Here are two handout items on the anti-war poem / song lyric AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA by Eric Bogle. The first contain the text of the poem / lyric which use has shown works best by playing the video version from Youtube to being to life this immensely powerful and moving lyric. There are a series of comprehension questions which can be used for formal assessment or group discussion. The letter writing task contains an example of a letter to the editor about the thematic relevance and literary qualities of the poem. The student is then provided with a question task of their own to complete on a war poem of their choice.

SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT DOWN THE MINE A HANGING Three essays, presented in a visually enhanced manner, with vocabulary and meanings list, comprehension and extension questions. I have used these for Years 10, 11 and 12. For engaging students who are covering Orwell texts such as “Animal Farm” and “1984” these essays with close analysis examine Orwell’s sense of social justice, his understanding of the structures of tyranny, and his keen eye for observation. There are annotated commentaries on Orwell’s choice of language and each essay is constructed as sufficient for a lesson of class work. This has also been useful in my classes as an extension reading comprehension for stronger students, and for homework activities. Word and PDF format for each should you wish to shorten or add your preferred commentary and questions.

Here is a resource parcel for your senior students aimed at giving them extensive practical help in responding in essay form to the characters and themes of Arthur miller's THE CRUCIBLE. It consists of six items which can be used together as culmination of a unit on the play prior to students writing their own analytical response. This is practical material aimed at enabling your students to practice their writing skills using stimulating exemplars and scaffolded handouts with construction guidelines and content prompts. 1. A closely annotated exemplar of a top standard formal essay on the themes of THE CRUCIBLE, with explanatory pointers on structure, content and wording 2. A powerpoint containing do's and don'ts when students write their essay - it contains specific parts of THE CRUCIBLE to make the points 3.Four scaffolded practice essay handouts - two on characters and two on themes. These are colour coded to guide construction, and have prompt points to assist in the content

Powerpoint covering 1. What distinctive elements make up the distinctive Australian sense of humour - irreverence / class difference / city and country perspectives 2. Case Study - Classic Australian cartoon (“Stop Laughing this is serious!”) 3. Case Study - The Bush Comic (George Wallace) 4. Political correctness and Australian humour The material can be used in whole or part as the basis of a single lesson. There are lots of opportunities for direct note taking practice, class discussion and debate over whether there really is an Australian style of humour, and whether political correctness has eroded its distinctiveness

This is a colorful, professionally produced study guide of ten numbered pages, used and found practical for a range of Year 11 and 12 students. With plenty of graphics, including cartoons and a range of activities to promote active participation in watching the film, this is aimed at promoting extended writing about positioning, bias and point-of view, with comprehension questions, crossword and discussion questions aimed at vocabulary building and identifying film techniques. It includes an annotated exemplar of effective reviewing, guidance questions for the viewing process, and builds on skills in a cumulative way, from literal understanding of the content to more sophisticated concepts such as selectivity, language choices in commentary and the power of documentary film making to promote change.

This is a complete unit of work for use in the study of the animated film “A Bug’s Life.” The seven pages of activities are varied, well illustrated to gain interest, and sequenced for comprehension of plot, character, characterization and theme. The material is practical, so that students at various levels of ability can proceed through the work at their own pace, with self-explanatory language and a magazine style visual presentation that does not require teacher clarification and guidance. The material is intended for Years 7 to 9 The material guides students through the following steps Plotting - cloze exercise Characters - reading comprehension Characterization - comparing and contrasting External and internal elements of characterization - comparative case study Tweety Bird / Flik Using evidence and quotes from the text - identifying key elements of dialogue and drawing conclusions Paragraph writing - revision and practice writing exercise Themes and Ideas in the film - summary and practice questions.

Punctuation and Spelling Powerpoints - with answers * Homophones * Antonyms * Spelling tests * Direct and Indirect Speech

This is a practical study guide for Roald Dahl’s “Boy.” It is an 8 page handout* that will guide students through the plot, characters and themes of the autobiography, and is presented in a visually appealing way to make the analysis enjoyable, while building vocabulary (significant words and their meanings are provided), challenging deeper reading of the text and creative exercises. The emphasis in this resource is a practical comprehension and vocabulary unit that is self-working for students who read ahead, and is able to be immediately used without teacher explanation because of direct, clear activities. The activities are comprehension questions for each chapter vocabulary and meaning for each chapter grammatical exercises to identify parts of speech creative questions to develop the ideas in the memoir the pages are numbered - a pet issue with me to avoid time wasting “where are we?” questions and immediate “go to” in giving class instructions

