Travel writing is one of the best ways to teach students to use language in a sophisticated way. In this project students choose a city or region of the world that they are interested in and create a travel guide on it using the example provided as a style model. The style model is about the Spanish city of Girona and the sections of the travel guide include: An introduction 3 Days in your chosen destination. Four of the best things to do there. Essential information with top tips for visiting. Final section original to the student. Students’ attention is drawn to the use of premodifying adjectives and imperatives, which are typical of this style of writing. Students are able to see how travel writers sell destination through interweaving information about history, modernity and cuisine to make their locations sound exciting and attractive. There is also the possibility to turn the travel guide into a speaking and listening activity as students imagine that they work for the tourist board of their destination and wish to promote it.

This fifty slide powerpoint on Sherlock Holmes could be used as background to the study of a Conan Doyle text; as part of a crime writing scheme of learning; or as a one off lesson to get students to create their own detective character. The folder includes: A powerpoint with brainstorming activity on different fictional detectives; a ten question quiz on the character traits of Sherlock Holmes; historical background information about how Conan Doyle created Holmes and his popularity. A worksheet to support students to create their own detective. Follow-up comprehension questions to consolidated the learning for homework.

A six-page information booklet on The History of the English Language with a cloze timeline to help students gain and an overview of the evolution of the language. It covers The Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, Normans, Middle English, William Caxton and standardisation. Word documents so fully editable.

This folder contains three print-based lessons with varied activities and two worksheets looking at how celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Ronaldo are represented in the media. There are articles on how race and disability are represented. All fully adaptable in Word format.

This Powerpoint introduces the historical context of witches in Macbeth with a true or false game where students have to identify the correct or incorrect statements about witches. Students are then given some information about James V1th’s role in witchcraft persecution. Before studying Act One Scene One they are presented with a modern translation so that they understand what is going on. They then read Shakespeare’s Act One Scene One and consider what was lost in the translation and why Shakespeare’s scene is much more powerful. Students enjoy reading and acting out the scene in groups. They are then asked to design three costumes for a modern version of the play, focusing on representing the witches as powerful, evil and frightening. At the end of the lesson, you can show them Roman Polanski’s opening scene and compare and contrast their costumes with Polanski’s choices. Could be used as a precursor to my lesson on the witches’ spell; as part of an introduction to Shakespeare or as part of a scheme on Macbeth.

Many students write stories in which they jump between the present and the past tenses. This Powerpoint explains the difference between the simple past and the simple present tenses and contains a variety of exercises to encourage tense consistency and to help them to feel more confident. The zipped file also contains two informative and practical follow-up worksheets which ask students to put a passage about William the Conqueror into the past tense. The other worksheet asks them to put information about the Titanic into the past tense also.

Designed to last thirty minutes, this editable Powerpoint explains the rule of subject verb singular and plural agreement and contains three sets of exercises to clarify this rule. Firstly students are asked to choose the correct form of the verb “to be” in the present tense; next they have to choose the correct form of the verb “to have” in the present tense and finally the correct form between “was/were”. Students are also reminded about irregular foreign plurals. Help your students to become masters of standard English with this fun activity.

In Act One Scene One of “Romeo and Juliet”, we meet Romeo for the first time and realise that he is in love with the idea of being in love with Rosaline due to his use of elaborate oxymorons to describe his feelings. This powerpoint explains the context of the play, the definition of oxymorons. The accompanying worksheet guides students to identify Romeo’s oxymorons and then gives them the beginning of oxymorons for them to create themselves. Could be used with the play or as a stand alone lesson on oxymorons.

Two lessons on using antithesis inspired by John F Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address. The lesson sequences is as follows: Lesson 1 Students brainstorm what one thing they would change in the world if they had the power. Context to JFK inaugural speech. Identification of persuasive devices in speech. Explanation of antithesis. Identification of antithesis. Consideration of effect of antithesis. Worksheet writing frame to encourage students to use antithesis. Peer marking - What went well and Even better if. Lesson 2 Re-consideration of starter from lesson 1. Students write a speech on the topic of their choice using persuasive devices and the antithesis they created from the previous lesson. Folder includes 21 slide powerpoint; extract of speech and worksheet writing frame to create antithesis.

With an activity to create compound sentences, this powerpoint also helps students to identify the effects of using both simple and compound sentences. First of all students add a conjunction to a sentence to create compound sentences. Then students change a passage of description just using compound sentences in to a combination of simple and compound, considering the effect. Finally students write a set of instructions using both simple and compound sentences.

