Quite simply, using the key word skills hierarchy 'descriptors' from the new AQA English mark schemes, I have produced comment banks which teachers might wish to use in their report writing which address all of the AOs for WRITING. The key word descriptors are as follows: 'simple and limited', 'some success', 'generally and appropriately', 'consistently and clear' and 'compelling and convincing.' These comment banks could be imported into whole-school assessment reporting, tracking and recording software like SIMS to make report writing easier. If you find this resource useful, check out the Comment Banks for READING skills, too.

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing The extract is taken from Roald Dahl’s short story, 'The Landlady', written in 1959. UPDATED APRIL 2017: The REVISED SMART Notebook slides are designed to enable you to teach the resource Q by Q and include a new Q3 key terminology matching starter; a model Q3 response and a new Q4 slide. In this extract, a teenage boy named Billy Weaver has travelled from London to Bath to begin a new job, working for a bank. He is looking for a cheap hotel or a Bed & Breakfast to stay in until he can find more permanent accommodation. The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you!

A practice exam paper for the new AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2A: Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives, using two non-fiction texts based on the same theme or topic: here, it is AIR POLLUTION in LONDON across the centuries. Extracts used here are a journal entry from a Frenchwoman writing about smog in London in 1839 and a newspaper article about air pollution in London, published by The Independent newspaper in January 2015. The 4 exam questions adhere to the format of those published by AQA in their specimen exam papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of Practice exam papers for Paper 1 and Paper 2. They are all FREE so help yourself - just leave a review! Thanks. I hope it is of some use to you. Matt :)

Designed for use with the NEW AQA, a practice GCSE Language Paper 1 Section A exam paper, using an extract from Liam O'Flaherty's short story, 'The Sniper', set during the Irish civil war and published in 1923. In this extract, an Irish Republican Army soldier - a sniper - is shooting at the enemy. He has spotted an enemy sniper on a nearby rooftop and takes aim. It is a decision he will live to regret ... UPDATED APRIL 2017: so the extract now contains line numbers AND questions 1 and 2 refer specifically to line numbers, adhering more precisely to the format of the AQA exam paper. Also included is a REVISED set of SMART Notebook slides to assist you in teaching the 4 exam Qs, question by question. I have included also a Q3 key terminolgy matching starter activity, a model response to Q3 structure, modelling appropriate use of subject terminology and a new Q4 slide. The Notebook slides can be unlocked and the content easily amended to suit any other text and Qs you might wish to use with your students in the future. I hope this is of some use to you. Matt :)

A practice exam paper for the new AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2: Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives, using two non-fiction texts based on the same theme or topic: here, it is CAPITAL PUNISHMENT in different centuries and in different countries. Extracts used here are a 19th C eyewitness account of a visit to the prison gallows which featured in The Daily Telegraph, 30th November 1881 and an American online newspaper article in defence of the death penalty, published in 2014. The authors display contrasting viewpoints to the topic. Section B: Writing task (linked by theme to the texts used in Section A) is also included. The 5 exam questions adhere to the format of those published by AQA in their specimen exam papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of Paper 1 and 2 Language exam papers FREE of charge, available at my 'shop'. Help yourself but please leave a review - thanks! I hope it is of some use to you. Matt :)

Designed for less able students at Key Stage 3 or 4, this is a practice exam paper for the NEW AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading 20th C Fiction texts. I have adapted an extract taken from WW Jacobs' classic ghost story, "The Monkey's Paw" (1902), simplifying some of the vocabulary and sentencing to make the text a little more accessible for students whose reading age might be lower than their chronological age. I have also produced SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive teaching of the workbook, Q by Q. The format of the paper is as follows: Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise focusing on how the writer uses language to create suspense for the reader Q3a - sequence a series of statements to show understanding of narrative events / structure Q3b - cloze activity, modelling Q3 response, for pupils to complete. I know that the new GCSE paper is untiered and students will not be given this level of support in the exam. However, this resource is intended to provide an appropriate point of access and opportunities for students whose literacy is a barrier to learning to practise the reading response skills demanded by this exam - and to support the teachers who have to deliver it! I hope that it is of some use to you. I have produced other resources like this one using extracts from Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Skellig, A Christmas Carol, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Hobbit, The Sniper, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Pearl, The MAchine Gunners, Buddy, Dracula and Z for Zachariah. I've also uploaded loads of typical specimen new AQA 9 to 1 Language Paper 1 and 2s to my shop, all available free of charge. Please leave a review and help yourself! Matt :)

