Lesson aimed at upgrading the quality of analysis for Lord of the Flies and Power and Conflict. It is aimed at students who already know the key quotations and want to take the next step of upgrading their inferences towards a thoughtful and perceptive level. All the main characters in Lord of the Flies are covered alongside all the poems in Power and Conflict.
Worksheets to help students upgrade their vocabulary when analysing the following literature texts: Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, Power and Conflict, Lord of the Flies.
6 highly detailed conceptual lessons that revise abstract concepts such as fear, corruption, morality, psychological fragmentation (existential crises) in the following combination of literature texts:
Macbeth
A Christmas Carol
Power and Conflict
Lord of the Flies
A range of learning journey style revision tasks for students to help revise Macbeth, A Christmas Carol and also Lord of the Flies to help meet specific assessment objectives.
Mini chunked tasks for Paper 1 Question 4 to practise the process I teach my students for this question. I kept the extracts very short so students can complete multiple question 4 style questions in a lesson. Students are not writing full responses here - they are practising the process of ensuring they hit all aspects of the mark scheme - so I kept the extracts very short to increase practice time.
Main Step: Prove the statement is valid by analysing how the writer cleverly uses words and methods. This is the most important step that requires the most time.
Second Step: Add nuance, complication, depth to the statement (not necessarily disagreeing - it is often more subtle than simply agreeing and disagreeing)
Final Step: What is the writer using the character/situation/reaction to say about the human condition? What deeper universal truths are being explored. This is a good route into being perceptive but it must link back to the statement - it is not philosophy for philosophy’s sake.
As long as students know the main step is the most important one and they must prioritise writer’s methods and make apt textual references - the additional two steps can help propel students up a level.
A large collection of exam walkthrough PowerPoints that guide students through how to answer questions 2-4 primarily of various past exams from both Paper 1 and Paper 2. Contains lots of model responses and hints and tips for how to approach each exam that have proved successful for students in the past.
Includes detailed PowerPoints for the following past exams:
Paper 1:
Rosabel June 2017
Alice November 2017
Mr Fisher June 2018
Rosie June 2020
Ugwu November 2021
The Pearl November 2022
Life of Pi June 2023
Paper 2:
Surfing June 2018
Boats June 2019
Elephants Novemeber 2019
Trains June 2022
Hospitals June 2024
(Sorry if any years are slightly out)
The extracts and question papers are freely available to download from the AQA website and various other sites.
Large collection of PowerPoints giving detailed walkthroughs of questions 2-4 of various past AQA English language exams for Paper 1 and Paper 2. It includes detailed tips for how best to answer each question along with model responses.
40 slide PPT walkthrough for the UGWU Novemeber 2021 AQA Language Paper 1 with accompanying 11 page booklet. Ideal for 2 lessons to help with final exam preparation. Includes model answers and tips for questions 2-4. I have not covered the multiple choice on question 1. Question 3 is adapted for 2026 with a focus on how structure is used to build tension.
Revising AQA Language Paper 2 is time consuming because it takes so long to read the long extracts. This exercise solves that by giving students only small bite-sized extracts to work with so they can focus on identifying perspectives, selecting quotations, making inferences and analysing methods and then making comparisons more speedily. There are 4 chunked questions which allows for an I do, we do, you do approach.
Includes model paragraphs for all 4 exercises on a separate sheet so students can compare their work to the high level examples.
Revising AQA Language Paper 2 is time consuming because it takes so long to read the long extracts. This exercise solves that by giving students only small bite-sized extracts to work with so they can focus on selecting quotations, making inferences and then making comparisons more speedily. There are 4 chunked questions which allows for an I do, we do, you do approach.
Includes model answers for all 4 exercises on a separate sheet so students can compare their work to the high level examples.
Success Criteria: a) Choose and embed relevant quotations b) make detailed inferences c) make comparisons.
Key tip 1: Think of it as two 4 mark paragraphs. 2 sets of quotation, inference, comparison covering both texts.
Key Tip 2: Use not only…but also… to develop your inference beyond the obvious
Misconception: Do NOT compare the writer’s feelings. Save that for question 4. Focus on the specific topic only.
A lesson that teaches students a specific method for helping to explore rather than merely explain the impact of word choices in AQA Language Paper 2 Question 3.
There are 4 sets of activities allowing for an I do, we do, you do approach in the lesson.
Model answers are provided for all 4 extracts.
Key tips covered in lesson:
Use tier 2 synonyms to help explain the impact of the words
Think of the connotations of the words
Write a lot about a little
Use phrases like ‘not only… but also …’ or ‘it’s almost as if…’ to go beyond mere explanation to explore the quotation in more depth.
A 6 part structured writing frame that gives students guidance on how to work through the gears in Paper 2 Question 5. While it is prescriptive, the clear structure allows students to focus on the job of writing interesting ideas and interesting sentences knowing the structure is taken care of.
2 articles on football from a 19th and 21st century perspective in the style of AQA Paper 2 Question 4 along with a full length high grade model answer.
I struggle to find good, accessible extracts to help lower ability students with this question so I turned to AI to help with generating some extracts I could use with a lower ability class of boys. While I admit they are AI-assisted, I have taken a lot of time to edit the extracts to pitch them at a suitably challenging level to help students who really struggle with this question.
93 slide PowerPoint providing a comprehensive overview of how to answer the June 2023 Paper 2 English language question when the topic of the extracts was trains.
Also includes high level printable model answers.
A 30+ slide PPT giving a detailed walkthrough of questions 1-4 of the June 2024 AQA English language Paper 2 exam about medical care with activities to help students improve their responses for each question. Also includes high level answers for each question.
Question sheet and revision sheet that encourage students to view the tragedy of Othello through the lens of different languages of love. By doing this, students can gain a more conceptual understanding of the play.
A lesson looking at how 19th century writers use show not tell by looking at 3 extracts from famous villains: Sikes, Dracula and Mr Hyde. Students then work through a deliberately bad example of tell not show before moving on to write their own description of a villain using show not tell.