High-quality, value for money teaching resources covering English language and literature; literacy; history; media and Spanish. With twenty-seven years' teaching experience I know what works in the classroom. Engaging, thorough and fun, your students will love these lessons.
High-quality, value for money teaching resources covering English language and literature; literacy; history; media and Spanish. With twenty-seven years' teaching experience I know what works in the classroom. Engaging, thorough and fun, your students will love these lessons.
Test your students’ knowledge of the work of the most popular children’s writer ever. In this fun quiz there are ten multiple choice quiz questions on a range of Roald Dahl’s books. All answers provided.
Forty-four clues to names of animals that have come into English from nine different languages. Teach students to recognise that English is a language full of borrowings from other languages in this fun powerpoint-based lesson. All answers provided on the slide to enable students to mark their own work. Can be completed individually or in groups.
Learn how to write an article to persuade people to visit a holiday destination. Study an article that describes two days in Tenerife. Then extend the article yourself to three days using the language techniques and structure that you have studied. A thirty-slide powerpoint takes you through the language techniques and prompts you to spot them yourself as well. Information about four more places on the island is provided to help you extend the article. A word copy of the article is also included. Write like a pro with this fun lesson, jam-packed full of dynamic verbs and direct address.
What’s the difference between the following words?
Its/It’s
A/An
Was/were
Has/have
Of/have
To/two/too?
This 100 slide powerpoint has it covered with explanations and exercises for each set of confusing words. All answers provided.
With this powerpoint you will study how two texts try to entice you to visit two Spanish cities - Malaga and Alicante. The powerpoint goes through the significant language features. Then you are provided with lots of facts about a third Spanish city - Valencia and you have to write your own advert for the city to persuade people to visit, using the same structure and techniques as the example texts. Word copies of the example texts and the Valencia fact file are included in the folder.
Using Wordsworth’s classic poem ‘Daffodils’, student learn to identify his use of personification. Then they personify an element from nature that they have chosen and write a poem personifying it. Students are given questions to help them consider the world from the point of view of the element and an example of a poem personifying a lake. Worksheet and copy of poem included with powerpoint.
Engage your students in creative writing with this eight lesson student workbook and accompanying powerpoint.
Students imagine that their car has broken down near the haunting and mysterious Howley Hall Hotel. Just like Brad and Janet, they knock on the door, whereupon they encounter a strange old lady. Little do they know that inside a strange presence lurks.
They are guided to write a gothic story at the same time as revising basic skills, such as sentence demarcation; capital letters; homophones - their/they’re/their; your/you’re; punctuation speech; commas in lists; vocabulary enrichment; complex sentences; sentence variety.
Suitable for primary students or secondary students who need to revise basic skills.
Two-page word document with magazine text about Bill Gates’ new house in Spanish (three paragraphs); followed by ten comprehension questions in Spanish; followed by various follow-up activities:
Translate a paragraph from Spanish into Engish.
Research other philanthropists.
Write a paragraph explaining what you like to do for your money.
Enough activities to keep students occupied for an hour. Could be used for cover. Activities aimed at GCSE syllabus.
In 2016 over three hundred scientists wrote an open letter to argue that the United States should not leave the Paris climate change agreement, which was under threat by Donald Trump. This folder contains a Word copy of the letter; a Word copy of the letter annotated with the language techniques used and a Powerpoint (30 slides)that introduces the letter; includes the letter; reviews the techniques and then suggests ideas for students to write their own open letters on a topic of interest to them. Step-by-step help to learn how to write to persuade and to argue a case.
A four-page Word document booklet to inspire students to write creatively about a dramatic crash that took place in the Bronx in New York in January 2021. The booklet includes a newspaper report on the crash. (Amazingly, no-one was killed!) A planning sheet to gather ideas about structure and another to brainstorm ideas about writing style. Step-by-step help to create a dramatic piece of writing.
Celebrate the life of the remarkable Edith Cavell with this two-page information sheet, accompanied by comprehension activities and a vocabulary extension worksheet. A Powerpoint with starter and answers to the questions with lots of ideas for further activities is also provided. Designed to commemorate both World War One and the sacrifice of women in that conflict, Edith Cavell is an inspiration to all.
This sixty-slide Powerpoint tells the tale of the amazing life of Frederick Douglass who was born into slavery in the USA in 1818. After escaping to the free state of New York, Douglass worked on various newspapers and travelled Europe campaigning for abolition. After learning about the life of this remarkable man with interesting photographs and graphics, students are invited to write the text for a web page to promote his former home, Cedar Hill, as a site of national, historic importance. The house can actually be visited today.
