I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
These documents outline what makes a student a HAP, MAP or LAP now that curriculum levels have been removed.
HAP = High achieving pupil
MAP = Middle achieving pupil
LAP = low achieving pupil
The documents outline the skills required (in both reading and writing) for each student in year 7 through to year 11 to be categorised as a HAP, MAP or LAP in English language. The skills are bullet pointed to allow ease of use for all department members.
For KS4 this information is separated into both language and literature.
For literature this is broken down even further so that teachers can determine whether students are a HAP, MAP or LAP in specific components of English such as:
- poetry
- 19th century literature
- Shakespeare
- modern novel
These documents would be ideal for teachers to use when assessing student progress in specific components of their English studies be it language or literature. Once used, the student work can then be compared to their target in order to track progress.
Resource to allow students to get to grips with Shakespeare's insults. An insult dictionary is also included to allow students to create their own Shakespearian insults.
Fully differentiated resources to support the revision of 'Of Mice and Men.'
Opportunities to:
- revise characters
- revise themes
- practice exam style questions
- study model paragraphs in response to exam style questions
- revise the context 1920s and 1930s America
- extract to whole
Differentiation:
yellow = higher ability
blue = middle ability
purple = lower ability
Fully differentiated lessons to support the teaching of 'Half Caste' by John Agard.
2 lessons that include pupil talk tasks, assessment, outcomes and cover:
- context of the poem
- language analysis
- form and structure exploration
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow - higher ability
Resources to support the teaching of imaginative writing for low ability KS3 pupils. This resource was planned to provide 4 lessons and was planned to allow students to create a short story to enter in the BBC radio 2 500 words competition.
Covers:
- story openings
- plot development
- descriptive writing
- show not tell
- character development
A series of lessons exploring the lyrical ballad ‘Goody Blake and Harry Gill’ for Key stage 3.
In these lessons students will:
summarise differences
analyse use of language
write a persuasive letter
explore the context of lyrical ballads
develop inference skills
A series of lessons following the I do, we do, you do structure that guides students through how to write an academic response to the GCSE exam question on ‘An Inspector Calls.’
Students are guided through:
how to tackle the question
how to plan their response
how to write an effective introduction
how to structure an academic essay
Three exam questions included for students to work on.
A walking talking mock that uses the 2023 paper and inserts about train journeys.
Power point presentation and student work booklet included that:
guides students through strategies for answering each of the questions in section A in order to secure at least a grade 5
provides students with level 2 responses and guides them through how to create level 3 and 4 answers
supports students in how to read the sources effectively
supports students in making inferences and considering the big ideas to help with structuring academic responses
advises students to read the questions first
9 pages of revision activities that would be useful for preparation for assessments, as homework activities or as in class intervention.
Revision activities included:
knowledge matching activity
word class practice using an extract
figurative language matching activity & practice using language
rhetorical language matching activity & practice using language
Ethos, logos, pathos revision (Aristotelian triad)
Understanding - practice using short extracts to elicit information
Three language analysis revision activities that begin scaffolded
Grammar revision with focus on 'there, their. they’re and apostrophes
100+ slides that guide students through how to tackle language paper 1 question by question.
Includes:
tips and guidance for each question
model answers that achieve marks across the mark scheme
Do now activities
Activities to help students with descriptive and narrative writing
These resources use the 2017 paper where the extract is taken from Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.
A Walking talking mock that uses the AQA examiner feedback from the summer exams to guide students through a process of planning and then writing answers to English language paper 1.
Power point (81 slides) and student work booklet included.
This resource focuses on helping students to:
plan their responses to the questions
consider the order in which to answer the questions
explore methods and their effect concisely
improve responses through model answers
consider ‘mood’ as a central concept in all of the tasks on the paper
develop their imaginative writing
Source material: Daphne De Maurier ‘Don’t look now’
Model answers included.
A Walking talking mock that uses the AQA examiner feedback from summer 2023 to guide students through a process of planning and then writing answers/essays in response to Romeo and Juliet.
