GCSE English

Teacher

Step Up

A Guide to the English GCSE Courses at Step Up, Portishead

Step Up to English literature: We cover all the literature syllabus. We can help guide you through Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Jekyll and Hyde, The sign of Four, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Frankenstein and A Christmas Carol. Along with, poetry analysis and terms and how to compare poems. We are constantly updating our books and knowledge to match changes in the curriculum.

Step Up to English Language GCSE: The recent changes in the two English Language papers has unnerved many parents and students. At Step Up, we have adapted our tutoring to meet the new syllabus and curriculum.

English language Paper 1.

Paper one consists of 5 questions and a total of 80 marks.

Question 1: Asks the student to find four facts within the text.

Question 2: Concentrates on words and phrases/ language features and techniques and sentence forms. You will be given a numbered part of the text in which to find these features. Step Up will teach you how to do this and how to answer this tricky question effectively and comprehensively.

Question 3: Focuses on settings, changes in perspective as the text develops and structure. Once more Step Up can guide you through this question while ensuring your knowledge matches the skills required to answer this question thoroughly.

Question 4: This question gives you a point of view and asks to what extent you agree or disagree. At Step Up you will be shown how to answer this question and achieve maximum marks.

Question 5: You will need to write a story or a description. The topic will be linked to the previously read text in some way. This question is worth 40 marks. 24 for content and 16 for SPAG. At Step Up we will firstly ensure your knowledge of spelling, punctuation and grammar are up to date. We will show you ways of overcoming the stress of writing an essay and give you helpful tips and pointers how to do this successfully. In paper 1 you will also be taught about structure of text and all the technical information needed to answer questions on the text.

English language Paper 2: requires you to compare texts differences or similarities. You will need to know your 10 language features-Alliteration, hyperbole, repetition, opinion, facts, statistics, rule-of-three, rhetorical questions, anecdote and humour. You will also be taught about: personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, noun phrases, non-finite verbs, listing, oxymoron and juxtaposition. All this is essential to pass paper 2.