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Zephyr Learning - English and General Literacy Shop

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I hold an MA in literature and a CELTA in language, and over the last 20 years I've taught language and literature in the UK and USA as well as ESOL in France and Tanzania. In addition to my work as a teacher, I am the Literacy and Grammar Consultant for Zephyr Learning and Professional Development. These resources have been refined in my own classroom and are the same ones I reference in my CPD sessions for teachers, priced so complete lessons cost the same as a cup of coffee.

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I hold an MA in literature and a CELTA in language, and over the last 20 years I've taught language and literature in the UK and USA as well as ESOL in France and Tanzania. In addition to my work as a teacher, I am the Literacy and Grammar Consultant for Zephyr Learning and Professional Development. These resources have been refined in my own classroom and are the same ones I reference in my CPD sessions for teachers, priced so complete lessons cost the same as a cup of coffee.

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Participles & participle clauses
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Participles & participle clauses

£1.00
(1)
Fully resourced grammar for writing lesson; teaches students what participles are and how they can be used to enhance description and sentence variety, useful on Section B of both English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2. The worksheet consists of sentence combining exercises designed to give students practice in constructing participles and participle clauses. The powerpoint includes a starter activity, an explanation of participles and participle clauses with examples, instructions on how to complete the worksheet with examples, possible answers and a plenary.
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Grammar knowledge organisers - words, phrases, clauses and sentences
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Grammar knowledge organisers - words, phrases, clauses and sentences

£5.50Save 42%
4 Resources
The fundamentals of English Grammar on three colourful A4 handouts, plus a bonus handout explaining the different types of subordinate clauses for more advanced students. Equip your students with meta-language that will enhance their analysis and understanding of English and prepare them for exams.
Nouns - complete lesson with worksheets (with extracts from A Christmas Carol and The Wizard of Oz)
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Nouns - complete lesson with worksheets (with extracts from A Christmas Carol and The Wizard of Oz)

£1.00
(0)
Teaches noun fundamentals (common and proper, concrete and abstract, countable and non-countable). In the lesson, students practise identifying the nouns in extracts from two classics (A Christmas Carol and The Wizard of Oz ). They must also identify and capitalise the proper nouns in each text. This provides very useful practice for helping students to analyse language (specifically lexis) on Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 as well as Literature Paper 1 and Paper 2. In addition to explanations and examples of common and proper nouns, concrete and abstract nouns, and countable and uncountable nouns, the presentation also explains the rule for when to use ‘less’ and when to use ‘fewer’ to present quantity of nouns.
Verbs - lesson & worksheet
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Verbs - lesson & worksheet

£2.50
(1)
Fully resourced lesson. Students learn to identify the main verb in a sentence, no matter whether it is an action verb (a ‘doing word’) or a linking verb (a ‘being word’). The Powerpoint explains action verbs and linking verbs, with examples of each. Afterwards, students practise identifying the verbs in sentences on the exercise sheet (there are 40 sentences in total; you might wish to do only a portion at a time and spread the activity over a few lessons). More able students can be challenged to classify each verb as either an action or linking verb.
Full stops - lesson & worksheets
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Full stops - lesson & worksheets

£2.50
(1)
Fully resourced lesson with Powerpoint presentation, worksheets and answer keys. Students learn to identify when a sentence has ended and a full stop is needed. For the final task, they must insert missing full stops in an article about RMS Titanic.
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Simple and compound sentences bundle
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Simple and compound sentences bundle

£5.50Save 35%
4 Resources
Three lessons that teach students how to recognise, punctuate and compose simple and compound sentences. Each lesson includes worksheets with explanations, examples and practice exercises along with Powerpoint presentations that can be used to guide the lesson and display correct answers. Lessons are organised as follows: Lesson 1: how to recognise when a simple sentence is complete and requires a full stop. For the final task students are given an informative article about the Titanic which contains no full stops or sentence-signaling capital letters. They must insert full stops in the correct places. Lesson 2: how coordinating conjunctions can be used to combine simple sentences into compound sentences (and when joining commas should be included). Students are given pairs of simple sentences which they then join with coordinating conjunctions, inserting joining commas as appropriate. Lesson 3: how semi-colons can be used to join simple sentences to form compound sentences. Students practise using semi-colons and linking adverbs to combine simple sentences into compound sentences. I have also added a bonus resource examining simple sentences that do not follow conventional word order (i.e. questions, imperatives and inverted sentences). It includes two pages of explanation and examples followed by an exercise designed to help the teacher assess students’ ability to identify the subject in sentences with unconventional word order.
A Level Language - Grammar - Phrases (lesson 3)
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A Level Language - Grammar - Phrases (lesson 3)

£3.00
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Complete grammar lesson focusing on grammatical phrases; it includes a slide show with explanations and examples, a printable worksheet with exercises (answers included in slide show), and a knowledge organiser summarising key points of the lesson. The lesson covers these phrase classes: noun phrases adjective phrases verb phrases adverb phrases prepositional phrases Students practise classifying prepositional phrases by function as either: adverbials post-modifiers
Word Classes (Lexis) Knowledge Organiser
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Word Classes (Lexis) Knowledge Organiser

£2.85
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Provides detailed explanations of the 9 word classes along with examples. It’s designed to be printed on the front and back of a single sheet of A4, and both colour and black and white versions are included (to make allowance for photocopying budgets at different schools). A useful resource for the cost of a cup of coffee! If you find this useful, please leave a review.
Compound sentences / joining commas
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Compound sentences / joining commas

