Created for a year 7 class as a homework to go alongside our class reader of 'Love That Dog', this is a comprehension (close reading and response) activity based on the segment from "The Call of the Wild" in which Buck fights Spitz to become top dog. There are 14 questions in total, focusing on vocabulary, inference and the effects of language. This would be a good cover activity or the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity using a short excerpt from Charles Kingsley’s re-telling of Greek Myths (public domain). There are ten questions. This could be set for cover or for homework. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a multiple choice quiz with 20 questions (answers provided) on Puck’s speech from near the end of the play - “Now the Hungry Lion Roars”. Could be used as homework to secure and embed knowledge once the speech has been studied in class. Could be used as a pre-reading/flipped learning activity. The questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a short and straightforward activity giving students an opportunity to practise and develop the skills of writing an analytical essay about an unseen poem. The poem is “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti so no issues with copyright. The first slide of the ppt has a copy of the poem and the essay question. The second slide gives students a suggested pattern for tackling the task, the idea being that they should go through each of the steps in every paragraph of their response. The third slide can be used for self/peer assessment and developing the response further.

This is a simple and straightforward activity using the opening of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula’s Guest”. There are four, short tasks dealing with vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and analysis. Useful for homework or as home learning. Could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Could be used for flipped learning prior to analysing the next (more gothic) segment of the story in class. Useful for students at KS3 or to embed key sklls and build confidence at KS4.

This is a 20-question multiple-choice quiz on Thomas Hardy’s “Neutral Tones”. It could be used for revision, for homework after the poem has been covered in class or as a flipped learning activity so that the students read the poem and attempt the quiz prior to teaching - that way, subsequent teaching can be targeted towards gaps and misconceptions. Answers are provided so that the task can be self or peer-assessed.

This is a multiple choice quiz with 25 questions (answers provided) that could be used as a homework, as a revision activity or as a flipped learning activity, to support students working from home as they work through the poem independently - and then for the teacher to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding prior to teaching the poem. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a small-group revision or catch-up session. Some questions lend themselves to further exploration of the poem; others assess whether basic knowledge is in place.

Planned for a year 8 class as part of a unit of work on Charles Dickens, this lesson focuses on Dickens’s use of setting for characterisation. The extract used (a short one; printable is on slide 11); prior to that, the pupils are asked to look at the description of the Chocolate Room from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, explaining how Dahl’s use of colour suggests the character of Willy Wonka. There is then a focus on concrete nouns and pupils are asked what these suggest about Willy Wonka - what aspect of his personality they might reflect. Having built confidence in this skill, the focus then shifts to the more challenging text - from ‘Great Expectations’. Having gone through some text marking, pupils are then asked to share what they think the setting suggests about Miss Havisham - then pick one aspect of that setting and write up an analytical paragraph. For homework, pupils are asked to describe a room that gives the reader clues as to their own character - describing the room’s colour, temperature, listing at least 3 concrete nouns and mentioning the view from the window.

This uses an excerpt from “Dracula” in which the vampire hunters have lain in wait for Dracula who confronts, taunts and escapes them. There are 11 questions focusing on the writer’s methods and their effects with a couple on vocabulary and inference. Useful for homework or for setting as a cover activity. A useful addition to any study of the gothic horror genre. Alternatively, the question could be used for structuring a guided reading activity.

This uses the description from “Dracula” of Dracula’s ship arriving at Whitby in the midst of a terrible storm, steered only by a dead man… There are ten questions, focused mainly on the writer’s methods and their effect. This would be useful as a cover activity or for homework as part of a unit on gothic horror. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

Planned for my year 9 class as part of a unit of work on Journeys, introducing the skills and tasks of English GCSE, I have also used this with a year 10 group as we begin to tackle the unseen poetry question for English Literature. It uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 50 and is an opportunity to explore the sonnet form as well as the poet’s use of language and structural features.

Created for a higher-ability year 7 class as part of a unit of work on "Treasure Island" and pirates, this lesson plan takes the pupils through "The Ballad of John Silver" by John Masefield. Using images and drama to embed the idea of writing having a mood, the lesson culminates with the pupils selecting one of the verses from the poem and re-writing it in script form (model given on one of the slides), creating the same mood as the original poem.

Created for my year nine group as part of a non-fiction SOW on journeys, this uses Scott’s diary and focuses on the pupils using their skills of inference to link Scott’s feelings to his use of language. The lesson culminates with the writing of a P.E.E response.

A straightforward lesson exploring Sassoon’s poem, “The Kiss” with questioning used to discuss the effect of the personification of bullet and bayonet. There are 8 close reading and response questions on slide 15. These could be used to structure a discussion or set for independent work. The lesson culminates with a task asking the students to draw inferences about the nature of the speaker in the poem, writing in role as a senior officer. Planned for year 9 but could be suitable to explore unseen poetry at KS4.

Created for students to build confidence in reading texts written prior to 1914, this is an account from Henry Mayhew’s “London Labour and the London Poor” of an interview with a child working as a mudlark. Useful alongside the study of “A Christmas Carol” as another insight into poverty in the 19th century. There are 11 multiple-choice questions here (answers provided). The questions are intended to be straightforward but the Word document is easily editable for you to add or remove questions or change the level of difficulty to suit your own class. This could be used as a homework or a pre-reading activity so that students are already familiar with the text before you use it in class. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Some questions lend themselves to being developed in order to deepen understanding.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity that uses only one paragraph from “The Canterville Ghost” in which the Otis family approach Canterville Chase and there is a discernible change of mood. There are 14 questions that could be used for homework, as a cover activity or to structure a guided reading session. Works for remote learning. Suggested answers are provided although some questions will elicit a range of responses, of course.

This is an editable powerpoint which I created for my KS4 classes to use as settlers/starters and to build the skills they will need for the writing task on paper 2. The slides can be used for the first 5-15 minutes of the lesson (depending on whether you want your students to work independently or generate ideas through discussion). Of course, you may then wish to extend the ideas into a longer piece of writing - there’s scope for flexibility depending on the needs of your class. The first four slides are simply about the generation of ideas to support a viewpoint. The next three are focused more on varying the expression of ideas and the final four are slightly more developed again, using examples from existing media.

I made this for my year 11 class at their request, to revise “Ozymandias” prior to their February mock exam in English Lit. Please feel free to use/amend for your own classes. The intention is that the ppt slides provide prompts for probing questioning and whole-class discussion of the poem. Just to be clear - this wasn’t used for first teaching of the poem - my students had a (in many cases, very hazy) knowledge and understanding before they went through this lesson. I hope very much that you will find this resource useful and will be really grateful if you’ll take a minute to leave a review. Thank you.

Aim - link characters’ names to the play’s themes. Powerpoint encouraging the students to explore the significance of the names Eva Smith and Daisy Renton and including a focus on the name of Inspector Goole.

GCSE resource for first teaching of William Blake's "London", part of the 'Power and Conflict' cluster.