Many students have already heard of some, if not all of the DAFOREST set of language features which is why I always use this resource at the start of the year. The new AQA English Language exam will expect students to be able to build and expand on this basic knowledge, however in my experience reinforcing DAFOREST with students helps to fill gaps in their knowledge and gives them the confidence to build upon their knowledge of language features. This handy poster / handout is a fun Star Wars based set of examples which is great for students to keep in their books or files for reference. Feel free to look around my shop for other resources which you may find useful in your sessions. Hope it helps

This resource is useful tool to encourage independent learning and self / group study. It can be used to reinforce learning, as a workshop or developed further in to a lead session or as homework tasks. As my sessions were quite long I found it useful to create small study groups in the classroom, using booklets to work through together, this was successful in creating confidence and independence among my students whilst also being supported and supervised. The resource uses an extract from The Kite Runner, has student reflections and self assessment tasks. The ultimate aim is for the student to be able to identify structural features and to formulate appropriate answers which will prepare them for the coming exam. Hope it helps.

I love trying to encourage a love of reading in my students. To help do this I created a book list, which takes from best sellers and books which were turned into modern classic movies . I distributed these lists freely around the classroom for students to look at or take home if they choose to. I offered it to both my GCSE and Functional Skills classes to great success and was commented upon as good practice within a recent Ofsted inspection. The book list covers a wide range of styles, brings in topics such as equality and diversity and also covers a range of reading abilities. Please take a look at my TES store for more engaging and fun resources which you may find useful for your sessions. Many thanks and hope it helps.

A quick a simple piece of independent study / homework or extension for paper 1 question 5 from the AQA new spec for GCSE English Language. This resource is styled on the type of question the exam may ask, it can be adapted for students of other cultures who may not know or celebrate Halloween, they can write about a festival in their culture. Hope it helps

This resource is a mini practice of the L2 English reading Functional skills exam. Based around health and fitness and the role of influencers to promote lifestyle products. This resource is based on 1 text and features a selection of exam style questions and is a good way to help get students, especially anxious, students exam ready. Hope it helps

This poster is a really helpful resource to have in your classroom or out on students tables during sessions to help them to remember and use high level language features in their work. The poster breaks down the acronym POSHIMP and uses Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones as a visual memory aid to help reinforce. This is in the format of powerpoint and so is easy to swap / alter or use in other powerpoints. Please keep in mind that the preview can distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This resource is based around the theme of climate change and is designed to support reluctant, low level or anxious learners get exam ready. This resource has 1 text and features a set of questions which are similar to the ones found on the exam. Hope it helps

This is a practice reading resource based on Greta Thunberg. The resource comes with 1 text and questions which are a selection of questions taken from the Pearson Functional skills exam paper. This resource is perfect for exam practice or to use with lower ability learners or those with anxiety around learning and exams. Hope it helps

This writing paper is designed to help support lower ability learners or those with exam anxiety. This paper is based around Greta Thunberg and features 1 document with a selection of questions taken from the Pearson L1 writing paper. Hope it helps

This resource is 5 pages worth of discussion points on the topic of social media. Social media is in everyone's lives yet the rules on how we interact with other, including businesses via these medias is fuzzy and unclear to those generations growing up within the digital age. This lesson is a speaking and listening activity designed to let small groups work interdependently to discuss the use of language and formal / informal constructs on social media in different contexts to help them think about their own personal use of language in different contexts. This can be used to build up towards or be used as a speaking and listening assessment. It can be adapted to suit your own preferred method of delivery or to help facilitate a larger group discussion rather than smaller, independent ones. Please be aware that at times, the preview on TES distorts the resource making things appear out of line etc, please note this is not how the finished product looks. Hope it helps

This is a 5 page resource perfect for Functional Skills students or lower level students. This resource starts with a formal letter and works it way to informal messages sent on Facebook. It touches upon impressions made by poorly written messages. For higher level students this could be used as homework, and extension activity or as a starter or discussion about impressions made via social media. Please be aware that TES preview often distorts the resources and this is not a true reflection of how it looks. Hope it helps.

A collection of different types of writing questions to help your learners practice their writing without doing the same practice papers repeatedly. Hope it helps

This is a simple and fun lesson to introduce persuasive writing techniques. This session looks into the methods and techniques used by advertisers to persuade people to buy their products, it introduces writing techniques such as alliteration and rhetorical questions. The final task is a fun team activity in which each team is given a product in an envelope and they must create a advert, using the methods discussed, to sell this product. This session can be altered to include speaking and listening task or can be elaborated upon. Be advised that TES previews can distort the look of the resources and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This mini mock is targeting question 1 - 3 of paper 1 of the WJEC exam board. The extract is taken from Animal farm. As you hit revision season and start to assess students weak areas, I find mini mocks such as these quite useful. Please keep in mind that the TES preview can distort the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a well paced, exciting lesson filled with fun and team games. Paper 1 Question 5 is worth a lot of marks and today the examiners expect students to use a wide range of sentence forms and language features to obtain those marks. Many students jump into this question as it looks deceptively easy and they will forget to PLAN for what the examiner wants to see. This lesson is a fun well paced lesson to help students to remember what to plan for in this question and therefore is great as an introduction to the question / topic. Using games and short activities, students will build up a bank of language features and sentences on the topic of Donald Trump over the course of the lesson to use in their final task. Feel free to amend to your students needs and levels. Please be advised that the preview sometimes distorts the look of the resource. Hope it helps

This work pack is designed for Functional skills and covers areas such as reading for information, summary writing and speaking & listening. The lesson is designed around the murder of Sophie Lancaster, who was killed for the way she dressed. This lesson touches upon issues such as equality, prejudice and British Values . Feel free to tinker with to suit the needs of your students. Please be aware that TES previews can at times distort the look of the resource and this is not true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a short lesson about study / revision skills to help students plan and prepare for up coming exams and independent study. It comes with some tips and suggestions about how to best prepare and plan your time, advice on rest breaks, avoiding procrastination and a short video. This is useful to use in tutorials, booster sessions or workshops. Feel free to adjust to suit your needs and classes. Please note that the TES preview distorts the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a mini workshop session which focuses on how to use sentence structures for effect for the creative writing section of paper 1 of the WJEC GCSE English exam. This lesson is designed for revision sessions as the exam draws close but can be developed further or used with another exam board. This session uses Donald Trump for inspiration in how to use interesting sentences to describe. It also recaps high and low level language features. It is a fast paced session with paired activities and a main writing task taken from a practice paper. It ends with a self assessment plenary. Be advised that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a quick workshop designed to be used as recap/revision for when the exam draws near. It can be used as a full lesson and it can but altered to suit any exam board. This session looks at high and low level language features which can be used in the creative writing task of paper 1 of the WJEC GCSE English exam board. It is a quick paced lesson which uses Donald Trump, images of an eccentric looking man and a John Oliver Clip to help inspire the students. Be advised that the John Oliver clip does use swear words and may be unsuitable for some learners. However as I work with 16+ and adults, this clip works very well in getting teaching metaphors and similes. The main task is to complete a descriptive writing task and a peer marking assessment. You may wish to cut this out or use an alternative. Please be aware that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps

This is a fun gossip blog writing task which focuses on celebrity scandal for Functional English. It is differentiated for E3 / L1 and L1 / L2. The lower levels encourage students to use correct English and low level language features whilst the higher level encourage more biased writing involving higher level language features and inference. Please be aware that TES previews can distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.