Line by line explanation/close analysis of THE FLEA by John Donne. For lower to high grade A level candidates. Includes questions and historical background. Successfully used with students, who found it very useful.

This resource answers students’ question, “Why does Shakespeare write in poetry? It’s not realistic.” It enables students to understand verse, prose, iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets within and at the ends of scenes. Excellent material for “How does Shakespeare write?”, context questions and historical context.

The lovers’ first meeting is packed with difficult Christian concepts and witty language. R&J’s lines are carefully broken down for students and explained. There is also a bonus exercise in the style of the WJEC context question. A very helpful resource for students who struggle with Shakespeare’s language and the Christian context of the play. Different ways of playing the scene are also explained.

A line by line analysis of TO HIS COY MISTRESS, with questions and notes on historical background. For candidates of all ability at A level and GCSE English Literature. Used successfully with students, who said it was very helpful and useful!

An easy-to-remember guide to LITERARY TERMS for GCSE and A level. Features a 3 word mnemonic which allows students to remember the terms and use them properly. Successfully used by my students for over twenty years for A level and GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language. Helps students gain marks for the correct use of technical terms.

Top tips for students from an AQA GCSE Eng Lit examiner and a former Head of English with 36 years of teaching experience: how to maximise your marks in the Eng Lit AQA GCSE. A guide for students and a series of lessons. How to: plan; stick to the timings; use quotations; write about context; write a paragraph; satisfy the AOs; detailed breakdowns of how to answer each question - prose, poetry, unseen poetry, plays; how to write about style (“How is it written?”); how to punctuate quotations. This is both a set of notes for your students and a set of lesson plans: take your students through these notes to create a series of lessons; excellent for revision! Used by over 1000 students in different schools. 27 pages, 8000 words.

Sample AQA style practice paper for Section A, English Language paper 1; the opening of Orwell’s 1984 with AQA style qs. Excellent text leads to stimulating answers!

8 pages, 2447 words. Everything your students need to revise “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”: CONTEXT - novels, short stories and novellas defined; shilling shockers and penny dreadfuls; gothic fiction; character of Mr Utterson; Soho; appearance and reality; Science, Darwin, evolution and devolution; recommendation of translation of the text into modern English, available from this author.

For beginner/intermediate ESOL learners: real life situation. Funny and lively lesson with dialogue and vocab learning. Used very successfully in class.

Media/film/ English: DOCTOR WHO - adaptable SOW for different ages. Compare two episodes from 1963 and 2005; history of show and British tv; why is DOCTOR WHO important as a media phenomenon? History of British television and how the programme slots into it (BBC 100 this year); case study 1 - “Rose”, episode one of revised show 2005 compare with original episode 1 from 1963, “An Unearthly Child”. Students analyse each episode and prepare and give presentations on each episode AND a comparison between them. 17 pages / 5000 words of material for your students. VERY ADAPTABLE for KS3 and TEFL students. Successfully used with TEFL and year seven students!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Essential notes for students: can be used for independent study or as a lesson. Themes include: New York society; gossip; sexuality; marriage; duty/passion; old vs new money; adultery. These notes also cover the major characters; influences on Wharton, e.g. Austen and Henry James; the novel’s place in American Literature; the ironic, multiple meanings of the title. Students can cite these ideas for AO5, other interpretations. Over 3000 words of essential critical study on this novel. Frank Danes, the author, is an experienced A level examiner, former Head of English and published author of many guides to A level texts.