AQA GCSE English Literature Activities and Exam Practice:
Of Mice and Men (New 2010 specification)

Contents

1: Activities to support reading the text

Pre-reading The Dust Bowl and California Dreaming
Activity i.i Migrant labour
About John Steinbeck
Activity i.ii Speaking and listening: Determinism

Ch. 1 Focus: character; theme of dreams
Activity 1.1 Textual analysis: George and Lennie
Activity 1.2 Scriptwriting: Lennie meets the boss
Activity 1.3 The American Dream

Ch. 2 Focus: style, language and character
Activity 2.1 Imagery: Curley’s wife and Slim
Activity 2.2 Dear Diary – George’s viewpoint
Activity 2.3 Power

Ch. 3 Focus: language, character, setting, viewpoint, loneliness
Activity 3.1 Speaking and listening: A speech for Candy
Activity 3.2 Textual analysis: Curley and Lennie as animals
Activity 3.3 Speaking and listening: Hot-seating – the fight

Ch. 4 Focus: character, viewpoint, prejudice and oppression
Activity 4.1 Textual analysis: What’s in Crooks’ room?
Activity 4.2 Textual analysis: Word associations
Activity 4.3 Racism in the Deep South

Ch. 5 Focus: character, plot, viewpoint, setting and atmosphere
Activity 5.1 From page to stage
Activity 5.2 Textual analysis: Accidental death
Activity 5.3 Speaking and listening. Post-mortem inquiry

Ch. 6 Focus: language, viewpoint and setting
Activity 6.1 Textual analysis: beginning and end of novel
Activity 6.2 Media: directing a film version of the final sequence
Activity 6.3 An alternative ending

Post-reading round-up
Activity ii.i What’s in a name?
Activity ii.ii Making a picture map
Activity ii.iii The ‘framed novel’

2: Exam practice

Answering AQA exam questions

Foundation Tier

• Looking at questions
• Writing an essay plan for your essay
• Writing an introduction
• Using quotations
• Linking paragraphs
• Writing a conclusion
• Improving a sample essay

Sample essay (Grade C)

Higher Tier

• Unpacking the question
• Writing an essay plan
• Detailed planning: further unpacking
• The main body
• Writing an introduction
• Writing a conclusion
• A* essay (1) marked using AQA scheme
• Marking an essay yourself – matching up AQA mark scheme criteria

Teachers' notes

• Purpose and use
• Differentiation
• Extension activities.

Praise from the Schoolzone independent evaluation:

"The true value of this resource is its adaptability: the information and assignments that come with the resource form a very strong backbone, but it also allows for an individual teacher’s inventiveness and vision."

"I feel the publishers can take heart from the fact that their sternest and most cynical critics have acknowledged the resource's value!"

Further information

Part 1 provides chapter-by-chapter activities for classroom and homework to support reading the text.

Part 2 provides activities which guide students through the process of writing exam essays on Of Mice and Men for AQA. It explains:

• types of essay
• planning
• how to begin an essay
• how to structure an essay
• how to turn a C into an A*

The resource has been fully updated to reflect the new specification and two-part exam questions, and its 'other cultures' status .

Length: 40 pp

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