Transcript Edexcel Certificate 1/2: TOP TRUMPS

Edexcel
Certificate 1/2:
TOP TRUMPS
Friday, 17 July 2015
Jonathan Peel SGS
Language Paper 1, section B
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10 marks for a reading response
Need to refer to the text to support answer –
QUOTE and explain.
Focus should be on writer’s craft
Look carefully and identify the focus of the
question.
Underline the key words
10 marks for a transactional response based
on a theme of the passage
45 minutes for the two questions.
Jonathan Peel SGS
APPROACH
 Familiarity
is one step to success – you
should hardly need to read the passage
because you know it so well.
 Awareness of author, genre, attitudes,
approach, key writing styles, intended
effect will enable you to begin quickly.
 My
TOP TRUMPS slides might help you to
achieve this aim…
Jonathan Peel SGS
Touching the Void
a strange response...
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Author: Joe Simpson and Simon Yates
Genre: Autobiography/adventure narrative
Attitudes: 2 different viewpoints: Joe is more emotive – he is
the injured one, Simon is more objective.
Approach: accounts are separate but tell same event from
different perspectives. First person narratives with plenty of
literary effects to generate tension and excitement.
key writing styles: Joe: Short sentences, expletives, direct
thought, metaphorical descriptions. Simon: more
explanatory, longer sentences though still a variety, strong
vocabulary for effect, certainty in utterance.
intended effect: An exciting story told with maximum
impact. Tension and excitement created throughout.
Contrasting narrative perspectives maintain interest. NB
only a short section of a longer book.
Jonathan Peel SGS
Beach Safety
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Author: RNLI safety document (website)
Genre: Leaflet – information and instruction with elements of
persuasion.
Attitudes: Positive approach to seaside fun. Encourages reader to
be safe and to be aware of the work of the RNLI.
Approach: Dramatic use of colour linked with personal anecdotes
provides interest. Clear use of diagrams aids comprehension.
key writing styles: Instructions are clear and organised mixing
images and bullets. Imperatives are a feature of this kind of text.
Anecdotes are engaging and make use of direct speech.
Information uses images very strongly together with short, clear
sentences. Persuasion uses 2nd person to engage the reader and
provides clear information under subheadings, for clarity. Positive
language is used throughout.
intended effect: To raise safety awareness and to raise money. NB
intended audience is one of all ages.
Jonathan Peel SGS
Climate Change website
(Current Greenpeace website
FYI )
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Author: Unknown, though run by Greenpeace, a strong
organisation of “eco-warriors”
Genre: web page – news, information and persuasion
Attitudes: Very biased- not necessarily incorrect, but only showing
the single side of the story.
Approach: Strong use of images, choice of links and
advertisements reinforces the POV of the organisation; involves the
reader in the debate.
key writing styles: Emotive, negative language; use of 2nd person to
address reader directly; strong, short sentences deployed for effect;
1st person plural used to link the writer and the reader.
intended effect: To raise awareness of climate change and to
present a single side of the argument with a view to raising support
for Greenpeace. Also to provide clear links to similar activities run
by Greenpeace.
Jonathan Peel SGS
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Author: Kate Ravilious (Kate Ravilious website) writing in the Guardian, a left of
centre broadsheet.
Genre: News: Information and explanation text. Also images used to deliver
information.
Attitudes: The Facts are never challenged suggesting a bias, but the
evidence, although untested seems relatively convincing.
Approach: Q+A techniques suggest a trustworthy writer –a didactic
approach. Graphs and tables look trustworthy and deliver a speedy overview
of the article – newspapers need to attract readers…
key writing styles: humour provides bathos and ensures the article I s not offputting; 3rd person Q+A suggest authority; information is delivered with clarity;
a lack of modal verbs provides a sense of certainty; verbs chosen with care
reveal that much is supposition rather than fact. Statistics widely used.
Headline suggests certainty which a close reading does not support.
intended effect: To increase awareness of one side of the climate change
argument. Writing is not over-emotive and this balance is possibly one reason
why this reads as an effective article.
NB: The page of graphs is colourful and occasionally misleading
– Peel
note
the
Jonathan
SGS
comparative size of the heating coils in the centre, for example, or the
suspiciously un-wobbly line sin the prediction area of the graphs at the foot of
the page. What else can you find?
