Here is the beginning: Princess Mathilde and Cupid’s Arrow Mathilde knew she looked amazing. But then it was her duty as a princess. She loved being the centre of attention, loved dressing up: the chiffon and silk; the velvet, the fun of display. She was a girl, wasn’t she? She was sixteen. Her father, the warrior king, McArthur Glen the Great, was a wonderful father, she had to admit, but he was still first and foremost a king. And a king is bound by tradition, much the same as a princess. So, today was Suitor Day, when the 16-year-old princess must begin the long and frustrating selection of a husband. They would compete for her in an archery contest. Problem number one: she was beautiful, but Mathilde didn’t want a husband. Problem number two: the suitors on offer, even if she had been in the market to buy, wouldn’t have made her part with a bag of farthings, let alone gold. Jacob the Just from the McDuff clan was ‘duff’ by name and nature, and ‘Just’ about had a brain, was skinny and ‘just’ barely male.

Here is the beginning. I hope you like it. Revolver Impossible colours exploded in her head, her skull, her head, her skull. The images flickered like a strobe light, like Morse code, like a stroke…Christ she was high. No, she was low, so low. The song would not come to her; its words fled from her: birds in a field. Did that make her the hunter? Guns. Revolver. She gazed at her tattoo – the revolver was famous, her first. Thousands of fans had copied it in homage to her music, to her pain. Everyone identified with her pain. Was her pain a drug? It fuelled her writing. She didn’t write happy songs did she? No, her voice was the voice of longing, of longing, of longing…she needed another hit. But she should pace herself. Revolver, and the memories revolved in her head. The album had gone platinum, global, crazy, and her life had changed for ever.

Here’s the beginning. I hope you like it. The Face I don’t think you understand, do you? I mean, how could you, how could you possibly? I suppose, when you look at me, when you truly look at me, you don’t really see what’s there. That’s the point. My eye, how it fixes you with an open stare, how it dares you to look away. You’re not used to that, are you? You remember me. Everyone remembers me. England’s queen of starts, going on the B of Bang. The gold medals, always the gold medals, the impossible comebacks. 2020, 2024. I’m a legend, a national treasure, an inspiration. And of course the honours – Sports Personality of the Year, twice, Dame: Kathy Stringer, invincible, indomitable, incredible me.

Teach all the skills of Question 3 Paper 2 from a short extract. This teaches students how to comment on language features, and relate them to the question, rather than just to name the parts of verb, noun etc. It uses a student’s answer, so that your class can relate to what a student can realistically write - this is a student who began year 11 as a grade 4, and is now at the top of the band. It also highlights in green how an answer should link ideas together, and in yellow what subject terminology actually looks like. Once you have taught the lesson, get students to recreate their own version of the full mark response.

Here’s the beginning. I hope you like it. Dear Bedroom, Two years after my mother died, I think of you. When did childhood end? Was it when I gave the eulogy, told the impossible, hilarious, tragic, extraordinary life she had? There were earlier endings. At five, my grandmother died, and I didn’t speak for a week. You remember me then, in the womb of your white walls, weeping, kicking against the sides, against the tides, against death. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Leaving Spain was another death – when dad left, and mum started dating the bank robber, and the dream of Disneyland died, our savings taking us only as far as Canada – right continent, wrong country. I didn’t say goodbye, or send you a postcard from the border, leaving the sun and crossing into the snows. Nor a photograph, a snapshot of me ballooning to eleven stone: ten years old, and a giant snowball of a kid, out of place. Yes, that was a kind of ending, but really, I think the damage was already done, further back, when you still knew me.

Here’s the beginning. Hope you like it. Something wasn’t right. The van didn’t belong here. It stood out, orange in the sun’s haze, and seemingly brand new. Although it’s windows were clean and unbroken, in dramatic contrast to the house, I could see no one inside. Yet the engine growled menacingly, like some hunting leopard, crouched in the scorched grass. Standing miserably beside the VW was a dilapidated house, squashed and ripped, a toddler’s discarded Christmas present chucked away as soon as opened. The windows, cracked into sharp and jagged pieces, looked out at me like a miserable face. Its brickwork appeared shoddy, built by workmen who knew they wouldn’t be paid much for doing a good job. One sad door hung on its hinges, groaning like a teenager watching a black and white film. Above, the roof sagged and decayed, revealing wooden struts to the merciless midday sun.