The Examiners' Report for the June 2017 series commented on candidates' responses to Paper 1B writing tasks by stating that "Many students would have benefitted from a quality rather than quantity approach: having the confidence to take time to plan, and then craft a shaped and structured response in two or three sides, with time at the end to revise and improve." These 200 Word challenges are designed to encourage narrative or descriptive writing in response to an image, with either three techniques or three vocabulary choices to include in their 200 words long response, produced in 30 minutes, with 10 minutes spent proofreading, editing and correcting. I hope that they are of use to you.

A practice exam paper for the new AQA Language Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing The extract is taken from Roald Dahl’s short story, 'Lamb to the Slaughter', written in 1953. In this extract, Patrick Maloney - a senior police officer – informs his heavily pregnant wife, Mary, that he is ending their marriage. His wife has other ideas ... The text and the format of the exam Qs 1 to 4 follows that of AQA's approved specimen papers. The SMART Notebook slides are designed to support your teaching of Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of AQA practice exam Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! Matt :)

A Practice GCSE Paper 1 Section A exam paper, using an extract from Hound of the Baskervilles. This is an ALTERNATIVE extract to the other Hound of the Baskervilles practice exam resource I have uploaded (no longer available here at TES as it has been published by www.teachit.co.uk where you can now access it, alongside other resources I've had published there.) In this extract, the narrator – Doctor Watson – and Sir Henry Baskerville are trying to solve the mystery of what the butler, Barrymore, is doing in the middle of the night. UPDATED APRIL 2017: included is a REVISED set of SMART Notebook slides to assist you in teaching the 4 exam Qs, question by question. I've also added a Q3 key terminology matching starter activity, Q3 modelled response and a new Q4 slide. The Notebook slides can be unlocked and the content easily amended to suit any other text and Qs you might wish to use in the future. NOTE: I have uploaded LOADS of AQA practice exam paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Help yourself - and leave a review! Thanks! I hope this is of some use to you. Matt :)

A practice exam paper for new AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A: 20th C fiction extract with Qs 1 to 4. In this extract, set in Newcastle during World War 2, a young boy named Chas McGill discovers something extraordinary in the woods near his home. Originally designed for use with pupils in Y7, to introduce the format of the new exam paper and to practise the skills tested by the exam. I thought this text quite accessible and hoped it might appeal to boys. The SMART Notebook slides are designed to assist your teaching of Qs 1 to 4, Q by Q. The 4 exam Qs follow the format of those in the approved AQA specimen papers. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of AQA practice exam Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! I hope they are of some use to you! Matt :)

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology NOTE: I have uploaded loads of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

A practice exam paper for the new AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2A: Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives, linked by the theme of 'PARANORMAL', using an extract from an autobiographical account written by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle in 1930 and a 21st C Discovery Channel online news article entitled, 'Do Ghosts Exist? Exploring the Paranormal' where the authors present contrasting viewpoints and attitudes to the subject matter. The texts and the format of the exam Qs follows that published by AQA in the approved specimen materials. Please note: These resources were originally designed for use by pupils at Key Stage 3, introducing the format and the skills tested by the new GCSE. Also, Conan-Doyle's account, taken from 'The Edge of the Unknown' was published in 1930 but for the purposes of introducing contrasting viewpoints and attitudes at KS3 is suitably challenging. I hope it is of some use to you.

