I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
This one-hour lesson is designed to guide students through Lady Macbeth’s persuasive techniques in Act 1, Scene 7, focusing on how she manipulates Macbeth to commit murder. Ideal for key stage 3 or key stage 4 classes studying Macbeth, this resource is tailored towards developing students language and literature skills and providing them with a range of practice opportunities.
What’s included:
Complete PowerPoint with step-by-step teacher instructions—ready to download and teach.
Ready-to-print worksheet for students to label and explain Lady Macbeth’s use of persuasive techniques.
Learning Objective:
Students will analyse how Lady Macbeth persuades and manipulates Macbeth using powerful rhetorical techniques.
Learning Outcomes:
Identify the persuasive strategies Lady Macbeth uses.
Practice applying these techniques in both analysis and through writing your own examples.
Write an analytical paragraph exploring the effects of her language.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now Activity: Persuade the teacher for extra game time.
Starter: Introduction to key persuasive techniques.
Activity 1: Annotate the worksheet, labeling persuasive methods and explaining their effects.
Activity 2: Write an analytical paragraph answering, “How does Lady Macbeth manipulate Macbeth?”
Peer Assessment to evaluate analytical writing.
Activity 3: Write a persuasive letter using Lady Macbeth’s rhetorical techniques.
Plenary: Reflect on the power dynamics between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
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An hour long engaging lesson in which students are introduced to the main characters and themes in Macbeth. Through individual and group work, students will practise reading skills - in particular comprehension, inference and summarising - and collaborate with each other to share information that they have gleaned from profiles about the key characters in the play.
Students will also be shown images representing Macbeth and prompted to infer themes they think will be evident in the play.
Learning Objective: Get to know the main characters and themes in Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Find and highlight key information about your character in the play.
Re-write information about your character and share it with others in your own words.
Question others about their characters and make connections between different characters.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share question about ambition
Starter: Students look at five images representing Macbeth and infer themes from them.
Activity one: Students are assigned a character from Macbeth. They read the information sheet and take bullet points notes in their graphic organiser.
Activity two: Students circulate around the room swapping facts until they have completed all five character profiles.
Plenary: Mini quiz based on the characters in the lesson.
This lesson contains a 16-slide PowerPoint and five printable character profiles.
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A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Siobhan in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher and printing instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
A fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the character of Jessica in act 2 scene 3 of The Merchant of Venice . Students will complete a guided annotation and then consider different ways of staging the scene to make Jessica appear more or less sympathetic.
Learning Objective: Explore Jessica’s Character in Act 2.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will read a summary of act 2 scenes 1 and 2.
Students will read act 2 scene 3 and be guided through annotation of the scene before participating in a class discussion.
Students will consider different ways of staging the scene to make Jessica more or less sympathetic to the audience.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Summarise act 1 in five sentences and then five words.
Starter: As a class, read a summary of Act 2 Scenes 1 & 2. Then as a class, read Act 2 Scene 3. Students then answer questions and share in a class discussion.
Activity 1: Guided annotation of scene.
Activity 2: Stage the scene with Jessica portraying different emotions to make her sympathetic to the audience.
Plenary: Personal response – to what extent is Jessica a victim?
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
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This one-hour lesson focuses on how Shakespeare uses the Porter’s scene to build tension in Act 2, Scene 3 of Macbeth. Perfect for engaging students in critical analysis, this lesson explores dramatic irony, pathetic fallacy, and comic relief to enhance their understanding of how Shakespeare builds tension.
This resource includes:
A ready-to-teach PowerPoint with full instructions.
A worksheet to guide reflection on tension in the scene.
Learning Objective: Analyse how Shakespeare uses structure to build tension in Act 2 Scene 3.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will read Act 2 Scene 3 and analyse the use of tension-building techniques in the scene such as dramatic irony, pathetic fallacy and comic relief.
Students will independently choose quotes from the scene that use the techniques.
Students will consider where else they have seen the use of these tension-building techniques.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Read these quotes on use of tension and laughter and infer what we will be studying today.
Starter: Watch the short video and discuss the techniques used by Shakespeare to build tension.
Activity 1: Read act 2 scene 3 and discuss the questions.
Activity 2: Worksheet reflection on class discussion and peer assessment.
Plenary: Can you think of an example of pathetic fallacy, dramatic irony or comic relief from another book or movie you’ve enjoyed?
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An engaging hour-long lesson which introduces students to the main characters and themes in The Merchant of Venice before studying the play. This is aimed at students in Key Stages 3 and 4.
This resource includes:
A full Powerpoint including all teacher instructions (including printing instructions)
A graphic organiser for students to record their notes.
