This resource aims to broaden students knowledge of our history, promote equality and diversity whilst also improving their read / obtain skills and engagement with texts. This resource focuses on the contributions of Sikhs during the two World Wars, as many students are unaware of their participation as it is rarely mentioned in movies and memes and unfortunately, this seems to be where many students get their information. This resource has enough material for an hour and half session but has enough substance to be developed further into any direction you see fit. The focus of the session is primarily E3/L1 read and obtain with some higher level vocabulary slotted in to stretch and challenge. The session also involves a class discussion, a video with task attached , paired and individual activity and is measured via a points system, as in my experience lower level students enjoy being awarded points as they progress in a session. I usually use these types of sessions to try and motivate disengaged students to engage with written text, as many “switch off” when there is text to read or they are required to write something themselves, and so this has been designed for that purpose, however there is room for development to suit your own students needs. Please be aware that the TES preview can at times distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This collection of resources was put together to encourage art students, who also had to sit Functional English, to engage and participate with English, something they are very reluctant to do. I soon recognized that due to Banksy’s fame, his themes of power, corruption, environmentalism and animal rights etc, this session worked with a wide range of students from all curriculum areas and quickly developed into a popular lesson which could be altered to suit a variety of levels. The session looks at Banksy’s work, promotes discussion, opinions and team work. The session uses videos, word banks and looks closer at an article written about him with the final task being for the students to plan and write their own piece about him. The larger aim of the session is to broaden vocabulary and to plan writing but is open for you to develop and arrange in whichever suits you and your students best, as one size does not fit all. Please keep in mind that the TES preview sometimes distorts the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This session is fast paced and covers a lot of ground. I have used it in both level 2 functional English and as a starter lesson in GCSE English Language in the first month of the new academic year. As many students I have taught within FE are resistant to English, lessons which encourage the demonstration of opinions, encourage critical thinking and group / pair activities are extremely helpful in engaging students with English early on. This session looks at male dancers such as Sergei Polunin and the recent comments made by an American presenter about Prince George taking ballet at school. We use this example to cover wider topics such as prejudice, tolerance and encourage discussions which allow students to look at the issue from a different angle, but also to look at subject specific topics such as writers point of views, language features. The resource comes with the full lesson, with starters, discussion, main activity and peer assessment plenary, on powerpoint, with hyperlinks to various online videos / articles and 7 pages of worksheets and support material. There is enough material to cover a 3 hour session and so can be altered to suit whatever length sessions you may have. Please keep in mind that the TES preview does sometimes alter the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps

Sourcing material for your classes can take up a large proportion of what precious little time teachers have. For this reason I have complied a resource pack of various news articles to use with Functional English or GCSE English Language students. This pack has 10 articles covering 22 pages from a wide range of news outlets such as The BBC, The Metro, The Sun, The Telegraph and many more. The articles cover a wide range of topics from Climate Change, gender identity to homophobia and looks at people such as Greta Thunberg and JK Rowling. The articles vary in length and layout to help reach students of all levels, some are individual articles regarding an individual news story, whilst other news stories have more than 1 article to show how writers create view points or potential bias when covering the news. You are free to use the resources in whichever way fits you and your students. You can create your own worksheets or use the links to project the articles onto an IWB or to show the videos attached. You can use the articles to discuss language, layout, bias, writers view points or to use as a catalyst for class debate. Please be aware that the TES preview can at time distort the look of a resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This 7 page booklet id designed to help students with the reading component of their Functional Skills exam. The booklet can be used as in class resources, revision or as self study. Based on a article by Friends of the Earth, the booklet focuses on simple and easy ways we can help become more green in our every day routines and underpins purpose of text and audience questions from the exam. The questions in the booklet are a combination of low level, opinion based and exam based questions. They range from multiple choice to more structured answers asking for reasons or quotes to support . The booklet ends with an extension activity which focuses on language and writing elements of the exam and a self assessment plenary. Please keep in mind that the TES preview can at times distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

