Welcome. My resources include CPD self-study units for teachers as well as whole units of work specifically designed for the English classroom. Whole units come with detailed teacher notes, teaching PPTs and all student resources. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I have. Questions are very welcome and I can be contacted at roseandmay2@virginmedia.com.
Best wishes, Sam
Welcome. My resources include CPD self-study units for teachers as well as whole units of work specifically designed for the English classroom. Whole units come with detailed teacher notes, teaching PPTs and all student resources. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I have. Questions are very welcome and I can be contacted at roseandmay2@virginmedia.com.
Best wishes, Sam
This highly engaging unit guides students to delivering an individual spoken presentation on a topic of their choice for the Junior Cycle English Oral Communication Classroom-based Assessment. It guides students through the process by looking at aspects of effective presentations such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk, delivery and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well as group discussions and opportunities to try out a variety of techniques. Students then research, plan, and rehearse their talks before delivering their presentations to the class. A nicely presented 43 slide PPT is included as well as all seven student resources in both word and pdf formats. I hope you enjoy teaching this unit. Best wishes, RoseandMay
This bundle includes six self-study CPD units which cover major areas of the English secondary curriculum and are ideal for PGCE students, SCITT trainees, NQTs and recently qualified teachers. The units are as follows:
Bringing Shakespeare to Life
How to Teach Imaginative and Descriptive Writing
How to Teach Poetry
How to Teach the Class Novel
How to Teach Non-fiction
How to Improve Boys’ Writing
I have also added a generic unit called ‘Creating the Positive Classroom’ to help you create a positive learning environment from the start of the year.
Each unit is designed for self-study with opportunities for trying out new and practical ideas in your own classroom and reflecting on their success. It introduces a wide variety of active approaches to learning to help engage your pupils. All units are relevant for both Key Stage 3 and 4. Please note these units have also been published by Anspear as a mobile app and on-line via their web portal.
This bundle includes four CPD self-study units which are designed to support early career teachers in creating a positive and engaging learning environment.
The units are:
Creating the Positive Classroom
Assessment for Learning
How to Plan and Design lessons
Developing Active Reading Strategies
Improving Writing Across the Curriculum
Each unit includes tried and tested practical ideas drawn from research and teaching experience which can be taken straight into the classroom.They are generic and aimed at trainee teachers across the secondary curriculum. By working through these units you can build your teaching repertoire helping to develop key skills and increase student engagement. They include opportunities for reflection and suggestions for next steps to help develop your teaching skills beyond these units . Please note that they have also been published on the nimbl platform by Pearsons.
This bundle includes three self-study CPD units for secondary teaching assistants with a focus on literacy. The units are:
Supporting Reading
Supporting Speaking and Listening
Supporting Spelling
Each unit is packed with information and practical ideas. It is designed to help you develop your expertise in literacy and improve the quality of support you are able to give your pupils, helping them to engage in learning, stay on task during the lesson and develop the literacy skills necessary to become independent learners.
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 Leisure Practice Unit
This practice unit is built around the Step Up topic of Leisure for the AQA Step Up to English Component 2 Creative Reading and Writing assessment. It includes a well-presented 51 slide teaching PPT with lots of engaging activities to ensure students develop the skills to complete practice assessment tasks for speaking and listening (group discussion/meeting and individual presentation), reading and writing. All resources are included in both word and pdf formats as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes based on my experience of delivering the unit.
*Please note that the ‘Leisure’ topic was last assessed in 2024 therefore this can only be used as a practice unit.
More Step Up to English Resources
Complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at:
RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources
New individual units:
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit
New Complete Course
AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)
You may also like:
AQA Step Up to English: Grammar and Punctuation Starters
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Creative Writing Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Exploring Practice Unit
This half-termly practice unit is aimed mainly at Gold award candidates however it is also applicable to those doing the Silver award if, like me, you have candidates doing both awards in the same class. It includes a well-presented 48 slide teaching PPT with lots of engaging activities and texts to ensure students develop the skills necessary to complete the assessment tasks for reading and writing. All 14 student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes based on my experience of teaching the unit. Please note that the Exploring unit will not be assessed after 2023 therefore this is a practice unit only.