Climate Change: The Facts
A game of Polo with a
headless Goat
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Author: Emma Levine (author website)
Genre: Travel writing - information, description,
autobiography
Attitudes: A fascination with a variety of cultures and a wish
to share them with the reader.
Approach: Recounting an event in a complex layering of
“races”. Generates excitement and gives information.
key writing styles: past tense generally from 1st person
perspective; vocabulary chosen for effect –
onomatopoeia is evident – and to create excitement;
triplets link ideas and there is some use of “sound bites” in
the writing; occasional shift of tone allows for evaluation of
the story to emerge.
intended effect: To engage and entertain without losing a
sense of the writer’s judgement and perspective.
Jonathan Peel SGS
A passage to Africa
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Author: George Alagiah (follow the author on twitter)
Genre: Autobiography and News reportage – information and
opinion
Attitudes: Strong moral centre as a response to harrowing news
reports.
Approach: Autobiographical writing which tells a story whilst raising
uncomfortable questions in the readers’ minds.
key writing styles: triplets, strong vocabulary, repetition “there
was…” , short sentences/paragraphs for effect, Rhetorical
Questions, self awareness shown in later paragraphs – clear
evaluation of the information
intended effect: To raise awareness of the plight of the starving in
Africa and also to promote a positive perception of the author.
Since he is moved and obviously questioning the motives and role
played by journalism in this horror, the reader will do the same.
Jonathan Peel SGS
Explorer’s Daughter
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Author: Kari Herbert (news article)
Genre: autobiography – description and information – travel
writing.
Attitudes: A balanced viewpoint of a current animal rights issue
Approach: A mixture of highly descriptive writing and clear
information delivered as balanced and strongly evaluated.
key writing styles: Description is reliant on carefully chosen words
and phrases to provide a sense of peacefulness which contrasts
with the violent exertion of the hunt. Long sentences increase the
sense of conversational narrative; information is clear and plainly
told and tends to alternate with more dramatic narrative sections.
intended effect: To provide a considered view of an extreme
culture and an activity widely perceived as being cruel. To provide
an “apology” (a defence, in legal terminology) for the activities of
the Innuit.
Jonathan Peel SGS
Explorers, or boys…
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Author: unknown – from the Guardian though “adapted”.
Genre: news – information and opinion
Attitudes: biased coverage focusing on cost and a perceived
puerile approach to such undertakings
Approach: news reportage laced with highly emotive phrases and
suggestions; POV of author becomes evident due to the choices
made – negative POV.
key writing styles: strong emotive language; humour designed to
ridicule; irony, selective quotation, bathetic final sentence; double
focus of headline.
intended effect: to ridicule the adventurers and to belittle any
achievement; to raise awareness of the cost of such a rescue.
study notes found online - take care...
Jonathan Peel SGS
Taking on the World
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Author: Ellen Mac Arthur website
Genre: autobiography – positive narrative of heroic endeavour.
Attitudes: 1sr person presentation of a moment of high drama –
presented clearly and factually with some sense of personal
engagement evident
Approach: Organised narrative –chronological. Engages by
content and by use of 2nd person. Evaluation evident at end.
key writing styles: Use of 2nd person, technical lexis, strong
vocabulary chosen for effect, similes, powerful short sentences,
occasional use of present tense, mixture of modal and more
“factual” verbs.
intended effect: To engage the reader and to convey some sense
of the difficulties faced. The technical lexis and attention to detail
might suggest a wish not to be seen as writing solely for dramatic
effect.
NB Compare this passage with Explorers… and with Void – what do
you notice?
Jonathan Peel SGS
Chinese Cinderella
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Author: Adeline Yen Mah (website)
Genre: autobiography
Attitudes: retelling the childhood of a Chinese daughter – clue is in
the use of Cinderella in the title
Approach: Narrative containing a large quantity of dialogue – how
reliable is her memory?
key writing styles: direct speech in dialogue; some use of emotive
language for effect; triplets, use of present tense; verbs chosen for
effect to convey emotion; authority is shown to lie with father by
choice of lexis and by relative balance of speeches.
intended effect: A retelling of a childhood which looks critically at
the attitude of the Chinese culture to females and to the overtly
patriarchal nature of society. The author seems critical, but not
bitter. There is a gentle humour evident in some of her writing,
serving to undercut the father’s pomposity.
Jonathan Peel SGS