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HOMEWORK ONE:
The paragraphs in the following article have been labelled a-e. Read the article and then choose which sentence below best summarises each paragraph.
a) The volcano's first recorded eruption was in 1500 BC, and it is believed to have erupted about 200 times since. b) One of the mountain's most dramatic eruptions lasted four months, from March to July of 1669. That eruption caused great damage to surrounding areas, submerging a dozen villages in western Catania, including the village of Nicolosi, which is currently under threat by lava from the latest eruption. c) But Etna's eruptive behaviour has changed over the past 400 years. d) For nearly a century following the 1669 eruption, Etna's output is believed to have been very low. A flank eruption in 1755, however, brought about several years of volcanic activity, including overflow of lava. e) A huge eruption in 1865 was among the largest since 1669. A few weeks after the end of that eruption, a devastating earthquake (measuring about 4.7 on the
Richter scale) in the area killed more than 70 people near the village of Macchia.
Which paragraph do the following sentences best summarise? eJxNkE1Pw zAMh
1. Description of one of the most dramatic eruptions. e a b c
2. Explanation of how the volcano's activity has changed b c d
3. Description of a more recent, huge eruption. c d
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4. When the volcano first erupted. a b c
5. Statement that the volcano's activity has changed. b c d
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HOMEWORK TWO:
The extract comes from a book called 'Face' by
Benjamin Zephaniah. Natalie is a Year 9 student and lives in East London. She is out with her boyfriend and his friends. They have stopped to chat with some boys from school. Answer the question below and then check your ideas against ours. You can use the bullet points to help you .
After a couple of minutes she realised that her every move was being watched by a group of three girls and she couldn't help noticing how tough they looked. All three were wearing dark blue baggy jeans. She was pretty sure they were
Londoners born and bred but thought they could find a job working for the
Jamaican tourist board, not simply because of their dark skin but also because of their clothing. One had a T-shirt saying 'I love Jamaica'. Another wore a T-shirt that was a Jamaican flag and the third just had a West Ham football shirt on, but she, like the others, was adorned with yellow, black and green bangles, badges and necklaces. Natalie thought they looked good, but dangerous.
Natalie shifted nervously. She didn't know quite where to look but she had to put on a front. The other three girls made no attempt to hide the fact that they were on
Natalie's case. They began to whisper to each other and smile as they stared at her. Natalie felt illuminated in her green satins and began to wish she had chosen clothes which weren't so loud. What are they grinning at? she wondered. Is it my clothes? My shoes? My hair? Do I look too innocent? Suddenly the three girls began to walk toward Natalie. Her heart began to race, the palms of her hands began to sweat. She felt like falling apart but she held herself together.
'You from round here, den?' said the big girl wearing the Jamaican flag.
'Yeah.'
'What school yu go to, den?'
'Eastmorelands.'
'Yeah, I wanid to go there but they wouldn't let me, said I had ta go ta Lonsdale
Park, said it was nearer. What ya doing here?'
The other two girls continued to look her up and down. Natalie expected trouble and in her mind she cursed the boys for bringing her there and for the way they had got lost in their silly conversation about football and cars.
'I'm just hanging around with my boyfriend and his mates.'
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At this point the girl wearing the West Ham shirt reached into her back pocket.
Natalie swallowed hard as the girl pulled out a couple of leaflets. After separating one from the other she handed one to Natalie. 'Dat's the place to be, check it out, good vibes, good music. Ya like rap?'
Natalie wanted to kick herself. She had completely misread the situation. They weren't out for a fight, they wanted to find out if she liked clubbing. They wanted to find out if she was one of them, an Eastender.
'Yeah,' Natalie replied, feeling a sense of relief. 'Yeah, rap's cool...' She began to wonder if she sometimes looked threatening and if she herself had been misjudged in the past. For people to be friendly, did they have to have permanent smiles on their faces?
You should refer to:


 her first reactions to the girls she sees (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote) the way she acts just before, and when, they speak to her (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote) her thoughts at the end of the passage (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote)
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HOMEWORK THREE:
Ray, the main character in this extract, has stolen a motorbike and caused an accident that killed someone. He has told nobody, but knows that he can't hide for much longer. He is about to get on a bus, but realises that the one person who can link him to the crime is the conductor of that very bus. Before he can run off, he bumps into Mrs Fitzroy, his best friend's mum.
He hung back, groping wildly for some excuse to prevent him getting on, but the bell rang and the engine increased its impatient rumble and his legs carried him upwards on to the platform, and he felt Mrs Fitzroy clamber on behind. The bus began to move. He turned towards the stairs, but she caught hold of his arm.
"Let's go downstairs. I don't like the smoke."
Again he felt her hand guide him, and he ducked his head and began to walk along the aisle. "Yeah".
"This'll do," she said, and he turned back and sat beside her - the less fuss he made, the less obvious he was, the better. As he settled, he kept his face bent low, aware of the conductor walking towards them. He brushed past, and, noticing things with a total clarity, Ray saw the dark blue uniform that he was wearing and noted the heaviness and thickness of the material. He heard him clumping up the stairs, and he wondered, absurdly, if he was wearing heavy boots, too.
