These are editable resources (if you feel the need to tweak!) but PDF are included too. They are a bundle of my two resources around scaffolded speech writing. There is repetition in the tasks, which I hope means that students will remember what goes in to a good speech! Ever tried to teach speech writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a speech writing task (Paper 2 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality. This is one way to encourage students to write good speeches. This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to speech writing in a number of ways. It resource is designed as a 60 minute section of any class and it focuses on a FULL RESPONSE for a speech about whether or not students should be made to do homework. If you want to use exercise books, there are ‘instruction only’ sets here too.

I don’t know about you but a lot of my students don’t read – much, at all, ever (unless in the classroom and that sometimes takes some coercion!). That means that the development of their vocabulary is essentially restricted to what they hear rather than what they read. This is a worry, considering that both of the written texts that they have to produce in the GCSE English exams are marked on the use of sophisticated vocabulary (amongst many other things). However, my students do respond to a little gentle competition. I wanted to create a resource that would give them something to do for homework (the dreaded word!) but which wouldn’t take a huge amount of time. Not only that, I didn’t want to give the words VOCABULARY or SPELLING too much prominence either – the students would run for the hills (metaphorically at least). Finally I did not want to increase my workload (in terms of marking) in any way, shape or form. So I came up with WORD GYM. The idea is that each week ten words will be given out to students. This is called the warm up – where they have to go away and discover for themselves the definition and word class of the week’s chosen words (all KS4) plus write a sentence for each word. The follow up is the work out – the ten minute (or so) test in class where they are presented with a variety of questions. This resource consists of: 10 warm ups (this is the homework) containing ten words each 10** work outs** (this is the test for the classroom). The questions and answers for the 10 work outs. Rinse and repeat. However, work outs 2-10 have 15 questions, 10 from that week’s warmup and 5 about any of the words on previous work outs. The short tests work very well and it is hoped that you will start to see some of the words being used in other texts your students create. These resources are all editable so if you don’t want to use a word or two you can adapt them to suit yourself. These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

Two quizzes based on structure. Quiz 1 This quiz is based on a very short story of just 386 words called “The Unbroken Bond”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario. This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others). I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question. The story is very PG. It focuses on a dog whose “boy” has gone missing and his frantic search for his friend. It is resolved when “boy” returns, simply having been to school for the day. It is based on the June 2023 P1Q5 – “Write a story about a human meeting an animal”. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question. There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer! The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process. Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3. The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth. PDF and Word formats for the documents are included. This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback. Quiz 2 This quiz is based on a very short story of just 458 words called “The Dream of Billy Williams”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario. This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others). I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question. The story is set during the First World War and focuses on a soldier, Billy Williams who can sleep through anything - but unfortunately this does not ultimately save him. The description of his death is not “blood and guts” but focuses on his obliteration by a shell. The story uses all the skills to get a very high grade for Paper 1 Question 5. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question, too. There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer! The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process. Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3. The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth. PDF and Word formats for the documents are included. This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback. Enjoy!

The first set of this revision resource proved so popular among my learners that I had to make some more! So here they are as a bundle… These “Do It Now” activity sheets are designed for the BTEC Fist in Information and Creative Technology – Unit 1: The Online World externally set exam. You have probably heard of “Do Nows” – brief warm-up activities that are usually at the beginning of a lesson to help students to start thinking. They are rooted in Dewey’s constructivist theory as well as Hinton, Fischer & Glennon’s active learning theories of student-centred learning. These can take place in the usual “Online World” session but can also be used at the beginning of any IT classes when the Online World exam is coming up. I know how difficult it is to squeeze in mock exams so you could think of these as mini-mocks! They are designed to be quick (five minutes for the questions, five for the answers) and to provide a different revision and recall route for your learners. However, they could just as easily be given out as homework or used by individual students for short revision bursts. Each activity sheet contains two multiple choice, one or two “explain” questions and two or three “true or false” statements. The latter does not exist in the exam as a question type but is intended here, to give students quick and easy definitions for course elements that regularly appear in the exams. Elements from all Learning Aims are included on each sheet wherever possible, but Learning Aims A & B are at the forefront. Answers are included, of course! This time round I have included a few network diagrams for learners to label, too. As they are time-constrained they reproduce an exam-style atmosphere where students must spend five minutes silently working on the questions. The answers can then be delivered in a way that you choose, to best suit your learners. I tend to ask individuals the answers and choose them according to ability. This part of the activity can often provoke discussion which will help students recall the information again. The activity sheets are formatted in PowerPoint – you can edit as you wish. These activities have proven highly popular with my learners and I hope will with yours too!

