English teacher for upper schools with a passion for literature. My resources eschew flashy, clip-art-infested layouts for clean, focused, and advanced worksheets and activities for students and teachers.
English teacher for upper schools with a passion for literature. My resources eschew flashy, clip-art-infested layouts for clean, focused, and advanced worksheets and activities for students and teachers.
This is a set of print-and-use worksheets, activities, handouts and presentation-mode PDFs for J. R. R. Tolkien’s iconic fantasy children’s novel The Hobbit, and more specifically for Chapter 8 - Flies and Spiders.
This comprehensive teaching unit includes the following:
Comprehension & Close Reading Questions for Chapter 8 - Flies and Spiders.
Read & Response Journal Questions for Chapter 8.
Creative Writing / Drama Activity: This chapter can be linked to the theme of prejudices and the ancient feuds between the wood-elves and the dwarves. This creative writing/drama activity (can be used as either type of activity) enables an engaged, critical discussion of a central theme of the novel.
TEACHER’S GUIDE + MODEL ANSWERS for the comprehension & close reading questions as well as slides for teaching the lesson. I’ve also included a DETAILED SUMMARY & ANALYSIS of Chapter 8 as further guidance for teachers, especially useful for those teaching The Hobbit for the first time, or in a homeschooling, DISTANCE LEARNING setting.
NB: I’ve included a range of different (and differentiated) activities so that you can choose what best suits your class of students, and depending on how much in-depth analysis you would like to go into for each chapter. I usually read The Hobbit with Grade 7 students, but this unit of work can naturally be used with Grade 6 or Grade 8 students as well!
Enjoy, and please leave feedback!
This handout focuses on the ‘real-life’ ‘The Wave’ teacher Ron Jones, whose classroom experiment inspired Morton Rhue’s novel ‘The Wave’.
The handout includes an article and interview with Jones, who looks back at the experiment and the aftermath of it all, including Morton Rhue’s novel fictionalisation.
The worksheet includes:
An edited version of the original article by the San Francisco Chronicle
Comprehension questions and activities that accompany the article and allow for pair-work or group-work approach to teaching the real-life, historical context of the novel.
This is a comprehensive collection of NO PREP teaching activities, worksheets, teaching presentations and printout materials for my various pre-reading activities for the iconic play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. You can use any of these activities to introduce the play, depending on your syllabus, group of students, etc.
The play is a particular success with IB or A-Level students, but the resources can be used with any upper school / high school class!
The comprehensive bundle includes:
1. A Critical Introduction to the play, with a focus on providing key insights into the most important aspects of the play, in preparation for an in-depth, advanced teaching unit and in-class study. The introduction also includes follow-up discussion questions.
2. Drama & Improv Activities: This activity uses drama and improv prompts to help students explore familiar scenes from the play, but with a modern twist. Students are encouraged to think on their feet, use their imagination, and have fun as they bring the classic novel to life in an entirely different way.
3. Carousel Discussion & Anticipation Activity: This activity uses various statements related to the play and to current or otherwise relevant socio-historical issues to create an engaging and thought-provoking anticipation activity for reading the play. I find carousel activities particularly engaging for students and a rewarding experience every time. Students engage with key issues that you can return to as you read the play, and it is particularly rewarding to return to questions left unanswered in such activities as the play progresses.
4. NO PREP TEACHING PRESENTATION: I’ve made every effort to include absolutely everything you need to teach these pre-reading activities. An engaging, all-you-need-to-teach presentation PDF is included. Just open the PDF, go into full-screen mode and go through the lesson, including learning objectives, lesson instructions, closing activities, and more! The presentation matches the print-and-use worksheets perfectly.
***Happy teaching!
*Feedback is always welcome!
**
NB: Please do not hesitate to contact me using the e-mail address provided at the bottom of any of my resources, should you have any questions or technical issues with my resources. I am always happy to help and will try to get back to you a.s.a.p.!
