Suitable for Ks2 and Ks3 and low ability Ks4 Four extracts from Dickens’ original text with blanks _ where punctuation should be, and a key at the end of each line with the punctuation marks required eg. 2x ! or 2x" Answer sheet included

This Powerpoint looks at creating a question to structure a speech around, and uses Just a minute as fun table activity and potentially whole-class game.

Work out which numbers represent which letters and learn about Shakespeare, the Globe theatre and key facts about the famous playwright. Includes pictures and an extract from Bill Bryson’s ‘Shakespeare’.

Graphic organiser to help students prepare to answer a comparison question. Suitable for Key Stage 3 and GCSE English Language.

PPTs to work through the whole of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, looking at summarising the events in chapters, selected extracts for analysis, essay questions, critics and historical context.

An article about the ‘Critics’ Club’ with a summarise and explain question, then a choice of three writing tasks. Suits candidates aiming for A-A*. Accompanying PPT to help.

This PowerPoint contains extracts from websites with details of contextual significance to To Kill a Mockingbird, explaining why lynch mobs were common in relation to sexual crimes in the South. It also contains extracts from the text and Chapter 15, where the potential lynch mob arrive at Maycomb jail, for analysis of the Gothic parody and the increase in tension.

I used this with a Year 7 MAT group. They read the blog post ‘10 reasons to take a survival course’ then answered the reading questions. They then planned and wrote an essay on ‘Should schools teach survival skills’.

This was designed for Y7-8 for Black History Month. The PPT contains several lessons of work, introducing Windrush with poetry and an inference square, and a homework research project, and then using sources on the Mangrove 9 to answer comprehension questions then complete a synthesis extended reading response. These resources were compiled from online sources.

Key characters in Pride & Prejudice, with points for wealth, wit, influence and attraction so that students can see how characters compare to one another in their social status. These make for a nice classroom display too.

Using 4 images to represent 4 key aspects of context for Lord of the Flies, this PPT helps students to understand what historical or social contextual details can help them with the essay question on the text. I asked the students to draw a simplified version of the icons into their books to remind them to include each aspect in their essays on ‘Lord of the Flies’. The images help them to remember these key points.

6 aspects of Golding’s style to look for in an extract question: dialogue, characters, mood, relationships, actions, symbols.

There are GCSE style questions to answer on the ‘voluntourism’ article and then a comparison grid to fill in to compare that article with the other one on volunteering abroad. Students can then write a 10-mark style answer : ‘Compare the attitudes of the writers to volunteering abroad.’

This resource was created for a low ability Y8 group. The ‘Bourne Identity’ extract leads to a vocabulary-building task then a sentencing task, then a write-on creative task.

One side of the postcard has an image of the ‘learning pit’ and the other has questions for students to answer about their own learning.

Works well as a homework challenge over the holidays. The challenge leaflet contains a list of classic novels suitable for Year 7 students to read. They have to choose one (many are free to download on Kindle), read it and then fill in the leaflet with their thoughts and get a parent or guardian to sign it. I collect them in after the holidays and then everyone who has completed it gets a raffle ticket for a prize draw. It’s been a great way to get kids reading more challenging books and I also use a system where they can use it throughout the year, getting a different colour to ‘upgrade’ each time so that if they read all the books on the list they become a ‘master reader’ and get an additional prize.

Created for a Year 8 group. There are 3 texts on terrorism as a stimulus for group discussion. The ‘thinking hats’ sheet gets them to consider the topic from different angles and can be a useful preparatory tool before they complete a group oracy task. It can also provide a scaffold for less able students who can use the questions to structure the group discussion.

I created this for a Year 9 group to start preparing them for GCSE style comparison questions. The ‘David Copperfield’ extracts have questions which require them to use P.E.E. and inference, to answer in developed paragraphs. The extract from ‘Holes’ can then be introduced for comparison purposes.

These proof-reading starters were created by a MAT Year 7 group. They were each given a section of ‘Treasure Island’ chapter 3 and asked to create 10 errors, then list at the bottom a key for what to look for eg. 3x spelling errors, 1x full stop. I have used these as starters for Key Stage 3 classes.

Created by students, each slide focuses on one critic’s viewpoints and gives links to read more.