5 detailed character profiles: Antonio, Bassanio, Shylock, Jessica and Portia.
Learning Objective: Understand the main themes and characters in The Merchant of Venice.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will consider the title and posters of the play to mind-map themes.
Students will work in groups to use an example summary and success criteria to write their own summary of a character from the play.
Students will share features of their character with other students in the class.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Mind-map your ideas about the play based on the title.
Starter: Look at these covers and posters; add your ideas you have about themes and ideas in the play to your mind-map. Think-pair-share ideas with the class.
Activity 1: Modelling of an effective summary. Students read character profiles in groups and write a summary.
Activity 2: Students circulate, share information and write down notes about the other characters.
Plenary: Character quiz.
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
This is an engaging and fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the characters of the witches and some of the key themes in Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare.
This resource includes a full PowerPoint including all teacher instructions that is ready to download and teach straight away. Students will consider pathetic fallacy and the paradox of ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’.
Students will work in groups to complete an engaging worksheet and then will work individually to write an analysis paragraph (which is scaffolded with an example paragraph included).
Students will also have the opportunity to stage the opening scene and consider how they could increase the fear for the audience.
Lesson Objective: Analyse how Shakespeare creates fear at the start of Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand how the opening scene introduces some important themes in Macbeth.
Evaluate Shakespeare’s use of literary devices.
Distinguish between the reactions of a Shakespearean audience and a modern audience.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Questions for students to consider how a Shakespearean audience would have reacted to the witches.
Starter: Think – Pair – Share about witches in Shakespeare’s time.
Activity 1: Read act 1 scene 1 and students complete worksheet to identify language techniques with answers provided.
Activity 2: Students write an analytical paragraph to answer the question ‘how did Shakespeare create fear for a Shakespearean audience?’ They will see a modelled paragraph first and peer assess afterwards.
Activity 3: In groups of 3, consider how they would stage and direct the scene to really terrify a Shakespearean audience.
Plenary: How would a modern audience react differently to the opening of Macbeth? Do you think it is still as scary even though the belief in witchcraft isn’t as widespread?
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A comprehensive and engaging one hour lesson to help students to improve their group discussion skills. This lesson looks at two short examples of discussions and asks students to explicitly label what techniques are being used and how the chairperson is moving the discussion forward. The lesson ends with students completing a short discussion on the topic of ‘which subject should be removed from the timetable?’ They then self-reflect upon this using the success criteria that they created earlier.
This could be used with key stages 3 or 4 to introduce group discussion skills or to revise them.
11 slides in total plus a worksheet.
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A detailed one hour lesson to support students to write their strongest answers in the IGCSE exam for Edexcel English Literature 4ET1 on the question on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) .
This lesson gives students a clear five step technique for approaching the exam in order to maximise their own critical engagement and language analysis skills. This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher and printing instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
This one-hour lesson focuses on independent analysis of Macbeth or Lady Macbeth using the STEAL framework (Speech, Thoughts, Effect on others, Actions, Looks). Perfect for students studying Act 2, Scene 2, this lesson promotes deep understanding through a structured approach to character analysis.
This resource includes:
A fully editable PowerPoint with step-by-step teacher instructions, ready for immediate download and use.
Learning Objective: Complete STEAL analysis on Macbeth or Lady Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will read and summarise Act 2 Scene 2.
Students will answer questions to check their understanding and inference of the scene.
Students will use the STEAL framework to analyse either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth in detail.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: How would you describe the end of act 2 scene 1? How would the audience be feeling?
Starter: Read act 2 scene 2 and discuss questions
Activity 1: Independent STEAL analysis of either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth
Activity 2: Carousel to peer assess each other’s work
Plenary: What did you learn about the characters from your analysis?
For more Macbeth resources, check out our Macbeth Bundle (some freebies in there too).
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A detailed one hour lesson to support students to explore the theme of curiosity and investigation as preparation for the IGCSE exam for Edexcel English Literature 4ET1 on the question on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) .
This lesson explores the term ‘marking the moment’, and also prompts students to consider how the play has conventions of both a murder mystery and an anti-murder mystery.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
This dynamic one-hour lesson is designed to engage students in understanding how Macbeth is introduced as both a violent and loyal character. Perfect for exploring themes and character development, this lesson encourages students to think critically and creatively and prepares students to analyse how Macbeth changes later in the play.
What’s Included:
A complete PowerPoint with ready-to-use teacher instructions, allowing you to download and teach immediately.
Interactive activities where students will order the events of the battle and craft a compelling news war report based on the scene.
Ideal for:
Enhancing comprehension of Macbeth’s character and motivations.
Encouraging students to connect with the text through creative writing and discussion.
