A twenty-eight slide presentation explaining the four types of sentences, with exercises for students to complete and answers.

Inspire an interest in reading by telling your students about the fascinating life and work of Michael Morpurgo. This thirty slide Powerpoint covers his early life, his career, marriage and work. Find out the amazing story about how he discovered the identity of his biological father and how the author’s note at the beginning of War Horse was a little white lie until 2011. Finally there are four choices of activities for students to complete ranging from researching one of his books to writing an article about him. Students find real lives interesting, so this is a good way to hook them into reading.

A set of twelve comprehension questions on the opening to Ray Bradbury’s novel helps students to subsequently tackle the English Literature exam-style question ‘How does the writer present Montag in the opening of the novel’. The folder includes a Powerpoint with starter activity and an exemplary introduction to the exam question, as well as a Word copy of the opening and a Word set of comprehension questions.

In 2016 over three hundred scientists wrote an open letter to argue that the United States should not leave the Paris climate change agreement, which was under threat by Donald Trump. This folder contains a Word copy of the letter; a Word copy of the letter annotated with the language techniques used and a Powerpoint (30 slides)that introduces the letter; includes the letter; reviews the techniques and then suggests ideas for students to write their own open letters on a topic of interest to them. Step-by-step help to learn how to write to persuade and to argue a case.

A 350 word ghost story callled “The Lighthouse” is animated on Powerpoint. The teacher reads the ghost story to the class to create a spooky atmosphere. Then students discuss how the writer creates irony and the supernatural atmophere. Finally, in pairs or groups, students write their own ghost story of no more than 350 words. A slide gives ideas for five different ghost stories. Teach your students the power of stories this Halloween or at any time with this perfectly structure, succinct story. A Word copy of the story is also included in the folder.

This folder includes a powerpoint which guides students through the poem. The first activity helps them to work out what the Latin sentence “Dulce et Decorum est…” means. This is followed by looking at the poem in terms of Owen’s use of similes, metaphors and imagery. Two example paragraphs of analysis of the first lines of the poem serve as a model to encourage students to write some analysis of their own. A storyboard worksheet is also included which students could complete for homework.This lesson could be used in conjunction with the background lesson on Wilfred Owen, also found here.

Three lessons and two worksheets on John Agard’s brilliant poem “Checking Out Me History”. The first lesson uses a worksheet to enable students to discover the eight historical figures referred to in the poem and to discuss their own experience of history education. The second lesson covers the theme of the poem, focusing on how Agard presents identity. Using a worksheet and activity, students then explore their own identity. Finally, the third lesson looks at how Agard uses imagery of seeing in his work and students are then supported to create original and interesting imagery of their own.

Students find the spelling rule i before e tricky because there are several exceptions. This sixty slide powerpoint introduces the i before e rule and then students are given time to learn the spellings using a look/cover/spell/check sheet. The powerpoint then gives fifteen sentences with key words missing, which students have to spell correctly. There are a further ten clues to words with ie/ei in them. Finally an additional sheet contains 40 words with letters missing for students to consolidate the learning, either at home or in class. By the end of the lesson, they will be masters of the ie spelling rule!

Teach your students to become master writers with this powerpoint on creating multi-clause complex sentences. Students are given the elements of a sentence, which they have to incorporate into a grammatical complex sentence. Ten sentences in total build to create an action-packed adventure story that you write together as a class. In the second activity, students analyse how Robert Louis Stevenson uses this type of sentence to describe Long John Silver. Students are then tasked with writing a description of Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes using the same construction. This should cover two separate lessons.

Two lessons using an extract from Bill Bryson’s travelogue “Notes from a Small Island” in which he describes his disappointment at visiting Blackpool. The lesson sequence is as follows: In the first lesson the students attempt the question “How does the writer use language to show disappointment?” in preparation for AQA English Paper One Question 2 on language. A WAGOLL answer is provided demonstrating how the answer should be marked. A mark scheme is provided and students peer assess each other’s work following the model, giving each other a mark and written feedback. The second lesson uses the theme of disappointment as a springboard. Students write a story about disappointment in preparation for Section B: Writing on English Paper One. An example of planning a story with a 3 part story structure is included, as well as a further extract from Bryson on Weston-Super-Mare in which he shows disappointment. 23 slides and two extracts included.

This Powerpoint encourages students to create a leaflet to promote an Open Day at your school. It could be used as an activity or a formal assessment. A Word planning sheet is included in the folder.

A fun quiz with twenty logos that students have to guess before designing a logo to represent themselves. Could be done as a one-off lesson or as part of a Media Studies scheme.

The first Powerpoint gives an overview of Frida Kahlo’s life. The second Powerpoint goes through her work systematically and chronologically, explaining the significance of many of the symbols that she used in her paintings. The final activity is for students to review the symbology that she created, create their own symbology to represent themselves and ultimately create their own self-portraits. Frida’s life was full of painful and dramatic incidents and this work is best suited to older and more mature students. By the end of the lessons, students will be able to appreciate what a great artist she was.

Teach your students to use a variety of interesting sentences in their writing, including complex sentences with this 13 slide Powerpoint that gives several examples of the most common types of sentence in modern persuasive travel writing.

Although Old English was spoken many centuries ago, some words have survived into modern English. This powerpoint contains clues to ten words which originated in Old English. It is then followed by examples of place names which are derived from Old English. Students are given many opportunities to brainstorm more place names and investigate the language. This could be used as part of the English or History curriculum.

This introductory lesson to the greatest World War One poet includes sixteen slides about his life. The folder also contains a very moving letter that he wrote to his mother about a disastrous sentry duty that he had to undertake. The powerpoint concludes with a choice of activities inspired by this letter, such as highlighting all the powerful language and writing your own poem; responding to the letter as Owen’s mother; interviewing Owen and then writing up the interview as a newspaper report (planning sheets included). A great resource to celebrate the centenary of the end of World War One and can be used in both English lessons and history lessons. This can also be used as an introduction to the two other lessons on Dulce et Decorum Est and Exposure, both available here.

Spelling words ending in y can be tricky. This powerpoint provides the rule and then practise with forty words ending in y. Presented as a quiz, students have to decide which is the correct spelling. This is then followed by a fourteen word exercise to add suffixes to words ending in y. All answers are provided and slides contain cartoon graphics to extend vocabulary and help second language learners. A worksheet is included to consolidate the learning in the lesson or at home. A simplified version of the quiz is thrown in free with differentiated worksheet also.

Help your students to learn their homophones with fun activities. Two worksheets packed full of sentences and activities to help them learn the differences, followed by a powerpoint with varied activities, such as creating a homophones educational poster; a quiz; plus a list of pairs of homophones for students to create a worksheet themselves for their classmates. Over three lessons worth of material.

Support students to write a persuasive speech on the subject of school uniform by analysing an extract from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech”. Students then apply Mr King’s language techniques to a speech either for or against school uniform. Students never tire of this eternal subject. A twenty-two slide powerpoint guides them through planning and structuring the speech with some ideas for and against the issue. Perfect for teaching GCSE transactional writing.

Using Levi Tafari’s poem “Caribbean Christmas”, students read the poem as a class, then take a verse each to practice and perform. Finally students write their own poem about what Christmas is like in the region where they live. Tafari’s poem is great fun as it includes several “Call and response” verses that students love interacting with. Festive fun for all the class with a multi-cultural element. Don’t be all bah humbug this Christmas. Have some fun with your students! Folder includes powerpoint and hard copy of poem.