This engaging and enjoyable Junior Cycle English teaching unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Heroism with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as locating information, inference, commenting on structure and comparison as well as key narrative writing skills such as opening and ending a story, writing direct speech, varying sentences, improving vocabulary and planning. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction texts including 'Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’, Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. It is ideal for a First or Second Year Junior Cycle class. All 17 well-presented student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a 68 slide teaching PPT and a set of detailed teacher’s notes. Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts. 7. Select key moments from their texts and give thoughtful value judgements on the main character. 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images. Writing 3. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage. 5. Engage with and learn from models of written language use to enrich their own written work. 7. Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images.

This engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help build the skills necessary for success in both group discussions and in making a presentation to the class. It is a discussion based unit and explores skills such as asking questions, leading a discussion, researching and planning a presentation. It leads to two activities, a ‘meeting’ in which students discuss setting up a series of lunchtime clubs for other students followed by an individual presentation in which students showcase their own plans for a school club. I have included a set of detailed teacher’s notes, a well-presented 44 slide teaching PPT and all student resources in both word and pdf format. I hope your students enjoy taking part in this unit. Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include: Know and use the conventions of oral language interaction, in a variety of contexts, including class groups, for a range of purposes, such as asking for information, stating an opinion, listening to others, informing, explaining, arguing, persuading. Engage actively and responsively within class groups in order to listen to or recount experiences and to express feelings and ideas. Listen actively in order to get the gist of an account or presentation noting its main points and purpose. Deliver a short oral text, alone and/or in collaboration with others, using appropriate language, style and visual content for specific audiences and chosen purposes. 7.Choose appropriate language, style and visual content for specific audiences and chosen purposes.

This highly engaging unit guides students to delivering an individual spoken presentation on a topic of their choice for the Junior Cycle English Oral Communication Classroom-based Assessment. It guides students through the process by looking at aspects of effective presentations such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk, delivery and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well as group discussions and opportunities to try out a variety of techniques. Students then research, plan, and rehearse their talks before delivering their presentations to the class. A nicely presented 43 slide PPT is included as well as all seven student resources in both word and pdf formats. I hope you enjoy teaching this unit. Best wishes, RoseandMay

This engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for tacking the Junior Cycle Higher English exam paper. It is built around the topic of Leisure. There are two sections: Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts including a leaflet and two digital texts. Assessment opportunities include a piece of extended analytical writing with a focus on the author’s use of language. Writing section – culminates in writing a critical analysis of a film poster and a review. This includes a 57 slide teaching PPT (PDF and editable PPT formats) as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 9 resources in both Word and PDF formats. Tasks and texts are relevant and engaging and ideal preparation for the Junior Cycle exam. Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts, including digital texts. 4. Use an appropriate critical vocabulary while responding to literary texts. 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text. 11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect. Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate. 3.Write for a variety of purposes, for example to analyse, evaluate, imagine, explore,engage, amuse, narrate, inform, explain, argue, persuade, criticise, comment on what they have heard, viewed and read. Write competently in a range of text forms, for example review.

This half-termly unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the Junior Certificate exam with particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. I have written it with my own lower attaining class in mind. It supports students in developing some of the key skills required to write their own engaging pieces such as writing effective openings, writing dialogue, varying sentences, creating characters and planning responses. It supports and leads them towards a creative writing task (either narrative or descriptive) which they complete at the end of the unit. The 75 slide teaching PPT is included in PDF format as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes with suggested teaching approaches and all eleven classroom resources in both Word and PDF formats. I have also included extra creative writing tasks based on images. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit. Junior Cycle English Learning Outcomes include: Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage, narrate. Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work. Use and apply their knowledge of language structures, for example sentence structure, paragraphing, grammar, to make their writing a richer experience for themselves and the reader.

Creative Writing and Reading - Gothic Horror Unit This highly engaging and enjoyable unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Gothic Horror with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as inference and comparison as well as key writing skills such as opening a story, writing direct speech, using narrative voice and varying sentences. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction including W W Jacobs’ ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ and information texts on the London Burkers (body snatchers!) All 12 student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a nicely presented 50 slide teaching PPT and a set of detailed teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit. Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts. 4. Use an appropriate critical vocabulary while responding to literary texts. 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words. Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine. Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work. Use and apply their knowledge of language structures, for example sentence structure, paragraphing, grammar, to make their writing a richer experience.

Junior Certificate English: Non-fiction Unit - Climate Change Crisis This engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction texts. It is built around the topic of the climate change crisis. There are two sections: Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts including a letter, web pages and a blog. Writing section – focus on writing a persuasive speech and an internet blog. This includes a nicely presented 61 slide teaching PPT (PDF and editable PPT formats) as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all student 13 resources in both Word and PDF formats. Junior Cycle English Learning Outcomes Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing. 3.Write for a variety of purposes. Write competently in a range of text forms using appropriate vocabulary, tone and a variety of styles to achieve a chosen purpose for different audiences. Reading Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts, including digital texts. Use an appropriate critical vocabulary while responding to literary texts. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect.

