Pupils will read sections of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to build on their basic English Literature Skills. They will practise reading and comprehension of a Shakespeare text, analysing the writer’s use of Language and Structure. The key focus here will be on understanding plot, character and themes from the play. However, pupils will also explore aspects of the social and historical factors underlying the play such as: Shakespeare's Globe theatre; visiting the theatre in Elizabethan times, and the beliefs, traditions and values of the period which would have shaped the ways in which Shakespeare's audiences received his plays. Pupils will be taught to write in clear PEE (Point/ Evidence/ Explanation) paragraphs, selecting suitable quotations from the play as supporting evidence to demonstrate their understanding of textual content.
Analysis of an extract from a key scene.
A speech in a play that the character speaks to himself or herself or to the audience, rather than to the other characters.
If a person loves someone who doesn't love them back, the person's love is unrequited.
A line of poetry written in iambic pentameter has five pairs of "beats" - an unstressed syllable (short) followed by an stressed syllable (long).
Instructions in a play script, telling the actors and actresses what to do. These are often written in italics
The ending of a play / story, when all the different problems are solved.
Across both terms, students will explore a range of engaging dystopian and science fiction short stories - spanning an exciting range of worlds, characters and events. The emphasis is on enjoying these tales as a whole, and really engaging with the writers' craft. Why might they have chosen this specific setting or situation for their story? Which events are the most engaging, and why might they be presented in this order? Which ideas do we really respond to?
Building on their exploration of these stories, students will harness some of these key "ingredients", and engage in a range of creative writing activities. This is an opportunity for students to enjoy playing with language, broadening their horizons by repurposing generic conventions they've enjoyed. The sky is the limit here, and the stories they produce really are out of this world!
1) Evaluation of key ideas within a short story
2) Creative Writing piece
A very bad or unfair society in which there is a lot of suffering, especially an imaginary society in the future, after something terrible has happened
The location and situation of a story. When and where is it taking place, and what is happening at that time?
Every story has a problem / desire that needs to be solved. What is driving the story?
The person who is telling the story. Whose "eyes" are we seeing through? A character? A narrator? Is it the same person all the way through?
A repeated idea throughout a story.
Winner of the CILIP Amnesty Honour 2017, The Bone Sparrow is a deeply moving story about a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre. Pupils will read this thought-provoking novel to build their critical reading and interpretation skills, including identifying, inferring, deducing and explaining. Moreover, they will focus on studying the novel as a whole, considering the development of characters and themes, and how the author and novel’s wider context may affect the message for their readers. However, perhaps most importantly, whilst reading this novel students will consider the effects of an unequal prejudicial society on both those within and without it – arguably these issues are more relevant than ever before.
Analytic written response to the whole novel.
The leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel.
Social justice is the equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Charles Dickens' key objective of writing fiction was to promote social justice by confronting and condemning the glaring inequalities in the victorian society.
This refers to the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Unlike the wealthy few, majority of the Victorian society lived in poverty and this is one of the themes of 'A Christmas Carol'.
A serious disagreement or argument.
A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.
A strong desire to do or achieve something, also associated with success. This can be linked to desire to socially climb.
Reflection and writing about events; thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Sharing work and experiences.
Students will explore a range of texts, such as leaflets, adverts, websites, and speeches, to discover how amusement parks promote themselves. There is an emphasis on approaching texts as a whole, understanding why they have been written, the demographic of the audience, and how various tones and emotions can be used for different attractions. There will be a fascinating exploration of some of the most unusual days out, both locally and from around the world.
After understanding how the professionals make a day out sound incredible, students will then begin designing and promoting their own amusement parks - all with innovative twists to try and engage and captivate their audiences. As well as developing and understanding different form of writing, students will also develop their teamwork and oracy skills as they deliver ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitches to convince that their amusement park is worth the investment!
1) Evaluation of key ideas from promotional material
2) Writing a speech
“Diverse Lives” is a dynamic new addition to our curriculum, based around a range of narrative and ballad poetry, alongside biographies, news reports and obituaries of people who have made the world a more interesting place. Throughout this module, students embed interpretive, analytical, and comparative skills by considering – and enjoying – poems as a whole. This is supplemented by stimulating non-fiction texts, encouraging them to think more broadly about the rich variety of experiences across the globe. Putting it all together, students are encouraged to play with the building blocks of poetry, to come up with some entirely new creations of their own.
"Diverse lives": analysis of a poem + writing with a purpose.
End of Year: English Language Paper 1: Reading fiction + Creative writing
A popular narrative ("story") song passed down orally ("speaking / singing"). In the English tradition, it usually follows a form of rhymed (abcb) quatrains (four line stanzas), with the first & third, and second & fourth lines rhyming.
Writing a text telling the story of your OWN life, from your point of view.
A stanza is a grouped set of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation, on a related topic. A "poetry paragraph".
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of sounds that repeats at the end of a line or stanza. E.G. regular rhyme? Alternating lines or rhyming couplets?
A protagonist is the main character in a story. An antagonist is their main enemy / rival.
Reflection and writing about events; thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Following their end of year exams, students have the opportunity to respond to a "real world" scenario, to speak about an issue they feel strongly about. Across this module, students gain valuable presentation skills, developing a host of skills from being given their "brief" to performing in front of their peers. In particular, we focus on giving and building on useful feedback, editing and crafting a piece of work over multiple iterations, and confident and effect public speaking techniques.
Who has this been written for? Older people? Younger people? People with an interest is something?
The techniques or "tools" writers use to make their words powerful. E.G. Metaphor, simile, rhetorical questions.
Speaking directly to your audience: "Have you ever...?" "It is our responsibility, all of us..."
Changing your tone of voice means changing the way you speak. Louder or softer? Happy or sad? Sarcastic or earnest?
The pace of your speech is how quickly you are speaking. By slowing down for certain words or pausing after them (plus speaking more loudly), you can put emphasis on ideas to make them stand out.
Students gain a deeper understanding of the world around them by studying a range of relevant contemporary non-fiction texts.
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