Literature of the Hart

How can we help students develop the way they respond to poetry? GCSE students in particular often find studying poetry quite challenging, probably just because they are not so familiar with the genre.  But as an English tutor, I love helping them get over their hesitations and learn how to respond in detail and with insight to poetry. Here's a deceptively simple poem by William Wordsworth, about how he responds to a rainbow: My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The child is father of the man; And I wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. A good way into poetry is to think - "How would this have been written differently if it were prose" (see the first post in this series about prose and poetry!). That's a great way to start. Then students can start to think about why the writer used a different word, or phrase, or technique. ...

How can students develop their ability to respond to unseen poetry? It's a part of the GCSE English Literature exam and many people just don't know where to start.  As an English tutor, I am sometimes specifically asked to help with this part of the GCSE exam. It helps to understand there is a difference between prose (normal writing like this) and poetry , but unfortunately this is not often taught or even talked about! This series of posts will be looking at a poem which appears quite simple but is actually put together in a very creative and imaginative way - so there is lots for students to write about! But before we look at the poem, here are some different sentence types, all about a rainbow, in prose ,  (and yes, the poem is also about a rainbow - so read on...!): A rainbow! I like to see a rainbow There’s a rainbow and it makes me happy When I see a rainbow, it makes me happy. When I see a rainbow, it makes me happy, and I remember how rainbows have always made me hap...

How do you improve a student's vocabulary? Parents often want to help their children improve their writing, and as an English tutor I want to help children develop their vocabulary.  There is no quick fix, however: the secret to is increase the level of challenge of reading. A popular programme I run with Year 7-9 students is called Writing with Sherlock Holmes .  When students encounter well-written literature with a richness of language, they usually want to know more, enjoy expanding their command of words and flourish as they start to experiment with their own creativity. I am a specialist at stretching able students to achieve high grades, and  offer a free 30 minute online introductory session if you would like to know more .  Contact me via the Contact Form  here .

The current series of posts is looking at how to achieve top grades at GCSE English Language and English Literature. As an English tutor, I'm often approached by parents wanting to help their children improve in English.  And improving their writing is often a top priority. But knowing where to start is not always obvious. You can read the previous post, about developing different sentence types,  here . I teach my students how to use punctuation effectively, especially colons and semicolons.  I have written a short ebook to help anyone looking for self-study guidance, called A Dash of Punctuation . Having taught English in schools for over 30 years, I've learnt that as students move into GCSE study, they usually realise that they have not properly learnt some basic grammatical and punctuation rules.  The consequence is that they make mistakes, without understanding why in many cases.  The result can be lower grades than expected, and frustration. Colons and sem...