Two speaking and listening activities to introduce the theme of crime and punishment in the novel Holes by Louis Sacher. These could be individual lessons to introduce the class to courtroom processes, decision making skills, ethics and morality, and speaking and listening skills in general. The first is a group debate where a list of crimes must be ranked and the class must come to a group decision about which are the worst crimes and which are least offensive, or offences at all. They include having mixed-race relationships, so open a historical (and *sigh* still apparently current) dialogue about racism and equality, useful for citizenship and PSHE. The second is a role playing activity where students set up a courtroom and put a young man on trial for stealing a pair of trainers. There are 9 different roles, including the judge and students can either take one role between two or the non-role-taking students could be the jurors. All PowerPoints come withe clear outcomes, starters, task instructions and plenaries. All you need to do is print one A4 sheet of role cards and/or a list of the crimes for each student (A5 works fine for these). This is a really useful lesson which students find really engaging and interesting, particularly if they are into mystery solving! As an extension activity you could ask them to report on the trial or debate for a newspaper/blog/TV news programme. The non-speaking characters could interview those who took part in the trial and use those quotations in their reports. A court scribe could also be used during the trial to make sure notes can be reviewed.

8 adjectives, superlatives and adverbs activities which make great starters for writing lessons of all kinds or as part of a literacy lesson. Accessible for all ages and very active, including drama, team games, timed races, etc. Very versatile activities and still academic enough for any HOD to approve of. I've done these lessons with students aged from 10 to 18!

10 starter games which help students with memorising lines, characterisation, imagery etc. Plus a bonus one! These are all tried and tested and beloved by my classes from 11 - 19! Examples are given of any more complicated games. No printing or resources needed apart from this Powerpoint (and not even that necessarily if you know the rules!) (These also make fun games for parties either at the end of term or, frankly, after a few pints at the pub!)

Ten games which cover a range of skills and focuses in English. These have made my lessons really fun and kept the kids hooked and happy, not realising that there's some serious learning or revising going on. Want to trick them into reading? I got you. Want to introduce them to different word types? Here you go. Want them to revise key quotations? It's here. I hope there's plenty here to keep you going and examples are given wherever needed so very little preparation is needed. Enjoy!

A range of games and activities to make students work on their vocabulary. These work fantastically with any group from EAL KS3 to KS5. They can all be done independently, in pairs or in teams and most have a competitive element. I use these as starters in English lessons, but my school used to have a Literacy Form Time every Monday when we would play one of these. Most don't require any printing but can be adapted into a more physical resource if this suits your group. These always make fun and engaging links into creative writing lessons or literacy lessons. My students love them! I even caught some of my year 7s playing the Alphabet Game at lunch! I hope your students enjoy them just as much.

I’m tutoring a 8 year old with ADHD, and ASD who loves motorcycles and Valentino Rossi.I needed to assess his reading skills so chose Rossi’s autobiography from 2006, “What if I Hadn’t Tried?”. It is simply written, translated from Italian, and skirts over inappropriate behaviour with phrases like “long term and short term girlfriends” or “we got into some trouble” and has a review from a Parker-Bowles in the Sun, so I think the whole book will be appropriate for his reading age of 7 1/2 years, and I plan to make several further lessons on it for him if you enjoy this one. Pictures of the cover, back, and Rossi’s signature create some interest and structure of books can be discussed. There are 10 main questions over the course of the first page and a half describing the Australian GP win, followed by some lightning speed skimming and scanning questions. The first couple of questions are Maths based to cover some numeracy skills and see if students can process what they’re being asked to do. The questions touch on structure (in media res opening), metaphors, similes, information retrieval, and effects on the reader of the exciting description. Key Word = trajectory and there is a definition and diagram for this. The last challenge asks students to draw the race track from the description given. I designed this to have answers written in books, but it could easily be adapted. Reading assessment. Reading worksheet.

A great 20 minute activity for students to practice their listening skills. Makes a great introduction to learning about Brazil or to practice their English comprehension skills. You will need to download the 6 Minute English podcast on Brazil to go with these questions. Answers are provided and the students are asked to give top tips to improve their scores at the end. Ideas for top tips include using the correct units of measurement and changing the grammar of an answer to fit the question (i.e.: Portugal, not Portuguese for A3.) Enjoy!