A history of the English language for EAL learners, which attempts to explain irregular spellings, history of the English speaking peoples. With questions and a comprehension.

ESOL. The top 80 British slang expressions and phrases are in this fun dialogue; two women meet in a pub and discuss a new boyfriend. Slang from “all right?” to “zonked”, “chippie” to “chuck”, this resource is the bees’ knees. Successfully used with older learners; promotes discussion about slang and informal English, which people actually speak, as opposed to the formal English of the text book. Makes learners laugh and learn.

This new reading of “The Handmaid’s Tale” puts the novel into the context of feminism in the 1980s and the dystopian novel. This article is ideal for the Dystopia option of OCR English Literature A level. The article considers"The Handmaid’s Tale"'s reputation as a cult novel, as a satire of male power and Christianity and the debt it owes to Orwell’s “1984”. Attwood’s prose and structure are analysed. The author argues that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not the greatest novel of the twentieth century or the greatest dystopian novel: it is a fine novel, written in excellent prose, but it has flaws. This article will help to engage your A level students and to give them something to argue with or against. It will thus encourage them, as the A level specifications require, to engage with critical views rather than simply to read them passively. It is written by Frank Danes, who wrote many of the materials to support OCR English Literature A level on the OCR website; Danes taught English for 30 years in English secondary schools and was Head of English in three schools.

DETAILED notes for students on Grimbert’s UN SECRET: teachers - use as a bases for lessons. Covers: themes; guilt; identity; history/context; motifs; l’occupation; storytelling; form and structure of the novel; Laval; treachery; motifs of dogs, the body and bodies. History covered - occupied France, Laval, the Holocaust. This resource is in English. 2994 words, 7 sides. Successfully used with A level French students.

Lesson plans and student notes on: exam technique; themes - regicide, the natural order, witches/the supernatural; tragedy, tragic hero, free will, fate, Fortune. This is both a set of notes for your students and a series of lesson plans: take them through the notes, use them as a basis for discussion. Excellent for context and extension work for higher ability students. 17 pages, 5926 words. Used by over 300 students.

Sample practice paper, written in the style of AQA English Language paper 1; the opening of Graham Greene’s “Brighton Rock” with AQA style qs. Excellent text leads to stimulating answers!