This is a beautifully presented set of 10 “Do Now” activities for GCSE English. Sometimes it’s difficult to activate learning, especially at the beginning of the first session of the week. A great way to kickstart a class, assess prior learning and to give the students instant feedback is a “Do Now” activity. Over and done in ten minutes or less, I often use them at the beginning of a class to signal to students that it is time to learn – and what better way is there than to get them actively thinking? These worksheets really get them into the “English Zone” as it were. The stakes are low, but having used these with my own learners, I know that the engagement is high! Each worksheet has a number of very quick activities on it (between three and six) which can be done in around five minutes. For variation, each worksheet has a different “mix and match” of activities. This means the students will not know what is coming in their next “Do Now” and this will hopefully keep them on their toes and interested! These activities comprise: Spot’n’Spell – learners read a short passage and correct TWO spelling mistakes One Word Drafting – learners are asked to improve a sentence with just one word (sometimes an adverb, sometimes any word) Spot the adjectives – learners must underline the adjectives in a very short passage Fill the gaps – learners read a paragraph of classic literature and fill in gaps Suggestion Box – learners are asked to write what a word suggests in a sentence (can be about character, place and so on) Unjumble – learners asked to separate the adjectives from the adverbs The Great British Idiom – learners given an image that shows a famous idiom and are asked to put it into a sentence What Am I? – learners given a definition of a structural or linguistic device and asked to write the answer That is the Question – Learners given a description of an exam question and asked to give Paper, Question and Mark (eg Question 2, Paper 1, 8 marks) Punctuate Me! – Learners gives four sentences and asked which one is punctuated correctly Time to Shine – Learners asked about exam timing for certain questions Language or Structure? – Learners asked to separate language and structural devices True or False – Learners asked to say whether a statement is true or false Word Star – learners asked to match up words with their definitions I “like” it – learners asked to improve a sentence by adding a simile Strong Links – learners asked to place an adverbial phrase into a short text to create a stronger link between sentences Be Direct – leaners asked to reword a sentence, using direct address List Four Things – learners given a short text and asked to list four things about one of its elements Order! Order! – learners asked to put four sentences of an exam response into the correct order S The worksheets are in colour but print off fine in black and white. They are designed to engage the students with individual designs and graphical “Easter Eggs”.

These spreadsheet exercises were created for the BTEC Level 2 Extended Certificate in Information and Creative Technology but might be used in any beginners Spreadsheet class. They are design to be done after some teacher input and cover a number of simple function and formulae. These include: Addition Subtraction Multiplication Percentages Simple IF statement Minimum Maximum Average Creating simple charts and graphs Wrapping Text Borders and fills Change of font and size The aim, too, is to get learners to think about the math rather than blindly following instructions without really ‘getting it’. These exercises can be done by students of varying abilities - and there are some additional activities on each sheet for those who finish first.

GCSE English Paper 2 Question 4 presents a number of challenges to learners. First, it’s the only time that Assessment Objective 3 is taught explicitly (Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts). Then, there is the (sometimes bewildering) amount of instructions in the question, not to mention its positioning in the exam. I put a great deal of thought into how to engage the students with this question and how to create a scaffold for the responses they would write. Ideal for lower sets but working for any level, they are a great starting point for this question. In fact, when I first developed this resource, I pressed the “reset” button on this question and started again from scratch. The results have been very encouraging and there has been an improvement in the marks my students are getting for this question in the exams. I have created an additional “answer” document that goes through what the students should have chosen for the multiple choice questions on Scaffold 1 and example responses for all three of the scaffolds included in this set. The scaffold enables: The writing of a thesis statement (also known as an introduction!), highlighting the different perspectives of the writers. A pair of paragraphs about the tone of the texts (Source A, Source B), with evidence, explanation and effect on the reader A pair of paragraphs (x2) that encourages students to find common features between the texts (e.g. one subject is boxing and a common feature of both texts is a description of a fight) where they can then find differences of perspective. Altogether, the students should be able to produce a robust response to this exam question. I found that once my students had done two of these scaffolded exercises they found the “real thing” much more accessible. These sets of scaffolded exercises are designed to be done in the classroom. They serve as an introduction to how to approach the question sensibly and in a way that will hopefully maximise the marks awarded. It is not intended as a straightjacket approach and the Word documents can easily be tweaked if you want to change them a little. The source texts are a little shorter than those you will find in the “real” exams – about 250 words each. This is to encourage students to discover differences (one text has similarities of perspective) and to get them involved with the text. Three subjects: Boxing (19th Century text, 20th Century text) Fashion (19th, 21st) Visiting the Natural History Museum (19th, 21st) I don’t believe these have been covered in the exams before. I have put them together as a single booklet (this is how I use them) but have also included a file with each question on its own.

