Getting through your child's English GCSEs

Four months to go – getting ready for your English exams.

So… GCSEs approaching – what as a parent can I do to help my child?

There actually is still an awful lot that can be done.

Get to grips with the texts. As a minimum, GCSE classes will have read the whole play once through. (And of course, worked on it, analysed it, done practice questions on it, but in reality, only will have read it once.) This does mean, I would suggest, that in spare time, (ha ha ha) the texts each be read again.

As a quick side note: Shakespeare is hard. Students generally find Shakespeare tougher than much of the rest of the texts in the literature course. (Actually, and possibly the poems too.)? I have written a side blog about this, which you can also find on Free Stuff via my website. However, in essence, if your child is really struggling, I would highly recommend the Shakespeare made easy series. In essence, it has the old language, sitting directly opposite to a modern interpretation. This is very helpful at allowing the student the chance to grasp the meanings within the storyline, without being bogged down in the language. I have heard several times: “I didn’t know it meant that!” when they have read it. In addition, the CGP complete play texts are very useful, again, a plethora of useful notes to aid understanding, inform about context and explain the language devices used. I am NOT on commission; I just have seen these help struggling students time and again.

Another thing that can help your child is the ability to ‘see’ the text. A quick search will always find an obliging Shakespeare play/ Christmas Carol at Christmas time etc. Seeing a play is a privilege that many cannot afford sadly, so another option is that The National Theatre frequently churn out a live production which is spontaneously screened at the cinema. A theatre feel for a fraction of the price. Additionally, there are some stonking film adaptations. Do your research, and you can likely find one on Amazon, BBC or Netflix.

On the subject of watching things, there are really good versions of An Inspector Calls (BBC – 2015), several brilliant versions of A Christmas Carol, and many versions of the other texts on offer, just do your research – seeing it physically just gets the characters and the plot embedded in the memory so much better.

LEARN YOUR QUOTES.

I cannot emphasise this enough. Quote learning can’t really be learnt in class. I tried once and it was bedlam. Three students came out competent and the rest had enjoyed a jolly for thirty-five minutes! Quote learning is a long, repetitious activity, that has to be returned to regularly, in order to embed it fully. Quotes need to be learnt for the Shakespeare text, the modern text, the Victorian text, and several for each of the poems in the respective anthologies – which is fifteen. Basically, an awful lot. Students often make the mistake of doing this near the end of the course, having more spare time is a pipe dream. Even, collating quotes can be a minefield, there is the panic of having got enough of each main character, and enough for most themes, for all texts, plus the poems ad infinitum. (I have quote sheets also available on Free Stuff on my website too. I cannot promise that it has every quote possible, for every text available, but I have managed to get most character and theme related quotes, for most of the main texts.)

Once you have learnt each quote basically, and this is no mean feat, pop your quote revision sheets on common view places: fridge, toilet door, (!) snack cupboard, wall to the side of bed etc.

Take every opportunity to get help. Lunch clubs, after school, breakfast sessions, take them all. In them, teachers will keep going through past exam papers, skills needed and what pushes marks up higher. It does feel hard, and it is so time consuming, but that glorious long summer will stretch all the way from the last exam to September, so just try to know that the reward will come, just not yet.

If you feel a little more confident, try writing for yourself. ‘How does the writer present/ use language to present….’ A certain character, an issue or theme in a play or novel.

You could also practise making decisions about what excerpts might be used in a possible question. Let me explain. Half the stress in an exam is worrying what the question might be, and whether you, the student, have that knowledge. Why not try and plan for every possibility?! On my website I have a template (Of course you do…) and it’s entitled themes and quotes. Once printed, (Or copied from – I don’t mind!) the idea is that you try to think of every possible theme that might come up. Eg Merchant of Venice – money, racism, loyalty to name a few. Then you try to think of all the quotes that would fit that theme appropriately. ‘O my ducats! O my daughter!’ would fit well for both money and loyalty. Ie, Shylock appears to value his money equal to if not more than his daughter. She may well know this, which is why she left with his money – hence family.

Once you have thought of and found five or six quotes that would appropriately cover that theme, you’ve made yourself a very basic exam plan! Even more so, you’ve done the tough thinking already. This also, should go up on the fridge door.

I hope you found this helpful. If you would like find some of the resources that I have been talking about, for quote sheets and more, please feel free to go to www.writeontuition.co.uk and go to Free Stuff. If you have a secondary school child and are either concerned for their progress, and would like to see some well-priced, affordable English tuition, or if you home-school and would like some home-schooling English resources or just general English help, then please peruse my website. I have created website subscription access to personalised tuition designed to help students along in their course, to get help designed specifically for them to enjoy, make progress, and achieve further.?