This is a full informal mock of paper 1 for the AQA GCSE English Language exam based on an extract from The Hobbit. It comes with a full powerpoint with warm ups and starters. This powerpoint can be printed off or converted to a more formal paper version of a mock if you wish to use it in that way. The starters include a group task, a look at the trailer and a look at a short you tube video called Thug Notes which break down the plot and some of the main themes. Be advised that Thug Notes does contain some adult themes and low level adult language. As I teach 16 + this is fine as a resource but if this is not the case for your class you can stick to the trailer or use an alternative. Hope it helps

This is a full informal mock of paper 1 for the AQA GCSE English Language exam based on an extract from To Kill a Mockingbird. It comes with a full powerpoint with a video starter from Thug Notes. Be advised that Thug Notes does contain some adult themes and low level adult language. As I teach 16 + this is fine as a resource but if this is not the case for your class you can stick to the trailer or use an alternative. This powerpoint can be printed off or converted to a more formal paper version of a mock if you wish to use it in that way. Please keep in mind the TES previews can at time distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

A fun and engaging lesson which can be used in the run up to Halloween, although it can work at any time of the year. I have used this lesson for presentations with both GCSE and Functional Skills lessons and students love it as it involves dressing up someone in their team as a mummy and creating a backstory for it. This is a relaxed take on presentations and I use it to introduce and help more under confident students become used to standing up and presenting in front of others, it embeds elements such as working within a team and introducing structure and planning to presentations. This lesson starts with a few fun critical thinking questions and develops to look at Egyptian Mummies and the curses which surround them, there are two videos and supporting ideas boards to help the lesson move forwards and maintain structure but also to help the students form and plan out ideas. This session will require materials for the students to use, this doesn't have to be much as I have often only used bundles of cheap toilet roll, sellotape and cheap make-up from the pound shop ( in many cases students will often find their own materials to add to their mummy). Over the years of using this lesson I have kept left over materials and added to them each year that now I have a small dress up box in my classroom which has all sorts in it, I also take photos of this sessions which are ideal for classroom displays. This lesson also encourages imagination which some students do struggle with and so I find that Question 5 from Paper 1 on the AQA 8700 GCSE spec is difficult for them. Sessions like this can be used to help develop that skill and recently I have added a piece of independent study in which the students must write up the backstory they created for their mummy up as a piece of creative writing in practice for P1:Q5. Hope it helps

One of the ways I try to bring English to life for my students is to show them how versatile English is by embedding it into a wide range of topics. I like to choose topics which will engage or strike a cord with my students. One of my sessions which has done this is this one, which looks at the ever increasing problem in the UK, the illegal trade in primates. This lesson is designed for those classes which are " slow burners" with the aim of slowly introducing a topic and building towards the practice exam question. Although Q3 from Paper 2 is based on a period piece of text, this lesson uses a modern text to help first develop the skills in learning, identifying and analysing language features before moving onto older / tricker texts, as in my experience…an older text tends to throw students and will lower their confidence or willingness to engage. The trick here is to show students that there is no difference in the skill used, just a difference in the text provided. This is a complete lesson with enough interesting and engaging material for a 3 hour session. It comes with a power point full of group /paired / individual tasks and starter and self / peers assessment activities. Also included are 2 worksheets and 3 short video clips. This lesson hopefully will build your students confidence in tackling this question, despite the era the text may come from. The theme of this lesson goes down well with students as it is based around the UK pet trade in small monkeys and is designed to help raise cultural awareness and British Values in animal welfare within young people. Due to this, this lesson can be expanded upon if needs be to include a group debate or discussion to hit the criteria of the speaking and listening element of the spec. Please be aware that the TES preview distorts the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection, hope it helps