There is a lot of focus on assessing our students, and initial assessments at the start of the year are seen as crucial to setting the student on their journey for the academic year. In my teaching career, many institutions I have worked for have relied heavily on electronic assessments, which is fine. However myself, as a teacher, can assess so much more into a students needs, strengths and weaknesses from a sample of their own writing. This is something I have found useful and successful time and time again for a wide range of reasons, so I decided to share some of my most successful free writing initial assessment tasks with you. This pack comes with 5 different free writing tasks, writing prompts, videos for each task and a feedback sheet which can be placed inside a students file or book and used as an individual tracking sheet through out the year. Some of my most successful assessments have been the ones where students get to express their opinions, which gives them a good first impression of your course as being one where they can express themselves. I also try to underpin deeper themes into light hearted topics to help stretch and challenge those students who enjoy thinking more deeply. For example, the Flat Earth free writing task has prompts which asks the student about the dangers of fake news on social media. One of the many uses free writing has is that I can identify those who may have a dyslexia need and alert the necessary people from the first week and get them assessed and / or supported. I can find out more about the students in my class on a more personal level and connect with them more quickly, I can also quickly find out any areas of personal need and highlight these students to youth workers for example. I can also use these quick writing tasks in other sessions and develop them into underpinning British Values, equality and diversity or to underpin speaking and listening tasks for example. The topics of the free writing are: Beauty industry - used mainly with female classes equality flat earth - underpins fake news / social media big giant swords - underpins ambition and following your dreams. being brave I have attached a short guideline of what to look for when assessing, however most teachers do assess in their own way so feel free to use in a way which suits you and your students. I hope it helps

This quick paced, vibrant session is designed to introduce students to the comparison question on the exam paper. I have geared it towards the AQA exam paper, but can be easily adapted to suit any exam board. To help students become more familiar with this question, this lesson uses the Manchester 2017 MEN bombings as its subject and underpins the message of unity, one love and tolerance. As this is an introduction, it only uses current day articles and resources to ease the students in to this tricky question. This resource contains enough material for a 3 hour session. You have a full powerpoint lesson with starters, paired / team / individual tasks, self assessment plenary, videos, articles, activities and a mini class discussion. The lesson gives a small break down of the exam question and a simple example of an answer to helps students become familiar with the answer structure. The session contains tasks which are achievable at a wide range of levels. When delivering this session, I often will invite youth workers to help support as it’s over arching message is one of tolerance and British values and not terrorism, therefore youth workers / support workers will be a valuable assist in this session and help give a more holistic approach to your students education. This is something both my department heads and Ofsted have commented positively on in the past. Please keep in mind that the TES preview does at times distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. I hope this session helps.

Climate change is a hot topic of the moment and is engaging young people around the world to help start make a difference. To help support this and raise awareness in young people I have created this full lesson based around the subject of climate change and changes a everyday person can make. This pack is a complete lesson with enough material to fill a 3 hour session. It contains plenty of group and paired activities, 5 - 10 minute reading and discussion activities, video clips, an information pack which can be used for independent research for the final writing task based on paper 2 question 5 of the GCSE English language exam. It also underpins issues regarding climate change and also aims to raise awareness among young people by looking at the Nobel peace prize candidate Greta Thunberg, an amazing young lady who started the “School strike for climate change” protests at aged 15. There are various articles in which students look at language, sentence structure, language and tone and is best suited to classes who have already done work on language features. The resources are selected to include a range of levels and abilities and can be altered to suit your students needs and tasks not used in the session could be set as homework. This session can also double up to set presentations to help hit all the requirements of the GCSE spec. Please be aware that the TES preview can sometimes distort the look of the resources and is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

I know from experience with my own students that the more practice you do from a wide range of different texts, the more prepared you will be for the live exam. It is at this stage in the academic year that practice becomes very important and knowing your exam paper - the type of questions and layout of the paper - is vital to achieving the grades you want for your students. A diverse collection of interesting and engaging practice papers is difficult to come by as the 8700 spec is still relatively new. Therefore I have authored my own practice papers to use with my own classes, all with questions based from both the AQA exam papers. The sources for these mock papers include extracts from The Colour Purple, Harry Potter and Hunger Games. Paper 2 mocks include documents on the topics of Child Labour, disasters and celebrity culture. This bundle contains: Paper 1 mock x 3 Paper 2 mock x 3 All source materials A bite sized mock with focuses on a selection of the more tricky questions from both papers. That is 7 papers all together, which averages as £1.40 per paper. Please be advised that the TES preview can distort the look of the material so please keep in mind that this is not always a true reflection of the resource. Hope it helps.