GCSE English P1Q4 is challenging. It’s the only time that AO4 is taught explicitly (Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references). Then, there is the (sometimes bewildering) amount of instructions in the question, the quote giving the opinion of a “student”, not to mention its positioning in the exam. I put a lot of thought into how to engage the students with this question and how to create a scaffold for the responses. Ideal for lower sets but working for any level, they are a great starting point for this question. In fact, when I first developed this resource, I pressed the “reset” button and started again from scratch. The results have been very encouraging; there has been an improvement in the marks my students are getting for this question in the exams. I have created an additional “answer” document that goes through what the students should have chosen for the multiple choice questions with example responses for all the scaffolds included in this set. IMPORTANT – The files which start “2026” are all in the new format for this question which will be examined from May 2026. All the other files are presented in the original format for this question. So this resource will last you until the current specification expires. The scaffold enables: The students to express an opinion on the statement (keeping an eye on it throughout) and quickly segue into their response. The students to build up five paragraphs of text which expresses their opinion, use quotes – explaining the method used by the writer – and to evaluate the impact on the reader. Altogether, the students should be able to produce a robust response to this exam question. I found that once my students had done two of these scaffolded exercises they found the “real thing” much more accessible. These sets of scaffolded exercises are designed to be done in the classroom. They serve as an introduction to how to approach the question sensibly and in a way that will hopefully maximise the marks awarded. It is not intended as a straightjacket approach and the Word documents can easily be tweaked if you want to change them a little. I have used older texts deliberately. First and foremost I wished to ensure that there were no possibly copyright restrictions to using these resources. They all start on Line 20, so that students can imagine that there is a previous section of the text. However, the first paragraph or so is not included in the question, to give them a “run in” to the text. There has been some light editing to ensure they are all accessible (but nothing like the hatchet job AQA often do!). Three texts: Dracula – Jonathan Harker encounters three beautiful but dangerous women. Three Men in a Boat – the three men attempt to open a tin of pineapple chunks for lunch. Jane Eyre – the night is interrupted by screams from the floor above.

As you may have heard, AQA’s Paper 1 Question 1 is changing. From 2026 it will no longer be “list four things” but instead it will consist of four multiple choice questions. These are ten “Do Now” activities for your class, which mirror the layout of the questions. Each sheet has two extra questions – I felt that four was not quite enough for a “Do Now” and there was space! Feel free to delete those if you do not want your class to do all six. I have tried to make the texts varied and interesting. They are all out of copyright or in the public domain, so there is no need to worry about issues around using them. As such, the majority are 19th and early twentieth centuries. However, I have been careful not to use texts that contain language which is overly old-fashioned! My students have enjoyed doing these (I have not included the ones that haven’t gone down as well). This covers AO1: identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas

This is an editable resource but a PDF is included too. Ever tried to teach descriptive writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a descriptive writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality. This is one way to encourage students to write good descriptive pieces. This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways… The resource is designed as a 60 minute section of any class and it focuses on a FULL RESPONSE for a description of a picture. If you want to use exercise books, there is an ‘instruction only’ set here too. Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts to the left. The prompts indicate what they should write. So, the first (major) prompts, for example, are: Para 1 Start with a one word sentence, stating the time of day – or year. Then use a simple sentence to describe the sea. Para 2 Describe the setting. As a minimum, your paragraph should include… • a simile about the place e.g. the sun was like… The air was as… • Describe the sky – what can be seen? Use colours! • Write a compound sentence about the sun and/or sea. • Start the last sentence with “In the distance…” Add anything else you want about the setting ONLY. …and so on! The prompts then progress, enabling the students to create a complete response which includes all of the skills descriptors for Paper 1 Question 5. Your students should end up with a piece containing a minimum of 7 paragraphs of varying language with structural features and language devices used throughout. This lesson could also be used as a ‘snap’ revision session or a cover class. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things. There is also a ‘five senses’ prompt on the lesson handout, to encourage students to use one or more of these in their writing. These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

