An A3 double-sided revision resource for Chaucer and The Merchant's Tale context. Includes information on Chaucer's life, The Canterbury Tales, the marriage tales, use of irony, conventions of medieval poetry, the medieval Church, contemporary beliefs about poverty and death, Chaucer's earlier great poem Troilus & Criseyde and specific symbolism, imagery and references in The Merchant's Tale. My students found this a really useful go-to for context revision as the information can seem overwhelming, but here it's brought together in one place.

A research activity on Chaucer which requires students to work independently and work through different levels of questions. (I’ve used SOLO Taxonomy to provide a range of questions). The resources included are: a detailed contextual booklet on Chaucer’s life, The Canterbury Tales, and a history of Pilgrimage; differentiated questions which require students to read the booklet and do their own research. This is an effective introductory lesson for A Level study of Chaucer and provides much of the contextual knowledge required by OCR.

An introductory lesson to The Canterbury Tales focused on an extract from the General Prologue - good for use with an A Level class that is going to go on to study one of the tales. Includes a listening starter activity to introduce the language aurally, then a deduction activity where students try to work out the meaning of individual words from the extract, followed by an interlinear translation activity of this section of the prologue and follow-up analytical questions.

A valuable resource to help meet the context Assessment Objective for 'The Bloody Chamber'. This is a summary of key extracts from Edmund Gordon's recent biography of Carter, 'The Invention of Angela Carter'. Includes fascinating and revealing comments from Carter's personal writings which can be directly connected to The Bloody Chamber tales. My students found this very interesting and useful.

Explores the artistic influences and references in 'The Bloody Chamber' (the title story of the collection) and how Carter challenges a patriarchal artistic tradition in which women are 'killed into art' (Gilbert & Gubar). Lesson slides break down key information and references to artistic movements and artists. Most slides provide a question for students to consider individually, in pairs or as a group, allowing them to build knowledge and understanding. A detailed booklet is provided as reading material for homework.

Set 'Bluebeard' as homework reading then do this lesson, which tests student's knowledge of the text and asks them to rewrite it in the style of Angela Carter. Post-modernism is then introduced (clear explanation provided) and students read and assess each others' rewritten stories for post-modernist traits. Finally, students consider quotations from critics and Carter herself examining the nature of revisionist fairy tales. There is a homework question on how far Carter is postmodern writer in the tales studied so far. *Note - This lesson presupposes that students have read 'Bluebeard' but have not yet read 'The Bloody Chamber'. They should be familiar with Carter's style and should have read at least one of her other stories (I always start with 'The Werewolf').

Twelve challenging questions on 'The Erl-King' by Angela Carter (part of The Bloody Chamber collection) designed to be completed after reading the story. Created for the OCR A Level spec which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of critics, so these questions develop both of those skills.

Thirteen challenging questions for A Level students on 'The Bloody Chamber', the title story of Carter's collection by the same name. Designed to be answered after reading and discussing the story. Students are asked to consider perspective, source, mythology, links to Carter's 'The Sadeian Woman' and the musical references in the tale. Links are included to Bach, Debussy, Wagner and Verdi YouTube videos as students are asked to consider their different musical styles and how these relate to the tale.

A carousel lesson on Angela Carter's 'The Lady of the House of Love' for A Level Literature. Gets students focused on close analysis of language and symbolism and encourages them to make links to themes and context. Resources included are: Instruction slides; twelve A3 sheets containing key quotations from the story, with space for students to write their ideas in response to these quotations; a completed version of these sheets containing many points which are useful for understanding and revising the tale. The completed version is very useful for students to compare with their own version and is particularly helpful for revision.

Thirteen questions on Angela Carter's 'Puss-in-Boots' tale from The Bloody Chamber collection. The questions are designed to be completed after reading the story and encourage further research and critical thinking. Created for the OCR A Level Literature comparative textual study which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of critics, so these questions test and develop both of these skills.

A research-based lesson to introduce the Commedia Dell'Arte stock characters which Carter draws on in 'Puss-in-Boots'. This could be completed before or after reading the story (although bear in mind that one of the questions asks students to make links with the story). Students will need access to the internet (this can be done on phones if necessary). The resources included are - slides with instructions, a research pack with questions on each stock character for students to complete, and a poster of each stock character for your classroom walls.

This lesson introduces essentialism and teaches students how to write an effective thesis/introduction to a comparative essay on essentialism and The Bloody Chamber. Designed for the OCR A Level English Literature comparative literary studies module. The resources include a fun 'odd-one-out' starter on stereotyping and essentialism, to be followed by discussion, a resource which clearly explains essentialism, a model thesis comparing two gothic texts (The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart) for students to read and dissect, a comparative essay question on essentialism and The Bloody Chamber and a paired activity in which students write a thesis in response to this question. The full essay is then written for homework. This lesson works well early-on in the A Level course as it gives students confidence in how to approach a comparative essay.

A detailed but compact A3 reversible revision resource for A Level students studying Angela Carter and The Bloody Chamber. One side of the sheet focuses on context and the other side on critics and theoretical approaches, both key Assessment Objectives on the OCR new linear A Level. The theoretical approaches covered are feminism, post-modernism and pyschoanalysis and a list of key critical quotations is provided. The context side includes a summary of source texts, a reminder of the text's artistic influences, a number of quotations from Carter herself, taken from her letters and essays, and information on other key Carter texts The Sadeian Woman, Fireworks and The Passion of New Eve. My Sixth Form students found this resource extremely useful for revision as the contextual and critical knowledge required for the exam can seem overwhelming - this brings it together in one place.

A thorough introduction to Angela Carter designed for A Level students beginning study of The Bloody Chamber. The booklet covers key biographical information on Carter, including the experiences in Japan which shaped her as a writer. There are accessible introductions to essentialism, feminism, including the virgin-whore dichotomy, and post-modernism. Charles Perrault's version of 'Bluebeard' is also included to kick off study of the title story of the collection, as well as an exploration of artistic influences on Carter's version of this tale, including Impressionism and Symbolism. There is an analysis of each of the Marquis' wives and a collaborative research task. The booklet includes a number of questions and wider reading tasks. Designed for the OCR spec as part of the 'Gothic' module which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of the author's biography and wider works as well as critical traditions and alternative readings. Includes occasional reference to Dracula, as this was the partner text, however could be used with any other Gothic partner text or on its own. I studied Carter for my undergraduate dissertation and Master's degree and draw on that knowledge here, in a format that aims to be compact and accessible for students.