WJEC GCSE English Speaking and Listening assessment. Create a monologue for a character from An Inspector Calls by JB Priestly.

1. WJEC
Speaking &
Listening

2. 5-minute Assessment
•‘Creating • You may use a
and script – but
you’ll lose
sustaining marks if you
a only read
character.’ from it.

3. Learning Outcomes
D Grade
– Successfully “create” a character by making deliberate
language choices.
– Use body language and tone of voice to help present
the character.
C- B Grade
– Present a character by making deliberate choices of
speech, body language and keeping in the role.
A Grade
– Sustain the role and develop it by adapting to
different scenarios and situations.

4. Monologue
• 2-minute intro.
• http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=WgjLyk57z
G8

5. Your Task
• You have to • You have to
bring out the show that you
inner turmoil understand your
that your character and
that you
character is
understand the
going through. play.

6. Creating a Character
• Who is the character? • http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=9UbqZ_oN
• Is it played the way 5do
you’d expect?
• 3-minute monologue by
• What do you notice Rowan Atkinson
about the timing?
• Who is the character
talking to?

7. Famous Classical Monologues
• http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?NR=1&v=xYZ • http://www.youtube.co
Hb2xo0OI&feature=end m/watch?v=pusU90ov8
screen pQ&feature=related
• 3 minutes – David
Tennant’s Hamlet • 3 minutes – Patrick
Stewart’s Macbeth
NB: these characters are
talking to themselves -
this is called a soliloquy.

8. Short Monologues can be Effective
• http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=QlZFfXAUr2I
• Rowley Birkin QC from
the Fast Show
• What’s the mood of this
monologue?

9. Creating your Character
• Decide what
kind of
monologue you
want to write.
• Choose your
character.

10. 1. Outline your idea first and know what you
want to accomplish in your monologue before
you begin writing.
2. Start by picking one aspect of your character’s
life/emotional turmoil to focus on.
3. Next, decide if your character is talking to
themselves or to other people.
4. Create a situation that allows your character
to reveal themselves.

11. With Eric, you could focus on his
drinking.
• Eric could be in a bar
explaining WHY he
drinks. Or pretending
that he doesn’t drink. Or
he could be at an AA
meeting: ‘My name is
Eric and I’m an
alcoholic...’

12. Or you could put him in a the police
station...
• Now he has to
explain why he
stole from his
father.

13. How will your character talk?
Language Tone and Accent
• http://www.youtube.com/w
• Eric uses lots of atch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k&featur
old-fashioned e=relmfu
slang: squiffy, • 21 ways to say: ‘Hello, my
smashing, name’s Amy Walker.’
beastly.

14. Tone & Accent
Joyce Grenfell
• http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=ZXhHFgDRNBQ
4.5 minutes
Listen for the emotions

15. Showcase your Knowledge
Character = Language
• You have to show that you understand your character and
that you know how they talk.
• Mrs Birling – formal and self-righteous.
• Mr Birling – pompous and given to monologues.
• Eric – self justifying and slangy.
• Sheila – passionate and slangy.
• Edna – casual and funny.

16. Scenarios
• That night, one of the characters looks back
over their life and wishes they’d behaved
differently.
• A long time later, one of the characters
reviews the events of the play.
• An ‘outsider’ such as Edna gives their view of
the story.
• One of the characters is in a new situation and
has to explain what happened on the night of
the play.

17. • Pairwork – one student played Eric and the other
his conscience.
• A mad Mrs Birling held a funeral for a fantasy
grandchild.
• A cancer-ridden Eric realised that Daisy was the love
of his life.
• Eva told us how she felt the moment before she
committed suicide.
• Edna listened at the drawing room door and then
told the cook what she’d overheard.
• The charity committee ask Mrs Birling to leave
because of the scandal.

18. Create Your Monologue
1. Chose a character.
2. Decide what emotion/topic you will
focus on.
3. Decide who your character is talking to.
4. Chose a situation.
5. Select appropriate tone and vocabulary.