Pot by Shamshad Khan

Pot by Shamshad Khan – AQA GCSE English Literature (Worlds and Lives)

This AQA GCSE English Literature teaching resource provides two classroom-ready lessons on pot by Shamshad Khan, from the Worlds and Lives Poetry Anthology. Designed for KS4 (Year 10 and Year 11), it supports teachers in delivering clear, exam-focused poetry lessons that build confident understanding of context, language, themes, structure, and comparison.

Students are guided from first reading to detailed analysis and GCSE-style extended writing, with scaffolded tasks and model responses throughout. The resource helps pupils engage critically with key ideas including identity and belonging, colonialism, cultural theft, displacement, and diaspora.

What’s included:

Context lessons on Shamshad Khan, colonial history, museums, and cultural artefacts

First reading and comprehension tasks with sentence starters and model explanations

Detailed analysis of language, imagery, symbolism, personification, and direct address

Clear exploration of key themes: identity and belonging, colonialism, displacement, history, and heritage

Lessons on form and structure, including free verse, enjambment, and open endings

Exam-style questions with high-quality model answers

A scaffolded GCSE essay question focused on identity and belonging

Guided comparison work linking pot with other anthology poems such as Name Journeys

An easy-to-apply A-L-O-T essay framework (About, Language, Organisation, Themes)

Ideal for whole-class teaching, revision lessons, cover work, or independent study, this resource is clearly structured and closely aligned to AQA assessment objectives, making it a reliable and effective choice for teaching pot with depth and clarity.

Suitable for:
AQA GCSE English Literature • Worlds and Lives poetry • KS4 poetry analysis • Exam preparation • Comparative essays • Identity and belonging themes