I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
An engaging one hour lesson to get students to think about how Shakespeare uses the structure of the play and the character of the porter to build dramatic tension for the audience.
This resource includes:
a full Powerpoint including all teacher instructions that is ready to download and teach straight away.
a worksheet to support students in reflecting upon the tension in the scene.
For detailed character profiles, please click here.
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Unlock your students’ critical thinking skills with this 90-minute, fully resourced lesson focused on teaching inference through crime scene investigation. Designed to captivate students’ imagination, this lesson challenges them to propose solutions to a fictional crime based on evidence found at the scene, before creating their own crime scene scenarios. The lesson ends with students inferring information about their classmate’s criminals based on the clues at the crime scene.
Perfect for a range of settings, this versatile lesson can be easily adapted for different age groups and abilities. It provides a balanced mix of independent and group work, with both oracy and writing activities included to reinforce learning. Ideal as part of a detective fiction unit, a precursor to crime writing, or as a standalone lesson dedicated to honing inference skills.
This resource includes:
An 18-slide PowerPoint presentation guiding the entire lesson.
A scaffolded inference worksheet for individual student use.
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This is an engaging and fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the characters of the witches and some of the key themes in Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare.
This resource includes a full PowerPoint including all teacher instructions that is ready to download and teach straight away. Students will consider pathetic fallacy and the paradox of ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’.
Students will work in groups to complete an engaging worksheet and then will work individually to write an analysis paragraph (which is scaffolded with an example paragraph included).
Students will also have the opportunity to stage the opening scene and consider how they could increase the fear for the audience.
Lesson Objective: Analyse how Shakespeare creates fear at the start of Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand how the opening scene introduces some important themes in Macbeth.
Evaluate Shakespeare’s use of literary devices.
Distinguish between the reactions of a Shakespearean audience and a modern audience.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Questions for students to consider how a Shakespearean audience would have reacted to the witches.
Starter: Think – Pair – Share about witches in Shakespeare’s time.
Activity 1: Read act 1 scene 1 and students complete worksheet to identify language techniques with answers provided.
Activity 2: Students write an analytical paragraph to answer the question ‘how did Shakespeare create fear for a Shakespearean audience?’ They will see a modelled paragraph first and peer assess afterwards.
Activity 3: In groups of 3, consider how they would stage and direct the scene to really terrify a Shakespearean audience.
Plenary: How would a modern audience react differently to the opening of Macbeth? Do you think it is still as scary even though the belief in witchcraft isn’t as widespread?
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An engaging one hour lesson to get students independently using the STEAL framework to analyse the characters of Macbeth or Lady Macbeth.
This resource includes:
a full Powerpoint including all teacher instructions that is ready to download and teach straight away.
For detailed character profiles, please click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter twelve of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson prompts students to consider how John Boyne shows Bruno and Shmuel’s innocence and requires them to compare and contrast the two characters.
Learning Objective: Compare and contrast Bruno and Shmuel.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Create a timeline of Bruno and Shmuel’s life so far.
Silver: Find the similarities and differences between them.
Gold: Explain why John Boyne has created similarities between these two characters.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Venn diagram of Bruno and Shmuel.
Starter: In chapter 12, how does John Boyne show the innocence of Shmuel and Bruno? (Reading focus).
Activity 1: Think-pair-share – quote inference activity.
Activity 2: Students complete a timeline comparing and contrasting Bruno and Shmuel’s lives.
Peer assessment
Plenary: One minute recall challenge: what are the main similarities between Bruno and Shmuel?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
This dynamic one-hour lesson is designed to engage students in understanding how Macbeth is introduced as both a violent and loyal character. Perfect for exploring themes and character development, this lesson encourages students to think critically and creatively and prepares students to analyse how Macbeth changes later in the play.
What’s Included:
A complete PowerPoint with ready-to-use teacher instructions, allowing you to download and teach immediately.
Interactive activities where students will order the events of the battle and craft a compelling news war report based on the scene.
Ideal for:
Enhancing comprehension of Macbeth’s character and motivations.
Encouraging students to connect with the text through creative writing and discussion.
Lesson Objective: Write a news report about the battle in Act 1 Scene 2.
Learning Outcomes:
Read the scene multiple times to decipher the orders of events in battle.