Lesson Objective: Write a news report about the battle in Act 1 Scene 2.
Learning Outcomes:
Read the scene multiple times to decipher the orders of events in battle.
Infer details about Macbeth’s character.
Add imaginative details to create a news report about the battle in this scene.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share What are the key features of a news war report?
Starter: Reading focus – as you read the scene as a class, students write down quotes that describe Macbeth’s character followed by an activity to list adjectives that describe him.
Activity 1: Re-read the scene in pairs and put the events in the correct order.
Activity 2: Students discuss features of a news report and then write their own based on Act 1 Scene 2.
Plenary: What are your predictions about Macbeth now that you know more about his as a character?
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A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson helps students to think about how Christopher is presented at the start of the play and how he changes as a character by the end of the play.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
Fully resourced and ready-to-teach 1 hour lesson which introduces students to sibilance and encourages them to question why writers use it and what its effect is. Students then write a poem using sibilance.
This lesson is aimed at KS3 and would be suitable for an introduction to poetry unit - but it could easily be adapted to younger or older students.
This lesson includes:
Differentiated learning outcomes
An extract from Harry Potter for students to discuss the use of sibilance
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An interactive advent calendar for use in English lessons or as literacy activities in form time. Each day links to a new literacy or English activity such as descriptive writing, comprehension questions, games or critical thinking exercises.
These work especially well as 10 minute starters for the beginning of your lessons.
Happy Christmas!
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A detailed lesson/series of lessons which show students how to reach the top band of the mark scheme for AO5 when evaluating critic quotes for King Lear.
This includes:
A 25 slide PPT including the lesson overview and printing instructions
A worksheet for students to fill in when practising AO5
A model answer
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A detailed fully-resourced and ready to teach one hour lesson that supports students to analyse World War 1 propaganda posters using AFOREST devices and direct address.
After analysing posters as a class and in groups, students then create their own posters using AFOREST devices and direct address.
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A thorough revision quiz that covers all 30 of the Gillian Clark poems on the CIE AS level English Literature syllabus (9695).
This takes between one and two hours to complete. Round one asks students to identify the poem and the poetic techniques used in quotes from the poems. Round two asks them to identify poems with specific themes.
Poems covered:
Advent
Apples
Baby-sitting
Blaen Cwrt
Burning Nettles
Catrin
Climbing Cader Idris
Cold Knap Lake
Death of a Cat
Death of a Young Woman
February
Hare in July
Hearthstone
Icthyosaur
Journey
Lunchtime Lecture
Miracle on St David’s Day
My Box
Neighbours
Pipistrelle
Post Script
Ram
Scything
Seal
Stealing Peas
Sunday (‘From the mahogany…’)
Sunday (‘Getting up early…’)
The Lighthouse
Times Like These
White Roses
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A full paper 1 for CIE 0500 IGCSE English Language. This resource includes a full practice paper for Language paper 1 with three texts, answers/marking guide and references.
All the questions and answer scheme have been based on the Cambridge IGCSE First Language English 0500 syllabus and the questions have been worded so that they are similar/identical to the specification paper.
The resource is included as a pdf for easy printing or as a word doc in case you wish to edit it.
This has been updated according to the 2024 change of specification.
Freebies:
A free lesson giving an overview of CIE 0500 Language Paper One here.
A free lesson giving an overview of CIE 0500 Language Paper Two here.
Free marking templates for CIE 0500 here.
If you find this lesson helpful, have a look at my CIE 0500 Language Paper 1 bundle here or the Language Paper 2 bundle here. If you’re interested in both, there is a combined bundle here which is cheaper than buying them separately.
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A fun and addictive ‘Of Mice and Men’ revision tool that lasts 20-40 minutes to help students revise themes and quotes. The game ends differently each time, so this can be played multiple times to support students in revising the themes and ideas in Of Mice and Men.
Students play as either George, Lennie, Candy or Curley and the aim is to achieve their dream. They play through 40 event cards, which will give them plus or minus DPs (dream points). If they can achieve positive DPs by the end of the game then they achieve their dream. If they don’t then they are doomed to a migrant worker life of working for other people.
This game helps students to revise key events in the book, important quotes and presses them to consider the challenges that characters face to achieve their dreams. Reflection questions for students are included.
It is a print and play game. It is quick and easy to cut out. I would suggest laminating for quick further use, however this is not required. The only additional materials you will need are one die per game and scrap paper for students to keep track of their scores.
Included:
How to play card
Character profiles sheet
Event cards
Reflection questions
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I have a whole range of Of Mice and Men revision resources available in the shop and a range of revision videos on my YouTube channel (this is linked to in my shop).