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Diseases of Modern Life
Nineteenth Century Perspectives
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GCSE English Language Resources

The new 9-1 GCSE specifications set great store by nineteenth-century writings, both in the literature and language papers of all specifications. This poses a particular problem to today's GCSE candidates who are increasingly distanced from the socio-cultural norms of the nineteenth-century, not to mention the idiosyncrasies of Victorian modes of expression!

It is not hard to find plentiful examples of nineteenth-century fiction to use as extracts in the classroom, but what about non-fiction? AQA - the most popular specification among schools - has an unseen 19th century literary non-fiction extract as part of Paper 2 (the exam which constitutes 50% of the qualification as a whole).

To help teachers, Diseases and Modern Life and members of the English Faculty have developed a range of sample texts from primary sources. The extracts they offer are formatted (as far as possible) as they would appear in an AQA exam script: in 11pt Arial font, with a brief introduction to the source and a glossary of vocabulary students couldn't be expected to know.

You can read more and access the sample texts (right pane) here: https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/diseases-modern-life-resources

See below for our full archive of related materials

Photograph of various colored post-it notes

Collaborating with the Thomas Hardy Society

20 May 2019
The last blog post introduced why we created GCSE resources, while this one explains how we've used them in events with teachers and students.
Teachers discussing GCSE resources with Dr Catherine Charlwood. Photo credit: Nathan Stazicker

Creating Research-Based GCSE English Resources: How Scholars of the Nineteenth Century can Help Schoolteachers

15 May 2019
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Free Teacher Workshop: Engaging Students in C19th Prose

12 April 2019
On Friday 12th April, a team of researchers will present a free workshop designed to help teachers of GCSE English Language engage their students in nineteenth-century prose.
Dr Catherine Charlwood stands in front of the Diseases of Modern Life Banner

Free Workshop for GCSE English Language Students!

26 April 2019
On Tuesday 7th May, Diseases of Modern Life will be back in Dorset this time to talk to students on the theme of Illness and Well-being in the Nineteenth Century.