A series of Cambridge- style essay questions on all 15 poems from "Songs of Ourselves" Vol 1 Part 5 , (Because I Could Not Stop for Death, etc) made up by my two IGCSE classes. Great for revision and essay skills.

A set of 22 vivid photographs to be used as inspiration for descriptive, narrative or discursive writing. The pictures are open to interpretation and can be used in multiple ways. The resource includes a brainstorming template for students to use to organise their initial ideas. The download includes both a PPT and PDF version of the images and student template.

A collection of IGCSE essay- style questions made up by my class (and edited by me) for revision purposes on poems 1-6 from Volume 1 Part 5 of “Songs of Ourselves” (Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” through to Nichols’ “Praise Song”- examinable 2017). Not a particularly pretty handout, but I hope you’ll find it useful!

This 8 page resource introduces the main devices found in the poem including the main features of an Italian and Shakespearean sonnet, iambic pentameter, imagery, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia and a Cambridge- style essay question at the end in which the understanding gathered from the various activities can be applied to write the essay. This would be a great resource for a first reading and teaching of Owen's poem with the focus on revising the literary devices found in the poem and building up an informed response to the writing which can then be used for the cumulative task of writing a Cambridge style essay.

This 5 page worksheet is a break- down of the STILTS acronym which is a useful and easy tool to arm students with when analyzing a poem for the first time. This worksheet gives an overview of how STILTS works and then asks students to apply it to Maya Angelou’s “Africa”. It rounds off the exercise with a sample unseen Cambridge style essay question (Syllabus 0486 Paper 42) where the student is asked to plan the essay using the analysis techniques described and practised in the worksheet. Updated to include a teacher’s copy with basic answers to guide the lesson!

A series of 45 conversation cards, ranging from the pure ridiculous through to real mind- bogglers! Print, cut and laminate and keep as a deck of cards to use year after year to break the ice with a new class, to fill awkward spaces of time or as discursive and argumentative writing or debate topics. Encourage students to elaborate on their answers and talk about themselves. These are suitable for a wide range of ages from Elementary/ Primary all the way to Secondary/ High School students. There is also a Black & White set included for more economical printing, and a blank template so you can add in more of your own, or reverse the activity and ask students to make up some for themselves!

A set of 12 statements regarding power, ambition and the supernatural which ask students to state how strongly they agree or disagree with each. The statements are tenuously linked to the main themes of “Macbeth” but do not outright reference the play. Use this activity as a starter to get students thinking about the main ideas and potentially empathizing with the characters or understanding their motives.

This 19 slide PowerPoint presentation is an excellent introduction to Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. It provides a basic biography, a line-by- line analysis of the poem including points of interest and discussion, and ends with an IGCSE/GCSE style essay question. It could also be used for revision and recap purposes.

A classroom poster which will constantly evolve as you add new words to it. Put words on trial and send them to Siberia! This resource gives an overview of the idea and contains printable templates to get you started. This can be used with a wide range of ages, just adapt the display accordingly.

This 10 slide PowerPoint is great to accompany a first reading of Nichols’ “Praise Song for My Mother”. It offers biographical information and then contains a stanza by stanza break down with points of interest which can be discussed either altogether in class or as a small group activity. It ends with a GCSE/ IGCSE style essay question and a series of bullet point questions to serve as scaffolding and guidance in writing the essay.

This is a great revision exercise to get students to re- visit the text and consider Macbeth and how his moods and personality changes as the play progresses. This graph maps Macbeth’s confidence levels on the y- axis and the play’s acts on the x-axis. Students think back to each major shift in Macbeth’s characterand plot his confidence or fear at the time on the graph in order to create a one page visual representation of his tyrannical descent. Appropriate for any levels studying the play.

A fun activity to introduce students to the concept of prophecy and to later question whether Macbeth was driven by greed and manipulated into creating his own destiny, or whether the witches’ prophecies really did come true! Cut out the 30 “prophecies” provided and have students pick one from a hat. Give students a week to see if any of their prophecies come true (they are all pretty vague, some of them are bound to!) There is a summative handout for students to complete after and from here a general class discussion and sharing of stories will give students something to think about and later link to the question of Macbeth’s fate.

An exercise designed to get your students thinking critically about the main themes and storyline of “Romeo and Juliet”. Print a copy of these statements for each student and give then 5 minutes to decide and indicate how strongly they feel about each statement. Follow this with group or class discussion.

