioning
• gratitude

• To make exciting
• Emotive and active verbs
• Similes
• Anticipation
• Paragraph endings
• Rhetorical questions
• Growing darkness
• Symbolism
• Metaphor
• Short sentences
• Personification
• alliteration

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Starting the writing

• The article Journey is about Shahs dangerous
  journey through war-torn Afghanistan. She gets
  across her thoughts and feelings really well and
  uses similes, metaphors and emotive vocabulary to
  make her writing exciting. It is about how she
  follows a truck in an area known for mines and
  survives thanks to the bravery of her driver. The
  villagers said they could not go forward because
  of the mines but they do.

• In Shahs Journey, she shares with the reader
  her admiration for the driver but also how scared
  and then relieved she feels. In her use of
  emotive language and imagery as well as short
  sentences for effect and rhetorical questions,
  she creates an exciting and gripping account.

Which is better?
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An answer

• In Shahs Journey, she shares with the reader
  her admiration for the driver but also how scared
  and then relieved she feels. In her use of
  emotive language and imagery as well as short
  sentences for effect and rhetorical questions,
  she creates an exciting and gripping account.
• The writer admires the bravery of the driver. She
  calls him a hero and later says how he was as
  cheerful and talkative as ever. She seems to
  think he is amazing because he wasnt affected by
  the ordeal.
• Shah is clearly hopeful at the beginning that
  things will be alright. For example, she was
  hopeful that our weight was too light to
  detonate. We can understand why she feels so
  scared because any moment she could be killed.
• We can also tell that she is scared because of
  the rhetorical questions that she uses. For
  example, but would he be of any use? and had
  we been lucky? It is as if we are getting inside
  her head to share her feelings of anxiety and
  concern. I would be asking the same sort of
  questions in her position.
• Another feeling she has is relief. Once they have
  all piled back in the truck and they were on a
  tarmac road, she seems to be suddenly excited
  and happy to be alive. She describes this as an
  unnatural sensation. This makes me think that
  she was so nervous that she was just running on
  adrenalin. Furthermore, when she uses the
  personification at the end my body almost wept
  with gratitude we can see that she is overcome
  by emotion.

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Shah makes her writing exciting by the way she
has structured it. For example, the opening
paragraph ends with a cliffhanger, I knew that
mines could shift their positions in the earth.
We are left wondering whether they would be blown
up and want to read on. This effect is also
achieved through her use of rhetorical questions,
especially the first one, but would he be of any
use?. Rather than telling us the answer, she
leaves us guessing at wanting to read
more. Another technique that she uses to make her
writing exciting is imagery, especially similes.
She compares the drivers attitude to that of
going on a little pleasant jaunt. This is
ironic because I could not think of anything
worse than walking through a mine field. It is
not pleasant. At the end she uses the simile,
like the change in a horses rhythm. Here, we
get the impression that the group are rushing
away from the scene, cantering to safety. It
helps me to picture her relief at having
survived. This also contrasts with the metaphor
she uses earlier when describing their journey as
a snails pace. The contrast between speed
helps us to empathise with her feelings as if
time slows down when we are really scared and
speeds up when we are relieved and happy. I also
like the way that Shah uses darkness and
symbolism to make it seem mysterious and
exciting
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How to write a Paper 2, section A answer.

• Poetry from different cultures and traditions

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Assessment objectives

• Examiners have to consider how well you can do
  three specific things in this paper.

• Understand the poems, engage with them, and
  interpret them
• Select appropriately from the poems and make
  cross-references
• Understand and evaluate how language is used for
  effect

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Understand the poems, engage with them, and
interpret them

• Write with some enthusiasm (I really like the way
  thatIts interesting howThe poets clever use
  ofThis has made me think about my own)
• Explore possible interpretations
  (perhapspossiblyit could also
  suggestmaybeanother way of looking at iton the
  one hand)

• Read the new poem several times
• Get a feel for the overall meaning first dont
  get stuck on the details
• Be prepared to change your mind explore possible
  interpretations
• Revise the poems in the booklet

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Select appropriately from the poems and make
cross-references

• Use quotations
• Embed quotations where possible
• Use single words and phrases
• Back up all ideas with a quote
• Use PEE
• Write about poems together rather than one and
  then the other

• Refer to both poems (whereas the first poemthis
  poem alsoboth poemswhilst the first poem
  suggeststhey are similar becausethe main
  difference isthis can also be seen in the other
  poem whenis equally important to both poets)

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Understand and evaluate how language is used for
effect

• Pick out individual words and comment on them
• Use technical terms (metaphor, simile,
  personification, etc)
• Analyse how the poet has achieved the effect

• The poets use of metaphor helps us to
• The effect of this is
• Here, the word X helps me to imagine
• This is significant because
• This illustrates highlightsdemonstrates
  suggests infers creates the impression of

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You must

• Write it as an essay
• Be guided by the question (and the bullet points)
• Spend about 45 minutes on the section (10 minutes
  reading/thinking/planning, 30 minutes writing, 5
  minutes checking/adding)

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Dos and donts

• DO
• Use quotations throughout
• Write about both poems
• Use technical terms
• Be enthusiastic (but not over the top)
• Offer personal opinion
• paragraph

• DONT
• X Spend too long on any one point
• X Repeat quotations
• X Only write about one poem
• X Start straight away without reading the poem
  lots

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The Unseen Poem

• Read the introduction carefully. There will be
  clues in it.
• Read the title and really think about what it
  means, what it suggests, what do you expect from
  the poem (before reading the poem).
• Read the poem once quickly. Dont worry about
  understanding it straight away. Try to get the
  story of the poem.
• Read the poem a second time more carefully. Now,
  work out the meaning of most of it.
• Read the question again. Now, read the poem a
  third time underlining words and phrases that you
  will wish to use.
• Remember you must comment on CONTENT and STYLE.

