A full lesson on chapter 7 of No Longer at Ease. The lesson objective is about themes in the novel as a whole and the starter, questions for each passage and main lesson activity all relate back to the themes. Don’t worry! Lots of my students need a little reminder of what themes actually are too, so there’s an interactive game to play at the beginning as well. Enjoy!

Lucky for some! Part 13 focuses on structural and language features as well as analysing the two poems included in this chapter. I have included these two poems on a separate worksheet. This could be blown up to A3 for group work or each student could write their own notes on this A4 version. The lesson begins with a game of structural/language features. The questions relate the language and structure to the themes of the novel and the development activity asks students to find quotations to find support for the points being made abut language and structure in chapter 10. The students could then pick one or two P+E to turn into full paragraphs. Enjoy!

This complete lesson is focused on Achebe’s use of intertextuality in No Longer at Ease. The usual guided reading questions are provided after a starter on different text types and then the development activity is to finish writing a paragraph about Obi’s references to other literature or sayings which I have started for them. Enjoy!

This lesson is a revision focused lesson apart from a guided reading of chapter 11 of No Longer at Ease. The starter is a game of Taboo to help students revise key character names. After the usual guided reading with questions, students are asked to come up with their own questions on NLAE. These progress in difficulty, At the end of the lesson, swap each team’s questions (make sure you’ve kept a strict eye on the questions they come up with so they are easy enough to answer in a couple of sentences) and then each group will compete to answer all the questions and get to the finish first. This puts all of the effort on to the students and you will be able to just stamp their answers as you check them. Enjoy!

This lesson focuses on the changing relationship between Clara and Obi. There is a highly scaffolded diary entry to be completed by students if necessary as well as group work with roles provided in addition to the usual complete lesson from starter, guided reading of chapter 9, development activity and plenary. Enjoy!

A complete lesson on chapter 9 of Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease. There is a wordsearch with suggested differentiated options of how to offer it to students. The words should be challenging to every student. The next lesson will include a spelling test on some of these words - so there’s the students’ homework :).

A complete lesson on chapter 13 of Achebe’s No Longer at Ease with focus on language analysis and a passage question on duality in Obi represented through his mother and father. I have included the language devices match starter on a worksheet (2 per A4 page) so you can easily print it and get the lesson off to a focused start. Enjoy!

This lesson asks students to reflect on their knowledge of the book so far through a quick game of Blockbusters in the starter, then by returning to their chapter charts (a printable version is included here) to reflect on the points in the novel where they felt sympathy for Obi and some other parts where they lost sympathy. Students will need some understanding of abortion laws in Nigeria, so I’ve included a link to wikipedia. Obviously this is a sensitive subject and you may want to spend more time on the feelings behind this decision and the students’ sympathies . Students are asked to recall the parts of a literature paragraph to prepare themselves for the end of lesson assessment. The guided reading for chapter 16 comes next with the usual questions. Before students start writing their paragraphs, they can read the example paragraph based on chapter 16 and give it a PIT stop. There is a mark scheme and colour-coding self-reflection plenary at the end. Enjoy!

This is the 20th lesson in the scheme of work, focusing on a guided reading of chapter 17. The starter is a paired activity on colonialisation and the effects of it. The questions following guide students towards an end of lesson assessment on rising tension across the novel. There is a mark scheme and a whole-class self-assessment plenary.

This lesson focuses on Achebe��s purpose and viewpoints. There are recommended worksheets of different abilities linked to the second slide. There are the usual guided reading questions on chapter 15 and then a speed dating round before a court-style speaking and listening activity for pupils to prepare for. No printing required unless you decide to print some starter worksheets. Enjoy!

This is the last guided reading lesson for the novel No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe. There are guided reading questions, a plot summary, questions regarding the cyclical structure of the novel and a silent debate on who is to blame for the crimes committed as the final activity. Plenary and learning objectives, dates, etc are all included as usual. There is also a starter which asks students to design a new book cover, but this could become a homework task. Look out for the revision resources to support students’ reflection on the novel.

This lesson begins with a team quotation quiz to recap on chapters 9 - 17. (1 - 8 were on lesson 14). Answers are included, of course. The lesson has a focus on analysing language in quotations. After the guided reading of chapter 18 with questions which guide students towards the end of lesson assessment. The assessment is on the presentation of death and bereavement in No Longer at Ease. As always, there are mark schemes and peer assessment opportunities in the plenary. There is also a sentence analysis activity for students to work on in groups, pairs or individually. Enjoy!

3 lessons worth of revision activities which are fun, engaging, practical and helpful. Students revise key quotations, organising them into different piles for different essay topics, there is a “pub quiz” with three rounds and a QQT (quiz, quiz, trade) activity. These make excellent additions to my complete SOW on Achebe’s novel plus they can easily be adapted for different texts. Enjoy!

