In which Jonathan Harker attempts to leave Dracula’s castle but cannot… This worksheet has the excerpt from chapter 4 of Stoker’s novel together with ten questions which are intended to elicit close reading and thinking. The questions focus on inference, the writer’s methods and their effect and on vocabulary. Useful for homework or to set as cover. The questions could also be used to structure a guided reading session. Handy as part of a unit on gothic horror.

Created as a homework task as part of a unit on gothic horror, this would also work as a cover activity. It uses a short extract from “The Mysteries of Udolpho” by Ann Radcliffe and there are 8 questions, most requiring a more extended answer, focusing on analysis. Useful for honing the reading skills that will be tested at GCSE and for exploring a less common text from the genre of gothic horror.

Created for a year 8 class but suitable at the top of KS2 as well as KS3, this lesson uses the poem “Leisure” by William Henry Davies and asks the pupils to update the poem for their own context. Prior to that, however, the pupils are asked to explore and comment on the effect of the long vowel sounds and the simile used in the poem, being able to explain what is Davies’ message in the poem. My own class worked in pairs to create their own poems and I was genuinely impressed by many of the outcomes! They seemed to find that matching their ideas to Davies’ structure worked as a scaffold.

Planned for my year 9 class as part of a unit of work on Journeys, introducing the skills and tasks of English GCSE, I have also used this with a year 10 group as we begin to tackle the unseen poetry question for English Literature. It uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 50 and is an opportunity to explore the sonnet form as well as the poet’s use of language and structural features.

A 14-slide powerpoint, taking the students through the Inspector’s final speech with a focus on the features of language and structure used in the speech and an analysis of their effects. Planned for my mixed-ability year ten class, this lesson does emphasise that the Inspector is a vehicle for Priestley’s ideas and messages in the play.

Useful for a homework task or for cover, this uses the description from “Dracula” where Jonathan Harker is being driven through the Transylvanian darkness to Dracula’s castle. The questions are divided into four sections: vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and the effect of the writer’s methods. This worksheet could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a straightforward worksheet. It uses the narrative poem, “The Farmer’s Wife” and there are questions alongside each verse. These questions could be given to pupils for independent work or alternatively could be used to structure a guided reading session. Planned for a year 7 class as part of their distance learning - but might be of use for year 6.

The aim of this lesson is to explore the methods Shakespeare uses to present the character of Egeus. The lesson begins with a brief prose overview of the start of of the play and then the lesson moves to focus on Egeus’s speech to Theseus. The lesson uses questioning and asks the pupils to annotate their copy of the speech as well as zooming right in on a specific quotation and exploding it (again, through prompt questioning). There is a homework - a 10-question multiple-choice quiz intended to consolidate some of the learning from the lesson.

A straightforward lesson exploring Sassoon’s poem, “The Kiss” with questioning used to discuss the effect of the personification of bullet and bayonet. There are 8 close reading and response questions on slide 15. These could be used to structure a discussion or set for independent work. The lesson culminates with a task asking the students to draw inferences about the nature of the speaker in the poem, writing in role as a senior officer. Planned for year 9 but could be suitable to explore unseen poetry at KS4.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity using an abridged text from Dickens’ story “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain”. There are 8 questions. This could be set for homework or used as cover. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a simple and straightforward powerpoint created for cover but also useful for homework - or could be taught as a lesson or used to structure guided reading and writing. There are three slides. The first focuses on writing to describe, the second is a simple comprehension activity and the third is an opportunity for more extended creative writing. The intention was for the ppt to be displayed, reducing the need for photocopying, but the slides are easily editable if handouts are required.

Originally planned for KS3 students as part of a reading unit on the natural world, this could be used with much less confident readers at KS4, perhaps as part of a catch-up or intervention series. The text used is from “Nature Near London” (1905 so public domain) by Richard Jefferies. Alongside the short excerpt are some questions which can be used to diagnose gaps in reading skills and comprehension.

This quiz was created as a revision resource for less confident readers in year 11. However, it could also be used at KS3 or with a GCSE resit class. The quiz could be used for homework or independent revision. Alternatively, the questions could form the basis for a guided reading session or the quiz could be used in a flipped learning context to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding so that subsequent teaching can be more precisely focused. Answers are provided.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity using an excerpt from the story of “Bluebeard” by Charles Perrault. Useful for cover or for guided reading. Could be an addition to a unit on fairy tales.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity using an excerpt from James Baldwin’s “Old Greek Stories” (public domain). There are ten questions. This could be used as a homework task, a reading assessment or for cover. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session. Suggested answers are provided. Originally created for a year 7 class but might also be useful at KS2.

This is a very straightforward powerpoint using John Drinkwater’s public domain poem, “Moonlit Apples”. The powerpoint takes the students through a range of questions about the effect of methods used in the poem and concludes with an exam-style question.

This is a walkthrough of Tennyson’s “The Eagle”, asking the questions that candidates will need to ask of themselves during the exam. The powerpoint asks them to focus on various methods including anthropomorphism, rhyme, rhythm and contrast. The final slide is an exam-style question. As the poem is so short, it could be useful for building confidence when tackling an unseen poetry question.

I made this for my year 11 class at their request, to revise “Ozymandias” prior to their February mock exam in English Lit. Please feel free to use/amend for your own classes. The intention is that the ppt slides provide prompts for probing questioning and whole-class discussion of the poem. Just to be clear - this wasn’t used for first teaching of the poem - my students had a (in many cases, very hazy) knowledge and understanding before they went through this lesson. I hope very much that you will find this resource useful and will be really grateful if you’ll take a minute to leave a review. Thank you.

A multiple-choice quiz on Stave 3 of “A Christmas Carol” inviting students to consider Dickens’ message about family and how that message is communicated. 23 questions in total. Answers provided.

This is a very bog-standard powerpoint using some questioning to support students’ recall of Hardy’s ‘Neutral Tones’ and ‘Singh Song’, “Love’s Philosophy” and Sonnet 29 - prior to asking them to tackle a question about the presentation of feelings about romantic relationships. Might come in useful as a starting point for revision. If you find this of use, I would very much appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.