Created for A-level ENGLISH LITERATURE A (7712/2B) Paper 2B: Texts in Shared Contexts: Modern Times: Literature from 1945 to the Present Day , Option 1, this is an example modern unseen extract taken from Maya Angelou’s ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and includes a question on the extract itself, and the follow up question where students need to compare prose and drama.

A PowerPoint presentation designed for the new AQA English Literature at A Level. Information about the novel’s background is provided, links to wider reading and a group/independent task is included too, to provide a varied couple of lessons. It will take me 3 x 1 hour lessons with mixed ability year 12, including an hour for them to work together to make their own links (with guided questions). There are some references to comparison with the poetry, these could easily be replaced with whatever text you are comparing with. If you like this, see my other resources on ‘Rebecca’ too!

A PowerPoint taking students through this important scene. It includes a number of activities including drama tasks, language analysis tasks, creative writing, a chat show and a storyboarding activity. Should keep them busy for a while! I use this with mixed ability year 8 classes, but it might work for lower ability ks4 ( though you might miss some of the tasks out/adapt them).

A 12 page selection of many of the key/interesting quotes from the novel. The pack includes two Word documents, one with the quotes in chronological order, the other with quotes grouped in themes. You could give this to students as a hand out, or as a cut and stick activity where they decide which themes the quotes belong to (many of them really belong to more than one category, but I've not duplicated them within categories to make the file more user-friendly). You could also just give students the quotes for a specific theme to aid them in essay writing, either as a starter or as the basis for an essay plan. If you like this resource, you might also like the display resource in my shop, which includes 16 of the quotes presented visually for display purposes.

An exam paper based on an extract from 'The Ruby in the Smoke' (Section A, Paper 1 GCSE English Language AQA new spec) Could be used with Key Stage 3 in preparation for GCSE or at KS4 as an accessible Language paper.

A selection of 8 possible examination questions with a carousel activity focused on students planning responses with the Assessment Objectives in mind. The title page refers to 'Rebecca' and the 'Pre-19th Century Poetry', but these questions would work with any of the Love Through the Ages texts and would be easily tweaked.

Created for A-level ENGLISH LITERATURE A (7712/2B) Paper 2B: Texts in Shared Contexts: Modern Times: Literature from 1945 to the Present Day , Option 1, this is an example modern unseen extract taken from Delillo’s ‘White Noise’ and includes a question on the extract itself, and the follow up question where students need to compare prose and drama.

Introductory lesson for studying Stockett's 'The Help'. Created with new A Level English Literature Specification in mind. Includes discussion stimulus and research tasks.

Designed with the New AQA English Literature Specification in mind, this resource takes a detailed look at chapter 25 of 'The Help', the novel's opening and the ending, as well as including activities to guide students in exploring their own key moments. The resource sustains focus on examination skills and the assessment objectives for this paper. This is for the comparison between the modern novel with modern drama exam and includes some comparison tasks with 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. However, you could easily adapt these slides/activities to cover a different play, or miss them out altogether. There are a good 7-10 hours worth of lessons here (depending on your class and what you do with it). Homework is included, although is suggested in the notes section to give you the choice of class/homework. This is not a repetition of my other resources on 'The Help', but a resource in its own right. If you have found those resources helpful, this sequence of lessons would be a good follow-on, or vice versa.

A PowerPoint to use when teaching 4.1, includes link to Polanki's witches. Could be used as a whole class activity for each apparition, or could separate into groups and then offer whole class feedback.

Exploration of descriptive writing in Pullman's 'The Ruby in the Smoke', leading to students writing descriptively based on images (preparation for new GCSE English Language Specification AQA). A good hour, if not more, of lesson activities here.

An in depth exploration of the play's penultimate scene, which explores the downfall of Macbeth and his character as a tragic hero. Includes pair work, group work and individual writing tasks, as well as key terminology.

Created for A-level ENGLISH LITERATURE A (7712/2B) Paper 2B: Texts in Shared Contexts: Modern Times: Literature from 1945 to the Present Day , Option 1, this is an example modern unseen extract taken from Carter's 'The Magic Toyshop' and includes a question on the extract itself, and the follow up question where students need to compare prose and drama. Could be tweaked for the other options on the paper. The extract is a little longer than students would be given in an exam, but I will be using it as a tool to teach Magic Realism in the modern novel. You may also like my resource 'Male Dominance in A Streetcar Named Desire and The Color Purple', which takes students through the approach to the second question on this paper.

Three setting-based extracts from the novel presented on A3. Can be used as a carousel activity for students to annotate for language features, or as group annotation activity.

A task introducing students to the idea of the Great Exhibition, which outlines a research activity and a 'Great Exhibition' of their own. I have used as an introduction to 'The Ruby in the Smoke' by Philip Pullman, but could be used for any 19th century text. There is also some focus on the similarities and differences between society then and now, which is a gentle way in to the AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2 based on Narrative Viewpoints and Perspectives. This activity took my students three lessons to introduce, to research and to present back.

Using the events from the opening of Pullman's novel, the activity gets students to consider newspaper articles taken from 1872 in terms of language and style. It leads to a creative piece, where students create their own newspaper. An hour long lesson.

A PowerPoint presentation taking students through the summary question on the new GCSE AQA specification. Sources used are ‘Touching the Void’ and an extract from Scott’s diary.

PowerPoint format to save on photocopying, this presentation takes your class through writing a review in stages, with opportunities for discussion and for class interaction. Probably a 30-45minute task, depending on the enthusiasm of your class. A handy first lesson after the holidays lesson for key stage 2/3, or for days that celebrate books and reading as a one off lesson.

A PowerPoint introducing the comparison question for AQA A Level English Literature (Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day). The question focus is Isolation and the resource prompts discussion and independent thought. I have included in the notes section suggestions for directing the discussions. Includes group activity task and should prepare students nicely for answering the sample examination question.