A mini-scheme of work, taking three or four lessons, focused on The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Students develop their skills for GCSE by finding quotations, developing their ability to comment on the environment, characters, relationships and then tackle questions in timed conditions. Each lesson has a starter and self- or peer-assessment plenary. My students loved the plenary for the environment question where they had to make a mask (outline provided) which would protect them from the dystopian world The Road is set in. Their creativity and ingenuity, putting their learning into practice was wonderful to behold. Please don't miss out on it. I found that this lesson was highly accessible for middle ability students and wonderful for high achievers or G&T learners, giving them the range of language and intrigue to explore possibilities and methods. My less able students (predicted 2 or below) achieved expected results and understood what was happening. With them we watched the trailer for the movie first before we read the first chapter together (popcorn!) and then slowly tackled the straightforward questions. I have included answers to the quotation finding exercises and an extra lesson on writing stories associated with dystopian or apocalypse fiction . This was the end of term assessment for reading and writing dystopian fiction. If you want to see more, check out my huge Dystopian Futures SOW at my shop.

Several lessons which help students recap on the characters and plot of Spies by Michael Frayn and then some engaging activities to help students think more deeply about the text. There are slides to help with paragraph structure to ensure students are getting the level of detail required for an A grade and to help them self- or peer-assess their essay writing. As well as this there are some quizzes on spying and on memory to link in with another essay topic (available online). Best of luck to all the iGCSE students out there and to those tackling Spies for A level! Well done to all the teachers too! I hope this saves you some time and energy!

Tonnes of activities, games, quizzes, a worksheet on themes, a Poem in a Box revision resource making activity and flashcards to be completed by students, a PowerPoint on structuring essay responses and closely analysing language, essay sentences to scaffold responses, vocabulary for playing games like Go Fish or Give Me A Clue or Pictionary. This should keep exam revision interesting and help students stay engaged and focused in these last few weeks.

A complete set of resources for teaching Morris’ poem “Little Boy Crying”. This is on the Songs of Ourselves iGCSE poetry exam for CIE, but is a great poem to explore this controversial topic. I have read online that it is based on a childhood memory of Morris being hit by his father and then returning to this as an adult disciplining his son. This seems totally likely, but I haven’t found confirmation from a trustworthy source. There is a descriptive writing PPT included which will allow students to explore how they create imagery in description before going on to look at Morris’ use of descriptive techniques and imagery in his poem. There is also a separate PPT with key vocabulary to explore in a physical and engaging way which I thought would be useful for weaker readers or EAL students. I have included everything in the main presentation that you would need to teach this poem for the first time,for revision, or to even ask students to pre-teach from. The lesson objectives (on each slide) and end of lesson exam-style essay question ask students to explore how the language, structure and form present the themes of discipline and parent-child relationships. (For a higher ability class, you could split these two.) and the starter activities, biographical information and the guided questions (with answers provided on the next slide) help students meet that outcome. There is support provided for students’ essay answers in the form of sentence starters,simplified assessment objectives and mark schemes, sentence starters, paragraph structures, and a peer/self-marking slide. A really interesting lesson to explore students relationships with their parents. Enjoy!

A variety of whole lessons reading lesser-known dystopian literature and tying these in with students' creative writing of a dystopian narrative. There is also a practice reading comprehension and a final reading comprehension assessment. This scheme of work is designed for middle to top set students at GCSE level. I found all the students really engaged with the topic and already knew loads of dystopian works of literature, films and computer games, so had to stretch them to read lesser known works. I've tried as far as possible to make this relevant to their interests and to be representative of a range of backgrounds instead of just the classic "dead, white males". My students really enjoyed this unit of work and I hope yours do too! Contains: Structuring narratives in interesting ways (very useful for getting A*s) Analysing and writing speech in ways that show originality and flair (as well as accuracy of punctuation) Creating original dystopian worlds Creating original dystopian characters Close analysis of individual words and basic PEE reading answers Improving and extending vocabulary Recognising satire and comedy in film and literature (Idiocracy and Harrison Vonnegut) because, frankly, all this dystopian stuff could get a bit depressing otherwise! A detailed and thorough comprehension of a (student-friendly version) of Stephen King's The End of the Whole Mess with optional scaffolding which should build towards GCSE style detailed essays covering plot summaries, close analysis, evaluation of word choice, structure, messages, themes, conventions, language features and more.

A complete set of resources for teaching Nicholson’ poem “Rising Five”. This is on the Songs of Ourselves iGCSE poetry exam for CIE and explores themes of childhood and time. There is a descriptive writing PPT included which will allow students to explore how they create imagery in description before going on to look at Nicholson’ use of descriptive techniques and imagery in his poem. There is also a separate PPT with key vocabulary to explore in a physical and engaging way which I thought would be useful for weaker readers or EAL students. I have included everything in the main presentation that you would need to teach this poem for the first time, for revision, or to even ask students to pre-teach from. The lesson objectives (on each slide) and end of lesson exam-style essay question ask students to explore how the language, structure and form present the theme of time. The starter activities, biographical information and the guided questions (with answers provided on the next slide) help students meet that outcome. There is support provided for students’ essay answers in the form of sentence starters, simplified assessment objectives and mark schemes, sentence starters, paragraph structures, and a peer/self-marking slide. An interesting lesson to explore students’ memories of childhood and experience of aging. Enjoy!

Hi! By popular demand! This bundle of resources covers chapters 7 and 8 of Mildred D. Taylor’s semi-biographihcal novel ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’.in detail. The thorough whole-lesson PowerPoints cover imagery frequently used, offer up advice, paragraph structures, write-along line-by-line exemplars and extended reading such as the first chapter of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have included everything you need for these three lessons (it may run longer if getting through the reading takes too long.) I have provided more than enough starters and plenaries for you to pick and choose or create a whole new lesson. Enjoy!