In May 2021 an investigation found that two out of three sea bass from fish farms in the Atlantic ocean contained micro plastics. In the first part of this lesson, students answer four questions on a newspaper article explaining the investigation. They then have a choice of exam-style writing tasks - letter, article or speech. A Word copy of the article is included and a twenty-slide Powerpoint introduces the subject and walks the students through the tasks with opportunities for discussion of the key ideas.
This thirty-eight slide Powerpoint begins with exercises to revise the regular formation of the subjunctive in Spanish of the three verb forms. It then moves on to how to conjungate irregular verb forms. A Word practice sheet is included in the folder. Students are then taught how the Spanish is used to in impersonal expressions that give advice and with verbs that give advice. There are practice exercises that culminate in students writing a letter of advice to a Spanish friend on what to do when they visit their home town. The lesson ends with a quiz to translate the expressions that use the subjunctive into English. A natural follow-on lesson from Present Subjunctive: Introduction. It could also be used as a revision lesson.
A recent report by the charity Forest Research revealed that only thirteen percent of England is covered by woodland, one of the lowest figures in Europe. With this fifty-eight slide Powerpoint you can introduce your students to the importance of trees to humankind and the planet in a fun and engaging way. First there is a quiz to identify the tree from clues and a picture. Then students study a poem about eleven trees and have to fill in the blanks. After brainstorming many different types of trees, students then choose one tree that they would like to research on the internet to write a report on. The Powerpoint covers the structure and content of the report and goes through the process step-by-step. The fill-in-the-blank poem is a Word document. This project helps to raise awareness of the pressing need for global reforestation.
Volunteers all over the world are collecting tonnes of litter that have been left in beauty spots and beaches. This twenty-two slide Powerpoint introduces the problem with reference to Royal Parks, London which in the month of June 2020 collected rubbish that weighed as much as 15 double decker buses. The folder includes an article on the Royal Parks which explains the problem and students analyse the language techniques used. (Answer sheet included). Ideas and prompts are given for creating a fresh campaign to raise awareness of the problem and to persuade people to change their behaviour. Students can work in groups in apprentice-style teams, or the lesson can be adapted for students to work as individuals.
The first Powerpoint gives an overview of Frida Kahlo’s life. The second Powerpoint goes through her work systematically and chronologically, explaining the significance of many of the symbols that she used in her paintings. The final activity is for students to review the symbology that she created, create their own symbology to represent themselves and ultimately create their own self-portraits. Frida’s life was full of painful and dramatic incidents and this work is best suited to older and more mature students. By the end of the lessons, students will be able to appreciate what a great artist she was.
This forty-four slide Powerpoint introduces students to the uses and conjugation of the present subjunctive in its regular forms in easy-to-digest, step-by-step slides. There are exercises to identify when the subjunctive is used, as well as how to conjugate the three verb forms. A consolidation Word worksheet is included that could be used for homework. Learners cannot progress in Spanish without knowing the subjunctive and this is a gentle introduction to what can be a very confusing subject for native English speakers.
With this twenty-four slide Powerpoint students revise the use of the subjunctive to give advice and then learn how it is used to express possibility, probability, doubt, opinions and hopes. After completing various exercises, students write an article for a Spanish newspaper in which they express their opinions on the future of the world and their own hopes and dreams for the future. A vocabulary sheet is included in the folder.
Ever struggled to explain the twisting and turning plot of Shakespeare’s classic play to younger students? If so then this resources can help you. Terry Deary has condensed the plot into a twenty-five verse poem called “The Ballad of Big Mac”. Students study the poem over two lessons, analysing the plot and language techniques in the poem. Having identified Deary’s use of pathetic fallacy, students are guided and supported to create their own witch and introduce him or her using pathetic fallacy. After peer-assessing each other’s work, students study an extract from “Doomspell” by Cliff McNish in which he introduces his witch, Dragwena. Students are then encouraged to re-draft and improve their descriptions using all the techniques which they have been taught in the two texts. Designed with less able students in mind, this folder of work would also suit primary school children. The folder includes.
Copy of poem with numbered verses so students can be allocated a verse to practice reading/performing to class.
A seven-page student workbook with a two comprehension cloze exercises on the poem and guided activities.
Teacher answers to cloze exercises.
Copy of extract from “Doomspell”.
This resource could also be used as an introduction to my other lesson available on this website called “The Witches Spell”.