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 War of the Worlds and 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 War of the Worlds and the new Songs of Ourselves for 2026. Drop me a line on: underthevolcanoagain@gmail.com for one-to-one tuition.
In this 19-slide PowerPoint you will find a starter activity that helps students understand the concept of lamentation, and a vocabulary task to help with breaking down keywords, key context of Kuwait and a link to an online analysis video, reading comprehension questions, homework challenge questions, line by line questions, line by line analysis, essay plan with topic sentence ideas and quotes for each paragraph, and an essay question for students to tackle the assessment.
In this 20-slide PowerPoint, you will find: sorting starter, re-organising the poem activity, line-by-line questions, line-by-line analysis, deep mind-map analysis of one stanza, essay question, essay plan, and a full 750-word model essay. The homework PDF is also included. It is a thorough series of two or three lessons that will take several hours to do everything.
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.
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 17-slide PowerPoint you will find a research the author challenge, comprehension questions about the poem’s basics, a comparison of both Chimney Sweep poems from innocence and experience which is necessary to understand the poem properly, a fill in the blanks summary task, homework analysis challenge (line by line questions), detailed annotations of every line in the poem, an essay question and a full model essay. This will take anything from between one and three hours to teach.
In this 27-slide PowerPoint, you will find: thought-provoking starter, quick thematic overview, each stanza accompanied by relevant picture, line-by-line questions (with answers), PDF to complete the questions at home as flipped learning if required, clear essay plan with activities, a fun storytelling activity that has students research a folktale (optional extra if you have time), line-by-line technique annotations. Plenty of activities to really explore the poem in detail.
In this 23-slide PowerPoint, you will find: starter, thought-provoking h/w questions (with answers as annotations), research the author task, vocabulary challenges (with answers), line-by-line analysis, structural questions (with answers), drama task, essay question and essay plan. A thoroughly detailed series of lessons that will most likely take 2 to 3 hours if you complete all activities. This PowerPoint can be used in class, for homework, or for revision.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
12-slide PP covering three chapters. A range of activities for these chapters and some model responses analysing the language and themes. Matching tasks and summaries galore. Please see shop for full bundle.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.