Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I've also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in 'A Christmas Carol.' Round 1. The characters in A Christmas Carol Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Themes, Ideas, and Objects Round 4. Places where the ghosts take Scrooge The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl.' Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS3 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - 'Context: The Holocaust' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know the purpose, audience and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension.' - 'Anne's Description - The Annex' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.' - 'Otto Frank and 'Peter van Daan' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these.' - 'Vocabulary Inspector' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries.' Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 pages in length!) I've also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This is the perfect resource for teachers looking to build students writing skills across the curriculum. Aiding students in the four key areas of their writing (Openers, Vocabulary, Connectives, and Punctuation) and also addressing a few common writing mistakes, my students now ask for this whenever they are asked to complete writing tasks, in any of their subjects. It is extremely visually engaging, and can also be used as a poster. Nothing needs to be done to this resource. It is already in A3. Simply print off and laminate. Alternatively, you can buy the Descriptive Writing Big Bundle (All descriptive devices lessons, structuring and organising writing lesson, capturing the readers attention lesson, and the literacy writing mat) for £4.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Gillian Clarke’s poem 'Lament.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; Links to Wider Reading. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

These colourful, comprehensive, and well-structured revision cards have been creatively designed for students securing their understanding of Arthur Miller’s play 'A View from the Bridge.’ Each card is visually-appealing and highly-detailed, covering aspects of each feature including a full summary, cited quotations from the play, definitions/ examples, and a consideration of audience reactions. They are tried and tested, with teachers incorporating them in revision games, using them as essay writing aids, or utilising them as home revision aids. They are provided as both PDFs (to prevent formatting issues between computers) and as Word documents (for easy editing). The revision cards included in this pack are: Characters - Eddie, Beatrice, Catherine, Rodolpho, Marco, and Alfieri. Context - Arthur Miller, Italian Immigration, Omerta; Devices - Dramatic Irony, Stage Directions, Dramatic Tension; Scenes - Alfieri’s Prologue, Chair-Lifting Scene, The Tragic Ending; Themes - Community Law, Irrationality, Masculinity. For any questions or comments, please contact TandLGuru@yahoo.co.uk - Many thanks!

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make clear, detailed and well-informed interpretations of Portia in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ In particular, students develop their contextual understanding of the role of women in Shakespeare’s time, make precise interpretations about her character using evidence from the play, and link their understanding to their knowledge of social and historical context. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: Knowledge harvesting their understanding of the role of women in Shakespeare’s era; Researching and sharing multiple aspects of life for women in Shakespeare’s era; Reading selected quotations from the play and interpreting what these reveal about Portia’s character; Linking their knowledge of Portia’s character to their understanding of historical context; Peer assessing each others learning attempts; Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Researching context worksheet; Essay template Comprehensive lesson plan. Resources are provided in PDF (to maintain formatting), Word (so that they are easily editable) and also in zipfiles. The lesson contains opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 10 and 11 classes, however colleagues have used them for between year 9 and year 13 with some adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson helps students to infer and deduce the hidden meanings in the introduction section of Darren Shan’s ‘Cirque Du Freak.’ Students act as ‘Text Detectives’ reading between the lines to find out deeper meanings in the introduction, using this information to make predictions about what may happen in the text. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Understanding why individual subject content was chosen for the introduction (e.g. the fear that spiders can arouse in many people); - Reading the introduction, and answering comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding; - Functioning as ‘Text Detectives’, inferring and deducing the hidden meanings about narrator and plot that are provided within the introduction; - Using inferences from textual evidence to make insightful and evidence-based predictions about the story; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts; Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Newspaper Article - ‘The shape of fear - why spiders scare us so much;’ - Extract from ‘Cirque Du Freak’ - The Introduction; - Text Detectives worksheet (and teacher model answer sheet); - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 7 and 8 classes, however colleagues have used them for between years 4 and 9 with minimal adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

These colourful, comprehensive, and well-structured revision cards have been creatively designed for students securing their understanding of William Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Each card is visually-appealing and highly-detailed, covering aspects of each feature including a full summary, cited quotations from the play, definitions/ examples, and a consideration of audience reactions. They are tried and tested, with teachers incorporating them in revision games, using them as essay writing aids, or utilising them as home revision aids. They are provided as both PDFs (to prevent formatting issues between computers) and as Word documents (for easy editing). The revision cards included in this pack are: Characters - Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Friar Laurence, The Nurse, Tybalt; Context - William Shakespeare, Patriarchal Society, Religion; Devices - Dramatic Irony, Soliloquies, Dramatic Tension; Scenes - Act 1 Scene 5 (The Masquerade Ball Scene), Act 2 Scene 2 (Juliet’s Window Scene), Act 3 Scene 1 (The Death of Mercutio/ Tybalt Fight Scene); Themes - Love, Hatred, Fate and Free Will. For any questions or comments, please contact TandLGuru@yahoo.co.uk - Many thanks!

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of John Agard’s conflict poem 'Flag.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Christina Rossetti’s conflict poem 'Cousin Kate.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Line-by-Line Analysis; Poetic Devices/ Language Devices; Themes; Form/Structure; Poems for Comparison; The Poet’s Influences. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Chapter by Chapter Summary (with quotes); Main Characters; Themes; Features of Structure; Bronte’s Literary Devices. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make sustained and developed links between Dickens’ Great Expectations and its social and historical context. In particular, students learn about the contrasts between the lives of the rich and poor in Victorian society, crime and the justice system, and the implications of an underdeveloped healthcare system. They then link this understanding to what they read in the opening of the novel. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Understanding key information about Charles Dickens, his life, and influences; - Researching and sharing key contextual understanding about the rich, poor, healthcare, crime and the justice system in the 19th Century; - Reading extracts from the opening of ‘Great Expectations’ and identifying evidence of contextual influences; - Analysing how Dickens presents his views about the cruelty of 19th Century life through the opening of the text; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extract - Opening of Great Expectations; - Template for researching 19th Century life (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. All documents are attached as Word and PDF in case formatting differs on your computer. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for students learning or revising Michael Morpugo’s ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom.’ It contains comprehensive sections on: Context; Chapter by Chapter Summary (with quotes); Main Characters; Themes; Morpurgo’s Language Devices; Influences on the Writer. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included).

This interesting and highly-stimulating lesson enables students to gain a clear understanding of the key meanings in the Greek Myth ‘Pandora’s Box.’ Through engagement with the story, students learn to interpret and infer the key elements of plot in texts, comment upon the writer’s purposes and messages in texts, challenging and building upon their ideas, and apply the key messages to other contexts. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Understand the phrase ‘opening Pandora’s Box’ and apply it to modern contexts; - Read the story ‘Pandora’s Box’ and interpret the key meanings; - Summarise the key events of the story through a storyboard; - Identify, explain, and analyse the writer’s key messages in ‘Pandora’s Box;’ - Engage deeply with the text by challenging and building upon the ideas/messages raised by the writer;’ - Test their understanding of the story by creating their own recreations; - Peer assess each other’s learning attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Paper copies and online links to a copy of Pandora’s Box; - Pandora’s Box Storyboard; - The Writer’s Message Worksheet; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

Based on the popular game show ‘Pointless,’ this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I’ve also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in ‘Blood Brothers.’ Round 1. The characters in Blood Brothers Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in Blood Brothers The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!