Skip to content
Oak National Academy
Oak National Academy
Teachers
Pupils
New
New
Year 11
AQA

Planning an essay about coming of age in Winsome Pinnock's 'Leave Taking'

I can plan an essay about ideas of coming of age in Winsome Pinnock's ‘Leave Taking’ by creating a thesis, topic sentences and selecting relevant evidence from the play.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
New
New
Year 11
AQA

Planning an essay about coming of age in Winsome Pinnock's 'Leave Taking'

I can plan an essay about ideas of coming of age in Winsome Pinnock's ‘Leave Taking’ by creating a thesis, topic sentences and selecting relevant evidence from the play.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
View new resources
arrow-right

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A thesis statement is a clear, overarching argument.
  2. Topic sentences give focus to individual paragraphs.
  3. Select main quotations and supporting quotations to include in an essay.
  4. Main quotations should be analysed; supporting quotations don’t need to be analysed.
  5. Concluding sentences can focus on a writer’s intention and draw your paragraph to a close.

Keywords

  • Coming of age - when someone legally becomes an adult, but also used to describe when someone matures and develops

  • Intergenerational conflict - tension between younger and older people, often in a family, for example a parent and child

  • Internal conflict - struggle and difficulty that takes place in your own mind

  • Dislocation - a sense of being out of place, or in the wrong place

  • Intersect - connect, cross, meet

Common misconception

Ideas for one essay question can't be used in any other essay on the same text.

By the end of exploring and writing about a text, you will realise that there are certain ideas and references which you can rely on over and over.

Concluding sentences to a paragraph are often where pupils can lift their responses as they consider writer's intentions. Pupils will write these concluding sentences in the third learning cycle of this lesson. Consider the time they will need, and plan the rest of the lesson backwards from there.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need access to a copy of Winsome Pinnock's 'Leave Taking' published by Nick Hern Books.

Content guidance

  • Contains strong language
  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Skip lesson video

Loading...

Starter quiz

Download starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
In 'Leave Taking', how old is the character of Del?
16
17
Correct answer: 18
19
20
Q2.
In 'Leave Taking', how old is the character of Viv?
15
16
Correct answer: 17
18
19
Q3.
In 'Leave Taking', when and why does Del leave home?
Scene One - after fighting with Enid about obeah
Correct answer: Scene Two - after fighting with Enid about losing her job
Scene Three - after fighting with Enid about the Pastor visiting
Scene Four - after a heart to heart with Enid about the death of her mother
Scene Five - after a fight with Viv about skipping one of her A Level exams
Q4.
In 'Leave Taking', when and why does Viv leave home?
Scene One - after fighting with Enid about obeah
Scene Three - after Enid slaps Del
Scene Five - after skipping an A Level exam
Correct answer: Scene Seven - Enid throws her and Brod out of the house
Q5.
Starting with the first, order the plot points related to the relationship between Del and Mai in 'Leave Taking', in chronological order.
1 - Del is rude to Mai behind her back
2 - Mai says she is around if Del ever needs to talk
3 - Del tries to steal a charm from Mai
4 - Del moves in with Mai
5 - Mai teachers Del about obeah practices
6 - Mai tests Del on obeah
7 - Mai asks Del to complete an obeah reading for Enid
Q6.
In her introduction to 'Leave Taking', what does Pinnock call Viv and Del?
victims of the Windrush scandal
first generation immigrants
feminists
Correct answer: this new breed of Black British woman
enigmatic (mysterious) figures

Exit quiz

Download exit quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
When writing analytical essays about 'Leave Taking', your essays should start with an overarching argument about the text. As students of English Literature, what do we call this overarching argument?
a topic sentence
a summary
a big idea
Correct answer: a thesis
an introduction
Q2.
When writing essays about 'Leave Taking', your essays will start with a thesis. A thesis should be based on a reading of the text.
Correct Answer: entire, whole, whole of the, full
Q3.
In Scene Six of 'Leave Taking', Mai says to Del, "You at peace with yourself, you at anywhere."
Correct Answer: home
Q4.
When writing an essay about 'Leave Taking's' exploration of coming of age, there are key words that might help you explore Pinnock's ideas. Match their definitions to their meanings.
Correct Answer:coming of age,when someone legally becomes an adult, or when someone matures

when someone legally becomes an adult, or when someone matures

Correct Answer:intergenerational conflict,tension between younger and older people, often in a family

tension between younger and older people, often in a family

Correct Answer:internal conflict,struggle and difficulty that takes place in your own mind

struggle and difficulty that takes place in your own mind

Correct Answer:dislocation,a sense of being out of place, or in the wrong place

a sense of being out of place, or in the wrong place

Correct Answer:intersect,connect, cross, meet

connect, cross, meet

Q5.
Which of the following key themes is Pinnock most interested in exploring in 'Leave Taking'?
Correct answer: dislocation
beauty
cleaning
Correct answer: intergenerational conflict
Correct answer: coming of age
Q6.
Which statement accurately explains one of the functions of the character of Mai in 'Leave Taking'?
Mai is a foil to Brod.
Mai is a catalyst to Brod.
Mai is a minor character.
Correct answer: Mai is a catalyst for Del.
Mai is a foil for Viv.