These three resources can be used as whole classes. However, they are also great as ‘fillers’ - to take up a short amount of time in a class (at the beginning or end, perhaps!). They were created in response to student need. Looking at the whole of Paper 1 Question 5 can become repetitious - and does not always suit less able students. The three resources are: Flashback writing exercised (students given a picture and a pre-written paragraph and must imagine what has happened previously). Write Four Things - a game, of sorts. Students become the examiner and have to provide their peers with a paragraph which could be used to answer Paper 1 Question 1. Openings - students are given a scaffold with which to build the first paragraph of a description or narrative. These exercises fit in a lot of what A05 and A06 cover. AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. (This requirement must constitute 20% of the marks for each specification as a whole.)

This bundle consists of 3 separate resources Paper 1 Question 5 Descriptive & Narrative Writing Questions This pack of picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response (although both tasks can be descriptive or narrative and this pack reflects that). I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess! The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of images in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice. Structural Features Game This was created for learners doing GCSE English Language - the new Grade 9-1 Course. It can be used as a revision but more particularly as an introduction to structural features. Paper 1 Question 3 is the structure questions where learners must comment on structure (see example question below from the June 2018 examination). A student response can easily become muddled if they are not confident with the terminology used to do that. The game is designed to be naturally differentiated - the quality of the responses will depend on the ability of the students but all can participate. Learners are given individual structural features to investigate and must report back on it to the class, including an easy-to-understand definition and hopefully examples of where it is used in one of a variety of forms. If there are no opportunities to use internet enabled devices in class, this could be easily changed to be a homework activity. It is also perfect for a cover class! Scaffolded Descriptive Writing This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways… The resource is designed as a 10-15 minute section of any class and it focuses on an opening paragraph for a description of a picture. Students can build their confidence here before then progressing to longer pieces. It could also be used as a ‘snap’ revision session, a cover class (where more than one is attempted) or as a prompt for a longer response which the students must do once they finish their first paragraph. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things.

This are editable resources but PDFs are also included. I really enjoyed creating these and they have gone down very well with my students. Ever tried to teach story writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a story writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality. This is one way to encourage students to write good stories which are suitable for GCSE English. These sets of prompts are designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways… The resources are designed as TWO 60-90 minute classes and focus on a FULL RESPONSE for a story featuring a different structural feature for each paragraph. If you want to use exercise books, there are ‘instruction only’ sets here too. Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts - both picture-based and written. The prompts indicate what they should write. There is also plenty of time for sharing and class discussions between each paragraph.

There are 3 main resources in this bundle. A set of 20 pictures to be used as stimuli for narrative responses to GCSE English Paper 1 Question 5 - general pictures of people and places. A set of 20 pictures to be used as stimuli for narrative AND descriptive responses to GCSE English Paper 1 Question 5 - general pictures of people and places. A set of 20 pictures to be used as stimuli for narrative AND descriptive responses to GCSE English Paper 1 Question 5 - science fiction and fantasy genre. A set of 30 pictures around the theme of Christmas - for Paper 1 Question 5 I have also included my “First World War” set of pictures - although it is free, I thought I would pop it in just in case you missed it! Have fun!

This bundle incorporates all the scaffolded writing resources I have uploaded to TES. Together they create a continuous resource from the introduction of “bite size” openers to whole text creation. The aim, ultimately is to “self-scaffold” and that is what the last resource does. Once at that point students should be able to scaffold quickly with no assistance. Contents: 20 English scaffold openers (short, bite-size, lots of 'em!) Whole text excercise using scaffolding 2 whole text scaffolded exercises using the same picture to create different tone 3 self-scaffolded exercises where students create their own scaffold. This is enough to keep your students busy for quite a while. It is also an alternative approach to descriptive writing which may enliven teaching and learning. The aim, ultimately, is to significantly increase the marks awarded for Paper 1 Question 5 (descriptive writing) of GCSE English Language (AQA but these are editable and easily adaptable for any board). These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives: AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.