 Hello and welcome back to yet another GCSE revision lesson. Now, when it comes to tackling question number two of the language paper one exam, this question can sometimes be mystified for some students. Lots of you, especially in the polls that I put out, always say Barbara, please can you go over the language question. What do I even need to look for? What is language? Which relevant subject terminology can I use when approaching this question? Guys, I want to show you that when it comes to this part of the paper, question number two for paper one, it's actually easy once you understand how to approach it to score full marks on this question. So I want to walk you guys through, literally to be honest, the four steps you can remember, practice and prepare. And to be honest, if you follow these steps, you are guaranteed to get full marks in this question, okay? So step number one, always remember and always be aware of this question. What is it expecting from you? Remember that firstly, it's worth eight marks. And it tests your AO two, assessment objective two. What does AO two mean? AO two simply means, can you show an awareness of subject terminology? Are you able once you pick out the subject terminology, are you able to analyze it and of course refer to good high level language techniques? That's step number one. Step number two, always remember and always even anticipate that the question will be worded in exactly the same way, okay? The question will always ask you to talk about and to comment on the writer's use of language to describe bloody, bloody, blah, depending on the text and the fiction text that you're presented with, okay? And the bullet points are always the same. You're asked to talk about words and phrases, language reaches and techniques and sentence forms and then you get a box of text, okay? So that's step number two, just know what to anticipate for this question and how it's laid out. Then step number three, now this is where you put, you know, the rubber hits the road and you start practicing and improving your writing technique. Remember to get eight marks, see split it into two paragraphs. Try to see the paragraphs in terms of one paragraph is worth four marks and other paragraph is worth four marks, okay? So always make sure you write a minimum of two paragraphs. I would suggest following the peel paragraph structure point evidence explanation link. And of course, in your paragraphs, when you look at the box of text that you're presented with and you're selecting evidence from that little box of text in front of you, select something from the beginning or the end or beginning versus the middle. Students make errors when answering the question and they're adding the evidence and embedding the quotations. They literally pick in the first paragraph one bit of evidence from the start and then the second paragraph to pick another bit of evidence literally after the first sentence that they've used, right? So they kind of come across as a little bit lazy because they don't pick a wide range of examples, okay? In one paragraph, if you pick something from the beginning of the text that you're presented with in your second paragraph, it should be kind of from later on to show that you're not lazy and you're selecting good bits of information but from a wider part of the text, okay? When it comes to approaching the third problematic bullet point that you're given, okay? You're asked to talk about sentence forms which is technically structure. The easiest way to approach this is in one of your paragraphs, just mentioned how the writer uses X language technique in this declarative sentence. The declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact, feeling or mood. Final thing is when you're opening your paragraphs, open them well, okay? Use words like firstly to begin with. Then when you develop your second paragraph, use words like furthermore, moreover, additionally at the beginning of the second paragraph. Fourth and final step to getting full marks and to doing really well on this part of the paper is make sure you are aware of some really good language techniques that you can look for and really be mindful when you're reading the extract. Here are some really good language techniques you can just memorize and then just make sure you're always looking for them. Alliteration, Sibilance, Metaphore, Simile, Jox, Position, Oxymoron, Pathetic Fallacy, my personal favorite which is semantic filled and a really good grade nine technique called Synecdoche. Commit those to memory, look for them in the language paper two question and you will be absolutely fine, okay? So with that being said guys, I'm now going to walk you guys through a moderate response that I've written for a past paper question, specifically tackling question number two. So here we're told the extract is called The Pearl by John Steinbeck and this extract is from a novel published in 1947, okay? So here, we're given a little bit of a blurb, okay? Always read the blurb, don't assume you don't have enough time for