This is a detailed PowerPoint taking students through the four reading question for the June 2020 AQA English Language paper 1 on The Silk Factory. It goes through the questions methodically, providing advice and model answers alongside mark schemes. There should be time given for students to try each question under timed conditions. Answers can then be peer assessed by partners and discussed as a class. I am including the question paper and insert along with a mark scheme that has a student-friendly version.

This is a booklet I made to revise children’s literacy theories for A level English Language paper 1, section B. It begins by dividing the theorists along ‘caught’ and ‘taught’ lines and then outlines theories from Kroll, Perera, Rothery, Britton and others. There are two past exam questions to work on too. Very useful for revision

These are knowledge organisers for 11 of the poems from the Love and Relationships collection. They are very useful for revision because they focus on the language, ideas/themes, context and story of the poems in a concise, easy-to-revise manner. Poems covered: Porphyria’s Lover The Farmer’s Bride Before You Were Mine Follower Love’s Philosophy Mother any distance Neutral Tones Sonnet XXIX Winter Swans When We Two Parted Letters from Yorkshire

This is a collection of ten practice essays I made for The Sign of the Four (GCSE English Literature paper 1) covering most of the novel. They touch on themes such as: representation of women; representation of foreigners; the Gothic; drama and suspense; duality; friendship and more.

Two PowerPoints introducing lexical development in children for paper 1 section B of the A level English Language paper (AQA). Powerpoint one outlines difficulties that children might have with synonyms, homonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms. The next PP introduces different kinds of over/under extension referring to Jean Aitchison and Leslie Rescorla so should follow on from the first.

An AQA A level English Language resource for Paper 1 Section B: Challenging Innateness Theory in Child Language Development. In 1986, Chomsky added to his theory of language innateness by putting forward the idea that the Language Acquisition Device contained a Universal Grammar, a set of basic rules of grammar that characterise all languages. Read through the following theories and decide whether they or PRO Innateness theory or CON. This is an extremely useful document for discussing the main theories of Language Acquisition with Innateness as a starting point. Students should spend five minutes reading through and deciding whether the statements agree with Chomsky’s theories or with Behaviourist/Interactionist theories. I have found that it generates a lot of discussion and improves students’ understanding of AO2, concepts and theories.

This is a PowerPoint, mark schemes with student friendly explanations and original exam papers for the 2017 question on ‘The Tiredness of Rosabel’ by Kathryn Mansfield. It covers Section A, question 1-4. I made the PP to thoroughly prepare students for answering the reading questions and it includes tasks, a student answer to discuss, and guidance for answering questions 2,3 and 4. Ideally, after working through the tasks, students respond to those questions under exam conditions. I am also including model answers. I always found it a successful resource in introducing the paper.

This is a PP, plus style models, for preparing students for the 2021 paper 2 paper, question 5. It focuses on examiner expectations with close attention to the mark schemes. It asks students to do a couple of short tasks as well as look at two style models to get them to think of the kind of techniques used in writing to argue. Finally, students should complete the question in exam conditions and then 1) get feedback from a partner and 2) ideally have it marked by the teacher.

A lesson resource for GCSE English Literature, An Inspector Calls focussing on Gerald. It has a list of quotations by or about Gerald in Act Two which students should sort into categories matching a list of statements. This is followed by a set of discussion points for students to work on in pairs. They are then asked to plan and write the essay: In Act Two of An Inspector Calls, Priestley presents Gerald as a dislikeable character. Discuss this statement with close reference to the play Pages 3 and 4 have the quotations which should be cut up for students to organise into groups. I found this a really useful way to consider Gerald’s role in the play in the context of patriarchy and capitalism. It also asks students to consider the subtleties of his character which make him more believable.

A comprehensive creative writing scheme I created to prepare students for Question 5 of paper 1, GCSE English Language both descriptive and narrative writing. My approach was to begin with reading extracts from interesting texts - e.g. The Thirty-Nine Steps, Great Expectations, I’m the King of the Castle and From the Here and Now (Ann Brashares) thus reinforcing skills for Section A of this paper. There are fun writing exercises as warm-ups (these can be successfully extended), a focus on technique and structuring and clear links with the mark scheme. Most of the assessment is peer assessment, although I often use a shared word document so that students can share their work and comment on each others. The final task is a GCSE task which would ideally be marked by the teacher.

This is a booklet I devised for preparing students for the writing to argue/persuade task in paper 2 (question 5) It takes students step-by-step through the process of planning the task and the sort of techniques necessary for communicating clearly, and structuring a coherent argument. There is a section on punctuation along with suggestions for writing tasks. It was a very effective introduction to paper 2 question 5.

I made this PowerPoint as part of the Language Change unit for A level English Language, paper 2. It briefly introduces some of the main influences on English spelling from Caxton, to the Great Vowel Shift to standardisation and finishes with a video called “Why is English spelling so weird?”

A comprehensive workbook for introducing analysing spoken texts for A level English. It starts with transcribing, gives a full table of definitions of key features and introduces main theories such as Face and Grice’s Maxims alongside plenty of transcripts. Activities range from discussions to essay-writing. Very useful for preparing students for understanding the way speech works and leads nicely into Paper 2, Section A topics of accent and dialect, occupation and gender.

This is a sheet I made for students, clearly outlining the skills for each English Language paper as well as the different levels of response, e.g. Level 4 Perceptive, detailed, Level 3 Clear, relevant, Level 2 Some, attempts, Level 1 Simple, limited. It was very useful as an overview of what is expected by the two exam papers.

Simple step-by-step exercises for lower-ability students taking them through writing a description of a character. Covers simple metaphors and similes too. Culminates in a three paragraph description.

This is a detailed PowerPoint taking students step-by-step through the reading section of paper 1 using the opening of Rebecca. It has detailed reference to the mark-scheme and assessment objectives, with hints and tips as well as key vocabulary. Students are asked to complete each section and then peer assess using mark-schemes. Also included is the actual paper (which does include a picture for question 5 although I haven’t referred to that in the PP) and a student copy of the model answers.

PowerPoint explaining Child Directed Speech for the Child Language Development question (Paper 1 Section B). There are two video examples to watch alongside lists of features of CDS so that students can identify them. Also plenty of examples of theorists and their ideas about CDS. Very useful for exploring Bruner’s LASS.

A level English Language resource for paper 1 section B, child language development. It is a worksheet exploring language acquisition and the brain, with information about Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area etc. I use it to encourage discussion about which of the main theories - Innateness, Behaviourist and Social Interactionist - are supported by the physical aspects of the brain.

This is a detailed PowerPoint with accompanying documents to practise skills for GCSE Paper 1 reading questions. The PP takes students through questions 1-4 using mark schemes, advice and model answers. It is focused on achieving the top level of the mark-scheme (level 4) and uses self-assessment and peer-assessment. The package includes the PowerPoint, the extract and questions, a student handout and an extra structure worksheet.

Practice paper for GCSE English Language paper 1, section A. This uses the opening of ‘The Lovely Bones’ by Alice Sebold. It is a detailed PowerPoint, going through each question, giving guidance and techniques as well as setting tasks for students. It includes model paragraphs for highlighting (also included on a separate sheet) and detailed explanations of the markscheme using student friendly language. It focusses students on the requirements of the top band for each question. PP, model answers and question paper included.