Please note: this resource assumes you have a copy of the Anthony Horowitz retelling of this story. This is a fun and engaging couple of lessons on the story of Glaucus and Scylla (the one where gets Circe to change Scylla so that she loves him but actually changes her into a monster). Starter activities include a Greek Goddess memory game and a look at the symbols of some of the goddesses. Students then imagine what they would like to control, if they were a Greek god or goddess and design a symbol to represent their power. Following this, there are language activities looking at the writer’s use of words and phrases and sentence forms (as in Language Paper 1) when introducing the character of Circe. Then an examination of the language techniques used to describe Scylla’s transformation.

This resource is made up of 3 extracts which all describe three famous detectives - Sherlock Holmes, Mma Ramotswe from the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and Poirot. These extracts are perfect for students to use their inference skills to work out the characters of these detectives. They could use this as a springboard for creating their own fictional detectives.

This lesson works through Q1 and Q3 of one of AQA's KS3 practice papers for GCSE English Language. Answers are provided for Q1 to enable self assessment. Pupils are then asked to identify a set of given structural features before considering 4 different levels of example responses and deciding which is the 'best' one. Cloze exercise as a creative writing extension task.

This resource comprises of an introductory personification task, followed by analysis of Daphne du Maurier's use of personification and pathetic fallacy in her novel Rebecca. Concludes with a creative task to continue the author's description using the same techniques.

Three articles, article-based questions and tasks on the topic of gun crime. Suitable for KS3 or 4. Might engage boys.

Two lessons developing students’ reading skills in a (hopefully!) creative way. Covers the characters of Gradgrind, Bill Sikes, and Scrooge. Includes extracts to analyse (included), clips to watch and ultimately to decide who the favourite villain is.

This is a set of revision tasks which takes students through all three acts of the play, looking at characters, the theme of responsibility, younger versus older generation and Priestley’s message. Activities include match up the quotations to the characters, multiple choice answer quiz on Act One, order the plot for ‘Gerald’s bit’ in Act 2, analyse Mrs Birling’s refusal to accept responsibility for her actions and write on her metaphorical wall, highlight an extract for evidence of the difference between the younger and older generation and match up the statements with the evidence to confirm Priestley’s message. Copy of An Inspector Calls needed for the Mrs Birling wall task.

This is the first four lessons aimed at Y7 or 8 for working in pairs or groups to create their own theme park. Lessons 1 and 2 include some engaging activities to consider the idea of themes and look at examples of existing theme parks. They watch clips, name rides and create 3 rides for a blank dinosaur theme park. Lessons 3 and 4 are geared towards them creating their own theme park map after looking at Chessington World of Adventures’ example and answering some questions to illustrate the importance of a clear and informative park map.

A short unit covering Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. Could be used as a whole class unit of work, or small literacy group. Mixed ability but could be differentiated up or down. Extracts (all provided) from Robinson Crusoe, Life of Pi, Lord of the Flies. Real life survivor account analysed for descriptive writing techniques. Students invent their own survivor scenario and write diary entries and descriptions based on the example extracts and trailers shown in lessons. Opportunity to create class island map and use as stimulus for writing. Some lessons may take slightly longer than an hour so I estimate this unit is between 4 and 6 hours of lessons, depending on the pace.

Two female poems looking at the use of Nature in poetry of WW1 to contrast perspective. Falling Leaves looks at the futility of war and A Girl’s Song looks at how difficult it can be to accept a loved one has died. Both poets deliver these ideas by personifying nature. Starter is a fill in the blanks activity then looking at Cole’s actual language choices. Then, look at A Girl’s Song using a table to infer how natural imagery shows the poets ideas. Plenary is a paragraph comparing their use of nature to show attitudes towards death in war.

Complete lesson for students to consider the pros and cons of having the death penalty. Pros - examples of 2 killers from different countries, one of whom was given the death penalty and another who wasn’t. Cons - story of a man who was wrongfully convicted and spent over 20 years on death row with serious consequences to his life. Final task is to plan for an essay debating the pros and cons.

Some lesson tasks / ideas for the first 13 chapters of the novel, looking at characters and themes.

