Paper 1 - Belonging

Section 1• reading

Respond do not simply retell!

Paper 1 does not require you to retell or recount the included texts. It requires you to basically do two things:

1. identify aspects (ideas, values, information) of belonging or not belonging

2. show how the composer has presented/represented belonging or not belonging through the language forms and features of the text/s.

How = techniques‘How’ is one word, which should be changed to explain what language techniques the composer uses to represent belonging in the text.

‘How’ does not, in any way, translate to just copy out something from the included text/s as your response to each section.

Quotations (and the techniques’ name) should be used to prove your answer: for example: • a metaphor “insert quotation from text” is used to

represent the aspect of belonging… • the body language of the person/character/animal in

the visual text “insert name of text” explains how they didn't feel they belonged...

• alliteration is used “insert quotation” to reinforce the importance of belonging…

The language technique(s) must be identified in relation to the terminology of the question; describe, explain and analyse the relationship between language, text and context.

The text is in the section and the context is belonging. for example: • a metaphor “insert quotation from text” is used to

represent the importance of belonging to a family even though that family may be separated by thousands of miles.

The term “way” is also closely linked to the “how”… and means you must make direct reference to the language forms and features (techniques) of the texts.

Avoid writing in the “personal” style (using “I” – “you” – “we”)

instead of “I think text #…” X try “It is obvious that text #…”

this demonstrates connectivity between the question and the response

In some questions in Section 1, you will need to compare the unseen texts.

Use connecting words such as: “ by comparison… ““ by contrast… ““ a parallel can be drawn with… ““ a similar technique/idea is used in… “ “ another way of portraying belonging is shown in… “

Visual literacy techniques are as important as written language techniques.

• layout (visual, written, language, font size etc)

• images

• body language (facial, stance, direction of gaze)

• framing

• types of shots (long, medium, close-up, extreme close-up)

• composition (collage, layered)

• symbolism (particularly consider this in ‘how’ a particular sign or symbol represents journey)

• reading paths (direction, positioning)

• gestures (pointing, implied direction, signs).

Final check list!

• know and identify the form (letter, poem, lyrics, web page, extract, and so on) • features (through reading, identify the

language techniques in written, spoken and visual) • identify, assess and explain the effectiveness

of representing and communicating the concept of belonging from the included texts

Question 1 (continued)Text two — Nonfiction extract from Like My Father, My Brother. . . I have this dream sometimes, that I am small and standing at a door. The door isorange and has a window above it. Through this window, which is slanted open, I canhear my brother and my father. I am outside the door. They are playing a game on theother side. I am calling out, trying to get their attention, but the door remains closed.My brother often sold me his old clothes. He would dangle them in front of me and offerthem at a price. There was never any negotiation. If I refused to pay the price, he threwthem out with a mocking, regretful expression. I bought many of his clothes but theynever sat on me properly. I was taller than him, but skinnier, and his clothes were alreadyworn by the time they got to me, so that I looked like a lost scarecrow. I rarely saw myselfwearing them though. I made a point of not looking at myself. Instead I focused on theway I had seen my brother wear them, the ease with which he moved inside his skin. Iwas fascinated by his surface.

All of my brother’s friends used to call me by his name. They added junior at the end asif I were his son, and so I was known, but apart from the history we shared, I was moreaware of our difference. My brother has a broad Australian accent that he had acquiredwithin a year or so of our arrival, and he blended in at school in every way. My ownaccent still carried the thick, stumbling textures of Holland. I was much taller than thepeople around me and solitary.My brother could pick up any sort of sporting equipment and act like he had been usingit for years and he had an easy contempt for those who didn’t have that natural ability.When he was eighteen he said to me, ‘Have you ever actually stopped to look atyourself?’There was such derision in his tone that I flew into a rage. I described in great detail howhe had always put me down, how he had oppressed me, made my life hell despite the factthat I had only ever admired him. He turned white, as if all of this was news to him. Afterthat, he’d sometimes find ways of praising me. He’d tell me that I was better with wordsthan he was, that I was the clever one.I was used to admiring my brother because it was all that I had ever seen other peopledo . . .MICHAEL SALA