Ambulances’ – Larkin – A Level Poetry Bundle: Teaching PowerPoint, Revision Sheet and Teaching Pack
Everything you need to teach and revise Philip Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’, written by Andy Hurley, former Principal Examiner, HMI Inspector and Headteacher. The resources are built around the Assessment Objectives rather than a single specification, so they work for any A Level English Literature course. Please check the requirements of the specification you are teaching.
The bundle follows the poem’s movement from exception to rule, from seeing to sensing, and from coherence to loosening. Students explore how Larkin empties the religious frame of its consolation, and they weigh the critical debate over whether he is an unreservedly pessimistic poet or an honest witness to human sympathy. Activities are pitched from C grade to undergraduate standard.
**What’s included**
1. Teaching PowerPoint
Phase-coded slides built around the four-phase learning continuum: Connect, Activate, Demonstrate and Consolidate. There is no lesson framing, so you can sequence the material over one, two or three lessons to suit your timetable. The deck moves from context and pre-reading activities, through modelled close reading of the poem, to independent analysis, critical discussion, comparative work and essay planning. Bridge slides mark natural pauses between phases. The deck is fully self-contained: every instruction, question, answer and piece of teacher guidance sits in the presenter notes, with suggested timings for each activity.
2. Student Revision Sheet
Seven sections: Overview, Form and Structure, Close Analysis, Key Themes, Context (AO3), Critical Perspectives (AO5), and Study Questions and Extension Activities. It finishes with a Quote Quilt, a one-page grid of key quotations with brief analysis, coded for voices, themes and contexts. Ideal for independent study, homework or exam revision.
3. Teaching Pack
A detailed planning document for teachers, offering a choice of activities in each of the four phases with full implementation notes, timings, suggested answers and extensions. It covers:
Close reading: the opening simile, the stretcher scene, the plain style of “So permanent and blank and true”, and the whispered “Poor soul”.
Form: the poem’s tightening rhyme and its tetrameter line.
Debate: a structured debate on pessimism and sympathy.
Writing tasks: comparative planning with ‘Aubade’, three essay questions, and creative writing from an onlooker’s point of view.
Research: investigation into The Movement, the satirical tradition of Pope and Swift, and the modern memento mori.
It also includes five student handouts, a 15-question Kahoot quiz and three Wordwall activities, all of which can be run as paper tasks. You’ll also find alternative activities, including comparative groupings with ‘The Suicide’, ‘Nothing to be Said’, ‘The Building’ and Duffy’s ‘Never Go Back’. A suggested one-hour route through the material is included. The pack closes with a critical contexts section covering Larkin and The Movement, the main critical readings of the poem, and a further reading list.
A free seminar on this poem is available on the A Level AHEAD website
