English
Lots of your literacy focus will be on English. Handy places to look for support include:
Higher English BBC Bitesize National 5 English BBC Bitesize
Lots of resources can also be accessed through SCHOLAR – ask your school for how to access this if you haven’t got a login.
The SQA site gives you details about the English course
Here is a link to access past papers for revision and practice
Education Scotland have lots of videos to support you with the Scottish texts you might be studying, such as Sailmaker, tally’s Bloos, the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy, Iain Crichton Smith and many others: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcD2TdZ4bXSkRosPdQagQgiNfYJ68TVpM
There are some great videos on YouTube which can help you remember some of the technical language, sych as Flocabulary
Writing Skills
Are they really that important? YES! Watch the video for some handy inspiration
What can you do to help yourself?
There are lots of websites out there offering support in writing skills – you could do a search for your particulare area you want help with, or try a more general website. One such is https://www.englishgrammar.org/rules-review/ – like many of these sites it’s designed for those studying English as a foreign language but has useful information and exercises.
Make a personalised check list – don’t try to read through your work, hoping mistakes will leap out:
- Check through work you’ve done
- Make a list of areas you have a tendency to slip up on
- Look for these things specifically when reading through
Love writing?
Why not try the national stage? Enter a competition and see how you get on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/the-bbc-young-writers-award
https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/opportunities_category/competitions/
https://youngwriters.co.uk/index
Reading Skills
Reading is important across all your subjects so it’s vital that you develop your skills of understanding complex information.
READ – good quality journalism or magazines, novels, non-fiction texts, newspapers, good quality blogs
Make a GLOSSARY – words you didn’t understand with their meanings. Keep it somewhere you’ll read it every day
Ask yourself questions as you go through the text to check understanding.
Love reading? Or want to get back into it?
Why not try a graphic novel? See this list of the top 50 graphic novels:https://forbiddenplanet.com/log/50-best-best-graphic-novels/
And some manga ideas: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/10-manga-titles-for-teens
Want to try some classic books? Try this list of 20 books everyone should read before they turn 18: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g22749180/best-books-for-teens/
How about a way into poetry? Try this: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/browse#page=1&sort_by=recently_added&filter_poetry_teens=1
Revising Texts
This link to a cube template also includes some good ideas for alternative ways to revise quotations, key points etc: Cube template and ideas
