An introduction to poetry scheme of work that will cover approximately three weeks’ worth of lessons. This is suited for Year 7 and 8 students and will cover the basics of analysing a poem and introduce students to the key poetic devices.

This resource is ideal for a Year 11 A Level taster lesson or to complete with Year 12 in the early stages of the English Literature course. It is designed to encourage students to start thinking about the different genres specific to the Comparative and Contextual component of the OCR specification, but it could be used for other specifications in order to get students thinking about the features of different genres.

This resource would be best used as a ‘lecture-style’ lesson. It closely engages with the most prevalent concepts and ideas in Chapter 5 of ‘The Great Gatsby’. I have used this resource in the past to model how to closely analyse a chapter and then have asked students to analyse subsequent chapters in the novella in the same way which they can then present to their peers.

Students must match up the persuasive technique with its corresponding definition and example - an ideal resource to teach students persuasive techniques or to consolidate their understanding.

This guide can be used to help students prepare for their first sitting of the Pearson Edexcel iGCSE English Language exam paper. It provides a run down of the requirements of each question and provides students with useful and constructive advice in order to effectively tackle each question. It can also be used for revision purposes.

I have previously used this resource with Year 7 and 8 classes, but you could also use this with a Year 9 class as an introduction to poetry or as a revision activity of the key poetic devices. Students must match the poetic devices on the right (in blue) with their corresponding definitions on the left (in yellow). Sometimes the definition is not on the same page as the device, but this could be adapted depending on the ability of your class.

This resource can be used as either an activity or competition in order for students to put their persuasive writing and public speaking skills into practice. Each student is assigned a role and must convince their peers that they should be ‘saved’ from the sinking boat and shark-infested waters.

This display features many of the key literary devices students in Years 7-11 will need to know for their study of English and English Literature. Each literary device has a corresponding image/ definition/ example which can be either put next to it or can be mixed up on the display, thereby making the display a little activity where students have to match/pair up the device with its definition.

This scheme of work can be used to teach students ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ and to develop understanding of the protagonist, Ichabod Crane. I have used this resource with a top set Year 9 group in the past as part of a wider Gothic Horror scheme of work.

This pack consists of a workbook aimed to target and develop a student’s vocabulary and a set of posters which can be put around school for informative purposes and to also be used as part of a scavenger hunt (where students find and note down all of the key information which they could then be quizzed on when they return to the classroom). This pack would be ideal as part of a whole-school initiative or just as lesson where it’s nice to do something ‘a bit different’.

This resource consists of six narrative openings taken from a range of different genres and a table for students to fill in once they have read each opening. For a slightly more active lesson, you could print off each narrative opening and display them around the room for students to ‘visit’ in order to fill in their table. I have used this activity in the past in order to get students thinking about their own creative writing, but it could also be used to get students analysing and thinking about the different ways in which authors can engage (or ‘hook’) their readers right from the start.

A match up activity for students to complete either as an introduction to poetry at A Level or as a revision/consolidation activity.

A test consisting of 20 questions for GCSE students to take once they have studied George Alagiah’s ‘A Passage to Africa’ extract (Pearson Edexcel iGCSE).

A test consisting of 20 questions for students to complete once they have studied Aron Ralston’s ‘127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ (Pearson Edexcel iGCSE extract).