I teach English Lit and Lang at IGCSE and IB Level. Resources here are mainly for these courses but I often upload KS3 resources too. Currently I am working on the new Songs of Ourselves for 2026. Drop me a line on: underthevolcanoagain@gmail.com for one-to-one tuition.
I teach English Lit and Lang at IGCSE and IB Level. Resources here are mainly for these courses but I often upload KS3 resources too. Currently I am working on the new Songs of Ourselves for 2026. Drop me a line on: underthevolcanoagain@gmail.com for one-to-one tuition.
In this 16-slide PowerPoint you will find an interesting starter where students use the vocabulary of the poem to make a wall display of haikus, a discussion task on the allusions to sea gods, full read through discussion, homework task, comparison of two Wordsworth poems to help understand Cheng’s ideas, very detailed line by line annotations, essay question with mindmap for essay planning, full essay plan. It should take between two and five hours to complete.
In this 26-slide PowerPoint you will find a thought-provoking starter, matching poetry technique task, in-depth discussion task, creative writing exercise (using the key vocabulary from the poem), an artwork imagery task, homework questions, line by line questions, deep line by line annotations/analysis, essay question and plan, and a model paragraph (colour-coded). This could take anything between one and three hours of teaching, depending on the cohort.
In this 14-slide PowerPoint, you will find a theme exploration starter, line by line annotations, essay plan, twelve homework questions (students could do this in lesson but I like them to come to class having studied the poem a little), theme and quote matching task, and finally I have included an optional “fun” activity where students use the vocabulary of the poem to create a short playscript, which you could choose to develop into a performance. This PowerPoint will probably take about three hours to complete if you choose to do all the activities. It could also work as revision. Please let me know if you have any feedback.
A selection of activities over 80 slides containing contextual details, comprehension questions, mini exams, quotation analysis, and character profiles.
This is for anyone teaching the new IB course (2020-2026). It offers students some questions to ask themselves when revising for their Paper 1 Lang/Lit exam. It could be used as a classroom activity when examining a text, or as revision.
Activities on every chapter of the book, organised on one linear PowerPoint (45 slides). Students read the book answering comprehension questions, completing a media project where they explore and create:
Social Media Posts
Messages and Blogs
Formal and Informal Emails
Bias Comparison Essays
Oral and Written News Reports
Photojournalism and Propaganda
Satirical Comic Strips
Assessment:
You could use any of the above, but the main two assessments are: designing a propaganda poster to promote compassion; and comparing two newspaper articles with different biases - one is from the BBC and the other is taken from the Daily Mail.
This is an analysis of an extract of the Kamala Harris VP Nomination Speech (follow the link to the full video below). It provides students with an annotated copy of the original text transcript, and an intro and thesis, something they often have trouble formulating. Also included are some past papers, model paragraphing, and essay plans. I hope these resources are useful in preparing for this year’s IB Paper 1 - they could be used either in class, online, or for revision.
This is an exam I made based on an analysis of a website promoting a VR headset made by Facebook in February 2021. I have included an example intro, thesis and opening analytical paragraph to show students how to use clusters of quotes and connect style, language and meaning. I am sure it will be useful for the upcoming exam as many students find it difficult to construct in depth paragraphs.
This resource has students at IB level for the English A: Lang and Lit course, analyse a series of print adverts and film. The campaign is a recent British Army Recruitment campaign. The main task students should complete after analysing the sources is to create a 5 minute spoken presentation about the purpose, audience and techniques used. There is a glossary of vocabulary which should come in useful. It is not meant as a mock for the IO, but a similar task that will let students have a go at preparing a short 5 minute speech , analysing the campaign. It should last about 2 weeks.
In this 10-slide PowerPoint, you will find a summary of chapters 1 and 2, a matching task related to the themes of Science, Political Change, Industrial Revolution, and Imperialism. Included next are 10 questions about an extract from Chapter 1, focused on vocabulary. There is also a ‘descriptive writing checklist’ and 2 descriptive writing activities. Finally, there are another 10 questions about an extract from Chapter 2, encouraging students to comment on language. This PowerPoint can be used generically, or for the IGCSE course, first exams in 2024.
In this PowerPoint presentation you will find an overview of the radio broadcast that was presented by Orson Welles in 1938, with a range of activities included about fake news and entertainment. This is the second introductory lesson to the SoW for the IGCSE first exams 2024, but can be used for other curricula too. It could also be used as a standalone lesson on fake news to help students navigate the web more safely. The starter is an inference task based on the headlines that shocked the US after the first airing of War of the Worlds. The next task is a listening activity where students listen to a 10-minute extract of the radio broadcast (script handout and link included), highlighting lines/features that make it so believable. This is followed by a true or false quiz about fake news in today’s era. The main task is a creative one. Students, in groups/pairs have to create their own piece of “fake news” and then swap it with another group/pair. Finally, using the provided guide to spotting fake news, students have to break down one another’s piece of “fake news”. It should be a fun and informative lesson that is simple to teach and easy to follow for the students. Please check out the full SoW and my other resources. All feedback is enormously appreciated.
