This is a small introduction to improving your students sentence structures which can be used with GCSE English of all exam boards and Functional English classes. The session is based around a YouTube sensation and TV star Michael Cthulhu who makes"Big Giant Swords". It comes with a full powerpoint, support material and 2 videos. The lesson has group activities and individual tasks and is fast paced. I find this lesson works well with students who have completely disengaged with English or with classes largely made up of male students. As I teach within a college I teach English to students who are in grouped in their core subjects, such as bricklaying or music etc and embedding English into fun subjects such as these helps to break the barriers to learning. It is only an introduction so feel free to tinker into order to suit your students needs or to expand on the knowledge provided. Please keep in mind that the TES preview often distorts the preview and this is not a true reflection of the resources layout. Hope it helps.

This is a very simple break down of how to use speech marks suitable for Functional skills students or lower level students. There are 3 pages worth of examples and tasks with a small vocab builder task. This could work well as a piece of homework / extension activity or as a starter for the higher level students. Hope it helps

This is a simple activity which can be used to encourage students to proofread. It can be used with students of all levels, GCSE or Functional Skills, as it can be used as a starter, plenary, homework or as an extension activity. Please be advised that TES previews can often distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a simple and fun lesson to introduce persuasive writing techniques. This session looks into the methods and techniques used by advertisers to persuade people to buy their products, it introduces writing techniques such as alliteration and rhetorical questions. The final task is a fun team activity in which each team is given a product in an envelope and they must create a advert, using the methods discussed, to sell this product. This session can be altered to include speaking and listening task or can be elaborated upon. Be advised that TES previews can distort the look of the resources and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a simple A4 sheet which shows a break down of each question of the AQA exam (both papers). Students can keep in a folder or fold up and keep in their pockets and use for revision. It is very useful as it reminds student of the main elements of each question, times, marks and skills the question is testing and how they need to structure their answers. This helps students to gain in confidence, promotes independent learning and active revision. Hope it helps.

A full 4 page progress assessment for Paper 1 Question 5. As controlled assessments are no longer in use with this specification I found it useful to have regular bite-sized assessments to track a learners journey and progress whilst on the GCSE course. These assessments are based on each question from the AQA exam paper and mirrors the phrasing and tasks that students will find in the real exam. It comes with planning scaffolds to help students structure and organise their ideas. It is a great way to prepare students and highlight areas of weakness and strength. Hope it helps.

This is a fun, lively student centered lesson which revolves around team work activities and allowing the students to push their creativity and imagination. Many students struggle with imagination when it comes to question 5 and many panic, especially as it holds so many marks. This lesson uses images to inspire a range of vocabulary, language features and ideas for a storyline all within the planning of a haiku, therefore underpinning some of the essential skills needed to answer this question. This is quick paced session with a range of 10 minute activities which encourage independent learning and team work. I found that many students created a range of fantastic haiku’s which I made into a booklet for the students to take away with them. This sort of thing also scores brownie points with the managers and Ofsted but also helps to develop a sense of achievement and self confidence in English, which many students lack. It is also great for the students to know their work in English has a use other than for passing an exam and many feel pride in that. This lesson covers: planning for written work, synonyms, metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, long short sentences, imagination but can be adapted to cover much more if so desired. It ends with a peer marking assessment based on the Facebook liking system using emoticons and a chance to act like an examiner and identify language features. There is a homework task, which if desired, could be turned into a in class task other than homework. Hope it helps

This is a diverse resource allowing you to use / deliver in a way which suits you and your learners. It is a 9 page handout which has 2 short story examples with questions, aimed at both lower and higher ability students, and writing prompts in the form of titles and images. The aim of this resource is to help students not only create stories but to keep them short. Many of my students over the years, both teens and adults, seem to struggle on how to keep a story short, they will write themselves either in circles or into a corner and will usually fall back on lazy and typical writing techniques such as " then she woke up and it was all a dream" or " 10 years later he was…" which is why I came up with this resource. This handout comes with paired and / or individual activities and offers tips on how to avoid these typical pit holes and plenty of prompts in order to practice their story writing skills. This resource can be used either as a piece of homework, extension class activity or can be adapted to form apart of the main lesson and it can be used with any exam board for GCSE English language. Please keep in mind that the TES preview can at time distort the resource and this is not a reflection of how it looks. Hope it helps

This is a complete mock paper 2 for AQA English language 8700 based on two great disasters, 9/11 Twin towers attacks and the great fire of London in 1666. The paper uses sources which were written at the time of the disasters, an article from an American newspaper and extract from the diary of Samuel Pepys. This later extract from 1666 does not quite fit the exam spec in terms of period texts, therefore I have included a simplified version of the extracts along with the original extracts to help your students understand the text. You may want to cover some more of the difficult areas of the diary extract with your students before you set this mock if you feel the need or do some underpinning of these two events to help students put them into context. Please be aware that the TES preview can at times distort the resource and this is not always a true reflection of it’s presentation. Hope it helps.

