English Language

Cambridge IGCSE First Language English is recommended for students who have first language proficiency and strong comprehension of English. The course offers students the opportunity to respond with understanding to a rich array of reading texts during the course as a whole. Students will use these texts to inform and inspire their own writing, and write in a range of genres for different purposes and audiences. Students will develop both their speaking and their listening skills, delivering presentations, responding to questions and engaging in conversations. Students are encouraged to become appreciative and critical readers, writers, speakers and listeners.

Course Content

For the reading paper, students will read a variety of short text materials [including fiction and non-fiction]  suitable to a Year 10 and 11 reading level of skill and maturity. Texts will include letters,  articles, speeches, newspapers and extracts from classical fiction novels. Students will be required to draw on a wide range of reading skills including (but not limited to): identifying explicit and implicit information, explaining the meaning of words, identify synonyms in a text, write extensive analytical paragraphs, decode and infer meaning, summarise and use spelling, punctuation and grammar accurately.

For the writing paper, students will write in a variety of styles – including informative, descriptive, narrative  and imaginative. This paper will require a wide range of advanced vocabulary to be used accurately and imaginatively to depict various settings, characters, emotions and messages. Furthermore, students will be expected to write extensively using a range of linguistic and structural devices to build imagery, tension and suspense for readers. Spelling and grammar are important along with the accurate use of a wide range of punctuation types to create effect for the reader.

Assessment

All students study the same content and focus on the same topics for IGCSE First Language English. Students take two exams at the end of Year 11. These exams are:

• Reading - This is a 2 hour exam worth 80 marks. Questions will be based on three reading texts.

• Directed Writing and Composition - This is a 2 hour exam worth 80 marks. This exam includes an extended writing question and a composition task.

Both exams are worth 50% of the IGCSE qualification achieved by students. The exams are both externally assessed by Cambridge with the overall grade communicated to HHIS in August, after the exams.

All students also have the opportunity to study the IGCSE Literature in English course. This is an additional subject to English First and Second Language with a separate IGCSE grade awarded.

Students will study an anthology of 15 poems, a fictional novel and two plays from the options published by Cambridge for their examination year. Please note that the texts on the list change every year and therefore each cohort of year 10 students could be studying different texts.

The syllabus enables learners to read, interpret and analyse a wide range of  texts in thorough detail and requires students to write extensive essays using a range of academic vocabulary with confidence and precision.. Learners develop an understanding of literal meaning, relevant contexts and of the deeper themes or attitudes that are expressed through the art of literature in the process of understanding the experiences of humanity through history.

Through their studies, they will build upon their previously acquired knowledge of word types and techniques to closely analyse quotations from poetry, prose and plays to recognise and appreciate the ways in which writers use English to convey their own personal messages and experiences. The syllabus also encourages the exploration of wider and universal issues, promoting learners' better understanding of themselves and of the world around them.

Course Content

During Year 10 and 11 students will study a range of literature, with the aim to develop learners who:

• Enjoy the experience of reading literature;

• Understand and respond to literary texts in different forms and from different periods and cultures;

• Communicate an informed personal response appropriately and effectively;

• Appreciate different ways in which writers achieve their effects;

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

• Explore the contribution of literature to an understanding of areas of human concern.

Assessment

All students study the same content and focus on the same topics for IGCSE Literature in English There are two exams for IGCSE Literature in English which are completed at the end of Year 11. Both exams are worth 50% of the IGCSE qualification achieved by students. The exams are both externally assessed by Cambridge.

• Poetry and Prose - This is 90 minute exam worth 50 marks. There are two questions that students answer on two different texts: one poetry and one prose. Students will spend 45 minutes answering each question writing an extensive essay for each. 

• Drama - This is 90 minute exam worth 50 marks. There are two questions that students answer on two drama texts.