Infer details about Macbeth’s character.
Add imaginative details to create a news report about the battle in this scene.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share What are the key features of a news war report?
Starter: Reading focus – as you read the scene as a class, students write down quotes that describe Macbeth’s character followed by an activity to list adjectives that describe him.
Activity 1: Re-read the scene in pairs and put the events in the correct order.
Activity 2: Students discuss features of a news report and then write their own based on Act 1 Scene 2.
Plenary: What are your predictions about Macbeth now that you know more about his as a character?
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A detailed knowledge organiser to support students studying ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare.
It includes the following:
A brief section on William Shakespeare
Key quotes
Overview of all the important characters
Important literary terms for studying the play
Key terminology used
This is suitable for any age group studying the play. It is an excellent resource to be used for setting homework, quizzing in classes or as a support mat.
If you find this helpful, have a look at my other resources for The Merchant of Venice:
1) A BUNDLE of lessons plus extras (knowledge organiser and revision posters) which can be bought for a big saving.
2) A 40 Question Shakespeare Quiz
3) Introduction to Characters and Themes in The Merchant of Venice
4) Act 1 Scene 1 (Antonio and Bassanio)
5) Portia’s Choice in Act 1 Scene 2 (FREE)
6) Shakespeare’s Portrayal of Shylock in Act 1 Scene 3
7) Jessica’s Character in Act 2 Scenes 1-3
8) The Casket Test in Act 2 Scene 7
9) Shylock’s Portrayal in Act 2 Scene 8
10) Prince Arragon in Act 2 Scene 9
11) Interpretations of Shylock in Act 3 Scene 1
12) Dramatic Irony in the Casket Scene in Act 3 Scene 2
13) Independently Interpreting Shakespeare Using Act 3 Scenes 3-5
14) Act 4: The Courtroom Scene
15) Evaluate the Ending of the Play in Act 5
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
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Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter eight of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson helps students to consider the character of Grandmother and why John Boyne has included her as a character. Students will infer details about Grandmother from the argument that she has with Father and then write a script between Grandmother and Grandfather which they will perform to the class.
Learning Objective: Infer details from the text to write a script about Grandmother.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Use scanning and skimming reading skills to find details about Grandmother in the text.
Silver: Infer information about Grandmother and her relationship with Father.
Gold: Synthesise what you know about the characters with information you have learned about the Holocaust to add details to your writing.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Discuss with partners: how does it feel to experience conflict with family members?
Starter: Read chapter 8 and then students answer comprehension questions in their books. Discuss as a class.
Activity 1: Students write a script between Grandmother and Grandfather on their way home from Christmas dinner.
Activity 2: Students perform their scripts and peer assess each other.
Plenary: What has John Boyne included the character of Grandmother? What is he trying to show?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter ten of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson introduces students to STEAL analysis as a way of understanding a character. Students complete STEAL analysis of Shmuel and then make predictions on what they think will happen in the text.
Learning Objective: Use STEAL analysis to understand Shmuel as a character.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Find appropriate quotes from the text to analyse Shmuel.
Silver: Infer details from the quotes.
Gold: Make links between parts of the text.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Make a prediction based on the chapter title.
Starter: Reading focus – how is Shmuel described?
Activity 1: Discussion of STEAL analysis
Activity 2: STEAL analysis poster in pairs
Peer assessment
Plenary: Now that Shmuel and Bruno have met, what do you predict will happen?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter five of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson teaches students the difference between direct and indirect characterisation (with an exercise to practise writing their own examples). It then prompts them to consider the characterisation of Father. Students then write a personal response to an emotional extract from the text in which Father expresses his opinion on the Jewish people in Auschwitz.
Learning Objective: Write a personal response explaining how I feel about an extract.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Describe how you feel about an extract.
Silver: Explain the reasons for your feelings.
Gold: Ask questions and make links between what you know from the text and your other background knowledge.
Lesson Overview:
Do It Now: True or false questions about the Holocaust
Starter: Indirect vs direct characterisation – explanation and whole-class activity.
Activity 1: Popcorn reading and class discussion of how Father is characterised.
Activity 2: Write a personal response to an extract from the text.
