These resources are the product of my retirement! After years as a teacher, I tutored. Tackling different exam boards, texts and aspects of English I had to develop lots of materials, which I'm hoping will help those of you still at the chalk face.
These resources are the product of my retirement! After years as a teacher, I tutored. Tackling different exam boards, texts and aspects of English I had to develop lots of materials, which I'm hoping will help those of you still at the chalk face.
15 extracts of between 50-70 lines each, followed by one question on the extract, and a second, general question on themes, characters or setting in the novel, as in past exam papers. These should provide plenty of exam practice and revision for students studying for the Cambriddge IGCSE Literature exam. The sheets can be edited if required.
CIE 15 extracts from all 3 books of Hard Times, each about 50-70 lines, followed by two questions as in the sample exam papers,to provide exam practice and help with revision for students following the Cambridge Literature IGCSE. The sheets can be edited if required
A topical comprehension on the perils of plastic pollution, especially in oceans, following from the BBC programme, Blue Planet. It has a range of questions: vocabulary, information retrieval and language analysis. Together these are worth 25 marks. Suggested answers are provided separately. There is also a descriptive writing task, which is also worth 25 marks. This resource could, therefore, be useful as an exam paper, classwork task, cover lesson, homework or be used for tuition. It has been designed for KS3 using question styles similar to those found on GCSE 9-1. It is editable so can be modified to suit your requirements.
Hope its useful! If it is, check out my 4 similar topical non-fiction comprehensions, on darts, the RNLI, the resurgence in crafts like sewing and knitting and paramedics. Another useful resource at a very reasonable price!
Similar to my free resources on Hard Times & Wuthering Heights, here are three more comprehensions: Dracula, Moriarty,(from Sherlock Holmes) & The Mayor of Casterbridge when he was a travelling worker who auctions his wife. They are similar in that there is a mixture of questions: information recall, vocabulary and language analysis. Each editable sheet also has a descriptive writing task. Suggested answers are also provided. These would be useful to prepare students for the demands of GCSE, as homework tasks, exams, tuition or for 13+ exam practice etc
14 extracts of around 60 lines each, followed by 2 questions, as in the sample paper, to provide exam practice and to help with revision for students studying for the Cambridge Literature IGCSE. The sheets can be edited if a different question focus is required
14 extracts from the play, each followed by two questions to provide exam practice and revision for students following the Cambridge Literature IGCSE. The sheets can be edited to allow you to add questions with a different focus if required.
Suitable for KS3 students, these 4 short topical texts, written as articles, have questions which include vocabulary, language analysis and information retrieval, so may be useful as pre-GCSE work. Answer sheets are provided so these could be used for homework or tuition, or maybe as an exam. A descriptive writing task is also given. Marks are allocated: 25 for writing and 25 for reading. The four topics are: the resurgence of traditional crafts; the role of paramedics; the RNLI & darts. The sheets can be edited. These sheets are similar in style to my free worksheet on the start of ‘Hard Times’
For EDEXCEL GCSE 9-1 Literature, the Shakespeare section, here are 15 more extracts, with questions in the style of the exam paper to provide effective revision n the form of exam practice. These questions aren characters and themes and cover a range of different scenes.
For the Shakespeare section of the 9-1 GCSE literature exam, here are 15 more extracts with questions, in the style of the exam paper to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. The questions are on characters and themes, and feature a range if scenes, both well known and less so.
To supplement my previous resource, here are 15 more extracts from Macbeth, with questions in the style of the 2017 exam paper to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice for the AQA Literature 9-1 GCSE The extracts are from a range of scenes and focus on characters and themes.
For GCSE 9-1 Literature, the Shakespeare section, here are 15 more extracts from Romeo & Juliet, with questions a) & b), in the style of the 2017 paper. These will provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. The questions are on characters and themes, and feature a range of scenes.
For the GCSE Literature, component 1, Shakespeare, here are 15 more extracts from Romeo & Juliet, with questions in the style of the 2017 paper, to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. These questions are on characters and themes, and cover a range of scenes.
I used lots of the brilliant Barrington Stokes books for upper KS2 & KS3 (& even sometimes KS4) students who were reluctant readers when I was tutoring. The books have a good story, simple vocabulary and manage to engage with even the most disaffected. I often made simple comprehension exercises, which I have decided to share in case they are of use to anyone else…it took a long time to read and prepare questions for all the books I had! This one is rather ‘girly’, but incredibly popular, written, as it is, by Karen McCombie. Some students progressed to her longer books after reading a few of these simplified texts.
4 pairs of poems with questions designed for pupils to explore each poem, and then compare both. There’s an essay question on each pair of poems if required. The worksheets are designed for individual or pair work, to prepare KS3 students for comparative work at GCSE or to prepare KS4 pupils for unseen poetry. The questions look at meaning, structure and language. The poems are: Vitai Lampada-Sir Henry Newbolt & Play the Game-Jessie Pope; Drummer Hodge-Thomas Hardy & The Soldier-Rupert Brooke; Roundel & Epitaph On My Days In Hopital-Vera Brittain and Marching Men-Marjorie Pickthall & The Send Off by Wilfred Owen
For the AQA Literature GCSE 9-1 Shakespeare section on Romeo & Juliet, here are 15 more extracts in the style of the sample question & 2017 exam paper to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. These questions are on themes and characters and feature a wide range of different scenes.
Here are 13 more Edexcel GCSE 9-1 extract-based exam questions, firmly based on the sample and 2017 materials to provide effective revision and exam practice of ‘Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde’. These are different from my previous resource, using less well-known extracts to provide students with a little more challenge.
13 AQA 9-1 Literature exam questions similar to the 2017 exam question for revision and exam practice. Each of these 13 files has the extract and subsequent question written in a similar style to the original. The extracts are taken from throughout the novel and are different from my previous resource. The extracts are therefore less well-known and may provide more challenge. They are mainly character based
Using past and sample papers for the AQA 9-1 Literature exam, these 14 exam questions have been created in a similar style. Each has an extract and question on characters or themes to provide helpful revision and exam practice, either in class or at home.
These are for new Year 7 classes:
Two vocabulary exercises. One matches pairs of words with similar meanings, like ‘class’ & ‘form’; one matches an English school word with its American equivalent, like ‘caretaker’ & ‘janitor’ . These could be pair activities, or a short 'starter’
The third is an old favourite of mine to encourage new pupils to move about and chat. It’s a grid with phrases like, ‘supports a football team’ or ‘enjoys cooking’. Each student has to find a person for whom the phrase applies. This person has to sign the appropriate square. Of course, the phrases can be changed to suit the class or school, this is an old one of mine.
Taken chronologically from this great short story, these comprehensions are good preparation for the 9-1 GCSE. There are a range of questions: vocabulary, information recall, language analysis etc, with suggested marks. Thus would also be useful revision if the story was being studied in a Gothic or horror scheme.