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Resources for GCSE English Language 9-1. I also publish resources for the BTEC Level 2 in IT course.
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Resources for GCSE English Language 9-1. I also publish resources for the BTEC Level 2 in IT course.
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Enable your students to create a student-specific P1Q5 skills checklist for GCSE English
With your help, your students will be able to create a checklist of the skills they need to demonstrate in the exam. There is a “worked example” in this resource (written by a real 2024 student) which demonstrates high level skills. Your students discuss read it and come up with their own “rubric” -in their own words.
This can be done without the pressure of them getting things wrong or being marked.
The notes are not an additional student handout – they might be a little too much for all but the most engaged learners. The notes cover all of the elements contained in the marking scheme for GCSE English Language (AQA) Paper 1 Question 5 (i.e. the rubric that articulates specific components and expectations for a piece of creative writing). They have been created so that you know the story and how it is organised, structured and technically accurate inside out.
It’s your cheat sheet in other words!
My own students really enjoyed this activity. It helped a lot of them to understand (and more importantly remember) the skills that they need to demonstrate to the markers for AO5 and AO6.
O5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. (This requirement must constitute 20% of the marks for each specification as a whole.)
40 "Do Now" Writing Prompts for GCSE English: Free Writing or Exam Style
This is a beautifully presented set of 40 “Do Now” activities for GCSE English.
I call it “exam paralysis” – when students sit in an exam for five, ten, fifteen minutes or more, apparently doing nothing. They are so unused to writing spontaneously and in time-constrained conditions that they freeze. This not only wastes valuable exam time, it stops them doing as well as they could (in terms of final grade).
I created this set of prompts/activities as a response to this. Free writing increases confidence, generates honesty in writing, develops writing abilities and voice, promotes the process of writing, rather than the outcome – and help overcome writer’s block. It isn’t supposed to be marked, it is simply to help the students allow themselves to write as creatively and as honestly as they can.
However, I realise that this doesn’t suit all the teachers all of the time, so I have also adapted this set of prompts into exam-style exercises, where content, organisation and technical accuracy are taken into account.
The “free writing” set is designed without marking in mind – they are designed simply to develop the ability to write quickly, developing voice and confidence. However, I will pace the room making comments and encouraging the writing process, of course! The “exam style” set would necessarily involve more formal feedback or at least more of an eye on the prize, as it were.
Both sets are editable so the instructions can be tweaked, if needed, to suit your learners.
(Sometimes it’s difficult to activate learning, especially at the beginning of the first session of the day or week. A great way to kickstart a class, assess prior learning and to give the students instant feedback is a “Do Now” activity.)
GCSE English Paper 2 Question 5: Exemplar Letter
This short lesson was devised to help students to learn what the markers are looking for if they are asked to write a letter in GCSE English Paper 2 Question 5 (AQA).
The letter, it must be stressed, is a great example but this would probably not be achievable in the 45 minutes available for this task in the exam. However, it covers all the necessary skills to get 40/40 for the question - or if not that, pretty close to it!
There are a series of short exercises too. These cover the “Content and Organisation” skills, as well as those for “Technical Accuracy”. Students are encouraged to discuss the assessment objectives associated with these skills.
Describe the Setting – “Do Now” Picture Prompts for GCSE English
What happens after the opening lines of a story? Often, the writer will shift focus to describe the setting. This set of ten picture prompts (for GCSE English but could be used at any level) gives students a visual nudge.
Their job is to create a setting description which could be used as a second paragraph in a story. However, they must also incorporate some important elements that would help them to grab marks in an exam.
This helps students to think about the structure of a whole text – often in GCSE English paper 1 (AQA) the second paragraph is descriptive so that candidates can answer the “language question” in the exam. More than that, of course, the description of the setting helps to bring the text alive with a little “world building”.