Power point (42 slides) and student work booklet included.
This resource focuses on helping students to:
plan their response
consider the text chronologically
embed context rather than bolt it on at the end
consider how themes can be context rather than just Historical events
create thesis statements
consider the texts as constructs
Exam question used in this resource: relationships between older and younger characters
Model answers included.
Over 10 lessons worth of resources to support the teaching of spoken language. All lessons are meticulously planned and fully differentiated by colour. These lessons are ready to go and are numbered for ease of use.
Ideal for use in KS3 given the removal of this component as part of GCSE.
Differentiation:
purple - lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
These resources allow students to identify and analyse the following spoken language techniques:
- face threatening acts
- jargon
- accent and dialect
- formal and informal talk
- Adjacency pairs
- back channel features
- Fillers and hedges
- Holding the floor
- turn taking
- overlapping speech
- standard English
- spontaneous speech
Students will explore spoken language taken from the following sources:
- Catharine Tate as Lauren in the UK sitcom
- Jeremy Paxman interview with Russell Brand
- Ali G interview with Tony Benn
- Jonathan Ross interview with Lady Gaga
- Board room conversations taken from the Junior apprentice
- Classroom talk taken from Highgate Wood school
- Transcripts of students talking with teachers
Links provided for YouTube video clips to allow students to observe the spoken language before analysing
Planning sheets, card sort of techniques, homework tasks and analysis writing frames are also included.
Resources to support the teaching of letter writing.
The lessons take stimulus from the following:
- Children in need
- Comic relief
- Pimp my ride
- Holidays from hell
Resources provide opportunities to:
- structure formal letters
- use the 6 part structure to form letter content
- write persuasively
- write emotively
Resources to support the teaching of the history of language with focus on Chaucer and the Canterbury tales.
Canterbury tales included:
- Pardoner
- Knight
- Nun's priest
- Miller
Resources provide opportunities to:
- explore context
- explore narrative structure
- tackle old English
- explore dialect and the development of English language
Revision booklet for Macbeth with activities to help students revise character, theme, context etc.
This booklet would be useful for students after studying or to complete as they study the play or complete as a homework project.
Resources to support the teaching of ballads at KS3.
Included:
- ballad of Homeless Jack
- ballad of Hillsborough
- ballad of Frankie and Johnny
- ballad of Charlotte Dymond
Resources are fully differentiated by colour.
Purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
Medium term plans that prepare students for 9-1 AQA English language paper 1 and paper 2 reading and writing.
The medium term plans attached are highly detailed and include:
- weekly homework tasks
- clear explanation on what should be covered and analysed
- weekly assessments
These updated medium term plans have been created to interleave the literature texts. Specific links are made to Jekyll and Hyde, An Inspector Calls and Jekyll & Hyde.
E.g. - students will read articles on arranged marriage for their paper 2 study which creates links to Juliet. They will also explore the gender pay gap to create links to AIC.
Most extracts are included. Some extracts are taken from the literature texts. Any missing texts and extracts are available in the Oxford University press AQA text books 1 and 2.
MTP for paper 2 also included the new speaking and listening component.
Resources also available.
Differentiated resources to support the teaching of non fiction news paper articles.
Opportunities to:
- identify and explain the features of news paper articles and front pages
- compare news paper articles and front pages
- explore fact and opinion
- read a variety of news paper articles and front pages on varying topics
- create news paper articles and front pages for specific audiences
- identify persuasive language
- use persuasive language in own writing
- use news paper articles on the same topic but from different publications to ensure pupil reading age is met (Telegraph, Metro etc.)
- explore punctuation and clause use including FANBOYS
- explore audience and purpose
Articles included:
- 3 articles from 3 different publications on raising the legal driving age
- 2 articles from 2 different publications on the Drayton Manor boat death
- a wide variety of front pages
Fully differentiated (by colour) resource to support the teaching of comparison of 'The send off' by Wilfred Owen.
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher