This 36-slide lesson explores the character of Feste in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. With academic scrutiny, the lesson analyses one of Shakespeare’s most complex comic characters, beginning with an overview of his key lines, attributes, and role in the plot. This then leads to analysis of Feste’s name, key vocabulary that we might use to describe him, and how his role as a jester grants him special privileges and licence. Important historical and theatrical context is explored alongside Feste’s character, and we look at the development of Shakespeare’s ‘Fools’ across his plays. Feste’s relationship with music and song is analysed, as well as his engagement with the play’s fascination with disguise when he becomes ‘Sir Topas’. Interesting viewpoints from a range of critics, directors, and actors are discussed. Crucially, we also explore how Feste’s character relates to the key themes of the play and is central to the comedy of ‘Twelfth Night’. We look at how Feste interacts with other characters in the play, such as Malvolio, and compare him to Viola in his liminal and transgressive state. The Carnivalesque atmosphere of the play is analysed in light of Feste’s character. Questions, discussion points, and essay questions are featured throughout. Students are encouraged to consider Feste’s character at a high level, so this lesson would be ideal for students aged 16+. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 25-slide resource explores Percy Shelley’s iconic poem, ‘Ozymandias’. Students are encouraged to think critically about the function and purpose of statues, making way for discussions about myth-making and deification. They then learn about Shelley’s life and work, before delving into the context behind why he wrote the poem following the British Museum’s landmark acquisition. The resource explores ideas about the speakers and use of frame narrative, the poem’s heavy use of irony, and tensions between art and the artist. Form, structure, and language are analysed, and lists of key themes and vocabulary are provided to equip students with sophisticated tools for analysing the poem. Questions and discussion points are provided throughout the resource. ‘Quick-fire’ questions are given at the end, followed by an essay question. This resource can be used as a lesson or revision resource. It is ideal for ambitious GCSE or KS3 classes. Both a PDF and PowerPoint version of the resource are included.

Introduce students to the basic geography of Afghanistan with this informative map and fact-sheet. Understanding Afghanistan’s geographical position is vital to contextualising ‘The Kite Runner’. Students can then be encouraged to complete their own further research into the country.

Enhance your learning environment with this poster of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, designed by Mr. Gradgrind.

A poster featuring the famous ‘Some are born great…’ line from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. Perfect for your classroom or corridor display!

Enjoy this stylish poster for ‘Pride & Prejudice’ by Jane Austen to enhance your learning environment. Designed by MrGradgrind.

This 20-slide lesson introduces the key context of George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. Students learn about Orwell’s works and social commentary before delving into the dystopian genre and its key features. Totalitarianism and the political turmoil of the Cold War are then discussed, inviting students to think critically about society, individuality, surveillance, and propaganda as a tool for oppressive regimes to maintain control. The novel’s key themes are introduced, and students are tasked with looking up and defining sophisticated vocabulary associated with the novel. At the end of the lesson is a potential class or homework task in which students research historical examples of totalitarianism. This is an ideal introduction to ‘1984’, and could easily cover more than one lesson if teachers would like to expand upon any ideas or tasks. The PowerPoint is saved as a pdf to maintain its layout.

These 25 posters - featuring words of wisdom from 24 of Shakespeare’s plays - make for an inspiring, educational and visually stunning display in your classroom and corridor.

This 21-slide lesson explores Robert Hayden’s poem, ‘Those Winter Sundays’. The lesson considers the connotations evoked by the title before teaching students about Hayden’s life and work. Students then read the poem and are encouraged to think about information that can be inferred by ‘reading between the lines’ of the poem. The poem’s language and imagery is deconstructed in view of what it suggests about the relationship between the speaker and their father. We consider what is ‘unspoken’ in the text and what the reader might deduce from this. Students are encouraged to reflect on the ambiguity of the poem’s ending before considering the overall form, structure, and rhyme. The poem’s key themes are discussed, the tone is considered, and ambitious vocabulary is presented to students to allow them to produce sophisticated and precise analysis of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout the lesson, and an exam-style question is presented at the end. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 17-slide lesson explores Stevie Smith’s poem, ‘Not Waving But Drowning’. Students are asked challenging but important questions about how conscious we are of the feelings of those around us - our family, friends, and even neighbours, colleagues, and acquaintances. We discuss the nature of Smith’s poetry - her recurring themes, styles, and subject matter - before reading her famous poem. We think about how the poem might be read as an allegory, reflecting on important ideas surrounding mental health and compassion. The language, imagery, structure, and rhyme of the poem are then deconstructed in detail. Students explore the poem’s key themes, and ambitious vocabulary is introduced to facilitate sophisticated analysis. At the end of the poem, an exam-style question is included. Please note: this poem (and lesson) explores some mature themes regarding mental health. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This resource includes an extract from Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ as well as four exam-style questions based on Paper 1 of AQA’s English Language GCSE. This extract is an ideal mock or practice paper for those studying the AQA GCSE, or it could be used in class to develop understanding of the requirements of the exam. Also included is a PowerPoint with ‘top tips’ for answering each of the four questions.

This 43-page workbook is a thorough and comprehensive unit of work analysing poems about animals. The workbook contains various tasks and questions for a variety of animals, prompting students to consider how the poems interact with cultural stereotypes and how poets have used language and form to great effect. There are 12 poems included in this workbook. Poets featured include Ted Hughes, Chinua Achebe, Elizabeth Bishop, Carol Ann Duffy and Marianne Moore. At the end of the booklet is a project for students to complete. This workbook is easily adaptable and teachers can study each poem at their own discretion and in their own manner. Some poems are more complex than others and so teachers may wish to differentiate accordingly. Pupils could work on this unit in class or independently at home. The workbook is designed for use at KS3 but could be easily adapted to specific needs and preferences.

This 26-slide lesson explores John Donne’s ‘Death, Be Not Proud’. Against the backdrop of Donne’s own faith, this lesson explores the poem’s language, imagery, technique, and form as a meditation on fear and conquering one’s anxieties. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students. The lesson ends with an extended essay question, for which some scaffolding support is provided. A copy of the poem is included. This lesson is ideal for KS3 students but could be used with GCSE sets. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This bundle of resources is a comprehensive, detailed, and academic exploration of all scenes from Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ to provide the ideal companion for studying the play. Five presentations are included - one for each of the play’s five acts. Each presentation introduces the setting and context for each of the play’s scenes, before providing step-by-step supportive notes for the scenes. These notes not only explain what is happening as the scene progresses, but key dialogue, images, and stage directions are deconstructed with academic scrutiny. Questions are also posed for students at regular intervals to encourage a thematic and holistic understanding of the play. These resources can be used to support class readings of the texts, or made accessible to students at home to facilitate their understanding of each scene. In addition, students have found them extremely useful as revision resources to review in their own time. Act 1 Notes - 54 slides Act 2 Notes - 42 slides Act 3 Notes - 50 slides Act 4 Notes - 40 slides Act 5 Notes - 38 slides These resources are ideal for GCSE or A level study of ‘Othello’. 224 slides in total. PowerPoints saved as PDFs.

The perfect lesson for teaching students how to punctuate speech/dialogue. Aimed at KS3 students, but could easily be used or adapted at KS4.

A lesson (or two) designed to introduce pupils to Section B of AQA English Language Paper 1, where they are required to produce a piece of creative writing worth 40 marks. This PowerPoint (and accompanying worksheet) aims to break down the demands of the question into manageable chunks for pupils who may find extended writing challenging. By the end of the lesson/s, pupils will write their own short piece of writing based on an image, as per the exam question. This may be particularly useful for SEN groups and support classes.

This crossword on Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ provides an enjoyable but academic activity for pupils to test their knowledge of the novella. It always works as a great starter or plenary task.

This worksheet is designed to stimulate analytical consideration of the key images, symbols, and themes of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’. The task is flexible: teachers may ask pupils to surround each image with quotations, words, themes, or general ideas from the play. For example, around the picture of the golf ball, pupils may write: “I don’t play golf” or ‘Birling’s luxuries and leisure as antithesis of the Inspector’, etc. Images inevitably link together and overlap, which is a great prompt for students to connect the key ideas from across the play.

This extract from J.M. Coetzee’s powerful novel ‘Disgrace’ is perfect for practising analysing ‘unseen’ passages of Protest Literature. Designed for those studying ‘Political and Social Protest Literature’ with AQA for A level. Please note: this extract contains mature themes.

This word search is a fun and stimulating activity for those studying ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to help consolidate knowledge of characters, key themes, and their spelling.