These worksheets contain advised timings and approaches to answering the OCR English language GCSE Paper 1 and Paper 2 exams. As well as including detailed instructions for how to answer each question, step by step, I have included mark schemes and example responses. Pages 1-8: Theory, advice and mark schemes for Paper 1 Pages 9-16: Theory, advice and mark schemes for Paper 2 Pages 17-33: My detailed answers to the June 2023 (Soyer and McKeith) Paper 1 - with exemplar responses from the exam board Pages 34-35: My detailed introduction, paragraph and then planned topic sentences for Question 4, Paper 2 (November 2020 - Atwood and Ballard)

This is an extensive list 16 page list of language (parts of speech, imagery etc.) devices and structural devices (from sentence level to text level) that can be found in prose In it I have included a definition of each term, an example, and then have suggested how to write about the effect of the device. This is perfect for any English Language syllabus, for the Reading Papers, but could also be very useful for the AO2 for A-Level Literature. I have also included some suggestions for analysis prompts at the end.

This is a fully resourced 7 week Scheme of Work for ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, aimed at Year 9s (but plenty of material for KS4 and could be adapted for Year 8s). I have used this with mixed ability classes, so that my lower ability students can access the tasks and my higher ability students can develop their academic writing and analysis skills. The document is 66 pages long and comprises the following: Plot overview task - fill in the blanks - with comprehension questions to test understanding Character recall questions (next to images of the characters from the 1993 film A list of dramatic terminology, with explanations and examples (which can be used for a vocabulary test) A task to do with the genre of Shakespearean Comedy and how the play can be considered one Close analysis and comprehension tasks on: Act 1 scene 1; Act 1 scene 3; Act 2 scene 1; Act 2 scene 3; Act 3 scene 1 Assessment preparation, assessment, mark scheme, and feedback sheet (focusing on embedding quotations and detailed analytical PEAL paragraphs) for a scene from Act 3 scene 1 Briefer close analysis and comprehension tasks on Act 3 scene 2, 3 and 4 Very detailed tasks on Act 4 scene 1, including another assessment preparation sheet and planning sheet, for one of Leonato’s speeches. A newspaper report task, whereby you are a reporter reporting on the marriage ceremony and Claudio’s refusal - this has a brief, a planning table and a mark scheme - mark scheme attached. A creative writing task, where you imagine Hero’s response to the accusations - writing your own script. A focus on Act 5 scene 4, endings and the genre of Comedies. A research task about Shakespeare, the Globe, Tragedies and Comedies A stage design task: pick a moment from the play and design the set for it, giving detailed explanations of your choices.

Revision notes for pupils with a model answer and a path to follow in order to closely analyse language

This is my teaching booklet for the imaginative writing coursework task. In it I have explained the assessment criteria in student friendly terms, and have then set out a series of writing and reading tasks to build up the students’ imaginative writing skills. There is a top mark exemplar, 5 ideas for writing tasks, and a self-assessment checklist for students to use. These skills include learning about and practising varied punctuation, varied sentence lengths/types, varied vocabulary, before we move on to practising how to ‘show’ not ‘tell’. I have then selected 5 extracts from novels, which have excellent examples of certain features that I want to teach students. I have included ideas for ‘tasks’ that could be written or oral tasks that you could use to help you focus your analysis and discussion of the extracts. An extract from Helen Dunmore’s The Siege has an excellent cyclical structure and uses sensory imagery in a really engaging way Extracts from Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast and Michael Andrew Hurley’s The Loney have superb examples of quite gothic, complex and interesting imagery An extract from Susan Hill’s The Small Hand is a fantastic example of a really short piece of writing that builds an ominous atmosphere and ends with a poignant, unsettling and emotional encounter with a ghost The extract Whistle and I’ll Come to You by Susan Hill is taken from the anthology and I’ve chosen it for its use of imagery, setting, contrasts, and tone of voice. I have also included an example of a top mark piece of coursework - it’s not perfect, but it scored in the top band, and was written about the student’s experience when out hunting. Again, I’ve included tasks to help students read with purpose. There are then 4 detailed ideas for tasks that students could do for their coursework. One is based on the Susan Hill extracts, and the others are inspired by ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ and ‘H is for Hawk’ (as it helps students to revise those passages as well!). There is then a fourth task, entitled ‘The Storm’, which has a detailed planning sheet, prompts, vocabaulary and advice for imagery. This was the task that I set my previous class, and they all did really well in it. To complete the pack, I’ve included a planning grid and a self-assessment checklist for students.

