This is a resource I have created which I have stuck in the front/back of student’s exercise books. Students can refer to this for any language and structural devices that they may find in texts whilst studying GCSE English Language. I stress to the students that it is vital they only use it as a last resort if they are REALLY struggling with identifying the language/structural device.

These resources are a collection of crosswords for language and structural devices as well as one that helps students to improve their vocabulary in their writing. Great as a starter or an extension task!

This task is designed to be used right at the start of a lesson that will develop the skill of evaluation. I have used this resource as a starter activity that is on the desk waiting for students whilst they’re filtering into the classroom. The first 10 minutes of the lesson is spent with the students evaluating how successful certain slogans are which I found was successful at showing them how evaluation could look outside of the classroom.

Inspired by the structure strips that are all over Twitter! Students stick these in the margin of their exercise books to have a visual aid for a plan whilst they’re completing a piece of imaginative writing. It follows the 5 part story structure of: Exposition Rising action Climax Falling action Resolution

This is a resource I’ve used this year which is a great introduction to the skill of evaluation without actually looking at a text! There are pictures of 2 drastically different cars with the evaluation question of ‘To what extent is this a practical and useful car?’ Students must look at each of them in turn and evaluate whether or not they are practical. This resource could also be used for comparison!

This is a couple of extracts I have found on the topic of veganism that are fantastic for analysis (Calm down, carnivores) and evaluation (Vegan is the best way of life!) as well as a great opportunity to practice the skill of comparison. I have given students the opportunity to annotate against each and plan/write out a full answer against the following questions (based on the Edexcel English Language Paper 2): Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage readers (15 marks) In this extract, there is an attempt to persuade the audience to try veganism. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. (15 marks)

A collection of writing prompts with visual aids to help the student.

This is a simple resource that students can use to help improve their imaginative writing. In each box, they must jot down what actions people do when they’re feeling certain emotions. This can then be used to help inform a writing task where they attempt to show the emotion as opposed to simply telling it to the reader by using the actions listed in this activity.

This PowerPoint is a full lesson based on characterisation in imaginative writing. The first set of activities provides the students with an image and they must come up with an example of a language device they could use to help describe it (e.g. adjectives, onomatopoeia, the 5 senses etc.) The next activity involves looking at a couple of characters which could be placed in the situations taking place in the images. The students must then think about a plot involving these characters to go towards a piece of imaginative writing.

I have used this with my GCSE resits to help improve their language for the Imaginative Writing part of the English Language exam (Edexcel 9-1). Students normally complete this at the start of the lesson so that it will inform a writing task later on. I’ve also laminated them with my students so that they can refer back to them in future lessons. Helpful with expanding vocabulary! Students fill in the blank boxes with synonyms Feel free to edit to your heart’s content!

This is a collection of non-fiction extracts I used last year that worked really well for me. There are 2 anthologies in total separated by texts that are good for analysis and texts that are good for evaluation. Most of the texts are collected from the internet but a couple are written by myself. They can either be used as a booklet to give to students or as individual texts to print out.

This is a resource students can use to plan a piece of transactional writing. It focuses on 3 things: Form, Audience and Purpose - In this section, the students have to think about how each of these will be affected according to the question (e.g. if the audience is their peers, it can be written fairly informally etc.) Points I will make - In this section, the students have to think about their main points. This can be done in note form or could even plan out each paragraph Errors I will avoid - This is an opportunity for students to self-assess their previous work to see what errors they need to avoid (e.g. specific SPaG mistakes) This can be applied to any non-fiction writing question (the box at the top is for the students to write whatever question is given to them)

This is a resource to be used during an imaginative writing lesson. It has worked well with those groups that struggle with using better synonyms. The resource is designed so that certain basic words are “banned from use” for the lesson and they therefore have to think of alternatives.

In this resource, students must practice the skill of showing instead of simply telling. This can be used with another of my resources where the students have to think about what actions people do when they show certain emotions.

This text is taken from a match report from the 1966 World Cup final and focuses on vocabulary choices. The text is split into 4 sections and in lesson I have given each group a different paragraph to look at, bringing it all together at the end of the lesson to share what each group has found.

This text is taken from a match report from Manchester City - Southampton. I’ve underlined a few words or phrases that could be used to practice the skill of analysis. Students just have to label the underlined devices and analyse how they interest and engage the reader.

This resource contains a review of Ed Sheeran’s Glastonbury performance which is a great text for analysis. On the back of the worksheet is an analysis question with a few tips of things to look out for!

I’ve used this resource this year when tackling the Paper 2 comparison questions. It’s applicable to any comparison question. One side is for Text A, the other side is for Text B and the overlap is for the similarities between the texts.

This is a text written by myself about modern music along with a Paper 2 style analysis question with space to plan/annotate.

This resource uses the visual aid of an iceberg to help students develop deeper analysis to access the higher marks in analysis questions