Here is the beginning. I hope you like it. The Swindle Kanye was exhausted. Another night shepherding the most photographed woman in the world around the Paris nightlife. Nothing was private. No trips to the patisserie or the boulangerie, no casual stroll to the Eifel tower, no romantic walk along the Seine. No, treats were ordered in; the atmosphere was artificial and air conditioned, in SUVs with blacked out windows. Even the Lamborghini involved endless goes at the outfits, each one posed and carefully styled for Instagram, before he could even turn the engine on. Tanya, the make-up artist, and Tony, the very camp dresser, would be called for 20 minutes before the photographs, taken with professional lighting and made to feel authentic by the hand held iPhone, limited edition – a diamond encrusted gift from Apple. Priceless. Like the jewellery – diamonds from Tiffany’s. Yes, the rich got richer. Everything Kim touched turned to gold, or platinum, or diamond. Always in the headlines, always in the press, but much more importantly, always on social media – Snapchat, InstaG, Facebook, Whatsapp – she might just as well have invented them all. She played them all, like a grand master, moving pieces around countless boards, seeing patterns and moves that took him days to catch on to. She made sure the paparazzi were everywhere, and where they weren’t, her social media stepped in like a presidential campaign. Everything and anything to keep Kim in the news.

Here is the beginning. I hope you like it. The Act of Killing The killings always happened in bright sunlight. The smell of burning hair brings the first killings straight back to me, and I am five again, thirsty in the hot sun – all of us at break time queuing at the well. No running water. Just down the hill, in a hollow, squatted an open shell of a building– whitewashed walls splashed with blood. Once a month, the snuffling pigs ambled up the path, to the pen. They gathered nonchalantly. Then the show started. First, a hook like a giant question mark was stabbed through a snout. The disbelieving pig was pulled, squealing in shock, and just as suddenly, three shirtless men lifted it. The hook fitted onto a rail above head height. Below, a bucket, for the blood. The screaming pig hung from its snout, legs kicking at the empty air.

What the resource includes: How do you get ideas from the news. 8 story writing ideas from the news How to pick a news story to turn into a narrative Model answer using Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Model answer reworked so it is only 500 words long What the examiner wants 8 Things great writers do, explained 9 steps to writing your story

Here’s the beginning. Hope you like it. Amarillo Slim So it happens one time in Mindy’s, which is a favourite with many prominent citizens on Broadway, when I get to talking to Amarillo Slim about this and that. Amarillo Slim is well known to one and all on account of his nose for the Vig. Indeed, many have got plenty potatoes following Slim’s nose and like many citizens, I am always happy to put more potatoes in my pockets. I notice Slim is not holding his whiskey and soda, which is his usual liquor, but is holding a bottle of cola which, as most citizens will tell you, does not offer a good time. Slim talks about this and that, being mostly horses, and five card stud, and I notice he has the Daily Post open to a page that has no horses on it. Slim says nothing about this and I ask him about the disappearing whiskey. He says, “you should try this cola, there’s plenty potatoes here.” Slim is not seen at Mindy’s for some time, but I get to think about him anyway, because he leaves behind the Daily Post open to a page on table tennis, which is little followed on Broadway. Indeed, there are many guys and dolls who suppose it is another name for making eyes and sneaking peaks at each other in a crowded restaurant when plans are made without words.

Not only do you get a great story to teach from, but it is 630 words long, so your students can write the same amount in the exam. Better than that, you can teach how to use the picture as a springboard to writing the story, without them stressing. Crucially, you can teach your students to write a story, under exam pressure, WITHOUT HAVING TO PLAN! The most helpful part is the free video which comes with it, to show you lots of ways of teaching the story to your class. There are 7 useful tips in the video: What’s holding you back in your writing? A fascinating fact about learning to swim and learning to drive, which will help you become a writer! A picture. A story and description. How an expert thinks as they write, which will help you think like an expert. How to have fun in the exam. No, I really mean it! And obviously, how to write a brilliant description or story which will get you full marks (unless you can’t punctuate, but that is another video). As you will see from the extract below, it is particulary useful for teaching boys! “Obviously, the cooler part of my brain, the mixed martial art aficionado part, registered that I was about to get my ticket punched, so obviously I kept on ducking. Unfortunately, as you’ve seen by now, this wasn’t the most active part of my brain and so, like South West Trains, it had arrived a little late, and bam, there it was: fist, face – fiddlesticks.” Although it is in Word, I’ve spaced the paragraphs and font so that it will fill your screen a paragraph at a time, like a PPT.