Mrs Fitzroy was opening the bag which she had on her lap, and Ray felt in his pocket for his fare. If he had the right change, he could just hand it to the conductor without looking up. Yes, he had a ten and two pence piece. He glanced at Mrs
Fitzroy and saw to his dismay that she was taking out a pound-note from her purse.
That would mean a delay while she got her change - plenty of chance for him to be recognised. Could he offer to pay her fare? It would seem strange, but anything was better than being seen - extract from 'Collision Course' - Nigel Hinton
What kind of atmosphere does the writer create in this extract and how do they do it?
You should refer to:
 Ray's thoughts and actions as he gets on the bus (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote)
 his behaviour as the conductor approaches (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote)
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 how the writer uses language to create the atmosphere (write 80 word paragraph with a PEE chain quote)
HOMEWORK FOUR:
The Walking Dead
"The eyes were the worst. It was not my imagination. They were in truth like the eyes of a dead man, not blind, but staring, unfocused, unseeing. The whole face, for that matter, was bad enough. It was vacant, as if there was nothing behind it. It seemed not only expressionless, but incapable of expression. I had seen so much previously in Haiti that was outside the ordinary normal experience that for the flash of a second I had a sickening, almost panicky lapse in which I thought, or rather felt, "Great God, maybe this stuff really is true...".
This is how William Seabrook described his encounter with one of the most horrifying creatures ever to step from the realms of the supernatural. For Seabrook was face-to-face with a zombie - a walking corpse. And in that moment he was prepared to believe all that he had heard about zombies since he first arrived on the island of Haiti.
The zombie's fate is even worse than that of a vampire or werewolf. The vampire returns to his loved ones. He may be recognised and laid to rest. The werewolf may be wounded and regain human form. But the zombie is a mindless automaton
(robot), doomed to live out a twilight existence of brutish toil (animal-like labour). A zombie can eat, move, hear, even speak, but he has no memory of his past or knowledge of his present condition. He may pass by his own home or gaze into the eyes of his loved ones without a glimmer of recognition
.
Neither ghost nor person, the zombie is said to be trapped, possibly forever, in that
"misty zone that divides life from death". For while the vampire is the living dead, the zombie is merely the walking dead - a body without soul or mind raised from the grave and given a semblance (appearance) of life through sorcery. He is the creature of the sorcerer, who uses him as a slave or hires him out - usually to walk on the land - From 'The Book of Great Mysteries' edited by Colin Wilson and Christopher Evans.
Q1. The writer chooses to begin the extract with a story based on someone's actual experience. Why do you think he did this?
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Q2. What is the effect of the two short sentences which open the extract?
Q3. In the third sentence, why does the speaker use a list of three adjectives to describe the zombie's eyes?
Q4. Why did Seabrook believe for a moment that he had met a real zombie?
Q5. Which words tell you he did not really believe this?
Q6. In the second paragraph, how does the writer use language to convince us that the zombie is a terrifying creature?
Q7. Which other creatures are compared to the zombie in the third paragraph?
Q8. Give two reasons why the zombie's fate is described as "even worse".
Q9. What is the purpose of this text?
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HOMEWORK FIVE:
Read the extracts below and state what type of fiction they are
1. The crew of The Discovery were tired. It had been a long voyage and things had been going wrong from the beginning. The navigator had uncovered an error of three parsecs in the astrogation charts and the ship's cat had been eaten by a mutated rat.
Romantic fiction
Science fiction
Horror fiction
2. The house brooded over the surrounding hills like a grey gargoyle. Few people who approached it could resist shuddering in fear.
Horror fiction
Detective fiction
Science fiction
3. Mary was worried. Martin should have phoned by now. He had said he would and she felt certain that he wanted to keep his promise. But what if he'd met Sheila?
The scheming minx was more than capable of distracting him and she hated to think of her sister and Martin together.
Romantic fiction
Horror fiction
Dectective fiction
4. Joe Dante took one last look around his office. The pictures on the walls were starting to depress him. His ex-wife, his ex-partner and now George, his ex-friend.
He still couldn't believe that George had ratted on him just to save his own skin. The glow of the police light on the window reminded him that he had to get out quick.
He put the .45 in his pocket and moved towards the door.
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Science fiction
Romantic fiction
Detective fiction
5. Read this extract and answer the following three questions.
Harvey's Tale of Terror
Harvey is a very affectionate black and white puppy. At just eight weeks old he was callously abandoned. One cold night he was stuffed into a holdall with his five brothers and sisters, and left outside a pub on a busy road. They could easily have died. Fortunately they were rescued in time to be taken to the local RSPCA Animal
Centre – from an RSPCA charity pamphlet
What is the audience of this extract?
An adult audience in the nineteenth century.
Animal lovers, young and old
Parents / carers.
