Urgent HELP re AQA English Creative Writing Paper , please?

[52andblue]

This has been set as homework for Ds over Easter break.
He has Dyslexia and ASD and is at an awful school (I am still waiting for official confirmation he has exam concessions and he is taking this paper on Tuesday...)
So the info sent home is very unclear.
(it is not a past paper but something school has put together)
He has to describe a given picture (in this case a tree).
Demonstrate his use of various adverbs, alliteration etc
He is given 'an hour to write a page and a half'
But what is not clear is whether he is to write a STORY as part of this.

I have emailed school to no avail. My other child is unwell so I am not confident about finding the info I need via the exam board etc.

Would anyone on here happen to know, PLEASE?
He is very stressed about this for Tues now
(and I am feeling horribly guilty that I didn't know till now that he was in this position, apparently they've never practiced this paper before !

I'm not an expert but do have a child in year 10. It sounds like he is supposed to write a descriptive piece, rather than a story. My son had to do the same about a picture of a hot air balloon. He wrote about what he could see, hear, etc, using all the different types of writing - alliteration, similes, personification, etc. Not much help, hopefully someone else more knowledgable will come along soon!

DD2, y11, says you are meant to write a description inspired by the picture, not a story. You can go off piste, eg looking at the beautiful tree I remembered the time that ....

On the actual paper, Q5 there is a choice. Either you write a descriptive piece based on a picture, or you can write a (descriptive) story based on a topic they give you.

If the task says describe, it doesn't have to be a story. However, a page and a half on a tree could be tricky. I would suggest a 'framing device' story - so, start as a person walks towards the tree, describe what they see and link to feelings/ideas, have them stop and sit underneath and reflect on a memory etc etc. You can't write a beginning, middle and end in an hour

(I suspect they have been practicing this on and off since y7 to be honest!)

Or, describe the tree at two different times of day/year

The examining board want to see use of language features, e.g. metaphor, simile, imagery, lists, rule of three, alliteration, and structural devices; e.g repetition, short / long sentences used to create an effect.
Not all of them are needed, but some of them, and to create an interesting piece of writing.
If he finds descriptive writing difficult, he could use the tree as the basis for a memory; e.g. a special place to him, or an event, or even a slightly more factual piece about nature.

When doing actual past papers, you can download mark schemes of past papers, which I find really useful for showing students what different answers look like.

His school should be taking his learning needs into account when deciding his grades.

As said above, they are usually given a choice of questions. I suggest to my students that they avoid writing a story; there’s very little time to craft a good one!

If he can, suggest that he starts by walking towards the tree. How is he feeling? What’s the weather like? What’s his first reaction to seeing it?

Get him to reach out and touch it. How’s that feel? Suggest there is something carved into it (a declaration of love/ a random date). Can he imagine the story behind that?

Is there an animal in the tree? Zoom in on it and describe it as fully as possible. This is a good paragraph for solid description- use a simile to describe the colour for example.

That animal leaves. He describes watching it go (jump from tree to tree? Soar into the clouds?) and, to end, someone could call his name from behind him. Or the weather could change.

As said above, they’re looking at his writing skills. He needs to show off everything he knows. Kids with dyslexia sometimes can be very hard on themselves when it comes to English. They don’t need to be. Creativity counts too!

He has to describe a given picture (in this case a tree).

Descriptive writing is different to narrative (write a story). He needs to create a description of the image and write in the third person (he, she).

The 'easiest' way to do this is:
P1: describe whole image
P2-P4: zoom in on various different parts of the image
P5: zoom back out to the whole image (with a change e.g. different time of day now).

Avoid using boring sentence starters (the, a etc) and try to use conjunctions or fronted adverbials (suddenly etc) instead.

Try to use at least two language devices per paragraph.

Focus on the inclusion of colours, textures and the five senses as well.

The description should be based in the image but additional (made-up) information should be included (otherwise it'll be really short!).

