English · School dossier + An Inspector Calls
3ESO English — Study & Revision Guide
1. About this guide
This guide follows the official Oak House School 3º ESO 2026–2027 booklist (school email 'Books and Materials - ESO 3 - 2026-27', June 2026): book titles, publishers and ISBNs match the list. Unit order follows the usual arrangement of each textbook; the teacher's actual teaching order takes precedence.
English lessons use the school dossier in class. The set literature text is An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley (Heinemann, ISBN 9780435232825). Students also need an English–Spanish dictionary (e.g. Oxford English–Español, ISBN 9780199693436, or similar).
How to use this guide: read section 3 (Year Overview) first for the big picture, then work through section 4 (unit syllabus) unit by unit, and keep the terminology table (section 6) handy for reference.
Exam Focus — End of Term Exams (26 Nov – 2 Dec)
English exam: Monday 30 November, 12:30–13:30 (1 hour)
- Reading: read a text and answer questions on explicit and implicit meaning.
- Writing: formal writing — a Report or an Article, 120–160 words.
How to prepare (teacher's advice)
- Use your past tasks and the targets you set to decide where your revision needs to be focused.
- Do the online exercises recommended by your teachers to practise different aspects of Use of English.
- Revise the format and requirements of both writing styles (report and article).
- Practise planning your writing before you start writing.
- Read every day.
2. Year Overview
The goal of 3ESO English is to push students' language skills close to native-speaker level and lay the groundwork for the six Cambridge IGCSE exams in 4ESO, where IGCSE First Language English (0500) is a core subject. The school also prepares students for Cambridge English qualifications (First / Advanced track).
Three goals for the year
- Complete grammar system: tenses, passive voice, conditionals and reported speech must be mastered — the foundation of IGCSE writing and error correction.
- Established writing skills: able to write well-structured essays (for and against / opinion), articles, reports and letters independently — directly tested in IGCSE 0500 Paper 2.
- Academic reading and vocabulary: able to read newspapers and popular-science articles with inference, building vocabulary towards 4000–5000 words.
Why it matters for 4ESO: IGCSE First Language English tests reading comprehension (Paper 1) and directed writing (Paper 2). Everything learned in 3ESO — writing genres and reading techniques — prepares for those two papers. The stronger the grammar base now, the easier 4ESO exam preparation will be.
3. Unit-by-Unit Syllabus
Unit 1: Tense review and consolidation
What to learn: uses of present simple, past simple and future, present perfect, past perfect and present continuous. What is tested: present perfect vs past simple is a classic — e.g. I have lived here for 5 years vs I lived here in 2010.
Unit 2: Passive Voice
What to learn: passive structures in all tenses, omission of the by-phrase, patterns like be said / be believed. What is tested: active-to-passive and passive-to-active transformation; recognising passives in science and news reading.
Unit 3: Conditionals
What to learn: zero, first, second and third conditionals, plus mixed conditionals. What is tested: tense combinations in if-clauses and main clauses; meaning differences — e.g. If I had studied harder, I would have passed.
Unit 4: Reported Speech
What to learn: backshifting tenses, changes of pronouns and time expressions when reporting statements, questions and imperatives. What is tested: rewriting direct speech — an essential skill for quoting others' views in writing.
Unit 5: Relative Clauses
What to learn: defining vs non-defining relative clauses; choosing who / which / that / whose / whom; comma use. What is tested: sentence-combining tasks; using relative clauses to make writing more compact.
Unit 6: Modal Verbs
What to learn: must vs have to vs should; speculation about the present and past (must be / can't have done / may have done). What is tested: multiple-choice on meaning; expressing advice and speculation in writing.
Unit 7: Infinitive & Gerund
What to learn: which verbs take to do, which take doing, and which take both with different meanings (stop / remember / forget / try). What is tested: verb-pattern gap fills; variety in writing.
Unit 8: Reading Module
What to learn: skimming for gist, scanning for detail, inferring word meaning from context, identifying the writer's attitude. What is tested: IGCSE Paper 1 style long reading — multiple choice, true/false, short answers.
Unit 9: Writing Module (throughout the year)
What to learn: four core genres — essay (for and against / opinion), magazine article, report, formal and informal letters — plus reviews. What is tested: fixed structures of each genre, opening/closing sentences, use of linking words.
Unit 10: Topic Vocabulary
What to learn: high-frequency words and collocations on topics like environment, technology, health, social issues, education and travel. What is tested: gap fills; lexical variety in writing.
Unit 11: Listening & Speaking
What to learn: catching key words and numbers in listening; picture description (Part 2) and paired discussion (Part 3) in speaking. What is tested: fluency, interaction and topic development in the Cambridge speaking test.
4. Close Reading: An Inspector Calls
The set literature text for English this year is J.B. Priestley's three-act play An Inspector Calls (Heinemann edition, ISBN 9780435232825). The school dossier teaches literary techniques in class; this play is the object of analysis. IGCSE literature questions test analysis of character, theme and the writer's craft — not plot retelling.
