Welcome to AS LEVEL English

A warm welcome to all students and their parents! We are looking forward to the 2023-2024 academic year where we would like to build a strong and trusting learning community. Please check this site regularly as it will be updated with content to be covered as well as all important dates and events. 

We believe in open communication with students and parents, so please feel free to email me or set up an appointment for a video call should you wish to discuss anything. I  am excited for the year ahead and I look forward to working with our lovely students!

Term 1 Curriculum overview

UNIT 1:  Paper 1 Text Analysis

• Identify distinguishing features of the texts and relate them to the function and context of the writing

• Learners should be encouraged to think about the contextual information provided for any passage, and to consider what they know (or can deduce) about the passage’s purpose

• Literary material: letters, diaries, essays, (auto) biographies, and narrative/descriptive

UNIT 2:  Paper 1 Directed Response

• write for a specific purpose and/or audience using appropriate  vocabulary, tone and style

• identify distinguishing features of texts 

UNIT 3: Wider Reading  

• Experience literature’s contribution to aesthetic, imaginative and intellectual growth

• Enjoy the experience of reading a wide range of literature, this will enhance writing skills

TERM 2

UNIT 1: Paper 2 Shorter writing and reflective commentary Section A

• write clearly, accurately, creatively and effectively for different purposes and audiences, using different forms

• writing a short text in response to a prompt 

• writing a reflective commentary based on how the text produced in part (a) fulfils the brief 

UNIT 2: Paper 2  Extended writing Section B

• developing lines of argument and presenting them in an ordered fashion

• giving evidence to support the lines of argument, linking coherently each line of argument

Resources:

Texts:

1. AS Level English Language and Literature by Helen Toner and Elizabeth Whittome

2. Cambridge International AS and A Level English Language by Mike Gould and Marilyn Rankin

3. AS-Level English, Exam Board:AQA B; Complete Revision & Practice

4. All past papers, mark schemes and specimen papers from Cambridge CIE Teacher Support Website

5. Outside readings taken from masters of writing in the English language as needed.

Planning:

1. Developing the toolkit for AS Level commentary writing and beyond:

• Genre, purpose, tone, mood, context, form, structure

• Point of view, figures of speech/literary devices, use of vocabulary

• Audience, voice (both author's and characters'), syntax, punctuation, grammar 

2. Wider reading (continuous): 

How to Write with Style by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, The Phoenix by Sylvia Townsend Warner, and White Fang by Jack London, The Prison by Bernard Malamud

3.  Review: sample Commentary on Shooting an Elephant

AS Level Checklist:

1. Commentary writing

   • prose, either novels or short stories: Shooting an Elephant and A Hanging by George Orwell, Assessment 1, Polar Bear past paper 2012.

   • speeches:

   • journals: extract from a British soldier during World War II

   • websites and blogs

   • newspaper opinion pieces

   • magazine article reviews

1. Imaginative writing

   • narrative writing

   • descriptive writing

   • compare and contrast pieces where students were required to write two short pieces on opposing sides of the same issue.

 3. Writing for a wider audience  

• • Newspaper and magazine articles

  • speeches

  • broadcast or voice over scripts

  • Formal and semi-formal letters

  • compare and contrast pieces where students were required to write two short pieces on opposing sides of the same issue.