This is a picture-based discussion exercise. I give my students some time to look at the sheet. Then , in pairs, they each have to argue one case or the other. Makes a great starter to 'Romeo and Juliet&'.

I ask my students to comment on each picture and make inferences. Then they have to prepare a 5 minute talk on whether they are for or against the death penalty and why. It's still a useful debate and can be linked to &'Of Mice and Men&'; and many other works they study.

Two short anecdotes with language activities: 1) Socrates and the triple filter test. 2) The rest of your life. These could be used in PHSCE or English.

I dictate this story. Give the pupils some plain paper. Draw some lines to make a room. Add a window. Add snowflakes - it's snowing outside. Add a table, a sofa, a cooker, a TV and then, an old lady. Is she rich or poor? How do you know? Her husband died 10 years ago. She has no children. She has no brothers and sisters. The date is December 25th... Why is it special? The old lady turns around. There is a cat on her window sill (Draw it). It is skinny. Do you think she will let it in? Why? Why not? She opens the window and lets it in. It rubs her leg. (Draw the cat by her leg). She shares her turkey... Keep asking questions... Then, I do a hotseat. The pupils prepare the questions. Put the old lady in the hotseat. 'Are you married?' 'Have you got any children? 'What did you see on the window sill?' Higher level questions; 'How did you feel when you saw that cat?' And so on.

Here are some slides to complement the extract and exercises on boxing in the WJEC GCSE English and English Language Higher Level course book, pages 62, 63 and 64. There are anagrams of keywords to do with boxing, true and false on the passage on Spencer Oliver (p.62) match up the opposite words, the pros and cons of boxing and a look at keywords. Some of my group have got EAL and need this kind of differentiation.

This is a sorting activity. Put the words into the right category. There are some proper nouns included.

Match up the word and the Christmas item. Use the pictures on screen for a 'Splat' game. Ask them to draw their own diagrams to the words.... I have made this for my EAL pupils. Bought the clipart from here - best 2 quid I ever spent!

Short story based on five images with a twist in the tale. A good model for third person narrative controlled assessment practice, (audience young readers). I get my students to mind map the images first. Some exercises provided.

I have made this for an EAL student at beginner level. I have used images from the 2009 movie (starring Jim Carrey). Hope it will be useful for some of you!

This is a short narrative in the past simple, with language exercises: true or false, cloze, match up and comprehension questions. It will be useful for years 5, 6, 7 and EAL pupils. My thanks to Ravensburger puzzles for permission to use this great picture. Isn't Flame a beaut?

Here are some starters/short activities on the language of Maths.

Thirty sentences with hidden words - they have to find them: animals, parts of the body and numbers. It gets their brains working and it’s a great time filler! Key provided. (It doesn’t look right on the preview, but it is fine on downloading.)

There is a huge amount of detailed stuff out there about this day. Here, I have put together some interactive slides mainly about the languages themselves. Should suit years 5,6,7... Hope it's useful, colleagues!

This is a handout with twenty-seven sentences. They have to choose the correct homophone from the brackets. A key is included.

Urban legend, adapted from the internet. The story is on the first slide, then there are various activities: visuals for Splat, or Q &A session; true or false/put the story in sequential order/guidelines for a hot seat and ideas on how to teach the story. My aim is to get the students to produce a recount.

This is a 20 slide powerpoint about Veganuary. There are match-ups, gap fills, true or false activities, correct the spellings, mini RCs, research tasks (design a menu for…) and hopefully, food for thought. I have designed this for advanced EAL learners, but it will make a good form time activity. My thanks to Veganuary and Rich of vegansidekick for permission to use their visuals.

This is a compilation of activities, strategies and methods of differentiation to include EAL students in mainstream English.

A simple worksheet on whether to use past or passed. I noticed lots of people getting this wrong.

A short introduction to Botany Bay, with some language exercises.

I am making a series of picture-based discussions on various topics of general interest. I use these during tutor period to get the group thinking, debating and writing.