I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
I am an experienced English teacher and Literacy Coordinator. All of my resources are organised, engaging, ready to teach and designed to save you - the teacher - your valuable time!
Please have a look at all of my resources - at least 20% of which are free.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter four of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson begins with a reminder of key words and techniques in the book so far. It moves onto a silent debate about statements about the Holocaust - I have used this activity a number of times and it creates a very powerful atmosphere in the classroom.
Students are then guided towards independently analysing an extract with guiding questions provided.
Learning Objective: Independently analyse an extract from the text.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Independently identify literary techniques in the novel.
Silver: Explain in detail the effect on the reader.
Gold: Consider how there might be different interpretations of the novel.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Key words reminder - match the word to the definition
Starter: Silent debate and gallery
Activity 1: Class reading
Activity 2: Independent analysis
Discuss students’ answers as a class
Plenary: What do you predict will happen next?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
An engaging hour-long lesson which introduces students to the main characters and themes in The Merchant of Venice before studying the play. This is aimed at students in Key Stages 3 and 4.
This resource includes:
A full Powerpoint including all teacher instructions (including printing instructions)
A graphic organiser for students to record their notes.
5 detailed character profiles: Antonio, Bassanio, Shylock, Jessica and Portia.
Learning Objective: Understand the main themes and characters in The Merchant of Venice.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will consider the title and posters of the play to mind-map themes.
Students will work in groups to use an example summary and success criteria to write their own summary of a character from the play.
Students will share features of their character with other students in the class.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Mind-map your ideas about the play based on the title.
Starter: Look at these covers and posters; add your ideas you have about themes and ideas in the play to your mind-map. Think-pair-share ideas with the class.
Activity 1: Modelling of an effective summary. Students read character profiles in groups and write a summary.
Activity 2: Students circulate, share information and write down notes about the other characters.
Plenary: Character quiz.
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson helps students to think about how Christopher is presented at the start of the play and how he changes as a character by the end of the play.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
A fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the character of Jessica in act 2 scene 3 of The Merchant of Venice . Students will complete a guided annotation and then consider different ways of staging the scene to make Jessica appear more or less sympathetic.
Learning Objective: Explore Jessica’s Character in Act 2.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will read a summary of act 2 scenes 1 and 2.
Students will read act 2 scene 3 and be guided through annotation of the scene before participating in a class discussion.
Students will consider different ways of staging the scene to make Jessica more or less sympathetic to the audience.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Summarise act 1 in five sentences and then five words.
Starter: As a class, read a summary of Act 2 Scenes 1 & 2. Then as a class, read Act 2 Scene 3. Students then answer questions and share in a class discussion.
Activity 1: Guided annotation of scene.
Activity 2: Stage the scene with Jessica portraying different emotions to make her sympathetic to the audience.
Plenary: Personal response – to what extent is Jessica a victim?
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
A fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in the context of the history of anti-Semitism. Students will read the scene and consider how Antonio and Shylock treat each other as well as considering how Shakespeare presents Shylock. Students will be scaffolded to independently find quotes from act 1 scene 3 and explain what this shows us about the characters.
Learning Objective: Explore Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand a basic history of anti-Semitism.
Students will understand the events of act 1 scene 3 and consider how Shylock is introduced.
Students will work in pairs to independently find and analyse quotes to show what they learn about Shylock.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share: What do we learn about Shylock from his opening quote?
Activity 1: The history of anti-Semitism teacher explanation and student discussion of anti-Semitic propaganda. Group and class discussion of propaganda posters. You may want to edit this down if you feel it would be distressing to members of your class.
Activity 2: Read act 1 scene 3.
Activity 3: In pairs, students complete worksheet by finding quotes and considering what this tells us about the characters.
Plenary: Who do you have more sympathy for: Antonio or Shylock? Class discussion
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
This is an engaging and fully-resourced one hour lesson to introduce students to the characters of the witches and some of the key themes in Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare.
This resource includes a full PowerPoint including all teacher instructions that is ready to download and teach straight away. Students will consider pathetic fallacy and the paradox of ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’.
Students will work in groups to complete an engaging worksheet and then will work individually to write an analysis paragraph (which is scaffolded with an example paragraph included).
