Welcome. My resources include CPD self-study units for teachers as well as whole units of work specifically designed for the English classroom. Whole units come with detailed teacher notes, teaching PPTs and all student resources. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I have. Questions are very welcome and I can be contacted at roseandmay2@virginmedia.com.
Best wishes, Sam
Welcome. My resources include CPD self-study units for teachers as well as whole units of work specifically designed for the English classroom. Whole units come with detailed teacher notes, teaching PPTs and all student resources. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I have. Questions are very welcome and I can be contacted at roseandmay2@virginmedia.com.
Best wishes, Sam
Edexcel Functional Skills in English: Level 2 Unit - LEISURE
This highly engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for tacking the Edexcel Functional Skills Level 2 English exam paper. It is built around the topic of Leisure.
There are two sections:
Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts
Writing section – culminates in an assessed piece of work
This includes a well-presented 49 slide teaching PPT (editable PPT format) as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 9 resources in both word and pdf formats. Tasks and texts are relevant and engaging and ideal preparation for the Level 2 exam.
**More Edexcel IGCSE Functional Skills Resources
Edexcel Functional Skills in English: Level 2 Complete Course
Edexcel Functional Skills in English: Level 2 Unit -Climate Change Crisis
Edexcel Functional Skills in English: Level 2 Unit - Taking the Next Step
Edexcel Functional Skills English Level 1 and 2: Speaking and Listening Unit
Teaching English: Poetry - Edwin Morgan 'Hyena’
This highly engaging unit is designed to introduce and explore Edwin Morgan’s poem ‘Hyena’’ as well as develop students’ ability to write analytically using a specific, taught paragraph structure. It is ideal for GCSE students studying poetry or a strong Year 9 class. This unit is collaborative in nature with lots of opportunities for paired, group and class discussion. It includes a very nicely presented 40 slide teaching PPT as well as all 15 student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes explaining how to deliver the unit. Outcomes include an analytical PETAL paragraph which can be extended into a longer essay using the structure provided and a comparative essay as an extension activity. Please note that all resources are in both Word and pdf formats with the teaching Powerpoint in PPT and pdf formats.
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William Blake’s ‘London’
Seamus Heaney’s ‘Storm on the Island’
Wilfred Owen’s ‘Exposure’
Ted Hughes’ ‘Hawk Roosting’
This engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for tacking the AQA Functional Skills Level 2 English exam paper. It is built around the topic of Leisure.
There are three sections:
Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts
Writing section – culminates in an assessed piece of work
This includes a 47 slide teaching PPT as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 9 resources in both word and pdf formats. Tasks and texts are relevant and engaging and ideal preparation for the Level 2 exam.
Questions welcome - roseandmay2@virginmedia.com
This highly engaging and carefully designed unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for tacking the AQA Functional Skills Level 2 English exam paper. It is built around the idea of preparing for the world of college or work.
There are three sections:
Speaking and Listening – preparation for the discussion and presentation task
Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts
Writing section – covers writing a personal statement and a formal e-mail - culminates in a assessed piece of work
This includes a 73 slide teaching PPT as well as a detailed set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 15 resources in both word and pdf formats. Tasks, activities and non-fiction texts are relevant and engaging and ideal preparation for the Level 2 exam. I hope you and your students enjoy the unit.
Questions welcome - roseandmay2@virginmedia.com
This engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for tacking the AQA Functional Skills Level 2 English exam paper. It is built around the topic of the climate crisis.
There are two sections:
Reading section – exploration of three different non-fiction texts including a letter, web pages and a blog.
Writing section – focus on writing a speech and a blog and culminates in an assessed piece of work.
This includes a 61 slide teaching PPT as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 13 resources in both word and pdf formats. Tasks and texts are relevant and engaging and ideal preparation for the Level 2 exam.
Questions welcome - roseandmay2@virginmedia.com
This teaching bundle includes a highly engaging and enjoyable unit on narrative and descriptive writing as well as a series of starter lessons on grammar and punctuation which can be delivered in 10-15 minute starter activities at the beginning of each lesson. They are ideal for Years 8-9. The teaching units come with well-presented teaching PPTs as well as all resources for students and detailed sets of teacher notes based on my own experience of delivering these units. The bundle also comes with a self-study professional development unit on teaching creative writing. Both teaching resources are also available as separate units. I hope you enjoy teaching them.