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Read the poem Human Family. Refer to any one
poem from your booklet.

• Write about
• What the writer is saying in Human Family
• How the writer uses language in Human Family to
  achieve her effects
• The ways in which Human Family and the poem you
  have chosen are similar in what they say

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Poems from different culture and tradition
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What does it mean to be British?
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Culture and tradition

• Culture
• The customs and traditions of a particular people
• The art, music, sport, lifestyle, literature,
  beliefs of a particular people that help to
  define their identity

• Tradition
• The passing down of beliefs or customs or ways of
  doing things from one generation to the next

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Why study these poems?

• What can you learn from reading poetry from other
  cultures and traditions?

• A better understanding of the world and your
  place in it
• an appreciation of difference accepting that
  there are different ways of doing things
• tolerance for other ways of life refusing to see
  others as stereotypes not being ignorant
• empathy for the situations in which other people
  have to live
• an appreciation of your own way of life not
  taking it for granted.

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How to study any of these poems.
Read it several times to get the story of the
poem and to understand as much of it as possible.
Work out what the themes and message of the poem
are. Why did the poet write it?
Now think about your personal response to the
poem. What can you learn about life in a
different country or different culture?
Underline interesting words and phrases that
stand out. Ask yourself why has the poet chosen
to use this word or phrase here?
Now think about in the context of the exam. Why
did the examiner choose this poem and what sort
of question might they ask about it in the exam?
Look for metaphors, similes, personification,
alliteration, onomatopoeia and other techniques.
Underline them and think about their effects or
significance
Revise by making a mind-map of the poem and
revision cards of the nine most significant
quotations.
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Writing

• Paper 1 and Paper 2

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Two different tasks

• Paper 1 argue, persuade, advise
• Connectives
• Persuasive techniques
• convincing

• Paper 2 analyse, review, comment
• Figurative techniques
• Balanced
• Intelligent

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Persuasive Techniques

• Rule of three
• Statistics
• Quoting from experts
• Emotive language
• Powerful imagery
• Playing on readers sympathy
• Playing on readers guilt

• Rhetorical questions
• Strong adjectives
• Strong adverbs
• Starting with a hook
• Finishing with a punch
• Personal pronouns (we, us, our)

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Figurative techniques and sounds

• Metaphor
• (his hedgehog hair)
• Simile
• (His hair was like a hedgehog)
• Personification
• (The sun smiled down on us)

• Onomatopoeia
• (crash, bang, whip)
• Assonance
• (the blaze of sun on the lazy dale)
• Sibilance
• (the snake slithered hissing through the leaves)
• Alliteration
• (the fabulous four went forward)

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Common assessment

• For both writing tasks you will need to
• Write in paragraphs
• Spell accurately
• Use punctuation properly
• Make sense
• Use capital letters correctly
• Write using formal, Standard English
• Use varied vocabulary
• Use different sentence structures
• Organise ideas logically in order
• Include a range of techniques

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BIGGEST mistakes

• Starting straight away without planning
• Worrying about what you are writing rather than
  how you are writing
• Not being imaginative
• Not writing for the PURPOSE
• Not writing for the AUDIENCE
• Not writing in the correct FORMAT (letter,
  speech, essay, article)
• Not writing enough

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COMMON SPELLING ERRORS

• Their
• Theyre
• There
• To
• Too
• Believe
• Where
• Were
• trys

• Interest
• Different
• Writing
• Happened
• Humour
• Persuade
• Sentence
• Families
• suggests

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OTHER COMMON ERRORS

• Jumps
• Walks
• Sees
• paris
• could of
• would of
• should of
• wouldnt of
• We was

• We ran inside and calls the police.
• not bothered
• well bad
• I aint
• Etc
• and stuff
• taking the mick
• L8r

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How do you structure?

• Paragraphs
• Clear topic sentences starting paragraphs
• Connectives
• Signalling (signposting)
• Book-ending (introductions and conclusions that
  share similarities)
• Recurring ideas, phrases or imagery
• Delay and keep the reader guessing
• PEE
• Use opposites
• Short sentences for effect at the end of
  paragraphs
• Starting a paragraph by referring to something in
  the last sentence of the previous paragraph
• Different lengths of sentence
• Different ways of starting sentences
• Different types of sentences
• Make up dialogue

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In some countries of the world, the older a
person is, the more respect is shown to him or
her by others in the community, especially by the
young in other places this is not so..
Higher tier, 2007

• Write an essay in which you analyse the extent to
  which you think the older generation is respected
  in your community and comment on how this might
  change in the future.