Students will also have the opportunity to stage the opening scene and consider how they could increase the fear for the audience.
Lesson Objective: Analyse how Shakespeare creates fear at the start of Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand how the opening scene introduces some important themes in Macbeth.
Evaluate Shakespeare’s use of literary devices.
Distinguish between the reactions of a Shakespearean audience and a modern audience.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Questions for students to consider how a Shakespearean audience would have reacted to the witches.
Starter: Think – Pair – Share about witches in Shakespeare’s time.
Activity 1: Read act 1 scene 1 and students complete worksheet to identify language techniques with answers provided.
Activity 2: Students write an analytical paragraph to answer the question ‘how did Shakespeare create fear for a Shakespearean audience?’ They will see a modelled paragraph first and peer assess afterwards.
Activity 3: In groups of 3, consider how they would stage and direct the scene to really terrify a Shakespearean audience.
Plenary: How would a modern audience react differently to the opening of Macbeth? Do you think it is still as scary even though the belief in witchcraft isn’t as widespread?
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Two fully resourced and ready-to-teach one-hour lessons which introduce students to the skills of annotating a poem and then writing an analytical PEE paragraph about it. These lessons are designed so that they can be downloaded and taught immediately and all printing instructions are included. The poem used is ‘I am Offering this Poem’ by Jimmy Santiago Baca.
This lesson is aimed at KS3 and would be suitable for an introduction to poetry unit - but it could easily be adapted to younger or older students. Students will need to know what personification, similes, alliteration and repetition are already.
These lessons include:
A 22-slide Powerpoint
Differentiated learning outcomes
Copies of the poem with a glossary (in both word and pdf formats - for editing or printing).
Explanation of annotation
A model PEE paragraph
Structured peer assessment
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This one-hour lesson is designed to guide students through Lady Macbeth’s persuasive techniques in Act 1, Scene 7, focusing on how she manipulates Macbeth to commit murder. Ideal for key stage 3 or key stage 4 classes studying Macbeth, this resource is tailored towards developing students language and literature skills and providing them with a range of practice opportunities.
What’s included:
Complete PowerPoint with step-by-step teacher instructions—ready to download and teach.
Ready-to-print worksheet for students to label and explain Lady Macbeth’s use of persuasive techniques.
Learning Objective:
Students will analyse how Lady Macbeth persuades and manipulates Macbeth using powerful rhetorical techniques.
Learning Outcomes:
Identify the persuasive strategies Lady Macbeth uses.
Practice applying these techniques in both analysis and through writing your own examples.
Write an analytical paragraph exploring the effects of her language.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now Activity: Persuade the teacher for extra game time.
Starter: Introduction to key persuasive techniques.
Activity 1: Annotate the worksheet, labeling persuasive methods and explaining their effects.
Activity 2: Write an analytical paragraph answering, “How does Lady Macbeth manipulate Macbeth?”
Peer Assessment to evaluate analytical writing.
Activity 3: Write a persuasive letter using Lady Macbeth’s rhetorical techniques.
Plenary: Reflect on the power dynamics between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
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This fully-resourced, one-hour lesson guides students through independent analysis of Macbeth’s soliloquy (“Is this a dagger…”) in Act 2 Scene 1 of Macbeth. Perfect for fostering critical thinking, this lesson allows students to paraphrase Macbeth’s speech and collaborate in groups to examine Shakespeare’s use of lexical fields, rhetorical questions, and repetition.
This resource includes:
A ready-to-teach PowerPoint with full teacher instructions.
A printable extract of the soliloquy with a detailed glossary for student reference.
Printable group task instructions, also embedded in the PowerPoint.
Learning Objective: Analyse Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 1.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will read and understand act 2 scene 1 and independently paraphrase it and answer questions on it.
Students will work in groups to closely analyse the language in Macbeth’s soliloquy.
Students will compare two different portrayals of this soliloquy.
Lesson Breakdown:
Do it now: ’There’s husbandry in heaven, their candles are all out’ – students explore this quote.
Starter: Read act 2 scene 1 and discuss questions.
Activity 1: Paraphrase the soliloquy in groups whilst watching a performance.