This resource bundle for teachers of Cambridge IGCSE First Language English includes the following:
Narrative and Descriptive Writing Unit
This highly engaging unit of work is designed to help prepare students for the Cambridge IGCSE First Language English 0500 with particular focus on building skills in descriptive and narrative writing within the context of gothic fiction. This style of creative response is relevant to Cambridge IGCSE Paper 2 Section B Composition where students are given a choice of descriptive and narrative tasks or Component 3 Coursework Portfolio assignment 2 ‘writing to describe’ and assignment 3 ‘writing to narrate’.
Speaking and Listening Teaching Unit
This unit prepares students for their Cambridge IGCSE Speaking and Listening test (individual talk and conversation) on a specific topic agreed with their teacher. It guides students through the whole process by looking at aspects of effective talks such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well opportunities to try out a variety of techniques to help make their own talks lively and engaging .
Student Home Learning Guide
This student-friendly guide is designed to support students in developing their skills in preparation for the Cambridge First Language English IGCSE Paper 2 Section B: Composition exam. It is intended for use at home and includes lots of interactive and practical tasks to help them embed the key skills required at this level. It includes a work booklet as well as accompanying resources in Word and PDF formats including planning frames, narrative extracts and creative writing tasks for exam practice. It will be invaluable for teachers who wish to set revision tasks for their classes or for parents who wish to support with exam preparation.
Key Stage 3 English: Improving Grammar and Punctuation - Starter Lessons
This resource was designed as a series of starter activities to be taught across a half-term. It is a flexible resource for students who require input on improving sentences. It focuses on sentences structure and punctuation and provides opportunities for students to apply new skills. It takes a visual approach to teaching simple, compound and complex sentences and provides texts and writing activities which help provide a context rather than the more traditional method of writing out individual sentences. As well as sentence structure, it covers punctuation including use of commas and punctuating direct speech. It perfectly complements teaching of narrative or descriptive writing as many of the examples and tasks are fiction based. Included are 13 starters on a 68 slide teaching PPT plus all ten resources in both word and pdf formats as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy using these starters and that they help your students to improve their grammar and punctuation.
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English Key Stage 3 Creative Writing Unit for Years 7-8
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses.A very nicely presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources.**
This is a collection of resources for colleagues teaching the AQA Step Up to English course. Both teaching units come with well-presented teaching PPTs and all student resources.
Creative Writing Unit
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help Step Up to English students prepare for the AQA Component 2 writing section with a particular focus on narrative writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying narrative extracts, looking at models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses in the style of the writing assessment.
Grammar and Punctuation Starters
This resource was designed as a series of starters for my Step Up to English group. It focuses on sentences structure and punctuation and provides opportunities for students to apply new skills. It takes a visual approach to teaching simple, compound and complex sentences and provides texts and writing activities which help provide a context rather than the more traditional method of writing out individual sentences. As well as sentence structure, it covers punctuation including use of commas and punctuating direct speech.
I have also added a set of Step Up creative writing tasks and a CPD unit on how to teach creative writing for Entry Level English.
More Step Up to English Resources
Complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at:
RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources
New individual units:
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit
New Complete Course
AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Exploring Practice Unit
This half-termly practice unit is aimed mainly at Gold award candidates however it is also applicable to those doing the Silver award if, like me, you have candidates doing both awards in the same class. It includes a well-presented 48 slide teaching PPT with lots of engaging activities and texts to ensure students develop the skills necessary to complete the assessment tasks for reading and writing. All 14 student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes based on my experience of teaching the unit. Please note that the Exploring unit will not be assessed after 2023 therefore this is a practice unit only.
More Step Up to English Resources
Complete courses and individual teaching units on all component 1 and 2 topics are available. They include teaching PPTs, all student resources and a set of detailed teacher’s notes and can be found at:
RoseandMay’s TES English Classroom Resources
New individual units:
AQA Step Up to English: Component 1 STYLE Unit
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 CRIME Unit
New Complete Course
AQA Step Up to English: Complete Course (Leisure, Crime and Style Units)
You may also like:
AQA Step Up to English: Grammar and Punctuation Starters
AQA Step Up to English: Component 2 Creative Writing Unit
This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work, written for a higher ability group, is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. A well-presented 60 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all eleven classroom resources.
Common Core Standards include CCRA W.3,W.4 and W.5
I enjoyed teaching this unit and hope you do too. Best wishes, RoseandMay
This engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help build the skills necessary for success in two speaking and listening tasks as well as those valued by employers.