I have decided to share his resource because it was a great success with my students and managers, who turned from a personal resource to a departmental resource. This came about because I decided to try and encourage my students to read more, as they don’t read anything that isn’t on Facebook or Snapchat, by creating this 28 page booklet filled with extracts from Literature to give to them at the start of the year. This worked very well as the extracts are all at different lengths and difficulty and also features extracts from modern literature such as Harry Potter and older texts such as Wuthering Heights. I found that this helped my students become more familiar with the texts they may get in the live exam, therefore preparing them from day 1. This is a great resource to have on the students tables or around the classroom for the students to look at at their leisure or to refer to in your classes, which is something both Ofsted and my department managers praised. I also gave a few copies to have in the college library which helped to extend the English / GCSE section and helped to engage a wider college interest in supporting English. From a teachers point of view, this booklet is very useful for helping you cut down on your planning time as you have a bank of sources which you can use either as the core of your session or as an extension, starter or homework tasks. This booklet was also extremely helpful for revision purposes and drop in workshops as we got closer to the big day. The booklet contains extracts from many works of fiction which have been turned into movies or TV shows to help engage your class. Extracts include The Hunger Games, The Help, The Handmaids Tale, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984. It also has older texts such as Frankenstein, an extract from the original manuscript by Solomon Northup which inspired the movie “12 Years a Slave”. Many of the extracts can be used to embed other topics such as equality / diversity / race and bullying in to your sessions whilst also underpinning British Values. Extracts range from 2-3 pages in length to short paragraphs and script format to help you both stretch and challenge but also support the weaker students and build confidence. I hope you find this as useful as I did. Please keep in mind that TES previews can at times distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection, which is why I have included some screenshots to help you get an idea of what this booklet contains. Hope it helps.

This is a fun quick paced lesson designed to introduce paper 2 from EDEXCEL to your students. We look at the idea of creating a bucket list and focus on the use of language/structure and introduce counter arguments to help when answering question 8/9. There are lots of group activities in where they think and create their own bucket list, breakdown an article, work on counter arguments and eventually create their own persuasive article, encouraging reader to create and actually do their own bucket list. This session comes with the whole lesson on powerpoint, starter worksheets and 4 core lesson worksheets. Please keep in mind that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This session can be used as a mock exam or as a progress assessment on Edexcels Paper 1. It comes with a full powerpoint in which each of the reading questions is answered and explained alongside a peer marking activity. It is designed to be student centered and supportive rather than frightening and off putting- as we know students do not always like mock exams. There is a 4 page helpful handout to support students with the questions and a paper copy of the assessment. Starters include a paired activity recapping / giving a summary of the exam paper and a break down of each question along with a short clip from the movie. I have engineered this session to be completed individually but it can also be used as a team / workshop session in where students work together through each question and help each other learn. Please keep in mind that TES previews can distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This 5 page questions worksheet is based on the new book by Philomena Cunk -“Cunk on Everything”. Although this is a modern, comedic text, I often find that by using resources from current pop culture helps students to engage with English and helps learning or consolidation of learning take place , it also helps to give a light hearted and fun tone to your classroom however I mostly like to use resources such as these to help show students that what they learn in English is relevant and used in the everyday / real world and not just the classroom. This resource can be used with any exam board but I would suggest that some prior teaching on structural features take place first. The resource focuses primarily on the use of structural features within the extract and uses a range of questioning techniques which allows for differentiation of all levels and can be used in pairs / small groups or as an individual task. It ends with a final exam style question focusing on the structural question within the GCSE exam. You could use this resource as a part of the lesson, homework or as an extension. Please keep in mind that TES preview can distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This resource is developed to allow scaffolding and differentiation. I have used a review of The Hunger Games and structured questions, based on the L1 and L2 reading papers. One is a scaffolded and chunked piece of reading, breaking the review at each paragraph followed by questions, the other is a full page of reading with questions levelled slightly higher. Resources like this can help the students in class who’s reading skills need further development and are struggling with the rest of the class, whilst also supporting those progressing well in class and allowing some exam practice. Resources can be adapted to suit your cohort and student needs. Please keep in mind that the TES preview is limited, and so I have added screenshots to give you a fuller look at the resource. Hope it helps