Fifteen Power Points, each containing nine letters in cells, the objective being to make words from the nine letters. The quiz is effective as a lesson starter, and can be incorporated into language skills lessons to vary the class routine of doing whole lessons from the textbook. Each power point contains up to fifty answers, alphabetically listed, covering the words that can be constructed from each of the letter sets. Rules of the Quiz Students can’t form words by doubling up and using a single letter twice Each time a word is made all nine letters can be used again for constructing the next word All words must be English language - no nic-names or abbreviations Useful to set a time limit of 3 to 5 minutes. Differentiated learning possibilities include Encouraging strong students to be competitive in demonstrating vocabulary and word construction skills, achieving over the average score (provided on each power point) for each quiz Goal setting for less able students - set an objective within their reach for the number of words they can find (usually a dozen) and also encourage them to beat their previous score from the last quiz if used on a regular basis Vocabulary enhancement for all students - new words can be entered into vocabulary list (each of the 15 activities have some challenging words that will represent new vocab for most students)

Three part resource analyzing the distinctive elements of Australian humor. The focus is on the comedic techniques of satire and parody, using the hit television series, “Kath and Kim,” as the focus. The powerpoint is a colorful animated presentation covering (i) the premise (ii) analysis of characters (iii) conflicts and relationships as a source of comedy and social comment (iv) the satire as a slice-of-suburban life /mockumentary sending up ignorant consumerism, cultural insensitivity and small mindedness. (v) the main comedic techniques with examples from the dialogue and plotting (vi) use of idiomatic language The handout presents a character summary of the powerpoint findings, and uses the episode OLD as a case study to examine the elements of the humour. The third item is an annotated exempar of an analystical essay about the episode OLD, discussing characterization, dialogue and themes in the satire. It explains the social targets and the cultural assumptions.

This fifteen page study guide is intended as a complete self-contained work unit for students in Years 10 to 12 studying the film “Dead Poets’ Society.” It offers a wide range of analytical and creative activities for students to fully engage with and respond to the film and its themes. The study guide has been created for maximum visual appeal, calculated to reflect the idealism and romanticism of the film, and to provide your students with opportunities for both rigorous analysis of plot, characters, themes and film techniques, as well as activities to give scope to their own self-expression in the form of poetry writing, personal argument and script writing. The study guide is made up of Introduction to the film with questions based on prior knowledge and preliminary reflections on the purpose of education and the tension between conformity and individualism Plot summary and close exercises on the storyline and conflicts Character Analyses with questions on all major characters Case study of Film Techniques, with analysis of scripting, camera and lighting, with comprehension questions about scene direction Drama writing exercise for students to create alternative endings and additional scenes to the film Poetry analysis of verse from the film with comprehension questions Stimulus for personal poetry writing on the themes and ideas in "Dead Poets’ Society’ Paragraph writing exercises and essay topics Discussion and debate topics As a unit of work, this study guide is envisaged as covering two to three weeks of work

This is a comprehensive guide intended for class use for a full unit of study of Sophocles’ ‘ANTIGONE.’ This can be used as a stand alone unit for exclusive study of ‘Antigone’ only, as It provides contextual background of the Theban plays so that students do not need to have covered ‘Oedipus Rex’ or ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ to understand in depth the plot, characters and themes of ‘Antigone.’ If your students are covering additional Theban plays in their literature course, I offer a separate student study guide, “Oedipus Rex,” sold separately here. This study guide is a highly visual resource aimed at engaging students with a variety of activities, including paragraph writing, crossword, class debate and discussion ideas, and contemporary examination of the thematic content. Each of the numbered pages contains comprehension questions to check student understanding, reinforce learning and extend student processing of the thematic ideas of the text. The sections in the guide are 1. Background and context to the Oedipus cycle 2. Analysis and tasks on the nature of tragic drama 3. Levels of meaning in the text 4. Alternative interpretations and readings of the text 5. Comparative viewpoints within the text 6. Feminist reading of the text 7. Language usage in the text 8. Analysis of themes This guide is created as a self-contained unit for students to work through independently at their individual rate. The material is of graduated complexity, taking students from basic elements to more advanced reasoning and the application of higher order skills. The material has been chosen and presented to engage students through a variety of activities to suit different skill levels.

This is a complete unit of study for students studying Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World,’ in the form of a 20 page, highly visual analysis of the novel covering all elements of the plot, characters and themes, engaging students in wide ranging activities including crossword, vocabulary building, text comprehension, extended writing and visual literacy tasks. In addition, there are activities in paragraph writing, comparative literary analysis using Orwell’s ‘1984,’ practice essay topics and personal response questions about the contemporary relevance of Huxley’s warnings. The study guide aims to extend students by engaging students in a range of enquiry and writing skills in designated sections - justifying, researching, comparing and contrasting, identifying cause and effect, drawing conclusions and making inferences. This is a practical work unit that uses eye appealing graphics and a graduated level of difficulty to enable students through a guided close analysis of the literary elements of the novel to be able to make their own substantiated conclusions to the writer’s themes and purpose.

Twelve page study guide for the study of Ned Kelly based on the text “Black Snake.” The focus is on vocabulary and the representations of Ned Kelly in poetry, legal records, journalism and film. Students are provided with language activities for each chapter and with comparative studies of Ned Kelly as hero and outlaw.

