A PowerPoint all about the importance of names in Dickens’ ‘Hard Times’. Ideal for those studying the novel for AQA’s Political and Social Protest Writing A level course.

A worksheet which presents students with visual stimuli to prompt critical thinking about the key themes and imagery in Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’. Students annotate the worksheet with their knowledge of the theme; they may wish to write down key quotes, important ideas, or significant plotpoints/staves of the novella which apply to each image. It’s up to you how you use this versatile resource. This is an ideal starter or revision activity for studying the text.

Poster explaining the concept of pathetic fallacy in a fun visual way. Perfect for your classroom or corridor display!

Three colourful posters designed by Mr_Gradgrind on ‘The Jungle Book’, ‘Holes’ and ‘Watership Down’. Great for your classroom or corridor displays.

A series of posters designed to help students to understand word classes. Included: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs and Adverbs (with examples). Designed by Mr_Gradgrind to help support SEN students but equally useful for promoting whole-school literacy. Four posters included.

Poster of William Shakespeare (including dates of birth and death) for your classroom or corridor display.

Encourage environmental conservation with this great poster! Urge students to ‘PROTECT OUR PLANET’!

Enhance your learning environment with this poster of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, designed by Mr. Gradgrind.

Portrait and landscape posters featuring a quote from J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series: “Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic”. Perfect for classroom and corridor displays, and promoting literacy across the school.

A wordsearch designed to support the study of Stevenson’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’.

A great lesson activity or homework task designed to test and consolidate students’ understanding of homophones. This is a fun visual activity with an element of critical thinking/problem solving involved. Ideal for KS2 or KS3.

A great lesson activity or homework task designed to test and consolidate students’ understanding of proper nouns and common nouns. 15 questions included. Ideal for KS2 or KS3.

Six posters featuring key elements of different genres. Genres included are comedy, tragedy, crime, gothic, fantasy and science fiction. Perfect for classroom display and accompanying teaching of genre.

Enjoy this stylish poster for ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald to enhance your learning environment. Designed by MrGradgrind.

This is a complete mock paper 2A for those studying AQA GCSE English Language. Four questions (as per the exam) are included. The paper contains two sources (one from the 19th century and one from the 21st century) on the topic of Presidents of the United States. One concerns the election campaign of Donald Trump; the other concerns the death of Abraham Lincoln.

Enhance your learning environment and encourage reading with this poster, designed by Mr. Gradgrind.

This 23-slide lesson is the perfect analytical summary of Old Major’s character function in Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. Students are encouraged to consider Old Major’s purpose within the novella and how he links contextually to the allegory of corrupted Communism. Emphasis is placed on his rhetorical skill, foreshadowing, and structural significance. There are many questions posed for students to answer either individually or collaboratively. At the end of the lesson is an extended essay question for students to answer (either in class or as a homework activity). This lesson (which could easily be split into multiple lessons) is ideal for high-attaining GCSE students but could also be used to challenge KS3 pupils. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This crossword on Dickens’s ‘Hard Times’ provides an enjoyable but academic activity for pupils to test their knowledge of the novel. It always works as a great starter or plenary task. Note: Answers to questions looking for the name of a character may be their first or second names, eg. ‘Stephen’ or ‘Harthouse’. The answers typically refer to how the character is most commonly addressed, and it should be easily deducible which is the correct name.

Here are 30 questions to stimulate intellectual and persuasive writing from students. A great range of social and political issues are considered - especially those which can be easily linked to current affairs. These questions are particularly useful for those studying AQA GCSE English Language. PowerPoint saved as pdf.

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.