Zephyr Learning - English and General Literacy Shop
Average Rating4.93
(based on 16 reviews)
I hold an MA in literature and a CELTA in language, and over the last 20 years I've taught language and literature in the UK and USA as well as ESOL in France and Tanzania. In addition to my work as a teacher, I am the Literacy and Grammar Consultant for Zephyr Learning and Professional Development.
These resources have been refined in my own classroom and are the same ones I reference in my CPD for teachers. Prices for complete lessons are based on the current cost of an Americano at my local.
I hold an MA in literature and a CELTA in language, and over the last 20 years I've taught language and literature in the UK and USA as well as ESOL in France and Tanzania. In addition to my work as a teacher, I am the Literacy and Grammar Consultant for Zephyr Learning and Professional Development.
These resources have been refined in my own classroom and are the same ones I reference in my CPD for teachers. Prices for complete lessons are based on the current cost of an Americano at my local.
Complete lesson covering aspects of phonology and phonetics for A-level English Language as well as A-level English Language and Literature Combined.
Lesson covers the following:
Consonants
voicing
place of articulation
manner of articulation
glottal stops
Vowels
monophthongs
diphthongs
Phonetic transcription using the IPA (with practice exercise)
Sound iconicity
lexical onomatopoeia
non-lexical onomatopoeia
alliteration
consonance
assonance
sibilance
Complete lesson designed for students taking A-level English Language as well as A-level English Lang/Lit Combined.
Slideshow covers the following:
schema,
face theory,
politeness theory (positive face, negative face, face-threatening acts),
the cooperative principle,
Grice’s maxims,
implicature,
deixis (personal, spatial, temporal).
Complete lesson covering terms and concepts linked to the language level of semantics. Designed for students taking A-level Language as well as A-level Language and Literature Combined.
The lesson covers the following:
literal language vs. figurative language
figures of speech (metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, personification)
denotation
connotation
synonyms and antonyms
hypernyms and hyponyms
semantic fields
semantic change (ameiloration, pejoration, broadening, narrowing and semantic reclamation)
Two-part lesson on written and spoken discourse, designed for students taking A-level English Language as well as students taking A-level English Language and Literature combined.
The first slideshow (focusing on written discourse) covers:
mode
genre
structure
cohesion and referencing (exophoric, endophoric, anaphoric and cataphoric)
intertextuality
interdiscursivity
The second slideshow (focusing on spoken discourse) covers:
turn taking
adjacency pairs
phatic expressions
back-channelling
false starts
fillers
repairs
ellipsis
Two lessons on Seamus Heaney’s ‘Blackberry Picking’ designed for students taking AQA A-level Language and Literature Combined. The first (day one) lesson introduces the poem to students and guides them in conducting a linguistic analysis of the text; the second (day two) lesson invites discussion of their findings and covers important aspects they may have overlooked.
Two lessons on Seamus Heaney’s ‘Digging’ (day 1 - reading and analysing, day 2 - discussing student findings), designed for students studying the Poetic Voices portion of the AQA A-level Language and Literature Combined course.
Also includes a slideshow explaining the format and mark scheme for the *Poetic Voices *assessment (Paper 1, Section C)
Complete A-level English language grammar lesson on verb phrases. Includes slide presentation and worksheet with exercises (answers included in slide presentation).
The lesson covers:
grammatical person
grammatical number
active and passive voice of verbs
verb tense (past, present and future)
verb aspect (progressive, perfective and perfect progressive)
Complete lesson including slide presentation, exercises (with answers provided in the presentation) and knowledge organisers.
The lesson covers:
simple, compound and complex sentences
main clauses
subordinate clauses functioning as adverbials
relative clauses (defining and non-defining)
participle clauses
infinitive clauses
Complete grammar lesson focusing on grammatical phrases; it includes a slide show with explanations and examples, a printable worksheet with exercises (answers included in slide show), and a knowledge organiser summarising key points of the lesson.
The lesson covers these phrase classes:
noun phrases
adjective phrases
verb phrases
adverb phrases
prepositional phrases
Students practise classifying prepositional phrases by function as either:
adverbials
post-modifiers
Complete lesson which includes a slide show explaining concepts to students, a printable worksheet with exercises for practice (answers included in slide show) and a printable knowledge organiser (in both colour and black and white).
Focus of the lesson is on lexis and identifying these 9 word classes within texts:
noun,
pronoun,
verb,
adjective,
adverb,
preposition,
conjunction,
determiner,
interjection.
Complete lesson on language levels with slide show, printable exercise sheet (answers included in slide show), and printable notes for teacher and/or students. Designed for use with both A-level English language and A-level English language and literature combined classes.
Introduces students to the following language levels:
lexis,
grammar,
discourse,
semantics,
pragmatics,
phonology,
graphology.
Also explains and provides students with practice in identifying the following sentence elements:
subject,
copular verb,
main verb,
subject complement,
direct object,
indirect object,
object complement,
adverbial.
I created this matching exercise for my students in A-Level Language and also in A-Level Combined Language and Literature, who were confident in applying literary terms to texts but who consistently neglected to apply language terminology in their analyses.
We’ve drilled on this a few times now, and I’m starting to see more confident application of these terms. I’ll continue to use this exercise as a starter activity from time to time to keep these terms at the front of their minds.
Based on the assessment objectives for AQA A Level Language and Literature combined; designed to be printed on two sides of A4.
Covers the following:
Social and historical context (the Industrial Revolution, Edmund Burke’s theory of the sublime, Rousseau’s theories regarding the nature/nurture debate, the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus)
Biographical context of Mary Shelley
Literary context (explanations of important allusions and general characteristics of fantasy, science fiction, Romanticism, Gothic fiction and the tragic hero)
Themes (the pursuit of knowledge, nature versus nurture, justice and injustice, the importance of family, isolation and companionship, fortune versus fate, personal responsibility)
Characters (the roles and functions of Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, the creature, Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Moritz and Safie)
Settings (untamed natural settings versus university cities)
Features of lexis, grammar, discourse and pragmatics to consider
No coloured ink used, so the resource will print equally well on different colours of paper to suit student needs/preferences.
This complete lesson:
explains what an adverbial is,
gives students practice identifying adverbials,
challenges students to construct their own adverbial phrases and clauses.
The lesson was prepared and delivered during lockdown, so it is very straightforward and tailored for direct delivery.
If you find it useful, please spread the word by leaving a positive review!
Worksheet with explanation of the concept and 3 different exercises:
Adding punctuation to sentences that contain noun phrases in apposition;
Removing unnecessary uses of ‘who’ and ‘which’ to transform relative clauses into noun phrases in apposition;
Combining sentences to create new sentences with nouns phrases in apposition.
This resource can be used as the basis of an in-class lesson or as revision homework.
A summary of major periods in British Literature from 1485 to the Twentieth Century in six pages, originally created for use with 11th and 12th grade / Sixth Form students but useful for helping all students of British Literature to place and understand works within a historical context.
Question paper, source insert and and mark scheme with exemplar response samples plus response planning grids for each question to help students prepare answers as well as DIRT sheets to help you provide feedback more quickly.
The source text is an extract from The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
As always, please leave a positive review if you find this resource helpful to help spread the word!
The fundamentals of English Grammar on three colourful A4 handouts, plus a bonus handout explaining the different types of subordinate clauses for more advanced students.
Equip your students with meta-language that will enhance their analysis and understanding of English and prepare them for exams.
Explanations and examples of the different types of subordinate clause.
Copies are available in colour or black and white to accommodate printing capabilities and budgets in different settings.