This no-prep unit of work is designed to enable an in-depth teaching and preparation of the poem “Rich and Poor or, Saint and Sinner” by Thomas Love Peacock. The poem is also on the IGCSE English Literature curriculum for exams in 2025-2027.
The unit includes:
1) Short biography and introduction to the poet
2) The poem text with line numbers to facilitate a close-reading, and explanatory notes where necessary.
3) Pre-reading & After-Reading Activities (to facilitate teaching the poem & exam prep in class). I’ve focused on metaphor, as Peacock uses metaphor extensively in his poem.
**4) Comprehension, close-reading & analysis **questions, with a particular focus on poetic devices and the IGCSE English Literature exam criteria.
5) Essay questions to facilitate IGCSE exam practice, modeled after the IGCSE English Literature Assessment Criteria (AO1-AO4)
6) In-depth, detailed model answers for all activities, questions, as well as model answers for the practice exam questions, again based on IGCSE Exam Rubric (A01-AO4).
**Happy reading, teaching, studying, and revising!
Please leave feedback!**
This print-and-use, ready to teach unit contains all my activities, worksheets, printables, handouts, answers and teacher’s guide resources for Chapter 2 of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
One of my favorite novels to teach, I’ve revisited and revised my Of Mice and Men resources and included a range of activities for each of the six parts of the novel.
This unit, for Chapter 2 of Of Mice and Men, contains the following:
Comprehension & Close Reading Questions for Chapter 2 of Of Mice and Men
Let’s Get Quizzical! - Quote Hunt Quiz for Chapter 2 of the novel.
Analyzing Characters - Curley’s Wife & Slim - this guided, scaffolded character analysis activity facilitates a close reading & analysis of the initial descriptions of Curley’s wife and Slim, using key passages and accompanying questions etc.
Let’s Get Creative! - Draw Your Own Caricatures - this creative activity, designed to cater to visual learners and to present a different, more personal approach to characterization, introduces students to caricatures and guides them through drawing and creating a caricature of one of the characters presented in Chapter 2. A great alternative way to assess understanding of direct and indirect characterization.
Creative Writing Task - A Diary Entry - George’s Point of View - this creative writing task allows students to step into the shoes of George, our primary protagonist, and to reflect upon everything that has happened in this Chapter and in Chapter 1 through a personal diary entry. This activity provides a guided writing prompt and incorporates Steinbeck’s eye dialect as well, to make the diary entry more authentic.
Teacher’s Guide (Model Answers + Commentary + Analysis) - This is a comprehensive teacher’s guide for Chapter 2 of the novel, and it includes model answers for all the activities as well as a detailed plot summary and analysis of Chapter 2 designed for teachers who are new to the novel, or veterans who wish to gain fresh insights, as well as for students working independently in a home-schooling setting or in a distance learning environment.
Hoping you find everything you were looking for, please leave feedback!
This advanced, ready-to-teach handout is part of my worksheets, handouts and activities for Morton Rhue’s novel The Wave. It is designed to help students analyse and take a closer look at one of the central concerns of the novel: the power of language, propaganda, and how it can be abused to manipulate groups and individuals. The handout includes:
Introduction to the topic (the power of language) within the context of the novel.
Activities - based on excerpts from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf (as a primary source) and what one of the worst dictators of all time has written about the power of propaganda - to show students various persuasive techniques and propaganda techniques.
Follow-on questions for The Wave so that students can connect the cross-curricular historical analysis of the primary source with the novel (this is best donejust after Ben Ross introduces the The Wave experiment)
A teacher’s notes section is included, with a lecture-type guide to the activity, that you can use either as a follow-up or to help you get to grips with the complexities of the issues and to teach the unit with optimal preparation.
Enjoy, and please leave feedback!