This is a complete unit of work in the form of a student study guide covering the novel ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ It contains all that is needed to examine, in a comprehensive literary study, the plotting, characterization, use of language and narrative point-of-view of Erich Remarque’s novel. It is envisaged that this will support a three to four week span of class work at senior level. The material is 25 pages of activities, thoroughly illustrated with varied text types and graphics to stimulate engagement and understanding. The handout is intended to provide a cumulative study of writing that causes social change and the way language is used to make a social protest. Contained in the student handout is Background notes on World War One and Remarque’s point of view Analysis of characters Detailed analysis of themes Key quotes - student comprehension testing on the use of language and dialogue to position and form representations and symbolic meaning Exemplar essay Reflection activities Exemplar of persuasive language with comprehension test

This ten page study guide covers all the elements of plot characters and themes in the play. It is envisaged as all the teacher will need for a two to three week unit. The activities invite close reading and reflect on social conscience issues, and are presented in a visually stimulating setting with the emphasis on depth of comprehension of plot, characters and themes. There is an analytical essay provided as an exemplar which summarises the work covered on character relationships and the theme of social responsibility.

THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC POETS - A PRACTICAL STUDY GUIDE This is a visually stimulating fifteen page study guide on the poetry of the great poets of the Romantic Period. It is intended as the basis of a two week unit. The emphasis is on direct, attention getting material that will engage learners of different levels, covering the life and poetry of John Keats William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge Percy Shelley Lord Byron William Blake The numbered pages contain exercises on (i)the concept of romanticism (ii) the distinction between romance poetry and the philosophy of romanticism in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s (iii) backgrounding of each poet and an outline of his distinctive viewpoint (iv) poems from each of the six poets, with vocabulary explained for each poem, and comprehension questions. the poems are ‘Daffodils’ (Worsworth), (v) art activity for the visual learner (vi) exercise in distinguishing love poetry and romantic poetry The work involves straightforward explanation so that the student can proceed at his / her own pace, without need for constant guidance. Students will be able to identify the major elements of romanticism beyond mere rebelliousness and be able to locate textual evidence about pantheism, philosophical interest in heroic mythology, romantic preoccupation with the imagination over clinical intellect and the embrace of the non-rational and spiritual in the works of some of the poets. The layout and design is meant to have a magazine style level of visual interest and at the same time provide rigorous and serious commentary in a way that doesn’t rely on jargon or confusing terminology (vocabulary is explained in each of the poems so that teacher direction is minimized)

Seventeen page Study Guide of engaging analysis and activities for use in your class teaching of the novel, “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” This is a highly visual resource intended to comprehensively guide students in understanding plot, characters, theme, point of view and historical context, answering their questions along the way about fundamentals such as historical timelines, meaning of key terms and explaining belief systems. The contents on the numbered pages are as follows Plot exercises Historical terms / vocabulary Visualization timeline Frequently asked questions about the Holocaust Fact versus Fiction in the novel Paragraph writing - exemplar and extended writing activities Chapter Questions - comprehension questions fr each chapter with page numbers to locate answers Comparing and Contrasting - diagrammatic representation of character similiarities and differences Crossword on plot and characters Irony analysis in the novel - student activities on use of irony in the plot and dialogue of the novel Fences and Boundaries in History - research Point of view analysis and higher order thinking exercises on character perspective Themes - analysis and comprehension questions Essay Questions Further reading and viewing This resource is a complete unit that would would be all that teachers would require in a class study of the novel over several weeks.

This study guide is a complete unit made up of ten pages of varied activities. It is a practical resource for educators who want self-explanatory, stimulating analysis and well targeted questions presented in a visually interesting handout. For the teacher with a classroom with a variety of reading and writing aptitudes, this study guide takes the student through the plot, characters and ideas of “A Christmas Carol” so that they can progress at their own pace. The handout is intended for approximately two to three weeks work. It is made up of 1 Background context to Dickensian England 2. Dicken’s purpose in writing / the process he followed in composition 3. Activities and close analysis of the plot and characters of each stave 4. Vocabulary and spelling tests throughout 5. Close reading comprehension testing at varying levels 6. Grammatical exercises using the text Those who have taught “A Christmas Carol” are well aware that engaging students can be a challenge - the story is so well known yet the original text requires application. For learning purposes, this guide gives step by step instruction in reading for meaning, enabling students to grasp Dickens’ plotting, comprehending characters, and appreciating the Victorian era style. This handout provides the necessary background to give students the social context, class issues, and the concept of mass poverty and its implications. Using a chronological stave-by-stave analysis with detailed comprehension, the study guide provides plenty of back up explanation in vocabulary and terminology, and practice in identifying word meanings and applications for usage.

This is a unit that would cover approximately four to five weeks, involving reading the S E Hinton novel, viewing the film, and completing the study guide questions on plot, characters, theme. There are a number of practice tests that would take a lesson each, in which students practice the core skills of justifying, comparing, contrasting and drawing their own conclusions. An oral assessment task is also included, with an exemplar (annotated) of a student script.