Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from H G Wells' classic sci-fi novel, 'War of the Worlds' (1898), simplifying some of the vocabulary and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I've also designed a series of SMART Notebook slides to accompany the Word resource for interactive whiteboard teaching of the questions, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources just like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, Skellig, A Christmas Carol, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Monkey's Paw, The Hobbit, The Sniper, To Kill a Mockingbird, Z for Zachariah, Dracula, The Machine Gunners, The Pearl and Buddy. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen exam papers for the new AQA Language Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

A 35 page workbook of differentiated activities, designed to support students in their study of John Steinbeck's classic novella, 'Of Mice and Men'. To accompany the workbook is a set of SMART Notebook slides, which replicate the pages of the pupil workbook, to support teachers in their whole-class, interactive teaching of the text and the material. PLEASE NOTE: If you do not have SMART Notebook, you can STILL download and view SMART Notebook files by downloading a FREE Smart Notebook viewer. It opens the file on your PC in a format akin to Microsoft Powerpoint (with very occasional wonky movement of graphics due to a formatting glitch!) Anyway, you can access the FREE SMART Notebook viewer by copying and pasting this link into your web browser: http://express.smarttech.com/ I hope you find these useful. If you do, then you may find of interest similar resources available FREE at my 'shop' here on TES for 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and also 'The Highwayman', aswell as differentiated AQA English Language exam paper 1s and 2s. Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have used an extract taken from David Almond's novel, 'Skellig', published in 1998. I've also designed a series of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of the workbook, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources just like this one using extracts taken from Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Monkey's Paw, The Hobbit, A Christmas Carol, War of the Worlds, The Sniper, Z for Zachariah, Dracula, The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Machine Gunners and Buddy. NOTE: I've also uploaded loads of specimen new AQA Language Paper 1 and 2s to my 'shop', all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

Using an extract from George Orwell's non-fiction, "Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) and an article taken from The Daily Mail online from 2014, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is attitudes towards the homeless in England in different centuries. I have adapted the texts, simplifying a little vocabulary and sentencing to make them a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, this could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of PEE paragraphs where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how language is used to convey the author's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. The students I plan to use these resources with have reading ages between 6 years 6 months and 10 years old. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I have produced 8 of these resources now, all FREE at my 'shop'. Help yourself! Matt :)

Using part of a Parliamentary speech by Lord Shaftesbury, given in 1842 to the House of Commons and a newspaper article from 2014, both of these texts deal with the topic of CHILD LABOUR in different cultures and in different centuries. I have adapted the 19th C text slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. To follow is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. UPDATE: To view the SMART Notebook slides, simply download the SMART Notebook Express viewer, FREE online. It is a piece of software published by SMART Technologies and is completely safe to use. (express.smarttech.com) I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude Section B writing task is included, but it is not differentiated. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it's of use to you and your students. I've produced ten of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with accompanying SMART Notebook resources, too. Please help yourself and leave me a review! Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers now, using extracts from texts including: Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Dracula, Buddy, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sniper, The Pearl, The Monkey's Paw, Z for Zachariah, A Christmas Carol and The Hobbit. Also FREE at my 'shop' are lots of Paper 2s, differentiated in similar ways, as well as loads of specimen Paper 1s and 2s with SMART Notebooks for whole-class teaching Q by Q. Help yourself and please leave a review. Matt :)

PLEASE NOTE: AQA Paper 1A will ONLY use 20th or 21st C fiction extracts in the real exams (NOT 19th C fiction extracts.) These resources were originally created to introduce our 'Gifted & Talented' students at Key Stage 3 to some 19th century classics while introducing also the format of the new AQA English Language Paper 1 section A exam paper. Each exam paper features an extract from a different 19th C classic, including: * Great Expectations - Pip meets Miss Havisham * Dracula - Harker realises he is a prisoner at Castle Dracula * Dracula (alternative extract) - Harker encounters the three hags * Frankenstein - Victor attempts to animate the Creature * A Christmas Carol - Jacob Marley's ghost visits Scrooge and there are also IWB slides to support your teaching of the exam paper Q by Q, for all 4 Qs. The Qs follow the format of that published by AQA in their approved specimen papers. NOTE: I have uploaded LOADS of Paper 1 AND 2 exam papers to my 'shop' and ALL FREE of charge! Help yourself - please leave a review. Thanks! I hope they are of some use to you.

A new AQA Eng Lang paper 1A practice exam paper designed for use with less able students. The extract is adapted (with some vocabulary and sentences simplified) from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and I have produced some simplified activities. Also included are a series of SMART Notebook interactive whiteboard slides, for teaching the resource Q by Q with the students, adding an interactive element to the Word resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze activity where students are expected to provide relevant textual details Q3a - sequence the narrative events into the correct order to show understanding of structure Q3b - cloze activity modelling Q3 response. Pupils show comprehension by correct selection. In their own published Key Stage 3 English AQA test papers, Q3 is tested by pupils sequencing a series of statements in the correct order so I have adhered to this format. I know that pupils will not be given this level of support in their GCSE exam but they still need access to differentiated material and activities in order to make sufficient progress to be able to access the questions on the GCSE paper. I hope this is of help to those of you who teach students whose literacy is a real barrier to accessing this new exam paper and have now uploaded lots of others like this one. If you like this resource, I've created lots of other differentiated papers like this one, using extracts from the following novels or short stories: War of the Worlds, Dracula, To Kill a Mockingbird, Skellig, The Pearl, The Machine Gunners, Buddy, Z for Zachariah, The Sniper, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Monkey's Paw. Also uploaded to my 'shop' and all FREE are loads of typical specimen paper 1 and 2 practice exam papers for the new AQA 9 to 1 English Language exams, with accompanying SMART Notebook slides for teaching Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. Please leave a review and help yourself. Matt :)

Using a letter penned by Charles Dickens as a survivor of a terrible rail disaster and a newspaper article 15 years after the Paddington rail disaster, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of rail disasters. I have adapted Dickens’ letter ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of this resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 8 of these differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop'. Please help yourself! Matt :)

Using an extract from George Orwell's non-fiction, "Shooting an Elephant" (1936) and an article taken from The Daily Mail online from 2011, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is attitudes towards elephants. I have adapted the texts, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of this resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of a PEE paragraph where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how it conveys the writer's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I have produced 8 of these highly differentiated resources, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Please help yourself! Matt :)

Using a journal entry penned by Howard Carter documenting his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen and an excerpt from Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle where he describes the Fuegians, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of discoveries. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. UPDATE: If you do not use SMART interactive whiteboards, to view the SMART Notebook slides simply download the SMART Notebook Express viewer, FREE online. It is a piece of software published by SMART Technologies and is completely safe to use. (express.smarttech.com) I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced nine of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with accompanying SMART Notebook resources, too. Please help yourself and leave me a review! Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from JRR Tolkein's "The Hobbit" (1937), simplifying some of the vocabulary and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I've also designed and included a series of SMART Notebook slides for interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language to describe the dragon and its lair Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Skellig, A Christmas Carol, The Monkey's Paw, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Machine Gunners, Buddy and Z for Zachariah. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen AQA 9 to 1 Language exam Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

Using an excerpt from Roald Dahl's autobiography, 'Boy' - The Great Mouse Plot - a booklet of highly differentiated activities which address skills tested by Qs 1 to 3 of the new AQA Language Paper 2A exam paper, but for students whose reading age is significantly lower than their chronological age. It's a good way to introduce the focus of each question, and to get students responding in appropriate ways at a level that is appropriate to their ability. I hope this is useful to you and your students. Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review. Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice AQA Paper 1s, using extracts from: To Kill a Mockingbird, War of the Worlds, Skellig, The Hobbit, The Monkey's Paw, The Sniper, Buddy, Dracula, Z for Zachariah, The Pearl and Frankenstein, as well as several differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers with SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching, Q by Q! Help yourself and please leave a review.

Using a journal entry penned by Samuel Pepys as an eyewitness account of the Great Fire of London and a Guardian newspaper article of the King's Cross tube station fire in 1987, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of fires in the city of London. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 8 of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with SMART Notebook resources too. Help yourself! Matt :)

This 36 page pupil workbook contains a variety of highly differentiated activities to accompany the study of Alfred Noyes' classic ballad, 'The Highwayman' with students whose literacy is a barrier to learning. UPDATED: 20-03-17 I've added a wide range of images as a separate downloadable Word document for use with the Media Storyboard task. This might be preferable if your students have poor fine motor skills and, where possible, the images reflect a variety of camera 'shot' types so they can justify the choices they have made in the accompanying 'commentary' writing task. UPDATED 09-02-17 To include SMART Notebook slides which replicate all 36 pages of the Pupil Workbook. Some of the activities include: * pre-reading non-fiction comprehension: 'Dick Turpin' * sequencing Part One narrative events to show awareness of structure * cloze summary of Part One and extension task with sentence stems for completion * cloze and sentence stems for the journal of Tim, the ostler * a media storyboard and commentary * simile and metaphor, commenting on the use and effects of language * sequencing Part Two narrative events to show awareness of structure * cloze summary of Part Two and extension task with sentence stems for completion * newspaper report of the deaths * production of a non-literary leaflet: Highway Safety for Travellers I hope this is of some use to you. Please leave review. Thanks, Matt :)

Using an eyewitness account of a prison visit reported in The Telegraph in 1881 and a 21st C American newspaper article in support of the death penalty, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of capital punishment in different cultures and centuries. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of this resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 7 of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop'. Please help yourself! Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading Fiction texts. Here, I have adapted an extract taken from Charles Dickens' classic novella, 'A Christmas Carol', simplifying vocabulary and sentencing so that the text is more accessible for pupils whose reading age is significantly lower than their chronological age. (I know it's a 19th C fiction text but it's just to practise the exam skills!) I've also designed a series of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of the workbook resource, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources just like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Monkey's Paw, The Hobbit, The Sniper, The Pearl, Z for Zachariah, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Machine Gunners, Buddy, Skellig, Dracula and War of the Worlds. NOTE: I've also uploaded loads of specimen new AQA Language Paper 1 and 2s to my 'shop', all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

Using an extract from Conan-Doyle's non-fiction, "The Edge of the Unknown" and an article taken from the Discovery Channel online newsdesk, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is belief in ghosts. I have adapted the texts, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of a PEE paragraph where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how it conveys the writer's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. SMART Notebook slides are also included for whole-class interactive teaching of the resource. Matt :)