English IGCSE Books (Y8-Y11)?

[Miro]

Thank you quasimodo.

I think you meant Amazon (I wonder why you didn't write Amazon instead of "a website named after a Brazilian river"!!)
Most of the books I buy I do through Amazon but sometimes even after reading reviews and exploring the sample of a book and buying it, I find it not as I thought it would be and have to return it. Besides as I mentioned before English is not my first language (my weakest point).

But anyhow thank you for the book you mentioned, I will have a look at it.

Actually, I was seeking the forum for English experts' recommendations or parents who have already tried English IGCSE books and have found them useful but it seems a hard matter.

Thank you all for your replies.

If anyone can still and would like to help, PLEASE PM ME & don't post here. Thanks.


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[scary mum]

One of the main benefits of this forum is that if people post it may help others in the future. Sonetimes words on a screen come across a little more harshly than is intended, but this may be why you aren't getting many replies. Give it a chance, people may reply after the weekend. On the other hand they may rely on the school rather than trying gtogave their child 2 years ahead of others.

[piggys]

I'm afraid Miro that the English experts will all likely advise the same thing - which is that aiming for your dc to be artificially pushed until they are 2 years ahead of their peers is really not a good idea. You don't seem to want to hear that advice though. Unless you are planning to enter your dc in Y9 as a private candidate my recommendation is not to pursue this isolating course of action. It will make the classroom experience really quite difficult for your dc, unless you are planning to start the A level course in Y10. Which I don't think you are.

There are plenty of OCR, EDEXCEL and AQA GCSE English lang and lit study guides out there for the entire range of syllabus options, all available on Amazon (as well as other sites). These include books published by the boards themselves as well as CGP, Letts and so on. IME they are all much of a muchness. By all means purchase whichever ones you want and have a look but please do not pressurise.

The literature texts selected for GCSE are age -appropriate and rightly so. I wouldn't really want my Y9 child to be studying some of the Y11 poems in the anthologies, for example and would not really expect them to be mature enough to appreciate certain thematic or linguistic elements. 'The Secret River', which is currently on the CIE syllabus has a lot of sex and instances of racist abuse in it; it's a great book and the Y11s get a lot out of it, but for a Y9? absolutely not. Anyway that is my personal opinion. I don't claim to be an 'expert' (although many years of teaching lit GCSE and A level puts me in a fairly strong position)but that's my tuppence worth.

[Miro]

Thank you scary mum for your nice comment.

Thank you piggys for your advice.
I don't want to repeat myself saying that I have had a bad experience with dd because of her English and I would really like to avoid it with ds.

I am not a pushy mum. Ds is a well rounded boy. He is also a very capable mathematician (e.g. His name is on the wall of fame of Bebras & the gold bonus round of primary maths challenge) and we have been advised that he could do Maths GCSE early but we refused the matter at once as I believe that he won't get benefit if he will be ahead as you said.

English is a bit different for us as I mentioned before. I won't let him do the whole English curriculum or any topic inappropriate for his age, just the things that will help him maintain his confidence.

Thank you again piggys for your advice .. I will definitely follow it.

[kenyancowgirl]

But with all due respect, if as you say your English is not perfect, how will you know that the topics/books are age appropriate.

The best way you can support a good grasp of English without pushing your child to remain 2 years ahead (and I'm sorry but it does come across as pushy) is to encourage him to read a wide and varied range and check his understanding. Remember that naturally children plateau in their learning at different times...and most kids are stronger in either maths or English - this is normal too.

[Miro]

Thank you kenyancowgirl for your comment.

Yes my English isn't good to help him but I think from my writings it is not that bad to judge about appropriate topics for his age!

I am a blessed that ds is also strong in English according to all his school year reports and to his teachers. (He received tutoring in English for 7 months only)

Am I a pushy mum if I want to avoid my bad experience with dd just in ONE subject!!!

Am I a pushy mum if my son plays 4 different sports most of them for teams and more than one musical instrument!!!

Anyhow I regret asking help. The forum seems to be a court investigating, questioning and judging (if not attacking) more than offering help!

The topic is closed.

[Guest55]

No-one has attacked you; if you feel that then I think you have misinterpeted the posts.

Piggys is an English teacher and has given many people wise advice.

You need to ask the school to help and suggest suitable material.

I suspect you are worrying needlessly because of the experience with your daughter but schools don't want anyone to do badly in the key subjects.

[quasimodo]

Miro I am sorry you feel that you have been attacked. This was no ones intention and I am sorry you have that perception.
I am also sorry you took my allusion to Amazon the wrong way.

What I should say I also wrote in my post which I then deleted how my eldest had done Edexcel Maths from memory it was the IGCSE as we still have some of the books somewhere but at the time she was meant to be studying the subject.With my youngest we could easily be doing work in maths in year 8 not given by the school I would rather she enjoy the subject.

You must already be aware from information provided by the school as to exactly where your son is in English I think the advice is wouldn't it be better him strengthening his age appropriate skills at KS3 so he has a much stronger foundation before he embarks on GCSE.

As I write this I am enjoying my youngest dd's frustrations as she trys to build a wooden owl.The first attempt after a couple of hours had to be restarted 15 minutes ago before I see who wants to watch the film Lion.

[kenyancowgirl]

Miro, I'm sorry if you feel attacked, that is not the intention. The purpose of a forum is the free and frank exchange of views, information and opinions. Forums are not there just for people to agree with you. It is valid to question and query rather than blinkeredly accept - especially where the concerns are valid for the safeguarding of the child. As someone else said, your experiences with your Dd are muddying your views of where your son should be. Breadth and depth of understanding are more important in English than racing through - the nuances and hidden meanings are much harder concepts to grasp - and mature thought in these usually comes with age and experience. Be careful that in the hurry to stay two years ahead that your son is not just having a superficial understanding of texts etc.

That is all everyone is saying in different ways. People are maybe wary of trying to fully recommend the texts you are searching for because they understand the above (notwithstanding that you also need to clarify with the school, the boards etc)

[ToadMum]

If your DS enjoys sport, one thing that you could do to broaden his horizons in the use of English (to improve his use of English 'in the real world', not with direct regard to year 11 public exams, which are still a long way off) is to encourage him to read the reports / features on his favourite sports in the 'quality' newspapers such as the Times and the Telegraph. Sports journalists are often excellent practitioners of their craft and there is unlikely to be anything particularly age inappropriate in their writing .