This is a complete mock exam for paper 1 of the 8700 spec for AQA English Language. The paper focuses on Animal Farm by George Orwell. This resource is designed for you to use in any capacity you feel necessary. It can be used as a formal timed assessment in class or you can take a more informal road and use it as a workshop or as a lesson. The resource comes with a paper mock, powerpoint with a quick warm up / starter and a video from Thug Notes. Be advised that Thug Notes does contain some low level language and some bleeped out words, so you may want to omit this from the lesson if you are teaching younger students or replace it. As I work with 16 + students and adults, Thug Notes is more acceptable . The TES preview can at times distort the look of the resource so please be aware that this is not a true reflection of the product. Hope it helps.

This is a complete mock exam for paper 1 of the AQA GCSE 8700 spec. The extract is taken from Harry Potter and the lesson comes with a small starter / warm up session. The session is created for you to use in any way you wish. You may want to sit a formal practice in which there is a word document of the mock paper or have a more informal approach to the lesson in which there is a powerpoint for you to use and adjust to suit your needs. Hope it helps

This is a complete mock exam for paper 1 of the AQA GCSE 8700 spec. The extract is taken from Mockingjay from the Hunger Games series. The lesson comes with a few small groups task starters and a selection of 2 videos - you can chooseich one best suits your needs. The session is created for you to use in any way you wish. Be advised that Tes previews distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

Tracking, individual targets and positive / developed and exam driven feedback all seem to be high priority for Ofsted and can be a daunting task to aim to fulfill. It required mass amount of regular , time consuming marking which is difficult to do on top of a full teaching timetable. I have found that by condensing all that down on to one handy sheet helps to make this task more manageable. This feedback sheet is designed to be used with the AQA exam board but can be used and altered in a way to suit you and / or the exam board you are using . I use this sheet once a term and stick it in the students folders so they have a regular feedback on their progress. It has gone down very well with management and Ofsted inspectors. The feedback sheet includes: Where they started - initial assessment scores - to show distance traveled. Where they aim to be - exam target Score for each question on the exam, including SPAG - I personally do 1 - 2 questions per term to show regular progress and tracking throughout the course. Space for written feedback and space for student feedback - to show student input into their own learning. Space for written feedback on overall behaviour and attendance per term. overall mock paper scores. I have found that by making all these areas fit on one sheet very useful in managing my time and feedback but also for the students to know they are on a journey and to have ownership of their learning. Be advised the TES previews do often distort the look of resources and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This lesson is centered around the tragic story of Sophie Lancaster, who was murdered in 2007 for being a Goth. I have used this story over the last 10 years with all my classes as it helps to address prejudice and build tolerance. This session uses the Story of Sophie to introduce question 7B to students. It does this by breaking question 7B into two and only looking at the writers views and perceptions part of the question rather than the comparison part, as I have found in my experience that diving straight into comparing two texts tends to stress and confuse students. This session has enough material to cover 3 hours but has optional tasks and can be altered to suit you or your classes needs, session time and sensitivity levels. It comes with 10 worksheets, a video and full powerpoint with starters, team tasks, individual tasks, plenary, question 7B breakdown, group discussion and homework which focuses on section B of Paper 2. I have found that over the years that this lesson is diverse. It has been used in tutorials outside of the English department and by youth workers when delivering their sessions. I usually invite support workers and youth workers when delivering this session to help support any students for who this may bring up memories or for them or to help students overcome any of their own prejudices. Because of this sessions holistic and cross college appeal it was a big hit with managers and Ofsted. Hope it helps.

This is a fun and upbeat session which is centered around food and the song “Buttery Biscuit Base” in order to support students with the writing section of paper 1 of the Edexcel GCSE English exam. The aim is to improve the writing skills of your lower ability students by using adjectives and other key language features from DAFOREST etc and to encourage the students to plan their writing. This is a ideal session to use in the first term as a means to underpin the idea of ambitious vocabulary and to make English lessons fun and different, therefore hopefully improving retention of your harder to reach students. This session comes with group and paired activities, a starter and self reflection plenary. The activities are short to give the lesson a quick paced feel and it comes with all worksheets, link to the song and word banks to help support students. This is a lesson which you can adapt to suit the needs of your students as there is lots of room to delve off into higher level language features if you feel your students could develop into that area. Please note that the TES preview can distort the look of the resources and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a lesson designed around the Flat Earth Theory for preparation for question 4 from paper 2 of the AQA GCSE English exam. This lesson compares two articles from two different writers about this topic. It is designed to help students understand what the question is asking them to do , which is why the sources are not from two different eras, and helps students to break down the way articles are written and how to structure an answer. This lesson comes with a video and support material including an answer scaffold. It is a quick paced lesson with plenty of group, paired activities ending with an independent writing task, starter, plenary, self and peer assessments. This can be adapted to suit your or your students needs. Please be aware that TES preview can distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a 30 page presentation full of starter / small activities designed to broaden imagination and develop creative writing skills. I personally like to start the academic year with these as a way to promote a fun and lively image to GCSE English and engage learners with the course early on. I find that these types of fun, group activities help break down any negative barriers students may have to English and helps to build confidence in disengaged learners. These activities are mostly group / paired activities which can be boiled down to individual tasks. These tasks can be achieved by learners of all levels and are very useful in helping students tackle the creative writing sections of the GCSE exam. Hope it helps

This booklet is full of motivational, inspirational and confidence building quotes. I like to have this booklet in my classroom for students to look at, or use its in my classroom displays. This can be used either way depending on your needs. Hope it helps