VERULAM SCHOOL English Faculty

Key Stage Four

Course

Booklet

2014-15

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Table of Contents

Verulam School English Faculty ........................................5

The English Faculty Staff......................................................6

Equipment List ........................................................................7

Programme of Study ..............................................................8

English Language ...............................................................8

Exam ...................................................................................8

Coursework .....................................................................8

Speaking and Listening ...............................................8

English Literature ..............................................................9

Exam ...................................................................................9

Coursework .....................................................................9

Coursework ............................................................................ 10

English Language Titles ................................................ 10

English Literature Titles ............................................... 10

Formatting Coursework ............................................... 11

Plagiarism .......................................................................... 12

Glossary of Grammatical Terms ..................................... 13

Glossary of Literary Terms .............................................. 15

Reading Recommendations ............................................. 21

The Carnegie Medal Shortlist (2014) ...................... 22

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Verulam School English Faculty

Welcome to the Verulam School English Faculty. Our committed team of English specialists share a passion for English and English Literature. Lessons are delivered in engaging surroundings in our dedicated English corridor in the main school. Our success at teaching English to boys is seen in our consistently excellent GCSE exam results for both English Language and English Literature.

At Key Stage 4, students undertake two GCSEs, English Language and English Literature. These internationally recognised qualifications are run by the exam board, Cambridge. Lessons will develop boys as discerning readers, mature writers and confident speakers.

Homework is an integral part of English studies at Verulam School. Homework is set to embed classroom learning and offer the opportunity for further exploration of themes, ideas and skills introduced in class. To ensure clarity, homework is explained in class and also listed on Homework Tracker.

Students will also be stretched by completing Parallel Learning, which is designed to further their study outside the classroom. Teachers will set work that will foster students’ knowledge, skills and independence, preparing them for the challenge of A level.

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The English Faculty Staff

Ms A. Quidder, Director of English Studies

Ms S. Walton, Second in Charge of English

Mrs P. Avery, Key Stage 3 Coordinator

Mr I. Jordan, Media and Drama Coordinator

Mr R. Skipper, Head of Sixth Form

Mr J. Tromans, Head of Engagement

Mr B. Jameson, English Teacher

Mr N. Brownlie, English and Drama Teacher

Mr S. Whorrid, Media and Drama Teacher

Ms V. Thomas, English Teacher

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Equipment List

All boys are expected to be fully equipped with the following for every English lesson:

At least 2 working black or blue pens

A ruler

A highlighter

A green pen for corrections

A current reading book*

*When studying a text in class, it would be extremely beneficial for the boys to bring their own copy. This will allow them to annotate the book with notes that will be invaluable during their revision.

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Programme of Study

English Language

Exam – students will sit one exam that tests understanding of non-fiction texts as well as language analysis and summary skills.

Coursework – there are three pieces of written coursework that challenge students to be able to write in a range of forms and styles. These will be undertaken both in class and at home as part of homework.

Speaking and Listening – students will be recorded performing an individual presentation, a paired discussion and a group discussion.

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English Literature

Exam – as part of their Literature course, students will sit two exams at the end of Year 11.

The first exam, ‘Poetry and Prose’, carries 50% of the overall weighting of the course. Students will study a selection of Thomas Hardy poem and the literary classic, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. They will be required to demonstrate their knowledge of the texts and analyse the writers’ use of language.

The second exam, ‘Drama’, is worth 25% of the course. Here, students will answer one analytical question on the play, An Inspector Calls.

Coursework – students will complete two extended analytical essays for their coursework. One of the essays will be an exploration of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which will also benefit students’ understanding of this exam text. For the second essay, there are a number of texts that may be studied, from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Steinbeck’s American classic Of Mice and Men.

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Coursework

English Language Titles Assignment 1: Write article for a local newspaper entitled ‘Don’t get me started on…’ (500-800 words)

Assignment 2: Write a description of an extreme weather event (500-800 words)

Assignment 3: Write a letter to the editor of the Daily Mail regarding Tanith Carey’s article ‘The chilling truth about violent video games…’ (500-800 words)

English Literature Titles Assignment 1: How does Stevenson create tension in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? (600-1200 words)

Assignment 2: How does Shakespeare present love and hatred in Romeo and Juliet? (600-1200 words)

OR

How is violence represented in Of Mice and Men? (600-1200 words)

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Formatting Coursework

First impressions count. It is important that when submitting final drafts of coursework, students present their work professionally and clearly. In case your son is struggling to resist the temptation to include pictures and use “Wingdings”, we’ve put together a short check list to ensure he’s on the right track.

Checklist □ Assignment task and full name written in the

header □ Professional font (e.g. Calibri, Arial or Times

New Roman) □ Font size 10-12 □ Word count included at the bottom of the

document □ Have you read it out loud? (This is the best

way to make sure you haven’t missed any errors that will cost you marks.)

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Plagiarism

Plagiarism is presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own. The following are all examples of plagiarism:

Quoting or using material without citing the original source or writer. Sources can include web sites, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, TV and radio programs, films and videos.

