I taught English for 35 years; ran three English departments;am an A level and GCSE examiner; wrote the teacher and student support materials for OCR English Literature A level and have had books published by OUP and CUP.
I taught English for 35 years; ran three English departments;am an A level and GCSE examiner; wrote the teacher and student support materials for OCR English Literature A level and have had books published by OUP and CUP.
Media/film/ English: DOCTOR WHO - adaptable SOW for different ages. Compare two episodes from 1963 and 2005; history of show and British tv; why is DOCTOR WHO important as a media phenomenon? History of British television and how the programme slots into it (BBC 100 this year); case study 1 - “Rose”, episode one of revised show 2005 compare with original episode 1 from 1963, “An Unearthly Child”. Students analyse each episode and prepare and give presentations on each episode AND a comparison between them. 17 pages / 5000 words of material for your students. VERY ADAPTABLE for KS3 and TEFL students. Successfully used with TEFL and year seven students!
This resource shows students how to maximise their marks in AQA Eng Lang GCSE. Comprehensive coverage of both papers by an experienced examiner and Head of English with 36 years’ teaching experience. Covers both papers; spelling, punctuation and grammar; techniques required to answer every type of question for Reading sections in both papers; how to write all types of essay - descriptive, story, non fiction; how to use your time and to maximise the marks available in the time for each question; how to write about style (“How does the author do X, Y or Z in the passage?”). As used by over 1000 students. 28 pages, 7000 words. This is both a resource for your students and a series of essay plans: take your students through the resource for a sequence of lessons. EXCELLENT for revision!
Student notes and lesson plans: exam technique; context (“Coral Island”, Golding a teacher); themes - original sin; WW2 background; Golding on themes and characters; human nature as theme; why are there no girls in the novel?; what Golding himself has said about the novel and the film adaptation; detailed study of individual chapters. This is both a set of notes for students and a series of lessons - take your students through these notes and use them as a basis of discussion. Excellent for revision and study of the context. 7 pages, 2368 words.
M4M translated into clear, modern English for A level students with detailed notes. Huge help for lower ability students: context/language notes; a very readable edition designed to retain the excitement of the original and to help students with this linguistically challenging play. Written by Frank Danes, a published Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press author and teacher/Head of English for over 36 years.
This bundle of resources contains everything you and your students need to study “An Inspector Calls”. You can work through the resources with your students, getting them to work through the text, or go through the resources with your students. This is both a set of lessons and a student support pack.
8 pages, 2447 words. Everything your students need to revise “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”: CONTEXT - novels, short stories and novellas defined; shilling shockers and penny dreadfuls; gothic fiction; character of Mr Utterson; Soho; appearance and reality; Science, Darwin, evolution and devolution; recommendation of translation of the text into modern English, available from this author.
Lesson plans and student notes on: exam technique; themes - regicide, the natural order, witches/the supernatural; tragedy, tragic hero, free will, fate, Fortune. This is both a set of notes for your students and a series of lesson plans: take them through the notes, use them as a basis for discussion. Excellent for context and extension work for higher ability students. 17 pages, 5926 words. Used by over 300 students.
For students unfamiliar with Christianity, this 6 page resource introduces basic Christian concepts. It’s a lesson plan or for self-supported study. For use with: year 8/9 /GCSE students about to start the Christianity component or ESOL students studying English Literature. The resource covers, in 2300 words: Jesus as founder of Christianity; The Old Testament; the Ten Commandments; the New Testament; links with Islam and Judaism; the Gospels; Christian teaching; examples of Jesus’ teachings (the parables: sheep and the goats and The Good Samaritan; the Sermon on the Mount/Beautitudes; heaven and hell; different denominations’ interpretations of Christianity; questions for students.
DETAILED notes for students on Grimbert’s UN SECRET: teachers - use as a bases for lessons. Covers: themes; guilt; identity; history/context; motifs; l’occupation; storytelling; form and structure of the novel; Laval; treachery; motifs of dogs, the body and bodies. History covered - occupied France, Laval, the Holocaust. This resource is in English. 2994 words, 7 sides. Successfully used with A level French students.
This new reading of “The Handmaid’s Tale” puts the novel into the context of feminism in the 1980s and the dystopian novel. This article is ideal for the Dystopia option of OCR English Literature A level. The article considers"The Handmaid’s Tale"'s reputation as a cult novel, as a satire of male power and Christianity and the debt it owes to Orwell’s “1984”. Attwood’s prose and structure are analysed. The author argues that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not the greatest novel of the twentieth century or the greatest dystopian novel: it is a fine novel, written in excellent prose, but it has flaws. This article will help to engage your A level students and to give them something to argue with or against. It will thus encourage them, as the A level specifications require, to engage with critical views rather than simply to read them passively. It is written by Frank Danes, who wrote many of the materials to support OCR English Literature A level on the OCR website; Danes taught English for 30 years in English secondary schools and was Head of English in three schools.
Sample AQA style practice paper for Section A, English Language paper 1; the opening of Orwell’s 1984 with AQA style qs. Excellent text leads to stimulating answers!
Essential notes for students: can be used for independent study or as a lesson. Themes include: New York society; gossip; sexuality; marriage; duty/passion; old vs new money; adultery. These notes also cover the major characters; influences on Wharton, e.g. Austen and Henry James; the novel’s place in American Literature; the ironic, multiple meanings of the title. Students can cite these ideas for AO5, other interpretations. Over 3000 words of essential critical study on this novel. Frank Danes, the author, is an experienced A level examiner, former Head of English and published author of many guides to A level texts.
Beginners in English: for adults, children, refugees. Fun and tested in class. Five real life situations: going to the doctor, the supermarket, the airport; travelling by train; driving lessons.
Frank’s ESOL Art Cards for Beginners in English: for adults, children, refugees. Fun and tested in class. The second bundle for beginners: how to say dates, to ask for something; 2 emergencies - 999 and looking for a toilet; laugh, smile, frown; say the time and clock.
Frank’s ESOL Art Cards for Beginners in English: for adults, children, refugees. Fun and tested in class. Everyday,essential English vocab for weather; what I do in the morning and evening; meals and food; signs out and about e.g. No entry.
Frank’s ESOL Art Cards for Beginners in English: for adults, children, refugees. Fun and tested in class. Five resources about FAMILIES: vocab wife, husband, stepfather, grandmother; how to use titles Mrs Ms etc. surnames and forenames; a fun family dialogue about a girl who wants to go to a party and parents who won’t let her!
One of Frank’s ESOL Art Cards for Beginners in English: for adults, children, refugees. Fun and tested in class. Basic vocab for learning, clothes, days, months, emotions, feelings, dialogue. Get beginners started in English!
1500 words of A level notes on Heller’s great novel, by a senior A level examiner and a former Head of English. Themes, viewpoint, dramatic irony, unreliable narrator, reader’s experience, characterisation all covered. This resource can be given straight to students or used to teach from.
Excellent and entertaining ESOL dialogues at beginner to intermediate level; essential vocab for groups or individuals, adults or children. Real situations: in the pub; at the dentist’s; in the cafe. Introduce British life with “Dialogue: state of private school” and History of the English Language. Learn 80 informal English and slang words and phrases with English slang/informal English dialogue. As used with more than 50 adult ESOL adult learners.
Useful resources to get beginners in English started! Used successfully with Ukrainian refugees and others in 2022-23. Pack includes: describe yourself (dialogue practice); in the cafe; in the pub; going to the dentist; supermarket vocab; history of the English language and comprehension.