£3.00
(1)
This fully resourced grammar-for-writing lesson teaches students how to use coordinating conjunctions (and, when applicable, joining commas) to combine simple sentences to form compound sentences. *NOTE: Instead of using the American acronym FANBOYS in this lesson, I have included the more UK-appropriate ANTBOYS (most American dictionaries do not recognise 'then' as a coordinating conjunction, whereas the British council and most UK dictionaries do. Also, although 'for' is recognised as a coordinating conjunction on both sides of the Atlantic, it is almost never used in contemporary writing. As this is a grammar for writing rather than a sentence-parsing lesson, the archaic 'for' has been omitted and the British conjunction 'then' has been included, thus 'ANTBOYS'). With this in mind, teachers in North America or ESOL teachers teaching North American English may wish to hide, delete or replace the slide in the powerpoint in which I have listed the coordinating conjunctions most commonly used in the UK.
Romeo and Juliet Revision - Plot Sort
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Romeo and Juliet Revision - Plot Sort

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Each card includes key events from one scene in the play. Students arrange the cards in the correct order (either on the A3 placemat provided or in their exercise books, whichever you prefer). This provides an engaging and fun way to revise the plot of the drama. The task can be completed individually or in groups, allowing for friendly competition either way. The scene cards have been organised so that this task can be a two-lesson activity or a one-lesson activity: As a two-lesson activity, students arrange the scenes of the first two acts after they finish reading Act II, then arrange the remaining scenes in another lesson once they have finished reading the play. As a single-lesson activity, students arrange the scenes of the entire play at once (after reading the play in its entirety). Several different levels of challenge are provided; simply select and print the level that suits your students.
Grammar knowledge organiser - phrases
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Grammar knowledge organiser - phrases

£2.40
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Explains and provides examples of the five phrase classes (prepositional phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, noun phrases and verb phrases). It further explains how prepositional phrases can function as adverbials (fronted and not) as well as post-modifiers in noun phrases. I’ve uploaded colour as well as black & white versions to suit different printing budgets and toner/ink levels at different schools.
Peer assessment-Writing across the curriculum
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Peer assessment-Writing across the curriculum

£1.50
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A series of peer editing sheets for use across the curriculum, designed to develop writing proficiency without sacrificing attention to subject-specific content. Worksheets are differentiated into bronze, silver and gold levels, with increasingly challenging targets for each level in organisation, grammar, punctuation and use of language. There are separate sheets for explanatory, instructional and persuasive writing. Students simply follow the instructions on the sheet, looking for specific features in their partner's work and circling the corresponding recommendations accordingly. No specialist knowledge is required on the part of the classroom teacher. For teachers in Wales, the targets are in line with those of the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework, with bronze targets aligning with the objectives for year 7, silver matching those of year 8 and gold matching those of year 9.
Peer assessment-Writng to describe or entertain
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Peer assessment-Writng to describe or entertain

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A series of peer editing sheets for use after students have finished drafting descriptive or narrative texts. Sheets are organised into Bronze, Silver and Gold levels with increasingly challenging criteria included in each. Criteria are based on the Literacy and Numeracy Framework for Wales, with Bronze corresponding to Year 7, Silver to Year 8 and Gold to Year 9 expectations.
AQA Language Paper 1 Mock (GCSE)
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AQA Language Paper 1 Mock (GCSE)

£4.50
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Question paper, source insert and and mark scheme with exemplar response samples plus response planning grids for each question to help students prepare answers as well as DIRT sheets to help you provide feedback more quickly. The source text is an extract from The Call of the Wild by Jack London. As always, please leave a positive review if you find this resource helpful to help spread the word!
Of Mice and Men - Plot Sorting Task
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Of Mice and Men - Plot Sorting Task

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(1)
Students place cards containing key events in the correct order on the A3 placemat or in their exercise books (they can work individually or in groups). This provides a straightforward and fun way to revise key events of the plot, and it helps students to place extracts in context when responding to the extract question and to organise essays chronologically when writing about a character or theme. I have included a Powerpoint slide show that explains the activity and which also provides the correct answers for assessment after students have completed the task. If you find this resource useful, please leave a review to help spread the word!
Of Mice and Men - design a TV mini-series
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Of Mice and Men - design a TV mini-series

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Revision activity in which students plan a five episode TV mini-series of the novel. The planning sheets lead them to look back to the novel to revise the settings and characters involved in each chapter and scene. Students must also consider physical and personality aspects of the characters to select suitable actors to play each part (as this is a hypothetical exercise, I usually give them the option of choosing any actor -- living or dead -- at any age to gain a better idea of how they visualise the characters).
Extract question response planning guides (audience response, impression of a relationship, mood)
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Extract question response planning guides (audience response, impression of a relationship, mood)

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This is a series of straightforward planning guides for responses to extract questions focused on: - audience response to the extract - the impression we get of a relationship from the extract - mood (the feeling created by charaters and events) or atmosphere (the feeling created by objects and surroundings) in an extract. I have found these to be very useful with students who struggle to structure a response to the extract question. Before using any of these resources, I first ask students to draw lines dividing the extract into three sections (there are usually 2 or 3 shifts in an extract: from one event to another, one character to another, etc. Getting students to identify and focus on different sections of the extract helps them to structure their answer and to ensure that they're writing about the extract in its entirety).