I'm an English Teacher based in Northern Ireland, with extensive experience of delivering the CCEA Specification for GCSE and A-Level Literature and Language. I'm passionate about making resources that are effective, engaging and lesson-ready.
I also teach a little bit of KS3 Maths!
I'm an English Teacher based in Northern Ireland, with extensive experience of delivering the CCEA Specification for GCSE and A-Level Literature and Language. I'm passionate about making resources that are effective, engaging and lesson-ready.
I also teach a little bit of KS3 Maths!
This board game has been designed to support students in their revision of Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls”.
The game is for 2-4 players and will require counters and a dice. The rules to follow are clearly documented at the bottom of the page.
It focuses on character, theme, quotes, plot, setting etc.
There are 96 tasks, including:
Plot retrieval
Inference
Debate topics / justifying arguments
Generating quotes relating to character / theme
Similarities / differences between characters
Character relationships / values
Movement tiles
This A3 document has been uploaded as a PDF for easier printing and a word document if teachers wish to tweak certain parts to suit the needs of their students.
I’d recommend printing it in colour and laminating it.
This detailed 17 slide PowerPoint explores several contextual areas of Shakespeare’s “Othello” as a Tragedy to support teachers’ and students’ understanding of the play.
I have used this in my teaching of CCEA’s A2 Unit 1 module (Shakespearean Genres) to help enhance students’ use of AO3 in their written responses. As students are only required to comment on the Literary Context of the play, this PowerPoint focuses solely on Tragedy.
Areas of Contextual Study include the following:
Definitions of Tragedy
Aristotle and Tragedy
Key Elements of Tragedy
Structure of Tragedy
Characters in Tragedy: The Tragic Hero, The Villain
Conventions in Tragedy
Types of Tragedy: Jacobean/ Senecan Revenge Tragedy, Political Tragedy, Domestic Tragedy
Shakespearean Tragedy
Please feel free to leave a rating, review or any feedback that you have.
This booklet has been designed to assist pupils in their study of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”.
Each chapter has been broken down into separate sections, each with specific questions to help guide pupils through their reading of the novel and extract important quotes to document and analyse in their exercise books / notebooks.
There is also a “Theme Tracker” throughout each section to help students engage thematically with the novel and organise thieir notes.
This detailed 26 slide PowerPoint explores several contextual areas of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” to support teachers’ and students’ understanding of the novel.
This PowerPoint is aimed at A-Level students, but can also be used for high-ability GCSE students. I have used this in my teaching of CCEA’s AS Unit 2 module to help enhance students’ use of AO3 in their written responses.
Areas of Contextual Study include the following:
Biographical Context: Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Percy Shelley.
Literary Context: The Gothic Novel, The Science Fiction Novel, Literary Allusions (Paradise Lost and the Prometheus Myth).
Social/Historical/Cultural Context: Age of Enlightenment, The Romantic Period/Romanticism, Scientific Discoveries and Ideas (Galvinism), Social Unrest, Gender.
Please feel free to leave a rating, review or any feedback that you have.
This detailed 15 page A3 size document has been developed to assist both students and teachers in their understanding of the characters in “An Inspector Calls”.
Each character is designated 2 A3 sheets, with comprehensive lists of interpretations, notes and quotes. Each character has been split up into relevant themes and topics to assist in revision.
There are also approximately 10 exam questions for each character to help pupils apply the notes, quotes and their own understanding.
As this document goes through every character, there will inevitably be some overlap.
An A4 PDF version of this document has also been included for easier printing.
Characters/Topics/Themes include:
The Inspector: Responsibility to others / collective responsibility, Responsibility for actions, How the Birlings respond to the Inspector, Approach to the investigation, Views on Social Class, Physical Description
Mr Birling: Relationship with his family, Responsibility, Sheila’s engagement to Gerald, Reaction to the investigation, Social Class, Treatment of Eva / his workers, physical description.
Mrs Birling: Relationship with her family, responsibility, Treatment of Eva/Daisy, Reaction to the Investigation, Social Class, Initial description.
Gerald: His relationship with Sheila, Responsibility, Relationship with Eva/Daisy, Reaction to the Investigation, Social Class, View of women, Physical Description.
