This very focused PPT takes an extract from Bleak House to show you 7 secrets of Dickens' description, including how to use contrast, why metaphor and personification trump metaphor, the power of listing and the subtlety of alliterative sound and rhythm. When we look at marking criteria we tend to befuddle the students with lists of descriptive techniques. Notice that listing, rhythm and contrast probably don't make it onto most teachers' lists, but these are the most powerful ways of improving their description. The kind of all writing techniques, or indeed the queen, is the use of the right verb. Dickens masters that too. The resource will also be linked to a video you can use to teach this, or plan your teaching from. Also included is the extract from Bleak House in Word.

What this Resource Includes 6 A4 pages: 7 steps: just tell me what to do to get 100% Sample question Sample Text Model answer Explanation of the mark scheme 4 Common mistakes which students make 4 great jokes

This resource includes: Timing of Questions Paper 1 Exam Tactics Timing of Questions paper 2 Explanation of Grade 8: Critical reading and comprehension Reading skills checklist for papers 1 and 2 Grade 8 Writing Skills Papers 1 and 2 How the Grades 8 and 9 are Calculated 8 Reasons not to read the exam paper first, before you start answering questions The importance of handwriting The importance of spelling The marking tolerance per question, which shows why spelling and handwriting are so important

This is a comprehensive resource to teach your students how to get 100% in all aspects of the question. It teaches 11 different skills for the question: 1.Highlight the key words in the question which tell you what to look for 2.Highlight the margin of the part of the text you are told to look at 3.Find quotations as you read 4.Name a descriptive or narrative technique for each quotation you use (These will always be about imagery – simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration – and then perhaps onomatopoeia, sibilance, synesthesia, assonance, pathetic fallacy) 5.Refer to individual words in the quotation 6.Name their parts of speech – verb, adverb, noun, adjective 7.Find a long complex sentence, especially one with listed descriptions 8.Comment on the effect of contrast or juxtaposition, which will be in any description 9.Relate these quotations to the writer’s purpose, to discuss their effects 10.Use tentative language, like ‘perhaps’ to suggest your interpretation of the effect or purpose 11.Do not write in PEE paragraphs, but sentences which include embedded quotations It contains several models of how to write about complex sentences, with several practice paragraphs from Kipling, Conrad and Dickens for your students to practise on. It shows students how to model their own writing on that of other writers, using Brighton Rock. Students get to see why knowing parts of speech is so important to developing their own skills as writers. This then makes the job of writing about the effect of language features so much more easy and explicit for them. If you want to try without buying, all the PowerPoint is covered in a video at Mr Salles Teaches English, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/Question2Paper1 This PowerPoint is taken directly from The Mr Salles Guide to 100% in AQA English Language GCSE, which you can sample here: http://amzn.to/2phxxaS

Students struggle to create interesting plots and characters. This story and presentation shows students how to use a celebrity they know a bit about, and choose a moment of crisis in their lives. Yes, it covers all the usual techniques we all teach: alliteration, simile, metaphor, the senses, etc. But it also pays particular attention to: Repetition Allusion Powerful Verbs Contrast. Overdoing some techniques Minimising adjective and adverb use Showing the character's state of mind. Each paragraph has 3 explicit teaching points. You get two copies of the story - one as a Word document for you to customise or read. The other, in Word, to teach each of three explicit points for each paragraph.

There are 59 ppt slides giving historical context, quotation and interpretation to five key purposes Stevenson may have had in the novella: 1. to tap into the Victoria psyche and fascination with crime and violence 2. to expose the hypocrisy of the middle classes, who he sees as morally corrupt 3. to question the role of God and Christianity 4. to examine the possibility that we are all, at root, simply animals, without a soul. 5. to suggest the homosexuality should not be a crime. Students who understand all of these will almost inevitably be able to access grades 7 and above. You can also find accompanying videos for each of these viewpoints on my YouTube channel, Mr Salles Teaches English, to accompany the slides.

