Paper 1 Question 5 can be a challenge, particularly as it is 25% of the entire GCSE. As such it is vital that students do well on this question. Reading short stories from across the years does help in teaching creative writing but these were not written with assessment objectives and skills descriptors in mind. 43 teachers came together to produce this anthology of stories written with this exam in mind. The aim of this project was to help stretch and challenge learners by showing them what a good one looks like. It is hoped that by providing a set of exemplars specifically written for this qualification that learners will gain an insight in to the form of a great GCSE short story and how that may differ from their original expectations. This anthology provides students with a stimulus to improve their own responses, particularly in the context of the terminal examination. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! KAHOOT QUIZZES FOR THE ANTHOLOGY AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/2-kahoot-quizzes-for-as-told-by-teachers-11978295

Here is an exam “past paper” I created for my students who are doing the AQA board. The source text was written especially for this mock as a best fit for candidate responses. The 9-1 course does not have a huge amount of specimen papers so I hope that this will help!

This was created for learners doing GCSE English Language - the new Grade 9-1 Course. It can be used as a revision or even an introduction to language features. I’ve described how I did it with a set of learners but the simple PowerPoint slide could be used in any number of ways. The general aim is to improve a story which starts ‘The student was late’ using the power of language features. The slides are created in such a way that it forces learners to find very straightforward explanations for the language feature that they have been given. Although this does not directly help with the exam question where they have to find, analyse and explain language features it serves as an introduction. The resource also works towards paper 1 question 5 (AQA board at least!) when learners must incorporate language features in to their own creative writing, either descriptive or narrative. You can find my structural features game here - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/gcse-english-language-9-1-structural-features-game-with-lesson-plan-11988220

Students may be asked to write a story for AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Question 5. This is also known (mostly by teachers) as narrative writing. So how do you write a story in 45 minutes? This video shows you two examples of work done by real GCSE English students in exam conditions. It also has comments by a marker on the responses. The method the students have used represents just one way to approach this question.

The text is challenging (on purpose!) but is also one which we hope you will find enjoyable. This extract is from the opening of The Hole in the Wall, a novel by Arthur Morrison. Set in the East End of London, it was published in 1902 and it is set then. In this section the narrator’s mother has died in giving birth to a baby boy, born dead.

This pack of picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1, but focusing on images from the First World War. 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. 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. It also gives them an opportunity to discuss and write about those who fought and died in the Great War. The resource is fairly diverse featuring, as well as UK troops, British women in the role of carpenters, ambulance drivers and mechanics. It also features soldiers from the West Indies and India. There is also a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) - which has been ‘marked’ by four English teachers and placed in Band 4. So, if you use it in class please tell your students that this is not the expectation for most learners but a very high level response! There is a Kahoot you can play about this story here: https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/f21e67ee-8e7a-43a4-ad9c-83ffa9d2415e The pack is editable although I have included PDFs if you don’t need to… 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. All pictures are over 100 years old and so out of copyright restrictions. 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.

GCSE English Language Paper 2 Question 1 can be overlooked in the rush to equip students with the technique to address the ‘big hitter’ questions. However, this question can be used as a traditional warmup activity or even something a little more exciting if you are Kahoot-savvy! This document contains: Each text with the questions to the right Both texts without the questions (if you want to play on Kahoot or do it some other way without revealing the questions straight away).

This is an adaptation of the tried and tested ‘lifeboat game’. It can be used for Functional Skills English or most other English qualification. We can’t put URLs in descriptions anymore but do a search for “lifeboat game set in space” on YouTube and you will find it! “Starcorp is in trouble. Their Spaceship the SS Hartnell left Earth two weeks ago. It has been hit by a meteor and only ten people have made it in to the life-vessel. However, it will take a week for the rescue ship to arrive and there is only enough oxygen and food for five people to survive that length of time. Five people must be sacrificed so that the others can live. Which five will you choose?” The survivors featured are a diverse group of people and this lesson asks learners to consider questions around prejudice, tolerance, bias (conscious or otherwise) and diversity. Does their choice of who will survive depend on unconscious bias? Does age, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexuality play a part in their choice and if so, why?