Buying an essay online or downloading an essay from a free site.

Copying or using work done by another student.

If you use someone else’s words or ideas, you must give them credit. This is why, when quoting from a poem or novel, we use quotation marks.

Teachers and examiners are usually very good at spotting plagiarism and will not knowingly submit any plagiarised work to the exam board. Like all forms of cheating, plagiarism is treated very seriously at Verulam. We expect the boys to be honest and students must ensure the work they submit is their own.

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Glossary of Grammatical Terms

Term Guidance Adjective Used before a noun to make the noun’s meaning

more specific. For example. The Verulam blazer is blue. (Blue being the adjective).

Adverb An adverb can add detail by modifying a verb, adjective or another adverb. For example: The match was really exciting. The adverb is ‘really’.

Apostrophe Either shows the place of missing letters as in ‘I’m’ or for marking possession as in: John’s bike.

Clause A clause is a special type of phrase whose head is a verb. Clauses can sometimes be complete sentences. Clauses may be main or subordinate.

Cohesion A text has cohesion if it is clear how the meanings of its parts fit together.

Compound sentences

A sentence in which two clauses are linked with a connective.

Homophone Two words that sound the same when pronounced but are spelt differently and have different meanings, such as ‘here’ and ‘hear’.

Main clause

A sentence contains at least one clause which is not subordinate, such a clause is the main clause.

Noun The surest way to identify nouns is by the ways they can be used. For example, most nouns will fit into the frame ‘The ……. Matter/s.’

Noun phrase

A noun phrase is a phrase with a noun at its head, e.g. Adult foxes can jump. ‘Adult’ modifies ‘foxes’ so the noun phrase is ‘adult foxes’, foxes being the noun.

Object An object is normally a noun, pronoun or noun phrase that comes straight after the verb and shows what the verb is acting upon.

Past tense Verbs in the past tense are commonly used to: • talk about the past as in ‘Antonio went on holiday to Brazil.’

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• talk about imagined situations as in ‘I wish I had a puppy.’ • make a request sound more polite as in ‘I was hoping you’d help me tomorrow.’

Phrase A phrase is a group of words that are grammatically connected so that they stay together and that expand a single word, called the ‘head’.

Plural A plural noun normally has a suffix ‘s’ or ‘es’ to indicate more than one.

Present tense

Verbs in the present tense are commonly used to: • talk about the present as in ‘James goes to the pool every day.’ • talk about the future as in ‘The bus arrives at 3:35pm.’

Pronoun Pronouns are normally used like nouns except that: • they are grammatically more specialised • it is harder to modify them. For example, the sentence: ‘Amanda waved to Michael’ uses proper nouns (names) the same sentence using pronouns would be: ‘She waved to him.’

Subject The subject of a verb is normally the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that names the ‘do-er’.

Subordinate clause

A clause that is reliant on some other part of the same sentence. For example ‘The apple that I ate was sour.’ ‘that I ate’ is the subordinate clause.

Syllable A syllable sounds like a beat in a word. Syllables consist of at least one vowel and possibly one or more consonants.

Synonym Two words are synonyms if they have the same or similar meanings such as ‘wonderful’ and ‘fantastic’.

Tense This is the choice between past, present and future verbs.

Verb Verbs are often called ‘doing words’ however, they can also state feelings rather than actions.

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Glossary of Literary Terms

Alliteration - the repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of several consecutive words in the same line e.g. ‘Five miles meandering in a mazy motion’ (from ‘Kubla Khan’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Aside – words spoken by a character on stage that are not intended to be heard by the other characters present

Assonance – the repetition of similar vowel sounds e.g. ‘There must be Gods thrown down and trumpets blown’ (from ‘Hyperion’ by John Keats), showing the paired assonance of ‘must’ and ‘trum...’ and ‘thrown’ and ‘blown’

Atmosphere – the pervading feeling created by a description of the setting, or the action; for example, foreboding, happiness

Audience – the people being communicated to

Aural imagery – images created through sound, by the use of techniques such as alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia

Autobiography – an account of a person’s life written by him or herself

Biography – a written account or history of the life of an individual

Blank verse – unrhymed poetry that adheres to a strict pattern in that each line is an iambic pentameter (a ten-syllable line with five stresses). It is close to the rhythm of speech or prose

Characterisation – the variety of techniques that writers use to create and present their characters, including description of their appearance, their actions, their speech and how other characters react to them

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Climax – The most important event in the story or play

Connotation – an association attached to a word or phrase in addition to its dictionary definition.