This pack of picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response (although both tasks can be descriptive or narrative and this pack reflects that). I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess! The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of images in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice. Each is formatted to include the question on a single A4 sheet. The originals are also included on their own if you would like to use them without the question stimulus. They would probably also be very useful if you are covering a class - the skills that students develop with these questions are vital for success in GCSE English as this question alone represents 25% of the entire exam. All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.

Flashbacks can be overlooked when teaching creative writing. Often the emphasis is on openings and closings, building a chronological narrative. Yet for GCSE English flashbacks are an important structural device which students should be able to use in their creative and descriptive writing. These can be used as starters, fillers or a whole lesson. This set of 6 flashback exercises gives students the first part of a story leading up to the point where a flashback could take place. It is then a case of ‘over to them’ where they use their imagination to create a flashback suitable for the particular scenario they have been presented with. You could almost call this a ‘semi-scaffolded’ lesson but a flashback is essentially a story within a story. These exercises could be used as short activities or as part of a whole lesson where each student attempts a few of the flashbacks (the lesson plan reflects the latter). Although the stimulus provided by the short starts may be enough for most students it could be an idea to open a short discussion about what could happen in the flashback. Here’s an example of one of the exercises - the students read them and then create their flashback: Hot, sticky, crowded; the subway in summertime is never pleasant. It’s made bearable by the fact everyone minds their own business. I long ago fell in to line, stopped making small-talk, smiling little greetings at strangers, helping people with large cases. Best to mind my own business. Read my news, message a few friends, scan through my email. The trill little slither of music tells me another one has come in. I read the name of the sender and my eyebrows swing upwards in some surprise, a smile starts to from on my face. Can it be, after such a long time? I read the email breathlessly, the carriage is now a vacuum – no air is needed with the sudden burst of adrenaline I am experiencing. I reach the end of an email. It’s short – a hello, a question, an invitation. My mind tumbles back through the years. I have included 2 formats for the exercises. The first is where the students write their response next to the picture. The second is where they have a larger example of the picture and they create their response in their exercise books. There is a ‘cheat sheet’ included to let students know what a flashback is! These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

It can be difficult to engage learners when it comes to Speaking and Listening. Students must make relevant and extended contributions to a discussion and so it is important to choose a subject which will engage them. So I created this lesson plan where they more or less talk about themselves - or teenagers at least - and what they should do before they turn twenty. The scenario gives students the chance to allow for and respond to others’ input, make different kinds of contributions to discussions and to present information/points of view clearly and in appropriate language This can easily be adapted for an adult class where they reflect on what they would have liked to have done… All documents are editable. They are: Lesson plan for the session Formal discussion - handout explaining the scenario and with space for the students to make notes A reflection sheet for students to fill out once the discussion is over An additional task in which students can write the article they have discussed A couple of pages of possible comments that can go on the assessment record sheet for individual students Plus there is a video to give the students some visual stimulation when they are gathering their ideas for the discussion. I have done this many time with classes - and it works very well! Hope you find it useful!

