I work in FE so have the ability to choose the texts I wish to teach for the AQA English Language GCSE Papers 1&2. I have put together an anthology of all the texts I will be covering in 2022-23, as well as created mock papers for each text/set of texts. Some mock papers I have pinched from other sources or used them as inspiration. The rest have been created by myself so please do use them as you wish for your own revision. I have also included a SMART target page for each paper at the end of each section of the anthology, a notes section for students to jot down ideas as they go etc. Hopefully this might save some teachers some valuable time! I have put a picture up of the Contents so you can see what texts I have chosen to teach and have practice mock papers for etc.

A 3hr lesson (currently for FE, but can be easily adapted into multiple lessons). This is based on the extract from Life of Pi regarding the ship sinking; lots of drama, atmosphere and language to explore! The main focus of this lesson is to get my students more confident in analysing the impacts of language, building their inference and exploration skills and responding to a question. Sustainability - currently, there are very few resources to print because I’m pledging to keep my printing down this year. But again, this could be adapted to suit your needs!

This is a 3hr FE lesson which can be easily adapted into more than one lesson to suit timetables. An introduction to AQA Paper 1 GCSE English Language - the main focus is on Inference which feeds in to Questions 1 and 2. Sustainability - when using the ‘Inference through Image’ A3 activity, laminate these so students use wipeable pens, then the resources can be reused every year! Any feedback in the comment section is much appreciated. Thanks!

The Anthology contains the following: 1) A brief history and biography of the poet 2) Exposure 3) Spring Offensive 4) Dulce Et Decorum Est 5) Futility 6) Disabled 7) Inspection At the end of the anthology is an end of unit written essay, with 5 different choices of questions, to either test their analytical skills of exploring one key poem in depth, or using comparative skills when exploring 2 or more poems. For KS3 if you want to really push and challenge! Also very good for KS4.

A 90 minute lesson on descriptive writing (stormy sea) - could be easily adapted for shorter lessons. This is suitable for AQA Question 5 on Paper 1. Start with group work using various storm images, carousel activity to build descriptive ideas on the page and rotate under timed conditions. Revise sensory imagery and consider key descriptive ideas for each sense, then introduce the application of key language features in writing eg: similes, metaphors etc. Next, explore an exemplar paragraph, discussing what is engaging about it and what could be improved, before introducing the descriptive terms Drop, Shift, Close-up and Panoramic. Create a plan for a descriptive piece of writing on a stormy sea using the terminology to help construct the plan and then ultimately, the writing piece itself. I have tweaked a work pack that I found extremely useful and made some changes to it. The PowerPoint was created by me for FE, but again can be easily adapted for Secondary.

A Power point and homework task sheet is attached. I used this lesson as a first post-reading approach for my year 10 middle set. - A 'See, Think, Wonder' starter to challenge and stretch their independent thinking; - Summary table exercise on Structure, encouraging them to understand what happens in each of the seven stanzas of the poem; - Discussion Questions to promote open talk; - Language identification tasks on Past and Present in the poem, as well as a discussion of Tone; - Homework task exploring contrasts (I used a really great resource from another TES user and adapted it to add the extension activity after it) It worked really well for my group who do lack confidence in the subject - I hope this will work well for you too. Comments would be appreciated so that I can continue developing resources further.

An Inference-based lesson exploring language and interpretation, using Shaun Tan’s text ‘Broken Toys’. This goes with AQA’s Paper 1 revision for Question 2. The idea is to discuss more in comparison to writing - you can use mini-whiteboards instead of exercise books as the students enjoy writing on it and then rubbing it clean to start something new. However, it can be easily adapted if you wanted more evidence of written work. There is a mixture of individual, pair and group work throughout and focuses on the short story in three sections (one page at a time). Students are encouraged to think for themselves and arrive at interpretations and inferences - some really good discussions have come from this lesson. Currently made for a 90-minute FE lesson, but can be easily adapted.

A 90 minute FE lesson for AQA Paper 1 revision, that can be easily adapted. The lesson involves students reflecting on their current skills and setting their own target for the lesson itself. Then they will explore story openings (resource for this from Teachit.co.uk) for a matching activity and discussion regarding effective openings. To progress, the lesson uses the exemplar story called ‘The Walk’ and students will complete a written storyboard to show their understanding of the story’s structure, then RAG rate it against success criteria. Finally, the aim is to create at least the opening of a short story based on image stimulus (abandoned theme park).

This can be used for Functional Skills or you can pinch pages for GCSE should they need some extra practice and revision. This booklet contains mostly my own work or resources I have researched and adapted (I have tried to put the links wherever I could/remembered!) Revision materials plus activity pages so this booklet acts as both a revision guide as well as an activity booklet. Topics include: Word Classes Punctuation Subject-Verb Agreement Fact vs Opinion Organisational and Language Features Writing Formats And so on… I have used the website Canva to design the booklet - I thoroughly recommend it as the site allows you to produce something visually striking! I hope you find this useful for your students - can be useful from Entry 3 to Level 1 Functional Skills, or low ability GCSE.

I have made this lesson for my FE students currently (16+), but it can be used and/or adapted for Year 11 students who are about to sit their exams. A standalone lesson regarding how to have the right mindset when approaching everyday situations, especially exams. Video clips are hyperlinked to pictures in the PowerPoints and should go straight to YouTube. Please bear in mind: The video for Matthew McConaughey contains odd swearing at the end. Please leave feedback, always greatly appreciated.

This is a 3-hour lesson introducing AQA GCSE English Language paper 1 Questions 1+2. Currently used in FE, it can be adapted to suit your needs. I use this as my first lesson of the academic year as it covers plenty of skills: reading for meaning, making inferences, exploring language choices etc. I have been trained to mark this paper and have done for the last 8 years so I hope you find this resource useful.

A fun, interactive lesson (which does involve chocolate or sherbet lemons) to encourage students to extend their descriptions when writing sensory language. Works well across all year groups really. I used T. S. Eliot's poem Preludes as a challenge for my GCSE group, as an unseen stretch and challenge exercise. Please comment or rate the resource so I can continue adding useful things to the site!

This is a lesson based on the article from the Edexcel Anthology, Section A. This lesson comes after doing the annotations of the article and focuses on the development of how language is used by the writer to establish how he portrays the two men in his piece. PETAL paragraph writing at the end - you can adapt it to PEE/ PEA/ PQD etc. My school focus on PETAL and it works hugely at breaking up the Explanation section in to manageable chunks. Hope you enjoy the resource! Worked with my lower Year 10 group. Comments would be much appreciated so that I can try and continue uploading useful resources :)

A range of engaging articles, blogs etc on varied topics for teaching the Reading component of Functional Skills. These texts would be suitable for mainly Level 1 and 2, but you can easily adapt them for Entry 3 to help challenge them. In addition, at the back of the booklet, I have taken two Reading revision activities from SkillsWorkshop (credits are at the end of each document). Useful for students to practice their skills. I have designed the booklet using the website Canva.

This is a 90 minute FE lesson but can be adapted easily to suit needs. The focus in on the 8-mark question on structure in AQA Paper 1 and uses an extract from the Hunger Games, along with the film clip - hyperlink in one of the pictures on the slide. I have adapted this lesson from another source on TES (for the extract and the film clip exercises) - reference for this TBA.

I made this power point for my lower ability Year 9 group as they prepared for the Writing exam, on writing to describe. They were assessed on describing an image stimulus and they wrote as an observer. This power point helped them focus in on a particular image and I provided them with a model plan and model piece of writing for us to work through, before they wrote an example of their own. Comments appreciated.