This straightforward task uses an excerpt from Oscar Wilde’s story “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” and the questions are divided into sections echoing many of the reading skills that will be tested at GCSE: information retrieval, inference, analysis of language, analysis of structure and evaluation. Useful as a homework or cover activity. Created as part of a unit of home-learning during lockdown.

This straightforward activity uses an excerpt from Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, “The Horror of the Heights” in which an aviator discovers a new ecosystem at a height of 40,000 feet. The tasks increase in difficulty and focus on: vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and analysis. Useful for homework, home learning or cover. Could be used with a small group to structure a guided reading activity.

This is a multiple-choice quiz with 21 questions, planned for flipped learning so set for homework before the poem was explored - in greater depth - in class. Alternatively, the quiz could be used for a consolidation homework after the teaching of the poem. You might wish to use the quiz to structure a more guided reading session of the poem as some of the questions lend themselves to further questioning and exploration. Answers are provided.

Planned for a year 8 class but useful at any point in KS3, I think. This lesson focuses on the part of the story where Helen Stoner is relating the events of the night of her sister’s death. Pupils are asked to identify the mood of the segment. There is then a quick look at how foreshadowing might be used to contribute to mood (with a hinge question to ensure that all pupils know what’s meant by foreshadowing) after which pupils are asked to do some text marking to identify the language that contributes to the mood. There’s then the opportunity for some modelling to improve a response, ensuring that it explains how and why the language has the effect that it does. After which, and using the whole-class model as a guide, pupils are asked to work more independently on a different explanation.

Lesson 2 of a sequence planned for a year 8 class. This lesson focuses on looking closely at evidence to explain characterisation. The lesson is intended to get the pupils to zoom in more closely as the lesson progresses. The focus in the text is the part of the story where Helen Stoner is telling Sherlock Holmes about her family history and introduces information about her stepfather, Dr Roylott. There are prompts (in the form of questions) for the explosion of one quotation; students are then asked to work more independently to explode a second quotation, using the first as a model.

This is a short and simple worksheet focusing on the scene from “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in which Holmes, Watson and Sir Henry Baskerville approach Baskerville Hall. There are four (short) sets of questions on vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and explanation of the writer’s methods. I created this as a cover activity but it would work for homework or even to structure a guided reading session.

This uses an excerpt from “Dracula” in which the vampire hunters have lain in wait for Dracula who confronts, taunts and escapes them. There are 11 questions focusing on the writer’s methods and their effects with a couple on vocabulary and inference. Useful for homework or for setting as a cover activity. A useful addition to any study of the gothic horror genre. Alternatively, the question could be used for structuring a guided reading activity.

Created for a less confident year 11 group in the run-up to their first mock exam, this powerpoint makes it clear and explicit which skills are tested and required to answer question 4 on paper 1. The lesson walks the students through those skills and culminates in a model (if one is needed). The text used is from “Frankenstein”.

Created for a year 8 class but suitable at the top of KS2 as well as KS3, this lesson uses the poem “Leisure” by William Henry Davies and asks the pupils to update the poem for their own context. Prior to that, however, the pupils are asked to explore and comment on the effect of the long vowel sounds and the simile used in the poem, being able to explain what is Davies’ message in the poem. My own class worked in pairs to create their own poems and I was genuinely impressed by many of the outcomes! They seemed to find that matching their ideas to Davies’ structure worked as a scaffold.

I created this short comprehension activity for my year 7 class to be used alongside their class reader, "Love That Dog". It uses an excerpt from "The Call of the Wild" describing Buck's kidnap. Alongside the extract are ten questions focusing on vocabulary and understanding. This works as a homework but could also be used as a cover activity. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

A 14-slide powerpoint, taking the students through the Inspector’s final speech with a focus on the features of language and structure used in the speech and an analysis of their effects. Planned for my mixed-ability year ten class, this lesson does emphasise that the Inspector is a vehicle for Priestley’s ideas and messages in the play.

