If you want to test how much your learners can recall about language variety in the UK, as well as some associated areas of study, then these questions could be good prompts. They could be displayed, or used as plenary questions, starters or quick-fire questions at the end of this topic area.

This is intended as a last-minute, 'look at this' resource for students taking the new GCSE English Language exams, on 6th and 12th June 2017. It breaks down what they will be doing for each question on each paper.

A revision resource intended to help students working on The Road. It gives pointers, revision advice, examiner comments and potential content for a past paper question, a list of all past questions (with some additions) and some sample answers.

On A3, students can use this sheet for a revision exercise on AS English Language Paper 2: Language Varieties (AQA). They can start by going through the various -lects they will have learned about, then recapping vocabulary specific to each, and adding in any relevant theorists/ideas/critiques they may have covered. The idea is that they end up with a colourful revision aid which they could use as a poster.

This resource is intended to quickly introduce learners on AQA AS/first year A Level English Language or the AQA A2 combined Language & Literature to the idea of Accommodation Theory - upwards, downwards or mutual convergence. There is scope for learners to generate their own dialogues at the end if they need consolidation.

Intended for the Language Varieties element of the AQA New Specification AS/first year A Level English Language course. The PowerPoint introduces students to 'Estuary English' (EE) and takes them through some issues regarding dialect levelling, with a relevant newspaper article, some discussion points and scope for a written activity at the end of the session (in line with the exam requirements). The session presupposes some knowledge of phonemics.

A resource in-line with Language Diversity work for AS/A Level English Language (AQA, but may be applicable for other boards). Introduces the Dominance Model and the Difference Model - with information on Robin Lakoff and Deborah Tannen respectively. Would suit note-taking, discussion and revision work. There's also a fun starter to test Lakoff's idea that women know more words for describing colours than men!

Intended for A Level Language students, although may suit GCSE English students working on spoken language. The resource and example transcript introduce learners to some of the conventions of transcribing the spoken word, with add-on activities and the opportunity to use technology to record some natural speech of their own. Could easily be modified slightly.

A revision resource targeted towards AQA’s English Literature B A Level (7717). This tests understanding of the Aspects of Tragedy Keats poem ‘Lamia’, with a blend of independent learning tasks, discussion points, contextual info and some sample written activities, with a ‘to what extent?’ question to begin building towards essay-writing skills/exam skills.

To finish off work on Language and Gender - Representation, we did some work on the #thisgirlcan campaign, which was a good opportunity to get up-to-date and think again about the semantics of the terms 'girl' and 'woman'. The PowerPoint has a link to the most recent advert, with some starter questions. Then there is some reading from The Guardian Online (an opinion article on the campaign) with further questions and an annotation exercise, with some case studies taken from the This Girl Can website which asks students to consider whether any stereotypes are present, and whether theorists they've studied can be linked in any way to this data.