Service Description

Phase 2: It is a 1-to-3 course. Each class will give students the opportunity to write answers to entrance exam questions under timed conditions, followed by discussion and detailed feedback. Then, for each question and paper, I will show students my own written examples of answers, so students can see what a 'perfect' answer would be. My written examples will demonstrate the point, evidence, explain method (PEE), and give examples of how to comment on writers' imagery, syntax, and style. Lesson 1: Shrewsbury 1: Lord of the Nutcracker Men. Context and genre: historical novel set in WW1. Skills: using historical context to answer questions accurately. Lesson 2: Leicester High: The Leopard. Genre: autobiographical writing. Skills: how writers use the senses to convey thoughts and feelings. Lesson 3: Sevenoaks 2012: two passages from different genres and periods (travel writing and gothic horror). Skills: a) How writers use the senses to create mood and atmosphere; b) how to write a comparison of two different passages in a 'compare and contrast' task. Lesson 4: Christ's Hospital: Shirley Jackson (short story passage). Skills: a) understanding an unreliable narrator; b) explaining idiomatic expressions and American English. Lesson 5: ISEB Level 2 poetry: 7 June 2017: Piano Concert. Skills: a) understanding and explaining metaphors and similes in poetry; b) reading beyond the literal and making inferences about characters based on evidence. Lesson 6: ISEB 13+ prose passage: Helen Forrester Level 2 (Jan 2017). Genre: autobiographical prose. Skills: a) understanding complex imagery; b) how writers convey feelings; c) writing an accurate summary based on textual evidence. Lesson 7: ISEB poem level 2: A sense of History. Genre: poetry. Skills: a) reading between the lines; b) understanding texts with historical settings; c) how senses convey meanings. Lesson 8: Sevenoaks 2018: Genre: Dickens passage/classic 19th-century novel - with extra questions. Skills: a) understanding first-person narrators; b) making inferences; c) understanding how rooms convey character; d) using quoted evidence and textual support. Lesson 9: Colfe's: Sons and Lovers: Genre: 20th psychological novel. Skills: a) close focus on imagery; b) understanding non-standard England and dialect; c) making inferences from small details. Lesson 10: Alleyns: Snow Child. Genre: magic realism. Skill: How writers use words, phrases, and syntax to convey atmosphere.