Although Old English was spoken many centuries ago, some words have survived into modern English. This powerpoint contains clues to ten words which originated in Old English. It is then followed by examples of place names which are derived from Old English. Students are given many opportunities to brainstorm more place names and investigate the language. This could be used as part of the English or History curriculum.

Using Shakespeare’s famous spell from the witches in Macbeth, this Powerpoint allows students to explore Shakespeare’s language in a fun and interactive way. After considering why people might cast spells, students are given a cloze exercise and fit the missing ingredients into the spell. They then complete a matching exercise focusing on the meaning of the ingredients. Thirdly students categorise the ingredients and then finally they come up with appropriate ingredients for a sleeping spell. This could be a stand alone lesson introducing students to Shakespeare’s language; part of a scheme on Macbeth or a precursor to my follow-up lesson when students write their own spell. Powerpoint with answers and worksheet included.

This folder contains two powerpoints. One powerpoint covers how Shakespeare tried to please King James 1st by including ideas about witchcraft, and the divine right of kings in the play Macbeth to reassure James 1 after the Gunpowder Plot. There are lots of images of contemporary documents and portraits and the final task is for students to imagine that they are Shakespeare and to write a letter to his wife back home in Stratford-Upon-Avon, explaining his thought processes on why he chose to write Macbeth. The second powerpoint has ten multiple choice questions about witchcraft with answers, which can be used to spark discussion, followed by historical facts explaining the reasons for belief in witchcraft.

Two Lessons on AQA Power and Conflict cluster poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The first lesson gives detailed historical background with activities to understand the archaic vocabulary. Students then explore the poet’s use of language. Students are guided to discover why Tennyson adopted his point of view towards the soldiers and the charge. The second lesson explores the language further by explolding quotations showing the fear of the soldiers. Students are then supported to imagine that they were a survivor of the charge and to write a creative account of the battle using actual testimony from survivors and footage of a cavalry charge from “War Horse”.

Get your students ready for Halloween with this article packed full of interesting facts about the origin and history of Halloween. Eight comprehension questions follow, mainly based on select and retrieve questions, with mark scheme included. Finally there is a task to design a leaflet for younger students promoting Halloween. Created to engage students with British history and culture, this resource would also be ideal for EAL learners also.

This folder contains a twenty-slide powerpoint and a worksheets to introduce the key themes of the play as introduced in the prologue. There is a cloze exercise on a modern verision of the poem and a more difficult translation exercise, which could be completed for homework. After getting to grips with the language and themes of the Prologue, students then investigate Shakespeare’s use of compound adjectives inspired by “death-marked love” and “star-crossed lovers” and are encouraged to create their own brand-new compound adjectives, like Shakespeare.

This twenty slide Powerpoint guides students through how to have fun creating a 50 word mini-story with lots of examples, tips and golden rules. Students are given help to polish and re-draft their stories, culminating in them reading them out. It will take two to three lessons. It is good for getting them to think about beginnings, middles and ends, which they need for the creative writing element of the GCSE.

Support your students to write a formal letter with this powerpoint which contains a very letter from a grumpy member of the older generation complaining about teenagers today. Students have to identify the writer’s arguments and then plan how to write a successful letter in response. Perfect for preparing students for GCSE transactional writing.

Support your students to write a formal letter of objection to the council regarding the building of three new houses on a residential road. Using the thirty-two slide powerpoint, students compare two letters of objection looking for similarities and differences, as well as evaluating which is the best. Then they write their letter to their council objecting to the proposal to build an office block in the middle of the local park. The powerpoint creates interest in the subject by giving information about the importance and history of parks. Students then generate ideas together for the content and the structure of the task. The folder contains Word copies of the example letters and a powerpoint. Perfect for preparing students for GCSE transactional writing.

Did you know that sixty percent of English words are derived from Latin and Greek? This Powerpoint contains a range of clues to words in English which are derived from Latin and Greek quantities. Designed so that students can have fun working in groups, all answers are provided. There are twelve roots in total with between two to five clues to words per root, so it will definitely keep your students engaged. Beginning with a short explanation of how Latin and Greek came to be such an influence on English, this activity went down a storm when trialled with year 7 students. Cross-curricular links to both maths and science.