What This Resource Includes 15 Steps: Just tell me what to do The mark scheme Sample question Examiner’s Advice 10 ways to think about structure How to write about the structure of an ending Extract of the ending of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens How to work out Dickens’ purposes as a writer Sample Question Sample Answer Text based on Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene Understanding the context of historical texts Sample text: The Doll’s House, by Damon Runyon How to analyse the structure of each of the 10 paragraphs of The Doll’s House Model Answer getting 100% Model Answer rewritten to 300 words, and still getting 100% 12 things to learn from the model answer How to edit your answer to improve your writing, using far fewer words 7 techniques to reduce your word count 10 great jokes

AO1: The Ability to Quote and Explore Interpretations, Including Personal Response The presentation takes students through these four skills: Begin with the author’s purpose Link the author’s purpose to symbolism Refer to the characters as a construct Propose an alternative interpretation Watch my video to see how to teach it.

This story is written to model exactly what students should do to write a story that they can finish within 40 minutes, which is roughly the amount of writing time they get at GCSE. There are no published stories of around 500 words, so I have begun to write my own. Writing one on a real character takes away the fear of planning - students already know how the story starts. There are three copies of the story: 1. Without any annotation 2. With a key to the annotations which teach a range of skills many English teachers ignore: a. The Power of Verbs b. How to introduce the character in an interesting way c How to use humour, not jokes d How to build tension using contrast and juxtaposition e How dialogue must reveal character before plot f The power of repetition and rule of three, or triplets, in building a rhythm h Paragraphing for impact 3. With a key to the annotations which teach the more conventional story writing skills: a. Metaphor b. Similes c. Personification d. Alliteration e. Assonance, Half Rhyme and Hidden Alliteration Finally, you also get a completely free video on how to teach this at: http://bit.ly/WriteAboutARealCharacter The PowerPoint slides which teach this lesson, and which I use in the video are available as a separate resource.

This comprehensive analysis of all 5 questions breaks down AQA Paper 2 into a series of very clear do's and don'ts that students and teachers can easily follow. Examples accompany the advice. The PowerPoint slides are all linked to videos on my YouTube channel, Mr Salles Teaches English, so it is much easier to see how to apply the advice.

This resource includes a sample text, with a key for difficult vocabulary. It has a sample question and answers. It dovetails with the specimin paper you may have used as a mock, with different questions. The best way to use this is as part of the bundle on Paper 2, Questions 1-4! Here is the beginning. Question 1 Remember, you will get a 20th or 21st century text to go with your 19th century text in the exam. However, for copyright reasons, I will avoid a modern text. This does have the added benefit for you of getting familiar with the kind of convoluted sentences older texts use, so that you will be better prepared for the exam. Here is an example of a text from Dickens that is used in the specimen papers: Greenwich Fair: Where Dickens let his hair down Charles Dickens is writing in 1839 about a fair in London which was a popular annual event he enjoyed. The road to Greenwich during the whole of Easter Monday is in a state of perpetual bustle and noise. Cabs, hackney-coaches1, ‘shay’ carts2, coal-waggons, stages, omnibuses3, donkey- chaises2 - all crammed with people, roll along at their utmost speed. The dust flies in clouds, ginger-beer corks go off in volleys, the balcony of every public-house is crowded with people smoking and drinking, half the private houses are turned into tea-shops, fiddles are in great request, every little fruit-shop displays its stall of gilt gingerbread and penny toys; horses won’t go on, and wheels will come off. Ladies scream with fright at every fresh concussion and servants, who have got a holiday for the day, make the most of their time. Everybody is anxious to get on and to be at the fair, or in the park, as soon as possible. The chief place of resort in the daytime, after the public-houses, is the park, in which the principal amusement is to drag young ladies up the steep hill which leads to the Observatory4, and then drag them down again at the very top of their speed, greatly to the derangement of their curls and bonnet-caps, and much to the edification of lookers-on from below. ‘Kiss in the Ring5,’ and ‘Threading my Grandmother’s Needle5,’ too, are sports which receive their full share of patronage.

16 pages of incredible detail made relevant to the play. Obviously, socialism and capitalism are defined. But it includes some amazing parallels between the 1940s and the present day, where the figures for the richest and poorest in society are nearly identical. Explore the extraordinary similarity between the Inspector’s words, and those of the Labour party manifesto of 1945. See how the great unrest, including strikes and killing of workers influened Priestley and his play. Discover the literary tradition Priestley’s play was responding to, and the impulse not to write about WW1. Find out why Priestley chose the cotton mills as his manufacturing business, and why this was so important in 1945. All these facts are explicitly matched to the play, so students can see how to use them in their essays.