This bundle contains a complete set of IGCSE mock exam questions and model answers for all 15 poems of the IGCSE English Literature syllabus 2025-2027. Specifically, there is a mock exam for each of the following poems:
From Songs of Ourselves Volume 2, Part 3, the following 15 poems:
Nancy Fotheringham Cato, ‘The Road’
Sarah Jackson, ‘The Instant of My Death’
Arun Kolatkar, ‘The Bus’
Julius Chingono, ‘At the Bus Station’
Imtiaz Dharker, ‘These are the Times We Live in’
Elizabeth Jennings, ‘The Enemies’
Sampurna Chattarji, ‘Boxes’
W H Auden, ‘The Capital’
Arthur Yap, ‘an afternoon nap’
Elizabeth Smither, ‘Plaits’
Elizabeth Daryush, ‘Children of Wealth’
Thomas Love Peacock, ‘Rich and Poor or, Saint and Sinner’
Musaemura Zimunya, ‘A Long Journey’
Stevie Smith, ‘Touch and Go’
George Szirtes, ‘Song’
For each poem I’ve included:
1. Exam Quesion Paper (modelled after IGCSE English Literature Paper 1 exam. Where possible, I’ve used past paper questions!)
2. Essay Model Answer (as a teacher’s guide and as a guide for marking student responses in a mock exam (or other) setting.
I’ve taken great care to include high quality, authentic model answers that can be used as a way to revise and prepare for the exam independently, too!
***Happy teaching, marking, and revising!
Please leave feedback!*
This advanced ready-to-teach handout uses George Orwell’s famous essay “Shooting An Elephant” (a sweeping criticism of British Imperialism and colonial rule) to give students the opportunity to read and study one of the most iconic and important literary and political writers of the 20th century, George Orwell. The handout includes:
Brief historical overview and contextualized information about Orwell and his experiences in Burma, upon which his essay “Shooting an Elephant” is based.
“Shooting an Elephant”, the full essay text, annotated with explanations of important terms and concepts specific to the socio-cultural context of composition of the text. The essay includes line numbers for easy annotation and close reading.
A range of close reading and analysis questions that are split up into two parts (based on the development of the “story” within the essay.
Extension activity that facilitates a holistic, essay-style response to the central issues of the essay.
ANSWER KEY for the comprehension questions AND the extension activity (sample essay style response).
Enjoy, and please leave feedback!
This is an advanced worksheeet, ready-to-print and teach handout that facilitates a guided reading and provides while-reading questions for teaching the novel “The Wave” by Morton Rhue / Todd Strasser. The reading log includes:
Comprehension, close reading & analysis questions for each chapter.
Particular focus on close reading, analysis of language and its effects, including historical context links, analysis of structure, themes and pupose.
Since most available reading logs and while-reading activities do not go into enough analytical depth and detail, I put together my own reading log that tries to dig a little deeper and forces the students to engage in higher order thinking and analysis skills.
Enjoy, and please leave feedback!
This unit of work revolves around Lois Lowry’s wonderful and powerful YAF novel, The Giver. Included is a Read & Response Journal for the ENTIRE novel. A chapter-by-chapter approach offers students a range of comprehension, close reading & discussion questions.
The journal can be used as a while-reading activity to facilitate students engaging with the important issues raised throughout. The questions can be part of reading homework assignments, can be discussed in pairs or groups in class, or used otherwise as writing prompts.
The unit of work includes a detailed TEACHER’S GUIDE that offers:
Summary of Key Chapters & Plot Points
Character Analysis
Commentary about Central Themes & Issues
Critical Commentary of Language & Style, including Narration & Point of View, Allegory, Symbolism, Setting, Context of Composition & Interpretation, Literary Qualities & Controversial Issues
Enjoy, and please leave feedback!
This comprehensive bundle includes all my worksheets, activities and teaching resources for the play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen.
The bundle includes the following range of activities (and more!):
1. Comprehension Check & Quick Quiz: Various quick quiz activities offer an engaging, scaffolded comprehension check of key scenes or parts of the play (Act 1-3). The activities are also designed to segway into the main learning objectives of each follow-up activity or the main focus of the unit.
2. Close Reading and Analysis Activities: The bundle includes a range of close reading & analysis activities that cover various important aspects of the play including:
symbolism
motifs
themes
characterisation
language & style
feminist criticism and gender*
3. Making Connections / Historical Context: Included is a range of informative texts, activities, etc. that allow students to engage with the context(s) of the play as well as to make connections to key issues and aspects of Ibsen’s life and times.
