This handout is designed to provide students with background information regarding Machiavelli. Presented as a list of bullet points for easier absorption of information, the text is also printed three times on one page for ease of photocopying/printing and distribution. Useful for the study of both English and History.

This character impressions grid scaffolds student note-taking on the characters in Christopher Marlowe’s play ‘The Jew of Malta’. Topics include appearance and attitudes. These notes can be subsequently used for revision purposes or to help structure an essay on a topic from the grid. Printing on A3 is recommended so as to maximise the space that students have for note-taking.

This resource consists of two files bundled together: one file containing a quotes quiz, the other file containing the answers. Students are asked to identify who said a particular quotation, roughly where in the play it took place, and about any techniques used in the quotation, as well as its possible significance. This can take a whole hour’s lesson if completed in traditional silent quiz/exam style, or the questions could be completed in teams and made more competitive (particularly if you only go for the summative aspect asking students to name who says it and where it happens, and possibly naming techniques, leaving out the interpretive aspect). Note that the answers only indicate the name of the character who said the line and where in the play this occurs, as well as some possible techniques that students may identify; any valid explanation of the quotation’s possible significance should be accepted.

This resource helps students to take notes on the theme of abandonment in Bao Ninh’s novel ‘The Sorrow of War’. Contains page numbers to assist, for both Vintage and Minerva editions, as well as an extension task for early finishers. The scaffolded notes can then be used to construct an essay on abandonment in the novel.

This scaffolded note-taking grid encourages students to consider the information provided to them through stage directions in plays, whether implied or explicitly stated. The grid includes space for note-taking on characters’ movements, descriptions of lighting, and descriptions of sounds, as well as space for quotations and explanations of effects on the viewer. This grid can be used to analyse the stage directions in any play, and can be subsequently used for revision and/or essay-writing. Printing on A3 comes recommended as this gives students more space to write.

This resource relates to the end of Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and contains questions encouraging students to assess the reliability of the novel, its narrator, and its ending. This helps to integrate critical thinking into English lessons, and as such is especially helpful for teachers teaching the text as part of the IB Diploma programme, which requires integration of the IB core component of Theory of Knowledge.

Students should be assigned a speech topic that they could give to either Grade 9/Year 10 students or staff members/parents/governors. This could be, for example, “school uniforms should be abolished” or “the school day should start one hour later than it does now”. This planning grid enables students to compare what is required in terms of diction, tone, syntax and so on. Students should be made aware of the meanings of the terms in the grid before proceeding. Once they have planned, they could either write a comparative/analytical paragraph, explaining what is the same/different about each speech to each audience, and/or actually choose a speech to write based on the grid.

This resource begins with a simple matching game to reinforce/refresh student knowledge of techniques found in poetry. While this resource was designed with Sylvia Plath’s ‘Blackberrying’ in mind, it could be easily adapted for other poems. There are also sentence starters to help students write an analytical paragraph about the poem, as well as extension tasks for early finishers. Printing on A3 is recommended to give students maximum space for note-taking. Note that a copy of the poem is not included but is easily accessible online.

This grid serves as an ongoing revision resource that students build up themselves over time. It encourages students to take notes on characters encountered in Wole Soyinka’s play “Death and the King’s Horseman”, including appearance, speech, and attitudes. This grid could then be used to help students plan an essay on any topic relevant to the notes they have taken (e.g. compare/contrast 2 characters’ attitudes towards the British). Printing on A3 is recommended.

These six comprehension questions help to develop student understanding of the Keats poem ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be’. The questions are laid out with 2 sets on one page for ease of printing, photocopying and distribution. The questions cover understanding of technique (such as metaphor and imagery) as well as ideas. There is scope for the final question to serve as an extension/optional question for early finishers.

These comprehension questions were designed to support student learning when studying the Rumens poem “The Border-Builder”. They could be completed in class (in groups or alone), or set as homework. They are aimed at MA-HA (I)GCSE students and come with an optional extra credit assignment for extension purposes. Multiple copies of the questions are printed on one page to aid printing, photocopying and distribution.

