The 'How to Revise for English' Series: 3 - The 60 day challenge

60 days until the first language exam means 60 days to revise! 

Have a go at these English language revision ideas :)

1. Write a leaflet for students who will be starting year 10, explaining what they need to know about the English Language GCSE.
2. Look up: list as many details as you can for each of the 5 senses.
3. Write a summary of what you have learned in English over the last year.
4. Write a description of rainy weather. Now write another, with a different tone. Now write a third completely different description of rainy weather.
5. It’s a Sunday. Every hour, a different person knocks on the door. Who are they and what do they want?
6. List all the words you can think of that end in -ly
7. Read an article online about a topic of your choice. Print it and list 5 ways it could be improved. 
8. Write a short story that starts and finishes with the exact same line.
9. List all the techniques you could use to show that a character is scared.
10. Write a story about a world where every day, one letter of the alphabet gets banned from use.
11. Read a leaflet that has been posted to your house. Identify the purpose, audience and form. 
12. Sketch and label two contrasting characters - how do they look, sound, behave, speak?
13. How do you scare a reader? Mind map or list all the techniques and methods you could use. 
14. Watch (or print a transcript of) a politician giving a speech. Identify all of the facts 
15. List the similarities and differences between a cat and a dog. 
16. Buy and read a newspaper. 
17. English is the most important subject on the curriculum.’ To what extent do you agree?
18. Make flashcards about each of the different questions you will be asked: how long should you spend on them? How many marks are available? How should you answer them?
19. Make a dictionary of subject terminology for English language (i.e. simile, noun, metaphor, abstract noun)
20. Annotate every word in the following quotation: ‘Sophie stirred suddenly and unfastened the two top buttons of her coat.’
21. Annotate every word in the following quotation: ‘They shoot the white girl first.’
22. Find a piece of your work from any subject: carefully proofread it and check for errors as well as making improvements. 
23. Write a speech to be given to year 11s in your school, given them encouragement for their GCSE exams and futures. 
24. List rhetoric methods and their meanings - aim for 10 and find or create examples for each.
25. Choose an advert that you have seen lots of times. What techniques are used to persuade the viewer?
26. Use PIRATEMOUSE to try and persuade your parents/carers to get a takeaway for tea.
27. One day you bump into someone who is identical to you. Write the dialogue between you and that person. 
28. Annotate every word in the following quotation: ‘Full of scorpions is my mind.’
29. Write as detailed a description as you can of the room you are in. Challenge: use language and structure to build tension.
30. Treat others as you want to be treated.’ Write a speech expressing your views about this statement. 
31. Watch a film/TV programme of your choice. Re-write it as a short story for a completely different audience. 
32. Write out a shopping list in a logical order.
33. If Tuesday was a person, what would they be like?
34. 'Revision is pointless.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement. 
35. What would happen if we ate dessert first, then a main, then a starter? How would our experience of eating change?
36. ‘It rained.’ Rewrite this sentence in as many different ways as you can think of.
37. List all the adverbs you could use to describe the way someone speaks.
38. Re-write ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ from the perspective of the wolf. 
39. Read two articles about the same news item - one from the Guardian, and one from the Daily Mail. Summarise the differences between the ways both articles portray the matter. 
40. Plan a story inspired by an image of your choice.
41. List all the villainous characters you can think of. What characteristics do they share?
42. Annotate every word in the following quotation: ‘A screaming comes across the sky.’
43. Read about two politicians views on Brexit. Write a comparison of their different attitudes.
44. How do you make your reader feel sympathy for a character? List and give examples of all the different ways you could do this. 
45. Read a book.
46. What are the similarities and differences between English Literature and English Language GCSEs.
47. Write a letter to your principal to express your feelings about study leave. 
48. Write a letter to your favourite teacher explaining what you have appreciated about their lessons.
49. Run a language experiment: change the formality/vocabulary/tone that you use when messaging people. See how it affects their responses to you. 
50. The year is 3020. What does the place you are in now look like?
51. List all the objects you can see. Write a description of each one using sounds only. 
52. Plan out all of the different routes you could take to school. Which would be the most interesting and why?
53. Two characters are talking to each other. One of them is incredibly angry, whilst the other is extremely relaxed. Use alliteration, onomatopoeia, and other sounds in your writing to express this. 
54. Write two short articles about a local festival - one should have a positive tone, whilst the other should have a negative tone.
55. Design a social media post to advertise your school.
56. Find a poem. Read it. Re-write it as a newspaper article. 
57. If blue was a character, what would they speak like?
58. You wake up one day and everything is in black and white. Write a diary entry about the experience. 
59. Annotate every word in the following quotation: ‘But there had been one other.’
60. Mind map ideas for a story that is written from the perspective of a piece of fruit.