Paper 2 — literature

Literature: novel or drama, and poetry

Use two moments from the book. A retelling of the whole plot earns the content marks of neither.

CAPS

Grade 11 · South African Sign Language Home Language · Literature: novel or drama, and poetry

Literature answers from the text, in the shape the question asked for.

This page
Literature: novel or drama, and poetry. Know the conflict, who wants what, and one theme you can prove from two moments. Grades 10 and 11 use the texts your school chose. Grade 12 uses the prescribed work your school entered. Read that copy. This lesson does not replace it.
Contextual question
Stay on the extract or the stanza you were given. If it says quote, the words must come from that extract. Then say what those words show. Point, evidence, explanation. Stop when you have as many points as there are marks.
Essay
The introduction names the text and answers the question. The body proves it with the book, not with the writer’s childhood. The last paragraph answers again and does not start a new scene. On Home Language you do not write two essays if the paper says the other genre must be contextual.
Poetry, seen and unseen
Name the theme in one sentence. Then one feature that is really there: an image, a refrain, a turn, a contrast. Say how that feature makes the theme felt. An unseen poem has no notes. Do not write a technique you cannot point to.

Paper 2 is 80 marks. Tone is not theme. A quotation with no comment earns only the quote. A life of the poet earns nothing unless the question asked for it.

Worked example

South African Sign Language Home Language, Grade 11. Literature: signed drama and poetry. Answer it as literature: point, evidence, effect.

Simplified approach

Read the question’s verb. Stay inside Literature: signed drama and poetry. One piece of evidence for each point.

Culture note

In a South African South African Sign Language Home Language class, Grade 11 literature is ordinary Paper 2 work. The prescribed copy stays the source.

Step 1 / 8

Overview

Literature: signed drama and poetry is the set work for South African Sign Language Home Language, Grade 11. Read the copy your school prescribed. This lesson does not replace that book.

Prescribed works

Grades 10 and 11 set stories, novels, and poems are chosen by your school, not by one national list. Use this lesson for every text your teacher set. Read the book or poem in your copy. The full text is not pasted here.

Your school’s prescribed Grade 12 set work. Answer it with the method on this page.

More worked examples

Board walkthroughs on this topic. Open one, copy the working, then try the next.

Example 1 / 20

Paper 2, Grade 11. “Refer to the extract. What does this moment show about the character? Quote four to six words.”

4. Step-by-step working

01
Point
Stay inside the extract for the quote. You may use the rest of the book only for the explanation.
quote from the extract
02
Apply the law
Point: the character is under pressure. Evidence: the four words. Effect: the reader sees the choice, not just the event.
point, evidence, effect

How we got there

Read this like a teacher at the board. We go slowly, name every number, and say why we take each step.

Explain in another language · 11

1. What is the question asking?

Read the question twice. Circle the unknown. Underline every number and unit. The paper is asking: Paper 2, Grade 11. “Refer to the extract. What does this moment show about the character? Quote four to six words.”

In other words — as if you have never seen this before

If you have never seen this before: Name the character, quote from the extract, then say what the words show. Do not retell the book. We will name a method in words, write the formula with no numbers, then substitute one line at a time.

2. What do we already know?

Contextual question. The extract is on the page.

3. Which method — and why this one?

Name the character, quote from the extract, then say what the words show. Do not retell the book.

4. Step-by-step working

01 / 05
Point
Stay inside the extract for the quote. You may use the rest of the book only for the explanation.
quote from the extract
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
02 / 05
Apply the law
Point: the character is under pressure. Evidence: the four words. Effect: the reader sees the choice, not just the event.
point, evidence, effect
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
03 / 05
Sense-check
If the question is out of 3, give three separate points or one point developed in three steps.
marks match points
Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
04 / 05
Step F — Box the answer with its unit
The character is under pressure. The quoted words show the choice. The reader judges the character from that choice, not from a summary.
Why this step: A number without a unit is half a mark on a Physics paper, and a marker can miss a Maths answer that is buried in working.
05 / 05
Step H — What the marker is looking for
On an NSC memo you usually earn: (1) a method mark for naming the right formula or idea in words, (2) an accuracy mark for substituting the given numbers with units, (3) an accuracy mark for the boxed answer with its unit. Write those three lines even if you are unsure of the arithmetic — blank pages score zero.
Why this step: First-timers chase the final number and leave the method blank. The memo still pays out for the idea and the substitution even when the last line is wrong.

5. The answer

The character is under pressure. The quoted words show the choice. The reader judges the character from that choice, not from a summary.

6. Check it like a marker

A summary of the whole book earns little on a contextual question. The extract is the evidence.

7. A trap first-timers fall into

First-timers often grab the first formula they remember, mix units (cm with m, minutes with seconds), or drop a minus sign. Write the formula in words first: “this equals that, because…”

Share on WhatsApp

Next lesson →

Novel or drama chosen by your school

South African Sign Language Home Language

Take topic quiz