This highly engaging and enjoyable unit is focused on the subject of mountaineering and explores literary non-fiction texts as a prelude to students completing their own creative and non-fiction writing. It is ideal for a grade 9-10 class. Texts include extracts from Joe Simpson’s ‘Touching the Void’ and Matt Dickinson’s ‘The Death Zone’ both of which are dramatic accounts of mountaineering expeditions. There are lots of opportunities for paired and group discussion and students learn how to write effectively including analytical responses to reading as well as their own creative pieces and an argumentative essay on the subject of extreme sports. There is a particular focus on planning and your class will be introduced to innovative planning methods including the box plan and the ‘because, but, so’ model. I have included a 62 slide teaching PPT as well as 21 well-presented resources to use as handouts in class. Please note that the PPT and resources are in PDF format and a Zip file is also included. Junior Cycle English Learning Outcomes include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts. 4. Use an appropriate critical vocabulary while responding to literary texts 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text. 11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to analyse, evaluate, imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate, inform, explain, argue, persuade, criticise, comment on what they have heard, viewed and read. Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This unit is designed to teach key reading and writing skills in the context of travel literature and to help build some of the key skills required when studying non-fiction texts. It moves from reading to writing and is based on the study of a number of short travel extracts from writers such as Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban and Dervla Murphy. Outcomes include analytical as well as creative writing. All ten resources including key texts are included as are a set of detailed teacher’s notes and a nicely presented 42 slide PPT. Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts. 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text. 11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect. Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate. Discuss their own and other students’ written work constructively and with clear purpose. Write for a variety of purposes, for example imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate, inform, explain. Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.

This unit of work is focused on developing the skills of reading between the lines and is based around extracts from the novel ‘Deep Water’ by Ann Turnbull. It is aimed at a first year Junior Cycle class and covers key skills such as inference and deduction, questioning the text, prediction and visualising the text. All short extracts are provided so you do not need a copy of the novel though you may wish to buy one to read and enjoy other sections with the class. I have included a 47 slide teaching PPT, all nine resources in word and pdf formats and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include: Reading 3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts e.g to retrieve information and to link to previous knowledge. 7. Select key moments from their texts and give thoughtful value judgements on the main character or a key scene. 8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words. 11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology. Writing 3. Write for a variety of purposes e.g to imagine, explore, narrate. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. It is aimed at a first year Junior Cycle class and may also be a suitable unit for a second year class depending on ability. A well presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources. Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include: Writing Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate. Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work Reading Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text. I enjoyed teaching this unit and hope you do too.

This half-termly unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the Junior Cycle exam with particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative writing, looking at excellent and varied models of texts and identifying successful features before moving to students composing their own creative responses. The 63 slide teaching PPT is included in PDF format as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested teaching approaches and all eleven classroom resources in both Word and PDF formats. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.

This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed for Entry Level 3 students who are required to complete a piece of narrative writing for Unit 5 English through Prose. It supports them in actively exploring and enjoying narrative extracts, looking at models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses in the style of the writing assessment. A well presented 71 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources

This half-termly unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the CCEA GCSE English Language Unit 4 Creative writing. The unit focuses specifically on developing narrative writing skills by looking at good and engaging models of texts and identifying successful features before moving to students composing their own creative pieces. I have included a 53 slide teaching PPT plus all eleven resources in both word and pdf formats. This unit is accompanied by a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you and your students enjoy this unit.

AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Creative Writing Unit This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help Step Up to English students prepare for the AQA Component 2 writing section with a particular focus on narrative writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying narrative extracts, looking at models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses in the style of the writing assessment. A well presented 72 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources. More Step Up to English Resources Other complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at: RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources New individual units: AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit You may also like: AQA Step Up to English: Grammar and Punctuation Starters New Complete Course AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)

Key Stage 3 English: Narrative Writing Digital Planning Frames This resource includes three narrative writing planning frames/ graphic organisers in pdf and a pdf format which allows students to type in their responses. I have also included a resource with ten narrative writing tasks for student s to choose from. They are ideal for setting a narrative task to be completed at home. You may also like: English Key Stage 3 Creative Writing Unit for Years 7-8 This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses.A very nicely presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources.

This engaging, student-friendly and digital home learning unit is designed to help GCSE students develop their narrative and descriptive writing skills. It is intended for home learning and includes lots of interactive and practical tasks to help students embed key skills. I have uploaded both a standard PDF and a PDF with text boxes which can be filled in by your students. It is relevant to all main exam boards and includes a work booklet with accompanying resources including planning frames, narrative extracts and creative writing tasks for exam practice. It will be invaluable for teachers who wish to set an extended unit of work or revision activities for their classes or for parents who wish to support with learning and exam preparation.

This engaging, student-friendly home learning unit is designed to help Grade 9-10 students develop their narrative and descriptive writing skills. It is intended for home learning and includes lots of interactive and practical tasks to help students embed key skills. It includes a work booklet with accompanying resources including planning frames, narrative extracts and creative writing tasks for exam practice. I have included a standard PDF and a version with text boxes which can be filled in by your students. It will be invaluable for teachers who wish to set an extended unit of work or revision activities for their classes or for parents who wish to support with learning and exam preparation.