This Powerpoint prepares students for AQA and Eduqas English GCSE creative writing by guiding them through an example of a successful story under the title: “Write about a thrilling experience”. The lesson is structured as follows: Students think of the most exciting thing that has ever happened to them. They begin to plan using either the 5-part story structure or the 3-part story structure, depending on their ability. (Differentiated slides). Slides present the WAGOLL with effective writing techniques highlighted. (Sentence variety; sophisticated vocabulary; appeal to the senses etc) Students attempt four of the identified techniques themselves. Students write their story in exam conditions. Success criteria slide as a reminder. Using WAGOLLS is a great way to get students to understand the exam requirements.

Two lessons using an extract from Bill Bryson’s travelogue “Notes from a Small Island” in which he describes his disappointment at visiting Blackpool. The lesson sequence is as follows: In the first lesson the students attempt the question “How does the writer use language to show disappointment?” in preparation for AQA English Paper One Question 2 on language. A WAGOLL answer is provided demonstrating how the answer should be marked. A mark scheme is provided and students peer assess each other’s work following the model, giving each other a mark and written feedback. The second lesson uses the theme of disappointment as a springboard. Students write a story about disappointment in preparation for Section B: Writing on English Paper One. An example of planning a story with a 3 part story structure is included, as well as a further extract from Bryson on Weston-Super-Mare in which he shows disappointment. 23 slides and two extracts included.

Using two sources, students imagine that they were a soldier at the Dunkirk evacuation and write an eye-witness account of it. The first source is a powerpoint with two with background information and historical contest. The second source is a an extract from Churchill’s famous "We shall fight them on the beaches speech. This could be used as stimulus for creative writing for English or empathetic writing for history.

Inspire an interest in reading by telling your students about the fascinating life and work of Michael Morpurgo. This thirty slide Powerpoint covers his early life, his career, marriage and work. Find out the amazing story about how he discovered the identity of his biological father and how the author’s note at the beginning of War Horse was a little white lie until 2011. Finally there are four choices of activities for students to complete ranging from researching one of his books to writing an article about him. Students find real lives interesting, so this is a good way to hook them into reading.

Full scheme of work with one lesson per chapter, totalling twenty-one chapters on Benjamin Zephaniah’s teen classic “Face”. Also included are narrative writing tasks; a literature essay on Martin’s character and a letter to Mr Zephaniah after reading the text. This full scheme of work would suit year 8 students and has lots of literacy activities on prefixes, suffixes, abbreviations, puns, complex sentences etc, all linked to the novel. There are also opportunities to explore in depth the key themes of friendship and bravery. Every class I have ever taught this novel to have absolutely loved it. Hook your students in with some of Mr Benjamin Zephaniah’s magic.

Five lessons on Alfred Noyes’ romantic and ghostly poem “The Highwayman”. The lesson sequence is as follows; Lesson 1: Background information on highwaymen. Class questions on plot to clarify understanding and worksheet cloze exercise to consolidate understanding. Lesson 2: Similes in poem with worksheet and then opportunity for students to create their own similes. Lesson 3: Metaphors in poem with worksheet and then opportunity for students to create their own metaphors. Lesson 4: Sound effects: Worksheet on alliteration, onomatopoeia,rhythm and rhyme. Activities for students to create alliteration poem and brainstorm more onomatopoeic words. Lesson 5: Discussion of key themes - loyalty, betrayal, death and love. Students plan a story on one of these themes as final assessment. Links to AQA GCSE English Paper One Section B: Write a story. 56 slide powerpoint and six worksheets in folder with copy of poem.

Remind your students of the danger of fireworks at the same time as teaching them how to write a persuasive speech to warn others of the danger of fireworks. Folder includes: Two-sided information leaflet on fireworks with background and history. Comprehension activity worksheet. Planning advice sheet. Sentence starter advice sheet. Powerpoint with starter, answers to comprehension and a reminder of DAFOREST techniques. Keep it relevant with this engaging resource.

This thirty-eight slide powerpoint contains information about the life and career of the renowned author Philip Pullman. Learn about his early work before becoming famous for ‘His Dark Materials’. There are five ideas for creative writing inspired by Pullman’s work, such as writing a story in which the character goes through a portal to making a pact with a supernatural force. Students will be intrigued by Pullman’s imaginative world.

A set of twelve comprehension questions on the opening to Ray Bradbury’s novel helps students to subsequently tackle the English Literature exam-style question ‘How does the writer present Montag in the opening of the novel’. The folder includes a Powerpoint with starter activity and an exemplary introduction to the exam question, as well as a Word copy of the opening and a Word set of comprehension questions.

More than four lessons worth of material on this 80 slide Powerpoint on William Blake’s deceptively simple, yet brilliant poem ‘London’. A full lesson on historical context, plus two further lessons on language and sound effects. A final lesson on how to write a contemporary pastiche of the poem with a template included. Five worksheets are included on this poet’s masterpiece.