Clara James Tutoring

BLOG POSTS

EducationCreative LearningRevision TipsHow do we learn?maths support11+ supportBecome a Tutor
Text analysis for English Lit

Analysing English Lit

Revision tips
June 28, 2024•1 min read

I appreciate dissecting Shakespeare probably doesn’t fill many teenagers with joy, however, if they are learning one of the books he covers, I would recommend watching them.

Text Analysis for GCSE English Lit

I was helping someone with their homework the other evening. We did the maths, but she had also been told to watch a video for English. I suggested that was probably not something she needed my help with, but she asked if we could so that she could cross it off.  

It was an analysis of a scene from Macbeth by a man named Mark Birch and it was brilliant!

It broke the scene down into an affective analysis at the same time as being a simple explanation.  

He had done these videos for other set texts as well such as Romeo and Juliet, Jekyll and Hyde, etc.  

I appreciate dissecting Shakespeare probably doesn’t fill many teenagers with joy, however, if they are learning one of the books he covers, I would recommend watching them. If nothing else, it will provide an alternative view of the text that they may have missed before and watching YouTube doesn’t involve too much effort.

(You might enjoy it as well).  

I’d never heard of Mark Birch before Monday, but I think I’m going to learn a lot from him!  

Mark BirchEnglish LitEnglish GCSE revisionRevising TextGCSE revision
blog author image

Dawn Strachan

For the past 20+ years I have been a firm believer that learning should be an enjoyable experience. I appreciate that traditionally education has revolved around worksheets, textbooks, listening to teachers. But a grounding in early years and working with children who had a variety of learning styles from I learned that it is an individual activity that is personal to all of us. We don’t all learn in the same way. Our influences, our experiences, our capabilities all influence how we retain information. But through it all, I believe that if we can make it enjoyable and engaging, they will want to participate. With participation comes practice which in turn boosts skill and confidence. With an increase in skill and confidence comes a willingness to have a go. This in turn leads to more practice which leads to a positive spiral of success. The moral, we need to make learning fun, engaging, use a range of techniques.

Back to Blog