GCSE English language - how to help as a parent??

[Titanium2013]

Hi everyone. My yr11 son is working at a borderline 4/5 for Eng Lang (AQA). He is totally demoralised after every practice test/mock, saying his mind goes blank and he simply doesn’t know what to write. He scrapes enough points each time but has a real downer on himself. It doesn’t help that he’s a solid grade 8 in maths so he compares his English ability to an above average ability in maths.

My question is, how can I help him?? We can’t afford a tutor but I feel I’d be able to help him myself as long as I revised it all myself. How should I go about it? Practise past papers or use actual teaching resources? Does anyone have any fail safe techniques for answering certain questions? Sorry I know it’s a bit vague, but I’m wondering if anyone else has self taught their gcse child and has some tips.

Thanks for reading.

There are plenty of English specialists on here who I am sure will advise.

My suggestion is to find past papers (there aren't many of course) and go through them with him. Get him to answer the question and then check the mark scheme together. How well did he do? What could he improve? Maybe even get him to write a fresh answer. Make sure he is including all the key facts and key terms - the AQA questions are quite formulaic and require the student to include specific things. Does he do that? Does he know the terminology? If not, that's worth practising too.

When you run out of past papers, there are teacher-created resources out there if you search. CGP guides can also be good. But the key is that he knows what is being asked of him and what he needs to say.

A good tip for the creative writing element is to have a couple of characters and the outline of a story in his head - something that can be adapted to different scenarios. DS2 had to write about "change" and he had some scene of toys in a toyshop coming alive, which he could also have used for lots of other things.

There are plenty of past GCSE papers on AQA, you can print these and your son can work through the questions. Writing is a skill, the more he practices the better he will become.

He can also do some timed questions with you at home to get him used to how much time he will have for each question in the real exams.

Speak to his English teachers and ask for advice on what would be most beneficial to him.

Emourage and praise him and boost his confidence.

Encourage**

My DS (also a maths wiz who finds English tricky) found Mr Bruff youtube videos helped with his revision before his yr10 exams. He goes through each question and what they are looking for specifically. I think he has books as well but we just watched the videos.

It's tricky. My DC both found English Language and Literature hard.

DS found using the mark schemes from past papers very useful.

It shows what the examiners are looking for and the key phrases and buzzwords.

The problem in English (as an examiner and teacher) is that there ARE no "buzzwords". The examiner is looking for you to clearly show that you understand WHAT the writer is trying to do and HOW they are doing it.

Make him READ. The more you read, the better you are at the subject. It is an exam in reading, and then writing based on the skills and the good practice you pick up as a reader.

The examiners reports are more helpful than markschemes, I would say.

One unhelpful "tip" that people often offer is picking out "techniques". We don't care that much if you know it's a simile, metaphor or the dreaded alliteration. We want to know WHY the writer has used that word/phrase.

E.g. summer 2018 paper - "mr Fisher remembered a time when books were golden".

Answer A: the writer uses a metaphor when he says "books were golden".

Answer B: when the writer says "books were golden", the word "golden" makes me think of treasure which suggests books are valuable

Answer C: when the writer says "books were golden", the word "golden" makes me think of treasure which suggests books are valuable. In addition, gold is usually used as first prize, which makes me think that books were something to be celebrated, almost like winning a competition.

A - grade 3
B - grade 5
C - grade 7

I really like the Mr Salles English language book as it makes it really clear what they have to do for each question. Don’t be put off by the 100% in the title, it is accessible at lower levels as well.

All his books are on Kindle Unlimited so you can trial them for free - plus there are the YouTube videos as well.

Perhaps order a workbook. Do timed questions as well.

Also recommend the Mr Salles book mentioned above.

Oh wow thank you so much everyone! Lots of practical tips and I’ll have a look at Mr Salles resources. Thank you!!!

Another vote for Mr Bruff. My two found his videos (free) and workbooks really helpful.

Use pictures to help. I found that past papers were very helpful when revising. Other than that, try workbooks and perhaps ask him to attend after school revision sessions etc.

