There is a lot of focus on assessing our students, and initial assessments at the start of the year are seen as crucial to setting the student on their journey for the academic year. In my teaching career, many institutions I have worked for have relied heavily on electronic assessments, which is fine. However myself, as a teacher, can assess so much more into a students needs, strengths and weaknesses from a sample of their own writing. This is something I have found useful and successful time and time again for a wide range of reasons, so I decided to share some of my most successful free writing initial assessment tasks with you. This pack comes with 5 different free writing tasks, writing prompts, videos for each task and a feedback sheet which can be placed inside a students file or book and used as an individual tracking sheet through out the year. Some of my most successful assessments have been the ones where students get to express their opinions, which gives them a good first impression of your course as being one where they can express themselves. I also try to underpin deeper themes into light hearted topics to help stretch and challenge those students who enjoy thinking more deeply. For example, the Flat Earth free writing task has prompts which asks the student about the dangers of fake news on social media. One of the many uses free writing has is that I can identify those who may have a dyslexia need and alert the necessary people from the first week and get them assessed and / or supported. I can find out more about the students in my class on a more personal level and connect with them more quickly, I can also quickly find out any areas of personal need and highlight these students to youth workers for example. I can also use these quick writing tasks in other sessions and develop them into underpinning British Values, equality and diversity or to underpin speaking and listening tasks for example. The topics of the free writing are: Beauty industry - used mainly with female classes equality flat earth - underpins fake news / social media big giant swords - underpins ambition and following your dreams. being brave I have attached a short guideline of what to look for when assessing, however most teachers do assess in their own way so feel free to use in a way which suits you and your students. I hope it helps

A fantastic lesson full of group and paired activities to help students understand structural features. Based on the story of Jekyll and Hyde this lesson uses comic books / storyboards to help students visualise structural features as if the story were a movie. I have found that by teaching structure this visual way, the students find it easier to identify these features and therefore this question becomes less daunting. I have also incorporated a new mnemonic called ROW OF CLONES to help students remember some of the More commonly used structural features. The lesson uses peer assessment, whole group and paired activities, it is quick paced and fun to teach. Hope it helps

This is an entire lesson for AQA English Language (spec 8700) for Paper 2 Question 4 where the students must compare two sources. For this lesson I have used two modern sources as opposed to one modern, one older as it would be in the exam. The reason for this is highlighted in the lesson and is clear to the students what they will expect, however I have found that by using this method helps the students build confidence in tackling this overwhelming question and is a good way to build them towards comparing older sources. This lesson looks at the award speeches made by Leo DiCaprio and Kanye West, the lesson starts with a personal values starter and this idea of personal values continues throughout the rest of the lesson by looking into the values these two celebrities display in their speeches. There is room to develop the personal / British values concept if desired. The lesson has 2 videos, links to the you tube site is on both the worksheet and the power point. The activities are timed, short and allow for group discussion and discovery learning. The lesson ends with the students writing their findings in a structure which will suit the examiners needs and a short, self assessment plenary. The power point provides slides which can be printed and distributed as support / scaffolding materials for the weaker students if needed. Hope it helps

This is a mock / practice exam paper for the GCSE English Language from AQA (8700 spec). This is not an entire paper, it is a bitesized version which included some of the trickier questions that students tend to struggle with. I have used this with my students to help build confidence with some of the harder questions, track their progress on specific questions and to help get students used to exam conditions. As it is a shorter version of the exam it helps to cut down on a teachers marking load whilst also being a supportive tool for the students. This paper includes practice questions, with sample materials, for Paper 1 Question 3, Paper 2 Question 3, Paper 2 Question 4 and Paper 2 Question 5. I have also given it a more friendly look with some handy tips and advice along the way to help support the more needy or less confident in the group. Sample materials include extracts from The Help and Chocolat, A news article from 1873 and 2 speeches made by British PM's Churchill and Cameron. Hope it helps

This complete lesson comes with extracts from Bill Bryson and Engles, worksheets and supporting materials. The focus of this lesson is looking at the writers points of view on the city of Manchester in order to create answers for paper 2 question 4 ( comparative question) Bill Bryson talks about the city in 1995 and Engles talks about the city in 1844. This lesson has enough content to fill a 3 hour session and is designed to gradually build the students confidence into tackling this question and developing an exam styled answer using a PQI-C answer structure. It does this with lots of quick paced activities, team and paired activities, short class discussion and through developing ideas and analysis of the two texts. Hope it helps