Many students often struggle with the freedom to use their imagination, particularly under exam conditions. This resource was created for the AQA specification, Paper 1 Question 5 - create a short story based from an image. However this resource is diverse enough to be adapted to a wide range of exam boards and creative writing skills, from encouraging writing in low level Functional skills English students to developing language features in GCSE students. It uses paintings by Picasso and Frieda Kahlo. It is a team activity which allows for differentiation among levels and abilities by using a scaffold questions system. The activity is developed to allow the teacher freedom to build in specifically tailored skills they wish their students to learn. Encouraging students to use their imagination allows English to be fun and engaging whilst also developing their confidence in the subject, as with this activity there is no wrong answer.

A fantastic bite sized assessment for paper 1 question 3 from the AQA GCSE English Language. This lesson allows for the student to take ownership over their own learning with lots of group work and discussions which are facilitated but not lead by the teacher. The lesson is designed to take all students at all levels through the assessment step by step, allowing students to support one another and to build the confidence to come to their own conclusions and answers. The lesson ends with a quick timed bite sized assessment, which is similar in look and feel to the exam question which allows the teacher to track each students progress on each individual exam question. Hope it helps

This engaging resource fuses poetry and persuasive writing together in a stretch and challenge lesson based around the work of John Cooper Clarke. The idea for this lesson was born from Functional Skills and works well with a wide range of students from various disciplines (eg: Childcare, Music etc) and is easy to adapt to any level. This lesson allows students to have their own opinion and feel confident enough to build their opinion into a well formed piece of persuasive writing, which uses the skills the examiners are looking for. The lesson includes a full power-point with guidance notes, a video and article / worksheet. Tasks include a fun "free writing" starter, fun drawing task, break down of the exam question, team/paired and individual tasks, peer assessment and a self assessment plenary. The session will be lively, engaging and full of exploration and learning. Hope it helps

This is a small introduction to improving your students sentence structures which can be used with GCSE English of all exam boards and Functional English classes. The session is based around a YouTube sensation and TV star Michael Cthulhu who makes"Big Giant Swords". It comes with a full powerpoint, support material and 2 videos. The lesson has group activities and individual tasks and is fast paced. I find this lesson works well with students who have completely disengaged with English or with classes largely made up of male students. As I teach within a college I teach English to students who are in grouped in their core subjects, such as bricklaying or music etc and embedding English into fun subjects such as these helps to break the barriers to learning. It is only an introduction so feel free to tinker into order to suit your students needs or to expand on the knowledge provided. Please keep in mind that the TES preview often distorts the preview and this is not a true reflection of the resources layout. Hope it helps.

This is a complete mock paper 2 for AQA English language 8700 based on two great disasters, 9/11 Twin towers attacks and the great fire of London in 1666. The paper uses sources which were written at the time of the disasters, an article from an American newspaper and extract from the diary of Samuel Pepys. This later extract from 1666 does not quite fit the exam spec in terms of period texts, therefore I have included a simplified version of the extracts along with the original extracts to help your students understand the text. You may want to cover some more of the difficult areas of the diary extract with your students before you set this mock if you feel the need or do some underpinning of these two events to help students put them into context. Please be aware that the TES preview can at times distort the resource and this is not always a true reflection of it’s presentation. Hope it helps.

This is a complete mock exam for paper 1 of the 8700 spec for AQA English Language. The paper focuses on Animal Farm by George Orwell. This resource is designed for you to use in any capacity you feel necessary. It can be used as a formal timed assessment in class or you can take a more informal road and use it as a workshop or as a lesson. The resource comes with a paper mock, powerpoint with a quick warm up / starter and a video from Thug Notes. Be advised that Thug Notes does contain some low level language and some bleeped out words, so you may want to omit this from the lesson if you are teaching younger students or replace it. As I work with 16 + students and adults, Thug Notes is more acceptable . The TES preview can at times distort the look of the resource so please be aware that this is not a true reflection of the product. Hope it helps.

