This resource is best taught after the pupils have read or listened to the first four chapters of Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Private Peaceful’. It contains comprehension exercises regarding the character development of some main characters in the first four chapters. It also deals with the theme in Chapter 4 of ‘An Amazing Event’. In Chapter 4 the kids see a yellow aeroplane and meet its pilot. Pupils are asked to list amazing events from their lifetime and ones they have lived witnessed, before they plan then write about witnessing an amazing event. also included, is a presentation that accompanies the lesson. It can be used with the activities in the lesson, as a starter, a plenary or it can lead to further speaking and listening activities. Here are the main activities in this unit: • Listen to/read the 4th chapter of the novel. • Complete the comprehension challenge regarding 4 characters in 4 chapters. • Make a list of any amazing events that have happened in your lifetime or that you have witnessed. • Take part in a class/group discussion about these events. • Work on a writing plan for describing witnessing an amazing event. • Write a text about witnessing an amazing event.

This unit of work comprises of a short story about a new pupil coming to school who is considered different by the others. This should lead to some discussion about what makes people considered different. The pupil is bullied throughout the day, with the bullying getting progressively worse. The reader learns the bullies own life issues. The story teaches an important moral message and leads to many possible discussions. Many of these are introduced in a worksheet asking the pupil to note their thoughts on the story in detail, with many questions and discussion points raised. The unit then becomes an imaginative writing unit. Various elements of the short story are used as a springboard for the pupils to plan then write their own story about a new pupil coming to a school and being considered different. The unit could be used as part of an English course and should last for a half term if taught once a week. It could be used in late Primary School or early Secondary School. It is also a very good unit to teach to older SEN pupils.

This lesson is best taught after the pupils have read or listened to the second chapter of ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’. The main activities in this lesson are centered on the question of whether farmers should be allowed to kill foxes or not. The main production activities are a class discussion on this question and a writing activity where the pupils write a formal letter to the council giving their own opinion and asking for the council to act. There are structured writing plans for the pupils to complete, one that argues for farmers killing foxes and one that argues against it. These writing plans are differentiated, with different versions to accommodate more and less able pupils. There is also an extension activity for pupils who finish before others in the class, which is called ‘The Angry Farmer Conjunction Challenge!’

This is an Entry Level 1 Functional Skills reading activity. It consists of two texts and two comprehension exercises. The first text is about masked ball etiquette and the second is about the dance you will do at the ball. It is designed to be taught with Romeo and Juliet. It can also be introduced as a stand alone activity, a revision exercise or as a piece of homework. We at Engage Education create Functional Skills and Entry Level resources to be taught with GCSE recommended literature. We believe that functional can be fun.

This is a marking sheet to be used with OCR Entry Level English exams. It breaks down the skills OCR describes in their marking policy and puts them into a clear checklist so that you can accurately score the pupils' written work in the exam. There are 3 checklists. One for EL!, one for EL2 and one for EL3. There is also a section on the feeback sheet for telling the pupils 'what went well' and for giving them future points for development. It is a clear and easy to use system that both staff and pupils can understand. This resource makes marking OCR Entry Level English tests so much easier and more accurate. It can also be used to assess any piece of writing and can therefore be a good assessment model for pupils who are or may soon sit OCR Entry Level English.

This unit of work is an extension of the ‘All About Me’ topic. It is about ‘My Spare Time’. It consists of reading, writing and speaking + listening lessons. The reading and writing lessons are differentiated. The lessons in this unit include: Read about people in other people’s spare time and complete a profile about them. Have a group discussion with other pupils telling them about the person you have read about and taking notes on the people they tell you about. Complete a writing plan about your spare time. Write about your spare time. Have a group discussion telling other pupils all about your spare time and taking notes on what they tell you about their spare time. Complete a ‘My Spare Time’ poster.

This unit of work is an extension of the ‘All About Me’ theme. It is about settings in your life, which could include places like rooms, parks, settings of clubs or places pupils regularly visit. There are reading, writing and speaking and listening activities in the unit. The reading and writing lessons are differentiated. The lessons in this unit include: Look at pictures of settings and complete tables to describe them. Read about settings from other people’s lives and complete a profile about them. Have a group discussion with other pupils telling them about the setting you have read about and taking notes on the settings they tell you about. Complete a profile about a setting in your life. Write all about this setting. Complete a self-assessment form. Have a group discussion telling other pupils all about your setting and taking notes on what they tell you about their settings. Complete a ‘Settings In My Life’ poster.

These four resources are used to help students to use different types of punctuation. There a variety of activities for using question marks, commas in a list, exclamation marks and for punctuating speech. Pupils are also encouraged to use capital letters and full stops correctly. These resources can be used as class activities, as extension work or as homework.

There are six writing resources in the pack that are aimed at helping pupils to punctuate sentences correctly using capital letters and full stops. It ranges from them being giving simple sentences with no punctuation that they have to edit, to the pupils writing a short well punctuated paragraph independently. The resources include strong visual images that provide a stimulus for all pupils and are also especially beneficial for more visual learners. These resources can be used as class activities, as extension work or as homework.

This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write a historical diary entry from the perspective of a person who has witnessed a famous event in history. There is a planning exercise which pupils can use to think about the key events they wish to describe and how the writer felt about them. This is followed by differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). There are also some example texts and writing frames so pupils can see how the writing frame is used to create the text and how to write to a higher level. Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their historical diary entry. This resource can be used in English or history lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.