After a re-cap of the rules of the apostrophe of possession with an exercise with answers, students become language detectives to decide whether given examples, some from real life use, are right or wrong. A fun revision activity for students.

Introductory lesson on “Remains” with worksheet to storyboard the incident so that students can visualise what happened, followed by exercise to explode the key quotations about how the soldier feels. Accompanied by a powerpoint, extra comprehension questions and further exploration ideas.

Using Wes Magee’s simple, yet effective poem “What is the Sun”, students learn how what metaphors are and why writers use them. They are then given a choice of elements from the natural world, such as the Moon, the starts, a waterfall and have to emulate Magee’s poem, using five separate and original metaphors to describe their subject. Students love this lesson and it is very effective in getting them to use metaphors, which are much more difficult than similes. Creates lovely display material also.

This twenty-six slide powerpoint contains two lessons on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18. In the first lesson, students get to grips with the archaic vocabulary by translating the sonnet into modern English. They can then focus on the meaning and the extended metaphor of the weather. In the second lesson, students are taught the key structural elements of the Shakespearian sonnet form. They then have a go at writing their own love sonnet. For inspiration, Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem “I Love Me Mudder” is included, which they could turn into sonnet form. They are given three-step guidance to writing a sonnet and then time to reflect on the process and Shakespeare’s achievement of writing 154 sonnets in total. Included in folder are: Copy of sonnet with glossary of archaic vocabulary. Copy of Benjamin Zephaniah’s “I Love Me Mudder” 26 slide powerpoint with starters.

Starter activity on the homophones allowed and aloud. Afer the explanation, students fill in the correct word in ten sentences, followed by answers, so students mark their own work.

Full scheme of work on the graphic novel by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy. Eight lessons in total aimed at lower ability students with accompanying worksheets. Worksheets focus predominantly on cloze exercise summaries of the chapters, so that students remember the plot. Each lesson contains a powerpoint also.

In order to successfully achieve the style of a newspaper report, students need to understand how to construct an news report intro. This 24 slide Powerpoint breaks down the structure, then gives five examples of intros for students to analyse, followed by three exercises to write their own intros. A good exercise in getting students to use complex sentences also. The lesson starts by reading a real newspaper report so students are presented with a WAGOLL. Turn your class into budding reporters with this fun lesson.

Shock. Horror! One day a woman went to her local shop and guess what she found inside her newly-purchased bag of bread? Unbelievably, to her amazement the whole bag was full of crusts of bread!! And you probably wouldn’t believe it either, but this story did actually make it onto BBC online news. This lesson takes this story and shows students how to blow trivial things up out of all proportion in order to sell newspapers. You can expose the serious nature of newspaper sensationalising while having some fun. Students add even more emotive language into the already existing newspaper report. The newspaper report with blanks for students to fill in is included, along with a twelve slide Powerpoint to introduce the subject. This is also a good introduction to the ethics of the press.

Inspire your students to write a story using the five part story structure with the title “The Capture”. Share with students the article on real life World War Two bomber survivor Eddie Gurmin and let them imagine what it must have been like to have to bail out of a Halifax bomber at 15,000 feet, only to be captured by the Luftwaffe and sent to a prisoner of war camp for four years. Eddie’s gripping story is presented as an article with real quotations, enabling students to concentrate on creating tension and suspense and using language techniques. Designed to capture the imaginations of boys, this gripping story will equally inspire girls. You can also commemorate the World Wars with this work. Folder includes: Three page article on Eddie Gurmin’s experience in editable Word format. Planning sheet with hints and tips for narrative viewpoint and structure.

Free worksheet explaining the different range of sentences that can be used under the mnemonic A CARPPIE. Download this, then checkout my range of Powerpoints with clear explanations and rigorous activities to embed the different types of sentences for students.