Activity 2: Scaffolded independent analysis task
Plenary: Students watch another performance of the soliloquy. How does this other portrayal of Macbeth compare to the earlier one?
Why Choose This Resource?
Designed for Confidence-Building: Helps students feel secure in their analysis of complex texts.
Ready to Use: Download and start teaching immediately with no prep required.
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In this comprehensive lesson, students are guided through how to understand and interpret Shakespeare independently using word roots and context clues to unpick meanings of familiar words. They will work through Act 3 Scenes 3-5 with varying levels of support.
Learning Objective: Independently comprehend and interpret scenes from The Merchant of Venice
Learning Outcomes:
-Students will be guided through how to comprehend and decipher Shakespearean English using word roots and context clues.
Students will work both in pairs and individually to interpret scenes.
Students will make a prediction about what will happen next in the play.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Students infer details from image.
Starter: Overview of differences between Shakespearean and modern English.
Task one: Teacher modelling of how to interpret Act 3 Scene 3.
Task two: Students work in pairs to interpret Act 3 Scene 4.
Task three: Students work individually to interpret Act 3 Scene 5.
Plenary: Students predict what will happen next in the play.
More Resources for The Merchant of Venice
Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters.
Freebies:
For character revision posters for your classroom, click here.
For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here.
For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here.
Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.
A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson supports students to analyse the use of dramatic irony for dramatic effect.
This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher instructions included.
If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.
An hour long engaging lesson in which students are introduced to the main characters and themes in Macbeth. Through individual and group work, students will practise reading skills - in particular comprehension, inference and summarising - and collaborate with each other to share information that they have gleaned from profiles about the key characters in the play.
Students will also be shown images representing Macbeth and prompted to infer themes they think will be evident in the play.
Learning Objective: Get to know the main characters and themes in Macbeth.
Learning Outcomes:
Find and highlight key information about your character in the play.
Re-write information about your character and share it with others in your own words.
Question others about their characters and make connections between different characters.
Lesson Outline:
Do it now: Think – Pair – Share question about ambition
Starter: Students look at five images representing Macbeth and infer themes from them.
Activity one: Students are assigned a character from Macbeth. They read the information sheet and take bullet points notes in their graphic organiser.
Activity two: Students circulate around the room swapping facts until they have completed all five character profiles.
Plenary: Mini quiz based on the characters in the lesson.
This lesson contains a 16-slide PowerPoint and five printable character profiles.
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Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter eleven of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson provides information about Eva Braun and her relationship with Adolf Hitler. Students synthesise information from the novel with the information provided about the couple to write a diary entry as Eva Braun. This could be used as a creative writing assessment.
Learning Objective: Synthesise information from the novel with knowledge about context to write a diary entry as Eva Braun.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Incorporate details about Eva Braun into a diary entry.
Silver: Infer details about her from the text.
Gold: Add thoughtful and creative details to explore who Eva Braun was.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Picture of Hitler with Eva Braun. How does this affect your opinion of Hitler?
Starter: Pre-reading discussion and questions followed by reading of chapter 11.
Activity 1: Mind map to plan for writing.
Activity 2: Diary writing task
Peer assessment
Plenary: Think-Pair-Share - Why has John Boyne included Eva Braun as a character?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter fifteen of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson asks students to probe how they think Bruno would feel after betraying Shmuel to Lieutenant Kotler. They explore how to use figurative language and different sentence structures and then write a diary entry as Bruno.
Learning Objective: Write a personal response as Bruno.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Consider the complex emotions that Bruno feels in this chapter.
Silver: Express these feelings using figurative language.
Gold: Use a range of simple, compound and complex sentences.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: How would you describe the feeling of guilt using figurative language?
Starter: Reading focus – how does Bruno feel? Students create a mind-map and use a thesaurus to build vocabulary.
Activity 1: Hot-seating as Bruno, Shmuel and Lieutenant Kotler.
Activity 2: Focus on simple, compound and complex sentences.
Activity 3: Write a diary entry as Bruno
Peer assessment
Plenary: What thoughts and feelings do you think Shmuel would have experienced during this same time period?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
A detailed knowledge organiser about Curley’s wife accompanied with a revision activity whereby students make their own knowledge organiser about one of the characters in the text.
