Using an extract from Conan-Doyle's non-fiction, "The Edge of the Unknown" and an article taken from the Discovery Channel online newsdesk, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is belief in ghosts. I have adapted the texts, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of a PEE paragraph where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how it conveys the writer's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. SMART Notebook slides are also included for whole-class interactive teaching of the resource. Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from JRR Tolkein's "The Hobbit" (1937), simplifying some of the vocabulary and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I've also designed and included a series of SMART Notebook slides for interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language to describe the dragon and its lair Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Skellig, A Christmas Carol, The Monkey's Paw, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Machine Gunners, Buddy and Z for Zachariah. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen AQA 9 to 1 Language exam Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers now, using extracts from texts including: Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Dracula, Buddy, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sniper, The Pearl, The Monkey's Paw, Z for Zachariah, A Christmas Carol and The Hobbit. Also FREE at my 'shop' are lots of Paper 2s, differentiated in similar ways, as well as loads of specimen Paper 1s and 2s with SMART Notebooks for whole-class teaching Q by Q. Help yourself and please leave a review. Matt :)

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing The extract is taken from Roald Dahl’s short story, 'Lamb to the Slaughter', written in 1953. In this extract, Patrick Maloney - a senior police officer – informs his heavily pregnant wife, Mary, that he is ending their marriage. His wife has other ideas ... The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. The SMART Notebook slides are designed to support your teaching of Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of AQA practice exam Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! Matt :)

The idea for the 200 Word Writing Challenge originates from @Xris32 on Twitter. Inspired by a set of 200 Word Challenges shared by Twitter via @Team_English1, I have produced a number of 200 Word Challenges in the style of writing task typical of the new AQA English Language Paper 2B. You can see a couple of the slides as examples. UPDATED AUGUST 2017: Now includes 50+ slides, created using Adobe Spark Note, each containing a statement to which students are asked to respond, in a particular form and for a particular purpose, AQA-style Language Paper 2B, with some examples of how it can be adapted to other areas of the GCSE exam papers for both Language and Literature! The challenge is provided by the fact students cannot write more than 200 words, encouraging concision, and the response must include specific rhetorical devices listed on the slide as well as a particular word (if given: it's on some slides, not others!) The software package used is Adobe Spark: it's FREE and very simple to use. If you like these, have a go at creating some of your own! Matt :)

A set of five resources, made available on PPT and also SMART Notebook formats, offering students a variety of challenging tasks which demand ‘thinking hard’ about the text. They are useful in the classroom, set as homework or as a revision activity in preparation for the GCSEs Lit exam. Hope they’re useful. Matt :)

PLEASE NOTE: AQA Paper 1A will ONLY use 20th or 21st C fiction extracts in the real exams (NOT 19th C fiction extracts.) These resources were originally created to introduce our 'Gifted & Talented' students at Key Stage 3 to some 19th century classics while introducing also the format of the new AQA English Language Paper 1 section A exam paper. Each exam paper features an extract from a different 19th C classic, including: * Great Expectations - Pip meets Miss Havisham * Dracula - Harker realises he is a prisoner at Castle Dracula * Dracula (alternative extract) - Harker encounters the three hags * Frankenstein - Victor attempts to animate the Creature * A Christmas Carol - Jacob Marley's ghost visits Scrooge and there are also IWB slides to support your teaching of the exam paper Q by Q, for all 4 Qs. The Qs follow the format of that published by AQA in their approved specimen papers. NOTE: I have uploaded LOADS of Paper 1 AND 2 exam papers to my 'shop' and ALL FREE of charge! Help yourself - please leave a review. Thanks! I hope they are of some use to you.

Using a journal entry penned by Howard Carter documenting his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen and an excerpt from Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle where he describes the Fuegians, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of discoveries. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching of the resource. UPDATE: If you do not use SMART interactive whiteboards, to view the SMART Notebook slides simply download the SMART Notebook Express viewer, FREE online. It is a piece of software published by SMART Technologies and is completely safe to use. (express.smarttech.com) I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced nine of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop' with accompanying SMART Notebook resources, too. Please help yourself and leave me a review! Matt :)

Four spreadsheets, one for each of the AQA GCSE Language and Literature exam papers. Input the students’ scores Q by Q and the cells automatically turn shades of red, amber and green, enabling you to see at a glance individual or collective strengths and areas for further teaching or revision. These columns are protected so the formulae cannot be accidentally corrupted. There are 250 rows so it’s useful for either the individual teacher or for use across the Year group. Simply input the scores, the rest is automatic: the raw total, expressed also as a percentage and then converting automatically to the grade equivalent based on AQA’s published grade boundaries FOR EACH PAPER (not overall!) It might help inform your planning or to identify patterns of underperformance across a teaching group or across the department, so you can tailor interventions which target specific students on specific questions. Hope you find them useful.