It is a discussion based unit and explores skills such as asking questions, leading a discussion, researching and planning a presentation. It leads to two assessment activities, a ‘meeting’ in which students discuss setting up a series of lunchtime clubs for younger students followed by an individual presentation in which students showcase their own plans for a school club. I have included a detailed set of teacher’s notes, a well-presented 44 slide teaching PPT and all student resources. I hope your students enjoy taking part in this unit.
Common Core Skills include CCRA SL 1,4,6
This unit prepares students for their Edexcel GCSE English Language spoken presentation. The unit guides students through the process by looking at aspects of effective presentations such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk, delivery and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well as group discussions and opportunities to try out a variety of strategies. A 41 slide teaching PPT is included as well as all seven student resources in both word and pdf formats. I hope you enjoy teaching this unit.
This is a set of seven well-presented graphic organizers or planning frames to scaffold and support narrative and descriptive writing. Four of the planning frames are included in digital format which students can fill with text, ideal for setting work to be completed at home. It is accompanied by a detailed set of teacher’s notes on how to teach planning in the secondary classroom and ensure students see it as an important part of the writing process. In addition, there is a set of fifty creative writing tasks (narrative and descriptive) which can be used together with the graphic organizers.
This unit is specifically designed for English teachers who wish to develop their teaching of non-fiction in the secondary or upper primary classroom. It takes you through a range of active approaches to promote engagement with non fiction texts such as travel writing, news reports, feature articles,speeches and formal letters, as well as ways of linking reading with pupils’ own writing. It includes tasks and opportunities for personal reflection and is ideal for teachers preparing to teach non-fiction in the English classroom.
This highly engaging unit guides students to delivering an individual spoken presentation on a topic of their choice for the Junior Cycle English Oral Communication Classroom-based Assessment. It guides students through the process by looking at aspects of effective presentations such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk, delivery and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well as group discussions and opportunities to try out a variety of techniques. Students then research, plan, and rehearse their talks before delivering their presentations to the class. A nicely presented 43 slide PPT is included as well as all seven student resources in both word and pdf formats. I hope you enjoy teaching this unit. Best wishes, RoseandMay
This engaging and enjoyable Junior Cycle English teaching unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Heroism with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as locating information, inference, commenting on structure and comparison as well as key narrative writing skills such as opening and ending a story, writing direct speech, varying sentences, improving vocabulary and planning. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction texts including 'Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’, Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. It is ideal for a First or Second Year Junior Cycle class. All 17 well-presented student resources are included in word and pdf formats as well as a 68 slide teaching PPT and a set of detailed teacher’s notes.
Junior Cycle Learning Outcomes include:
Reading
3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to
texts.
7. Select key moments from their texts and give thoughtful value judgements on the main character.
8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images.
Writing
3. Write for a variety of purposes, for example to imagine, explore, engage.
5. Engage with and learn from models of written language use to enrich their own written work.
7. Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images.
This unit is designed to teach key reading and writing skills in the context of travel literature and to help build some of the key skills required when studying non-fiction texts. It moves from reading to writing and is based on the study of a number of short travel extracts from writers such as Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban and Dervla Murphy. Outcomes include analytical as well as creative writing. All ten resources including key texts are included as are a set of detailed teacher’s notes and a nicely presented 42 slide PPT.
Learning outcomes (from Junior Cycle Specification) addressed in this unit include:
Reading
3. Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies appropriate to texts.
8. Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text.
11. Identify and comment on features of English at word and sentence level using appropriate terminology, showing how such features contribute to overall effect.
Writing
Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, re-draft, and edit their own writing as appropriate.
Discuss their own and other students’ written work constructively and with clear purpose.
Write for a variety of purposes, for example imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate, inform, explain.
Respond imaginatively in writing to their texts showing a critical appreciation of language, style and content, choice of words, language patterns, tone, images.
I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.
This self-study unit offers support and guidance in teaching the non-fiction writing component of these courses in an interesting and engaging way, helping teachers ensure their programmes of study and lessons are well-pitched, relevant and motivating and develop the key skills necessary for success at entry level. Suggested approaches are practical and can be easily differentiated for entry level 1 and 2 students making it ideal preparation for planning an entry level course and schemes of learning. It is generic and relevant to all main exam boards who offer this qualification.
Developing Literacy is a clearly a key element of a TAs role. In this unit you will explore how best to support pupils with reading. As we live and work in an environment in which the printed text is so important, the skill of reading is vital in helping pupils to make progress and ensure they don’t fall behind their peers. This unit aims to provide lots of practical strategies which TAs can use in the classroom or during intervention work with individual or small groups of students to help them become more experienced readers and ultimately more independent learners.
