I taught English for 35 years; ran three English departments;am an A level and GCSE examiner; wrote the teacher and student support materials for OCR English Literature A level and have had books published by OUP and CUP.
I taught English for 35 years; ran three English departments;am an A level and GCSE examiner; wrote the teacher and student support materials for OCR English Literature A level and have had books published by OUP and CUP.
The whole text of Dr J&H, translated into clear, modern English for GCSE English Literature. Acclaimed by NATE review and applauded by students. Keeps all the excitement of Stevenson’s original. With detailed notes on context and theme and language for GCSE English Literature. By Frank Danes, published author of Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and GCSE English Literature examiner.
Useful resources to get beginners in English started! Used successfully with Ukrainian refugees and others in 2022-23. Pack includes: describe yourself (dialogue practice); in the cafe; in the pub; going to the dentist; supermarket vocab; history of the English language and comprehension.
Sample practice paper, written in the style of AQA English Language paper 1; the opening of Graham Greene’s “Brighton Rock” with AQA style qs. Excellent text leads to stimulating answers!
This new reading of “The Handmaid’s Tale” puts the novel into the context of feminism in the 1980s and the dystopian novel. This article is ideal for the Dystopia option of OCR English Literature A level. The article considers"The Handmaid’s Tale"'s reputation as a cult novel, as a satire of male power and Christianity and the debt it owes to Orwell’s “1984”. Attwood’s prose and structure are analysed. The author argues that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not the greatest novel of the twentieth century or the greatest dystopian novel: it is a fine novel, written in excellent prose, but it has flaws. This article will help to engage your A level students and to give them something to argue with or against. It will thus encourage them, as the A level specifications require, to engage with critical views rather than simply to read them passively. It is written by Frank Danes, who wrote many of the materials to support OCR English Literature A level on the OCR website; Danes taught English for 30 years in English secondary schools and was Head of English in three schools.
1500 words of A level notes on Heller’s great novel, by a senior A level examiner and a former Head of English. Themes, viewpoint, dramatic irony, unreliable narrator, reader’s experience, characterisation all covered. This resource can be given straight to students or used to teach from.
A diagram of THE TEMPEST’s plot, to introduce students to the play before they start studying it. Teacher goes over the story with students; students could then write out the plot as a written exercise. Successfully used with over 100 students, who find it very helpful to have the basic story of the play explained to them before they study it.
Comma splicing - using a comma instead of a full stop - drives GCSE English examiners crazy. This resource explains how to avoid comma splicing, as well as the correct use of commas and full stops. It contains simple exercises for students. Successfully used in classrooms!
Student guide to punctation of long quotations/short quotations/indenting from the margin/punctuating poetry quotations/embedded quotations. Most GCSE and A level students don’t punctuate quotations properly and it can irritate examiners. This guide shows students how to do it and therefore, how to impress the examiner!
A history of the English language for EAL learners, which attempts to explain irregular spellings, history of the English speaking peoples. With questions and a comprehension.
Lesson plans and student notes on: exam technique; themes - regicide, the natural order, witches/the supernatural; tragedy, tragic hero, free will, fate, Fortune. This is both a set of notes for your students and a series of lesson plans: take them through the notes, use them as a basis for discussion. Excellent for context and extension work for higher ability students. 17 pages, 5926 words. Used by over 300 students.
Explains the main differences between British and American spelling and vocabulary. Useful for English Language A level, AS level, GCSE and TEFL students, especially those confused by the differences between American and British English! Successfully used with EAL Chinese students in Cambridge, who said they found it very useful, interesting and helpful.
A quick and easy diagram for how to do descriptive writing for GCSE: point of view, personification, atmosphere, microscopic focus, mood and emotion, sensuous imagery. Use this resource to discuss different ways of creative writing with your students and to remind them of how they might include different forms of creative writing for GCSE and KS3. Successfully used with over 1000 students!
Everything your students will need to revise AN INSPECTOR CALLS for GCSE English Literature: how to write about context; family units; gender roles; the Conservative Party of the period; the Labour Party of the period; revision and exam technique; how to write about style (to answer the question, “How does Priestley do X Y and Z in the play?”). 8 pages, 2400 word resource.
This resource is both a sequence of lessons and detailed notes for your students. 5 pages, 1731 words. The notes go through Gerald’s every appearance in “An Inspector Calls”; characterisation, theme, context, Gerald’s relationships with other characters are all covered, as is essay technique on the play at GCSE. Page references are to the Heinemann edition.
This resource clearly explains, for A level and GCSE Literature students, the difference between verse and prose in Shakespeare: differences in form; why Shakespeare uses verse and prose at different times; iambic pentameter.
All the notes your students will need on the character of ERIC and his function in the play “An Inspector Calls”. 7 pages of notes, 2928 words take your students through Eric’s every scene in the play. Notes on characterisation, them, interaction with other characters, context, essay technique on the character and the play. This is a sequence of lessons as well as a resource: just go through the notes with your students. Page references are to the Heinemann edition.
Detailed and complete notes on Mr Birling in “An Inspector Calls”, from his first to his last appearance in the play. 6 pages, 2699 words. This is both a set of lesson plans and a set of notes for your students: use the notes to take your students through Birling’s appearance and role in the play. Covers: theme, context, relationship with other characters, how to answer an essay on Birling, key quotations. Everything your students need to know about Birling.
Detailed notes on The Inspector in “An Inspector Calls”. A lesson plan as well as a set of student notes. Useful revision. Covers: essay technique, theme, dramatic function of the Inspector, socialism/Christian socialism; is the Inspector human or supernatural? The ending of the play and its controversy.
This resource shows students how to maximise their marks in AQA Eng Lang GCSE. Comprehensive coverage of both papers by an experienced examiner and Head of English with 36 years’ teaching experience. Covers both papers; spelling, punctuation and grammar; techniques required to answer every type of question for Reading sections in both papers; how to write all types of essay - descriptive, story, non fiction; how to use your time and to maximise the marks available in the time for each question; how to write about style (“How does the author do X, Y or Z in the passage?”). As used by over 1000 students. 28 pages, 7000 words. This is both a resource for your students and a series of essay plans: take your students through the resource for a sequence of lessons. EXCELLENT for revision!
Introduce your students to the plot of the play with this diagram. Excellent for less able students: designed for teachers to explain the story of the play before students start to read and study it. Successfully used with over 100 A level students, including students for whom English is not their first language.