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from Conan-Doyle's "Hound of the Baskervilles" (1902), simplifying some of the vocab and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I've also designed and uploaded a series of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of the workbook, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language to describe the fog Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, it is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources like this one, using extracts from Frankenstein, The Hobbit, Skellig, War of the Worlds, A Christmas Carol, The Monkey's Paw, Dracula, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Pearl, The Machine Gunners, Buddy and Z for Zachariah. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen exam papers for the new AQA 9 to 1 Language Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available FREE of charge, accompanied by SMART Notebook slides for teaching the exam paper Q by Q. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

A Practice GCSE Paper 1 Section A exam paper, using an extract from Alice Sebold's novel, 'The Lovely Bones', published in 2002. In this extract, the opening of the novel, the narrator - a fourteen years old girl who has been murdered - gives an intriguing and engaging account of the night she was killed. The extract, complete with line numbers and Qs 1 to 4, is produced as a Word document but I have also included a set of SMART Notebook slides to assist you in teaching the 4 exam Qs, question by question. I have included also a model response to Q3 structure, modelling appropriate use of subject terminology and impact on the reader.The SMART Notebook slides can be unlocked and the content easily amended to suit any other text and Qs you might wish to use with your students in the future. I hope these resources are of some use to you. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice paper 1A and 2A exam papers (and also highly differentiated exam papers for less able students) to my 'shop' here on TES and ALL are FREE! Help yourself and please leave a review - thanks! Matt :)

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing. UPDATED: April 2017 - a REVISED series of SMART notebook slides to teach Q by Q in class, which can be unlocked and adapted for other Paper 1A practice exam papers I have uploaded to the TES site, all available free of charge. Q3- STRUCTURE - modelled response and a new Q4 slide. This extract is taken from Harper Lee's novel, 'To Kill a Mockingbird', published 1960. In this extract, set in America during the 1930s, a mad dog has been reported roaming the streets of a small town. The local sheriff, a man named Mr. Tate, has been called to shoot the dog for public safety. The narrator’s father, a lawyer named Atticus Finch, shoots the dog – much to the amazement of his two young children - Jem and Scout - who have no idea their father possesses such skill with a rifle. The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice exam papers for Papers 1 AND 2 to my 'shop' and ALL are FREE! Help yourself - just leave a review. Thanks! I hope this is of some use to you.

Using an eyewitness account of a prison visit reported in The Telegraph in 1881 and a 21st C American newspaper article in support of the death penalty, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is different perspectives of capital punishment in different cultures and centuries. I have adapted the texts ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make them more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of this resource. I have adhered to the phrasing of the exam questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude and an extension task where pupils complete PEE paragraphs, supplying relevant evidence and explanations. I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. I've produced 7 of these highly differentiated papers for Paper 2A now and all are available FREE at my 'shop'. Please help yourself! Matt :)

A 36 page pupil activity workbook for less able students to complete as they study 'The Hound of the Baskervilles.' Also available to download is a set of SMART Notebook slides, replicating the pages of the Pupil Workbook for the purpose of whole class, interactive whiteboard teaching. UPDATED FEB 7th 2017: SMART Notebook slides now also include newspaper report task and cloze activity version. There are a variety of activities including: * cloze activity chapter summaries for almost all chapters * chapter summary completion activities using sentence stem prompts as an extension activity * 'The Missing Boots' - diary entry as cloze exercise and also with sentence stems for extension * Watson's first letter to Holmes, as cloze or with paragraph topic sentence stems as extension * Watson's second letter to Holmes, as cloze or with paragraph topic sentence stems as extension * Newspaper report - as cloze or with some prompts to scaffold more independent writing * Post-reading explanation of aspects of plot devices - applying inference and deduction skills * Book cover design and blurb task: including design task memo, planning page and book cover template I have designed this workbook for use with a published abridged prose version of the novel but as the abridged version is very faithful to the original novel, it is suitable for use with the original, too! UPDATED: The abridged version is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Level-Baskervilles-Pearson-English-Readers/dp/1405862483 I hope this of use to you. Feel free to download the workbook - please leave a review and let me know what you think of it! Matt :)