4. Exam Preparation & Revision Activities: With the requirements of the IGCSE / IB and also the A-Level exams in mind, these activities are specifically designed to teach and allow students to practice key skills required to succeed in said exams. Included is a range of suitable assessments and mock-exam-style questions, also suitable for independent study and revision.
5. Teacher’s Guide + ANSWER KEY: I’ve included detailed model answers and responses to all of the activities as well as a teacher’s guide with learning objectives and recommendations for teaching each unit.
6. BUNDLE BONUS: Roadmap for Teaching / Scheme of Work: As a bundle-only bonus, I’ve included a scheme of work or roadmap for teaching the play using the resources included. The roadmap provides a chronology for reading the play in class as well as the learning objectives and the suitable assessment activities along the way.
This comprehensive bundle aims to include everything needed to teach this challenging but rewarding literary classic.
***Feedback is always welcome!
Happy teaching!***
One of my favorite novels to teach, I’ve revisited and revised my Things Fall Apart resources and included a comprehensive range of activities for the entire novel.
Each unit included in this comprehensive bundle focuses on different aspects of this African classic worth teaching (and standards-aligned)
Examples of the activities included in each unit are:
1. Comprehension & Close Reading Questions for each chapter of Things Fall Apart
2. Let’s Get Quizzical! - Quote Hunt Quiz for each chapter (a great way to quickly review comprehension and reading with students, these quote hunt quizzes can be used as a springboard for close reading and other activities.
3. The Novel In Context - These activities focus on various aspects of the novel’s context of composition and interpretation, including the history of Nigeria, colonization, the role of women, Igbo culture, traditions, etc.
4. Analyzing Characters / Themes / Setting / Figurative Devices / Symbols / Conflicts etc. - these are a range of guided close reading activities; each focuses on different literary aspects of the novel, selected as most appropriate for each chapter. A great way to facilitate a closer look at key aspects of this literary masterpiece and to practice key close reading and inference skills.
5. Creative Writing Tasks - a range of creative writing prompts and tasks for each chapter, allows your students to engage with the story, characters, main ideas, etc. of the story in a more personal, creative, and empathetic manner.
7. Making Connections - these activities introduce/focus on the various allusions/connections made to other literary works and texts in Things Fall Apart, including Greek tragedy, the concept of the tragic hero, and W. B. Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming” (which inspired Achebe’s title of the novel - Things Fall Apart). These are crucial activities and materials to teach a more in’de
8. Teacher’s Guide (Model Answers + Commentary + Analysis) - Each unit of work (for each chapter) includes a comprehensive teacher’s guide, which itself includes model answers for all the activities as well as a detailed plot summary and analysis of the respective chapter, designed for teachers who are new to the novel, or veterans who wish to gain fresh insights, as well as for students working independently in a home-schooling setting or in a distance learning environment.
9. I’ve also included all my pre-reading and post-reading activities and assessments in this bundle!
Happy teaching! Feedback is always welcome!
This comprehensive bundle includes ready-to-teach NO PREP worksheets, teaching activities, revision guides, and sample exam questions for all 15 poems that need to be taught and included in the preparation for the CIE IGCSE English Literature Exams in 2026-2028. Specifically:
From Songs of Ourselves Volume 1, the following 15 poems:
Aphra Behn, ‘Song: Love Armed’
Sujata Bhatt, ‘A Different History’
William Blake, ‘The Chimney-Sweeper’
Elizabeth Brewster, ‘Where I Come From’
Boey Kim Cheng, ‘Report to Wordsworth’
Gillian Clarke, ‘Lament’
Kevin Halligan, ‘The Cockroach’
Seamus Heaney, ‘Follower’
Liz Lochhead, ‘Storyteller’
Charles Mungoshi, ‘Before the Sun’
Katherine Philips, ‘A Married State’
Alexander Pope, From ‘An Essay on Man’
Carol Rumens, ‘Carpet-weavers, Morocco’
William Shakespeare, ‘Sonnet 18’
Judith Wright, ‘Hunting Snake’
Each unit includes the following:
1) Biography and introduction to the poet
2) Context of Composition, including contextual information, or explanation of additional, relevant terminology, literary concepts, movements, philosophies, etc., where necessary or appropriate.
