This 21 slide powerpoint is a walkthrough of paper 2, question 4. It uses two shortened texts, one pre-1914 and one contemporary and the lesson focuses on clear comparison and explaining how the writers’ words, phrases and patterns convey their feelings about zoos.

This powerpoint guides students through the AQA GCSE English Language paper question by question (in that there are example questions and some guidance). There’s too much here for an hour’s lesson - could be extended over two or even three lessons. The text is a heavily abridged segment from “Casino Royale” by Ian Fleming in which Bond faces his enemy, Le Chiffre at the casino.

This uses Emily Dickinson’s beautiful poem about resilience. I created this as a revision task for year 11 but it could be used at KS3. There are 11 questions that could work for cover, for homework or to structure a discussion or guided reading session. Suggested responses are provided but these are not definitive!

This is a straightforward, short powerpoint focused on the reading skills of inference, analysis and viewpoint, at quite a basic level. Useful for a quick assessment of students’ reading skills or for practise in polishing those skills. Could be used to structure a guided reading session with less confident learners. Could be used as a starter, for revision or for a homework.

Originally planned for KS3 students as part of a reading unit on the natural world, this could be used with much less confident readers at KS4, perhaps as part of a catch-up or intervention series. The text used is from “Nature Near London” (1905 so public domain) by Richard Jefferies. Alongside the short excerpt are some questions which can be used to diagnose gaps in reading skills and comprehension.

This is a short comprehension activity using an excerpt from Kipling’s “The Mark of the Beast” in which Fleete turns into a werewolf. There are 7 questions. Suggested answers are provided. This could be used as a cover activity or set for homework to support a unit on gothic horror. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a very straightforward powerpoint using John Drinkwater’s public domain poem, “Moonlit Apples”. The powerpoint takes the students through a range of questions about the effect of methods used in the poem and concludes with an exam-style question.

This is a walkthrough of Tennyson’s “The Eagle”, asking the questions that candidates will need to ask of themselves during the exam. The powerpoint asks them to focus on various methods including anthropomorphism, rhyme, rhythm and contrast. The final slide is an exam-style question. As the poem is so short, it could be useful for building confidence when tackling an unseen poetry question.

This is a short and (hopefully) straightforward powerpoint using a very short extract from “The Island of Dr Moreau” by H.G.Wells. The lesson uses questioning to provide the ideas for a modelled first paragraph of a response after which students are asked to work more independently to complete the response. For less confident students, the evidence is already selected. You may wish to add challenge by asking students to select their own evidence. The last two slides are the printables. At the end of the lesson, students are asked to identify two of Wells’ effective methods and use them in their own descriptive writing. This task could be used to extend the lesson or set for homework.

This is a 14-question multiple-choice quiz (answers provided) on John Clare’s lovely sonnet about the spring. Could be used as a starter activity prior to a deeper analysis of the poem. Could work as a homework activity. The questions could be used to stucture a guided reading activity.

This uses an excerpt from Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Grey Woman” which uses many of the features of the gothic genre. There are 14 multiple choice questions which could be used for flipped learning or to structure a guided reading activity. Alternatively, the questions could be used as a starting point for class discussion of the extract, for homework or for cover. Answers are provided.

Sassoon’s “The Dug Out” (in the public domain) and 10 questions which could be used for cover or homework, or to structure a guided reading activity.

This is a straightforward worksheet, suitable for cover, revision or homework, asking students to identify some of Sherriff’s motifs in “Journey’s End”, to find evidence of where they’re used in the text and to comment on their effect.

This uses John Clare’s “First Love”. There are 7 comprehension questions, the ideas from which can be used to annotate the poem in preparation for tackling the exam-style question at the bottom of the page. The questions could structure a class/small group discussion before the students work independently on the exam-style question. Useful for cover, for homework or for revision.

This straightforward task uses an excerpt from Oscar Wilde’s story “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” and the questions are divided into sections echoing many of the reading skills that will be tested at GCSE: information retrieval, inference, analysis of language, analysis of structure and evaluation. Useful as a homework or cover activity. Created as part of a unit of home-learning during lockdown.

This straightforward activity uses an excerpt from Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, “The Horror of the Heights” in which an aviator discovers a new ecosystem at a height of 40,000 feet. The tasks increase in difficulty and focus on: vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and analysis. Useful for homework, home learning or cover. Could be used with a small group to structure a guided reading activity.

This is a multiple-choice quiz with 21 questions, planned for flipped learning so set for homework before the poem was explored - in greater depth - in class. Alternatively, the quiz could be used for a consolidation homework after the teaching of the poem. You might wish to use the quiz to structure a more guided reading session of the poem as some of the questions lend themselves to further questioning and exploration. Answers are provided.

This lesson was planned for a year 8 group but could be used elsewhere at KS3. It uses Conan Doyle’s story and this lesson focuses on how Conan Doyle creates a sense of urgency as Holmes uncovers the motive for murder and heads to Stoke Moran to try to protect Helen Stoner. The lesson asks the pupils to explore three of the writer’s methods for creating a sense of urgency: the plot itself, the setting and the dialogue. Focused questioning is used throughout. Differentiation is possible in the approach to this questioning - pupils could be asked to think and pair, then share; for greater challenge, responses could be written without any discussion.

Planned for a year 8 class but useful at any point in KS3, I think. This lesson focuses on the part of the story where Helen Stoner is relating the events of the night of her sister’s death. Pupils are asked to identify the mood of the segment. There is then a quick look at how foreshadowing might be used to contribute to mood (with a hinge question to ensure that all pupils know what’s meant by foreshadowing) after which pupils are asked to do some text marking to identify the language that contributes to the mood. There’s then the opportunity for some modelling to improve a response, ensuring that it explains how and why the language has the effect that it does. After which, and using the whole-class model as a guide, pupils are asked to work more independently on a different explanation.

This is a short and simple worksheet focusing on the scene from “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in which Holmes, Watson and Sir Henry Baskerville approach Baskerville Hall. There are four (short) sets of questions on vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and explanation of the writer’s methods. I created this as a cover activity but it would work for homework or even to structure a guided reading session.