How do you help your child with English?

[BungledUpInTwo]

I'm an English teacher. I'm wondering - how many of you read the set texts your child is studying for GCSE? If they're studying Frankenstein do you buy your own copy and read it?

If so why? And if not why not?

Thanks. Interested to hear experiences on this.

I'm not a parent to a teenager but my mum never wouldve done that, she had no idea what i was studying in any subject, and i liked it that way personally lol

I've got a yr 10 who struggles with English. She's used to maths and sciences coming easy and has got it into her head that she's rubbish at English. She isn't that rubbish but she's only on track for a 4 at the moment which doesn't leave any breathing space for a bad day.

I have a degree and ma in eng lit but I struggle to help her because she gets frustrated with me and we end up rowing. Also I find it really difficult to teach it because I just did it! I can teach the spag and the structure stuff but ideas and themes are much harder to teach.

I haven't read the texts although I've read them all except the poems in the past (20 yrs+)

I have watched a few Mr bruff videos on my own to try to understand the way the exams work. She refuses to watch them because she thinks his voice is irritating!

If you've got any tips on how to help a reluctant 15yo please let me know!

Don't want to derail my own thread but:

In Literature terms, does she have a good grasp of the texts? Can she summarise the plot of the Shakespeare play? Has she read the novel? Like really read it? Could she answer comprehension questions on it?

Does her frustration come from trying to do the exam stuff without a really good grasp of the material? That's the first thing I'd check :)

I read them if I haven't already done so, partly because I'm interested (degree in english literature) but also so l can help them/talk to them about it, if necessary. I have one doing GCSEs currently but happy to do it for all of them at any stage.

No I haven't read An Inspector Calls, Frankenstein and the AQA Poetry anthology.

This is mainly because ds never discussed what he was learning at school, especially English, which is by far his least favourite subject.

I casually suggested watching Romeo and Juliet (movie) before GCSEs and was immediately shot down.

Ds is in Y9. Dp is more skilled at Eng Lit than me and still reads to ds every night which they discuss as they go, it's a mix of decent YA fiction and classics, e.g. they've done John Wyndham and some Orwell. Ds will feed back to me and we discuss what we are reading for ourselves. We will get copies of his GCSE texts and support him however we can. He's autistic so these skills don't always come easily but he has a good analytical mind which we encourage generally anyway. It's all very informal otherwise he'd push against it!

Would consider reading the texts, but DC seem to jump around. One week reading e.g.; Frankenstein then quickly move onto another text. Plus school don't advise what order DC are reading the texts, have to rely on uncommunicative DC!!

Ds1 is just finishing year 9 so we are waiting to hear about which books they are definitely studying for GCSE. But in short yes, I will re-read (skim) the books, there are lots of videos on YouTube about them and their themes.

For any Shakespeare you have to watch it, no play should ever be read, it should be viewed. We will try to see it live somewhere, if not then a film version.

I have a degree in Eng lit and Dh has an engineering degree but has worked in IT for 20 years. So I help with the history/English side and Dh does the computer science/statistics/maths side.

We tend to talk around the topic, ie Ds did council housing in history which was literally read the sheet and answer the questions. But we also watched a 50 minute documentary on YouTube about a particular council estate where they interviewed the residents, some of whom moved in when they were brand new. I think it helps broadens their knowledge base on a topic.

For SATs we looked at past paper English comprehension, just talked through what his answer would be and checked it against the marking scheme. My sons find maths very easy but struggle with poetry, so we look at inferring and asking what does it all mean.

I certainly don't do the work for Ds1, just talk to him and guide him toward stuff. He is excelling at school.

I love English literature and had already read all the main texts that dc were doing, nothing that wasn't already in our library. But did read the poetry in the anthologies too. Just don't want to miss a good read. Have always discussed literature with dd; ds otoh really hates talking about his school work with me.

I am much more on the STEM side and so would be more likely to jump in to help with maths which she finds harder than English which she does really well in. That plus having younger dc and a busy job which also involves lots of reading. If she needed help then I would try to help her but I found English Lit boring (not reading itself just the stuff other people think that you should read) so would try to convince dh to work with her on it, much more his thing.

I bought the books (school couldn't afford them) and read Jekyll and Hyde and the poetry. Dd wrote out 3 key quotes for each poem on a flash cards and annotated them. She asked me to test her on the 45 quotes and we discussed the annotations. We blue tacked them all over the walls. Didn't touch the Shakesphere!

Dcs don't seem to need a lot of help with English. Dh and I are more naturally inclined towards STEM subjects.
But ds loves discussing literature so will probably read Animal Farm - just so I've an idea what he is talking about!

Hi OP. Thanks for starting this thread. I have been told that my DC are very good at English and I want to encourage this. The oldest is just starting secondary and has only just started reading set texts and I have one younger too. I can see clearly how to help my DC with maths, but am at a loss with how I can help them with English apart from getting them to do grammar worksheets.

Any tips?

ThaiBeach the most important thing for your two is to try and nurture a love of reading. Build it into their daily routine if you can - half an hour before bed with no screens nearby? Try to talk about what you're reading yourself.