AQA likes to test the novel by asking students to compare Pip to another character. This is my top tip for 2018. Students often struggle to find interesting comparisons and fail to write about Dickens’ purpose. This resource introduces four big ideas which will allow your students to write confidently about Dickens’ purpose. It also provides 20 ideas and 20 quotations for them to use in their essay. Most quotations, as you can see, are detailed, so that you can give your students practice in selecting judiciously, and so that they learn to embed quotations in their sentences. Below is a sample of the first 4 ideas:

What does the examiner’s report teach us about getting top grades when answering questions on Macbeth? Show students how to consider alternative interpretations. How themes and characters develop over time in the play. How to link context to each interpretation, so that it scores highly, and doesn’t just get added in as an irrelevant paragraph. How to come up with interpretations which go beyond what most students will write. The danger of getting subject terminology, and why naming words as parts of speech is likely to lead to lower grades, and will probably preclude a grade 8 or 9. Consider how Macbeth might actually have a deep love for his wife. Or how Macduff deliberately sacrifices his family. Or how Banquo needs Macbeth to become a tyrant king in order to fulfil the prophecy of Fleance’s kingship Or how the supernatural element might not just pander to King James, but actually undermine his belief in the power of witchcraft. The attached video will also teach you this in much more depth, so that you can share it with your students.

This presentation will help you teach the poet’s tone and point of view. It outlines the historical context and the political nature of the poem. It helps you teach the allusions to Macbeth, Ozymandias, Hamlet, and Dulce et Decorum Est, as well as looking at the imagery. Finally, it helps you analyse the poem’s structure and link this to Armitage’s purpose. The accompanying video gives you an indepth instruction on how to link your teaching to the slides.

Mrs Birling as you’ve never thought of her before. This is an analysis which goes much deeper than you would expect. Here is a sample to show you what I mean: But What if Mrs Birling is Right? However, a counter argument to that is how Priestley reveals Eric’s exploitation of Eva last, as though to emphasise that his actions were worse. There is also a further counter argument. Eva could actually have accepted the stolen money. She could actually have accepted Eric’s offer of marriage. And she certainly did tell the charity and Mrs Birling a number of lies: • That she was called Mrs Birling. • That she was married. • That her husband had “deserted her”. So, in terms of the facts, she is quite right to say “The girl had begun by telling us a pack of lies.” When Eva tells her that she wouldn’t take stolen money, Sybil’s reaction “all a lot of nonsense – I didn’t believe a word of it” is not just snobbery. It is also a logical doubt to have given the lies which preceded it. Another psychological problem for Mrs Birling to accept is that Eva would rather commit suicide than take the stolen money, or marry Eric, even though she describes him as “he didn’t belong to her class, and was some drunken young idler”.

What if you could teach your students 3 key skills which would make their essays worth grades 7-9? What if you could show your students 7 mistakes students make, which reduce their marks? And then, what would happen if your students learned to correct those mistakes? Then they would get grades 7, 8 and 9. A poll of over 600 students on my YouTube channel shows that 79% of students think my resources earned them at least one extra grade, and 38% think that they went up by at least two grades. You can find the video which teaches this presentation on Mr Salles Teaches English so that your students can also dramatically improve their grade.

What this resource includes: Mnemonic to remember rhetorical, persuasive techniques: MAD FATHERS CROCH How to plan an answer 9 skills necessary in a top answer The mark scheme explained Model answer Model answer, annotated and explained Why exam topics will never be interesting Sample topics and question Here is the beginning of the sample text: Model Answer So you want to get rid of school uniform. Perhaps Daddy and Mummy are rich, rich, rich and you want to show us all your designer gear, parading an endless range of just-off-the-shelf splendour and fashion to make your friends praise you and your rivals sick with envy. Direct address, emotive language, anecdote, rule of three, contrasting pairs, metaphor. Creating an enemy. Or perhaps you love lounging about at home in your sportswear, festooned with the right labels, hats and trainers still with their price tags proudly displayed, a sea of pristine white, kept shop-display neat. Repetition, alliteration, anecdote, emotive language, metaphor. Creating an enemy. Or perhaps you have other tribes: you are a Goth, an Emo, you’re indie, a hipster, you’re a dude, a dudette, a geek, a gangsta, or some other made up group you’re so desperate to belong to in your teenage years before adult life ‘ruins’ it all. Hyperbole, repetition, direct address, rule of three, emotive language, metaphor, alliteration. The opening three paragraphs create an enemy through humour.