📘 Course Title:
GCSE English Mastery | Year 11 Recap in 25 Weeks (Paper 1 & 2 Focus)
📘 Week Focus:
Linking Ideas with Discourse Markers
Skill: Transition logically between claim, evidence, analysis, and counterclaims
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5 (Persuasive/Argumentative writing)
✅ Real-World Task:
Read This Example Argument Extract:
Some people believe homework is a waste of time. However, it teaches students discipline and time management. For instance, revising regularly for short tasks builds better long-term memory. On the other hand, excessive homework can increase student stress levels.
Task:
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Highlight all discourse markers (e.g. However, For instance, On the other hand).
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List what each one does (e.g. contrast, example, add a new idea, introduce a counterpoint).
📝 Exam Practice Task:
Write a short argument (6–8 lines) in response to the following statement:
"Phones should be completely banned from schools."
Instructions:
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Use at least four discourse markers (e.g. Firstly, In addition, However, For example, Despite this, On balance).
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Try to move smoothly between your ideas, evidence, and counterpoints.
🌟 Optional Extension:
Give students a mixed list of sentences and discourse markers, then challenge them to match and reorder them into a logical paragraph.
Week 1 – Finding the Main Idea
Skill: Determine the main idea of a passage
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q1–2
✅ Real-world: Read a news paragraph. Summarise the main point in one sentence.
📝 Exam Practice: Summarise the main differences between two short articles about transport.
Week 2 – Audience and Purpose + Formality
Skills: Identify audience and purpose, Which text is most formal?
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Compare a TikTok comment and a formal report on the same topic.
📝 Exam Practice: Write the opening to a letter to your MP — then rewrite it for Instagram.
Week 3 – Subjective vs Objective Tone
Skill: Compare passages for subjective and objective tone
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q4
✅ Real-world: Label opinion and fact in two product reviews.
📝 Exam Practice: Compare how each writer presents their viewpoint and tone.
Week 4 – Tone and Narrative Perspective
Skills: Compare passages for tone, Identify the narrative point of view
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q2 + Q4
✅ Real-world: Read two story openings — one angry, one hopeful. Label the tone and narrator.
📝 Exam Practice: What point of view is used and how does it shape our impression of the character?
Week 5 – Understanding Allusions
Skills: Interpret the meaning of an allusion from its source, Recall the source of an allusion
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q2–4
✅ Real-world: Match common allusions (e.g. “Scrooge”, “Pandora’s Box”) with their meanings.
📝 Exam Practice: Explain the effect of an allusion in a persuasive article.
Week 6 – Spotting Language Techniques
Skill: Interpret figures of speech
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q2
✅ Real-world: Find 3 examples of similes or metaphors in music lyrics or an advert.
📝 Exam Practice: Annotate a short fiction extract to identify and explain a metaphor.
Week 7 – Classifying Figurative Language
Skills: Classify euphemism, hyperbole, oxymoron, paradox + review
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q2 + Q5
✅ Real-world: Classify 4 phrases — e.g. “I’m so hungry I could die,” “seriously funny.”
📝 Exam Practice: Write one of each type into a mini-descriptive paragraph.
Week 8 – Effects of Figurative Language
Skill: Analyse the effects of figures of speech on meaning and tone
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q2
✅ Real-world: Read a short story sentence. How does the metaphor affect the mood?
📝 Exam Practice: Write a paragraph analysing the effect of figurative language.
Week 9 – Short Story Study (Part 1)
Skill: Analyse short stories – set 1
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q1–3
✅ Real-world: Read a short fictional extract. Identify character mood and setting.
📝 Exam Practice: Answer Paper 1 Q2 and Q3 based on the extract.
Week 10 – Short Story Study (Part 2)
Skill: Analyse short stories – set 2
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q4
✅ Real-world: Read another short passage. Discuss how the character is judged by others.
📝 Exam Practice: Do you agree with the statement that the character is misunderstood?
