Harvest by Jim Crace. Paper 2 of the AQA English LIterature B syllabus - Political and Social Protest Writing.
This range of resources covers every chapter of the book by turn. It uses comprehension, recap, discussion and mind-mapping to build written skills. We taught this text for Section C (alongside Blake) but if your text combinations are different or you teach this text for Section B, there is still plenty of relevant material throughout.
There is also a reading log, and two sets of revision session resources to revisit at the end of the term/year.
Please note that where the resources mention an exemplar, this refers to the exemplar material available via AQA itself. References to the text refer to the Picador paperback edition (2013).
A basic introduction to writing an A Level English Literature essay.
This is aimed at AQA English Literature Specification B, but would fit with the other specification.
It includes basic information, a self-assessment task on experiences of writing essays, pointers for successful essays, pointers for the specific kinds of essays which AQA require in exams, a section on troubleshooting, guidance on the mark scheme and some space to summarise written feedback/set personal targets.
You could include the mark scheme itself alongside this pack.
Designed to introduce AS/first year A Level English Language students to the Phonemic Alphabet.
All activities are built in to the PowerPoint. This is designed for AQA English Language (new specification) but may work with other boards, or with 'Language Change' on the old AQA spec A2 English Language.
To be used at the start of a term or a course: this quick resource encourages students to self-assess what they know about grammar by simply RAG-rating their skills. Repeating the activity later can allow them to see the progress they have made.
Intended as starter packs for students undertaking the Spoken Language activity for AQA's GCSE English Language; intended to get students, particularly lower-ability students, on their way to understanding some of the issues etc.
If you want to test how much your learners can recall about language variety in the UK, as well as some associated areas of study, then these questions could be good prompts. They could be displayed, or used as plenary questions, starters or quick-fire questions at the end of this topic area.
This is intended as a last-minute, 'look at this' resource for students taking the new GCSE English Language exams, on 6th and 12th June 2017.
It breaks down what they will be doing for each question on each paper.
A revision resource intended to help students working on The Road. It gives pointers, revision advice, examiner comments and potential content for a past paper question, a list of all past questions (with some additions) and some sample answers.
On A3, students can use this sheet for a revision exercise on AS English Language Paper 2: Language Varieties (AQA). They can start by going through the various -lects they will have learned about, then recapping vocabulary specific to each, and adding in any relevant theorists/ideas/critiques they may have covered. The idea is that they end up with a colourful revision aid which they could use as a poster.
This resource is intended to quickly introduce learners on AQA AS/first year A Level English Language or the AQA A2 combined Language & Literature to the idea of Accommodation Theory - upwards, downwards or mutual convergence. There is scope for learners to generate their own dialogues at the end if they need consolidation.
Intended for the Language Varieties element of the AQA New Specification AS/first year A Level English Language course. The PowerPoint introduces students to 'Estuary English' (EE) and takes them through some issues regarding dialect levelling, with a relevant newspaper article, some discussion points and scope for a written activity at the end of the session (in line with the exam requirements).
The session presupposes some knowledge of phonemics.
A series of PowerPoint presentations with embedded discussion and written activities, plus a number of stretch and challenge extension tasks, aimed at students studying John Donne for the new AQA AS English Language & Literature specification. Useful for all learner abilities and may be a useful support for revision.
Contents:
John Donne and the Theme of Love
The Flea
Air and Angels
The Apparition
The Anniversary
Elegy V
A Valediction Against Mourning
Two PowerPoint presentations relating to Language & Occupation, one of the areas which could come up in the first examinations of AQA’s new English Language AS specification (Paper 2). The areas covered:
- Swales and ‘discourse communities’
- Applying Swales to the sample text given by AQA in their sample materials and Cambridge textbook
- Activities and examples
- Techniques and strategies for approaching a Language & Occupation question in the exam.
This is an activities booklet based on pages 156-162 of the AQA AS English Language and Literature Paris Anthology. It's the second conversation between Mike, Sophia and Isabelle.
It's a complete set of activities which could be done for homework or in class.
It has a starter, paired work activities, whole class discussion, purpose and audience recap, work on meanings and representations, writing activities (using the PETE - Point, Evidence, Technical terminology and Explain model, though this can easily be adapted) and a recast activity. The recast supposes students have seen the 'Fine French Food' Lonely Planet clip, and the resource assumes students have some knowledge of conversational features (filled pauses, etc.)
This is an accessible resource for all capabilities, and tailored towards exam skills.
Intended for A Level English Language students entering the second year, studying World Englishes, debates and ideas (AQA new specification).
This also includes a BBC newspaper article on Hinglish (attributed, with link) followed by some questions for students.
One of the more challenging texts in the Paris Anthology for AS English Language & Literature, it can feel like you need to give a mini history lesson before tackling the text itself with Helen Maria Williams' 'Letters from France'. This PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying booklet help to blend an understanding of the political/social climate with tasks encouraging closer reading of literary techniques.
Put together for A Level English Language students (AQA). This presentation worked for the Language Change Over Time element of the old specification, but could be useful for Language Change in the new specification too.
Contains:
- Basic introduction
- Embedded media clips (correct at time of posting)
- Timed activity, with link to online timer
- A sample of Johnson's writing, from the Preface to the Dictionary
- Stretch & Challenge activity
- Ideas and discussion points
- Links to Johnson's Online Dictionary and an activity based on this.
This is a bundle of resources which I've used in the past for teaching A Level English Language - Language Change Over Time, which could still be useful on the new specification. These are a range of activities and presentations which aim to get across main areas of context for key centuries, as well as offering specific examples of texts which students could use to analyse, discuss etc.
In keeping with the new specification I have also offered pairs of texts from different time periods on the same theme.
Closely following David Crystal's book, English as a Global Language, this reference booklet identifies some of the reasons for:
- The English language's position of world importance
- Issues and considerations surrounding the topic of English as a global language
- What could happen in future.
It is intended to support AQA's new A Level English Language (second year of the course).
The booklet asks lots of questions: these could be for students to discuss in class, make notes on in their own time, or even draft their own exam questions for one another (if they can also identify a suitable piece of data to accompany their questions!)
It should support learner understanding of some of the relevant context for the position of English.
This presentation contains an introduction to the controversy over 'inkhorn words' which originated in the 1500s. Whilst this slightly pre-dates the new specification start date for the language change material of 1600, it's important context and has been mentioned in AQA materials.
The PowerPoint contains:
- An easy-to-understand introduction to the idea of 'inkhorn words' and why they arose
- Some examples of inkhorn words which didn't last
- A timed task for students to think about why there would be resistance to some of these words
- A look at the arguments for and against
- A sample text extract on the topic from the mid-1500s, for students to read and questions for them to answer
- The question of national identity and language
- Some inkhorn words which are still in use, for students to read and use
- Links between the Inkhorn Controversy and the Prescriptivist and Descriptivist schools of thought which followed (with a snippet from a modern Guardian headline which illustrates that controversy over language change is still current).