The new GCSE English Language and Literature Assessment Objectives 'boiled down' to 5 CORE WRITING Skills and then those core skills are traced through a hierarchy of competence, using phrases common to new AQA Language and Literature mark schemes (highlighted in bold on the progression maps), linked to the new numerical grades 9 to 1, using the FFT 'refined' model. If you find them of use, check out the Planning for Progression in Reading: New 9 to 1 Skills progression map also uploaded to TES. I hope they are of some use to you.

In this dramatic opening, the narrator describes a man being thrown from a grounded hot air balloon which then begins to ascend. Alone and terrified, in the basket there is a small boy. I have adapted TES contributor Claire Mesher's resource for use with SMART Notebook, as a series of interactive slides to aid your teaching of this specimen exam paper Q by Q, for Qs 1 to 4. Also, I have added a model response to Q3: Structure demonstrating how pupils can apply subject specific terminology appropriately as this is mentioned in every band on the AQA mark scheme for this question. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! Thanks :)

Courtesy of @MrsLCavalier who provided the source texts over on Twitter (via @Team_English1), I have produced an AQA English Language Paper 2 Walking Talking mock exam via SMART Notebook slides, complete with reminders about the focus of each Q; the timings; how to approach each Q; exemplar responses and Q by Q slides with interactive timers. PLEASE NOTE: If you don't use SMART Notebook interactive whiteboards in your school, you can download a FREE SMART Notebook viewer which enables you to open and view/project the slides in a format that it akin to Powerpoint. (Occasionally, due to formatting glitches some of the graphics or text can go a little wonky!) Or you can just download the source texts and the question paper. It is hoped that this is of use to you and your colleagues. Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review. Matt :)

Quite simply, using the key word skills hierarchy 'descriptors' from the new AQA English mark schemes, I have produced comment banks which teachers might wish to use in their report writing which address all of the AOs for READING. The key word descriptors are as follows: 'simple and limited', 'some attempt', 'describes', 'clearly explains', 'explores and analyses' and 'evaluates.' These comment banks could be imported into whole-school assessment reporting, tracking and recording software like SIMS to make report writing easier. If you find this resource useful, check out the Comment Banks for WRITING skills, too.

A practice exam paper for new AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A: 20th C fiction extract with Qs 1 to 4. In this extract, set in Newcastle during World War 2, a young boy named Chas McGill discovers something extraordinary in the woods near his home. Originally designed for use with pupils in Y7, to introduce the format of the new exam paper and to practise the skills tested by the exam. I thought this text quite accessible and hoped it might appeal to boys. The SMART Notebook slides are designed to assist your teaching of Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. The 4 exam Qs follow the format of those in the approved AQA specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of AQA practice exam Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! I hope they are of some use to you! Matt :)

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing The extract is taken from Roald Dahl’s short story, 'The Landlady', written in 1959. UPDATED APRIL 2017: The REVISED SMART Notebook slides are designed to enable you to teach the resource Q by Q and include a new Q3 key terminology matching starter; a model Q3 response and a new Q4 slide. In this extract, a teenage boy named Billy Weaver has travelled from London to Bath to begin a new job, working for a bank. He is looking for a cheap hotel or a Bed & Breakfast to stay in until he can find more permanent accommodation. The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you!

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing UPDATED: APRIL 2017 -included is a REVISED series of SMART notebook slides to teach Q by Q in class, which can be unlocked and adapted for other Paper 1A practice exam papers I have uploaded to the TES site, all available free of charge, including a new Q3 key terminology matching starter; a modelled response to Q3 structure and a new Q4 slide. This extract is taken from Ray Bradbury’s short story, 'The Whole Town's Sleeping', written in 1950. In this extract, a woman is walking home alone after watching a film at the cinema with friends. She fears that she is being followed and descends into a state of paranoia and terror. Is someone really following her, or is it just her imagination? The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice papers for Paper 1 AND 2 to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself and leave a review. Thanks! I hope this is of some use to you.

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice AQA Paper 1s, using extracts from: To Kill a Mockingbird, War of the Worlds, Skellig, The Hobbit, The Monkey's Paw, The Sniper, Buddy, Dracula, Z for Zachariah, The Pearl and Frankenstein, as well as several differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers with SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching, Q by Q! Help yourself and please leave a review.