6. What is the purpose of this extract?
To entertain
To give instructions
To persuade them to help the RSPCA
7. How has the writer matched the style and content to the audience and purpose?
Using direct, straightforward language
Using powerful and emotive language to describe what happened
Sticking to factual information such as times, date and places
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HOMEWORK SIX:
Read the extract below and answer the following questions.
A man was sitting with his feet up on a desk. He turned his head when Stanley and the guard entered, but otherwise didn't move. Even though he was inside, he wore sunglasses and a cowboy hat. He also held a can of cream soda, and the sight of it made Stanley even more aware of his own thirst.
He waited while the bus guard gave the man some papers to sign.
"That's a lot of sunflower seeds," the bus guard said.
Stanley noticed a burlap sack filled with sunflower seeds on the floor next to the desk.
"I quit smoking last month," said the man in the cowboy hat. He had a tattoo of a rattlesnake on his arm, and as he signed his name, the snake's rattle seemed to wiggle. "I used to smoke a pack a day. Now I eat a sack of these every week."
- from 'Holes' - Louis Sachar, page 12
eJxNUNtuw jAMhV
1. What is strange about the appearance of the man described in the first paragraph?
He is barefoot and wearing no shirt.
He is a bus guard.
He is wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat even though he is indoors.
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2. What piece of evidence tells us that Stanley has not had a drink for several hours. Create a PEE chain.
3. Why does the man have a sack of sunflower seeds nearby? Create a PEE chain.
HOMEWORK SEVEN:
Read the extracts below and answer the following questions.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
As part of your child's studies for GCSE English Literature, s/he is studying the play 'Much Ado About Nothing' by William
Shakespeare. This play is about to enter the final weeks of its long run in Stratford-upon-Avon and the school has booked tickets for students to see it on Monday, 22 May.
The play is being staged at The Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and tickets are £12.50 including travel. Students will need to meet at the front of the school at
5.30pm to meet staff and board the coach.
The play begins at 7.30pm and lasts for approximately 2 hours. The coach will return students to the school at around 11.00pm where they will need to be met or, as long as agreed beforehand, make their own way home.
What is the purpose of this trip?
To see Much Ado About Nothing
To see Macbeth
To learn about Stratford-upon Avon
5. At what time of day will the trip take place?
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1:00pm until 3:00pm
5.30am until 11.00am
5.30pm until 11.00pm
6. How long will students be on the trip for?
Two hours
Three hours
Five and a half hours
Read this extract and then answer the following two questions.
This room was my mother's pride and joy. Its brilliant white curtains always smelt fresh and the mahogany furniture was always highly polished, as was the wooden floor. My sister and I spent many hours polishing that room from as far back as I can remember. We had to do the polishing before we left for school each day.
The comfortable wooden chairs in the room were draped with crisp white headrests and the round table, which we ate from on
Sundays and other special occasions, had a doiley in its centre, on which sat a glass of glorious fresh flowers. These were from our small front garden which was full of exotic, sweet-smelling flowers and shrubs such as the beautiful flame-red hibiscus which seemed to attract swarms of exquisite butterflies and hovering hummingbirds, in search of the nectar.
1.
What piece of information shows the contrast between the formality and the comfort of the room? Create a PEE chain
2.
What information tell us this room is well cared for? Create a PEE chain
HOMEWORK EIGHT:
Read the extract below and answer the following questions.
This was the worst nightmare yet.
He was standing with his back pressed against a smooth wall cold as ice. The cold nibbled at his buttocks and legs; it ran up and down the knobbles of his spine, making him shiver; it invaded his lungs so he could hardly breathe; he felt he had been shivering a long time.
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His head was drooping as if it weighed a ton, but it was held up by a sharp band around his throat that was almost choking him. He tried to reach up and tear the band away, but there were sharp bands round his wrists as well. He tried to move his feet, but there were more cold, sharp bands around his ankles – from 'Urn
Burial' - Robert Westall
What's the best summary of this extract? Create a PEE chain to prove you are right!
A description of a man who has captured someone
A description of the experience of a captured man
An explanation of prison life
Read this extract and then answer the following question.
The two lions lay on their backs in the shade of the acacia tree, their massive paws limp and relaxed. We had been watching them for 20 minutes when the male slowly stood up, stretched, and padded over to a clearing. He began to roar. It was a deep, heart-stopping roar which echoed along the ancient African valley. It was an announcement that he, Raffi, had arrived and it was his territory now.
Slowly he turned to his mate and lay peacefully beside her.
It was quiet once more.
It was a dramatic contrast to my first encounter with them on a Tenerife rooftop in
1994. That image of two thin, grubby lions pacing back and forth in their tiny cage is forever etched on my memory. The corrugated iron roof turned the cage into an oven. Without a water bowl in sight, the only features in the cage were an old rubbish bin and narrow sleeping shelves with nails sticking out. For five years Raffi and Anthea had mentally survived in these conditions - how? I never believed I would one day see them in their ancestral home – from 'Fly Away Home' - Tricia
Holford
What's the best summary of this extract?
A description of lions in captivity
A description of lions in their habitat
A description of lions in two habitats, natural and captive
Now create a PEE chain to prove that you are right!
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