This is a straightforward comprehension activity, useful for home learning, for homework, for cover or to structure a guided reading activity (perhaps to assess and support the key reading skills of inference and anaysis). There are ten questions.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity using an excerpt from George Gissing’s letter in which he airs his views about bank holidays. There are 12 questions, answering which will ensure that the student thinks about Gissing’s viewpoint and the effects of the methods used to express this viewpoint. Could be used for homework or set as cover. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading or a revision session. Straightforward enough to be set for home learning.

This is a short, simple and (hopefully) straightforward powerpoint created for revision of AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2 Question 4. It’s planned to fit a 35 minute revision session and, consequently, does not require a full answer to question 4 - the intention is that the students will focus on one point of comparison which could either be written independently for greater challenge or completed as a whole-class model. It uses very short segments from two writers, one contemporary and one writing in 1882. The entire texts are not provided and the lesson is intended to revise the skill of analysis and comparison so, for my class, it was better to use short segments. If you wish to look at more of the Gissing text, it is readily available online and easy to find. There are 14 slides in total.

This is a short and simple activity that could be used as a homework, as a starter activity or for cover. It focuses on some of the reading skills that will be tested on AQA English Language Paper 2 and could be used to build students’ knowledge of the context of “A Christmas Carol”.

This is a multiple-choice quiz with 14 questions used to support the teaching of “A Christmas Carol” by giving students a bit of context in terms of Victorian poverty. Answers are provided. This could be used as a starter activity, as (originally planned) as homework or to structure a guided reading activity with less confident learners - some questions lend themselves to further discussion of ‘how’ and ‘why’ the writer’s methods work as they do.

This is a straightforward quiz on Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (answers provided). There are 20 questions, all multiple-choice. This could be used as a starter, homework or revision activity. Alternatively, it could be used prior to teaching to identify gaps in students’ knowledge and understanding so that subsequent teaching can be more sharply focused.

This is a simple and straightforward activity that uses Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Kiss”. There are 22 multiple-choice questions. This could be used as homework or a plenary after studying the poem in class. Alternatively, it could be used as a starter or as a pre-reading activity so that subsequent teaching can be more precisely focused. Answers are provided.

This is an editable powerpoint which focuses on some of the skills needed for AQA English Language. It was planned to go alongside “A Christmas Carol” to help with contextual knowledge and understanding. I refer to it as a lesson here - it was planned to go across a double lesson but depending on how you want to run the writing, it could be extended longer. The lesson begins with a focus on Victorian Christmas cards and a reminder to the students to vary their sentence openers - with an opportunity to practise this. The focus then changes to some pre-twentieth century non fiction describing children and women at work. There is an opportunity to polish and embed the reading skills of analysis and comparison. The powerpoint ends with an analysis task - a model is provided.

This is a simple and straightforward powerpoint using questioning to elicit ideas that the students can then use to annotate their texts or copies of the sonnet that is Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation. The lesson begins with a quick quiz (answers provided on the subsequent slide so pupils can mark their own). A couple of the questions could elicit deeper questioning. Thereafter, the questions focus on the language and structure of the sonnet.

This is a straightforward but lengthy quiz so suitable for homework. The text used is James Shirley’s “Death the Leveller”. There are 21 questions. Answers are provided. If used in class, this could be used as a pre-reading activity prior to a lesson on tackling unseen poetry. The quiz could identify gaps in knowledge and understanding enabling subsequent teaching to be more precisely focused. Alternatively, answers to the quiz could be used as a scaffold for students in answering a question about how the poet presents ideas about power - for example. The questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity, some providing a springboard for further questioning to deepen understanding. It’s a Word document so questions can be added, removed or edited to suit the focus of your teaching.

This is a simple and straightforward activity based on a letter of 4th February 1917 written by Wilfred Owen to his mother, Susan. The letter has been slightly abridged. There are 12 multiple-choice questions (answers provided). The first question is basic information retrieval. Subsequent questions ask pupils to identify methods and draw inferences. Some questions can act as springboards for deeper questioning. This could be set for a homework or used as a pre-teaching activity to identify gaps in pupil knowledge and understanding.

This powerpoint is initended to be used alongside a first reading (cold reading) of “Beowulf A New Telling” by Robert Nye. There are 17 slides, one for each chapter (apart from chapter 7 which falls neatly into two sections). On each slide there is a choice of three activities. The intention is that the children work through these activities as they read through the novel. You may wish the children to work through each activity; you might give them the opportunity to select their own activity or you might wish to assign the activity based on ability or learning target. Some activities are suitable for homework even if the children don’t have a copy of the novel.

This is a short scheme of work on “Romeo and Juliet” - used at my school as a revision scheme, recapping key events, themes and language. The intention is that it can be delivered across ten lessons although obviously the pace will need to be tailored to your students. One of the ten lessons has been set aside for the completion of an exam question.

This is a very simple and straightforward quiz on the prologue from “Romeo and Juliet” intended to embed basic understanding. Answers are provided. Could be set as a homework or alternatively used as a starter to identify gaps in knowledge or understanding so that subsequent teaching can be more precisely focused.

This is a very straightforward activity whereby the students have to match the annotations to the poem. Useful as a homework after you have taught the poem. Alternatively, this could be used as a pre-reading activity so that the basics have already been covered and the subsequent teaching can focus on more depth and subtlety.

16 questions on the Queen Mab speech. Could be used as a pre-reading activity to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding so that subsequent teaching can be more sharply focused. Could be set as homework to embed learning. Word document so editable. Answers provided.

Planned for KS3 (11-14) as part of a project on stretch and challenge, this lesson uses Edith Nesbit’s “The Grey Folk”. The aim of the lesson is to use close reading to support an evaluation of the poem. There are 10 slides, which include questioning. The settler activity encourages a close look at the poem’s title, asking pupils to think about the connotations of the colour, how the colour establishes mood - and why, the impact of the definite article and the effect of the plural. There is then a close focus on the setting and the use of personification in the first verse. Thereafter the focus changes to the writer’s use of the metaphor with ‘the green fields of yesterday’ and pupils are asked to consider the effect of the contrast of grey and green. The final zoom in is on the repetition of the modal verb in the final verse - “they will not”. After this, pupils are asked to draw their learning together, recording at least five ideas that support the idea that this poem is about ghosts. They are then asked to think, pair and share to come up with an answer to the question - if this poem is not about ghosts, what might it be about? Finally, pupils are asked to explain to what extent they agree with the statement that this is NOT a poem about ghosts. If the writing is to be undertaken in class, this will go across more than an hour’s teaching time. Alternatively, the questioning and note taking can be done in class and the written response set for homework

This activity uses “The Ghost” by Walter de la Mare and there are 21 multiple choice questions, some of which can be used to support further discussion about the effect of the writer’s methods. Answers are provided. This quiz could be used as a pre-teaching activity to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding so that subsequent teaching can be more precisely focused. The questions could be used to structure a guided reading session and exploration of the poem. Alternatively, it could be used as a starter activity before writing a more formal, exam-style response to an unseen poem. Useful for cover and homework.

This is a comprehension activity that could be used in class or at home. There are ten questions, some closed and some more open-ended and developed. This could be set as homework or a cover activity. Alternatively, it could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This task uses a short extract from Ann Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho”. There are 12 multiple-choice questions that could be used for homework, as an extended starter prior to a deeper focus on the text or to structure a guided reading activity. Answers are provided. Useful as part of a unit on gothic horror.