GCSE English Language 2.0 – Children’s Activities – Paper 2
Section A – Reading
Read Text 1 (fiction) below and then answer Questions 1–2.
This extract is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary discovers the joy of outdoor work and play in the hidden garden.
The sun shone down for nearly a week on the secret garden. The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was.
She was beginning to like to be out of doors; she no longer hated the wind, but enjoyed it. She could run faster, and longer, and she could skip up to a hundred. The bulbs in the secret garden must have been much astonished. Such nice clear places were made round them that they had all the breathing space they wanted, and really, if Mistress Mary had known it, they began to cheer up under the dark earth and work tremendously.
Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play. She found many more of the sprouting pale green points than she had ever hoped to find. They seemed to be starting up everywhere and each day she was sure she found tiny new ones, some so tiny that they barely peeped above the earth. She wondered how long it would be before they showed that they were flowers.
Read Text 2 (non‑fiction) below and answer Questions 3–4.
This is an edited extract from a 20th century non-fiction book titled “The Uses of Games — why organised play matters for children”.
The use of games for both children and adults has a deep significance for the individual and the community through the conservation of physical, mental, and moral vitality. Games have a positive educational influence that no one can appreciate who has not observed their effects.
Children who are slow, dull, and lethargic may be completely transformed in these ways by the playing of games. The sense perceptions are quickened: a player comes to see more quickly that the ball is coming toward him; that he is in danger of being tagged; that it is his turn. The clumsy, awkward body becomes agile and expert, showing thereby a neuro-muscular development.
The social development through games is fully as important. The timid, shrinking child learns to take his turn with others; the bold, selfish child learns that he may not monopolize opportunities. He learns to take defeat without discouragement and to win without undue elation, reaching the highest point at last in the team games where self is subordinated to the interests of the team.
Most important of all is the development of will. Probably the most valuable training of all is that of inhibition—that power for restraint and self-control. There is no agency that can so effectively and naturally develop power of inhibition as games. To be able, in the emotional excitement of an intense game or a close contest, to observe rules and regulations, is to have more than a mere knowledge of right and wrong; a power and habit that mean immeasurably for character.
SECTION A – Reading
You should spend about 1 hour 10 minutes on this section.
Read Text 1 and answer Questions 1–2.
Q1. From paragraph three, identify one way that Mary’s activity in the garden changes how she feels about being outdoors. (1 Mark)
Q2. Read this extract.
She was beginning to like to be out of doors; she no longer hated the wind, but enjoyed it. She could run faster, and longer, and she could skip up to a hundred. The bulbs in the secret garden must have been much astonished. Such nice clear places were made round them that they had all the breathing space they wanted, and really, if Mistress Mary had known it, they began to cheer up under the dark earth and work tremendously.
In the extract, how does the writer use language to show work turning into play and enjoyment? Use examples from the extract and relevant subject terminology. (6 marks)
Read Text 2 in the Source Booklet provided and answer Questions 3–4.
Q3. Read this extract.
The social development through games is fully as important. The timid, shrinking child learns to take his turn with others; the bold, selfish child learns that he may not monopolize opportunities. He learns to take defeat without discouragement and to win without undue elation, reaching the highest point at last in the team games where self is subordinated to the interests of the team.
From the extract, identify one way that games support social skills. (1 Mark)
Q4. The writer presents games as a way for children to develop. How does the writer try to interest and engage the reader? You should include:
- the writer’s use of language
- the writer’s use of structure
- the effect on the reader.
Use examples from the whole text and relevant subject terminology. (10 Marks)
Questions 5–6 are on both Text 1 and Text 2.
Remember to refer to both texts in your answers.
Q5. Text 1 and Text 2 both show children growing through activity. The experiences are different, but they share similarities. Write a summary giving three separate ways the experiences are similar. Support each separate similarity with evidence from both texts. (6 Marks)
Q6. Compare the writers’ ideas and perspectives about the purpose of children’s activities. You should compare:
- the main ideas
- the points of view
- the presentation of these ideas and views.
Use examples from both texts to support your comparison. (16 marks)
SECTION B – Writing
Answer ONE question in this section. You should spend about 45 minutes on this section.
EITHER
*7 Write an imaginative piece that starts with the line: ‘We built the game before we learned the rules.’
*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)
OR
*8 Write about a time when you, or someone you know, turned a chore into a game. Your response could be real or imagined.
*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)
Sources:
Text One: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17396/17396-h/17396-h.htm
Text Two: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25660/25660-h/25660-h.htm