A first look at Tassomai’s new GCSE English literature content

** Since this blog was published we have added new information for English teachers **

Our content team is hard at work developing new material for the 2020/21 academic year, reviewing specification documents and preparing quiz questions for our new KS4 English literature and maths courses.

These new subjects will be added to our existing schools package at no additional cost. This means schools using Tassomai for all their students in years 7-11 can get science, English and maths content for a combined price of just £5 per student. We’re also planning to make our English literature course available to private subscribers later in the year.

English literature will be structured by texts

We will set you up with a program of content based on the texts each class is studying. The courses will cover key aspects of the text, whilst considering assessment objectives from the National Curriculum. 

Each course will cover the following topics: 

  • Form, Structure and Language 

  • Characters 

  • Plot 

  • Themes 

  • Context

We plan to launch with the following texts, which are amongst the most commonly studied at GCSE: 

  • Macbeth 

  • Romeo & Juliet

  • Jekyll & Hyde 

  • A Christmas Carol 

  • An Inspector Calls 

  • Blood Brothers 

  • Animal Farm 

  • Lord of the Flies 

The next group of texts we intend to cover includes traditional classics like Jane Eyre and Great Expectations as well as some less well known contemporary texts such as Meera Syal’s Anita and Me, and Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy.

Increasing cultural diversity in the curriculum is a vital way to tackle issues of race and inequality, and we are keen to support schools who want to focus on lesser known texts, particularly those by BAME authors. 

You can read more about diversity and our new English literature content in this blog post.  

Poetry clusters

We are also aiming to cover the poetry clusters for AQA, EDX and OCR. These clusters contain poems relating to themes such as power and conflict, love and relationships, time and age, and belonging. 

We will create a course per cluster for poetry, meaning students will have an additional poetry course that contains content for each poem in their studied anthology cluster. These are exam board specific in that the clusters for each board contain a different selection of poetry. 

Want to learn more?

In the video below Tassomai’s founder Murray Morrison talks viewers through an in-depth presentation about the new Key Stage 4 English literature content, delivered at the World Class Schools Symposium. You can also read more about Tassomai’s new KS4 maths and English literature content and register for updates here.

 
 
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