Designed for use with the NEW AQA, a practice GCSE Language Paper 1 Section A exam paper, using an extract from Liam O'Flaherty's short story, 'The Sniper', set during the Irish civil war and published in 1923. In this extract, an Irish Republican Army soldier - a sniper - is shooting at the enemy. He has spotted an enemy sniper on a nearby rooftop and takes aim. It is a decision he will live to regret ... UPDATED APRIL 2017: so the extract now contains line numbers AND questions 1 and 2 refer specifically to line numbers, adhering more precisely to the format of the AQA exam paper. Also included is a REVISED set of SMART Notebook slides to assist you in teaching the 4 exam Qs, question by question. I have included also a Q3 key terminolgy matching starter activity, a model response to Q3 structure, modelling appropriate use of subject terminology and a new Q4 slide. The Notebook slides can be unlocked and the content easily amended to suit any other text and Qs you might wish to use with your students in the future. I hope this is of some use to you. Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from WW Jacobs' classic ghost story, "The Monkey's Paw" (1902), simplifying some of the vocabulary and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I have also produced SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of the workbook, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language to create suspense for the reader Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Skellig, A Christmas Carol, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Hobbit, The Sniper, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Pearl, The MAchine Gunners, Buddy, Dracula and Z for Zachariah. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen new AQA 9 to 1 Language Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

Inspired by fellow English teachers @Team_English1 over on Twitter, I've produced these essay plan starters for use with AQA GCSE English Literature: MACBETH. The intention is to use them frequently as starters to maintain retention and to develop students' recall skills, which are essential in the context of closed book examinations. I have produced the resource in TWO formats: EITHER as Powerpoint OR as SMART Notebook. Hope it's helpful to you. Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. NOTE: I have produced lots of these differentiated papers now, using extracts taken from: The Monkey's Paw, The Hound of the Baskervilles, War of the Worlds, Dracula, The Pearl, The Machine Gunners, Z for Zachariah, The Sniper, A Christmas Carol, Frankenstein, Skellig, The Hobbit and more. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have also uploaded lots of differentiated new AQA 9 to 1 Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

A new AQA Eng Lang paper 1A practice exam paper designed for use with less able students. The extract is adapted (with some vocabulary and sentences simplified) from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and I have produced some simplified activities. Also included are a series of SMART Notebook interactive whiteboard slides, for teaching the resource Q by Q with the students, adding an interactive element to the Word resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze activity where students are expected to provide relevant textual details Q3a - sequence the narrative events into the correct order to show understanding of structure Q3b - cloze activity modelling Q3 response. Pupils show comprehension by correct selection. In their own published Key Stage 3 English AQA test papers, Q3 is tested by pupils sequencing a series of statements in the correct order so I have adhered to this format. I know that pupils will not be given this level of support in their GCSE exam but they still need access to differentiated material and activities in order to make sufficient progress to be able to access the questions on the GCSE paper. I hope this is of help to those of you who teach students whose literacy is a real barrier to accessing this new exam paper and have now uploaded lots of others like this one. If you like this resource, I've created lots of other differentiated papers like this one, using extracts from the following novels or short stories: War of the Worlds, Dracula, To Kill a Mockingbird, Skellig, The Pearl, The Machine Gunners, Buddy, Z for Zachariah, The Sniper, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Monkey's Paw. Also uploaded to my 'shop' and all FREE are loads of typical specimen paper 1 and 2 practice exam papers for the new AQA 9 to 1 English Language exams, with accompanying SMART Notebook slides for teaching Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. Please leave a review and help yourself. Matt :)

A new practice exam AQA English Language Paper 1: 'Creative Explorations in Reading' paper which uses a dramatic moment from 'Dracula' where Johnathan encounters the three hags during his stay at Castle Dracula. The resource contains 4 exam questions which adhere strictly to the format of the specimen paper. Also included is a series of SMART Notebook slides, to aid your whole-class interactive teaching of the paper Q by Q, for textual annotation. I've added a model response to Q3: structure, too. NOTE: If you don't use SMART Notebooks, you can still view the slides by downloading a FREE, SMART Notebook Viewer (which will open the Notebook in a format similar to Powerpoint on your computer). Very occasionally some of the graphic / text moves a little (a formatting glitch in the software!) You can access the viewer FREE of charge here: http://express.smarttech.com/ Loads of other Paper 1s and 2s, as well as differentiated versions, ALL FREE at my 'shop'. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)