Introduction & Word Classes
IN THIS LESSON
English Language Essentials
Getting a good grade in GCSE English Language or passing Functional Skills English may be easier than you think; the qualification focuses on skills you already use every day, such as reading and understanding, and writing and explaining things.
Your life path depends on your English language skills. Good grades in English will give you greater choice of jobs, apprenticeships, training programmes and further education (including university).
Further Details
The exam for GCSE English Language is split into two exam sessions; both are just under two hours long and include reading and writing sections.
The Functional Skills English qualification is split into three parts: reading, writing, and speaking, listening and communicating.
Warmup Activity:
If you’re working with a tutor or friend, create a mindmap of your interests. Use words and/or pictures.
You may find some things in common.
You may also find ways to relate your GCSE studies to your interests.
English Language Activity
Create a table with three columns: bad, neutral, and good, and put some of the items from below into your table depending on how you feel about them.
For example:
Bad :-( Neural :-/ Good :-)
adjectives read give opinions
Tutors: here’s a slightly different topic list you could cut and paste onto a whiteboard for online tutoring.
Nouns
Verbs
adjectives
adverbs
Pronouns
Commas
Full stops
Colons
Semi-colons
Possessive apostrophe
Brackets
Question marks
Exclamation marks
Understanding texts
Comparing texts
Sentence types
Formal and informal
Spelling
Explicit and implicit
Paragraphs
Active and passive voice
First, second and third person
Tenses
Conjunctions
English Language Activity
Which three of these skills do you find easiest?
Which three of these skills do you find the most difficult?
Bonus activity: rank all of these skills from easiest to hardest.
Spelling
Punctuation
Grammar
Finding key information
Summarising
Implied meaning
Language features (e.g., metaphors, similes)
Word classes (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)
Planning an answer
Structuring an answer (e.g., paragraphs)
Writing creatively
Writing clearly
Comparing texts
Varied vocabulary
Different sentence types
Bonus Activity
Check out the content list of this course and think about your answers to the skills activity above.
Which topics need more of your time?
Which topics could you review briefly?
Is there anything else you would add?
Bonus Activity:
Language Features
Which of these language features are you familiar with?
Which language features do you need to know more about?
(Language Features are covered in detail in a later lesson).
Online tutors: if you are setting up a whiteboard activity you could paste the world cloud and these emojis and ask learners to drag emojis to right place to indicate their confidence with these language features.
😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊
😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐 😐
😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕 😕
Activity: Using a Dictionary
BBC Bitesize: How to Use a Dictionary
-Video & Slides
Have a go!
Can you find the word and correct definition faster than the man in the video?
Knowledge Check/Review
What are the parts of your GCSE or Functional Skills assessment?
What topics or skills do you need to prioritise?
