Year 11 support thread

[pasanda]

I can't find a new thread, moving on from the old full one, so I thought I would create one (please tell me if I'm wrong!)

Last night ds stayed up till 4.30am doing his biology coursework

This time the tsunami affect didn't work and he left it far too late to do a reasonable job. Which is a bloody shame because he wants to do biology A level and he has done so well in his other controlled assessments.

I wait with bated breath to find out his mark

Oh well, thank God for half term!!

Maths and Geography snaffled Saturday quick smart! Next year ...

Does anyone know what board is WJEC or is anybody else sitting this board tomorrow for English Lit? That's what DS is sitting and it's Macbeth.

Gosh Reds - what a fab teacher you are! I am feeling a bit sad for DS -,he's hating the lit revision though he loves reading and is naturally very good at analysis. But this books out rule is just nuts. When do you ever have to write about anything without your reference materials to hand? He hates how formulaic it all is.

Don't teach it but I believe it is Shakespeare and the poetry anthology.

Sprog - that would have been in the 80s when the beloved Gove was at school...

The irony being: at A level the books are largely allowed back in!!

Don't mean to sound smug, every English teacher at my school was in today, just the only other teacher who has 2 groups taught the same texts to both. I am just the doughnut who didn't think it through! Although I do teach the very top set and the very bottom set so text choice was important for both!
Although closed book might seem harsh it will stop pupils wasting time searching for the perfect quote!

I will be in at 7.30 tomorrow to give my lovelies breakfast and moral support before the exam. Best thing they can do today is have a good night's sleep. The main thing that I will be reminding mine about tomorrow (AQA) is to do a lot of language analysis on the extract, then link the key idea of the question to at least two other places in the book: they do not need to directly quote these - paraphrase or reference is fine. They need to remember to mention 'the author' and 'the reader' a lot: eg 'the author uses the character of ... to show' and 'this makes the reader feel....'
Also, bring a comfortable pen (I have bought some for my class!). And above all have opinions about the book and don't be embarrassed about airing them!
Good luck to all your DC!

WJEC is the Welsh exam board Fleur but they do take candidates from schools in England as well. dd did English Language and English Literature GCSE exams with WJEC last year and I think she was the only one on last year's Y11 thread so think it must be quite unusual. As it's a new spec this year that may not be much help though.

I agree with MissM but they also need to remember context and technical language. They will probably have been taught PETAL or PEDAL, remind them to apply this.

Does anyone have DC doing or past experience of CIE iGCSE drama? My DS is struggling with the written exam which is on Tuesday, any tips would be much appreciated!!

Dd does PEAL apparently!

They also need to include technical language (T) or device ( D) and the link needs to be question and context.

Agree with Red. Also using technical language can be as simple as specifying the word class used - writing verb or adjective rather than simply 'word'. Context means (among other things) being aware of how the text would have been perceived by the audience/reader at the time it was written compared to how a modern audience would see it so it is worth checking with your DC that they can say something about that.

fleur

Dd is doing wjec for English lit tomorrow. Am in England btw. First year her school have used this exam board. Her English tutor is amazed as she reckons it's harder than aqa which most schools use. I reassure myself that the board grades will be lower if that's true.

She's doing Romeo and Juliet though. She also seems to think she will have poems tomorrow even though her exam timetable says English lit Shakespeare.

That's weird, we're in England too so I was a bit confused reading that everybody is doing either AQA or Edexcel. I wonder why did DS's school chose them. Anyway his exam schedule says tomorrow English Lit Shakespeare, then on Friday Prose and Poetry.

WJEC are quite a popular board. they'll be called Eduqas in England as of next year, I think.

Some schools choose them because they are nice to work with and do good training. AQA is a mammoth board and a bit impersonal.

Yes Dd has prose and poetry on Friday but is adament there will also be poems tomorrow. She reckons one day is unseen poems and one day is seen poems. I'm not sure she's right at all. Her timetable doesn't say Shakespeare and poems/prose!

Here you go :

www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/english-literature/gcse/wjec-eduqas-gcse-english-literature-sams-from-2015.pdf

Well good luck to all the DC tomorrow regardless of the board. DS doesn't really like the English Lit part and he's predicted a 5. I hope he achieves it. He likes English Lang and got an 8 in one of the mocks but I know that's finger in the air type of prediction.

Thank you piggy good to know they are known as "nicer"

DS does PEARLS 😀
Point, evidence, analysis, reader, links and summary! He informs me that context comes in links and technical language in analysis. I asked if PEARLS helps and he said yes, so great. When I was teaching secondary PEE had only just come in!

DD year 10 sitting English Lit early (hello knows why with the new spec), failed the mock as did 95% of the year, has revised like a beast all weekend, went to sit a past paper this evening had an utter meltdown didn't write anything, lots of crying. Hope she will scrape a level 4....annoying as sitting at 6/7 at all other subjects.
She is 14 years old ffs and not ready.

WTAF JufusMum ??? I thought only the first GCSE grade counted in league tables so why on earth are they doing it a year early, especially with the new spec??? My DS is in Year 11 and sits the exam tomorrow and is burnt out as it is. He would never have coped with it last year - what's the rational in sitting it a year early?? sounds bonkers to me...

Don't even go there....the whole idea was they do it now so they have less to do next year, and now because the whole year are struggling all I get from the English teacher is "oh don't worry they can resit next year" - fact is they wont have Lit lessons next year, only Lang and it will be 100% independent study. Ridiculous!