This resource consists of a powerpoint presentation and some worksheets to use with Chapter 10 of Michael Morpurpo’s ‘Private Peaceful’. The main activity is for pupils to plan and write a persuasive text in which they attempt to persuade others that a character in the story is a good or a bad leader. Some additional time could be used to turn these written texts into spoken presentations in which the pupils attempt to persuade the class. The powerpoint helps to organise the lesson, checking pupils’ understanding of the chapter and setting up class/group discussions. The worksheets consist of a writing plan for pupils to complete, lined paper for the writing activity and an extension activity in which pupils use a thesaurus to find as many suitable adjectives as they can to describe famous leaders from history. They may also research these leaders if they have time, although they should be familiar with them. This resource can last for between 2 and 6 hours depending on how much time you allow for each activity. This is the lesson plan: • Pre-Reading Discussion: *Discuss what you already know about World War 1 and what life was like for the soldiers in it. • Listen to/read the 9th chapter of the novel. Check your comprehension of the story by describing what happened using the images on the lesson powerpoint. • Class Discussion: Leaders Discuss what makes a good leader Which characters in the story take on the role of a leader? • Lesson Activity: Plan and write a persuasive text in which you attempt to convince others that a character in the story is or is not a good leader. • Extension Work: Adjectives For Famous Leaders Using a thesaurus, find as many different, but suitable adjectives to describe the famous leaders pictured. Please check out our other ‘Private Peaceful’ resources.

In these resources, pupils are given visuals and some words and are asked to use them to create a simple sentence. They are expected to use capital letters and full stops correctly and to choose additional High Frequency words and spell them independently. They are asked to repeat this process with different visuals and words a variety of times. This is the first step in preparing pupils to write sentences. The images help more visual learners and the given words provide ideas for what to write about and structure. These resources can be used as a class activity, as extension work or as homework. There are two resources to use when you choose this download.

In these three resources, pupils are move from being given a lot of support in using ‘and’ in written sentences to writing short texts independently including the word ‘and’. In the first resource, pupils are given visuals and some words and are asked to use them to create a simple sentence including the word ‘and’. They are expected to use capital letters and full stops correctly and to choose additional High Frequency words and spell them independently. They are asked to repeat this process with different visuals and words a variety of times. In the next two resources, the pupils are given two images and are asked to make a sentence about these images including the word ‘and’. This process is repeated a variety of times until the pupil is asked to complete a piece of writing (including the word ‘and’) without any visual aids. In the second resource, this extended piece of writing is to be about themselves. In the third it is about another person of their choice. When using the 3 resources, pupils move from being heavily supported to writing independently. These resources can be used as a class activity, as extension work or as homework.

This resource consists of a powerpoint presentation and a collection of worksheets on the topic of who pupils would choose to treat to a special Christmas dinner. Pupils complete a series of speaking and reading activities that help to prepare them for their own written text regarding who they would treat to a special Christmas dinner. Using the lesson powerpoint, discuss which of the famous people the pupils would choose to treat to a special Christmas dinner and why. The pupils read a text about who a person has chosen to treat to a special Christmas dinner and complete the profile worksheet about them. (Choose which of the five texts to give each pupil depending on their ability) Using the lesson powerpoint, the pupils’ understanding of these texts is assessed as pupils tell the class what they have learned about the characters that they have studied using the images and words on the slide to help them. Using the powerpoint, the class discusses who they would treat to a special dinner if they could invite anybody in the world (in history). The pupils make the writing plan to describe the person that they would treat to a special Christmas dinner, what they would eat and do and why they would choose them. The pupils use their writing plan to write a text about who they would treat to a special Christmas dinner. This resource normally takes two full lessons to complete, but could last longer depending on the speaking and listening exercises. If there are pupils who do not celebrate Christmas in your class, the lesson can be adapted to be about treating people to a special dinner instead.

There two resources are to help pupils to learn the skill of picking out different literary techniques in a text and then to build an understanding of why the writer has used them. The first resource asks pupils to make a list of different literary techniques that they can find in a text and to note down the example(s) of this that they have highlighted. After the pupils have practiced this skill they can attempt the 2nd activity. in this, pupils are again asked to pick out different literary techniques used, but also to explain why the writer has used the examples they have highlighted of these techniques. These resources are designed so that they can be used with any text. This means that you can use them again and again. Furthermore, it gives pupils some independence by allowing them to choose their own passages in texts to use with these resources and they can therefore be a good homework activity.

This presentation is to be used when delivering a session to the whole school on how to mark written work. It explains the value of good marking and feedback. It presents different forms of marking and feedback and it explains what is required to make marking effective. Advice is given on what to mark on a written text and what not to mark, so that marking is effective and does not demotivate the student. It then introduces ‘live’ marking and explains how staff can do this successfully in lessons. This then leads to a marking activity where staff put these ideas into practice while marking four examples of pupils’ work. After this activity, the texts are displayed on the presentation for a feedback session. The final part of the presentation is about what should happen after marking, with advice given on how to follow up ‘Next Steps’ and ‘Literacy Targets’ by giving the pupils ownership of their own progress. This presentation can be adapted to include your own school’s writing marking code and policy.

This presentation looks at the life of Saint Andrew in detail. It also poses the pupils questions that can be used for writing or discussion activities.

This presentation gives a detailed account of Gandhi’s life revolutionary in India. It leads to possible discussions and there are also listening comprehension questions which are available for free titled ‘Gandhi’s Revolution In India: Listening Comprehension’.

This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write an essay about an artist. There is an information gathering exercise which pupils can use to research and learn more about a chosen artist. This is followed by differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their text about an artist. This resource can be used in English or art lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.

This resource consists of a selection of activities that can be used to help pupils to write about a practical or a project that they have completed in a design technology lesson. There are differentiated writing frames that the pupils can complete to create an easy to follow plan for their written text. This frame helps the pupils to structure their texts and includes some vocabulary suggestions (varied sentence openings). Pupils are then asked to use the plan to write their text about what they have achieved in their practical/project. This resource can be used in English or design technology lessons and is an effective way of promoting literacy across the curriculum.