OVERVIEW

These Masterclasses are designed to help prepare students for Paper 1 of their GCSE English examination although they will help students develop skills and understanding which can be applied to other areas of GCSE English and English Literature. As the lessons primarily concentrate on aiding students to interpret texts and plan and structure their own writing more effectively they may well help students in preparing for GCSE examinations in other subjects too. Ideally students will work through the lessons in order but they can also stand alone or be integrated into existing schemes of work. Lessons 1-3 deal with aspects important to Section A of Paper 1 such as identifying the audience and purpose of a text and commenting on the use of presentational devices, layout and language in non-fiction texts. Lessons 4-5 focus on planning, checking and improving writing with Paper 1, Section B in mind. The lessons can be used to introduce students to these key aspects of GCSE English or consolidate students’ existing skills and understanding. The lessons should be suitable for students of different abilities who following a GCSE programme and include extension activities and links to other sites to encourage students’ independent learning and revision.

This lesson emphasises the importance of audience and purpose in reading and writing texts. The first activity tests students’ ability to identify the audience and purpose of three different texts and the second requires students to complete a short writing task which involves writing a name, slogan and headline for a new drink for different purposes and audiences.....

The aim of this lesson is both to develop students’ ability to identify different presentational devices and to comment on their effect. Firstly students are asked to label different presentational devices in a poster and then to comment on the effect of presentational devices in an advert.....

This lesson is designed to reinforce students’ knowledge of key terms and develop their ability to identify and use persuasive language. The first activity is a quiz to test students’ knowledge of terminology.

This lesson reinforces the importance of planning and demonstrates techniques for planning as well as giving students the opportunity to practice these techniques. The lesson also stresses the importance of paragraphing and shows students how to use signpost sentences.