IGCSE First Language & Literature
Revision Work Package
Winter Holiday 2011 – 2012
My holiday gift to you...
Read over the pack on Papers & Processes and the revision checklist to help you plan your revision. These are a guide to all of the exam questions you will sit; you need to be familiar with what to do. The work you do now will help you with your preparation both for the mocks and the final examinations.
I am happy to look at any work that you complete. Remember, although I can give you materials to practise your exam skills with, it is up to you to manage your time and make sure that you revise effectively.
Language
· You have been given a booklet with past papers;
· I have walked you through an Extended past paper to practise;
· Remember to plan all your responses;
· Check all sheets in your folders for further activities.
Literature
It is imperative that you re-read all of your set texts.
You have a booklet of past papers.
Make notes on plot (e.g. as a timeline) / themes / characters
Try to make your revision notes memorable; stick them up around your room as a visual reminder or record yourself and listen to them.
Remember to plan your responses.
Journey’s End
· Put the events of the play in order (sheet – Activity 1) and create a timeline of events;
· Draw outlines of the characters and around them make a note of key quotations and your ideas about their: personality, role in the play, how they behave towards other characters, how other characters behave towards them / what other characters think of them (or you can use the Character Record sheet);
· Create mind maps of the central themes of the text (see the sheet on The Main Themes in the Play);
· Complete the examination practice questions below (in timed conditions; 45 minutes per question);
· Revise the notes you have on the text.
Examination Questions:
Passage-based
1. *Re-read in Act 3 from:
Raleigh: / Hello – Dennis -Stanhope: / Well, Jimmy - (smiles) - You got one quickly
To:
Stanhope: / It’s not your fault, JimmyHow does Sherriff make this such a moving moment in the play?
2. *Re-read the beginning of Act Two Scene One from:
Early next morning.
To
Trotter: / Too damn quiet. You can bet your boots the Boche is up to something. The big attack soon, I reckon. I don’t like it, Uncle. Pass the jam.In what ways does Sherriff capture the audience’s attention here, at the opening of Act Two?
Essay
1. Comment on the treatment and significance of Time in the play.
2. Hardy tells Osborne: ‘You Osborne, you ought to be commanding this company’. How far does Sherriff’s portrayal of Osborne convince you that Hardy is right about him? Support your response with evidence from the text.
Empathic
1. You are Hibbert. Stanhope has just told you to get out after the dinner you have shared together (Act 3, Scene 2). Write your thoughts
2. You are Stanhope just after the Colonel has suggested Osborne and Raleigh for the surprise daylight raid (Act Two, Scene Two). Write your thoughts.
Songs of Ourselves
· Revise the notes you have on the poems;
· Make a table on each poem and make notes on the following (include brief quotations). If it helps, you can use pictures / symbols to represent key ideas.
SubjectPurpose, message, theme
Identify emotion, mood, tone
Techniques - using SLIMS (see below)
Summary
Structure
Language
Imagery
Movement
Sounds
Examination Questions:
Passage-based
1. *Re-read Full Moon and Little Frieda. How do the words in this poem make vivid for you the picture the poet is seeking to convey?
2. *Re-read Lament. Explore how the words in this poem make vivid for you a sense of loss.
Essay
1. There are poems in the Section which capture a sense of the relationship between human beings and the environment. Choose one of the following and explore how the poet’s words communicate this relationship:
Full Moon and Little Frieda; Lament; The Flower-Fed Buffaloes
2. Choose one of the following poems and explore how the poet’s words convey a powerful sense of the passing of time:
Time; On the Grasshopper and the Cricket; So, We’ll Go No More A-Roving; Sonnet 29
3. Choose two poems from the Section which are revealing about strong memories. Show how the poets’ words communicate their thoughts to you.
Stories of Ourselves
· Revise the notes you have on the texts;
· Make a table for each story and make notes on the following (include brief quotations):
PlotCharacters
Themes
Language
Structure
Examination Questions:
Passage-based
1. *Re-read the opening of The Lemon Orchard by Alex La Guma (p. 16) to ‘... and then one of them slapped a corduroyed leg with his.’ (p. 17).
Explore the ways in which La Guma creates an atmosphere of fear and menace in this opening to the story.
2. *Re-read in The Third and Final Continent from ‘At the airport I recognised Mala immediately …(p.391)’ to ‘so many nights I had walked alone. (p.392)’.
Explore the ways in which in this passage Lahiri reveals the personalities of the narrator and his wife, and their relationship.
Essay
1. For a person to be shamed is a most painful experience. Examine two stories, Secrets and A Taste of Watermelon, where this is central to the story and show how the writing manages to convey the pain of the experience.
2. Suspense and surprise are often found in a good short story. Choose one short story from this selection in which you think this is particularly the case, and by close attention to the writing justify your choice.
Empathic
1. You are the narrator’s chauffeur, Perkins, in How It Happened. Write your statement for the police on the incident that has happened.
2. You are the mostly silent victim in The Lemon Orchard. Write your thoughts as the story progresses.
Unseens
· Re-read all materials connected with analysing literature (e.g. SPITS guide, Explode a Poem, Writing about a Poem); many of the same techniques apply to analysing prose (see sheet Analysing a Prose Unseen);
· Revise glossary of literary terms (this helps to provide you with a vocabulary of terminology to use when discussing literature);
· You have a booklet of past papers to practise from.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!