Top Tips to support your child in GCSE English Language and
Literature
When revising, it’s important that you child does more than simply read back through their
notes: they need to complete fresh notes in the form of thinking maps, diagrams, posters or
revision cards. Re-writing information in different ways will help them to process what
they’re doing and will make their revision time much more effective.
5-minute things you can do with your child to support their everyday revision are:
1. Quiz them on the main texts studied: what are they about; what the writer’s main points
are; how language is used to create characters and themes; which characters and events are
significant.
2. Read a newspaper or magazine article with them and ask them questions on: what it is
about; what the writer’s main points are; how language and tone have been used; what the
writer’s point of view is.
3. Test your child on key language techniques.
4. Encourage your child to read any persuasive letters that you receive, and any promotional
materials sent to you by charities. Ask your child how the writer is trying to persuade the
reader to help.
5. Help them plan pieces of writing for different people with different purposes.
6. Practise spellings which they find difficult (try the look/cover/write/check method)
7. Help them with using a range of punctuation by reading a SPaG revision guide/website
and testing them.
8. Get them to plan and then perhaps write a piece of writing each week (inform, explain
and describe, and argue and persuade are the purposes that are tested in the exam) and
read it with them to make improvements.
9. Help your child to develop their ability to write in timed conditions by stopping them after
their time is up. If they want to continue, they should use a different coloured pen to show
their teacher that it was written after their time had finished.
10. With reading questions, ask your child why each point they have made is important.
Encourage them to explain their thinking clearly.
Useful website for revision:
Past papers and mark schemes can be found on the Edexcel website (Google: Edexcel GCSE
English Language / Literature past papers)
General revision resources for Language can be found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zr9d7ty
http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/
Of Mice and Men revision:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosemicemen/
Of Mice & Men full film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axEQK_MGFu8
Animal Farm revision:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/proseanimalfarm/
Animal Farm full film (animated):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0pys7boNro#action=share
Poetry tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_oI8KiYsvc&list=PL9Z2xjHLfc6Wrdl73rTUcswPuuA7I5ih
There are also a huge range of tutorials on YouTube covering the set texts, writing
techniques, and how to write effective essays.
Literacy revision can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/0/
Useful Dates:
Every Monday between now and the exam – revision carousel as below:
Exam dates:
Students will need to be in school from 8am for
revision and breakfast on the day of each exam.
English Literature Unit 1 (Of Mice & Men and
Animal Farm) – Monday 23rd May am
English Literature Unit 2 (Poetry) – Friday 27th
May pm
English Language Unit 2 (Of Mice & Men and
non-fiction writing) – Tuesday 7th June am
SUCCESS
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Read each question carefully, underlining the key words.
Use a few minutes to read every question and highlight key words in the texts.
Take five minutes to plan your writing for Section B of the Language exam.
Use a one sentence paragraph.
Use a semi colon and colon in your writing, preferably in the opening
paragraph.
What to expect in the exams:
Use a range of sentence lengths and types.
Use exclamation marks and rhetorical questions sparingly.
Use a range of language techniques appropriate to the purpose of the task.
Manage your time effectively – use any spare time to check your work – don’t
just sit there!
What to expect in the exams
English Language Unit 2, The Writer’s Voice (60% of overall Language grade):
Section A: Of Mice & Men
5a) How does LANGUAGE influence your views on a particular character/
relationship/atmosphere/theme in the text? 16 marks = 25 minutes
 Inference and deduction
 Analysis of language at word and sentence level
 Secure understanding of language terminology
5b) Explore how a particular character/theme/relationship/atmosphere (linked to
extract in q5a) is presented in ONE OTHER SECTION o the novel. 24 marks = 35
minutes
Section B: Non-fiction writing
Choice of 2 questions – mixture of purposes: inform, describe, explain, persuade and
argue – write for a specific purpose and audience, get a point of view across
effectively in your writing,
Total of 24 marks – 16 for content and organisation, 8 for SPaG = 45 minutes
English Literature Unit 1, Prose (50% of overall Literature grade):
Section A: Animal Farm
a) From the extract, what do you learn about a character? 8 marks = 15 minutes
 Inference and deduction
 Analysis of language at word and sentence level
b) Explore how the extract uses language to achieve a particular effect (same extract
as that in part a) 12 marks = 15 minutes
 Inference and deduction
 Analysis of language at word and sentence level
 Secure understanding of language terminology
c) Explore how the writer presents X in ONE OTHER part of the novel. 16 marks plus
3 for SPaG = 25 minutes
 Inference and deduction
 Analysis of language at word and sentence level
 Ability to select appropriate section to analyse
Section B: Of Mice & Men
Choice of 2 questions – one based on character, one based on theme, exploring its
significance in the novella. 40 marks plus 7 for SPaG = 50 minutes
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Inference and deduction: reader response.
Secure understanding of plot, character, relationships and themes.
Analysis of language at word and sentence level.
Secure understanding of language terminology.
Detailed and relevant understanding of context – up to 24 marks are
available for this
English Literature Unit 2, Poetry (25% of overall Literature grade):
Section A: Unseen poetry
Explore how the poet presents X in their poem. 20 marks = 45 minutes
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Inference and deduction
Identifying and analysing the effect of poetic techniques
SPaG
Essay writing style
Selecting appropriate quotations to support inferences
Explaining the writer’s use of language, the way that the poem is structured,
and the writer’s thoughts and feelings.
 Explanation of the effect of a writer’s choices.
The unseen poem will be written by one of the following poets: Robert Frost, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, Seamus Heaney, Maya Angelou, Siegfried Sassoon, DH Lawrence, Margaret Atwood,
Thomas Hardy, Charles Causley, Sarojini Naidu, Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, John Clare, Edgar Allan Poe,
Helen Dunmore.
Section B: Anthology Comparison Question (Clashes and Collisions collection)
Compare how the writers of ‘Named poem from studied collection’ and ONE OTHER
poem of your choice from the Clashes and Collisions collection present X theme.
30 marks = 60 minutes
 Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation
of ideas, themes and settings.
 Explore how language/form/structure achieve certain effects.
 Selecting relevant and useful quotations
 Make comparisons and explain links between texts
 Evaluate writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects