Humble English Teacher hoping to cut down on teachers' workload by providing high quality resources (from primary to secondary - mostly English but some other subjects too). Please share and review if you like what you see here.
Humble English Teacher hoping to cut down on teachers' workload by providing high quality resources (from primary to secondary - mostly English but some other subjects too). Please share and review if you like what you see here.
This 26-slide lesson provides a comprehensive introduction to the context and comedy of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.
The lesson features information on Wilde’s life and literary career and on Victorian contexts of gender, sexuality, and morality. The genre of comedy is considered in detail, and the key themes, characters, and conventions of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ are outlined. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students.
This lesson would work particularly well for those teaching Wilde on AQA’s Aspects of Comedy paper for English Literature A level, but is still useful for those exploring the play for other courses.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
This extract from Bertolt Brecht’s harrowing anti-war play ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ is perfect practice for analysing elements of political and social protest for those studying the AQA A level syllabus.
This resource is a collection of 30 practice questions based on J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Providing perfect revision for those studying the text at GCSE, this bundle of 30 exam-style questions will give your students plenty of practice at analysing the play’s key themes, characters, and ideas.
Questions are included on every character and each of the main themes.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
This 21-slide lesson introduces students to the key context of Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’.
The lesson provides an introduction to Bennett’s career, Oxbridge, Thatcherism and New Labour, as well as the key themes and ideas of the play. Students consider what makes a good teacher, and learn critical vocabulary linked to the play. The role and significance of ‘history’ is also debated, while New Labour’s focus on ‘spin’ is explained in view of its relevance to the play. Theatre reviews of notable productions of ‘The History Boys’ are also included for discussion.
Questions, discussion points, and tasks are featured throughout for students.
This resource is ideal for those studying the play at GCSE or A level.
PowerPoint saved as pdf.
This 28-slide lesson explores the themes of duality and double-lives in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.
The lesson encourages students to think about the numerous binaries and dualities throughout Wilde’s play, and how these relate to the idea of ‘earnestness’ that the play satirises. Sophisticated vocabulary is provided to help students with their analysis.
Students are presented with important literary and historical context, including Wilde’s own ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ and Stevenson’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, plus examples of real-life late-Victorian scandals which fed into and fuelled fin de siecle interests in the duality of man. We also explore dualities in Wilde’s own life.
The lesson considers how deception plays into the play’s key themes, and explores Wilde’s literary preoccupation with ‘masks’. Key quotations from the play (linked to duality or double-lives) are considered throughout the lesson, and each of the key characters are dissected.
Discussion points and questions are featured throughout. This lesson is ideal for A-level (age 16+) study of the text.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
This top-band essay analyses how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and Banquo’s attitudes to the supernatural, based on the (infamous) AQA exam question from 2018.
Many students found this question challenging when it appeared in the summer of 2018. This essay is perfect (for HA pupils, in particular) to see how to structure a sophisticated and perceptive essay.
The extract and exam question are included on the first page.
This 34-slide lesson explores the character of Viola in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’.
With academic scrutiny, the lesson analyses one of Shakespeare’s most complex heroines, beginning with an overview of her key lines, attributes, and role in the plot. This then leads to analysis of her name, key vocabulary that we might use to describe her, and how her role as a cross-dressing protagonists compares to other Shakespearean comedies.
Important historical and theatrical context is explored alongside Viola’s character, and we consider the debates around just how ‘proto-Feminist’ Shakespeare’s presentation of Viola really is. Interesting viewpoints from a range of critics, directors, and actors are discussed.
Crucially, we also explore how Viola’s character catalyses other key events in the play and is central to the comedy of ‘Twelfth Night’. We look at how Viola interacts with other characters in the play and debate modern interpretations of whether homoeroticism is integral to her character. The role of twins in other Shakespearean plays is considered, and the Carnivalesque atmosphere of the play is analysed in light of Viola’s character.
Questions, discussion points, and essay questions are featured throughout. Students are encouraged to consider Viola’s character at a high level, so this lesson would be ideal for students aged 16+.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
These 25 posters - featuring words of wisdom from 24 of Shakespeare’s plays - make for an inspiring, educational and visually stunning display in your classroom and corridor.
This worksheet is designed to stimulate analytical consideration of the key images, symbols, and themes of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’.
The task is flexible: teachers may ask pupils to surround each image with quotations, words, themes, or general ideas from the play.
For example, around the picture of the golf ball, pupils may write: “I don’t play golf” or ‘Birling’s luxuries and leisure as antithesis of the Inspector’, etc.
Images inevitably link together and overlap, which is a great prompt for students to connect the key ideas from across the play.
An extract from George Bernard Shaw’s classic play ‘Mrs Warren’s Profession’, perfect for analysis as an example of political and social protest writing for Section A of the AQA A level exam.
It can be challenging to find great resources for this part of the exam, but this extract (with the accompanying exam question) always work fantastically.
This extract from Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ is perfect practice for analysing elements of political and social protest for those studying the AQA A level syllabus.
This word search is a fun and stimulating activity for those studying ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to help consolidate knowledge of characters, key themes, and their spelling.
This extract from John Osborne’s classic 1956 play ‘Look Back in Anger’ is perfect practice for analysing elements of political and social protest for those studying the AQA A level syllabus.
This crossword on Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ provides an enjoyable but academic activity for pupils to test their knowledge of the play.
It always works as a great starter or plenary task.
Ideal for pupils from KS3 to KS5.
This extract from Harold Pinter’s powerful play ‘One For The Road’ is perfect practice for analysing elements of political and social protest for those studying the AQA A level syllabus.
Please note: this extract (and play) contains very mature themes and language.
Detailed and high-grade notes on each of the major characters in J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Perfect for revision of the characters when studying the play at GCSE.
This resource contains detailed and academically challenging PowerPoints for all five acts of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. Each PowerPoint goes through an act scene-by-scene, analysing language, theme, character and context, combining scholarly notes from a range of sources.
These PowerPoints work well when accompanying the reading of the text in class. Students find them useful for revision of the play too. These five PowerPoints have the potential to cover several weeks of lessons.
These resources are aimed at A level students (particularly those studying comedy as a genre), but could be used for the study of the play with any high attaining group.
This 30-slide lesson explores the character of Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’.
With academic scrutiny, this lesson analyses one of Shakespeare’s most iconic and riotous characters, beginning with an overview of Sir Toby’s key lines, attributes, and role in the plot. We consider Sir Toby’s role as a quintessential comic creation: his Falstaffian parallels, his festive spirit, and his role as the ‘Lord of Misrule’.
Important historical and theatrical context is explored alongside Sir Toby’s character. We consider how self-aware Sir Toby is, thinking about his relationship with the audience and how he relates to Shakespeare’s stagecraft.
Crucially, Sir Toby’s function as a comic character (and how he relates to other characters, including Malvolio, Sir Andrew, and Maria) is discussed. We scrutinise Sir Toby’s role in view of the Carnivalesque atmosphere of the play.
Questions, discussion points, and essay questions are featured throughout. Students are encouraged to consider Sir Toby’s character at a high level, so this lesson would be ideal for students aged 16+.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
A superb extract from Patrick Marber’s ‘After Miss Julie’, perfect for analysis as an ‘unseen’ text for Section A of AQA’s Political and Social Protest Writing A level paper.
Extract is attached with PowerPoint featuring questions for students to consider/discuss/answer and an exemplar INTRODUCTION to an essay response.
PowerPoint saved as PDF.
This crossword on Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ provides an enjoyable but academic activity for pupils to test their knowledge of the play.
It always works as a great starter or plenary task.