This lesson is a general introduction into the artists and poets of the Romantic movement. Starts with a look at paintings by Turner and Constable, then moving onto 6 key Romantic poets - Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, Byron and Blake. Ends with task to illustrate final stanza of Frost at Midnight to focus on presentation of Nature by Coleridge.

This is one complete lesson, analysing Malala’s speech to a group of young people at the United Nations Youth Assembly. She is advocating the importance of the right to education. This lesson looks at her background, to put the speech into context, Aristotles 3 modes of persuasion and how Malala uses it, other rhetorical devices used, a BBC article written a year after and then asks students for their own opinion of Malala. Copy of speech included.

This is a mini unit on Gothic conventions, based on extracts from Frankenstein, Dracula and Jane Eyre. Overall, there are between 6 and 7 hours worth of tasks to introduce students to the concept of Gothic Literature and the conventions within it. Includes Gothic bingo, introduction to conventions (including setting), short extracts for identifying conventions and later symbolism, independent tasks such as planning a Gothic description and identifying author’s word choices. Some creative tasks include drawing their own Gothic castle and their version of the Red Room in Jane Eyre. Link to vampire video with match-up activities and comprehension questions included too. This unit has been resourced from a combination of my Introduction to Literature Through the Ages scheme of work (also available) and additional tasks created separately. Fully resourced - slides at the end conveniently together for ease of printing.

Part Two of the introductory unit: Literature Through the Ages A further 8 lessons with pupil anthology (two separate ones for just core texts and then all texts), CPD booklet and knowledge organiser. Pupils will build on their knowledge from Part One of the unit to cover the following extracts: Daphne & Phoebus - Hesiod The Seven Pomegranate Seeds - Horowitz The Ramayana - retold by Donald A Mackenzie The Odyssey - translated from Homer Adventures of Sir Lancelet - Malory The intention of this unit is to provide students with some knowledge of how stories originated, came to be written down and how some of those same stories have been retold and developed over time, such as Horowitz’s re-telling of a popular Greek myth, in our unit. Students should understand that there does not have to be one single version of a ‘story.’ Some may have originally been made up to explain mysteries about the world and to enable humans to understand their place within it. Stories are constantly evolving and shaped by their social and historical influences. We can see, for example, that the concept of the Underworld has been around for centuries. Students will study the Underworld described in the Renaissance period by Dante, as a way of teaching his readers to live purer lives on Earth, but we can also enjoy its imaginative appearance in Rick Riordan’s modern ‘Percy Jackson’ tales. We can introduce the concept that, historically, the female figure has been presented as temptress and the cause of human suffering, an idea developed in ‘the Serpent’s Deception’ and Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, or later subverted in Le Morte d’Arthur, where the female is weak and in need of a chivalrous male to save her. We can see stories as a reaction to the beliefs and fears of society at the time. Shelley’s Frankenstein can be interpreted as a reaction to society’s distrust of the advancement of scientific experimentation. Running through all these stories is a series of symbols that capture a society’s values, beliefs and fears. Through the identification of symbolism in these stories, such as the snake in Serpent’s Deception, Daphne & Phoebus and Le Morte d’Arthur, it is hoped that our Y7s can learn to become confident in spotting symbols in future stories they read and have the confidence to critically evaluate the significance of them, in relation to their own contextual experience and a knowledge of literature throughout the ages.

AIMED AT KS3, THIS LESSON USES CHOCOLATES TO HELP INSPIRE PUPILS TO CREATE MOUTHWATERING ADJECTIVES AND VERBS. FOCUS IS IMPROVING LANGUAGE CHOICE IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING. STUDENTS WORK THROUGH ACTIVITIES TO CREATE THEIR OWN BESPOKE BOX OF CHOCOLATES AND THEN DESCRIBE TO ADVERTISE!

THIS RESOURCE AIMS TO BROADEN PUPILS' KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BELIEFS AND TREATMENT OF WITCHES BY FOCUSING ON THE STORY OF THE PENDLE WITCHES. USEFUL INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY FOR STUDYING MACBETH.

This lesson introduces the big Las Vegas hotels and the themes they are based around. After looking at some example, and watching some clips, students are tasked with creating their own and presenting their ideas to persuade the audience that their hotel should be the next one to be built on the strip.