This is a lesson designed around the Flat Earth Theory for preparation for question 4 from paper 2 of the AQA GCSE English exam. This lesson compares two articles from two different writers about this topic. It is designed to help students understand what the question is asking them to do , which is why the sources are not from two different eras, and helps students to break down the way articles are written and how to structure an answer. This lesson comes with a video and support material including an answer scaffold. It is a quick paced lesson with plenty of group, paired activities ending with an independent writing task, starter, plenary, self and peer assessments. This can be adapted to suit your or your students needs. Please be aware that TES preview can distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This resource is a 8 page resource, with trailer, filled with tasks based around discrimination and Harvey Milk - the LGBT activist. The aim of this resource is for you to use, build a lesson around or embed in anyway you see fit based on your classes and your style of teaching. You can use all or some of the resource available based on your needs. The main aims of the resource are: To list three facts about the life of Harvey Milk Discuss different kinds of discrimination and rights. Discuss the effects of discrimination on an individual. This resource is aimed at both lower and higher ability students with scaffolds and different tasks such as comprehension, research task, discussion and summary writing. The discussion task is based on the famous experiment ran by Jane Elliot in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King and comes with teacher notes on how to run the discussion. This is a great resource to use during observations or Ofsted visits, LGBT awareness month or the run up to Pride weekends. It is also a good session to invite youth/support workers along to as they can offer support, advice or help facilitate and add an extra dimension to the session. Please note that TES preview can at time distort the look of a resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a fun, fast paced, team based session which comes with a full powerpoint lesson from start to finish, 3 worksheets and 2 videos. This session covers the main language features which the students will need to know for this exam (DAFOREST / POSHIMP) and addresses not just the terminology but the purpose and job the language features perform. The main aim of the session is geared towards Paper1 Question 5. I use this lesson as an introductory session to language features for my students and build on these key skills as the term moves on. There is enough material to cover a 3 hour session in tis pack. As inspiration we look at an unusual character from the TV show ‘Big Giant Swords’ and use this person to inspire creative writing from the students. Please be aware that TES previews can distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a quick paced and fun filled session with team games and activities. The main focus is on using language to persuade but underpins widening vocabulary and descriptive use. This session comes with the full lesson from start to finish on powerpoint and a 6 page worksheet pack. The lesson starts with fun team games such as Stop the Bus and Guess the Animal ( need to supply your own list of animals). The lesson the steers towards looking at endangered animals and looks at what we can do to help in our everyday lives. This session does assume that students are aware of DAFOREST and POSHIMP language features and leads towards the final task which is geared wards paper 2 questions 3 and 5 of the exam paper. There is enough material to fill a 3 hour session in this pack. Please note that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This quick paced, vibrant session is designed to introduce students to the comparison question on the exam paper. I have geared it towards the AQA exam paper, but can be easily adapted to suit any exam board. To help students become more familiar with this question, this lesson uses the Manchester 2017 MEN bombings as its subject and underpins the message of unity, one love and tolerance. As this is an introduction, it only uses current day articles and resources to ease the students in to this tricky question. This resource contains enough material for a 3 hour session. You have a full powerpoint lesson with starters, paired / team / individual tasks, self assessment plenary, videos, articles, activities and a mini class discussion. The lesson gives a small break down of the exam question and a simple example of an answer to helps students become familiar with the answer structure. The session contains tasks which are achievable at a wide range of levels. When delivering this session, I often will invite youth workers to help support as it’s over arching message is one of tolerance and British values and not terrorism, therefore youth workers / support workers will be a valuable assist in this session and help give a more holistic approach to your students education. This is something both my department heads and Ofsted have commented positively on in the past. Please keep in mind that the TES preview does at times distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. I hope this session helps.