A collection of extracts and tasks based on Gothic Literature that includes close analysis work

This is an editable pack with resources on three texts from the Edexcel Anthology: ‘Disabled’, ‘The Necklace’ and ‘Still I Rise’. There is a main coursework question (which you can change if you want a different focus), and detailed comprehension and analytical questions on each text. Most importantly there is advice for essay writing and planning, with checklists and proofreading advice. This breaks the coursework into manageable chunks, supporting the weaker students and providing valuable information for the top end students.

I am an examiner for this paper and have designed these grids to not only make my marking much quicker for my classes, but also to make it clear to them what their targets are and what they need to do in order to gain more marks. I colour code - green for what they are doing well, and pink for their targets. For example, they make well embed quotations throughout, but they might be far too long, so I’ll highlight the ‘brief’ bit to alert them to this. I have also included a tick and target section, because I want students to self or peer assess before I mark - again, this gives me a valuable indication of how much of the assessment process the students understand. You could also reduce these and make them into marking stickers.

This is an OCR Gothic revision pack for students - it is designed for them to work through with the teacher. It contains key quotations from The Bloody Chamber and opportunities to analyse them and link them to Dracula There is a broken down essay planning sheet for an essay about ‘innocence’ in Gothic fiction There is also a broken down planning sheet for a Gothic unseen (- this one is from The Fall of the House of Usher)

This is an introduction to the play, going over the key context points, to provide an overview before students begin to study the text: it covers Rose, Williams’s homosexuality, his promiscuity, the setting of New Orleans, the idea of the Old South and the Southern Belle, as well as looking at stage setting and set designs. There are then detailed slides on how to analyse the opening of scene 1, as well as how to analyse characterisation and stage directions - taking the class up to scene 4. From slides 68-86, I’ve included various notes that I made when teaching this play to my Edexcel cohort - they are conclusions and key ideas about characters/symbolism/relationships I have included worksheets, which take pupils up to scene 4 of the play - these are designed for CIE English Literature, but would work just as well for A-Level (you’d just need to cut the CIE mark scheme and assessment pages).

This a bank of collated resources designed for IGCSE Edexcel English Language Paper 1 Section B: Transactional Writing. There are examples of model essays, my insights as an examiner, as well as examples of texts that students could model. I’ve suggested tasks, used past exam questions, and provided example planning grids for students to use. I’ve also included a punctuation and sentence type section that I use with my classes to boost their writing. The idea is that you pick and choose the bits that you want to cover, or you could just print it as a booklet and work through it over the two year course.

This is a pack that contains work spaces for students to revise key AO3 and to make links between this context and their text. I have selected key quotations for them to revise: they will need to annotate them, link to their second text (for my class it is ‘The Merchant’s Tale’) and link to AO3 There is also a knowledge organiser of context that students need to research for ‘The Merchant’s Tale’ with a bank of questions that they need their research to answer.

This is designed for the Edexcel IGCSE coursework where students have to write about three of the extracts from the anthology. They need to write about at least one poem and one prose text. The poems discussed here are: ‘Disabled’, ‘Out- Out-’ and ‘Still I Rise’ I have created detailed context information, as well as detailed analytical and evaluative comprehension questions, which take pupils through each poem in great detail. There are detailed notes, and questions, on the form of each poem. There is also a writing a planning section: detailed planning sheets, with advice for what to include in an introduction and conclusion, as well as what makes up a detailed analytical paragraph. There is an example paragraph with questions, to help students ‘see’ what a ‘good’ paragraph should look like. The prose passages discussed here are ‘The Necklace’ and ‘The Story of an Hour’. I have made detailed comprehension questions for these, in light of the theme of suffering. Finally there is a planning section: a table with prompts, detailed advice for analytical paragraphs, including phrases and vocabulary, and prompts for what to think about, suggested word counts, and checklists.