This set of ten picture prompts could be used for a complete lesson, but the idea behind them was to use as starters – a “do now” activity. As only a single paragraph is demanded, this could be done in ten minutes or so, with time for some of the learners to read their out loud. Alternatively, could make a great activity on a VLE.
In class these could be shown on a smartboard one by one, or you could do a mix and match, so the students get given a random picture to describe. It’s up to you – this set of picture prompts is versatile enough for you to think of a number of ways in which to use it!
Files included are Powerpoint and a PDF version.
Bundle
2 Structure Quizzes for GCSE English
Two quizzes based on structure.
Quiz 1
This quiz is based on a very short story of just 386 words called “The Unbroken Bond”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario.
This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others).
I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question.
The story is very PG. It focuses on a dog whose “boy” has gone missing and his frantic search for his friend. It is resolved when “boy” returns, simply having been to school for the day. It is based on the June 2023 P1Q5 – “Write a story about a human meeting an animal”. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question.
There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer!
The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process.
Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3.
The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth.
PDF and Word formats for the documents are included.
This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback.
Quiz 2
This quiz is based on a very short story of just 458 words called “The Dream of Billy Williams”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario.
This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others).
I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question.
The story is set during the First World War and focuses on a soldier, Billy Williams who can sleep through anything - but unfortunately this does not ultimately save him. The description of his death is not “blood and guts” but focuses on his obliteration by a shell. The story uses all the skills to get a very high grade for Paper 1 Question 5. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question, too.
There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer!
The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process.
Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3.
The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth.
PDF and Word formats for the documents are included.
This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback.
Enjoy!
Structure Quiz for GCSE English - "The Dream of Billy Williams"
This quiz is based on a very short story of just 458 words called “The Dream of Billy Williams”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario.
This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others).
I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question.
The story is set during the First World War and focuses on a soldier, Billy Williams who can sleep through anything - but unfortunately this does not ultimately save him. The description of his death is not “blood and guts” but focuses on his obliteration by a shell. The story uses all the skills to get a very high grade for Paper 1 Question 5. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question, too.
There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer!
The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process.
Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3.
The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth.
PDF and Word formats for the documents are included.
This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback.
Enjoy!
Structure Quiz for GCSE English - "The Unbroken Bond"
This quiz is based on a very short story of just 386 words called “The Unbroken Bond”. It is followed by 19 multiple choice questions and 3 order questions. For those who finish early there is an extension task at the end. This resource was originally created as there don’t seem to be many “structure” resources out there that are good quality and teach the learners anything except the terminology! I believe this quiz provoked some thought about how to respond to the question in an exam scenario.
This is ideal for a cover lesson, too, as it produces no marking, as long as the answers are given out once the quiz is complete (learners can mark their own or can exchange their papers with others).
I would advise reading the story out loud at the start to ensure that all the learners have read it and do not (as is sometimes the case) attempt the “pot luck”” strategy of answering the question.
The story is very PG. It focuses on a dog whose “boy” has gone missing and his frantic search for his friend. It is resolved when “boy” returns, simply having been to school for the day. It is based on the June 2023 P1Q5 – “Write a story about a human meeting an animal”. As such, it can also be used as an exemplar for that question.
There is also a comprehensive answer booklet with explanations so that the teacher who is doing the lesson can respond to learner questions about why the right answer was… the right answer!
The order questions are a student responses (done in the PEE manner). Learners have to put them in the right order. The point and evidence are presented in the first sentence. The two explanatory sentences can be separated in terms of order because the final point has a linking word or phrase indicating summation is in process.
Although this quiz is “low stakes” in nature, it covers a large amount of subject terminology which can be discussed at the time when the answers are given. The aim is to embed this terminology as well as exposing students to ways in which it could be incorporated into their own attempts at P1Q3.
The text is also provided separately as there are always learners who ask for this so they do not have to keep flicking back and forth.
PDF and Word formats for the documents are included.
This quiz would easily be adaptable into an online version if you wanted to do the quiz as homework, The questions and answers could be quickly copied and pasted into MS Forms or a Moodle interface – and the explanations given in the answer booklet could also be used to enable online automated feedback.
