Help! How do I revise for my English GCSE?

Creative Writing Workshops

These are a selection of workshops which can be adapted to run as half, one-day or a series of events, tailored to suit the age group.

They are designed to stimulate and engage children in order to inspire them to enjoy writing.

  1. Greek myths (Midas, Odysseus and the Cyclops, Orpheus and Euridyce…)
  2. Creation stories (from Genesis to Egypt and beyond)
  3. Talk about Short!  (Miniature stories)
  4. Smelly, tasty, gooey writing (effective description)
  5. The Hobbit – write like a film producer
  6. Poetry:  write your own for Mother’s Day, on animals, school, transport, horror, limericks, haiku…
  7. School reports on famous people  (research to writing) eg Charles Darwin : “I flunked school then I became famous”,Terry Deary, Laurie Lee, Roald Dahl …
  8. From pen(cil) to playscript
  9. A family biography or autobiography
  10. Bringing Shakespeare to life!

With drama, debate, media, research, letter-writing, diaries, magazine articles, newspaper headlines, fancy dress, with an optional school presentation and materials for display purposes.

Bringing Shakespeare to life!

Romeo & Juliet
The plot will be ‘discovered’ by the pupils throughout the workshop in serialised form, with opportunities to guess what happens next. Family trees will be issued.

  1. Invitations to the ball, RSVP
  2. The Ball: posters, costumes & masks, dance steps
  3. Love at first sight: text, tweet, What’sApp or FB
  4. Trade insults, Street mob, fight scene, duel, BBC News crew
  5. Juliet and her au-pair: Agony Aunt/ Uncle advice column, Juliet and her mother: magazine letters, Fathers! A Blog
  6. Arranged marriages – designed to last: debate
  7. Dilemma: to run or to stay, that is the question: peer advice, problem-solving, discussion.
  8. Smoke screens, potions, herbal remedies and science.
  9. Postal strike!  Newsflash.
  10. Tragedy! Newspaper headlines, articles, BBC News
  11. Obituaries & Headstones

Optional extra: presentation to the school.

Help! How do I revise for my GCSE English?

Choose which workshop you need most…

Creative Writing : short stories, picture essays, descriptive writing

Non-fiction writing: information, advice, persuasion, argument

Writing Format: letters, speeches, articles

Excellent essay skills: what the examiners are looking for, how to structure an essay

Poetry Analysis: how to analyse poetry, revision templates

Unseen Poetry: what do I look for? How do I compare two poems?

Unseen prose: how to identify a writer’s use of structure and language techniques