A beautiful set of slide posters (50 to choose from) which can cover an entire academic year (with some left over). Each word is defined, with synonyms and antonyms – plus example usage. The “Word of the Week” slides are presented to capture students’ attention and enhance engagement. The visual appeal creates a great stimulus for students to explore new vocabulary. Incorporating a “Word of the Week” into the classroom provides a dynamic way to enrich students’ vocabulary and foster a love for language. By focusing on a single sophisticated word each week, teachers can create a structured environment where students regularly encounter and engage with new terms. This approach not only enhances vocabulary acquisition but also improves comprehension and communication skills. Where I work, we use these in the classroom – and include them in the weekly email to all teachers. They also go up on our GCSE English team with the challenge to students to use them in sentences and in their work. The slides are also shown in our reception area as part of the revolving slideshow visitors see when they come in. There’s a multitude of uses for these slides. A “Word of the Week” encourages students to explore words in various contexts, helping them understand nuances and applications. Teachers can introduce the word through diverse activities such as discussions, writing exercises, and creative projects, making the learning process interactive and memorable. Moreover, this method supports cognitive development by challenging students to use and recognise advanced vocabulary in their everyday conversations and academic work. It also aids in building confidence, as students become more adept at expressing themselves with precision and sophistication. Overall, a “Word of the Week” fosters an enriching learning environment where vocabulary growth is a continuous and engaging experience, preparing students for academic and real-world success. All images are used under a Creative Commons license – no copyright issues. Please note that the first slide – alacrity – also has a pointer to where you can place your institution’s logo. The words are: alacrity, antagonise, to aspire, avarice, benevolence, capricious, clandestine, collaborative, conscientious, crescendo, dauntless, delectable, delineate, derision, diaphanous, dichotomy, discombobulate, eloquent, ephemeral, epitome, exhilaration, foolhardy, futile, homogeneous, implacable, implicit, indignant, insolence, interrogate, inveterate, invidious, malevolent, myriad, ostracise, ostensibly, paragon, persistence, plethora, precipitous, predilection, procrastinate, radiate, resilient, satiate, solitary, tranquillity, transient, ubiquitous, vociferous, zenith.

This is a reliable tool to support your students in preparing for their GCSE English Language exams and one I have been using with my own students for a while - they are preparing for the AQA exams. These GAP Analysis resources (one each for Paper 1 and Paper 2) help teachers and students pinpoint strengths, identify areas for improvement, and set actionable targets for progress. Key Features: Comprehensive Skill Coverage: Includes self-assessment sections for the critical GCSE English skills (based on the breakdown of Assessment Objectives that appear in exam mark schemes). These are split into two sections – Reading and Writing. Target Setting: A dedicated section for students to set clear, achievable goals based on their mock exam performance. Example Actions List: Includes practical, ready-to-use suggestions to include as action descriptions when target setting. Why teachers where I work love it: This GAP Analysis provides a structured, student-friendly format that encourages meaningful reflection and targeted improvement. It’s a time-saving, flexible tool for classroom use or independent study. By empowering students to take ownership of their progress, you’ll help them build confidence and achieve their potential in GCSE English Language. I have included the documents in two formats – PDFs and Word. As such, you can edit the gap analysis to suit you more, although I hope that you will be able to use these as they are without any changes. Please note that if you intend to use this for all classes in your department you should purchase a “school licence”. Thank you!

If you need short tasks to use with or email out to students, look no further! Ever tried to teach descriptive writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a descriptive writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality. This is one way to encourage students to write good descriptive pieces. This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways… The resource is designed as a 10-15 minute section of any class and it focuses on an opening paragraph for a description of a picture. Students can build their confidence here before then progressing to longer pieces. It could also be used as a ‘snap’ revision session, a cover class (where more than one is attempted) or as a prompt for a longer response which the students must do once they finish their first paragraph. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things. There is a selection of 20 pictures so you can choose which to give to specific students you think may engage with the picture. I have called them ‘picture challenges’ to try and encourage a little competition. Perhaps there could be something as a prize for the one judged the best by peers? The pictures are all used under a Creative Commons license which means that while the link to the original is included to credit the photographer(s) they are free to use and modify. There are a number of prompts on each handout. Here is an example. WRITE A DESCRIPTION SUGGESTED BY THIS PICTURE. Your description should be five to seven sentences in length. Start with a one-word sentence about time (e.g. season, time of day), location, event or emotion. Try to use the following words somewhere in your description: pungent, vengeful, applause (these change on each picture). You must use two or three linguistic devices of your choice. Remember to use Standard English! There is also a ‘five senses’ prompt on each of the pictures, to encourage students to use one or more of these in their writing. These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

This pack of CHRISTMAS picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response (although both tasks can be descriptive or narrative and this pack reflects that). I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess! The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of Christmassy mages in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice. There are also a few naughty suggestions… Each is formatted to include the question on a single A4 sheet. The originals are also included on their own if you would like to use them without the question stimulus. Plus if it’s easier for you - PDFs are also included of both files. They would probably also be very useful if you are covering a class - the skills that students develop with these questions are vital for success in GCSE English as this question alone represents 25% of the entire exam. All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.