Denouement – near the ending of a play, novel, or drama, where the plot is resolved

Direct speech – the words that are actually spoken

Drama – a composition intended for performance before an audience

Dramatic incitement – the incident which provides the starting point for the main action of the play

Dramatic irony – a situation in a play, the irony of which is clear to the audience but not to the characters, e.g. in Twelfth Night, where Olivia and Orsino do not know that ‘Cesario’ (Viola) is really a girl disguised as a boy

Episode – a scene within a narrative that develops or is connected to the main story

Exposition – the opening of the play which introduces characters and sets the scene

Fact – something which has been established as true and correct

Fiction – a story that is invented, not factual, though it may be based on events that actually happened

Form – the way a poem is structured or laid out

Free Verse – a form of poetry not using obvious rhyme patterns or a consistent metre

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Iambic Pentameter – a line of verse containing five feet, each foot having an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Imagery – the use of words to create a picture or image in the reader’s mind

Imperatives – commands

Interior monologue – similar to a soliloquy, a character talking to him or herself

Interview – a meeting between two people – e.g. a journalist and a celebrity using questioning and discussion to ascertain information or for entertainment value

Irony – the conveyance of a meaning that is opposite to the literal meaning of the words, e.g. ‘This is a fine time to tell me’, (when it is actually an inappropriate time); a situation or outcome which has a significance unforeseen at the time

Language of Advertising – features and techniques commonly found in advertising, e.g. appealing adjectives, exaggeration

Metaphor – figure of speech in which a person or thing is describes as being the thing it resembles, e.g. ‘she’s a tiger’ to describe a ferocious person

Mood - the atmosphere created by a piece of writing

Narration, first person – the telling of a story through the voice of a character, in their own words, e.g. “I went to the fair, even though I hated it”

Narration, third person – the telling of a story through the voice of the author, describing the actions of the characters, e.g. ‘He went to the fair, even though he hated it’

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Narrative Structure – the way that a piece of story writing has been put together, for example, in a novel, the development of the plot through the arrangement of chapters and who is telling the story

Narrative techniques – the ways in which an author tells a story

Narrator – the person telling the story

Objective information – factual ideas

Onomatopoeia – when a word sounds like the noise it describes, e.g. ‘pop’ or ‘the murmuring of innumerable bees’

Opinion – a view held by some but not necessarily by others

Personification – the attribution of human qualities or feelings to inanimate objects; a kind of metaphor where human qualities are given to things or abstract ideas

Plot – the main story or scheme of connected events running through a play or novel

Poetic Voice – the ‘speaker’ of the poem – the ‘voice’ of the poem might be that of the poet but could be that of a character or persona from the poet’s imagination

Preview – a kind of report on a film, programme or book etc, soon to be released

Prose – any kind of writing which is not verse, usually divided into fiction and non-fiction

Purpose – the reason for the communication

Regular metre – a regular succession of groups of long and short, stressed and unstressed syllables in which poetry is often written

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Review – usually a kind of report on a film, programme or book etc, already released

Rhetorical Question – question raised in speech that does not require an answer (used for effect)

Rhyme – corresponding sounds in words, often at the end of each line or within lines

Rhyming Couplet – two rhyming lines of verse

Rhythm – the ‘movement’ of a poem, as created by the metre and the way that language is stressed within the poem

Setting – the period of time and the place in which the story is set

Simile – figure of speech in which a person or thing is describes as being like another, usually preceded by ‘as’ or ‘like’, e.g ‘she’s like a tiger’ to describe a ferocious person

Snapshots – separate descriptions of the stages in a sequence

Soliloquy – a speech in which a character in a play, expresses their thoughts and feelings aloud for the benefit of the audience, but not for the other characters, often in a revealing way

Stanza – the blocks of lines into which a poem is divided, forming a definite pattern

Stream of Consciousness – a narrative form where random thoughts give the impression that the words have spilled straight from the narrator’s mind

Structure – the way that a piece of story writing has been put together, for example, in a novel, the development of the plot through the arrangement of chapters

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Style – (literary) the particular way in which writers use language to express their ideas

Subjective information – personal opinions and feelings

Sub-Plot – a less important part of a story that is connected to and develops the main plot

Symbolism – similar to imagery: symbols are things that represent something else e.g. red roses are given to loved ones because they symbolise love

Theme – a central idea that the writer explores through a text, e.g. love, loss, revenge

Tone – created through the combined effects of the author’s rhythm and diction

Voice – the speaker of the poem or prose, either the poet or author’s own voice or that of an invented character

Source: http://essentiallyeducation.co.uk/learning-resources/English/gcse-english-glossary.html#.U7vpE7XFWuI

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Reading Recommendations

1984 – George Orwell

A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

Animal Farm – George Orwell

Bird Song – Sebastian Faulks

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Brighton Rock – Graham Greene

Brick Lane – Monica Ali

Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger

Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham

Grapes of Wrath – George Orwell

Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle

Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

Notes on a Small Island – Bill Bryson

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Treasure Island – R. L. Stevenson

The 39 Steps – John Buchan

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

The Withered Arm and other Wessex Tales - Thomas Hardy

The Woman in Black – Susan Hill

The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

The Carnegie Medal Shortlist (2014)

All the Truth that’s in Me - Julie Berry

The Bunker Diary – Kevin Brooks

The Child’s Elephant – Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Ghost Hawk – Susan Cooper

Blood Family – Anne Fine

Rooftoppers – Katherine Rundell

Liar and Spy – Rebecca Stead

The Wall – William Sutcliffe