The knowledge organiser includes the following sections:
Key vocabulary
How Curley’s wife links to the theme of dreams
How she links to the theme of loneliness
Historical context about treatment of women
Overview
Explanation of key quotes
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I have a whole range of Of Mice and Men revision resources available in the shop and a range of revision videos on my YouTube channel (this is linked to in my shop).
Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter five of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson teaches students the difference between direct and indirect characterisation (with an exercise to practise writing their own examples). It then prompts them to consider the characterisation of Father. Students then write a personal response to an emotional extract from the text in which Father expresses his opinion on the Jewish people in Auschwitz.
Learning Objective: Write a personal response explaining how I feel about an extract.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Describe how you feel about an extract.
Silver: Explain the reasons for your feelings.
Gold: Ask questions and make links between what you know from the text and your other background knowledge.
Lesson Overview:
Do It Now: True or false questions about the Holocaust
Starter: Indirect vs direct characterisation – explanation and whole-class activity.
Activity 1: Popcorn reading and class discussion of how Father is characterised.
Activity 2: Write a personal response to an extract from the text.
Plenary: Think-pair-share: how did this extract make you feel? What do you think the author wants us to feel?
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.
Ready-to-teach and easily adaptable 1 hour lesson to teach simple/compound sentences and FANBOYS connectives. This lesson breaks down the difference between independent and dependent clauses and then prompts students to compose their own simple and compound sentences. This lesson includes a very engaging extension task whereby students correct the punctuation in ‘Human’ by Rag’n’Bone Man. This activity really pushes them to consider what is and isn’t an independent clause and the music means that students find it really engaging.
This lesson was designed for key stage 3, but could easily be adapted for key stage 2 or key stage 4 depending on the ability!
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A detailed knowledge organiser to support students studying ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare.
It includes the following:
A brief section on William Shakespeare
Key quotes and explanation of their importance
Overview of all the important characters
Important literary terms for studying the play
This is suitable for any age group studying the play. It is an excellent resource to be used for setting homework, quizzing in classes or as a support mat.
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Fully resourced and differentiated 1 hour lesson in which students learn how to use a colon and a semi-colon and then apply it by completing a short piece of writing.
This lesson is aimed at KS3, but it could easily be adapted to younger or older students.
This lesson includes:
- Full explanation of the rules for using colons and semi-colons.
- Worksheet for students to practise using colons and semi-colons (including examples where either could be used correctly to prompt discussion about the different effects of using them).
- Writing task for students to apply their knowledge of colons and semi-colons.
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Two engaging and ready to teach one hour lessons to cover chapters 17 - 20 of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. The first lesson (chapters 17 - 18) requires students to use a range of reading skills and techniques - they read independently and in pairs to practise their comprehension and inference skills. The second lesson (chapters 19 - 20) requires students to think about the effects of pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony in the penultimate chapter and then to reflect on how they feel about the ending.
LESSON ONE
Learning Objective: Practise a range of reading skills.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Read in pairs and individually, and use skimming, scanning and inference skills.
Silver: Support your partner by correcting them constructively in paired reading.
Gold: Make a perceptive prediction about what will happen at the end of the book.
Lesson Outline:
Do It Now: Match the reading term to the definition.
Starter: Paired reading of chapter 17 followed by comprehension and inference questions.
Activity 1: Chapter 18 individual comprehension questions and marking.
Activity 2: What do you predict will happen at the end of the book?
Plenary: How has Bruno changed over the course of the book?
LESSON TWO
Learning Objective: Reflect upon the story.
Learning Outcomes:
Bronze: Understand the terms pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony.
Silver: Explain how pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony are used to create tension.
Gold: Reflect upon the end of the novel.
Lesson Overview:
Do It Now: What are your expectations for finishing the book?
Starter: Explanation of pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony– how does that impact your expectations?
Activity 1: Reading focus for chapter 19.
Activity 2: Chapter 19 reflection followed by class questions for teacher.
Activity 3: Chapter 20 reflection.
Plenary: Questions on a post-it note.
Freebies:
Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here.
A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here.
If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. .
Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.