INCLUDES TEACHER’S COPY This workbook consists of 20 pages of work for students to do when and after watching the Baz Luhrmann version of *Romeo and Juliet. * The film study is designed to be used as an activity following a first reading of the original play and to get students thinking about Shakespeare’s techniques and asserting an informed opinion on techniques used by both Shakespeare and Luhrmann in his 1996 adaptation. It includes characterisation and focus questions on some of the main scenes. It also lists some of Luhrmann’s “Easter eggs” hidden in the film for students to hunt for whilst watching.

This 3 page worksheet includes a copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee”, along with a series of 6 short answer questions. It then asks students to source a second love poem of their choice, annotate and answer questions assessing its main characteristics and finally provides 2 essay questions focusing on comparing and contrasting the two poems. Suitable for GCSE/ IGCSE Level, an excellent single lesson activity for revising poetry analysis and unseen skills. Ask students to come to class prepared with the second love poem of their choice already chosen and printed as preparatory homework.

These print-and-go worksheets make up a 150 page workbook which is designed to be used to supplement the text. It can be used as a revision unit after finishing the play or can be used to test understanding after reading each scene. It consists mainly of cloze text summaries of each scene which create scaffolded critical analyses for students to complete but also includes exercises on annotation of key speeches,** introduces the main literary devices, AQA/ CIE style essay questions and also includes character and theme logs. The download also includes teacher’s copy which provides all of the answers and includes “Key scene” Timeline cards to use as a revision game. (Please note- This download includes two 150 page workbooks: the Teacher’s Copy and the Student’s Copy. The other files have been included in here to act as previews and to enable you to see some of the content of the workbooks)

Introduce or revise 25 Literary Terms with your students through an interactive game of Bingo! Includes 3 mix ‘n’ match sets (28 pages) to thoroughly explore and understand figurative language: Terms Definitions 2 sets of Examples mostly from real texts- Level 1 for introducing the terms and Level 2 for a in-depth exploration of figurative language through more challenging examples. The bingo sets include **both colour and black and white ** tiles to be cut out and laminated, and 5 variations of the same Bingo Cards so that not every student has the exact same order of boxes on their card. Full instructions and Master Copy included for a classic Bingo Game as well as suggestions of other interactive ways to use these cards. Follow me on Instagram: teaching_underthedesk

This 7 page workbook introduces students to 3 unconventional love poems. A series of cloze texts, comprehension and analysis questions guide students through a first reading and in- depth examination of each poem, allowing them to create scaffolded notes which will assist them in the final essay task. Perfect for a fresh approach to Valentine’s Day, or use at any point in the year. These exercises are excellent revision in unseen poetry tasks and can be examined individually or side by side to develop skills in comparing and contrasting different texts. Includes a teacher’s copy Suitable for GCSE/ IGCSE revision for both building Unseen Poetry skills and Literature essay writing. ** Please note that due to copyright restrictions two of the three poems are not physically presented in the handout. Space has been left on the relevant worksheets along with clear instructions on how to (very easily) source the poems yourself**

This work book consists of 25 pages which introduce students to the acronym “PERSUADER”- an excellent tool for both identifying and remembering persuasive techniques. It explains each persuasive technique individually and provides examples from famous speeches from history. The workbook is scaffolded with tasks first introducing the technique and then asking students to** identify and highlight** its use before requiring them to** practise the technique** themselves. Finally they annotate an extract from Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech using what has been learnt. The work book ends with the summative exercise of writing a speech of your own whilst utilizing the “PERSUADER” techniques. “PERSUADER” is a useful acronym for students’ tool belts as it can be used for any kind of directed writing including letters, articles and discursive or argumentative essays, as well as speeches. INCLUDES a printable A4 poster for classroom display.

This 11 page workbook introduces your students to the life and times of Shakespeare. It is designed to be interactive and requires students to research much of the information themselves. It includes a template to create Shakespeare’s biography in the form of a resume, fun facts on life in Elizabethan England, some background on the Globe, Shakespearean insults to be hurled at one another, a flag creating activity, well- known phrases we use today which were coined by Shakespeare and a research project on life at that time. The resource includes a teacher’s copy which provides more background information and comprehensive suggested answers to questions so you don’t have to dig around for answers! It is suitable for secondary students who are studying their first Shakespeare.