Reading non-fiction texts

Aimed at developing students’ critical reading skills, Reading non-fiction texts is an anthology of ten literary non-fiction texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries combined with supporting lesson plans and resources.

There are two overview lesson plans for each text, with starter activities, main lesson activities and plenaries which teachers can easily pick up and run with.

What’s included?

• 10 non-fiction text excerpts with a thematically linked ‘partner’ text
• 20 lesson plans and ideas along with 41 tailor-made resources to developed students’ understanding of assessment objectives
• Exam-style questions for AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC Eduqas for every text.

What’s inside?
Introduction (page 3)
Text 1: Jane Austen’s letter to her sister, Cassandra Austen (pages 4-18)
Resource - Jane Austen: true or false quiz
Resource - uncovering context: What was life like in 1805?
Resource - picture clues
Resource - reading non-fiction text analysis grid

Text 2: The Guardian article: ‘Why teaching table manners can do more harm than good’ (pages 19-27)
Resource - summarise and attack
Resource - exploring food, exploring language

Text 3: Excerpt taken from The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves (pages 28-43)
Resource - pre-reading activity
Resource - unpicking imagery
Resource - whizzy wiki: Factsheet on The Elephant Man and Frederick Treves
Resource - attitudes towards the Elephant Man

Text 4: Excerpt taken from My Left Foot by Christy Brown (pages 44-52)
Resource - exploring and comparing attitudes

Text 5: Charlotte Brontë’s letter to her father (page 53-64)
Resource - word sort activity
Resource - whizzy wiki: Factsheet on The Great Exhibition
Resource - Great Exhibition quiz
Resource - letter writing lingo
Resource - what was the Great Exhibition like?

Text 6: Excerpt from A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (pages 65-77)
Resource - comprehending the text
Resource - caption competition
Resource - what was the Millennium Dome like?
Resource - chain of comparison

Text 7: Excerpt from Henry Morley, Household Words, ‘Our Phantom Ship: China’ (pages 78-90)
Resource - the typhoon unravelled
Resource - views about visiting China
Resource - comparing attitudes about China
Resource - attitude adjectives

Text 8: Excerpt from Behind the Wall by Colin Thubron (pages 91-100)
Resource - comprehending the text
Resource - Chinese cultural revolution

Text 9: Excerpt from Charles Darwin The Voyage of the Beagle (pages 101-114)
Resource - quick recall quiz
Resource - attitudes towards the native tribes
Resource - formal and informal vocabulary grid
Resource - close-up on writing technique

Text 10: Excerpt from Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence (pages 115-123)
Resource - pre-reading activity
Resource - the language of pain and suffering