More Step Up to English Resources
Complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at:
RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources
New individual units:
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit
New Complete Course
AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)
You may also like:
AQA Step Up to English: Grammar and Punctuation Starters
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Creative Writing Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 The Next Step Practice Unit
This practice unit can be used to help students build some of the skills required to then complete the assessed Step Up units… It guides students through the skills required for the speaking and listening assessment (group work task and individual interview) as well as preparing them for the reading and writing assessments with lots of opportunities for discussion and engaging activities. I designed it as a half-termly unit for my own year 10 Step Up class and linked it with preparation for their work placements. All eleven resources used in the scheme are included in both word and pdf formats in addition to a well-presented teaching PPT and detailed teacher’s notes based on my experience of delivering the unit.** Please note that the Next Step unit will not be assessed after June 2023 therefore this is a practice unit only.**
More Step Up to English Resources
Complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at:
RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources
New individual units:
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit
New Complete Course
AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)
You may also like:
AQA Step Up to English: Grammar and Punctuation Starters
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Creative Writing Unit
Welcome to a world of black dogs, goblins and boggarts! This practice unit is built around the Step Up topic of Myths and Legends for the AQA Step Up to English Component 2 Creative Reading and Writing assessment. It includes a detailed 78 slide teaching PPT with lots of engaging activities and both fiction and non-fiction extracts to ensure students develop the skills necessary to complete the assessment tasks for reading and writing. The writing section, for example, includes sections on good story openings, writing dialogue, creating character, narrative voice and varying sentences using a ‘visual grammar’ approach.
All 18 resources with all texts and student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a very detailed set of teacher’s notes explaining how I have used the resources**.Please note that the ‘Myths and Legends’ topic was last assessed in 2024 therefore this can only be used as a practice unit.**
More Step Up to English Resources
Other individual teaching units and complete courses which include teaching PPTs, all student resources and teacher’s notes can be found at:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/RoseandMay101
All component 1 and 2 units are available including new units on ‘Crime’ and ‘Style’ .
This highly engaging unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the Cambridge IGCSE First Language English 0500 with particular focus on building skills in descriptive and narrative writing within the context of gothic fiction. This style of creative response is relevant to Cambridge IGCSE Paper 2 Section B Composition where students are given a choice of descriptive and narrative tasks or Component 3 Coursework Portfolio assignment 2 ‘writing to describe’ and assignment 3 ‘writing to narrate’.
This unit is built around the topic of Gothic fiction and is designed to last 6-8 weeks depending on how many lessons you have per week. It includes a superbly presented 108 slide teaching PPT as well as all 19 student resources and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. It is structured in a way that introduces students to excellent style models of gothic fiction such as ‘Dracula’, ‘The Woman in Black’ and ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ and builds writing skills through short-burst writing activities before producing their extended descriptive and narrative pieces. Please note that the teaching PPT is in both PDF and PPT formats - as these are large files I’ve added the PPT in two parts as well. Other resources are in pdf - please e-mail roseandmay2@virginmedia.com if you would like me to send any resources in a different format.
You may also like:
Cambridge IGCSE English Language: Speaking and Listening Unit
This unit prepares students for their Cambridge IGCSE Speaking and Listening test (individual talk and conversation) on a specific topic agreed with their teacher. It guides students through the whole process by looking at aspects of effective talks such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk and responding to questions. A 40 slide PPT is included as well as all eight resources in both word and pdf formats and a detailed set of teacher’s notes.
This half-termly unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the CCEA GCSE English Language Unit 4 Creative writing. The unit focuses specifically on developing narrative writing skills by looking at good and engaging models of texts and identifying successful features before moving to students composing their own creative pieces. I have included a 53 slide teaching PPT plus all eleven resources in both word and pdf formats. This unit is accompanied by a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you and your students enjoy this unit.
This unit of work is designed to help prepare students for Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Language with particular focus on Component 2 or 3 Imaginative writing. It explores descriptive and narrative writing within the context of gothic fiction, looking at good models of texts and exploring successful features before moving to students composing their own creative pieces.
This unit is built around the topic of Gothic fiction and is designed to last 6-8 weeks depending on how many lessons you have per week. It is structured in a way that introduces students to excellent style models of gothic fiction and builds writing skills through short-burst writing activities before moving towards extended written responses.
The superbly presented 104 slide teaching PPT is included in PPT and PDF format with all 19 resources in PDF. Please contact me on roseandmay2@virginmedia.com if you would like any resource in another format.
