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Toast English Subject Leaders and Year 9 Reading Task Teachers of English Status: Recommended Date of Issue: 01-2006 Teacher Pack Ref: Dfes 1789-2005 CDO-EN

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Toast English Subject Leaders and Year 9 Reading Task Teachers of English Status: Recommended Date of Issue: 01-2006 Teacher Pack Ref: Dfes 1789-2005 CDO-EN Guidance Secondary Curriculum and National Strategy Standards Toast English subject leaders and Year 9 reading task teachers of English Status: Recommended Date of issue: 01-2006 Teacher pack Ref: DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN Assessing pupils’ progress in English at Key Stage 3 Toast Year 9 reading task Framework objectives Reading 7 Compare the presentation of ideas, values or emotions in related or contrasting texts. Reading 11 Analyse how an author’s standpoint can affect meaning in the literary texts. Assessment focuses AF2 Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text. AF3 Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts. AF4 Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level. AF5 Explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level. AF6 Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader. Time needed Two consecutive one-hour lessons. Timings will need to be adapted if lessons are longer or shorter than 60 minutes. These timings are estimates for guidance rather than obligatory timings. The most important consideration is that pupils should have sufficient time to complete the task, working independently. Unfinished tasks are unlikely to produce evidence on all the assessment focuses. Teachers may adjust the timings for the task to take account of their particular circumstances, but should bear in mind that spending overmuch time on any section may disadvantage pupils. Pack includes Teacher notes OHT 1 – food cards OHT 2 – extract from Pommes Dauphinoise for shared reading Pages 2–10 of reading booklet Pages of answer booklet Marking guidelines Exemplar responses Task outline This task requires pupils to read and respond to sections of four chapters from Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast. Pommes Dauphinoise is used as a class text for shared reading and exploration of early ideas. Toast 1 and the first section of Christmas Cake are studied together to bridge ideas, while the rest of the text and Smoked Haddock are studied by pupils independently. 2 Secondary National Strategy | Assessing pupils’ progress in © Crown copyright 2006 English at Key Stage 3 DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN Teacher notes Teaching sequence LESSON 1 I Share the learning objectives with the class, rephrasing as appropriate for the group. Introduction (15 minutes) I Tell pupils that they are about to read some chapters from Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast. Draw out knowledge of him as a celebrity chef – his reputation for uncomplicated cooking. Compare him to other known celebrity chefs. I Ask pupils why they think people write autobiographies. I Explain that Nigel Slater was brought up in the 1960s in Wolverhampton. His mother died when he was young and Nigel was brought up by his father and then by his stepmother. Although he was often alone after his mother’s death and left to make his own meals, he writes about his experiences with humour and compassion. For Nigel Slater, food becomes a comforting and significant friend. You may wish to introduce some of this autobiographical information (which is relevant to the texts in this task) at the start, or draw it out as appropriate during the reading of the four chapters. I Display OHT 1 (page 2 of the reading booklet), which names and describes some of the dishes from the chapter Pommes Dauphinoise. (This does not need to be cut up into cards.) Tell pupils that all these dishes are mentioned in the text they are about to read. This activity should be very quick and is designed to make the text accessible by establishing some of the ways in which food is made to sound delicious. I Ask pupils to: 1. circle any foods they know 2. underline the foods they can work out in pairs by exploring language more closely – for example by examining parts of words they know 3. find two dishes they want to find out more about. Pernod – an alcoholic drink made with aniseed Veal paupiette – thin slice of veal, rolled and stuffed with olives I Take quick feedback, drawing attention to the way some dishes are made vivid through use of colourful adjectives/comparisons. © Crown copyright 2006 Secondary National Strategy | Assessing pupils’ progress in 3 DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN English at Key Stage 3 Shared reading – Pommes Dauphinoise (20 minutes) I Hand out the pupil reading booklet and ask pupils to locate Pommes