Edexcel IGCSE: English Language Paper 1, Question 5 revision
A helpful revision activity for IGCSE English Language students to complete to consolidate their understanding of key texts for exam paper 1, Question 5.
Students summarise the main idea of the text, select relevant quotations and analyse how the quotations present the writer's idea or perspective, by focusing on language techniques, structure and effect.
Includes scaffolded examples to help students with their understanding of the following texts:
The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, A Passage to Africa by George Alagiah, The Explorer’s Daughter by Kari Herbert, Explorers or boys messing about? Either way, taxpayer gets rescue bill by Steven Morris, 127 hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston, Young and dyslexic? You’ve got it going on by Benjamin Zephaniah, A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat by Emma Levine, Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa, H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald and Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah.
An extract from the revision resource:
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Main idea/perspective:
Working with these wild birds requires organisation, record keeping and a very gentle approach so as not to panic the birds. Everything is done very exactly.
Evidence/quotation:
‘Another hinge untied. Concentration. Infinite caution’.
‘My heart jumps sideways. She is a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel’.
‘It was the wrong bird. This was the younger one. The smaller one. This was not my hawk.’
Analyse your key quotations:
How does this present the writer’s idea/perspective?
Language technique / structure / effect:
The effect of so many short sentences is…
The metaphors in this description…