This resource is an 8 page group of worksheets which can be used to design your own lesson around depending on which exam board you are working with in GCSE English. Using the prologue from the 1st book of George RR Martins series, this resource looks at language and structural features. It comes with worksheets for a range of levels, starting simple with read and obtain questions, working our way up to inference, language analysis and strong example answers with stretch and challenge tasks. The resources are designed so you can develop a teacher led lesson around them or set self study or independent learning seminar sessions with teacher acting as support or facilitator as the worksheets allow for paired or team interaction between the students. There is enough material for a 3 or more hour session, which can be broken into 2 or more sessions depending on your timetable. 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 team based lesson with quick paced tasks based around an extract from Andy Weir’s “The Martian”. The aim of the lesson is to answer an exam based question on the structural features used in this extract. The lesson comes with 7 worksheets which includes the extract and tasks which range across all abilities and can be used at your discretion. This resource also comes with the trailer (which does include the S word, so feel free to use at your discretion) and the full lesson on powerpoint. This resource is designed to be used in which ever way you feel works for your classes and is adaptable to accommodate your teaching style. The lesson is created for students who are already aware of structural features but again, you can adapt this session to either introduce or reinforce structural features, depending on what you have covered so far. The session comes with a start and short self assessment plenary, there are plenty of team tasks, group and class discussions and some peer assessment. It ends with a individual task which is exam focused. Please note that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

It has been 200 years since the birth of Emily Bronte and her novel Wuthering Heights has just as much to offer now as it did then. This session is designed to look at Wuthering Heights with 21st century eyes and introduce a new generation to this story. This session is an engaging, fast paced and fun session with plenty of student lead activities to help the them come to their own conclusions and to share those conclusions with others. This is a jam packed lesson with scaffolded / differentiated questions to help students access this 19th century text at all levels. The session comes with paired and groups activities ranging from read and obtain tasks, read and infer tasks, group discussions and opportunities for students to express their own opinions. This session focuses on paper 1 question 2 and ends with the question “How does Emily Bronte use language to suggest that Heathcliff is perhaps Mr Earnshaw’s illegitimate mixed race son?” - a question which is inclusive, can bring about further discussion and touches upon British Values, something that I was praised for in an recent observation of this session. Much of this session works hard to build on students inference skills, which is key to this exam. Many tasks have both simple questions and deeper, more thought provoking questions, therefore embedding this skill in to almost every task in the session. This session comes with a full powerpoint over 10 worksheets which can be used and adapted in whichever way you need, handouts with tips, hand outs with answer break downs, discussion prompts and a run down of a list of characters and plot summary and the trailer for the 2011 movie. There is enough material to span 3 hours or more, therefore allowing you as the teacher to adapt to your own timetable and students abilities. Many of the slides can also be used as handouts - such as the starter slide which comes with a word search. Please keep in mind that TES previews can often distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection of the materials. Hope it helps.

This is a complete mock exam for paper 1 of the AQA GCSE 8700 spec. The extract is taken from The Colour Purple. The lesson comes with a few small groups task starters and a selection of 2 videos - you can choose which one best suits your needs, keep in mind that Thug Notes does contain mild use of language and adult themes. As I teach in FE this is resource is fine to use however you can use the trailer or an alternative if you choose to. The session is created for you to use in any way you wish. You may want to sit a formal practice in which you can print off this powerpoint and be used as a paper document. This book contains theme of racism and sexism and so you can adapt this to underpin theme of equality and diversity. Be advised that Tes previews distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

A fantastic full lesson based on The Forever 27 Club comes with 6 resources which included articles, worksheets, full power point with guidance notes, quiz, music clips and independent study. This lesson covers the essential skills needed for Paper 2 Question 3 and also allows time to cover some deeper social issues which some of your students may have experience with, such as body image, gender stereotypes and substance abuse. This lesson enables the students to look at a piece of non fiction and identify language techniques used to influence the readers. It is a fun and fully interactive quick paced lesson where the students investigate language but also learn about two of the most influential musicians of our time and how their personal issue are still issues we face today. The lesson aims to walk students through the process of piecing together a final answer, based on their investigations, which would be expected in the final exam. The lesson ends with a student self assessment plenary called "The Hand of Truth" and optional independent study. Although the source used in this lesson is not from the 19th century it does still instil the skills a student will need to answer this question. Further examples of older sources can also be found in my shop which will be significantly useful when teaching paper 2. This lesson is designed for a 3 hour session but is easily adaptable to suit your own timetable. Hope it helps.

