Four lessons of the film study of Hacksaw Ridge. Used for NCEA English in NZ for L2.

A lesson where students discuss the meaning of first impressions and make some of their own. Students then read Chapter 2 and 3 and make first impressions of Bod and Scarlett before writing mind-maps with the info and finding quotes to back up their impressions. This is part of a full 7-week unit I am putting together currently, which will be uploaded as a full SoW when completed.

A brief lesson where students write a poem about Queen Elizabeth II and her reign. It’s a nice way to let students reflect on their feelings or even just put a bit more thought into her reign. The first few slides discuss what we think of to do with the Queen, some fun facts, and why people will be grieving and how we can mourn/grieve or pay tribute to the Queen. It then teaches about what form is with a few examples. The lesson gives an example of a poem about the Queen, which students critique. They then plan their own, using a table. I have wrote an example of this but I’m not the best writer of poetry. Students then can self-critique their poems and decorate them at the end. May be a nice lesson to outline some homework or something.

A lesson where students use the title, cover, reviews, blurb and chapter one to make predictions about the characters, setting and plot of The Graveyard Book. This is part of a full 7-week unit I am putting together currently, which will be uploaded as a full SoW when completed.

A lesson that aims to have a back to school poem written by the end of it. Students will discuss what a poem is and what features a poem may have. Teacher and students then discuss form, alliteration and similes, and planning a poem. There is an opportunity here to mark a given poem and find reasons why they give it that mark, alongside self-assessment using a success criteria. Some slides have printable resources but these can just be copied into a student’s book too. Poetry was written by me - I know it’s shoddy, feel free to bin that and never use again!

This lesson can be used to welcome students and access their attitudes towards English and their writing skills. It begins with a few questions about what they like and dislike about English and a goal setting activity for the year. It then moves in to a brief intro to autobiographies, a criteria for writing one and then has students write a few paragraphs of one for themselves. The lesson can incorporate peer reviewing if you want AND/OR teachers can take a sample of the work to gain an idea of students’ writing capabilities.

A lesson where students decide whether Caliban is a villain or victim/man or monster, looking at the colonialist context, watching the animated tales, and writing a PEEZA paragraph at the end to explain both sides.

Discussion based lesson, talking about forms of media and associations of them, discussing usage, importance of media to them, compare and contrasts types of media, with an exit card definition of media. There are options to add homework to this lesson or other activities such as checking their digital wellbeing/usage log on their phone, asking their families about the importance of media to them, stereotypes of users, etc.

Lesson on effects of alcohol, facts about alcohol, and giving people advice about drinking/not drinking.

Looks at videos of the characters, what students notice about the characters and then compares who is more powerful or villainous.

Recaps what students know about the role of Elizabethan women, discusses why it is surprising Lady Macbeth is a protag and antag, looks at the ‘come you spirits’ speech and students write a paragraph about what they think of her. The last slide is a discussion on how an audience would react to her.

Looks at the plot of Macbeth and Macbeth’s decisions, leads to a discussion and piece of writing about whether Macbeth is a villain or not.

A lesson about writing to advise, using agony aunts work and teaching the difference between modal and imperative verbs.

Looking at a letter written by Chris Packham to Ant and Dec, this lesson builds students up to analyse language and write up an evaluation of the lesson. Continues on from my other evaluate lesson.

A lesson based on the evaluate question of EDUQAS Language Component. It looks at the meaning of ‘evaluate’ and then has students evaluate images before writing an evaluative PEE paragraph. Uses the theme of the environment.

A lesson where students discuss apps and what their UPS’ are and what they use and then discuss and write pitches for their own apps they have ideas about.

A 6-week unit of work on the novel, Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird, which is about the Syrian Civil War and being a refugee. The unit focuses on analysing skills and using quotes as evidence up until chapter 11. The second half focuses on writing a short story, based on the novel whilst still reading it.

Using the myth of Perseus and Medusa, this lesson discusses the demonisation of women (my 11-12 year old students really got this lesson!) in the media and myths and then discussed how language demonised the character.

Using the myth of Odysseus and the Cyclops, students learn how to search for quotes to support their ideas.

A lesson that discusses thoughts and feelings about Sonnet by John Clare, it then discusses rhyme scheme and Sonnet form.