My dc was a grade 4 in mocks for English and we did many of the suggestions listed here. He watched Mr Salles, read some more ‘grown up’ books (Stephen king mainly), regularly read Sunday broadsheet papers (a couple of articles a day through the week) and practised exam questions.
He managed a 6 in the end
Good luck.

Read! Read very short stores or openings of novels together - don't have to be fancy and then discuss what the the writer is trying to make the reader think, how they are doing it (words, methods) and why. For paper 2, Read an opinion article he is interested in every day and have a debate about it. Will really really increase grades

@disconnecteddrifter

Read! Read very short stores or openings of novels together - don't have to be fancy and then discuss what the the writer is trying to make the reader think, how they are doing it (words, methods) and why. For paper 2, Read an opinion article he is interested in every day and have a debate about it. Will really really increase grades

That's a great suggestion. Just practising will really really help.

I do take @Evvyjb point about not just saying this is a metaphor, this is a simile - very true. But still he does need to know what these are and identify them in the text - and yes, then say why they have been used, what they make him feel.

My DS1 struggled with that aspect - it's worth reminding your ds that there is no right or wrong answer - if he can argue something cogently then that's great.

Does the below help him to remember? It looks plausible but I'm no English expert

Could your soon stay after school with a teacher and they can give him more help until he finishes school have they asked you about extra support as my daughter has been asked to stay after school with a group of people who are struggling so they can get some extra help.

I’ve ordered a Mr Salles book from amazon and I’ve spoken to the assistant head in charge of achievement this afternoon. She is going to pass my concerns onto his English teacher but she said because he’s down as ‘secure’ with a mock result of 4/5 he won’t qualify for any coaching or interventions. She did say they’re running some booster classes in half term and if he wants to he can attend those.

He did say earlier that in the questions where he has to voice an opinion he finds it hard as he never has an opinion lol.

I take on board all of your suggestions, I do think I will need to sit with him and discuss openings/descriptions. He is a very black and white thinker, takes things too literally and finds inference quite difficult. He has no interest in fantasy or football so finding stories he likes to read is very difficult. He absolutely loved Curious Incident and Wonder so any suggestions along those lines would be gratefully received. He has read all of the Alex Rider books but doesn’t like the Young Bond as much.

He has scored 98% in his maths baseline mock this week, so this is where his heart lies but obviously a pass in English is vital for his future plans. So thanks everyone for the tips xx

Check out Mark Roberts' book You Can't revise for GCSE English Language...Yes You Can. It's fantastic

Some ideas

1. He might not have an opinion but he does not have to write as himself. What would 40 year old mum of two think?
2. P1 Q6 always start with a rhetorical question and include and expert's opinion that shows he knows how to use speech marks.
3. Start with a thesis statement for each of the reading questions. Then he can use the adjectives in his thesis statement to guide his paragraphs. I spent the week before the Mocks going over and over thesis statements and I've seen huge gains.

Lots of great suggestions already, and Mr Salles and Mr Bruff are definitely worth a look. CGP have good study guides too.
This book helped my DD - it is useful for a wider age group than 8-14, particularly for teens not keen on reading fiction. Lots of ideas for using interesting vocabulary, descriptive language etc.
www.amazon.co.uk/Descriptosaurus-Supporting-Creative-Writing-Ages-dp-1138093025/dp/1138093025/ref=dp_ob_title_bk?tag=mumsnetforu03-21
It’s worth just pulling up images from the internet to talk about….just for five minutes to brainstorm vocabulary etc. Anything…views, paintings, photographs…we looked at images from films, video games, TV. Would also suggest getting a few of those cheap whiteboards from somewhere like the Works and some whiteboard pens. Somehow those were sometimes more appealing to use than paper! Also saves on paper. 😀You can always take a picture on your phone if you want to keep the information.
Looking at past papers is really useful, and you can also find some good information on Pinterest. Good luck!

Oh and this site was useful too.
www.thenational.academy/

I work in a school library, I would recommend he tries the first book in the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore- The Recruit. Action adventure series which have a lowish reader age at first and build up as the main character ages. Also there is an excellent trilogy by Simon Mason which starts with Running Girl. There is also a second series of Percy Jackson which starts with The Lost Hero. These are for older students, perfect for your son. At my school we often find that Manga appeals to boys and girls .