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!

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 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 bundle enables you to purchase our last 12 resources at a discount to you of 25%, Although you can see their descriptions individually, I’ll just run through the content for you! Scaffolded Descriptive Writing (4 resources) 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. Questions for Paper 1 Question 5 (4 resources) Two sets of tasks for descriptive and/or narrative writing. Altogether that will give you 90 tasks to mix and match (or otherwise!) with your students. Structural Features Game (1 resource) Fun for all the family (well, OK, no) with this game - students research a structural feature and then have to report their findings to the class. Word Gym Homework and Tests (2 resources) Need to give homework but don’t want to do any marking? Give them these (editable) quizzes. Over 10 sessions (week, however you want) send your students to the WORD GYM. 10 tasks to do as homework (probably take them an hour each) for classroom based tests (10-15 mins). 100 KS4 words for them to discover! Spreadsheet (1 resource, 6 spreadsheets) Using the grade boundaries for each paper (Jun 17 and 18, November 17) if you give them a mock using these spreadsheets you will be able to see your students’ grades quickly and easily. ENJOY!