This is a fast paced lesson which delves into the diary of Anne Frank to help students practice for AQA’s paper 2 Question 3. This session is student focused and allows students to work together and find their own conclusions to the answer " How does Anne Frank use language to describe her experience of living in hiding?". This session encourages students to share their ideas and talk about their findings in order to help self learn and learn from each other rather than getting all their knowledge from the teacher with plenty of group and pair activities, peer marking and a self assessment / reflective plenary. This session differentiates between all levels whilst also allowing room to stretch and challenge with activities which promote insight and inference. We break down the exam question and the skills the exam wants from the students, the lesson then looks into the background of Anne Frank, which is an ideal opportunity to embed some British Values regarding tolerance and freedom of religion if so desired. We then start to breakdown her diary extract, focus on language and how to use the extract to answer the exam question. The session gives an example answer with a breakdown of what the examiner is looking for and what makes the answer a top band answer and what doesn’t. There is enough material to fill a 3 hour session, the lesson in full on powerpoint and 6 worksheets. Please be aware that TES preview doesn’t always give a true reflection of what the session contains and can distort the look of the session. For this reason I have included some screen shots to help give you a better view. Hope it helps

It has been 200 years since the birth of Emily Bronte and her novel Wuthering Heights has just as much to offer now as it did then. This session is designed to look at Wuthering Heights with 21st century eyes and introduce a new generation to this story. This session is an engaging, fast paced and fun session with plenty of student lead activities to help the them come to their own conclusions and to share those conclusions with others. This is a jam packed lesson with scaffolded / differentiated questions to help students access this 19th century text at all levels. The session comes with paired and groups activities ranging from read and obtain tasks, read and infer tasks, group discussions and opportunities for students to express their own opinions. This session focuses on paper 1 question 2 and ends with the question “How does Emily Bronte use language to suggest that Heathcliff is perhaps Mr Earnshaw’s illegitimate mixed race son?” - a question which is inclusive, can bring about further discussion and touches upon British Values, something that I was praised for in an recent observation of this session. Much of this session works hard to build on students inference skills, which is key to this exam. Many tasks have both simple questions and deeper, more thought provoking questions, therefore embedding this skill in to almost every task in the session. This session comes with a full powerpoint over 10 worksheets which can be used and adapted in whichever way you need, handouts with tips, hand outs with answer break downs, discussion prompts and a run down of a list of characters and plot summary and the trailer for the 2011 movie. There is enough material to span 3 hours or more, therefore allowing you as the teacher to adapt to your own timetable and students abilities. Many of the slides can also be used as handouts - such as the starter slide which comes with a word search. Please keep in mind that TES previews can often distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection of the materials. Hope it helps.