This is an editable resource but a PDF is included. A great way to encourage students to write good descriptive pieces. Contents 2 decriptive scaffolded writing tasks with space for student responses The same 2 tasks without lines (if this is being done in an exercise book) WAGOLL - What a good one looks like for both tasks Lesson Plan Cheat sheets at the back of instructions to help students with them. A great way to encourage students to write good descriptive pieces. This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways… The resource is designed as a 2 60 minute section of a class and it focuses on a FULL RESPONSE for a description of a picture. one set prompts students to write a happy piece and the second prompts them to write a sad one (SAME PICTURE). there is one lesson plan but you could easily diverge. A teacher might give half the class the happy task and the other half the sad task. I hope that these tasks will also promote discussion about how time, place, colours and smells can impact on a piece of writing, give it a certain mood. Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts to the left. The prompts indicate what they should write. So, the first (major) prompts, for example, are: Para 1 Start with a one word sentence, stating the time of year – spring. Then use a simple sentence to describe the woman positively. Para 2 Shift and describe the setting (don’t worry that you can’t see it!). As a minimum, your paragraph should include… • a simile about the busy people walking happily by. • Describe the sky – what can be seen? Use bright colours! • Smells – is there a baker’s shop? A coffee shop? • Write a compound sentence about the passing traffic and the sound it makes. • Start the last sentence with “Around the old woman, life…” Add anything else you want about the setting ONLY. …and so on! The prompts then progress, enabling the students to create a complete response which includes all of the skills descriptors for Paper 1 Question 5. They should end up with a piece containing a minimum of 7 paragraphs of varying language with structural features and language devices used throughout. This lesson could also be used as a ‘snap’ revision session or a cover class. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things. There is also a ‘five senses’ prompt on the lesson handout, to encourage students to use one or more of these in their writing. These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: AO6:

Mock exams are very useful but they often have to be facilitated over a number of classes, so this resource was developed in response to the need to measure students’ progress but to have the assessment take place over 60 minutes rather then 1 hour and 45. We also The documents included are: The progress test with embedded gap analysis Insert containing Source A and Source B Mark scheme Spreadsheet to automatically generate grades The progress test consists of: Two texts – one Victorian, one contemporary. The subject is “the rooms of teenage boys”. These are shorter than those one would find in the exams to reflect the reduced time students have to complete this. Question 1 – Now worth two marks rather than four. Question 2 (synthesising two texts) – Still worth 8 marks. Question 3 (language) – Now worth 10 marks rather than 12. This makes the Reading section of the paper worth 20 marks. Question 5 – This is now a 30 minute task which is worth 20 marks. It is a speech about what really matters in the life of a teenager. As you can see, Question 4 is left out altogether. When this resource was developed we thought it better to do this than to cut down the time for responses even further. Plus, we deliver the skills in the order that they appear in the exams. As such, at the time we were expected to do a progress test (just before the February half-term holiday), the students hadn’t adequately covered Q4. We decided that Q4 could wait until the full Paper 2 mock later in the term. EMBEDDED GAP ANALYSIS This is a reliable tool to support your students in preparing for their GCSE English Language exams and one I have been using with my own students for a while. These GAP Analysis resources (one each for Paper 1 and Paper 2) help teachers and students pinpoint strengths, identify areas for improvement, and set actionable targets for progress. Key Features: Comprehensive Skill Coverage: Includes self-assessment sections for the critical GCSE English skills (based on the breakdown of Assessment Objectives that appear in exam mark schemes). These are split into two sections – Reading and Writing. Target Setting: A dedicated section for students to set clear, achievable goals based on their mock exam performance. Example Actions List: Includes practical, ready-to-use suggestions to include as action descriptions when target setting. Why teachers where I work love it: This GAP Analysis provides a structured, student-friendly format that encourages meaningful reflection and targeted improvement. It’s a time-saving, flexible tool for classroom use or independent study. By empowering students to take ownership of their progress, you’ll help them build confidence and achieve their potential in GCSE English Language. I have included the documents in two formats – PDFs and Word. As such, you can edit them to suit you more, although I hope that you will be able to use these as they are without any changes.

