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Secondary education

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English GCSE revision

3 replies

ll363 · 17/09/2017 08:34

DD is in Y10 and her weakest subject has alway been English. Tutoring is quite pricey so I was wandering if you have any advice?

OP posts:
LooseAtTheSeams · 17/09/2017 08:44

Yes, reading. I'm not being facetious - the new spec plays to the strengths of children who read a range of material. Get her reading a newspaper (or at least some articles) at least once a week - maybe a Saturday paper. It'll help to get the style of persuasive and informative writing. Read a range of fiction and look up words you don't know. It's much easier to do creative writing if you're familiar with stories that have a bit of suspense and atmosphere. Play audio books on car journeys if it helps. Have a go at writing at home.
If she doesn't like reading, then you'll need to focus on building up skills, so try the Mr Bruff videos on YouTube, CGP revision guides and Mrs Wheelan on YouTube and near to exams use the Collins Snap revision guides, which are excellent. They have practice questions that are very close to the exam style. Really try to improve spelling and know how to use a range of punctuation and when to start a new paragraph.

MaisyPops · 17/09/2017 08:48

Get her reading lots. It can be newspapers, books, non fiction etc.

Make sure they spend a good amount of time on homework. It's there for a reason. Last year there was a correlation between effort in homework and outcome in my class.

Mr Bruff videos can be good (though i find him a little patronising about schools - one video was all 'now your teacher probably won't tell you this but...' which annoyed me because it felt he was presenting himself as some kind of saviour from crap teachers).

Get spelling and punctuation workbooks.

Have her write lots of extended creative pieces. It's worth 50% of thr language marks.

LooseAtTheSeams · 17/09/2017 09:15

Agree about Mr Bruff - useful in small doses!
That's a good point about the homework as well - if you can, check it's been done properly and not rushed, especially to pick up any silly errors in spelling and punctuation.

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