A detailed lesson on Act 5 of The Merchant of Venice in which students are introduced to Freytag’s Pyramid so that they understand how the falling action leads to a resolution at the end of the play. They then consider which characters do or do not have a happy ending and write a review of the play. Learning Objective: Evaluate the experience of different characters at the end of the play. Learning Outcomes: Students will be introduced to Freytag’s Pyramid and understand how the action falls towards the end of the play. Students will read and discuss a summary of Act 5 scene 1. Students will evaluate the experience of different characters at the ending of the play. Students will write a review of the play. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Recall questions about Act 4 Starter: Introduction to Freytag’s Pyramid. Activity one: Read and discuss summary of Act 5. Activity two: Students complete a worksheet about whether the characters have a happy, sad or mixed ending. Students then swap and peer assess each other’s work. Plenary: Students write a review of the play. More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

This Valentine’s Day English Lesson is aimed at key stage 3 and key stage 4. In the lesson, students will learn about the history of Valentine’s Day, consider Shakespeare’s sonnets and iambic pentameter, and then write their own Shakespearean sonnet. Learning Questions: What are the origins of Valentine’s Day? How did Shakespeare write about love using the sonnet form? How can I write my own sonnet (love poem)? This works really well as a one-off English lesson to celebrate Valentine’s Day, whilst also keeping students focused on English-specific skills and knowledge. Lesson Overview: Do It Now: What would be the worst ever Valentine’s day gift someone could get? Starter: Brief history of Valentine’s Day followed by think-pair-share and discussion. Main task 1: Explanation of Shakespearean sonnet followed by students reading out lines of iambic pentameter. Main task 2: Students look at an example sonnet and then write their own sonnet. Share and celebrate student sonnets. Plenary: Students choose five words to summarise what they’ve learned about the origins of Valentine’s Day. I really hope you and your students enjoy this! Leave a review and choose any other resource, of up to the same value, for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

A fully-resourced one hour lesson to support students in exploring the question of ‘to what extent was Shakespeare Anti-Semitic in his writing of The Merchant of Venice?’ Students will be guided through a class discussion and then work in pairs to unpack the language in act 2 scene 8. Learning Objective: Consider to what extent Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock is anti-Semitic. Learning Outcomes: Students will learn key vocabulary such as cultural context, stereotype etc. Students will be introduced to the cultural context of anti-Semitism in Elizabethan England and in Venice. Students will work in pairs to analyse the language in act 2 scene 8. Students will write a PEE question on Shakespeare and anti-Semitism. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Match the key terms to the definition. Starter: Cultural context of anti-Semitism in Jacobean society. Activity one: Reading Act 2 Scene 8 and discussion questions. Activity two: Students work individually or in pairs to complete the worksheet. Plenary: Write a PEE paragraph to answer the question ‘to what extent do you think Shakespeare was anti-Semitic?’ More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

A fully-resourced one hour lesson to support students in exploring the casket test in Act 2 Scene 7 of The Merchant of Venice. Students will be guided through the reading of the scene and then creatively respond by predicting what they believe will be in the other incorrect casket. Learning Objective: Explore the casket test for Portia’s suitors. Learning Outcomes: Students will read summaries of Act 2 Scenes 4-6 and complete recall questions. -Students will be guided through the reading of Act 2 Scene 7 and consider the reasons the Prince gives for rejecting or choosing each casket. -Students will creatively respond to the scene by predicting what will be in the remaining incorrect casket. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Match the character description to the name. Starter: Summary of Act 2 Scenes 4-6 followed by recall questions and think-pair-share to consider Shylock’s reaction. Activity one: Guided reading of the scene with student questions interspersed. Activity two: Students creatively predict what will be inside the other incorrect casket. Plenary: Act 2 Scene 7 ends with Portia saying “a gentle riddance” as she is happy to see the Prince leave. Why do you think she says this? Is it because she doesn’t want to marry the Prince specifically or is there another reason? More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

A detailed fully-resourced and ready to teach one hour lesson that supports students to analyse World War 1 propaganda posters using AFOREST devices and direct address. After analysing posters as a class and in groups, students then create their own posters using AFOREST devices and direct address. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

A fully-resourced one hour lesson to support students in exploring the question of ‘how is Prince Arragon presented in The Merchant of Venice?’ Students will be guided through a class discussion of the scene and then will complete a slow writing PETER paragraph on Prince Arragon. Learning Objective: Write an analytical paragraph about how the Prince of Arragon is presented in Act 2 Scene 9. Learning Outcomes: Students will consider the morphology of the word ‘analysis’. -Students will unpick the meaning of Act 2 Scene 8 with teacher support. -Students will be guided through how to write a PETER analytical paragraph. Students will write predictions about what will come next in the play. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Recall questions about the first casket in act 2 scene 7 Starter: Think – pair – share about the meaning of the word ‘analysis’ followed by morphological explanation of the word. Activity one: Class discussion and reading of Act 2 Scene 9 to support students in unpicking the meaning of the text. Activity two: Slow writing of PETER paragraph to answer the question of ‘how is the Prince of Arragon portrayed?’ Peer Assessment Plenary: Based on selected points, students write a prediction for what will happen next in the play. More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

A detailed one hour lesson to support students to write their strongest answers in the IGCSE exam for Edexcel English Literature 4ET1 on the question on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) . This lesson gives students a clear five step technique for approaching the exam in order to maximise their own critical engagement and language analysis skills. This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher and printing instructions included. If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.

