Aimed at students, this free site has plenty of grammar and language exercises.
Aimed at students, or it can be modified by teachers, this free site explains the rules of English grammar and usage.
There are plenty of examples of argumentative and discursive writing to view on this newspaper's website. It can be used by students to get a flavour of how to argue or discuss a topic logically and coherently.
Though this website is aimed at GCSE rather than CIE IGCSE students, it has many useful exercises and activities that students can work through on their own, or as part of revision.
Another site that can easily be accessed and understood by students, this GCSE website can help consolidate knowledge or can be used for revision purposes for technical aspects of English Language.
This GCSE and A Level site is worth looking at by students, and is full of information that can be used for specific purposes such as tips on how to write effectively to revision for the exams.
Study Guides and Strategies have a wide variety of topics to help students or to supplement teachers' notes.
This is a useful resource for students and teachers to define literary vocabulary.
This is similar to the reference resource above, with hundreds of literary terms defined, with examples.
This site has been written by professional writers, and can be a very useful site for the ablest students, or to supplement teachers' notes.
This online writing lab from Purdue University has a wealth of resources for the writing process, subject-specific writing, and English as a second language, etc. There are also specific exercises for students.
This American resource is filled with study guides, professional resources for teachers, or suggestions for student reading – it is well worth a visit.
The teacher, Geoff Barton, has provided free resources for teachers and worksheets for IGCSE and A Level students. The site can be used for teachers' notes or can be assessed by the students, especially for revision purposes.
This site of Andrew Moore's is very comprehensive for English Language and Literature. It is not specifically aimed at the CIE syllabus, but it is a useful reference site for teachers and students.
I really enjoy going back to this valuable resource. If you are ever unsure about a particular grammar point, check this resource out. It is useful for both teachers and students.
This is an onomatopoeia dictionary, and is easy to dip into. Who knew that potato-potato-potato was the sound of a failing motorcycle engine?
If you are a teacher trying to find worksheets to explain a particular language concept, Mr. Morton has created plenty of free material. Have a look for specific content before delving in, as this is not an IGCSE website (but still worth a look).
Whenever I am working on a document, I will have this tab open so that I can check the spelling, meaning and synonyms of a word. The only excuse for spelling mistakes in typed documents is human error or ineptitude. (I also use the search 'define' followed by the word in search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo).
This is a website for students of English as a second language - so it is written to be easily understood and to cover almost all the idiosyncrasies of the English Language! If in any doubt about conjunctions, for example, this may be a helpful website.
Sometimes you can just get stuck on a word and you don't know how to use it. This cheerful resource can be used by students who want to check usage of a word or phrase.
Although I usually only offer tutorials for English Language (because best results are achieved with direct communication with students), I really would like to add this unit on Technical Skills as a resource. There are 6 presentations (PDF files), to give basic guidance of the essential technical skills you will need to improve the standard and quality of English Language (for the exams and beyond).
Another resource that may be useful is this document on Poetry Analysis. Again, I believe best results are achieved through direct tutorials, as it is sometimes hard to wrap your head around poetry analysis. Nonetheless, I would like to offer this document to others - if it helps, great!
Please give me feedback to let me know if any of the resources have been useful to you, either by contacting me at samantha@eddistutorial.com or through the Facebook Page.
English Literature is a complicated syllabus, as there are many texts to choose from. The texts and choices are listed below for 2014 and 2015, but please go to the syllabus for the year that you will be taking the examinations and make sure you know what to cover in the course and for the exam papers.
There are two questions on this paper although candidates only have to answer one of them. Usually one question is based on a passage of literary prose (an extract from a short story or novel, for example) and the other question is usually based on a poem or an extract from a poem. There are no set texts for this paper.
Created by Robert Harris, PhD, this site gives definitions and explanations for literary terms. A useful reference tool for student and teacher.
This site is aimed at students/teachers following examination boards other than CIE, so is not as specific as other sites. It is still a helpful resource, especially under the GCSE English Literature section.
This database of UK and Commonwealth authors gives profiles about selected authors and so provides some background reading about each author.
Spartacus is a great resource to find websites. There are several named websites that can be used as resources or references, and other sites even offer free lesson plans. Worth a look for teachers.
Background information on some of the selected poets, for students. There is not too much to read, so alongside the CIE notes on the poetry anthology, this can get the students thinking about the poetry.
Resources for students and teachers on GCSE English. This is not a site specific to CIE examinations, but teachers can tailor it to suit the needs of the students. Worth looking through before sending students to the site, as there is so much here.
Comprehensive site, covering study guide and analysis of several of the selected texts. A good site for students or for teachers to sketch their own lesson plans. The teacher has put a lot of work into providing this free information to others.
This site has plenty of resources, and study guides, for a number of the selected texts.The study guide section links to SparkNotes, and Pink Monkey, two sites that have free overviews of countless pieces of literature.
This particular section on the OWL writing site is a reference/resource for writing about literature or poetry. There is quite a bit of information, so students should be guided specifically on this website. Alternatively, teachers can use this to help lesson plan or problem solve with general literature analysis and essay writing techniques.
This onomatopoeia online dictionary site is fun to have a look at, and may be a good reference tool for students and teachers. Who knew that potato-potato-potato was the sound of a poorly running motorcycle engine?
This is aimed at other examination boards, but there are some useful resources here for teachers. I liked the notes on attitudes and values, on reading advertisements, and features of conversation - all gave me ideas on how to incorporate topics to consider with my literature students.
Another of the great literature sites, with basically the same information found on Shmoop or Spark Notes. Not all the literature texts are found on all the sites, so it is worth doing some research. As you never want to plagiarise, it is useful to research material from all three study guide sites and look for patterns in what other people are saying about the texts. Do you agree with them? If so, write the ideas in your own words. If not, write your own interpretation of the literature and justify its validity.
The third great literature site, though not in third place. All three study guide sites are valuable learning tools alongside the literature texts. It is like having extra teachers or tutors to help you or give you a different perspective.
A great website and all the study guides are free downloads. I really appreciate others who are making it easy for students around the world to access quality literature guides.
Let me know if you found it useful!