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Collins Cambridge IGCSE®

Literature in English TEACHER’S GUIDE Also for Cambridge IGCSE (9-1), Cambridge O Level and Cambridge IGCSE World Literature

Mike Gould, Chris Green, Kurt A. Johnson, Alexandra Melville Series Editor: Anna Gregory Literature in English IGCSE Teachers Guide Title page.indd 1

2/2/18 5:14 pm

Contents Introduction

Medium-term plans

Lesson plans and worksheets Chapter 1: Key concepts Lesson 1.1: Understanding writersâ€™ use of language Lesson 1.2: Exploring character and characterisation Lesson 1.3: Introducing theme Lesson 1.4: Exploring settings

20 Lesson 1.5: Understanding how form works Lesson 1.6: Understanding genre Lesson 1.7: Understanding structure Lesson 1.8: Exploring viewpoint and narration

Chapter 2: Key skills Lesson 2.1: Approaching a text Lesson 2.2: Referring to the text and selecting quotations Lesson 2.3: Exploring ideas and attitudes in texts Lesson 2:4: Exploring implied meaning

45 Lesson 2.5: Exploring writersâ€™ methods Lesson 2.6: Communicating a personal response Lesson 2.7: Exploring alternative interpretations

Chapter 3: Studying prose Lesson 3.1: Approaching prose genres Lesson 3.2: Understanding plot Lesson 3.3: Exploring structure Lesson 3.4: Tackling themes Lesson 3.5: Exploring setting Lesson 3.6: Exploring character Lesson 3.7: Extension: Exploring character in depth Lesson 3.8: Viewpoint and narrative perspective Lesson 3.9: Extension: Exploring narrative style Lesson 3.10: Exploring language Lesson 3.11: Extension: Exploring symbolism Lesson 3.12: Viewing through context

66 Lesson 3.13: Making interpretations Lesson 3.14: Planning and writing a critical essay Lesson 3.15: Evaluating your critical essay Lesson 3.16: Planning and writing a passagebased essay Lesson 3.17: Evaluating your passage-based essay Lesson 3.18: Planning and writing a critical commentary on unseen prose Lesson 3.19: Evaluating your critical commentary on unseen prose

Chapter 4: Studying poetry Lesson 4.1: What to expect when you read a poem Lesson 4.2: Exploring themes and ideas Lesson 4.3: Exploring language Lesson 4.4: Exploring form, sound, rhyme and rhythm Lesson 4.5: Exploring structure in poetry Lesson 4.6: Exploring setting in poetry Lesson 4.7: Viewpoint and perspective Lesson 4.8: Exploring speaker, voice and character in poetry Lesson 4.9: Understanding context in poetry

124 Lesson 4.10: Making different interpretations Lesson 4.11: Planning and writing a critical essay Lesson 4.12: Evaluating your critical essay Lesson 4.13: Extension: Developing an overview Lesson 4.14: Evaluating your work Lesson 4.15: Planning and writing a critical commentary on an unseen poem Lesson 4.16: Evaluating your critical commentary on an unseen poem

Chapter 5: Studying Drama Lesson 5.1: Approaching drama Lesson 5.2: Exploring dramatic genres Lesson 5.3: Exploring writersâ€™ use of dramatic structure Lesson 5.4: Understanding dramatic language Lesson 5.5: Understanding character in drama Lesson 5.6: Understanding dramatic characterisation Lesson 5.7: Exploring themes in drama Lesson 5.8: Analysing setting and staging Lesson 5.9: Evaluating the dramatic effectiveness of plays

173 Lesson 5.10: Extension: Evaluating key points and moments Lesson 5.11: Planning and writing a critical essay Lesson 5.12: Evaluating your critical essay Lesson 5.13: Planning and writing a passage-based essay Lesson 5.14: Evaluating your passage-based essay

Chapter 6: Approaching coursework Lesson 6.1: Preparing for a critical coursework essay Lesson 6.2: Planning a critical coursework essay Lesson 6.3: Writing a critical coursework essay Lesson 6.4: Planning and preparing an empathic response

216 Lesson 6.5: Writing an empathic response Lesson 6.6: Evaluating your work: coursework-style responses

Lesson 1.3

Introducing theme

Assessment Objectives • IGCSE: AO2; O Level: AO2; IGCSE World: AO2 Resources • Worksheet 1.3; PowerPoint 1.3 Big question Ask students to think about some of the most famous films of all time – Titanic, Gone with the Wind or Star Wars. Each of these films has an instantly recognisable ‘theme tune’ (you could perhaps play some and ask students to identify the films). What is the point of these theme tunes? What do they tell us about the film or the story?

