A worksheet on A B ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s classic Australian poem ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ suitable for Year 8 students. A second sheet with suggested answers is included. A copy of the poem has been included. Further copies of the poem are widely available online. Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum — English, Year 8   Literature   ACELT1630: Identify and evaluate devices that create tone, for example humour, wordplay, innuendo and parody in poetry, humorous prose, drama or visual texts   Literacy   ACELY1733: Apply increasing knowledge of vocabulary, text structures and language features to understand the content of texts     National Curriculum in England — English, Key Stage 3   Reading Pupils should be taught to read critically through   knowing how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, presents meaning recognising a range of poetic conventions and understanding how these have been used   Please provide a review of the resource. Comments, feedback or questions are welcome. Cover image: National Library of Australia, Portrait of A.B. Paterson (1890). Retrieved 14 August 2021

This is a structured exercise, suitable for Year 9 students, in which students complete a partially-written essay about a short story. Answer suggestions have been included. In order for students to successfully complete this task it is necessary that they: – have read the short story ‘Morning Minuet’ by Roger Holt, and – are familiar with the features and conventions of the short story. The short story ‘Morning Minuet’ is approximately 1200 words in length and appears in the anthology The New Paper Families, ed. Richard Baines, Cambridge University Press Australia, 2010, ISBN 9780521157285. This anthology is available from a number of school and public libraries. The exercise is primarily aimed at familiarising students with the essay form. However, it also requires them to analyse ‘Morning Minuet’ and describe how it displays the typical forms and features of the short story. It is consequently a challenging exercise and teachers are advised to do some preliminary work with students before setting the essay completion task. The following unit outline is suggested: – read and discuss ‘Morning Minuet’ with students – have students complete the worksheet ‘Questions on Morning Minuet’ and go through the answers with them (a separate sheet containing suggested answers has been included) – issue and go through the explanatory sheet ‘Short stories features and conventions’ – issue and describe the ‘Short stories features and conventions grid’ and have students fill out the grid for ‘Morning Minuet’ – discuss the essay form and issue the task (the pages of the task itself, which contain notes on essay structure, could be used to illustrate the main features of an essay). Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum - English (Year 9) Literacy Creating texts – ACELY1746 - Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features Literature Responding to literature – ACELT1771 - Present an argument about a literary text based on initial impressions and subsequent analysis of the whole text National Curriculum in England - English, key stage 3 Writing Pupils should be taught to … write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length for pleasure and information through … writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences, including: – well-structured formal expository and narrative essays Reading Pupils should be taught to … read critically through: studying setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image from Public Domain Vectors. Creative Commons.

An exercise for senior high school students based on Oliver Parker’s film adaptation of Othello (1995). The film is widely available in DVD format from school and public libraries. Alternatively, it may be purchased and downloaded from a number of streaming service providers. In order for students to complete this exercise it is necessary that teachers first provide a viewing of two scenes from the film which should be identified as ‘Scene A’ and ‘Scene B’. The scenes are: Scene A: ‘Look to your wife’ - Iago suggests to Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him (film time 49:26 – 53:04, corresponding play text Act 3 Scene 3 lines 199–272) Scene B: ‘These men’ - a heartbroken Desdemona discusses marital infidelity with Emilia (film time 1:27:16 – 1:29:39, corresponding text: Act 4 Scene 3 lines 55–100).   The exercise tests students’ capacity to analyse the techniques used by the director and explain how these techniques enhance the viewer’s understanding of the play script. The exercise could be set as a test. Answer suggestions have been provided. Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum - English (Senior secondary curriculum) Unit 1 ACELR002 - Investigate and reflect on different ways of reading literary texts including how mode, medium and form shape responses to texts   Unit 2 ACELR028 - Compare and evaluate the form, language and content of literary texts including the use of a combination of sound and visual devices in literary texts, for example, soundtracks, cinematography, iconography   National Curriculum in England - English programmes of study: key stage 4 Reading Pupils should be taught to understand and critically evaluate texts through exploring aspects of plot, characterisation, events and settings, the relationships between them and their effects   Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image: detail from ‘16th-century costume guide’ by Cesare Vecellio (1598). British Library, identifier 003765638. Public Domain.

A worksheet containing a number of short passages from Shakespeare’s plays. Students work out what each passage means and, optionally, what is the significance of the passage. This is a challenging exercise best set as a class-wide task. At the conclusion of the task the teacher should lead students through a discussion of the answers. This approach will best illustrate the richness of Shakespeare’s language. Answer suggestions have been included. Teachers concerned about presenting sexual content may wish to edit the .doc version of the file to remove passages 17 and 18 (both from Othello). Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum - English (Year 9)   ACELT1636 - Analyse texts from familiar and unfamiliar contexts, and discuss and evaluate their content and the appeal of an individual author’s literary style   National Curriculum in England - English programmes of study: key stage 3 Reading Pupils should be taught to: develop an appreciation and love of reading, and read increasingly challenging material independently understand increasingly challenging texts   Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image: detail from Engraved view of London by C.J. Visscher showing the Globe. British Library, identifier 004880204. Public Domain.

A collection of riddles suitable for students in Year 3 and up. Answers have been included. Teachers of younger students may wish to read the introduction aloud and explain some of the examples. This is a fun classroom exercise which also provides a worthwhile focus on the flexibility of language. To work out the riddles, students need to apply their knowledge of literal meaning, figurative meaning and grammatical structures. Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image: Juan José Moral, digital representation of Attic Kylix of the Painter of Oedipus (480–470 BC). Vatican Museums, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Some creative writing resources for Year 4 students focusing on: – writing about what the student knows – story ideas – plot planning using storyboards – developing characters. Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum — English (Year 4) Creating literature – ACELT1607 - Create literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining – ACELT1794 - Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings National Curriculum in England — English, Years 3 and 4 programme of study Writing — composition Pupils should be taught to draft and write in narratives, [by] creating settings, characters and plot Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image by Satheesh Sankaran from Pixabay. Pixabay Licence.

This exercise, suitable for a Year 8 class, explores the narrative structure and language of Oodgeroo’s story ‘Biami and Bunyip’ from the collection Stradbroke Dreamtime (Oodgeroo, illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft, Angus & Robertson, 1999, ISBN 978-0207198656). The story retells a myth from Australian Indigenous culture. Answers have been included. Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum - English (Year 8) ACELT1767 - Interpret and analyse language choices, including sentence patterns, dialogue, imagery and other language features, in short stories, literary essays and plays ACELY1733 - Apply increasing knowledge of vocabulary, text structures and language features to understand the content of texts National Curriculum in England - English programmes of study: key stage 3 Pupils should be taught to … read critically through: knowing how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, presents meaning recognising a range of poetic conventions and understanding how these have been used. Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Cover image: Wonnarua cave painting of Baiame near Milbrodale, New South Wales. Photograph taken by Tammin Wright in March 2007. Attribution: Faithy05, via Wikimedia Commons.