Planned for a year 10 group all of whom have targets of a grade 5, this ppt leads the students through the presentation of Gerald Croft, up to the exploration of his affair with Daisy Renton. Students are encouraged to think about the method Priestley uses to link Gerald to Mr Birling, one way in which the theme of hypocrisy is explored and the way in which Gerald is used to explore the idea of different attitudes and values across generations.

This lesson uses the excerpt in which Mrs Joe is introduced. Students are asked to work through 3 of Dickens’s methods for characterisation: contrast, symbolism (specifically, the symbol of Mrs Joe’s apron) and the use of a semantic field. Through a mixture of questioning and discussion, pupils are guided through some ideas about the effect of these methods. Thereafter, they are asked to write a response to this question: Explain how Dickens uses contrast, the symbol of the apron and a semantic field to create the character of Mrs Joe. The final slide of the powerpoint is a self-assessment grid.

A basic comprehension activity on “Snow” by Walter de la Mare. There are ten questions focusing on the writer’s methods and their effect. Originally created as a homework. Could also be used as a cover activity, for exclusion work or for distance learning.

This is an activity that I created for a year 7 class as part of their home learning. It uses an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland in which Alice meets the Caterpillar and a worried pigeon. There are five tasks, four for reading and one for writing. The reading tasks increase in difficulty and focus on (in turn) information retrieval, inference, analysis and evaluation. The writing task asks the children (hopefully inspired by the extract) to write a short descriptive piece, describing the landscape of a dream. Could be used for cover or set as homework.

I created this powerpoint as part of a home learning pack for a year 7 class but it could be adapted for classroom use. It uses Lewis Carroll’s acrostic poem spelling out the name of Alice Liddell, his muse. The powerpoint has 9 teaching slides (the tenth is merely a title slide). The start of the learning asks the pupils to do some research and find answers to these questions: Who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”? What is an acrostic poem? Write down an example of an acrostic poem. What is a muse? Slide 3 has some context about Carroll and the afternoon that gave rise to the story of Wonderland. Slides 4, 5, 6 and 7 use questioning to look at extracts from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” with a focus on dreaming and the attitude of Alice’s older sister towards Alice, reality and growing up. Slides 8 and 9 explore the poem. Slide 10 asks the pupils to write their own acrostic poem about someone (real or fictional) who’s important in their life.

This is a straightforward multiple-choice quiz (answers provided) on Sara Teasdale's "There Will Come Soft Rains". There are 14 straightforward questions. Could be set for homework either after having studied the poem or as a pre-reading activity to identify any gaps that need particular focus in the lesson. Could also be used to structure a guided reading activity, in which case you will find that several of the questions invite follow-up questioning.

This multiple choice quiz has answers provided and there are 21 questions on Robert Graves’ poem, “The Leveller”. This could be used for flipped learning or pre-reading so that gaps in knowledge and understanding can be identified and then made the focus of subsequent teaching. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session. Useful for homework or home learning.

This could be used as a walking/talking mock exam. It’s a very straightforward powerpoint with example questions 1, 2, 3 and 4 from paper 1 of the AQA English Language exam. The powerpoint presents the questions and little more - there is some guidance to remind students how to approach question 2 and the Word document containing the extract has space on the right for students to make notes to help them answer question 3. The text used is pre-1914 so no worries about copyright infringement.

Created for students to build confidence in reading texts written prior to 1914, this is an account from Henry Mayhew’s “London Labour and the London Poor” of an interview with a child working as a mudlark. Useful alongside the study of “A Christmas Carol” as another insight into poverty in the 19th century. There are 11 multiple-choice questions here (answers provided). The questions are intended to be straightforward but the Word document is easily editable for you to add or remove questions or change the level of difficulty to suit your own class. This could be used as a homework or a pre-reading activity so that students are already familiar with the text before you use it in class. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Some questions lend themselves to being developed in order to deepen understanding.