If you look on page 8 of this link, there is a (short!) example of descriptive writing: filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-GCSE-ENG-LANG-HUB-SPR-18-BOOKLET.PDF

Herdy is correct. I mark this paper. The better answers zoom in on specifics so
P1 - the tree stands alone in ... describe the surroundings/ weather etc
P2 describe the leaves - growing/starting to fall, making a blanket on the ground etc
P3 branches - growing like fingers reaching to the sky images
P4 (something else on picture)
P5 zoom out but changing seasons - the leaves start to turn, the tree is empty etc

Rather than a page and a half he is looking for around 300 words. Language choices and sentence structures are important. It doesn't matter if he describes more than the picture as the picture is just a guideline

Oh, God, thank you all SO MUCH!!

The School is in Special Measures, he has missed time due to illness, it couldn't be a worse picture tbh. We have got stuck here due to exam years / rural / lack of choice, but I feel very ashamed that this is what he's been left to try to cope with.

Can I ask @Pieceofpurplesky (and all others who've posted too)

Is this the whole paper or are there other bits I need to try to prepare him for for Tuesday? (we had a practice in the kitchen yesterday but after 15 mins and 3 lines he'd stopped, in tears, and had a meltdown.

There are 5 questions.
Q1-4 are around a provided source text. Between them they take half the time on the paper. (15 mins to read, then 1hr to do the questions).
Q1 is find 4 bits of information from the text.
Then there is stuff on use of language, structure and evaluation (or something). Total marks 40.
Q5 is the writing piece your DS has for homework, 1hr, another 40 marks.

Teen covers it all!

@52andblue I feel for you. My daughter has dyslexia and these kind of assessments leave her with panic attacks.

GCSEs are very hard on those who aren't traditionally academic. I just keep telling her she's amazing and she'll carve her own path in life. Her gcse results will not determine who she is or how well she will do in life.

No one in the real world will care about what bullshit she can write about a picture of a tree

OP, I feel for you. My DD is struggling to pass Eng Lang too (which is why I know more than I would like about the details).

It might help if you get him to describe out loud as if he’s describing it to someone who is blindfolded, and pretend they have to draw a picture based on what he says. That might get some of the thoughts flowing.

To be honest OP, if by now it isn't just a point of reminding him of the key things to include, you're not going to get him ready for a test on Tuesday. English Language is very much a built skill, not something that can be crammed for.

I'm aware of that @TeenMinusTests
But going over structure and being positive for him hardly hurts, surely?

52 Absolutely it doesn't hurt. It is what I'll be doing with my DD next weekend.
I just thought you sounded a bit over stressed and that you might try to cram him too much which might end up counter productive. (It's the kind of thing I have to work very hard to stop myself doing with my DD.)

@TeenMinusTests
I am stressed for him yes, but I won't push him, no. He has really bad anxiety and Psychogenic non epileptic stress attacks (ie panic attacks so bad they mimic Epilepsy and 2 consultants were convinced it was until he had a brain scan :(
So, I'm going to talk to him about the structure. And we'll do the set homework together (I won't do it FOR him, but will be with him and help him chat it through as he does it) so if he can't even enter the exam room on the day as he's on the floor twitching then at least they'll have some work to grade him on (as they've still not sorted his exam concessions officially and no EHCP, unbelievably enough)

Can I ask the structure for the Literature paper too please?

@Pieceofpurplesky do you mark this paper too?

Literature won't be the same as 'normal' as they allowed for one of the units to be dropped.
(I can't help further than that as DD has dropped most of her GCSEs due to having missed a year+ of schooling.)

@52andblue I don't Mark it but have been teaching it for 20 plus years. What texts is he studying? I am assuming he is Year 11?

I mark one of the lit papers and one of the Lang ones... ask away.

Yes, Y11.
Studying: MacBeth, Animal Farm, A Christmas Carol.
(they are dropping poetry)

I'm ashamed to say I don't know the number of papers / Qu layout.

He knows AF and ACC really well, the Shakespeare less so.

I'm a bit desperate for him to pass Maths and English so he doesn't have to re-sit next year.

There will be a passage to analyse for both Macbeth and a Christmas carol. In both cases, he should be linking the passage to the whole text and commenting on the way the writer uses language to present their ideas, and linking his points to the context of the text.
ACC is the same assessment objectives but there will (should) be a choice of two questions, no passage.