This is a home learning workbook that contains 20 lessons that are a mixture of live and independent work from home. This is aimed at students studying The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This also works well as a revision guide for students to work through independently. This workbook has 12 live lessons for delivery in class or online (I have delivered them all online) and 8 for independent home learning. It would be easy to adapt lessons to make them live or independent. This resource is an adaptation of my original Curious Incident lesson bundle available here. This resource includes: A Powerpoint workbook with 175 slides which covers 20 lessons. Students complete all of their work directly into the Powerpoint (I have found that this saves a lot of stress and time when students have all of their work in one place). An overview of the scheme of work. A video that simulates the feeling of sensory overload Christopher experiences in the train station (this is embedded within the Powerpoint, but I have added it here in case there are problems). A more detailed knowledge organiser that can be used alongside the simplified knowledge organiser found in the workbook. If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.

A thorough revision quiz that covers all 30 of the Gillian Clark poems on the CIE AS level English Literature syllabus (9695). This takes between one and two hours to complete. Round one asks students to identify the poem and the poetic techniques used in quotes from the poems. Round two asks them to identify poems with specific themes. Poems covered: Advent Apples Baby-sitting Blaen Cwrt Burning Nettles Catrin Climbing Cader Idris Cold Knap Lake Death of a Cat Death of a Young Woman February Hare in July Hearthstone Icthyosaur Journey Lunchtime Lecture Miracle on St David’s Day My Box Neighbours Pipistrelle Post Script Ram Scything Seal Stealing Peas Sunday (‘From the mahogany…’) Sunday (‘Getting up early…’) The Lighthouse Times Like These White Roses Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.

A detailed and engaging one hour lesson to support students in their analysis of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play by Simon Stephens) for Edexcel English Literature IGCSE 4ET1. This lesson supports students to analyse the use of dramatic irony for dramatic effect. This resource contains a ready-to-teach Powerpoint with all teacher instructions included. If you find this resource helpful, please leave a review and have a look at other resources available in my shop.

An interactive advent calendar for use in English lessons or as literacy activities in form time. Each day links to a new literacy or English activity such as descriptive writing, comprehension questions, games or critical thinking exercises. These work especially well as 10 minute starters for the beginning of your lessons. Happy Christmas! Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter three of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson introduces the key word mondegreen (misheard words that are given a new meaning) and prompts students to analyse the effect of the Fuhrer being misheard as “The Fury” and Auschwitz being misheard as “Out-With”. Students are given scaffolding to write an analytical paragraph to consider the effect of this technique. Learning Objective: Analyse the effect of mondegreens as symbols in the text. Learning Outcomes: Bronze: Understand what a mondegreen is and give examples from the text. Silver: Explain clearly how these words are used as symbolds. Gold: Explain clearly what the effect is on the reader. **Lesson Outline: ** Do It Now: What do you notice about the chapter titles? Starter: Listen to ‘Message in a Bottle’ – what is a mondegreen? Activity one: Discussion and reading Activity two: PETER paragraph Peer assessment Plenary: Would all readers of this book be able to consider the mondegreens? Freebies: Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here. If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. . Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.

An hour long engaging lesson in which students are introduced to the main characters and themes in Macbeth. Through individual and group work, students will practise reading skills - in particular comprehension, inference and summarising - and collaborate with each other to share information that they have gleaned from profiles about the key characters in the play. Students will also be shown images representing Macbeth and prompted to infer themes they think will be evident in the play. Learning Objective: Get to know the main characters and themes in Macbeth. Learning Outcomes: Find and highlight key information about your character in the play. Re-write information about your character and share it with others in your own words. Question others about their characters and make connections between different characters. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Think – Pair – Share question about ambition Starter: Students look at five images representing Macbeth and infer themes from them. Activity one: Students are assigned a character from Macbeth. They read the information sheet and take bullet points notes in their graphic organiser. Activity two: Students circulate around the room swapping facts until they have completed all five character profiles. Plenary: Mini quiz based on the characters in the lesson. This lesson contains a 16-slide PowerPoint and five printable character profiles. Leave a review and choose any other resource, of up to the same value, for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

An engaging hour-long lesson which introduces students to the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in Act 1 Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. This is aimed at students in Key Stages 3 and 4. Learning Objective: Analyse the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in Act 1 Scene 1. Learning Outcomes: Students will complete comprehension questions on Act 1 Scene 1. Students will practise ‘exploding’ a quote for deeper analysis. Students will write an analytical paragraph using the PETER framework. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Think – pair – share – students infer details about Antonio from quotes. Starter: Introduction to Antonio and Bassanio. Activity 1: Read up until line 68 and discuss questions. Activity 2: Read until the end of the scene and discuss questions. Activity 3: Teacher modelling of how to explode a quote. Students write an analytical PETER paragraph to examine a quote in detail. Plenary: How are the audience meant to feel at the end of the scene? More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.

Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter twelve of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson prompts students to consider how John Boyne shows Bruno and Shmuel’s innocence and requires them to compare and contrast the two characters. Learning Objective: Compare and contrast Bruno and Shmuel. Learning Outcomes: Bronze: Create a timeline of Bruno and Shmuel’s life so far. Silver: Find the similarities and differences between them. Gold: Explain why John Boyne has created similarities between these two characters. Lesson Outline: Do It Now: Venn diagram of Bruno and Shmuel. Starter: In chapter 12, how does John Boyne show the innocence of Shmuel and Bruno? (Reading focus). Activity 1: Think-pair-share – quote inference activity. Activity 2: Students complete a timeline comparing and contrasting Bruno and Shmuel’s lives. Peer assessment Plenary: One minute recall challenge: what are the main similarities between Bruno and Shmuel? Freebies: Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here. If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. . Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.

Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter ten of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson introduces students to STEAL analysis as a way of understanding a character. Students complete STEAL analysis of Shmuel and then make predictions on what they think will happen in the text. Learning Objective: Use STEAL analysis to understand Shmuel as a character. Learning Outcomes: Bronze: Find appropriate quotes from the text to analyse Shmuel. Silver: Infer details from the quotes. Gold: Make links between parts of the text. Lesson Outline: Do It Now: Make a prediction based on the chapter title. Starter: Reading focus – how is Shmuel described? Activity 1: Discussion of STEAL analysis Activity 2: STEAL analysis poster in pairs Peer assessment Plenary: Now that Shmuel and Bruno have met, what do you predict will happen? Freebies: Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here. If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. . Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.

Engaging and ready to teach one hour lesson to cover chapter eight of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne. This lesson helps students to consider the character of Grandmother and why John Boyne has included her as a character. Students will infer details about Grandmother from the argument that she has with Father and then write a script between Grandmother and Grandfather which they will perform to the class. Learning Objective: Infer details from the text to write a script about Grandmother. Learning Outcomes: Bronze: Use scanning and skimming reading skills to find details about Grandmother in the text. Silver: Infer information about Grandmother and her relationship with Father. Gold: Synthesise what you know about the characters with information you have learned about the Holocaust to add details to your writing. Lesson Outline: Do It Now: Discuss with partners: how does it feel to experience conflict with family members? Starter: Read chapter 8 and then students answer comprehension questions in their books. Discuss as a class. Activity 1: Students write a script between Grandmother and Grandfather on their way home from Christmas dinner. Activity 2: Students perform their scripts and peer assess each other. Plenary: What has John Boyne included the character of Grandmother? What is he trying to show? Freebies: Two pre-reading lessons to introduce students to the context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A lesson on chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is available for free here. A scheme of work for teaching the entire novel is available for free here. If you find this lesson useful, please consider purchasing this ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bundle or have a look at other resources available in my shop. . Leave a review and choose any other resource of up to the same value for free from my shop.

An engaging hour-long lesson which introduces students to the main characters and themes in The Merchant of Venice before studying the play. This is aimed at students in Key Stages 3 and 4. This resource includes: A full Powerpoint including all teacher instructions (including printing instructions) A graphic organiser for students to record their notes. 5 detailed character profiles: Antonio, Bassanio, Shylock, Jessica and Portia. Learning Objective: Understand the main themes and characters in The Merchant of Venice. Learning Outcomes: Students will consider the title and posters of the play to mind-map themes. Students will work in groups to use an example summary and success criteria to write their own summary of a character from the play. Students will share features of their character with other students in the class. Lesson Outline: Do it now: Mind-map your ideas about the play based on the title. Starter: Look at these covers and posters; add your ideas you have about themes and ideas in the play to your mind-map. Think-pair-share ideas with the class. Activity 1: Modelling of an effective summary. Students read character profiles in groups and write a summary. Activity 2: Students circulate, share information and write down notes about the other characters. Plenary: Character quiz. More Resources for The Merchant of Venice Click here for a bundle of all the lessons to take you through the play plus a quiz, knowledge organiser and character revision posters. Freebies: For character revision posters for your classroom, click here. For an English/Drama lesson based on Portia’s choice in Act 1 Scene 2, click here. For a Scheme of Work overview for the unit, click here. Leave a review and choose any other resource for free from the LikeAnExpert shop.