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Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s lesson we began our work on English comprehension. Today we focused on developing an overview of the most important skills for comprehension, thinking about the skillset involved with literary analysis, the four central question types (simple evidence, P.E.E., in your own words, meaning of words and phrases) and the ways in which the students should train their brain to think for the 11+ exams or similar comprehension tests. We worked with the paper assigned to today’s lesson, focusing on the questions the students found the most difficult and working out how to analyse and understand the papers themselves, learning techniques to help us unpick quotes and dig into the core meaning. Fab work today everyone- you were all super engaged and worked very hard, coming up with some fantastic ideas for important quotations and why you enjoyed them. Well done and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Connotation video: https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/cc-5th-reading-vocab/x798e47233e450b09:cc-5th-athletes-in-action/x798e47233e450b09:applying-vocabulary-knowledge/v/connotation-reading
11+ tips video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygZGNXEekM
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s lesson we continued our work on comprehension, focusing today on imagery and how to analyse it. We spoke about the five types of imagery (visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile) and the notion of images that have symbolic resonance to them. The class began by analysing a piece of unseen figurative language, applying the language of connotations to their analysis and thinking about the intended effect, before using these skills on the past paper from this week. They wrote their own examples of vivid imagery, ones that focused particularly on the different senses, and we finished with a rundown of the questions the students wanted to discuss from the past papers. Wonderful work today class, really exceptional analysis today! Keep it up and I’ll see you soon 🙂
Imagery video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmbJ7c_wEE
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s class we worked on using quotations and analysing them well. We dug into this week’s papers, thinking about suspense and how to identify ways it is being created, such as techniques like pathetic fallacy. The class completed quotation analysis and we then went through the more difficult questions. We looked at a video that showed us how to pick a quotation apart and discussed the importance of picking out literary techniques. The class then applied this to a question from this week before we learned some key tips for the 11+, considering the way the mark schemes work. Well done for your work today everyone, you have all been fantastic. Keep it up and see you next week 🙂
Quotation vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfOlrJuicE
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 4
In today’s class we focused tightly on metaphorical language, analysing the concept of literary techniques, figurative language and the effect on the reader. We began by deeply analysing metaphor and how it functions, unpacking examples of our own, before thinking about the importance of trying to work out why the author has used a technique and what their desired effect may be. We thought about this week’s paper and analysed it deeply, pausing on questions that centre around metaphorical language, and the class finally looked at lots of different kinds of techniques and their impact. Well done everyone, really great analytical work today. Keep up the hard work and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 5
In today’s lesson we reached the halfway point of our course and so began the lesson with some literary analysis, before focusing on poetic analysis and the “meaning of words and phrases” question type. We looked at analysing a specific metaphor from the text that had been a little more difficult, thinking about being confident in our own interpretations and using our own creative interpretations. Then, we looked at the specific features of poetry that can be analysed to determine the mood or emotions of a poem, such as rhyme and rhythm. Finally, we finished up with some discussion of the more difficult questions in this week’s texts, and by thinking about our favourite lines from the poem. Wonderful work everyone- some lovely ideas today. Keep up the fab work 🙂
Figurative language video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2CRxHOgxBM&t=23s
What makes a poem a poem video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhouCNq-Fc
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 6
In today’s lesson we focused on how the students could use their own questioning skills, writing and techniques to better understand comprehension papers, developing their thoughts on how to dig under the skin of an author’s language. We looked at how to develop inference skills and discussed the questions that the class tended to struggle with and why they thought that was, and thought deeply about connotation and denotation. Futhermore, we completed some analytical work on P.E.E. to help the class keep their language analysis skills sharp and the class ended by writing their own 11+ questions to help them get into the head of the examiner. Lovely work today everyone- you were all super alert and enthusiastic throughout. Very well done and see you next week 🙂
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s lesson myself and the class focused on the analysis of structure in writing, thinking about why it is important to unpick structural features alongside linguistic ones. We focused on several question types, thinking about P.E.E., meaning of words and phrases and finally working on the foundations of ‘in your own words’ questions, using structure as a lens through which to view these. Finally, we touched on characterisation and how to extract the way the character presents to the outside world from their inner monologue. Super work from the class today as usual- they all came up with some wonderful ideas and shared beautifully throughout. Well done guys, I was really impressive with your work; I’ll see you soon 😊
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 8
In today’s lesson we worked on high-mark questions (those worth six or more marks) thinking about how to structure these answers and how to use topic sentences and concluding sentences to frame an argument. We worked on a passage from Heart of Darkness, thinking about how to apply P.E.E. to this in a way that creates sharp, astute analysis. We also looked at some general ideas of elements of a piece to analyse (theme, character, setting) and spoke about different approaches to P.E.E. where you can identify the quotations you want to analyse before coming up with your overall point. Super work from the class today, everyone was focused and asked some excellently perceptive questions. Well done everyone- remember to check for the multiple choice answers before next lesson so by the time you come to class you have your work marked in preparation and know which questions you found difficult or strange, remember to focus on the ones you do not know how you got wrong. See you then! 🙂
Video from today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0edKgL9EgM
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 9
In today’s class we ran through our multiple choice paper, thinking about the unique challenges and benefits of this exam type and carefully examining the two papers attached to this week. We looked at the papers carefully, going through answers and the explanations for them, before having a Q&A session on the exam and comprehension more generally. Finally, we finished up with some final high-mark question revision and a few key tips for comprehension exams in general. Fab and enthusiastic work today everyone- you are all going to do brilliantly on your mocks I am sure! Remember to have a little revise for next week and keep practicing your quotation analysis and P.E.E. structures to gain the top marks. I’ll see you soon & have a lovely week!
Summing Up
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Summary for Lesson 10
In today’s class we completed our mini mock exam, with the class spending 45 minutes working on a mock 11+ paper. Very well done everyone, you’ve all been fantastic today and over the past ten weeks. You should be very proud of all your hard work. Remember to upload your papers so I can mark them and remember to always be confident in yourselves, you are all brilliant thinkers! Keep up the great work and see you next course 🙂
Summing Up
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Dear Beth please find Sophia’s exam she didn’t watch the video unfortunately as we were on vacations</p>
kind regards
afrodite
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