Cambridge iGCSE English Language (Self-study option)

What is covered in this course

The complete Cambridge iGCSE interactive video course is self-paced and ideal for independent learners. The course is comprehensive and comprises over 40 interactive video lessons, totalling over 60 hours of content, using the core textbook as a framework. A breakdown of what’s included in each of the course units is provided below.

Please note: students will need to purchase the following course student textbook.

The first three blocks of the course focus on mastering skills and consist of 30 video lessons each of which is 1-1.5 hours in length. Each lesson is aligned to the textbook and designed to offer guidance on a specific syllabus area. Students can pause the video at key points and attempt questions before comparing their answers with model responses I have written, so they can self-assess and check they’re on track.

Each lesson maps onto a section of the syllabus, building all the core skills gradually, and a range of supplementary resources are provided as well as supplementary material for students to extend their reading, develop their skills and consolidate their understanding.

A suggested time frame for the whole course of four units is 1.5 years, so you could start in January and comfortably complete the tutorials working across four terms in time for the Easter break before the summer series exams the following year. However, as this is a video course, you have complete flexibility to decide your timescale and work through the material at your own pace. You can start at any point in the year and complete the course over six months or two years.

I recommend students complete all the modules by Easter if they’re planning to take the exam in May, so they have the opportunity to put all they have learnt into practice with about four weeks available to use past papers to hone their skills. There are two sittings available each year.

Please note, this course option does not include feedback on assignments, although past paper tasks will be supplied throughout the course along with the corresponding mark schemes and examiners’ reports. I provide detailed guidance on how to understand mark schemes so that learners can assess their own responses to further past paper questions. Separate course options are also available to purchase the standard course plus ten tutor marked assignments and a set of two past papers. The assignments are based on past paper questions and I provide detailed feedback on how to improve responses where required

Once you have placed your order, you will receive an email with details on how to access all the course content via Google Classroom. You will also be able to join a closed Facebook group where you can connect with other learners and I will share ideas, advice, hints and tips.

A bit about me: I am a qualified English tutor with a Masters degree in English Language and Literature and a PGCE. I’m also a long-standing home educating mum to three. I have taught the Cambridge iGCSE English Language specification for several years. My two older daughters sat this specification and achieved A* grades with percentage uniform marks, (PUMs), of 97% and 96%. 

Detailed course information

Unit 1 covers the following aspects of the syllabus:

* Skimming, scanning, explicit and implicit meaning

* Emotive and sensory language

* Recognising and distinguishing fact, opinion and bias (looking at feature articles, opinion pieces etc)

* Analysing and evaluating, looking at form and purpose in a range of texts

* Deducing audience

* Understanding how to match tone to audience and purpose.

* Technical skills – grammar, punctuation, use of reported and direct speech, structuring writing, paragraphing and paragraph cohesion, audience and levels of formality, assuming voice and role.

Unit 2 focuses on the following:

Key writing forms & the conventions of different text types, including:

* Speeches/talks

* Interviews

* Diary journal entries

* Reports

* News reports

* Magazine articles

* Letters

This awareness is crucial for the extended writing response and directed writing task, for which candidates may we prepared to write any of the text types listed above.

We will also look at writing for different purposes including:

* Writing to inform, explain, persuade, argue, explore and discuss.

We will touch on descriptive and narrative writing, which will be examined in more detail in Units 3 and 4.

Unit 3 covers the following:

* Applying skills – locating and selecting information, literal and inferred meaning, practising exam-style comprehension questions and looking at sample responses

* Summary writing – identifying the focus of the question, selecting and ordering points for a summary, writing a summary, practice questions, sample answers

* Analysing language – synonyms and literal meaning, explaining connotations and associations

* Extended response to reading and directed writing exam tasks – how to plan, structure and write pieces, including understanding the question’s focus, assuming a role, practising with exam-style questions

* Composition – descriptive and narrative tasks, organising ideas, structuring your piece, using different types of imagery, including sensory details, varied sentences and punctuation.

Unit 4

The last ten video lessons comprise recordings from my Exam Preparation Course, (which can also be taken as a live webinar-style class on its own from mid-January through to Easter by students who would like support in the run-up to the exams). In these video lessons, I guide students through how to interpret and make sense of mark schemes and examiner reports, so they are able to develop their understanding of how exam tasks are marked and self-assess their work, helping them tailor their responses to the specified criteria.

This part of the course focuses on a different past paper question each week which students can complete in advance of watching the associated recording to help them grasp what’s required. The tutorials recap the examiners’ criteria, the features of each text type and exam task and ‘walk students through’ the question, demonstrating how to break down the question, analyse and evaluate the material to produce a well-structured and sequenced response.

Each lesson is accompanied by an annotated model response I have written to illustrate what makes a good answer and what examiners are looking for. Each tutorial for this section of the course is 1 hr 30-1hr 45 minutes long and the recordings can be watched in more than one sitting.