This half-termly unit of work is designed to help prepare students for SQA National 5 English with particular focus on the Component 3 creative writing task. The unit will help explore and develop key writing skills such as narrative voice, openings and endings, writing dialogue and effective description. Students will explore good models of texts and identify successful features before moving to planning and composing their own piece of creative prose fiction for their portfolio. I have included a 52 slide teaching PPT plus all eleven resources in both word and pdf formats. This unit is accompanied by a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you and your students enjoy this unit.
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. It is aimed at a first year Junior Cycle class and may also be a suitable unit for a second year class depending on ability. A well presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources.
Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include:
Writing
Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate.
Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate.
Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work
Reading
Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text.
I enjoyed teaching this unit and hope you do too.
Australian curriculum-aligned resource - Narrative and Descriptive Writing for Years 6-7
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. It is ideal for a Year 6-7 class. A well presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources.
I enjoyed teaching this unit and hope you do too.
This teaching bundle includes a highly engaging and enjoyable unit on narrative and descriptive writing as well as a series of starter lessons on grammar and punctuation which can be delivered in 10-15 minute starter activities at the beginning of each lesson. They are ideal for Years 8-9. The teaching units come with well-presented teaching PPTs as well as all resources for students and detailed sets of teacher notes based on my own experience of delivering these units. The bundle also comes with a self-study professional development unit on teaching creative writing. Both teaching resources are also available as separate units. I hope you enjoy teaching them.
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed for Entry Level 3 students who are required to complete a piece of narrative writing for Unit 5 English through Prose. It supports them in actively exploring and enjoying narrative extracts, looking at models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses in the style of the writing assessment. A well presented 71 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources
This engaging and enjoyable Junior Cycle English teaching unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Heroism with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as locating information, inference, commenting on structure and comparison as well as key narrative writing skills such as opening and ending a story, writing direct speech, varying sentences, improving vocabulary and planning. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction texts including 'Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’, Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. It is ideal for a First or Second Year Junior Cycle class. All 17 well-presented student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a 68 slide teaching PPT and a set of detailed teacher’s notes.
Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include:
Reading
3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to
texts.
7. Select key moments from their texts and give thoughtful value judgements on the main character.
8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images.
Writing
3. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage.
5. Engage with and learn from models of written language use to enrich their own written work.
7. Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images.
This engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help build the skills necessary for success in both group discussions and in making a presentation to the class. It is a discussion based unit and explores skills such as asking questions, leading a discussion, researching and planning a presentation. It leads to two activities, a ‘meeting’ in which students discuss setting up a series of lunchtime clubs for other students followed by an individual presentation in which students showcase their own plans for a school club. I have included a set of detailed teacher’s notes, a well-presented 44 slide teaching PPT and all student resources in both word and pdf format. I hope your students enjoy taking part in this unit.
Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include:
Know and use the conventions of oral language interaction, in a variety of contexts, including class groups, for a range of purposes, such as asking for information, stating an opinion, listening to others, informing, explaining, arguing, persuading.
Engage actively and responsively within class groups in order to listen to or recount experiences and to express feelings and ideas.
Listen actively in order to get the gist of an account or presentation noting its main points and purpose.
Deliver a short oral text, alone and/or in collaboration with others, using appropriate language, style and visual content for specific audiences and chosen purposes.
7.Choose appropriate language, style and visual content for specific audiences and chosen purposes.
This unit is designed to teach key reading and writing skills in the context of travel literature and to help build some of the key skills required when studying non-fiction texts. It moves from reading to writing and is based on the study of a number of short travel extracts from writers such as Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban and Dervla Murphy. Outcomes include analytical as well as creative writing. All ten resources including key texts are included as are a set of detailed teacher’s notes and a nicely presented 42 slide PPT.
Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include:
Reading
3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts.
8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text.
11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect.
Writing
Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate.
Discuss their own and other students’ written work constructively and with clear purpose.
Write for a variety of purposes, for example imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate, inform, explain.
Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images.
I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.
Creative Writing and Reading - Gothic Horror Unit
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Gothic Horror with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as inference and comparison as well as key writing skills such as opening a story, writing direct speech, using narrative voice and varying sentences. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction including W W Jacobs’ ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ and information texts on the London Burkers (body snatchers!) All 12 student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a nicely presented 50 slide teaching PPT and a set of detailed teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.
Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include:
Reading
3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts.
4. Use an appropriate critical vocabulary while responding to literary texts.
8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words.
Writing
Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate
Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine.
Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work.
Use and apply their knowledge of language structures, for example sentence structure, paragraphing, grammar, to make their writing a richer experience.