Don't be afraid to lean into the big hitters - this is the age for Harry Potter and His Dark Materials. The only risk is they re-read books they could have read at age 9 and don't try anything more challenging.

If you live anywhere near a "proper" theatre then a trip to a play is never wasted. It's a workout for the ears and the brain and in my experience live performance is like drugs to young children. For the year 7 make it seem like a very grown-up treat.

In terms of encouraging reading, my DS would get really fed up with classics because of the old fashioned language and wasn't really into the adventure, fantasy, spy books that are aimed at teens. Instead, I steered him toward comic books. He read PG Wodehouse, the James Herriot books (we're in Yorkshire so that interested him), Adrian Mole, and others. This seemed to rekindle his interest around age 14.
As for curriculum books, I always read them myself as well and then just talk enthusiastically and/or critically about them with him rather than trying to replicate what teachers do in school. We had some really good conversations about poetry over the summer between Yr 10 and 11. I was amazed to find my DS likes and gets the poetry in the AQA anthology. Yay. And we were lucky enough to have some of the poets come to our city to do live readings and talk about their poems which was really inspiring. But I really don't understand enough about the technicalities of modern school Lit Crit to try to teach him anything even though I am an ancient Lit Crit graduate myself.

I agree that many classics just don't appeal to them. Dd said recently that she hates most classics because they are sexist and often racist. They read Jane Eyre at school and she found it dull and full of assumptions about love which she just isn't into at the moment. It might have once been a feminist novel but dd does not rate her life by the man or woman she might marry. It might speak to the historic context of women nearly 200 years ago but culture is so different now that it loses some of it's relevance (although I recognise that the battles are still raging).

She has said she might read Lord of the rings once she has wrestled it from her brother but she has watched the films (he is too young to watch them) so it might be a disappointment. She enjoyed Animal Farm but found it frustrating having to read with an adult to understand the references (She is a book a day person and I don't have the time to spend a whole day reading with her). She is going to try Frankenstein (which she found in a charity shop) and I have suggested 1984 and Brave New World which I hope will tap into her Hunger Games love. I think that for a child who finds Harry Potter lacking in sufficient strong female characters, most classics just don't speak to her position.

I will watch this thread if that's ok. My son is year 10 going into year 11 and he struggles with his English and his welsh. His target for the summer holidays from school is to read a novel which he seems keen todo. He has been told to read more by his teacher but just is not that interested.

My daughters are going into year 8 and year 7 can anyone recommend what they should read please?

My DS is reading Things Fall Apart as his novel for igcse English. I hadn't read it so bought it to read out of interest. When he saw me reading it we have entered into discussions about it at his instigation rather than mine. Also he showed me his exam essay after it had been markef (end of year 10 exam). He has since discussed other things he has read or studied in English - all because I was reading the book! It has opened up a line thst previously wasn't there and has come entirely from him!

Excuse typos - very embarrassing on an English thread!

I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice to help my son. I quite like it! It's been a long time since I read it.

I read my daughter's set GCSE texts because she was in a mixed ability class and the teaching was clearly aimed at the C borderline. It was also very much of the 'let's all sit under our desks in order to understand what it feels like to be in prison' variety, rather than the 'here are some models of excellent essays so you understand what you should be aiming for' variety. I ended up doing a lot of research on mark schemes etc in order to try to help her understand what she needed to do to do well.

AllTheBest - I've pm'ed you.

shouldwestayorshouldwego - your dd sounds rather close minded from your description. How is one to make judgements on the past if you blot it out and pretend it didn't happen? Sounds like pompous teenager talk to me.

Dd is pleased with the traditional nature of the GCSE set texts. She detests books with a worthy message which seems to be the order of the day for so many YA books these days.

In response to OP, I buy York Notes etc and watch film versions of things, but leave reading the texts to dcs. It's good to help, and of course many pupils need that help, but busting in and reading alongside a perfectly able child and putting forward your own comments risks putting a child right off.

But surely having strong opinions about a text is good...,.they don't have to like a book to be able to critically assess it! Classics like all literature to an extend are a matter of taste - and it's ok to dislike them but you need to learn how to express your discontent appropriately.

DD struggles in English, the class did paper 2 in order to set them going into y11 in September. (English is currently taught in mixed ability). She came home saying she felt that was the best she had ever done... however she got a level 1 !!!! She brought the paper home for me to have a look at (I'm not a teacher, just an ordinary Mum). I've found some sample answers to the paper which we looked at together.
Since then I've watched some Mr Bruff videos (she already has the books), to try and get an understanding of what she needs to do.

She doesn't "get" English, she got a level 8 in the Maths paper she sat in the same week!! Some difference in the levels!

She has got lots of study guides, so don't really know where to go. The Level 1 result has really dented what little confidence in English she has anyway. I've tried to be positive, but just turns it round and thinks she is destined to be in bottom set for English in September. This really upsets her as she wants to work, she wants to do well. Don't know until September what set she will end up in but she has got really upset if I've suggested I contact School.

HELP