* Leaners can join at any time in the cycle of lessons - please get in touch if you would like more information! *

NB - we do not follow a specific English GCSE or IGCSE Specification. We work on key reading and writing skills which are required at this level. Students who are not studying within the British system are very welcome to join!

We will develop key reading and writing skills, explore grammar, learn parts of speech and language devices, and study articles, stories and poems. Lessons will be presented on powerpoint slides, with some accompanying worksheets.

The classes run loosely as follows:
(A) Welcome and rules for discussion. Introducing today's 'Learning Objective'
(B) Starter activity - something to wake up our brains! And to think about the topic of the day.
(C) Key vocabulary - what key words will need to use today? What do they mean?
(D) Introduction to key information - what are we learning today?
(E) Oracy - Learners develop their oracy skills by discussing the day's topic and our learning so far
(F) Activity - Learners test and build on their new knowledge by, e.g. constructing written answers/ preparing a diagram/writing a responsive paragraph
(G)  Review - Learners share their work, and we discuss what we have learnt in today's session.

These are fun, lively sessions, with discussions, debates, and activities. 

The topic for the first fourteen sessions will be:
Week 1 (22nd August 2024) - Language skills: personification and metaphors 
Week 2 - (29th August) - Reading: non-fiction 
Week 3 - (6th Sept) Poetry (WWI poems)
Week 4 - (13th Sept) - Creative Writing: character
Week 5 - (20th Sept) - Reading: Gothic fiction
Week 6 - (27th Sept) - Shakespeare
Week 7 - (3rd Oct) - Essay writing skills
Week 8 - (10th Oct) - Creative writing
Week 9 (17th Oct) - Shakespeare
Week 10 (24th Oct) - Unseen poetry
Week 11 - (1st Nov) Grammar
Week 12 - (8th Nov) A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
Week 13 - Famous first lines
Week 14 - Shakespeare's The Globe
Week 15 - Writing paragraphs
Week 16 -  Media: Newspapers
Week 17 - 1Book reviews
Week 18 -  Jekyll and Hyde
Week 19 -  Words, words, words
Week 20 - Poetry

I have a Masters and a PGCE from Oxford, and many years experience teaching in a variety of schools across the UK.