Characters at a glance
Inspector Goole: the mysterious inspector who questions each member of the Birling family in turn — the moral catalyst of the play; his identity remains a mystery (the ending hints he may not exist). Arthur Birling: the self-satisfied capitalist who only believes in profit. Sybil Birling: the cold charitable lady. Sheila Birling: moves from vanity to awakening — the symbol of generational change. Eric Birling: the alcoholic son who also moves towards remorse. Gerald Croft: Sheila's fiancé, representing upper-class hypocrisy. Eva Smith / Daisy Renton: the working-class girl who never appears on stage — everyone's actions push her towards death; the moral touchstone of the play.
Three major themes
Responsibility: the Inspector's central challenge — we are members of one body. Class: the Birlings' arrogance vs Eva's helplessness exposes class injustice. Generation gap: Sheila and Eric are willing to admit fault while the older generation only wants to cover up — Priestley's hope for the younger generation.
Priestley's dramatic techniques
Dramatic irony: in 1912 Birling declares the Titanic unsinkable and that there will be no war — the audience knows the truth, which makes it biting. Circular structure: the phone rings again at the end and everything repeats — no redemption without remorse. The Inspector as catalyst: he barely drives the plot, only asks questions, letting each character expose themselves. Treatment of time: linear time is broken — past actions are judged in the present.
How to answer IGCSE literature questions
- PEEL structure: Point — Evidence (memorise 8–10 key quotations) — Explanation (analyse language and technique) — Link (back to the theme).
- Quotations should be short and precise: Birling's 'a man has to make his own way' exposes his individualism; the Inspector's 'We don't live alone' is the key line of the whole play.
- Always discuss technique: analyse at least two dramatic techniques per essay (irony, symbolism, stage directions such as lighting changes) — retelling the plot alone earns no high marks.
- Comparison angle: Sheila/Eric vs Mr and Mrs Birling (awakening vs stubbornness) is the most common axis of contrast.
5. Key Terminology
| Term | Español | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Tense | tiempo verbal | Verb forms showing time |
| Passive voice | voz pasiva | The subject receives the action |
| Conditional sentence | oración condicional | An if-clause sentence |
| Reported speech | estilo indirecto | Reporting what someone said |
| Relative clause | oración de relativo | A clause describing a noun |
| Modal verb | verbo modal | Verbs like must, should, may |
| Infinitive | infinitivo | The to-form of a verb |
| Gerund | gerundio | The -ing form used as a noun |
| Subject-verb agreement | concordancia sujeto-verbo | Subject and verb match in number |
| Article | artículo | a / an / the |
| Subordinate clause | oración subordinada | A dependent clause |
| Linking word / connector | conector | Words that join ideas |
| Essay | ensayo / redacción de opinión | An opinion composition |
| Report | informe | A formal factual text |
| Formal letter | carta formal | A letter following conventions |
| Collocation | colocación | Words that naturally go together |
| Skimming | lectura rápida global | Reading quickly for the gist |
| Scanning | lectura de búsqueda | Reading to find specific detail |
6. Study Methods
- 15 minutes of English reading a day: choose articles slightly above your level (news, popular science); summarise the main idea in one sentence afterwards. Consistency beats cramming.
- Learn words in context: never memorise isolated word lists. Copy the original sentence for each new word and focus on collocations, e.g. make progress, take responsibility.
- One piece of writing a week: rotate through the genres by unit; compare with model answers afterwards and fix three things — structure, linking words, sentence variety.
- Shadowing: 10 minutes a day following English audio, imitating pronunciation and intonation — effective for both speaking and listening.
- Grammar error log: sort your grammar mistakes by unit and write one summary sentence per type, e.g. 'past perfect = the past of the past'.
7. Exam & Answering Techniques
Reading comprehension
- Read the questions before the text; locate answers with the questions in mind. For detail questions, match the exact sentence in the text — don't rely on memory.
- For word-meaning questions check the two surrounding sentences; for writer's-attitude questions look for adjectives and adverbs.
Writing (IGCSE 0500 style marking)
- Examiners look at four things: content relevance, communicative achievement (genre requirements), organisation, and accuracy and variety of language.
- Memorise one opening template and one closing template per genre; build the skeleton first in the exam, then fill in the content.
- Linking words win marks: use at least 4–5 different ones per piece — However / Moreover / Consequently / In contrast / As a result.
Grammar error correction & gap fills
- First identify what is tested (tense? voice? collocation?), then check time markers in context (yesterday / since / by the time).
- For conditionals, work backwards from the if-clause verb form to the main clause; for reported speech, determine the original tense first, then backshift one step.
8. Year Revision Plan
- Sep–Oct (start of term): read through this guide; consolidate the tense system; start the daily reading habit.
- Nov–Jan (end of term 1): break through passive voice and conditionals unit by unit; write one piece in each of the four writing genres.
- Feb–Apr (term 2): focus on reported speech and relative clauses; speed up reading; organise vocabulary by topic.
- May–Jun (final push): mixed past-paper practice, timed writing; daily picture-description speaking practice; go through the error log twice.