This is a pack full of activities: close reading, reading of critical essays, creative writing etc. We begin by considering what dystopian fiction is, then move on to analysing the opening of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. There are some questions based on this opening as well as an extract from David Lodge’s The Art of Fiction - which is a fantastic analysis of Orwell’s opening. We end by looking at observation and surveillance in the novel. Next is a look at Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: we analyse book covers, look at the historical context and then do a deep dive analysis into the fantastic opening. We also look at why reading is important (could do some good persuasive transactional writing practice with this material). Finally, we look at the depiction of the mechanical hounds in great detail and, as well as supported analysis prompts, there is a linked creative writing task with ideas for structure and content. Moving on, we look at clips from Bladerunner - the trailer, the opening and the famous scene ‘tears in the rain’, and the scene where the android realises that she is not human. It’s really engaging and pupils love it. Links to the Youtube clips are included. Finally, there is a copy of the fantastic short story ‘The Machine Stops’ by E. M. Forster - great fun for a relaxed reading lesson. There is lots here for every level of student: engaging visual tasks (book cover analysis, video clip analysis), and more academic theoretical tasks (reading David Lodge, considering the theory of the Panopticon etc.).

This worksheet has been designed to offer modelled paragraphs of introductions, analytical writing and conclusions, in response to a past paper extract from ‘Carmilla’.

Contextual information and close analysis prompts and paragraphs to aid a detailed understanding of form, structure, and language choices. Perfect for Edexcel IGCSE English Language coursework or the exam component.

This pack includes mark schemes, example essays, and essay advice for the OCR English Literature A-Level. Our topics and texts are the following: Gothic, Hamlet, Merchant and Malfi There is detailed exam essay advice for each question (how to approach it, what to include etc.) and an exemplar essay with examiner comments for each component. I’ve included the annotations I made while reading through one of the essays with my class.

In this resource, I aim to develop my students’ analytical skills. We begin by revising parts of speech and synonyms for ‘shows’ before moving on to analysing famous opening lines to novels. We then move on to looking at famous opening paragraphs - trying to unpack what we can learn about character, perspective and setting. The next aspect involves close analysis of extracts from Dracula in which we look at how setting is established, and evaluate it, before we then zoom in on the characterisation of Dracula. There is a fun task involving analysing the movie version of meeting Dracula and discussing changes/additions, and what these add to our understanding of character (e.g. in Coppola’s interpretation, Dracula is wearing a blood red cloak, rather than being all in black). Finally, we have a creative writing task: it is really focused so that pupils concentrate on developing setting and character, rather than getting lost in narrative and plot. They need to describe Harker’s approach to the castle and how he meets Dracula and enters the castle. I have given detailed prompts, a vocabulary list, and sentence types to use. My KS3 set is EAL and SEN, which is why I’ve really scaffolded this task and ensured that the tasks elsehwere in the pack are accessible to all abilities.

This is a meticulously researched ppt, which can be printed as a booklet, that covers the key Gothic tropes established in early Gothic literature: Walpole, Radcliffe, Lewis. I also discuss Burke’s theory of the sublime, and the concepts terror and horror. I have embedded key quotations from the OCR delivery guide and from Sue Chaplin’s book on the Gothic. If you look at the examiner reports for the specification, you’ll notice that the early Gothic is mentioned and that students will be expected to understand the genre’s development and how it originates.

This is a detailed list of key concepts that I suggest should be covered when teaching Dracula for OCR Gothic

This is a booklet designed for revision sessions. You will need to edit it with your own information (e.g. which poems you are studying, which dates for mocks, what was covered in Year 10) but the essentials are there: What each question entails in Paper 1 Language, key pointers for answering Q4 and Q5 and two slides on Speeches and Leaflets (you can add the othe forms: articles, reports, reviews etc.) For CIE, I’ve given an exam overview and space for students to put their consolidated notes for their poems, ideas for how to approach the Unseen task, and space for them to record their revision for their novel (Purple Hibiscus) and their play (in this case, Othello). It worked really well for my classes last year: they could always return to it to see the overview, to revise key concepts, and to focus their revision.