In this 13-slide PowerPoint, you will find: two lesson objectives, summaries of Chapters 3 and 4, ten comprehension questions (with answers), a vocabulary matching activity (with answers), a breakdown of the 4 assessment objectives for the prose exam (with a plenary gap fill to test retention), an extract from Chapter 4 for analysis which includes a highlighting task, followed by assessment objective-specific questions for students to answer in groups (possible answers to these questions have also been included). Finally, there is a plenary connected to the assessment objectives. After this lesson, students should have a good understanding of the two chapters, and some knowledge about how HG Wells has managed to use descriptive language effectively. Students should also have a good grasp of the assessment objectives.
This is a brief guide to the Individual Oral for the IB LAL course (HL and/or SL). I have used two texts as an example of an interesting text pairing. The texts are the television series, The Great, combined with the novel by Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The global issue I have focused on is: The imbalance of power between the sexes as a result of cultural/religious traditions. Both texts present the issue in different ways and both could be read through the lens of feminism. I have included the extracts for analysis that students could choose to use as part of their oral presentation. I have also included a guide to help students plan the first 10 minutes of the oral presentation. Finally, I have attached all of the quotes from the novel that link to the global issue. I hope it is all useful for you!
In this 20-slide PowerPoint covering chapters 11 and 12, you will find some vocabulary work, active reading strategies, guidance on descriptive and narrative writing, a reminder of using the senses to describe, activities on the themes of the novel, labelling activities, and a short debate. Students have plenty of time to discuss, write creatively, and analytically. Summaries of chapters 11 and 12 have been included as well as a clear plenary. I hope you find it useful.
In this 15-slide PowerPoint you will find guided reading through chapters 5, 6 and 7. For chapter 5, I have focused on educating students about literary devices and then using them in analysis paragraphs. I have written a brief model paragraph for students to use when preparing their own pieces of analysis of an extract from Chapter 5. For chapter 6 I have had students answer 10 comprehension questions because it is such a short and simple chapter. For chapter 7, students have an active listening/reading task to complete, where different students take on a variety of roles when listening to the teacher read the chapter. This is known as the ‘reciprocal reading’ method. I have also included a summary of each chapter just in case any students are absent. All of the PowerPoints in this series can be shared with students before teaching so that they know exactly what activities to do in order to keep up.
23-slide PowerPoint. Lots of activities which lead up to the first assessment of the SoW. These lessons include a gap-fill activity about the purpose of the curate, a brief drama activity, reading comprehension, four model paragraphs analysing a range of techniques, lots of ‘think, pair, share’ questions, handouts of the chapter for assessment prep, the assessment insert handout, links to the four AOs, a simple essay plan for students to organise their ideas, summaries of every chapter, and lots of lovely visuals. I hope it is useful for your classes. It should take about 3 or 4 hours to complete this PowerPoint.
In this 23-slide PowerPoint you will find: summaries of both chapters, four short model responses for language analysis, an activity on how to embed quotes, a short drama task about how dialogue is used for suspense, a definition of the technique ‘allusion’ with a task based on Wells’ allusion to the Huns; here students watch a 10-minute YouTube video about the Goths and Huns in Europe and complete 18 viewing questions based on the video (could be done as h/w). Finally, students finish Chapter 17 by reading alongside a selection of comprehension/discussion questions to check understanding. This is the last lesson for Part 1 of War of the Worlds.
In this 18-slide PowerPoint, you will find an initial vocabulary activity based on some of the tricky words in Book 2, Chapter 1, then some straightforward discussion questions to facilitate active reading, followed by a fun activity where students design their own technological alien and write a 200-word profile for it. Included is a gap fill activity to check understanding of Book 2, Chapter 2, followed by a “discussion” with HG Wells regarding the themes of reason/belief. This final activity should really get to the heart of the book and with the right teacher guidance there will hopefully be a rich discussion. All three chapters are also concisely summarised.
This 22-slide PowerPoint covers the final 4 chapters of the novel, and contains: vocabulary activities, line by line extract analyses (with answers), matching activity, Freytag’s pyramid summary task (also with answers), discussion questions, and 5 practice exams. Please see bundle for discounted prices.
UPDATED VERSION - PLEASE REDOWNLOAD Jeff Wayne intro! In this 15 slide PowerPoint, you will find a fun starter with images connected to the novel, a gap-fill about the life of HG Wells (with answers), a matching activity about Victorian England, Industrial Revolution, Imperialism, Science, and Political Change (also with answers), and some documentary viewing questions that could either be done during class or for homework (answers also provided). This is all you need to help your students get started with the background to the novel; it works well as a set of pre-reading activities. The full SoW can be bought as part of a bundle. I have made the SoW with the IGCSE first exams 2024 in mind, but it can be used generically too. I hope it is useful for your students. Please check out my other resources!