Veganism and Militant Veganism - AQA GCSE English Language
Meat is Murder Q.3 - How does the writer use language to interest readers? (12 marks)
Over two weeks, we studied the theme of veganism through the lyrics of 'Meat is Murder' by The Smiths as well as other source materials. We discussed and dissected the song title as a connect activity - this encouraged students to understand that we can look at techniques as a whole sentence or statement e.g. metaphor, short simple sentence etc. and on an individual (zoom in) level (the noun 'meat'), (the noun 'murder'). The task also allowed them to discuss and debate the statement altogether - which allows them to develop the skills required for question 5. What I like about this activity (particularly for the technique task) is the fact that it supports the language questions on both papers and why it is important for them to zoom in on key words and the impact that they create. They were surprised about how much you can analyse with just 3 words.
The lyrics are packed with various language techniques to discuss, zoom in on and analyse. I played the song to them while they followed the lyrics and posed 3 questions - what is the writer's overall viewpoint? How do you know? How does the song make you feel? In pairs, I asked them to highlight 3 quotations that are interesting to them, identify any techniques within the quote and the impact and connotations the words have.
After a recap on how to answer question 3, I showed them a level 4 response. I asked them to use it as a scaffold for their own analysis but by replacing the quotations, techniques and impact/connotations part. This proved a successful activity and a number of learners managed to produce some promising answers.
Militant Veganism Q.3 - How does the writer use language to interest readers? (12 marks)
We then moved onto the theme of militant veganism. Again, I like to explore titles and really focused on the connotations and images of the adjective 'militant'. I posed a starter question 'is it ethical to eat meat?' which we debated and discussed before I showed them a YouTube clip based on vegan protesters. What I liked about this task was the fact that the learners had strong opinions about it, which I reminded them is exactly what we need to focus on for question 5. We then read an article that showed a viewpoint against militant veganism and I followed the same process that I did with the song lyrics - how does it make you feel? What is the writer's viewpoint? How do you know? They then analysed 3 language techniques within the article for a question 3 response.
Comparing Attitudes and Perspectives Q.4 - Compare how the writers in both texts portray their attitudes and perspectives (16 marks)
With their analysis and notes from the article and song lyrics, the learners had a plan to tackle question 4. We explored the question and I wanted them to really focus on HOW the writers show their viewpoints. How being - language techniques, structure, tone etc. I used a scaffold to show them how they can synthesise between the texts.
Start with source A - what is the text/form and their overall viewpoint? How do they show this (quote)? What technique? Impact/meanings? Then switch to source B with a comparison word and follow the same process. I encouraged them to do this for 20 minutes only before moving on as some students feel that they should write a certain amount before trying the next question.
Differences Q.2 - Summarise the differences between how they protest in both texts (8 marks)
Although this question is only worth 8 marks, students tend to forget the inference part. Using two very short extracts (friendly vegan protest vs an angry vegan protest), I asked students to underline 2 quotes from each one that shows how they protest. I wrote their quotes on the WB and asked them to tell me the inferences for each quote - or simply what does the quote suggest about the way the protest? Again, I showed them a level 4 response and asked them to use that as a guide but with their own quotes and suggestions. 2 paragraphs that included relevant quotes and suggestions that synthesised between the extracts - the learners did well at this.
Meat is Murder Q.3 - How does the writer use language to interest readers? (12 marks)
Over two weeks, we studied the theme of veganism through the lyrics of 'Meat is Murder' by The Smiths as well as other source materials. We discussed and dissected the song title as a connect activity - this encouraged students to understand that we can look at techniques as a whole sentence or statement e.g. metaphor, short simple sentence etc. and on an individual (zoom in) level (the noun 'meat'), (the noun 'murder'). The task also allowed them to discuss and debate the statement altogether - which allows them to develop the skills required for question 5. What I like about this activity (particularly for the technique task) is the fact that it supports the language questions on both papers and why it is important for them to zoom in on key words and the impact that they create. They were surprised about how much you can analyse with just 3 words.
The lyrics are packed with various language techniques to discuss, zoom in on and analyse. I played the song to them while they followed the lyrics and posed 3 questions - what is the writer's overall viewpoint? How do you know? How does the song make you feel? In pairs, I asked them to highlight 3 quotations that are interesting to them, identify any techniques within the quote and the impact and connotations the words have.
After a recap on how to answer question 3, I showed them a level 4 response. I asked them to use it as a scaffold for their own analysis but by replacing the quotations, techniques and impact/connotations part. This proved a successful activity and a number of learners managed to produce some promising answers.
Militant Veganism Q.3 - How does the writer use language to interest readers? (12 marks)
We then moved onto the theme of militant veganism. Again, I like to explore titles and really focused on the connotations and images of the adjective 'militant'. I posed a starter question 'is it ethical to eat meat?' which we debated and discussed before I showed them a YouTube clip based on vegan protesters. What I liked about this task was the fact that the learners had strong opinions about it, which I reminded them is exactly what we need to focus on for question 5. We then read an article that showed a viewpoint against militant veganism and I followed the same process that I did with the song lyrics - how does it make you feel? What is the writer's viewpoint? How do you know? They then analysed 3 language techniques within the article for a question 3 response.
Comparing Attitudes and Perspectives Q.4 - Compare how the writers in both texts portray their attitudes and perspectives (16 marks)
With their analysis and notes from the article and song lyrics, the learners had a plan to tackle question 4. We explored the question and I wanted them to really focus on HOW the writers show their viewpoints. How being - language techniques, structure, tone etc. I used a scaffold to show them how they can synthesise between the texts.
Start with source A - what is the text/form and their overall viewpoint? How do they show this (quote)? What technique? Impact/meanings? Then switch to source B with a comparison word and follow the same process. I encouraged them to do this for 20 minutes only before moving on as some students feel that they should write a certain amount before trying the next question.
Differences Q.2 - Summarise the differences between how they protest in both texts (8 marks)
Although this question is only worth 8 marks, students tend to forget the inference part. Using two very short extracts (friendly vegan protest vs an angry vegan protest), I asked students to underline 2 quotes from each one that shows how they protest. I wrote their quotes on the WB and asked them to tell me the inferences for each quote - or simply what does the quote suggest about the way the protest? Again, I showed them a level 4 response and asked them to use that as a guide but with their own quotes and suggestions. 2 paragraphs that included relevant quotes and suggestions that synthesised between the extracts - the learners did well at this.
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