Attached are a couple of context based exam questions I have mocked up for use with the NEW AQA English Literature Paper 1: 19th C Novel, which invites students to write about the "here" and "elsewhere" to show their understanding of the novel as a whole. One practice paper invites discussion of attitudes to Christmas in the novel The other paper invites discussion of how Dickens presents ideas about poverty in the novel. The length of extract as stimulus and the format and wording of the Qs adheres to the format published by AQA on their specimen paper. Hope they are of some use. Matt :)

Using an autobiographical extract from the perspective of a passenger onboard the Titanic and an online fact file written by teens for teens over 100 years later, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is perspectives of the sinking of RMS Titanic. I have adapted the autobiographical text ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, this could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of PEE paragraphs where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how language is used to convey the author's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. All are available FREE at my 'shop'. Help yourself! Matt :)

NEW AQA English Language Paper 1: 'REGENERATION' by Pat Barker, 1993 UPDATED: APRIL 2017 to include a Q3 key terminology matching starter activity, a model Q3 response and a new Q4 slide. In this dramatic extract, a soldier named Prior is in hospital suffering from shell-shock. Under hypnosis he revisits the event which resulted in his inability to speak. I have created a series of SMART Notebook slides to accompany TES contributor Claire Mesher's practice exam paper, so that you can teach this extract and Qs 1 to 4 interactively, supplying also a model response to Q3 where the focus is on structure and using key subject terminology appropriately. I hope this is of some use. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! Thanks :)

Using part of a Parliamentary speech by Lord Shaftesbury, given in 1842 to the House of Commons and a newspaper article from 2014, both of these texts deal with the topic of CHILD LABOUR in different cultures and in different centuries. I have adapted the 19th C text slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. To follow is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. UPDATE: To view the SMART Notebook slides, simply download the SMART Notebook Express viewer, FREE online. It is a piece of software published by SMART Technologies and is completely safe to use. (express.smarttech.com) I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude Section B writing task is included, but it is not differentiated. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it's of use to you and your students. I've produced ten of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with accompanying SMART Notebook resources, too. Please help yourself and leave me a review! Matt :)

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1A: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing, using an extract from Nigel Hinton's novel, 'BUDDY', published in 1982. Also included is a series of SMART notebook slides to teach Q by Q in class, which can be unlocked and adapted for other Paper 1A practice exam papers I have uploaded to the TES site, all available free of charge. This extract was originally designed for use with pupils at Key Stage 3, introducing the format of the new GCSE exam Qs with a more accessible text. In the extract, a young boy named Buddy and his two friends, Julius and Charmian, decide to visit a house on their street where a murder has taken place. The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! I hope this is of some use to you.

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have simplified some of the original text vocabulary and sentencing, while also scaffolding the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology NOTE: I have uploaded loads of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology NOTE: I have uploaded loads of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

Using a journal entry penned by Samuel Pepys as an eyewitness account of the Great Fire of London and a Guardian newspaper article of the King's Cross tube station fire in 1987, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of fires in the city of London. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 8 of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with SMART Notebook resources too. Help yourself! Matt :)

A Practice GCSE Paper 1 Section A exam paper, using an extract from J R R Tolkein's 'The Hobbit', published in 1937. In this extract, a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins enters the lair of a dragon named Smaug and steals a golden cup. The dragon awakens and is infuriated at the theft of his treasure. UPDATED APRIL 2017 - a set of REVISED SMART Notebook slides to assist you in teaching the 4 exam Qs, question by question. I've added a new Q3 key terminology starter, a modelled Q3 structure response and a new Q4 slide. The Notebook slides can be unlocked and the content easily amended to suit any other text and Qs you might wish to use in the future. Also available FREE at my 'shop' is a highly differentiated version of this paper for less able pupils to respond to. Works well alongside this in mixed ability groups or just for less able candidates. Help yourself - there are loads of specimen Paper 1s and 2s at my 'shop'! I hope this is of some use to you. Matt :)

Using a letter penned by Charles Dickens as a survivor of a terrible rail disaster and a newspaper article 15 years after the Paddington rail disaster, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of rail disasters. I have adapted Dickens’ letter ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of this resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 8 of these differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop'. Please help yourself! Matt :)