I always find that the topic of Donald Trump is a big hit in my classroom but the idea of having to compare two takes on 1 topic isn’t. Many students find this task a daunting one and so I created this lesson to introduce the notion of writing a comparison to my students. The lesson looks at two speeches made by both Obama and Trump, the resource is 10 pages of individual, group activities including watch and retrieve information, targeted and differentiated questioning, group discussion and a final written task. It has been designed for you to deliver in which ever way suits you best. I teach GCSE sessions in 3 hour blocks and so there is enough material in this resource to fill one 3 hour session. This is a resource which can be used with GCSE but also L2 functional skills. It focuses on students being able to explain , provide insight and discuss inference rather than language features but also allows lower ability students to talk about the facts and their opinions. Please keep in mind that the TES preview distorts the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. 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 5 page questions worksheet is based on the new book by Philomena Cunk -“Cunk on Everything”. Although this is a modern, comedic text, I often find that by using resources from current pop culture helps students to engage with English and helps learning or consolidation of learning take place , it also helps to give a light hearted and fun tone to your classroom however I mostly like to use resources such as these to help show students that what they learn in English is relevant and used in the everyday / real world and not just the classroom. This resource can be used with any exam board but I would suggest that some prior teaching on structural features take place first. The resource focuses primarily on the use of structural features within the extract and uses a range of questioning techniques which allows for differentiation of all levels and can be used in pairs / small groups or as an individual task. It ends with a final exam style question focusing on the structural question within the GCSE exam. You could use this resource as a part of the lesson, homework or as an extension. Please keep in mind that TES preview can distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a fun lesson looking at the notion of the Earth Being flat as a means to an introduction to Paper 2 questions 7a and b from the Edexcel exam board. The session looks at two different articles on the topic and delves into how they are written and how the writer conveys a point of view. There is a break down of the exam questions and answer format to help students formulate an answer to these questions. There are team and paired activities and a short video. The session comes with a starter and plenary and 8 pages of worksheets / activities. Please be aware that the TES preview does at times distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a fun quick paced lesson designed to introduce paper 2 from EDEXCEL to your students. We look at the idea of creating a bucket list and focus on the use of language/structure and introduce counter arguments to help when answering question 8/9. There are lots of group activities in where they think and create their own bucket list, breakdown an article, work on counter arguments and eventually create their own persuasive article, encouraging reader to create and actually do their own bucket list. This session comes with the whole lesson on powerpoint, starter worksheets and 4 core lesson worksheets. Please keep in mind 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 paced lesson which breaks down question 4 from paper 1 of the Edexcel paper and examines an extract from George Orwells, 1984. It works on the idea that the students are familiar with language and structural features. This session comes with a support scaffold, the whole lesson on powerpoint, the trailer to the movie and the extract and helps the students to break down the question and understand what is being asked of them, as this question is traditionally the tricky question and can confuse students as to how to best answer it. The sessions ends with an example question as it would appear in the exam, an example answer and gives the students an opportunity to piece an answer together themselves. Please keep in mind that TES preview often distorts the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This session can be used as a mock exam or as a progress assessment on Edexcels Paper 1. It comes with a full powerpoint in which each of the reading questions is answered and explained alongside a peer marking activity. It is designed to be student centered and supportive rather than frightening and off putting- as we know students do not always like mock exams. There is a 4 page helpful handout to support students with the questions and a paper copy of the assessment. Starters include a paired activity recapping / giving a summary of the exam paper and a break down of each question along with a short clip from the movie. I have engineered this session to be completed individually but it can also be used as a team / workshop session in where students work together through each question and help each other learn. Please keep in mind that TES previews can distort the look of the resource and this is not a true reflection. Hope it helps.

This is a quick paced, fun lesson all centered around the theme of monsters in literature. The pack comes with the full lesson on powerpoint and 5 separate worksheets which include an extract from Frankenstein and an ideas board to help students who struggle to come up with ideas. This session focuses on the EDEXCEL exam, paper 1 question 5, it consolidates DAFOREST and POSHIMP acronyms for language features and introduces ROW of CLONES acronym for structural features. The session comes with a fun starter which can be achieved by all levels and progresses in difficulty, team activities, handouts and ideas boards are in place to help those who struggle. The final task is to improve on a piece of writing they completed earlier in the session. A task which is designed to show students their own progression through-out the session / in real time rather than waiting for feedback at the end or in the next session Please keep in mind 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 paced and fun filled session with team games and activities. The main focus is on using language to persuade but underpins widening vocabulary and descriptive use. This session comes with the full lesson from start to finish on powerpoint and a 6 page worksheet pack. The lesson starts with fun team games such as Stop the Bus and Guess the Animal ( need to supply your own list of animals). The lesson the steers towards looking at endangered animals and looks at what we can do to help in our everyday lives. This session does assume that students are aware of DAFOREST and POSHIMP language features and leads towards the final task which is geared wards paper 2 questions 3 and 5 of the exam paper. There is enough material to fill a 3 hour session in this pack. Please note that the TES preview does distort the look of the resource and this is not always a true reflection. Hope it helps.