Using an autobiographical extract from the perspective of a passenger onboard the Titanic and an online fact file written by teens for teens over 100 years later, the theme of these two non-fiction texts is perspectives of the sinking of RMS Titanic. I have adapted the autobiographical text ever so slightly, simplifying some vocabulary and sentencing to make it a little more accessible to students whose reading ages are significantly lower than their chronological age, to provide an appropriate point of access to the skills demanded by the new AQA GCSE Language Paper 2A exam paper. Also included is a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole-class interactive whiteboard teaching. I have adhered to the phrasing of the questions, but the tasks are differentiated thus: Q1 - same as the actual exam paper Q2 - cloze exercise of the summary (this could be easily tweaked to sentence stems) Q3a - highlight and write down 3 relevant examples of language used to convey viewpoint Q3b - cloze exercise of use of language to convey viewpoint and attitude (again, this could easily be tweaked to the sentence stems of PEE paragraphs where pupils supply the point, evidence and explain how language is used to convey the author's viewpoint.) I have not included the Q4 'comparison of methods to convey attitudes' task as it is a skill currently beyond the ability of the students for whom I have produced this resource. I hope that it might be of some use to others. All are available FREE at my 'shop'. Help yourself! Matt :)

Quite simply, using the key word skills hierarchy 'descriptors' from the new AQA English mark schemes, I have produced comment banks which teachers might wish to use in their report writing which address all of the AOs for READING. The key word descriptors are as follows: 'simple and limited', 'some attempt', 'describes', 'clearly explains', 'explores and analyses' and 'evaluates.' These comment banks could be imported into whole-school assessment reporting, tracking and recording software like SIMS to make report writing easier. If you find this resource useful, check out the Comment Banks for WRITING skills, too.

A scheme of work, comprising 18 (hour long) lessons - each of which is a series of SMART Notebook slides for interactive, whole-class teaching and learning, containing: * learning objectives / outcomes * starter activity - anagrams of key words / crossword puzzle / wordsearch * electronic versions of the pupil resources / hand-outs / excerpts * context-based tasks focusing on language analysis, using essay based steers such as: "How does Orwell make this such a (dramatic/shocking/memorable etc.) moment in the novel?" * plenary activity Some of the content coverage includes: * allegory / fable * satire * persuasive rhetoric - language analysis * Newspaper article of the Battle of the Cowshed * irony - exploring the poem about Napoleon in Chapter 8 * developing of language analysis skills, with close reference to 4 dramatic or shocking moments Each lesson and any accompanying resources/worksheets are organised into 18 sub-folders, lesson by lesson, for your convenience. Hope it's of some use to you. Matt :)

New AQA Language practice exam Paper 1A: Reading 20th C fiction texts: 'THE ROAD', by Cormac McCarthy, 2006. In this engaging extract, taken from the middle of the novel, a father and his son – half-starved – discover an underground bunker filled with tinned foods and water. UPDATED: APRIL 2017 - a series of REVISED SMART Notebook slides to accompany the practice exam paper, so that you can teach this extract and Qs 1 to 4 interactively, supplying also a Q3 key terminology matching starter activity, Q2 and Q3 mark schemes, a model response to Q3 where the focus is on structure and using key subject terminology appropriately and a new Q4 slide. I hope this is of some use to you. NOTE: I've uploaded LOADS of practice Paper 1s AND 2s to my 'shop', ALL FREE of charge. Please help yourself - just leave a review. Thank you! Thanks :)

Designed for use with less able students in Key Stage 3, this post-reading Powerpoint quiz - complete with questions and appropriate images - invites pupils to reflect on characters, events and plot details, testing their knowledge and understanding. Pupils can work independently, in pairs or trios - depending on ability.

A mocked up practice exam paper for Cambridge IGCSE (0522 UK) for examination 2016 onwards.

A highly differentiated resource to support students whose literacy is a barrier to accessing the new GCSE English Language exam papers. I have adhered to the question format of Qs 1 to 3 of the exam paper but have scaffolded the responses to enable less able students to practise the skills demanded by the new AQA English Language Paper 1A: Reading exam. To accompany the pupil workbook, I have produced a set of SMART Notebook slides for whole class interactive teaching of the resource. Q1 - the same Q2 - cloze exercise Q3a - sequence the statements to show understanding of narrative events Q3b - cloze exercise to show comprehension of narrative events, using specialist terminology I have uploaded lots of these differentiated practice papers, as well as differentiated Language Paper 2s, all available FREE at my 'shop'. Also, loads of 'actual' specimen papers! Help yourself and please leave a review.

Several starter activity puzzles for use with Philip Pullman's adaptation of 'Frankenstein.' Designed for use by pupils at Key Stage 3.