We all know that teaching sophisticated terminology can be really dull, so I decided to teach my class 18 top terms using Disney (and other family films). This will take 2 lessons, unless you skip some parts of the clips, or don’t complete them all. Included is the powerpoint that contains a starter and all the answers for the students (and yourself beforehand), whilst the worksheet contains the definitions for later revision and the space to conduct the quiz format lesson. I teach these terms by first having students read the terms and definitions aloud in class and clear up any misunderstandings. I then open the YouTube playlist and put it on shuffle. The students should write on their worksheets in pencil and should write the name of the film next to the technique that they think is present in the clip. You can choose to reveal the answers as you go through or all at the end… Normally, I do it all at the end because students change their answers after seeing a clip like Finding Nemo and realising that Dory and Marlin are foils of each other. Unfortunately, you will need internet for this lesson as YouTube is a central part, and as the playlist I have made is on YouTube, I cannot promise that videos won’t randomly stop working. I would double check these before doing the lesson, but you have all the answers and can search the same video on YouTube otherwise. Lastly, use the two Lion King videos together, one shows Scar killing Mufasa, and the other shows him blaming Simba (DRAMATIC IRONY OR WHAT?!)

A creative and enjoyable lesson, including a quiz and a group creative writing activity. The pupils need to try and translate the modern, well known songs (which are written in Shakespearean language) to work out the title or modern lyrics. After this, students can try to translate modern songs into Shakespearean language.

A two sided grid, which includes all 15 Power and Conflict AQA poems: including quotes, context, language, form, structure, summary and meaning of each poem.

A summary of key parts of the GCSE text 'An Inspector calls' play, which tests knowledge and requires filling in the gaps. Good revision tool and worksheet, particularly for lower ability or recapping the plot. Answers included too.

A stand-alone lesson, which can be completed over two lessons if you wanted to. This resource introduces the Dystopian genre using ‘The Hanging Tree’ poem/song from ‘The Hunger Games’. It includes comprehension questions and answer, 2 engaging short videos (one on Dystopian genre and one from The Hunger Games), and questions that encourage interpretation and finding hidden meanings in poetry. There is the chance for extending essay style writing in the last slide, with a structure to aid students. Some of the interpretation of the poetry may be harder for lower years and the tone can be a bit dark, e.g. murder and suicide can be interpreted in the poem, but students generally enjoy and engage with the lesson as they like film/books and variety of activities. You could use this with mature year 7s, all the way upto KS4 or even KS5 if looking at Dystopian novels.

I made this for my KS3 students who are working at home, but it has everything to be adapted very easily to complete in the classroom for KS3 or KS4, especially if the pupils have text books of the play. It includes answers and introduces the play, Act1 Scenes 1-3, as well as going into detail on women context in 16th century and quotes to introduce the two key characters.

I created this for my Year 11s who had missed out on studying 'A Christmas Carol' in year 10, and needed to catch up and revise quickly. I have made a shortened version of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' from Dickens' version of the text that was written to be read aloud to audiences. It does include some of the same lines as the real, full text, so that student can still be told to focus on certain quotes. The booklet opens with a very short summary of the whole novel, and then goes into Stave 1 in a more detailed text. At the back of the booklet, I have inserted 10 sample questions on 'A Christmas Carol' created in the AQA style of extract and question. There are two sample questions for each Stave to ensure students know the WHOLE novel.

In the new 2015 English Language GCSE, students can gain extra marks by noticing sentence forms such as interrogative or exclamatory sentences. In this resource, there is a worksheet and powerpoint for a full lesson aimed at KS3 students who are new to sentence forms. It will also be useful for lower ability KS4 or a shorter class activity to refresh learning of sentences forms. I used this lesson to get my current position in my new school. The worksheet will need to be printed for the students and it includes extension tasks to challenge those who might find this easy. There is also an extra slide at the end so the lesson can be applied to a specific text, e.g. find the sentence forms when Scrooge first encounters Fred in ‘A Christmas Carol’.

The two booklets include extracts and questions, with grids and model answers to aid understanding and development for skills in both exams. It is accessible for high ability KS3, or any year from 9-11. The Paper 2 booklet focuses mainly on the hardest exam question in Paper 2, but can be easily adapted or used to add a Question 1 and 3 if needed.

20 puzzle activities and explained word classes, example page and answers to guide readers. I have been developing a puzzle book that I originally created for my English classes due to the increase in need for grammar knowledge at GCSE. My students enjoy solving these as starters or revision activities, and so do my work colleagues during lunch break. This book challenges its readers to identify word classes, use basic mathematic skills and even name different literary works based on a quote. It includes explanation of basic word classes surrounding nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions. This could be used as a whole lesson, or separated into individual starter activities. If this is helpful to teachers, I may release a more difficult version with extended word classes. Please leave a review if you like the product.