Dauphinoise. Although this is the final text in the pupil reading booklet, it will be studied first. Explain that in this chapter Nigel Slater narrates an episode when he was in his last year at catering college. He was probably about 20 and full of ideas for his future life as a chef. I Read Pommes Dauphinoise to pupils and ask them to be alert to the way Slater describes the foods they have just looked at. I Display OHT 2 (page 3 of the reading booklet) and lead a short focused session on the passage on Thornbury Castle. Ask pupils to look at the way the writer uses descriptions of food to reflect Nigel’s growing passion for food and his discovery of pommes dauphinoise. On the OHT, highlight words and phrases that alert the senses to smell, texture, sight and taste, for example: – Tiny beads of condensation frosting the outside – Fat olives the colour of a bruise – Dark, sticky sauce – Comforting, soothing and fragrant – Anchovy puffs arrived fresh from the oven – Subtlest hint of garlic…as if it had floated in on a breeze. I Draw out the significance of the chapter title. Ask pupils why they think the discovery might have been so important to Nigel: – It is a simple, comforting dish containing only two ingredients and may remind him of the simple foods of his childhood – The phrase “then something came along that was to change everything” implies that the discovery may have influenced him as a chef in the years to follow. Development (20 minutes) I Introduce the two chapters Toast 1 and Christmas Cake. Explain that these chapters come earlier on in Nigel Slater’s book and tell us a great deal about his mother. Read up to “having to be filled with marzipan”. I Ask pupils to think about the connections between these texts and the last text. Ask pupils to turn to page 4 in their reading booklet and draw their attention to the prompts in the left-hand column. I Ask pupils to read the remaining part of Christmas Cake from “Forget scented candles…” to “…lawn for the birds” and to complete the grid in pairs. Plenary (5 minutes) I Agree three key points from the completed grids and write up on the board or flipchart for the next lesson: 1. The way the writer appeals to our senses 2. The way the writer links food and cooking to memory and feelings – especially to his mother and father 3. The humour of his observations – of people and events. 4 Secondary National Strategy | Assessing pupils’ progress in © Crown copyright 2006 English at Key Stage 3 DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN LESSON 2 I Remind pupils of the learning objectives for these two lessons. Introduction (5 minutes) I Use flipchart, display board or OHT from previous lesson to remind pupils of the key ideas from Lesson 1: 1. The way the writer appeals to our senses 2. The way the writer links food and cooking to memory and feelings – especially to his mother and father 3. The humour of his observations – of people and events. I Explain that they will be asked to respond to the rest of the text on their own and that these key ideas will be an important focus for their reading. Shared session (10 minutes) I Demonstrate how to respond to a question which requires a longer answer, reminding pupils that the PEE model will be useful. This is best done through modelling an answer. Pupils working towards level 6 may benefit from being shown a more flexible approach towards the PEE model, as the example below shows. Question: What impression does Nigel Slater give of his parents in the first section of Christmas Cake? Answer: Nigel Slater states that his mother was not a very good cook – she was a “chops-and-peas sort of cook” (Point and Evidence). His father tried to inspire her by making her a special gadget for her mixer but she was obviously overwhelmed by it and swore every time it appeared (Point and Evidence)! Nigel and his father seem keen for her to be more creative in the kitchen but she is clearly not particularly interested in cooking (Explanation). Independent response – Questions 1–3 (20 minutes) I Remind pupils that although they have already read Toast 1 and Christmas Cake they should now take the opportunity to read them again independently. They should think about the three key ideas displayed on the board or flipchart and, specifically, on the way the writer links food to memory and his feelings about his mother; his sense of humour; and his descriptions of food and people. I Pupils should be encouraged to highlight important sections of the text as they read, especially those which relate to the three key ideas. This is intended to support pupils and focus their reading. Do not read the text for pupils. This is intended to be an independent activity leading into the first set of questions in the pupil answer booklet. I Briefly show pupils how to use the answer booklet.
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