English GCSE

[fairyjay]

DS starts his GCSE course next year. What books/plays are covered now? Just thinking if I could drag him off to see anything appropriate over the Summer break!!

[Moomin]

it's entirely down to the exam board and the school. there are a wide range of texts that are recommended in the syllabus for exams and coursework and the school (and usually the individual teacher) decides on which texts will be studied. I'd write to the Head of English towards the end of summer term and ask if anything's been decided yet as you want to be supportive, but the timetables are only just being arranged in most schools at the moment so you won't know who his teacher is yet, not what his or her choice of texts are. But you can ask if there are any that don't change very often, ie the exam text.

[fairyjay]

Thanks for that Moomin - it's a good idea. It's treading that fine line between 'pushy' and 'interested'!

[Moomin]

have you had the year 9 parents evening yet? at our school i think they've just had it or it's coming up (i'm on mat leave). usually they'll tell you what tier he's likely to be in for gcse - there's higher (for the A to C/D candidates) and an intermediate-type one (for C to G). we tend to teach the same set text (for the exam) throughout the year although for the very bright ones they might do something different. depending on which syllabus your ds's school uses, he'll probably also do 4 to 5 pieces of coursework, one of which will be a shakespeare, one a pre 20th century text and a 20th C play of some description. they all have to study poetry for the exam as well.

at the beginning of year 10 we give a leaflet out to pupils and parents telling them what the course is made up - if the school doesn't do this i'd write and ask for an overview just so that you can be prepared and support your ds. also ask if they do theatre trips or have theatre companies in to visit as well.

will he do just english or eng and eng lit? is the school generally good with communicating with parents? if so then i wouldn't worry too much just yet.

[fairyjay]

Thanks Moomin.
To be fair they are pretty good at communicating, but the GCSE selection evening isn't until the beginning of June - I probably jumping the gun.
I hope they do language and lit., but I'm not sure.
DS is really doing well in the top set, although he's pretty laid back, which is why I feel I need to 'encourage' him a little!
Thank you for your time - I really appreciate it

[Moomin]

it's really no prob .

most schools will enter most pupils for both gcses (eng and lit) and, ime, will enter all pupils in upper sets which it sounds like your ds will be in. to be fair, it will help for your ds to see maybe film or theatre versions of any texts but i'd probably leave him to actually read them in class, in case you were thinking of getting him to read them in advance. that way the teacher can work at the pace of the class and focus on particular aspects of the text a bit at a time. it may even 'spoil' it for him a bit if he already knows the plot and he may find it a bit boring going over it again. of course, that's not always the case. my mate's son is doing the crucible for a piece of coursework. his ds read it in class but then my mate took his ds to see it at the rsc with iain glenn - it was a fabulous production and gave them both some new insights into the text.

[sigh] i wish all ks4 parents were as supportive and interested as you!

[fairyjay]

It was the 'choices' night last night. They will be doing Language and Lit. The texts haven't yet been decided, and probably won't be finalised until they go back in September. It was quite funny, because she mentioned that Romeo and Juliet might well be the Shakespeare, and I'd dragged ds (and dh and dd) to see it a couple of months ago. The English teacher had seen the same production, and didn't think very highly of it - so I had ds and dh telling me that I'd made them go unnecessarily. You don't know until you try it though, do you!

[eidsvold]

fairyjay - your ds will get so much more out of it than he realises - the difference for students who are studying a play and have seen it performed and those who haven't is very clear in their comprehension - SO hopefully he will have one up on his classmates... the dialogue will seem so much more familiar. That is something that students struggle with in Shakespeare - the language but when they see a performance the visual is so helpful to their comprehension. Plus his teacher may be pleased to know he has seen it as well ( brownie points!)

[portico]

Does anyone know of a URL for full test paper and mark scheme for the AQA KS3 Boy in Striped Pyjamas, please

[sheepskinshrug]

We were given our reading list this year for ds to start reading texts in preparation for Year 10 - But it went down like a lead balloon. Ds very much enjoys English and reading but he want to save the book so he's excited about it when they finally get to studying it. He was told to read lots of 19th/20th century classics as well so that's what he's doing.

[sheepskinshrug]

Zombie thread!

[t875]

My dd who is doing GCSEs next week is doing mc Beth and Scrooge. But I'm sure this changes around.

[t875]

Ignore lol didn't realise was zombie thread