This speaking and listening lesson focuses around the conspiracy theory that Princess Diana was murdered. Students love this lesson because many students love a good conspiracy theory. This lesson comes with videos to help students get a full background of her life and events. It requires the students to work together to collect their own research and develop their own opinions and counter arguments which will form part of the group debate. The videos don’t come with additional worksheets although they can be created to help form part of the students research as and when you feel necessary. This lesson can be used with any exam board and also with functional skills SP & LIST. It can be developed to underpin skills such as identifying bias and critical thinking. Please be aware that TES preview can often distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a full lesson with 3 hours worth of resources and activities. This session breaks down and examine the comparative question A6 from paper 2 (WJEC / EDUQAS exam board) by using 2 texts which describe Manchester at different periods, Engels from 1844 and Bill Bryson from 1995. This session encourages independent / discovery learning and is filled with quick paced paired activities in which the students work together to identify and source conclusions from the text given. There is a short class discussion fore the students pool all their findings together in order to come up with a structured answer. Work sheets and support material is available to support weaker students and a starter paragraph is available to get the students into the swing of writing a prepared exam style answer. There is a start and plenary included in the session but there is also enough room for this session to be adapted any way you need it in order to suit your own students and teaching style. Please keep mind that TES previews sometimes distorts the PPT slides and this is not a reflection of how the resource looks. 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

This is a quick paced lesson which breaks down question 4 from paper 1 of the Edexcel paper and examines an extract from George Orwells, 1984. It works on the idea that the students are familiar with language and structural features. This session comes with a support scaffold, the whole lesson on powerpoint, the trailer to the movie and the extract and helps the students to break down the question and understand what is being asked of them, as this question is traditionally the tricky question and can confuse students as to how to best answer it. The sessions ends with an example question as it would appear in the exam, an example answer and gives the students an opportunity to piece an answer together themselves. Please keep in mind that TES preview often distorts the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a short and sweet resource which can be used as a recap/workshop session or as a introduction session to implicit and explicit meaning. This session is fast paced, team based and leads into a creative writing final main task, although it is easy to adapt for your own needs. This session is based around a short video where the viewer must piece together the overall story from the imagery depicted. Students look for implicit and explicit meaning from this video and then create a piece of descriptive writing based from what they have concluded. This session comes with a quick starter from the outset, quick group activities, team and class discussions and a final individual task with a support starter structure to support the lower ability students. Please keep in mind that TES previews can distort the look of the preview and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a fast paced, engaging complete lesson designed for Level 1 and Level 2 Functional Skills. The session is based around the theme of your dream house with the aim of the session being to write a formal persuasive letter using DAFOREST language features and considering the audience your writing to. Using team / paired and individual tasks, this session allows the student to engage their imagination and design their ideal, dream house then plan and complete a formal letter inviting Architectural Digest to film a short segment for their online magazine. The session comes with support devices such as word banks, planning scaffolds and sentence starters as well as elements of stretch and challenge. This is an adaptable resource which can be amended to suit the needs of your classes. Be advised that the TES preview is not always a true reflection of the resource. Hope it helps.

This is a full informal mock of paper 1 for the AQA GCSE English Language exam based on an extract from To Kill a Mockingbird. It comes with a full powerpoint with a video starter from Thug Notes. Be advised that Thug Notes does contain some adult themes and low level adult language. As I teach 16 + this is fine as a resource but if this is not the case for your class you can stick to the trailer or use an alternative. This powerpoint can be printed off or converted to a more formal paper version of a mock if you wish to use it in that way. Please keep in mind the TES previews can at time distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

One of the ways I try to bring English to life for my students is to show them how versatile English is by embedding it into a wide range of topics. I like to choose topics which will engage or strike a cord with my students. One of my sessions which has done this is this one, which looks at the ever increasing problem in the UK, the illegal trade in primates. This lesson is designed for those classes which are " slow burners" with the aim of slowly introducing a topic and building towards the practice exam question. Although Q3 from Paper 2 is based on a period piece of text, this lesson uses a modern text to help first develop the skills in learning, identifying and analysing language features before moving onto older / tricker texts, as in my experience…an older text tends to throw students and will lower their confidence or willingness to engage. The trick here is to show students that there is no difference in the skill used, just a difference in the text provided. This is a complete lesson with enough interesting and engaging material for a 3 hour session. It comes with a power point full of group /paired / individual tasks and starter and self / peers assessment activities. Also included are 2 worksheets and 3 short video clips. This lesson hopefully will build your students confidence in tackling this question, despite the era the text may come from. The theme of this lesson goes down well with students as it is based around the UK pet trade in small monkeys and is designed to help raise cultural awareness and British Values in animal welfare within young people. Due to this, this lesson can be expanded upon if needs be to include a group debate or discussion to hit the criteria of the speaking and listening element of the spec. Please be aware that the TES preview distorts the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection, 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