Sheila: Responsibility, Relationship with her family, Relationship with Gerald, Reaction to the investigation, Social Class, Treatment of Eva, Initial Description.
This document has been developed to assist students in their revision of “An Inspector Calls”.
For each of the main characters, there is a list of 10 Key Quotes that deal with a variety of themes, reveal characterisation and can assist with exam practice.
A blank copy is also included for pupils / teachers to create their own Top 10 Key Quotes.
This detailed 16 page A3 size document has been developed to assist both students and teachers in their understanding of the characters in “Of Mice and Men".
Each character is designated 2 A3 sheets, with comprehensive lists of interpretations, notes and quotes. Each character has been split up into relevant themes and topics to assist in revision. (Carlson and The Boss share a single page).
There are also approximately 5-10 exam questions for each character to help pupils apply the notes, quotes and their own understanding.
As this document goes through every character, there will inevitably be some overlap.
An A4 PDF version of this document has also been included for easier printing.
Characters/Topics/Themes include:
George: Treatment of others, Relationship with Lennie, Lennie’s Death, Dreams, Loneliness/Isolation.
Lennie: Dreams, Relationship with George, His mental state, Loneliness/Isolation, Physical description/Strength, Interactions with others, His death.
Slim: Physical description / Skill as a worker, Friendship, Power/Influence, How others view him, Views/Values/Beliefs, Treatment of others.
Candy: Dreams, Loneliness/Isolation, Friendship, Treatment of others, Power/Influence/Position on the ranch, Physical description.
Crooks: Dreams, Loneliness/Isolation, Friendship, Power/Influence/Position on the ranch, Prejudice/Discrimination, Physical description/his room.
Curley: How others react to him, Power/Influence, Physical description, Relationship with his wife, Treatment of others.
Curley’s Wife: Dreams, Loneliness/Isolation, Discrimination/Prejudice, Treatment of others, Physical Description, Relationship with Curley, Her death.
Carlson and The Boss.
This detailed 25 slide PowerPoint explores several contextual areas of Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” to support teachers’ and students’ understanding of the poem.
I have used this in my teaching of CCEA’s A2 Unit 2 module (Study of Poetry Pre-1900) to help enhance students’ use of AO3 in their written responses. This can also be used an adapted to suit the needs of students/teachers working with this text for other exam boards.
Areas of Contextual Study include the following:
Biographical Context: Geoffrey Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaucer and Cecilia Chaumpaigne.
Literary Context: The Canterbury Tales, The Genre of The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.
Social/Historical Context: Medieval Society, The Three Estates Model, Gentillesse, The Black Death, Social Mobility, The Peasant’s Revolt, The Medieval Church, Pilgrimages, Women, Marriage, Anti-Feminism, Anti-Feminist Literature.
Please feel free to leave a rating, review or any feedback that you have.
These documents have been developed to assist teachers and students in preparing for their A-Level Literature exam on Shakespeare’s “Othello”.
The first document has 43 essay questions that deal with Othello, Iago, Desdemona, Emilia, Bianca, Cassio, Roderigo and the many major themes of the play.
The second document has been specifically formatted to assist in preparing for the CCEA A2 Unit 1 (Shakespearean Genres) exam. 28 extracts have been selected from the play, each with corresponding exam-style essay questions to assist students in selecting appropriate parts of the play for their written responses.
Please feel free to leave a rating, review or any feedback that you have.
These resources have been developed to assist pupils in their study of 19th Century Unseen Prose for CCEA’s GCSE English Literature Specification.
The first document is a helpful summary that details the different aspects of the text that should be considered by students. There is also a blank version of this if pupils wish to make hand-written notes in the relevant sections.
The remaining documents include a series of questions to help students unpack and analyse the different aspects of an Unseen Prose text. They have been developed to be helpful and comprehensive, but not overbearing. There are a few versions of this:
A sheet with the questions.
An A4 sheet with the questions and an accompanying table in which to type/write notes.
An A3 sheet with the questions and an accompanying table in which to type/write notes. This is to give a bit more space for students to provide more detail.
They can be also be used for work on short stories.
Each document is in Word form for editing and PDF form for easier printing.
Any comments/feedback would be appreciated.
