using the three skills we developed yesterday…

Using the three skills we developed yesterday…

Step One: Skim read the text in front of you and work out the surface

meaning. Sum it up on the post it.

Then be prepared to compete with the others in the room to show me what you have learnt and where in

the text you found this out.

Fastest (correct) surface meaning to the board will

be the first to get treats.

English Language Unit One Exam: 4th June 2013Question One: “What do we learn from the text about…?”

1. Surface meaning 2. Infer what we have learnt 3. Quote

What do we learn from the text?

I am going to ask you to find the best quotes to

support these three points.

The people who get these (correct) the quickest will receive expensive looking

boiled sweets.



Which quote best supports what we have learnt about:1. The reasons for Jonah’s

difficult childhood2. Jonah’s experiences at

school3. The religion that Jonah

found most interesting

Question One: “What do we learn from the text about…”Step One: Skim for surface meaning

Step Two: Infer and deduce what we have learnt Step Three: Retrieve quotes

Finding Peace in Tibet

Jonah Smith had spent most of his life growing up on a Manchester housing estate. Life was tough for Jonah: his mother was addicted to alcohol and he didn’t know his father. As a teenager, Jonah worked in his local corner shop to make enough money to at least feed himself. What little he had left he gave to his mother to try and keep the house running. His mother never used the money for running the house. Jonah knew exactly what she used it for; it was obvious from the pile of cans that he would have to trample over each morning on his was to school. Jonah decided very early on in life that he wanted to be good at something. He knew he didn’t want to be like his mother – though he loved her, he could see that her life had descended into chaos. Jonah worked hard at school, he wasn’t always successful, but none of his reports could fault his hard work and endeavour. Jonah found that he was good at RE. This was an additional problem for him because he knew this was not a subject many of his friends took seriously. However, he found it interesting and liked learning about people from other cultures. One particular religion excited Jonah: he was fascinated by Buddhism. On the internet, Jonah found some information about the Dalai Lama. Having read about his life story, Jonah resolved that this would be his purpose: he wanted to go to Tibet to see where the Dalai Lama lived. Thereafter, Jonah worked extra shifts whenever he could in order to save money. He worked even harder at school to make sure that he got the best grades that he could in order to give him the best chance of getting a better job so he could save even more money.

You should know by now that…

• Question One always asks: “What do we learn from the text about…?”

• It is worth 8 marks.

• You should spend about 12 minutes on this question.



Today’s aims…

• To be aware of how to answer question one of the English Language exam

• To be able to work within the time constraints of the exam

• To be able to write a Band Four response



Our analogy…

Our analogy for question one is a sieve.

Why do you think this is?

Can you think of any analogies of your own?



We need to get rid of all the rubbish…

And just find out what the text is really getting at.

What is it’s meaning?

What is it trying to tell us?

What opinions are present? Meaning



Question One always asks: “What do we learn from the text about…?”

In question one you have to do three things:

Show that you

understand the surface meaning of

the text.

Retrieve information –

finding quotations to show that you

understand the meaning.

Read between the lines to

make inferences and assumptions

about the attitudes, tone

and ideas.



Speed up: Question One PracticeThe problem is that you won’t have very much time on this in the exam – so we

need to speed up how we skim, infer and retrieve quotes.

Again, you’re going to compete with the others in the room – but this time you

have to work as a team.



Speed up: Question One PractiseYou each have a mini text and a grid.

You simply have to skim for the surface meaning, make three points, find evidence to support them, fill in your grid…

Then teach it to your group!The group who ALL complete their table the quickest receive

high quality saccharine delights.

I will be checking your answers are correct



Remember what you have to do…

Five minutes reading time…

Your exam is 2 hours 15 minutes. They recommend you spend the first 15 minutes

reading the 3 texts you have.

So I will give you 5 minutes to read the text. Do not begin writing your answer in this time, but

you should PLAN it.



You have exactly 12 minutes to write your response…

Aim to write at least three paragraphs.

Don’t forget to quote and try to add as much detail as you can about what you are learning

and inferring.



Time to reflect…

What is the important information you need to

remember in order to answer this question?

Consolidate your knowledge and give yourself some advice – but pass it through the sieve

first – only the most crucial information should go on here.

using the three skills we developed yesterday…

Documents

surface meaning step

correct surface meaning

text aboutstep

interesting question

english language unit

life story

best chance

best grades