Plenary: Think-pair-share: how did this extract make you feel? What do you think the author wants us to feel?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter three of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson introduces the key word mondegreen (misheard words that are given a new meaning) and prompts students to analyse the effect of the Fuhrer being misheard as “The Fury” and Auschwitz being misheard as “Out-With”. Students are given scaffolding to write an analytical paragraph to consider the effect of this technique.
Learning Objective: Analyse the effect of mondegreens as symbols in the text.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Understand what a mondegreen is and give examples from the text.
Silver: Explain clearly how these words are used as symbolds.
Gold: Explain clearly what the effect is on the reader.
**Lesson Outline: **
Do It Now: What do you notice about the chapter titles?
Starter: Listen to ‘Message in a Bottle’ – what is a mondegreen?
Activity one: Discussion and reading
Activity two: PETER paragraph
Peer assessment
Plenary: Would all readers of this book be able to consider the mondegreens?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
An engaging hour-long lesson which introduces students to the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in Act 1 Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. This is aimed at students in Key Stages 3 and 4.
Learning Objective: Analyse the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in Act 1 Scene 1.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will complete comprehension questions on Act 1 Scene 1.
Students will practise ‘exploding’ a quote for deeper analysis.
Students will write an analytical paragraph using the PETER framework.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – pair – share – students infer details about Antonio from quotes.
Starter: Introduction to Antonio and Bassanio.
Activity 1: Read up until line 68 and discuss questions.
Activity 2: Read until the end of the scene and discuss questions.
Activity 3: Teacher modelling of how to explode a quote. Students write an analytical PETER paragraph to examine a quote in detail.
Plenary: How are the audience meant to feel at the end of the scene?
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
A fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in the context of the history of anti-Semitism. Students will read the scene and consider how Antonio and Shylock treat each other as well as considering how Shakespeare presents Shylock. Students will be scaffolded to independently find quotes from act 1 scene 3 and explain what this shows us about the characters.
Learning Objective: Explore Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand a basic history of anti-Semitism.
Students will understand the events of act 1 scene 3 and consider how Shylock is introduced.
Students will work in pairs to independently find and analyse quotes to show what they learn about Shylock.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share: What do we learn about Shylock from his opening quote?
Activity 1: The history of anti-Semitism teacher explanation and student discussion of anti-Semitic propaganda. Group and class discussion of propaganda posters. You may want to edit this down if you feel it would be distressing to members of your class.
Activity 2: Read act 1 scene 3.
Activity 3: In pairs, students complete worksheet by finding quotes and considering what this tells us about the characters.
Plenary: Who do you have more sympathy for: Antonio or Shylock? Class discussion
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
A detailed and comprehensive knowledge organiser/revision mat for the unseen poetry and poetry anthology questions for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This is comprised of two A3 pages of information.
This knowledge organiser contains the following sections:
Form and structural terms
Language terms
An overview table with all the poems, their themes and the poetic form of each.
I have included it as a Powerpoint (for easy editing) and a PDF (for easy printing).
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
A fun, detailed and ready-to-teach lesson in which year 6 students will reflect upon their organisational strengths and areas for improvement. They will then discuss strategies for improving their organisation and then complete a planner quiz which prompts them to problem-solve when using a planner.
This is designed to last an hour but could be spread out over two one-hour lessons if more discussion time is given.
This includes:
A 27 slide PowerPoint with all teacher instructions and two different quizzes for students to complete.
I really value all the feedback I receive. Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
A fun, detailed and ready-to-teach lesson which prepares students for the changes in friendships they will most likely encounter when moving to secondary school.
Students will roleplay different scenarios using scrips provided to act out how they could have healthy conversations with friends. They will then complete a table with ideas for strategies they could use when they are feeling certain emotions.
I really value all the feedback I receive. Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson supports students to analyse the use of dramatic irony for dramatic effect.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Ed in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson supports students to consider Ed’s personality and his relationship with Christopher.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher and printing instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
An engaging and detailed quiz style Powerpoint containing 40 questions and answers that covers poetic forms and techniques as well as famous poets and lines of poetry. The questions are split into four rounds - each containing 10 questions. This resource would be ideal for use at the beginning or end of a poetry unit for key stage 3 or 4.
This could be used as one whole lesson, or as a detailed starter across multiple lessons.
29 slides in total.
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A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Siobhan in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher and printing instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.