I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
A Walking talking mock that uses the AQA examiner feedback from summer 2023 to guide students through a process of planning and then writing answers/essays in response to Romeo and Juliet.
Power point (42 slides) and student work booklet included.
This resource focuses on helping students to:
plan their response
consider the text chronologically
embed context rather than bolt it on at the end
consider how themes can be context rather than just Historical events
create thesis statements
consider the texts as constructs
Exam question used in this resource: relationships between older and younger characters
Model answers included.
A Walking talking mock that uses the AQA examiner feedback from the summer exams to guide students through a process of planning and then writing answers to English language paper 1.
Power point (81 slides) and student work booklet included.
This resource focuses on helping students to:
plan their responses to the questions
consider the order in which to answer the questions
explore methods and their effect concisely
improve responses through model answers
consider ‘mood’ as a central concept in all of the tasks on the paper
develop their imaginative writing
Source material: Daphne De Maurier ‘Don’t look now’
Model answers included.
A Walking talking mock that uses the AQA examiner feedback from summer 2023 to guide students through a process of planning and then writing answers/essays to the ‘Macbeth’ question.
Power point (37 slides) and student work booklet included.
This resource focuses on helping students to:
• plan their response
• consider the text chronologically
• embed context rather than bolt it on at the end
• consider how themes can be context rather than just Historical events
• create thesis statements
• consider the texts as a construct
Exam questions used in this resource: Macbeth’s violence
Model answers included.
Additional exam question used: Macbeth and Banquo’s attitude towards the super natural.
A series of lessons exploring the lyrical ballad ‘Goody Blake and Harry Gill’ for Key stage 3.
In these lessons students will:
summarise differences
analyse use of language
write a persuasive letter
explore the context of lyrical ballads
develop inference skills
Over 10 lessons worth of resources to support the teaching of spoken language. All lessons are meticulously planned and fully differentiated by colour. These lessons are ready to go and are numbered for ease of use.
Ideal for use in KS3 given the removal of this component as part of GCSE.
Differentiation:
purple - lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
These resources allow students to identify and analyse the following spoken language techniques:
- face threatening acts
- jargon
- accent and dialect
- formal and informal talk
- Adjacency pairs
- back channel features
- Fillers and hedges
- Holding the floor
- turn taking
- overlapping speech
- standard English
- spontaneous speech
Students will explore spoken language taken from the following sources:
- Catharine Tate as Lauren in the UK sitcom
- Jeremy Paxman interview with Russell Brand
- Ali G interview with Tony Benn
- Jonathan Ross interview with Lady Gaga
- Board room conversations taken from the Junior apprentice
- Classroom talk taken from Highgate Wood school
- Transcripts of students talking with teachers
Links provided for YouTube video clips to allow students to observe the spoken language before analysing
Planning sheets, card sort of techniques, homework tasks and analysis writing frames are also included.
Revision booklet for Macbeth with activities to help students revise character, theme, context etc.
This booklet would be useful for students after studying or to complete as they study the play or complete as a homework project.
2 fully differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of 19th century extracts taken from Jane Eyre and Nicholas Nickleby. The focus of these lessons is school life and students will consider the presentation of school in the 19th century and compare this to school life in the 21st century. Opportunities to compare the two 19th century texts.
Extracts are taken from the AQA new specification 9-1, 19th century texts booklet and is included in this resource pack.
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
3 fully differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of 19th century England context. Useful ahead of studying a 19th century text or extract with KS3.
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
Resources cover:
London
social class
gender divide
rich and poor children
Technology
Education
Children
Welfare support
Hygiene
Difference between rich and poor
Opportunities to:
- write imaginatively
- analyse gender divide
- explore social class
8 fully differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of act 2 of An Inspector Calls
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
Resources provide opportunities to:
- explore context 1912 and 1945
- explore Gerald's and Mrs Birling's involvement
- analyse language and structure
- structure exam responses
- compare the responsibility of different character
- write imaginatively
- write a speech
7 differentiated resources to support the teaching of Stone Cold the play. Resources cover act 1 scene 7 through to scene 16.