An effective summary on how to use punctuation to enhance the quality and impact of a piece of writing. Useful for functional writing, personal writing and creative writing.
Pupils are provided with possible uses of the punctuation along with examples of each.
Please feel free to leave a rating, review or any feedback that you have.
This board game has been designed to support students in their revision of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”.
The game is for 2-4 players and will require counters and a dice. The rules to follow are clearly documented at the bottom of the page.
It focuses on character, theme, quotes, plot, setting etc.
There are 96 tasks, including:
Plot retrieval
Inference
Debate topics / justifying arguments
Generating quotes relating to character / theme
Similarities / differences between characters
Character relationships / values
Movement tiles
This A3 document has been uploaded as a PDF for easier printing and a word document if teachers wish to tweak certain parts to suit the needs of their students.
I’d recommend printing it in colour and laminating it.
This resource has been designed to assist pupils in their study of CCEA’s GCSE Conflict Poetry Anthology.
The document is split into 16 themes and provides questions to help students generate thematic arguments to assist them in their theme-based exam question. The relevant poems to that theme are also documented beside the questions for convenient comparison and reference.
As this document aims to help consolidate a thematic understanding of each poem, it is is best used after the the initial study and analysis of each poem.
Although this has been designed with the CCEA Specification in mind, it can be similarly used/easily adapted for other specifications that feature Conflict Poetry.
Themes covered: Attitude to Conflict, Death, Doubt, Duty, Fear, Futility of Conflict, Impact of Conflict, Inner Conflict, Loss of loved ones, Memory, Motivation/Reasons for Conflict, Non-Combatants in Conflict, Remembrance, Survival, Treatment of the Dead, Understanding the Enemy.
Poems:
The Charge of the Light Brigade (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
Vitai Lampada (Henry Newbolt)
The Man He Killed (Thomas Hardy)
Who’s for the Game? (Jessie Pope)
Easter Monday (In Memoriam E.T.)(1917) (Eleanor Farjeon)
Anthem for Doomed Youth (Wilfred Owen)
An Irish Airman Foresees his Death (W B Yeats)
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why (Sonnet XLIII) (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
Vergissmeinnicht (Keith Douglas)
Bayonet Charge (Ted Hughes)
Requiem for the Croppies (Seamus Heaney)
Mametz Wood (Owen Sheers)
Last Post (Carol Ann Duffy)
Poppies (Jane Weir)
Out of the Blue (Simon Armitage)
Presentation that prompts pupils to contemplate the themes in Of Mice and Men. Also examines the idea of dreams, The American Dream and the importance of Burns' poem.
This booklet has been designed to assist students in their revision of the Conflict Poetry Anthology for CCEA’s GCSE English Literature Specification and help organise their notes.
Each poem has been designated a page, split into its relevant themes and there is space for students to document thematic ideas about the poems, while providing quotes that illustrate those ideas.
These have been used to compliment the annotations that students have already made in class and help them organise their notes.
There is a Word Document if pupils wish to type notes, or a PDF version for easier printing and hand-written notes.
A template that assists pupils in taking independent notes on individual scenes, and revising key moments, in Macbeth. Proved useful for students struggling to take notes.
This worksheet acts as an accompaniment for a study of metaphors and similes. Pupils must determine whether the provided examples are metaphors or similes, while providing a brief analysis of the figurative language.
I have used this with both 1st Years and lower ability pupils.
This detailed document contains 20 sample essay questions for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, covering major characters and themes.
The questions provided are A Level standard.
This worksheet has been developed to assist pupils in a study of Jessie Pope's "Who's for the Game?". It requires pupils to focus on poetic techniques, particularly the imagery that is used.
Also included is a poetic techniques list with detailed questions to prompt further analysis.
This has been used successfully with KS3 pupils studying poetry and History and with lower ability GCSE pupils.
This document has been designed to help students gain a meaningful understanding of Hardy’s “An August Midnight”.
This document features detailed questions that prompts critical engagement with the poem, while focusing on the effects of poetic devices.
There is also a brief bit of background information on the poem to assist with understanding.
I have used this worksheet for homework and classwork, and it has worked well with students using it individually, in pairs and as a group task.