This lesson introduces students to the skills descriptors for A05 and A06 (Content and Organisation together with Technical Accuracy) of the AQA GCSE English exam – in other words what they have to do in Paper 1 Question 5 to make the marker happy. This can bore students silly, so it is all about active engagement throughout. It is designed for learners at the beginning of their creative writing careers, with possibly just a few classes before this. They are not expected to mark a whole text (or award marks) – neither are they expected to write a whole one either. This lesson focuses on paragraphs so that they can focus on short extracts which also gives them the opportunity to add on it to later. Here is a precis of the class. The students are given the beginning of a short story and a picture to go with it. They are also given two attempts at the next paragraph, written by students. There are plenty of things to talk about in the examples given! Before they go on to mark these paragraphs, they are introduced to the skills descriptors in a mix-and-match scenario which will promote discussion in the classroom. They have to work out which explanation goes with each skill. This readies for them to return to the paragraphs written by the students and be able to make comments about how each student did well and how they could improve their work. I have always found that one of the things students love is being critical about the work of other learners. There is plenty of opportunity to do that here – although the focus should of course be on positive rather than negative criticism. The students must put this into action once this discussion is over – by rewriting the paragraphs (or parts of them) to show how they could have been improved. Moving on, the students must then write the next paragraph of the story. What they must do is explicitly stated so that they each have the opportunity to shift focus from the outside of a café (in this case) to the exterior. It will also enable them to have a bash at some expository writing about a busy street (which is something that could easily come up in this question in the exam). Finally, some students will be expected to read out their paragraphs with the rest of the class giving some positive feedback about what they have written. The class is designed for 60 minutes for top set learners but could easily be stretched out to 90 minutes. All the pages in the lesson are in a single Word document. The PDF version is also attached.

This has been created to be challenging (but not too hard!) for students approaching their L1 Reading exam and incorporate the skills needed to pass it! It comprises 11 questions based around a short text. It’s perfect for a lesson starters or end. It should take up to ten minutes for students to answer the questions, with then answer time taking another five. This may sound like a lot of time, but it is focused on getting the students through the exams (not “woolly” in any way, shape or form!) I have found that this time has been well spent and is reflected in both student confidence around the exams and their actual exam performance. They questions cover two pages (so perfect for quick double-sided copying) plus there is a third page of the correct answers for teachers (you don’t want to be doing the Do Now yourself, do you!?). This “Do Now” activity is designed for learners doing the Pearson Edexcel exam – but I am sure it can be used for other exam boards too. The texts takes the form of a short article. The questions consist of: Multiple choice Short answers True/False This worked very well where I work. I hope you enjoy using it with your students too!

These quizzes are designed to accompany the anthology “As Told By Teachers” (https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/as-told-by-teachers-an-anthology-of-short-stories-for-gcse-english-language-11973337). There are 4 but more will be added. Want to make one yourself? Know Kahoot? If you would like to create a Kahoot quiz based on any of the stories, please do. I would appreciate it if you could send me the link so it can be included in this document. If you would like to use the question mark pictures (free from copyright) the links are below. Please don’t forget to credit the creators (you can put a links at the bottom of any question). Kahoot Newbie? If you would like to create a Kahoot quiz but are unfamiliar with it (or just technophobic!) please feel free to put a set of questions and answers together and email it to taliesyn30@aol.com. I will be happy to put it online for you. This resource will be updated as quizzes are added.

Aimed at all levels of ability but particularly at those students who might achieve Grade 5 upwards. If you are teachinmg the GCSE English Language Grade 9-1 Course then you know your students will have to know how to do a summary. In fact they will have to know how to bring elements of two texts together – to synthesise them in to a new form – the summary – which may ask them to highlight the similarities or differences of aspects of two sources. This video serves as a foray in to that by showing you how to summarise two source texts according to the skills descriptors for GCSE English Language Grade 9-1 course (AQA), The Lesson Plan contains the two texts (which are also the video) and the way that I delivered it to my groups - how you choose to do it is, of course, up to you!