Category: English

AQA · AQA new specification · For Pupils · Reading skills · Teaching Ideas

Using images to practise summary and synthesis skills for Lang paper 2 question 2

mrhansonsenglish31 Comments

Updated November 2017: the link to the resources is now here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dojccihmctyepyh/Comparing%20images.pptx?dl=0 A short blog on paper 2 skills. On a recent visit to a school, one of the English teachers talked about how they are using images to help develop synthesis and summary skills for paper 2. Inspired by this, I’ve put together a… Continue reading Using images to practise summary and synthesis skills for Lang paper 2 question 2

AQA · English · For Pupils · Language paper 1 · Reading skills · structure

Y11 – a reminder about Q3 structure (again…)

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Structure is all about how the text is put together, why the writer has done it this way and the effects it has on the reader’s appreciation and understanding of the text. The question wants you to analyse the effects of the writer’s use of structure. You should refer to precise points in the text… Continue reading Y11 – a reminder about Q3 structure (again…)

A Christmas Carol · AQA · For Pupils · literature

Y11 – A Christmas Carol: some quotations

mrhansonsenglish1 Comment

Here are some quotations from A Christmas Carol. Stave 1 He was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone External heat and cold had little influence (description of Fred) his face was ruddy and handsome every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas should be boiled are there no prisons … are there no workhouses if… Continue reading Y11 – A Christmas Carol: some quotations

AQA · AQA new specification · For Pupils · literature · structure · Teaching Ideas

Poetry: linking structure to language in Blake’s London

mrhansonsenglish7 Comments

Here’s the ‘board shot’ from this morning’s lesson. Remember we were trying to link structure to language so that we don’t just describe the poem’s structural features. This was a fairly simple example to illustrate an idea so I’ve developed it further for you below. Just describing the structural features of the poem is not… Continue reading Poetry: linking structure to language in Blake’s London

An Inspector Calls · AQA · AQA new specification · For Pupils · literature · Teaching Ideas

An Inspector Calls – The importance of Eva Smith

mrhansonsenglish7 Comments

Eva Smith, it could be argued, is the most important character in An Inspector Calls: from the moment her name is first mentioned, her shadow hangs over every page. Indeed, when the play is over and we read back over those first scenes,  her presence can be felt from the very beginning: from Gerald’s evasive manoeuvres… Continue reading An Inspector Calls – The importance of Eva Smith

William Blake’s London
AQA · AQA new specification · For Pupils · literature · poetry · Reading skills · Teaching Ideas

William Blake’s London

mrhansonsenglish8 Comments

This lesson stands as a one off. We focused on exploring language through Blake’s use of iambic tetrameter (four iambic beats per line – unstressed/stressed) and how the metre was broken by trochees to draw our attention to particular words/lines. We also looked at Blake’s original version which contains some capitalised nouns that are not… Continue reading William Blake’s London

Comparing My Last Duchess with Ozymandias
AQA new specification · For Pupils · literature · poetry

Comparing My Last Duchess with Ozymandias

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Here are the slides from this week’s lessons. The PPT is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8c2fmlz1vqopfv7/My%20Last%20Duchess%20form%20and%20structure.pptx?dl=0 We began with a short refresher on the poem: The next lesson was centred on the use of structural features – caesura in particular, so it’s worth thinking about what we mean by structure and form. This analogy was useful: This was a… Continue reading Comparing My Last Duchess with Ozymandias

The Prelude – William Wordsworth
AQA · AQA new specification · poetry · Teaching Ideas

The Prelude – William Wordsworth

mrhansonsenglish6 Comments

The extract from The Prelude that we will read in class is, as the title suggests, part of a longer autobiographical poem (of the same name) which begins in 1798 and, amongst other things, describes Wordsworth’s time in France before and during that most momentous of events – the French Revolution. Wordsworth re-wrote and revised… Continue reading The Prelude – William Wordsworth