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The Importance of Structure

• Paper 2 Section B
• Writing to analyse, review comment

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What is structure?

• Structure is
• what gives your writing shape
• what links your ideas together
• what informs the reader where you are going next
• what keeps the reader interested
• what helps makes your writing clear
• And
• what gets you a good grade.

Examiners are instructed to give marks for
structure. What does it mean to structure a piece
of writing?
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How do you structure?
What are the different methods you can use to
structure a piece of writing?

• Paragraphs
• Clear topic sentences starting paragraphs
• Connectives
• Signalling (signposting)
• Book-ending (introductions and conclusions that
  share similarities)
• Recurring ideas, phrases or imagery
• Delay and keep the reader guessing
• PEE
• Use opposites
• Short sentences for effect at the end of
  paragraphs
• Starting a paragraph by referring to something in
  the last sentence of the previous paragraph
• Different lengths of sentence
• Different ways of starting sentences
• Different types of sentences
• Make up dialogue

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Connectives

• Although
• However
• Whereas
• Furthermore
• Also
• In addition
• On the other hand
• Moreover

• Interestingly,
• Surprisingly,
• Strangely,
• Additionally,
• Fortunately,
• Unfortunately,
• Disappointingly,
• Unquestionably,
• Alternatively,

How many connectives can you think of? List as
many as possible.
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Phrases

• I think
• This suggests
• This highlights
• Evidence would suggest that
• This makes me think that
• It might be better if

• There are those that wrongly feel
• It is possible to suggest
• One way to illustrate this is
• An example of this is
• There is a view that
• I share the view that

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Connectives to structure
Firstly Secondly Thirdly Finally
On the one hand On the other hand In conclusion
From a distance Looking closer Even closer Close
up
One reason is Another reason is An even more
significant reason is The best reason is
Some people believe Others believe I believe
In the past Today In the future
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Clear topic sentences

• Another reason that the older members of our
  community are not respected is because of fear
  and ignorance.
• Cycling is not only good environmentally but it
  helps people to become fitter and healthier.
• One of the best reasons for living in this area
  is its rich history.

• A topic sentence usually comes at the beginning
  of the paragraph. It makes it clear what is going
  to be the focus of the paragraph.

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Who has the greatest influence on your life?
Foundation tier, 2006

• Write an article for a magazine in which you
  analyse the influence which this person has had
  on you.

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Book-ending

• Without my grandfather I would not have been the
  boy I am today. Without him I would not know how
  to throw a ball, cycle a bike or stand up for
  myself. With a pipe in one hand and News of the
  World in the other, he taught me about life.

Unquestionably, then, the person with the
greatest influence on me was my grandfather. My
amazing, grumpy, happy, contrary, pipe-smoking
grandfather. Without him I would not know how to
throw a ball, cycle a bike or stand up for
myself. I cant smell pipe smoke or pick up a
News of the World without thinking of him. I
cant think of my life without him.
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Delay

• He was an amazing man. Hed stare down at me with
  his silver rimmed glasses and blow pipe smoke
  towards me. Sometimes hed put down his copy of
  the News of the World and tell me how terrible
  Man Utd had played yesterday. At other times,
  hed spare me five minutes to throw ball before
  the next race at Newmarket. He probably wouldnt
  believe it but the person who has had the
  greatest influence on me was the wonderfully
  grumpy man that visited every Sunday. My
  grandfather.

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Linking paragraphs

• and this makes him one of the greatest
  influences on me. He never seems to talk down to
  me but sees me as another human being.
• It isnt just the way that he treats me equally
  that makes me admire him. He is also a

nobody can quite imagine our family without him.
He has been around for ages and I hope he will
continue to live a long healthy life. Its his
love of life that has made him such an important
influence on me
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Write an article for a magazine in which you
analyse the best and worst things about living
where you do.
Foundation tier, 2007
69
What grade?

• The best thing about Sawston is my mates. We have
  a laugh and I have known them all my life. The
  worst thing about Sawston is there isnt much to
  do for young people. It can be boring and there
  isnt much to do. We dont have a cinema or
  anything and have to go into Cambridge which is
  alright I suppose but it costs a lot on the bus.

70
What grade?

• From a satellite, where I live would be a speck
  surrounded by flat greenery stuck out on a limb
  in the east of England. Closer up, you would see
  its nestled south of a bigger city full of
  spires and famous buildings surrounded by fields
  of wheat, grass and rape. Closer still, its one
  street of shops, housing estates, a small park
  with rich villages scattered around it. Its not
  the best place in the world to live but its
  probably not the worst. However, its where I
  live and it makes me happy. Sawston,
  Cambridgeshirea speck on the planet.

71
In some countries of the world, the older a
person is, the more respect is shown to him or
her by others in the community, especially by the
young in other places this is not so..
Higher tier, 2007

• Write an essay in which you analyse the extent to
  which you think the older generation is respected
  in your community and comment on how this might
  change in the future.