An activity designed to introduce the idea of characters being more than just visual people. Used with Year 9 students as a reminder activity before starting a unit on Writing to Enteratin.

A planning grid for students to use exploring a question from the AQA GCSE English Literature Unit 1 paper, focussing on An Inspector Calls. This question is taken from the specimen AQA Foundation Tier paper.

A powerpoint designed to help students understand the poem Sonnet 116. Students are given details of the social and historical context of the poem, and then asked to annotate it, looking specifically for certain items and features.

A set of activities based on the 19th century novel 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte. The extract and questions are styled on the 2015 specimen papers from Edexcel, and are designed to push the students into considering phrasing and language use. The 'Using Context' activity is designed to test students ability to understand terms just through the sentence they have been used in. Answers are included for both activities. ***The extract is the intellectual property of the Bronte estate***

A set of key skills cards designed to be a one-stop-shop for students preparing for the WJEC* GCSE English Language exam. Can be used separately as a revision prompt, or made into a booklet, which students can write notes in, alongside the rules and pointers. *This resource is easily adaptable for other exam boards, as many of the skills will be either the same, or similar.

A PowerPoint and activity around the idea of instruction writing. Students are asked to identify why instructions are important and what instructions they have followed - always interesting to see how many realise they are following instruction 95% of the time! The activities concern household chores, so hopefully all students can identify with them.

A PowerPoint and accompanying activity sheet looking at the students' ability to identify the TAP (Text Type, Audience, Purpose) of any extract*. The students will be expected to identify the TAP of the extracts, before completing other tasks, all of which link to exam revision and the possible questions they will be asked. Can be easily adapted for different ability groups. *You will need to select up to 4 text extracts to use with the PowerPoint.

A powerpoint talking students through how to write a letter of complaint. This explores a possible structure, and demonstrates how addresses should be correctly presented. Following the information section, there is a task asking students to write a letter of complaint about a mobile phone.

A PowerPoint on the skill of predicting what might happen in a book, leaflet, etc. Students are asked to predict the contents of writing using various sources, and are able to identify primary and secondary elements in texts. The Activity 'What does the Cover say?' asks students to say what they think a book may be about from the cover&'s primary and secondary elements. * Image links are included and can be easily found on the internet.

A revision exercise for students studying GCSE English Literature, allowing them to practice their understanding of a unseen poem, and also writing an answer to the question in their exam. ***The poem is the copyright of the author***

An activity designed to help students understand difficult words. The students are asked to try and work out what the word means just by seeing it in a sentence/in context. Can be easily adapted, or students who are struggling can use a dictionary for additional support.

This resource can be used with either Higher Level KS3 students, or students in KS4. All the capital letters, full stops and paragraphs have been removed from a review of Homeland Season 1. The students just have to figure out where they should be put! Could be made easier for Lower Ability students. Article is the intellectual property of the writer (name and newspaper on the sheet)

Two sets of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Practice activities - one based on the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, the other based on Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. These activities are designed to allow students to practise their punctuation correction, as well as identify and correct spelling and grammatical errors. For both texts, there is an answer sheet, and two differentiated sheets. This resource can be easily adapted and simplified if needed. ***The extracts are the intellectual property of the author***

A punctuation practice activity using an article from The Telegraph* newspaper. This activity asks students to identify all of the missing punctuation marks (capital letters, full stops, commas, etc) in a piece about the top ten Christmas traditions. Easily adaptable for different age groups and abilities. Source detailed on page.

A quick starter activity for students to recap some of the main language and structure devices. An excellent resource for those students who feel they know the devices well, but possibly need some more practice.

A PowerPoint designed to inform students as to the requirements and key criteria for the new Edexcel (9-1) Speaking and Listening Element. From this, students can easily go on to plan and prepare for their presentation. * The task details can be easily changed or adapted depending on the ability of the group or a specific school policy on S&L at GCSE.

A PowerPoint introducing the topic of comparison, and asking students to test different methods of comparison to decide on the method they prefer. They are then asked to compare using that method, before writing a comparison answer. This PowerPoint can be adapted for different age groups and abilities - I often add images to the slides to help prompt thinking (E.G: the flags of the UK and the USA).

A set of comprehension questions based on an extract from Chapter 1 of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. The questions are designed to be accessible for most students, but can be easily adapted for older students by requesting that they add quotes and explanations to their answers. There is also an answer sheet to enable easy-marking, where possible.

An news article about the SpaceX Launch in May 2020, accompanied by a set of comprehension questions and a non-fiction writing task. Suitable for most ages and abilities, and easily adaptable where needed. A set of possible answers is included for reference.

A PowerPoint exploring: the kinds of information needed for a report, how to plan for writing a report, and how to write a report. Can be easily adapted for students’ of different ages and abilities.