This PPT is linked to 10 videos on my YouTube channel, Mr Salles Teaches English, so you can see how it works. The idea is that students learn exactly how to analyse an extract, and how to link it to the rest of the novella. Moreover, the quotations analysed and the links made will fit any extract question from any other of the 9 chapters.

The document contains every word spoken by the witches, or about them. Very useful for annotation. However, each page is highlighted with the most relevant quotations. The real merit of this resource is the video which goes with it. Students can take notes from this and consider; The context of Jacobean England. King James and his views on witchcraft. Shakespeare’s possible view of witchcraft. Shakespeare’s politics. The nature of the patriarchal society and Shakespeare’s possible views on this. How the witches mirror Lady Macbeth.

AO1: The Ability to Quote and Explore Interpretations, Including Personal Response The presentation takes students through these four skills: Begin with the author’s purpose Link the author’s purpose to symbolism Refer to the characters as a construct Propose an alternative interpretation Watch my video to see how to teach it.

“An Unknown But Innocent Freedom of the Soul”. This is part of a series of 5 short extracts on Hyde. They will enable your students to answer any essay on Hyde. Each extract is explicitly linked to the following 5 themes. Understanding any two of these fully ought to be enough to gain a grade 7. Referencing more than 2 is likely to propel students into grade 8. Key words and phrases are analysed in each slide and linked to each of the 5 themes. I’m pricing this as cheaply as TES will allow! If you really want a bargain, buy all 5 extracts in the bundle! If you want any help on how to teach them, follow the links to thee videos. Christian Morality Tale Fear of Scientific Progress Repressed Homosexuality Love of the Gothic and Detective Genres Hypocrisy of Middle Class Men

Brilliant though this resource is, question 1 is only worth 4 marks. So, you will lean the common misconceptions students have with this question that prevents them getting full marks. And there is some really useful stuff you can do with the problem of complex sentences. There is a sample question and model answer. But, I’ve really uploaded this so you can get the bundle of Q 1-4 for the whole reading paper. That really is awesome, and at only £5, is probably the best resource available on the TES for this paper. No, seriously, I really think it is.

Teach students how to write about sentence forms. How to narrow this down to complex sentences, and see why nearly any description will have a list. How to write about the effect on the reader. See three texts which use complex sentences in a list. Teach students how good writers use complex sentences with contrast to manipulate the reader’s thoughts or feelings. Apply this to the specimen papers.

This resource includes a typically uninspiring picture. How to plan. How to write a description which lasts only a few seconds, so does not turn in to a narrative. How to select an interesting viewpoint. A model answer, around 500 words long. The marking criteria. An explanation as to why it is grade 9.

This is a comprehensive resource to teach your students how to get 100% in all aspects of the question. It teaches 11 different skills for the question: 1.Highlight the key words in the question which tell you what to look for 2.Highlight the margin of the part of the text you are told to look at 3.Find quotations as you read 4.Name a descriptive or narrative technique for each quotation you use (These will always be about imagery – simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration – and then perhaps onomatopoeia, sibilance, synesthesia, assonance, pathetic fallacy) 5.Refer to individual words in the quotation 6.Name their parts of speech – verb, adverb, noun, adjective 7.Find a long complex sentence, especially one with listed descriptions 8.Comment on the effect of contrast or juxtaposition, which will be in any description 9.Relate these quotations to the writer’s purpose, to discuss their effects 10.Use tentative language, like ‘perhaps’ to suggest your interpretation of the effect or purpose 11.Do not write in PEE paragraphs, but sentences which include embedded quotations It contains several models of how to write about complex sentences, with several practice paragraphs from Kipling, Conrad and Dickens for your students to practise on. It shows students how to model their own writing on that of other writers, using Brighton Rock. Students get to see why knowing parts of speech is so important to developing their own skills as writers. This then makes the job of writing about the effect of language features so much more easy and explicit for them. If you want to try without buying, all the PowerPoint is covered in a video at Mr Salles Teaches English, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/Question2Paper1 This PowerPoint is taken directly from The Mr Salles Guide to 100% in AQA English Language GCSE, which you can sample here: http://amzn.to/2phxxaS

Learn the 12 techniques my students used in getting grades 8 and 9 in the 2017 exams. Use these to show students what to do, rather than refer to wordy and ambiguous mark schemes. Use a PPT with highlighted paragraphs of the full essay, all coded with the 12 techniques. See which 3 skills are demanded of the best conclusion. Also included is the whole essay in Word.