Year 10 Reading and Writing Comprehension outline

This course is predominantly Language-based and follows the Cambridge International Examinations curriculum for English First Language. It prepares students with a range of skills required to succeed in senior study, providing a robust bridge from what they have learned previously.

The course has a dual purpose: for students who are sitting, or plan to sit, the IGCSE English Language examination, this course will prepare them for both the Reading and Writing papers. Students not sitting this examination will directly benefit from exposure to a range of both literary and non-fiction texts, new vocabulary, the analysis of language and interpretation of its effects. Students will learn that English Language and English Literature courses have overlapping but fundamentally different aims and approaches.

• Module 1 introduces students to persuasive writing. Students will learn how to write rhetorically, with a range of different tones and argumentative styles, and what constitutes a good and bad argument, through a range of topics of debate and discussion. They will learn how to discern arguments from what they read, as well as strategies to flip and challenge those arguments.
• Module 2 will be focused on the analysis of effects of language. Students will learn the difference between literal and figurative language, how to create and analyse images produced by words, and expand both their denotative vocabulary and interpretive skill through being exposed to a range of writing.
• Module 3 will introduce students to creative writing, building skills in both descriptive and narrative writing. They will learn how to create vivid sensory imagery and describe settings in terms of light, sound and colour. They will consider the ingredients of a good story and think imaginatively about how to hook and twist their readers.
• In Module 4, students will be prepared for future study in Literature. They will be exposed to a range of poetry and prose texts, organised into several topics: Gothic literature, love, childhood, the environment, and cultural difference. Students will discuss the ideas raised in the texts and how the language contributes to an understanding of these ideas, learning how to interpret literature in a sophisticated way.