this because this is the only context we're given. And this extract from the beginning of the novel, Kino, a poor pearl driver or diver even, is with his wife Juana and the baby Coyotito in the village home in Mexico. Let's now read through it. The sun was warming up the brush house, breaking through its crevices and long streaks and this is the brush house that's being mentioned in question number one. And one of the streaks fell on the hanging bed box where baby Coyotito lay and on the ropes that held it. It was a tiny movement that drew the ice to the hanging box. Kino and Juana froze in their positions. Down the rope that hung the baby's box from the roof support, a scorpion moved slowly. His stinging tail was straight up behind him but he could whip it up in a flash of time. So here, we've been introduced to Kino, Juana, the baby and this scorpion. It's a really tense opening. This is incredibly captivating. Also, especially when you're thinking about question number three, this opening is really, really captivating the introduction also of these characters. Kino's breath whistled in his nostrils and he opened his mouth to stop it. Then the startled look was gone for him and the rigidity from his body. In his mind, a new song had come, The Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody and underneath the song of the family, cried plaintively. Okay, so this is an interesting, I suppose, reference to music and maybe this music is making him think of the scorpion. The scorpion moved delicately down the rope toward the box. So now the watch and the scorpion, there's this buildup. Kino was in motion, simple sentence. It speeds up the pace. His body glided quietly across the room noiselessly and smoothly. So his body is gliding quietly, noiselessly and smoothly. There's a lot of rule of three that's being used here, okay? So there's rule of three here. To describe how furtive and sneaky his movement is as he's creeping up on this scorpion. It's since danger when Kino was almost within reach of it. Oh, okay, so the scorpion can sense Kino is close. It stopped and its tail rose up over its back in little jerks and the curved thorn on the tail's end glistened. So this tail is a thorn. This is a powerful metaphor to talk about how also the scorpion is ready for attack. Kino stood perfectly still. He could not move until the scorpion moved and it felt for the source of the death that was coming to it. Kino's hand went forward very slowly, very smoothly. Okay, so now we're hoping, oh my gosh, I hope that Kino is gonna be able to get this scorpion away from this baby. The thorn tail jerked upright at that moment. The laughing coyote to shook the rope and the scorpion fell. So this delicate balance has now been destroyed. This is the turning point. It's actually the baby that shakes the rope and this is what causes the sudden movement, okay? So this is what we call a volta or a turning point in the story, okay? Because at first there was this very delicate balance. So almost all dancing around the scorpion but then the baby just juts the scorpion moves it and now there's a sudden turning point. Kino's hand leaped to catch it but it fell past his fingers, fell on the baby's shoulders and landed and struck. Oh no, so now here was supposed to be like, can't believe this is what's happened. Then snarling, now there's really, really noisy on a matipair, contrast to whistle, which is silent. Then snarling, Kino had it. Had it in his fingers, rubbing it into a paste in his hands. Metaphor to talk about how he's crushing the scorpion. He threw it down and beat it into the earth floor with his fist and Kojito screamed with pain so the baby is in lots of pain in his box but Kino beat and stamped the enemy until it was only a fragment, a moist place in the dirt. His teeth were bared and fury fled in his eyes and the song of enemy roared in his ears. So Kino is just literally pounding at this and you know, attacking the scorpion with all his might. But Juana had the baby in her arms now. She found the puncture. So this is where the scorpion has stung with redness starting from it already. She put her lips down over the puncture and sucked hard and spat and sucked again while Kojito screamed. So there's a contrast here, especially if we're thinking about question before. Kino, he jumps at the scorpion but the scorpion has really stung his kid, right? And then he, you know, he kills it with all his might and all he's just doing is stamping and stamping this scorpion whilst it's a baby's mom who's the one that really focuses on how is my baby, right? And she's the one that jumps to action. She's removing all of the poison, okay? Kino hovered, he was helpless, he was in the way. So here we can even see he's even more useless. The screams of the baby brought the neighbors, scorpion, the baby's been stung. Juana stopped sucking the puncture for a moment. The little hole was slightly enlarged and its edges whitened from the sucking but the red swelling extended further around it in a hard mount. An adult might be very ill