3) Pre-Reading activity and After-Reading activities to introduce the poem and unit, and/or to review key poetic devices and figurative language relevant to the poem. There is a range of activities to choose from that you can mix and match based on your students’ needs or your planning.
4) The poem text with, line numbers and explanatory notes to facilitate a close-reading, and to explain unusual or difficult vocabulary and concepts. Illustrations and images further help clarify the use of terminology and phrases in the specific context of the poem.
***5) Close-Reading and Analysis Question***s that allow your students to analyse the poem more closely and dig deeper.
6) Additional essay questions (often from past IGCSE papers) and writing tasks to facilitate exam preparation. These questions can also be used for mock exams.
7) Teacher’s Guide and Answers for all activities.
8) Perfect for Distance Learning & Independent Study: As a stand-alone, comprehensive teaching unit with answers and a teaching guide, this is also perfect for distance learning, homeschool or independent study and revision!
BONUS! This bundle also includes the following materials designed to complement teaching and revising for the IGCSE English Literature Exams in 2026-2028:
*Roadmap and Scheme of Work for IGCSE Vol. 2, Part 3 Poetry for Exams in 2025-2027
Figurative Language Flashcards
Creative Writing Activity: Free Verse
Creative Writing Activity: Sonnet
Comparative Analysis Activity
Analysing Poetry - SIFT Method Activity
Shakespeare’s Language - An Extensive Introduction
Poetry Appreciation Week - A Selection of Favourites*
Happy teaching and revising! Please leave feedback!
This comprehensive bundle includes ready-to-teach NO PREP worksheets, teaching activities, revision guides, and sample exam questions for all 15 poems that need to be taught and included in the preparation for the CIE IGCSE English Literature Exams in 2025-2027. Specifically:
From Songs of Ourselves Volume 2, Part 3, the following 15 poems:
Nancy Fotheringham Cato, ‘The Road’
Sarah Jackson, ‘The Instant of My Death’
Arun Kolatkar, ‘The Bus’
Julius Chingono, ‘At the Bus Station’
Imtiaz Dharker, ‘These are the Times We Live in’
Elizabeth Jennings, ‘The Enemies’
Sampurna Chattarji, ‘Boxes’
W H Auden, ‘The Capital’
Arthur Yap, ‘an afternoon nap’
Elizabeth Smither, ‘Plaits’
Elizabeth Daryush, ‘Children of Wealth’
Thomas Love Peacock, ‘Rich and Poor or, Saint and Sinner’
Musaemura Zimunya, ‘A Long Journey’
Stevie Smith, ‘Touch and Go’
George Szirtes, ‘Song’
Each unit includes the following:
Biography and introduction to the poet
Context of Composition, including contextual information, or explanation of additional, relevant terminology, literary concepts, movements, philosophies, etc., where necessary or appropriate.
Pre-reading activity and after-reading activities to introduce the poem and unit, and/or to review key poetic devices and figurative language relevant to the poem.
The poem text with, line numbers and explanatory notes to facilitate a close-reading, and to explain unusual or difficult vocabulary and concepts. Illustrations and images further help clarify the use of terminology and phrases in the specific context of the poem.
Comprehension, Close-Reading and Analysis Questions that allow your students to analyse the poem more closely and dig deeper.
Additional essay questions (often from past IGCSE papers) and writing tasks to facilitate exam preparation. These questions can also be used for mock exams.
Teacher’s Guide and Answers for all activities.
Perfect for Distance Learning & Independent Study: As a stand-alone, comprehensive teaching unit with answers and a teaching guide, this is also perfect for distance learning, homeschool or independent study and revision!
Happy teaching and revising! Please leave feedback!