GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - MEDIA TEXTS - THE BLACK CROW CONSPIRACY

CCEA GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Unit 1 - Paper 1 Section B - Book Cover.

This is a sample question created for the new gcse specification. I usually introduce the things they should look out for in book covers:

• GENRE, AUDIENCE, PURPOSE (G.A.P.)
• sell the book cover/ persuade the reader to purchase
• create enigma or intrigue
• hints at the narrative structure / plot
• endears the reader to the main protagonist
• setting
• narrative P.O.V. (Is it first person to create a confiding tone?) and tense (present for a sense of immediacy?)
• sentence structuring and punctuation for various effects
• language devices
• tone

Then I use the assessment matrix to mark it. I’ll take a good essay, scan it in, share it with the class and give them a matrix, letting the students ‘be the examiner’ and annotate the sample essay explaining why it is good and what they could do to improve.

Hope this helps.