from this thing but a baby could easily die from the poison. So now here Steinbeck is mounting our sense of unease. We're thinking, oh my gosh, now he's mentioning death. Oh, will this baby die? First would come swelling and fever and tightened throat. Then cramps in the stomach and then Koutito might die if the poison had gone in. So it's telling us about the stages of death. Again, this is building up tension. We're really worried. We're thinking, oh my gosh, the baby's gonna die. But the stinging pain of the bite was going away. Koutito screams turned to moan. So now the baby's starting to feel a little bit better because the mom has sucked a little bit of the poison out. Kino had wandered often at the iron in his patient fragile wife. She who was obedient and respectful and cheerful and patient. So there's all these adjectives to describe her as being this really passive woman but then this is in contrast to actually how strong world he thinks she is. She could stand fatigue and hunger almost better than Kino himself. She was like a strong man, really powerful simile. And now she did a most surprising thing. The doctor, she said, go to get the doctor. So here she's now really speaking with purpose. She's being very, very direct telling Kino this is what we need to do. The doctor would not come, Kino said to Juana. Now here what we can see is there's a clear contrast in the dialogue. Juana is saying, look, this is what we need to do to save our baby's life. But Kino is actually kind of getting in the way. He's saying, oh no, I don't think the doctor will come. He's already making that decision. Even before they kind of go to see the doctor, he's not giving his baby a fighting chance. She looks up at him. Her eyes as cold as the eyes of a lioness. Now here the simile is showing that she's determined. This was Juana's first baby. This was nearly everything there was in Juana's world. So here it's talking about how important she is using hyperbole. And Kino saw her determination. Then we'll go to him, Juana said. So here we can see in the dialogue, there's a shift in power dynamics. At first Kino was like this big macho man with all of this bravado. Basically like, oh, I'm going to kill this scorpion and leave it to me. But then once the scorpion strikes the baby, he seems almost helpless. And then suddenly it's Juana who seems to take the driving seat in this relationship. So it's Juana who's now telling him, look, this is what to do. She's speaking in also direct imperative sentence. Go to do this, go to get the doctor. Then we'll go to him, Juana said. With one hand she arranged the dark blue shawl over her head and made one end of it a sling to hold the moaning baby. So she's signed the baby, she's holding the baby. And a shade over his eyes to protect him from the light. The people in the doorway pushed against those behind to let her through. Kino followed her. Ending simple sentence shows that now Kino has been reduced to just simply following her. He clearly doesn't really know what to do in this situation. All of this bravado, all of this, oh, I'm such a big man. I'm going to be able to do this because I'm such a big man. Suddenly it's Juana, this woman who didn't really take that much of an important role in the beginning of the story. She's the one who was seen as reprehensible, cheerful, patient, obedient. She suddenly springs to action and she's the one that's coming with the solutions. So now that we've read the extract, let's now shift our attention to how to answer all four questions. Let's now look at question number two. Now, as you can see, I've already prepared a response to it. What I would like to say is when it comes to question number two, try to aim to write a minimum of two pill paragraphs. And I'm going to show you the two pill paragraphs that I've answered, the model responses. And of course, because this is the language question, you want to select a minimum of two bits of evidence, one for one pill paragraph and one for another. You can, as you can see what I've done here, I've actually highlighted one, two, three bits of evidence because for these first two, I'm going to mention them in my opening pill paragraph. So, pill is point evidence explanation link. And then this final one is I'm going to mention it relating to the final pill paragraph, okay? In fact, actually it's the final two quotations here, curved thorn and upright. Remember, of course, with sentence forms you need to also make sure you've covered your back with this third bullet point, okay? Because obviously you're talking about things like conomata peer, adjective, metaphor, all of these are language techniques and they cover words, as well as obviously when you're quoting phrases and they are language features and techniques, what isn't always covered if you're only focusing on language sentence forms? So make sure you mention declarative sentence. Anyway, so we've got that, you always get the insert in front of you for question number two, it's worth eight marks. So my suggestion is to go for at least two