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow - higher
Resources provide opportunities to:
- role play - including hot seating
- explore and write monologues
- write imaginatively - language paper 1 skill developed
- compare the novel and play
- explore ideals
- explore the context of the big issue
- explore the theme of friendship
- compare perspectives (language paper 1 skill developed)
- create character profiles
5 differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of the skills for English language question 4 on the new specification (9-1) paper 1.
Students read extracts taken from fiction and develop skills in evaluating effectiveness.
The resource uses an extract from 'Transmission.' Extract included.
Resources provide opportunities to:
- explore how writer's structure texts
- analyse the use of structure in engaging reader interest
- use sample answers
- use mark schemes
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
A resource to support students in the comparison of The Emigree to one other poem from the power and conflict collection
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
Resource provides opportunities for:
- exploration of the mark scheme
- identifying points of comparison between The Emigree and other poems
- self/peer assessment
- guiding students through an effective analytical paragraph structure
With very few sample assessment materials provided by the exam boards I have created my own.
They have been made to look exactly like the assessments that students will sit n the real 9-1 examinations and are phrased in the same ways too.
This paper uses The Emigree as the printed poem.
The student responses can then be marked using the relevant mark scheme for Power and conflict poetry.
Two fully differentiated (by colour) lessons that cover chapters 1 of Jekyll and Hyde and meet the requirements of the new GCSE 9-1 specification.
All lessons are fully differentiated by colour
Purple = lower ability
Blue = middle ability
Yellow = higher ability
Red = most able
Fully differentiated lessons to support the teaching of 'Charge of the light brigade' by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
3 lessons that include pupil talk tasks, assessment, outcomes and cover:
- context of the poem
- language analysis
- form and structure exploration
- interleaved content - obedience in the poem and in Romeo & Juliet and An Inspector Calls
- imaginative writing and upgrading sentences
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow - higher ability
Fully differentiated resources to support the teaching of the following poems from the new specification Edexcel conflict poetry collection:
1. Poppies
2. War photographer
3. Charge of the light brigade
4. Exposure
5. Extract from the prelude
Outstanding lessons (2-3 power points per poem) that are meticulously planned and numbered for ease of use with activities and homework tasks included. Ready to go lessons.
Lessons cover: language, form, structure and context to meet the requirements of the new specification.
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
Fully differentiated (by colour) resources to support the teaching of Q1 and Q2 of the AQA new specification 9-1 GCSE examination - paper2. Resources support the texts in the AQA GCSE English Language: Developing the skills for learning and assessment (turtle on the cover) ALL TEXTS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS BUNDLE.
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
Resources prepare students for answering Q1 and Q2 and cover the following:
- structure strip to help form better responses to question 2 (synthesis)
- introduction to paper 2 - expectations and timings
- identifying key information in 19th century and modern texts
- identifying the point of view of a writer
- inferring
- exploring how language creates tone
- complete true or false tasks (as per the exam) for the texts read
- explore the term synthesis
- synthesise information from 2 texts
- work in pairs and groups
- explore model answers
- investigate these of connectives to synthesise
- self and peer assess
- develop vocabulary and analyse vocabulary in texts using inference
- explore audience and purpose
Regular assessments are included to assess students ability in true or false and synthesis tasks.
Texts covered:
- Queer stories for a queer age - tattoo article (19th century) text included
- Making my skin crawl - article about tattoos
- Extract from Girl of the period (19th century)
- A letter from Jenni
- Inside the supermarket's dark stores
All texts are included
2 differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of the ballad of Hillsborough - based around the football disaster at the Hillsborough stadium.
Differentiation:
purple - lower
blue - middle
yellow - higher
Resources to prepare students for the spoken language endorsement on the new specification English GCSE course.
The resource:
- explains the requirements of the task
- provides the marks scheme for students to determine what they need to do to achieve a pass, merit or distinction
- contains 3 example speaking and listening presentations for students to mark in preparation for their own presentation
Fully differentiated resources to support the teaching of KS3 war poetry.
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
Resources provide opportunities for:
- context exploration
- language analysis
- form and structure exploration
- imaginative writing
- self and peer assessment
- poetry comparison
- embedding the 9-1 skills
All resources are planned to build the skills needed for the new specification GCSE English literature course (9-1)