This grid is intended to encourage sixth-formers studying the novel “The Sorrow of War” to consider the reliability of both its author (Bao Ninh) and protagonist (Kien), as well as areas where the two intersect. This is also a chance to develop their abilities in terms of supporting their ideas with evidence from the text. Aimed at MA-HA students. Examples could be filled in by the teacher (maybe one per box) along with possible sentence stems for explanation to support lower-ability students. The resource could also be adapted for use with any other text that has an unreliable narrator and/or author.

The statements and questions in this grid about Bao Ninh’s novel “The Sorrow of War” were provided by real sixth-form students, with development in the brackets being provided by me. The third column in the chart is left blank so that your students can fill in their own responses to the ideas. It may be prudent to print this on A3 paper so that students have sufficient space to write, and/or upload a copy to your school’s VLE so that students can download and type directly onto a digital copy. Excellent for revision.

This list of questions is intended for students studying Christopher Marlowe’s play “The Jew of Malta”. The questions can be given to students before or after watching the Grandfather Films production of the play, with the understanding either way that they make notes throughout their viewing of the film. The questions include topics such as possible cuts that could be made, the chronology of the film, and the casting. The questions could therefore be used by students of English, Drama, or Film Studies. There are three copies of the questions per page, for ease of printing, photocopying and distribution.

These notes on The Sound of Waves list potentially useful quotations from each chapter through the themes of innocence and experience (I have taught this text once privately and my student’s essay was based on this idea, so I read and made notes on the text with a view to helping her with this). Using the prism of these universal themes enables connections to be made between other curriculum texts, such as the poetry of William Blake and the plays of William Shakespeare. The notes are aimed at teachers (rather than students) and do not constitute full lesson plans in themselves but serve to provide inspiration for lessons depending on what skills and topics you hope to teach when instructing students on the novel. They provide opportunities to help students understand the effects of techniques such as simile and metaphor, foreshadowing, personification, pathetic fallacy, and symbolism. The notes also make links to critical thinking courses such as TOK (Theory of Knowledge) so can also be used by IB teachers to facilitate links to the Diploma core. Obviously all ideas presented in the notes are interpretations which you may agree or disagree with. Nonetheless, I hope they help!

This worksheet/activity is designed for MA-HA A Level/IB English A students. It provides the references made in the play to characters from classical literature/mythology, in the order in which they are mentioned in the play, so is a great resource for revision. Students can work in class or at home to locate the quotation where the character is mentioned (if they put act/scene numbers this helps their essay-writing/referencing skills generally). Students are then encouraged to explain the significance of this being included (this column in the chart could be an extension task for those of higher ability, or all students could be asked to do it). Prompts are included to help students with the explanation/aid differentation.

This worksheet covers techniques used in parts 1 and 2 of Stephen Crane’s short story “The Open Boat”. It was designed for MA-HA (I)GCSE students. Students are encouraged to match literary and linguistic techniques with their definitions before filling out a table that shows they can identify these techniques being used within the text, as well as finding quotations to support them. A third column is included in the table by way of extension, with students being asked to explain the effect this has if they can.

This Powerpoint represents a full lesson on the characters of Bellamira and Pilia-Borza in Christopher Marlowe’s ‘The Jew of Malta’, and how these can be directed and played to comic or tragic effect. Please note that you need to source the appropriate scenes (IIIii and IIIiii) yourself. The Powerpoint directs students through various activities, including a ‘write 3, share 1’ starter, a class reading task, independent work on the direction of the scenes (which is differentiated via the methods through which students can carry it out: continuous prose, Flipgrid, collage, storyboard), and a plenary consisting of a gallery walk and exit slip for reflection.

This resource is great for KS4/KS5 Critical Thinking, Global Perspectives, TOK, or any similar courses. Students firstly have to identify knowledge claims on the sheet, as well as the grammatical particle that allows them to do so. They are then asked to assess how far they believe certain knowledge claims to be true. All of these activities could be done in groups or alone. The final statement on the sheet could be detached from the rest and used as a plenary activity, or as extension.

This quotes quiz was created for students revising Bao Ninh’s novel “The Sorrow of War” for their final exams. No answers are provided as the emphasis is on the quality of student analysis. Techniques-wise it tests student knowledge of literary and linguistic devices including personification, simile and metaphor, and alliteration. Aimed at MA-HA sixth-formers.