Bloc work regularly with the BBC to ensure the Bitesize GCSE revision program is as effective and comprehensive as possible and our latest contribution, to GCSE English (KS-3), is no exception.
This time round we worked with education consultants, the BBC and schools to develop the English revision modules for Writing, Reading and Drama.
Developed in three distinct and fully interactive styles, in this instance 3D animation, the modules set a new bench-mark for interactive learning and aim to inform, educate and entertain 13-14 year old students with their revision for English in the run up to KS-3 tests.
The target audience are a difficult demographic to interact with, as they play with their identity, shift definitions, parameters, language and image in an effort to evade ‘grown ups’ (parent’s organisations and brands) and discover their developing personalities.
They not only have short attention spans, but they are also notoriously fickle when it comes to likes and dislikes and therefore challenging to engage and entertain.
Online plays an important role in their day-to-day life and serves as a key portal for influence and learning, through search, play and peer opinion and sharing.
Taking all this into account, and backed up by nearly a decade of experience engaging teens, we developed the following highly successful modules.
The overriding tone of the activities is light-hearted and humorous, the content delivered with a level of maturity that encourages learning at a GCSE level and the results are funny, positive, unpredictable and relevant to their audience.
Brush-up on your English and take a look for yourself:
Task 1 – Text Types
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/text_types_act.shtml
Everything we read is either fiction or non-fiction. Fiction is creative writing. It comes from the imagination. Fiction texts include short stories, novels, poems and plays. Non-fiction is based on reality and presented as fact although it can include opinions and arguments. These texts include newspapers and magazine articles, instruction manuals and film reviews.
Task 2 – Summarising a Text
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/summarising_act.shtml
You can use a number of techniques when trying to find information. Skimming is letting your eyes skim over the text, to get a general idea of it. Scanning is looking for the key words or phrases to find out specific information. The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph. Read it to get a summary of that paragraph’s subject.
Task 3 – Sentences
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/sentences_act.shtml
A clause is a group of words which express an event. It usually contains a subject and a verb. Clauses and phrases are different. ‘The massive lion’ is a phrase as it refers to ‘the massive lion’ but doesn’t say what happened to it what it did. ‘The massive lion chased me’ is a clause because the lion did something. A sentence is made up of one or more clauses.
Task 4 – Paragraphs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/paragraphs_act.shtml
A topic sentence is the sentence found often at the start of a paragraph, which expresses its main idea. Connectives help the writer build upon a point in the paragraph, for example – ‘however’, ‘although’, ‘in addition to this’, ’similarly’. Summing up a paragraph into its main point means writing a shortened version of the main idea expressed in that paragraph.
Task 5 – Structure
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/structure_act.shtml
Non-fiction text is laid out in ways that capture interest and attention, to make information clear, or to help you find what you want to read.
Task 6 – Character
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/character_act.shtml
A writer will either give information about a character directly or you will have to read ‘between the lines’. Explicit meaning is when the meaning is made really clear. Implicit meaning is when the meaning is implied or suggested. Implicit meaning is shown through what the character says, what the character does and how others react to them.
Task 7 – Atmosphere and Setting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/atmosphere_act.shtml
Something that is explicit is out in the open, clear and obvious. The writer TELLS you something. Something that is implicit is inferred – it’s suggested, rather than openly stated. The writer SHOWS you something.
Task 8 – The writer’s viewpoint
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/english/reading/writers_tricks_act.shtml
Writers use repetition to emphasize key points. They include emotive language to create an emotional response. They include both facts and opinions. They often use a personal style so that the text seems to speak directly to you and they include rhetorical questions to make you think.
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