Week 11 – Informational Structure (Part 1)
Skill: Analyse the development of informational passages – set 1
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q3
✅ Real-world: Identify how a news article builds its case — intro, examples, expert view.
📝 Exam Practice: How does the writer organise their argument?
Week 12 – Informational Structure (Part 2)
Skill: Analyse the development of informational passages – set 2
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q3
✅ Real-world: Create a paragraph-by-paragraph plan of an online opinion piece.
📝 Exam Practice: How does the structure help build the message?
Week 13 – Tracing Arguments (Part 1)
Skill: Trace an argument – set 1
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q4
✅ Real-world: Break down a blog’s argument into claim, evidence, conclusion.
📝 Exam Practice: Write your own response to the blog post including your view.
Week 14 – Tracing Arguments (Part 2)
Skill: Trace an argument – set 2
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Plan your own opinion paragraph using one clear argument.
📝 Exam Practice: Write a mini-argument using claim, support, and conclusion.
Week 15 – Rhetorical Techniques (Part 1)
Skill: Analyse rhetorical strategies in historical texts – set 1
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q2
✅ Real-world: Highlight emotive language and repetition in a famous speech.
📝 Exam Practice: Analyse how the speaker tries to influence the reader.
Week 16 – Rhetorical Techniques (Part 2)
Skill: Analyse rhetorical strategies in historical texts – set 2
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Write your own three-line call to action using rhetorical questions.
📝 Exam Practice: Begin a speech to your school using rhetorical devices.
Week 17 – Topic Organisation (Broad to Narrow)
Skill: Order topics from broadest to narrowest
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5 Planning
✅ Real-world: Rearrange topics like “Sport, Cricket, Test Cricket” in logical order.
📝 Exam Practice: Mind map your argument before planning a structure.
Week 18 – Organising Ideas by Topic
Skill: Organise information by topic
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Sort facts into three main topics about a chosen issue.
📝 Exam Practice: Turn those into three topic paragraphs for an opinion article.
Week 19 – Topic Sentences and Paragraph Control
Skill: Choose the topic sentence that best captures the main idea
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Read three topic sentences. Match them to correct paragraphs.
📝 Exam Practice: Write three topic sentences for an article about school stress.
Week 20 – Fact or Opinion?
Skill: Distinguish facts from opinions
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q4
✅ Real-world: Underline factual vs opinion statements in a leaflet.
📝 Exam Practice: Compare how two writers use fact and opinion differently.
Week 21 – Strong Evidence and Support
Skills:
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Identify stronger and weaker evidence
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Choose the best evidence
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Identify supporting evidence in a text
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q4 + Q5
✅ Real-world: Rank three examples of evidence by how convincing they are.
📝 Exam Practice: Write a short paragraph using the strongest support for your view.
Week 22 – Counterclaims and Analysis
Skills:
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Evaluate counterclaims
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Choose the analysis that connects to the claim
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Read a short opinion piece. Identify the counterargument.
📝 Exam Practice: Write your own paragraph and respond to a possible challenge.
Week 23 – Linking Arguments Effectively
Skill: Transition logically between claim, evidence, analysis and counterclaims
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Rearrange a scrambled persuasive paragraph into a logical order.
📝 Exam Practice: Write one full paragraph using clear linking between ideas.
Week 24 – Persuasive Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Skills:
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Identify appeals in advertisements
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Use appeals in persuasive writing
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Label an advert’s phrases as ethos, pathos or logos.
📝 Exam Practice: Write one example of each appeal for a campaign about school safety.
Week 25 – Style & Sentence Clarity
Skills:
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Use personification
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Use conjunctive adverbs
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Avoid double, illogical and unclear comparisons
🎯 Relevant to: Paper 1 Q5 & Paper 2 Q5
✅ Real-world: Edit a messy paragraph to make it clearer and more powerful.
📝 Exam Practice: Write a descriptive paragraph using all three of today’s skills.
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