Recommended Reading
Teaching English GCSE has been my pleasure for the last 30 years and the main reason for that is because I enjoy it, and transmit that enjoyment to my students. In literature we discuss the set books and the background and I encourage students to express their opinions at every possible opportunity. They work on forming their opinions and tell me what they think of specific parts of the books. We have informal discussions about the meaning of the texts and I then give them some homework on an important issue which has arisen during our discussion. On a one to one basis it is possible to develop a good-homoured approach to all aspects of the study, which I do. In this way the student feels that his or her opinion has been valued and appreciated and develops the self-confidence to express themself more clearly and thus write good essays. In the exams they perform well and achieve high grades.
Similarly in the language part of GCSE English, I first find out what they are reading outside their studies and instil the habit of regular reading of a variety of books and newspapers. We do a variety of exercises whereby they are required to write about language to persude, convince or inform. Drawing on what they have read and guided by me they produce work which shows that their undersatnding of different styles of writing is thorough. They develop, as a result, an interesting English style and also get high marks in exams.