pill paragraphs, point, evidence, explanation and link. So let's have a look at how I've structured my first pill paragraph in connection with the keywords and the question, which is how is language used to describe the conflicts between Kino and the Scorpion? So let's look at my first pill paragraph. Firstly, the writer vividly describes the increasing tension and conflict between Kino and the Scorpion. Kino seems tense, but also furtive as he tries to creep up on the Scorpion. That's my opening point. And as you can see, I've split it into two separate sentences to develop the idea to do with conflict, Kino and the Scorpion and also bear in mind, I'm using all the keywords in the question. Here's my evidence. At first his breath whistled, however he glided quietly, noiselessly and smoothly. That's my evidence. I've embedded this quotation whistled as well as quietly, noiselessly and smoothly. Here's my explanation. The author employs onomatopoeia, this is language, in the opening declarative sentence, so I've made sure I mention the sentence form to convey how anxious Kino was as he whistled. Steinbeck, this is the surname of the author, escalates the aura, the sense of conflict through use in the rule of three as the adverbs quietly, noiselessly and smoothly reveal Kino is drawing closer to the creature before he mounts an attack. Indeed, the adverb quietly, now I'm zooming in on one particular word, portrays Kino as a predator who's steady and plotting an assault. So what have I done in my explanation? In my explanation, I have mentioned language technique onomatopoeia, I've also mentioned sentence form, declarative sentence, I've mentioned adverbs and I've also zoomed in on one particular adverb to talk about how this shows the conflict. Here's my link back to the question, the end of my peel paragraph. Thus the writer powerfully describes a mounting tension and conflict between Kino and the scorpion. So I've linked it back to the question, talked about how this tension conflict between Kino and the scorpion keywords. Here's my second pill paragraph. Moreover, we sense the scorpion is ready for this impending conflict with Kino. Impending means unavoidable, it's literally about to happen, there's a build up to it. In fact, it seems alert and poised as it anticipates an attack. That's my opening point. Again, it's two separate sentences. The creature's curved thorn appeared to stand upright. That's my evidence. I've taken just the words curved thorn and upright. So curved thorn is a metaphor, upright is just the adjective. Here's my explanation. The writer uses the metaphor thorn to paint a detailed image of the scorpion's weapon, which it will use in its defense. The adjective upright reveals that its thorn is especially deadly and it is clear that although the scorpion is far smaller than Kino, it may still overpower Kino in the conflict that ensues because of its dangerous sting. That's my explanation where I talk about technique in lots of detail, my metaphor, but also I've zoomed in on an adjective. Here's my link. Consequently, the writer suggests people trace the mounting conflict and strain between Kino and the scorpion. They both seem agitated and it's clear there will be an attack. So I've simply linked it back to the questions. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read through this, these two pill paragraphs one last time without stopping and explaining in case you may have missed something as I was reading through it the first time round. Firstly, the writer vividly describes increasing tension and conflict between Kino and the scorpion. Kino seems tense but also furtive as he tries to creep up on the scorpion. At first, his breath whistled. However, he glided quietly, noiselessly and smoothly. The author employs onomatopoeia in the opening declarative sentence to convey how anxious Kino was as he whistled. Steinbeck escalates the aura of conflict through using the rule of three as the adverbs quietly, noiselessly and smoothly reveal Kino is drawing closer to the creature before he mounts an attack. Indeed, the adverb quietly portrays Kino as a predator who is steady and plotting an assault. Thus, the writer powerfully describes the mounting tension and conflict between Kino and the scorpion. Moreover, we sense the scorpion is ready for this impending conflict with Kino. In fact, it seems alert and poised as it anticipates an attack. The creature's curved thorn appeared to stand upright. The writer uses the metaphor thorn to paint a detailed image of the scorpion's weapon, which it will use in its defense. The adjective upright reveals that its thorn is especially deadly and it is clear that although the scorpion is far smaller than Kino, it may still overpower Kino in the conflict that ensues because of its dangerous sting. Consequently, the writer's success portrays the mounting conflict and strain between Kino and the scorpion. The both seem agitated and it's clear there will be an attack. So that's how to write a model response for question number two of this 2022 exam.