START THINKING It is worth spending time on the three aspects through which texts can be explored. One way is to think of the approaches as ‘lenses’ – see PowerPoint 1.3, Slide 1. Q1: Students work on their own for 1–2 minutes, then share responses, for example: ‘Two young lovers from rival families in Verona fall in love. Can they escape the violent conflict between their families, or the hand of Fate? Or will their hopes and dreams end in tragedy?’ These suggest – love, family, conflict / rivalry, fate and the future. EXPLORE THE SKILLS Q2: Students can continue to work on their own to complete the task, but share ideas in pairs or threes, and agree on what theme words work best for each example. Introduce the idea of more specific theme descriptions as shown in the Student’s Book, and ask for suggestions of a broad theme (from Q2) turned into more specific descriptions. Q3: Read the verse from the poem aloud, and then ask for responses. • The facts are: a father loses his four sons in a boating accident, his wife dies of a broken heart or is heartbroken and his land / crops fail. He now works to make charcoal on his own. • These facts already create feelings and suggest themes – clearly the situation is tragic; isolation and loneliness are likely themes. Are there any others? (Could you include ‘survival’ or ‘the human spirit’?) Q4: Students can work in pairs to read over the verse again, and complete the table. Example responses: Word or phrase ‘alone, alone, alone...’ and ‘in his barren yard alone’

Meaning He is left without anyone, a fact emphasised by the repetition. His place of work has nothing fruitful growing – just ash.

‘Madness howled...’

A ‘howl’ is a scream of pain or anguish. ‘Green’ means lush, fruitful. Suggests living, healthy things could not survive.

‘green fields died...’

Mood or emotion suggested ‘Barren’ has a double-meaning – it can mean ‘where nothing grows’ and also ‘childless’ or unable to produce children. The mood could be said to be one of isolation and loneliness, but also one of emptiness. Pain or suffering – feelings are uncontrolled. Creates sense of decay and death.

Q5: Read the two students’ responses. Elicit the ‘theme’ words from the second: ‘loss’, ‘suffering’ and ‘isolation’, but equally importantly, the way these have been developed into more specific examples: for example, loss and its effects on others; how isolation can result from a single tragic event.

DEVELOP THE SKILLS This part of the lesson deals with slightly higher-order skills – the ability to trace a theme across a text or texts, and the way different themes relate to each other in terms of importance. Make the point that the former is especially important when writing about a whole text. Q6: Read the summary of ‘The Homecoming’ aloud and then ask students to discuss in pairs or threes what they think the main and secondary themes are. There are no specific right or wrong answers here, but it is likely that – as stories are usually about people – the change in Morocco is a secondary theme, whereas how someone deals with absence and a change of home is more central. APPLY THE SKILLS Q7 and Q8: Distribute Worksheet 1.3 and ask students to work on their own to highlight the evidence that might help the reader understand what the themes are. Use the sentence panels on the worksheet to write out ideas. Extra support: Less confident students might need to be given a gap-fill task, for example, to complete the following. The fact that Aziz’s wife cries, and he makes an ‘awkward attempt’ to comfort her suggests that one theme of the story is how a person’s .............................. influences how they feel and behave. Aziz uses several examples to show this, for example saying how his wife would miss...

Extra challenge: Q9 is suitable for extension work. Elicit the idea that the empty suitcase represents his own feelings and responsibilities. But why does it feel ‘lighter’? Is it because he has made up his mind to leave and can forget his past? Or for some other reason? BIG ANSWER PLENARY Use PowerPoint 1.3, Slides 2 and 3 to help students self-assess how well they understand themes. Ask students to read the story or poem extracts and decide what the main themes might be. What evidence, even in these few short lines, suggests this. Example responses: Hardy – theme could be failed relationships – the smile which is the ‘deadest thing’, and the ‘grin of bitterness’, suggesting that what should be joyous between two people has died, and even smiles are ‘dead’ and ‘bitter’ (feeling of having been mistreated). Not so much a theme, more of a motif – is ‘death’ – the bird is ‘ominous’ suggesting something bad in the future – the ‘death’ of the relationship? Dickens: theme could be ‘mean-ness’ or ‘avarice’ – Fagin’s eyes that ‘glistened’ as he looks at his secret hoard – clearly, simply having and handling precious things gives him pleasure. The ‘old chair’ suggests Fagin does not want to use the riches he has, merely keep them to himself.

Worksheet 1.3: Introducing theme Student’s Book Questions 7 and 8 1. Read the extract. Begin by: • highlighting or underlining any character actions, speech or thoughts that suggest a particular mood or emotion: – how Zohra responds to Aziz – how Aziz responds to Zohra – what Aziz says about himself or Zohra. Aziz is about to leave Morocco to return to Madrid.

‘When are you sending me the papers?’ she asked, at last. He is unable to give her an answer – or doesn’t want to.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied. Zohra started crying. Aziz tapped her shoulder in an awkward attempt at consolation. He couldn’t imagine her with him in Madrid. She was used to the neighbours’ kid pushing the door open and coming in. She was used to the outdoor market, where she could haggle over everything. She was used to having her relatives drop by without notice. He couldn’t think of her alone in an apartment, with no one to talk to, while he was at work. And he, too, had his own habits now. He closed his suitcase and lifted it off the bed. It felt lighter than when he had arrived. Laila Lalami, from ‘The Homecoming’

2. Write a sentence or two explaining what the main theme seems to be as a result of what you have read. I think the main theme of the story is how ..................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... A secondary theme of the story could be ...................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................