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!

AQA EXAM ONLY. This is a spreadsheet for individual students who might want to keep a record of their marks per question - particularly useful if they are going to resit. All you have to do is to type in the marks for each question and the spreadsheet will do the rest. It calculates the final individual paper grade based on their separate bands. It gives a percentage for each question (I find that easier to get my head around as I forget how many marks are available for each question and this means I don’t have to bother looking). Of course it gives the final overall grade too!

I have attempted to give this Paper 2 Question 5 activity a contemporary edge! This activity is (probably aimed) at more able, socially aware students. However, I do hope that it is sufficiently interesting in term of subject to engage (and provoke a response from) most students. Students will be asked to do some research about Extinction Rebellion (in case they haven’t heard of it) and then participate in a small group discussion on the movement. They are then given a Paper 2 Question 5 example question – which will be attempted after a whole class (teacher led) discussion around how to go about writing the response. The document consists of the tasks with a section for the response (if exercise books are not readily available). There is also a list of websites at the end to stimulate discussion for and against movements like Extinction Rebellion. I have not put these articles in to word documents as I wish to respect the copyright of the respective authors. However, I found the two I have boxed particularly interesting as they are so diametrically opposed to each other! I hope that this lesson will make a revision session for Paper 2 Question 5 a little more interesting… Thanks! Assessment Objectives covered This explicitly covers AO5 Content and Organisation 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 Technical Accuracy Students must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

Empower your teaching with this customisable Learning Targets Poster - an adaptable tool for clearly communicating targets and keeping students aligned and engaged! Created in PowerPoint, just click on the elements to add your targets - or print it off and put them in by hand. This comes with a Word document - students are introduced to the idea of emerging, consolidated, or established - and can track their own targets. LEVEL & VOCATIONAL AREA - in this area simply type in something relevant for your institution… Enjoy!

Based on the accompanying video, this is a set of two A3 posters for GCSE English Language focusing on analytical verbs. Many students use “show” and “suggest” well but struggle to come up with alternatives. Here are 10 which can be used in a number of contexts - examples are given on the posters in a “before and after” format. As they are based on the video you can see here too - it could be used as a lesson starter to reinforce the poster content - or as a standalone 3.5 minute warm up to exam practice (or whatever takes your fancy of course!) Enjoy!

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!

Two extracts - one Dickens and one Orwell, accompanied by sample questions. The video explains the question, showing how to do it but also how NOT to do it! The Dickens extract is used as the first example and students can be guided through how to create their response. The Orwell example is for students to attempt on their own, without guidance. Possible answers for both texts are included (for question 1).

A letter from 1850 from a young man stationed in India to his sister in Sussex. A fag-packet lesson plan with the letter that young Walter must have written with the new GCSE spec in mind. Lots of language to convince his sister that she should write back to him. Two videos to accompany the lesson plan plus the letter itself and an exemplar answer.... lots of fun to inflict here. Fits very well with AQA Paper 2 Question 3 and can probably be adapted to other exam boards. Please note: the file marked VI is simply the same resource but enlarged for students with Visual Impairments.

Here’s the old “parts of speech” poem you may already know (author impossible to find so I am assuming it is very old and in the public domain). It is in A3 and A4 size (however only the A3 one is editable - the other is a JPG of the A3 one). Anyway, cool as a poster in a quiet corner…

What is PEE? It’s a really good way to explain your ideas in both essay form and in exams. This video explains what PEE is and how you can use it with two texts to use to accompany it. It is an introduction to PEE aimed at students of GCSE English Language (AQA). However, this video can be used for other exam boards as well as serving as a good introduction to PEE in general. The main hope is that it will help your students pass their GCSE exam!

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.

Pie charts for GCSE English Language? But why? We hope these charts help to visualise how much the questions are worth, plan and re-evaluate revision and to work out just how much time should be spent on each question in the exams. Plus it’s a bit of fun - enjoy!