We love English Literature, love it, but I must confess the the idea of tackling English Literature questions is not something we look forward too. I would rather deal with Science or Maths problem than a English literature question so I was very intrigued when Collins sent us a copy of their Literature in English Student Book for IGCSE.

And I have to say my first impression on opening this book was that it was exactly what we needed. I immediately liked the way everything was broken down into small steps that build up. Honestly just working through the first chapter I was filled with a sense of – this is NOT really that challenging if we start with these small ideas and then build them up. And really at this stage that is exactly the kind of book that I need. I want something that takes a challenging topic breaks it down into smaller ideas that make sense and then build them up so you understand what is required and how to tackle a question.

Okay so what does it cover. Think of the first 2 chapters as building your skills and then the next 3 chapters are implementing those skills. Chapter 3 focuses on applying the key skills to Prose, Chapter 4 applies the key skills to Poetry and chapter 5 applies the key skills to Drama (There is also a chapter 6 which helps with anyone doing coursework – which we are not).

We are still at the early stages of using this book (building our skills) but I must admit I am really looking forward to getting to the “applying the skills” stages. I LOVE that they have broken it down into Prose, Poetry and Drama and look at each one individually. And yes I will admit I have always preffered working through Prose than Poetry and Drama but even I will admit that the chapters on Poetry and Drama just seem to take away the “scary” factor and make you think – “this it totally manageable”.

Even though we have just started with this book I already like the way it is structured and I appreciate that they have used such a wide range of texts in the activities. I also fell like they have put a lot of thought into breaking it down into small steps and then building those steps up.

There is a Teacher’s Guide that comes with this Student Book but I don’t have a copy of the Teacher’s Guide so I cannot comment on that. I have been informed that it includes some extra ideas for all the “lessons” ie the sub-sections but what those are and how useful they are I really cannot say.

Our Literature in English Student book came directly from Collins – Literature in English IGCSE, but you can also get it from Amazon here – IGCSE Literature in English and I have actually spotted it in a big Waterstones store.

Admin – As I mentioned above we were given a review copy of our book. The review that I have written and the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. This is NOT a paid for post.

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