Enjoy!
GCSE English Language (AQA) Grade Boundaries Spreadsheet: June 2017- November 2023
A spreadsheet containing all the grade boundaries for all English Language 8700 exams – 12 in all at present. It also includes the TAG years (just in case people think they are missing papers from those years!).
Importantly, the spreadsheet shows the text or subject of the texts for each year – so no more opening files to check that it’s one paper or another anymore. It also shows a quick view of the marks needed for a grade 4 on each paper plus the difference between a grade 3 and 4.
So if you want to see how many marks achieved a 5 in 2017 and compare it to 2022 (and so on!) then this is the spreadsheet for you. It’s also a very quick way to find the year a certain paper was published and used.
I have tried to use colour effectively on the spreadsheet so you can differentiate between a June and a November paper, plus have used conditional formatting for the information about Grade 3 and 4 which appears on the right hand side of the spreadsheet.
Have fun!
The spreadsheet isn’t locked so you can adapt this to your heart’s content.
10 “Do Now” worksheets for GCSE English Language (1-10)
This is a beautifully presented set of 10 “Do Now” activities for GCSE English.
Sometimes it’s difficult to activate learning, especially at the beginning of the first session of the week. A great way to kickstart a class, assess prior learning and to give the students instant feedback is a “Do Now” activity. Over and done in ten minutes or less, I often use them at the beginning of a class to signal to students that it is time to learn – and what better way is there than to get them actively thinking? These worksheets really get them into the “English Zone” as it were.
The stakes are low, but having used these with my own learners, I know that the engagement is high! Each worksheet has a number of very quick activities on it (between three and six) which can be done in around five minutes. For variation, each worksheet has a different “mix and match” of activities. This means the students will not know what is coming in their next “Do Now” and this will hopefully keep them on their toes and interested!
These activities comprise:
Spot’n’Spell – learners read a short passage and correct TWO spelling mistakes
One Word Drafting – learners are asked to improve a sentence with just one word (sometimes an adverb, sometimes any word)
Spot the adjectives – learners must underline the adjectives in a very short passage
Fill the gaps – learners read a paragraph of classic literature and fill in gaps
Suggestion Box – learners are asked to write what a word suggests in a sentence (can be about character, place and so on)
Unjumble – learners asked to separate the adjectives from the adverbs
The Great British Idiom – learners given an image that shows a famous idiom and are asked to put it into a sentence
What Am I? – learners given a definition of a structural or linguistic device and asked to write the answer
That is the Question – Learners given a description of an exam question and asked to give Paper, Question and Mark (eg Question 2, Paper 1, 8 marks)
Punctuate Me! – Learners gives four sentences and asked which one is punctuated correctly
Time to Shine – Learners asked about exam timing for certain questions
Language or Structure? – Learners asked to separate language and structural devices
True or False – Learners asked to say whether a statement is true or false
Word Star – learners asked to match up words with their definitions
I “like” it – learners asked to improve a sentence by adding a simile
Strong Links – learners asked to place an adverbial phrase into a short text to create a stronger link between sentences
Be Direct – leaners asked to reword a sentence, using direct address
List Four Things – learners given a short text and asked to list four things about one of its elements
Order! Order! – learners asked to put four sentences of an exam response into the correct order
S
The worksheets are in colour but print off fine in black and white. They are designed to engage the students with individual designs and graphical “Easter Eggs”.
GCSE English - "CORE TEXTS"
All of the extracts in this document are free from copyright restrictions. This is either because of when they were written (and so now fall out of copyright statutes), have no copyright restrictions and/or were originally published under a Creative Commons license.
They have been carefully collated to ensure that a wide range of voices can be heard by students studying towards their GCSE English. We have not overlooked famous authors by any means but a pivotal reason for putting these core texts together was to counter the inherent Eurocentricity of past and current curricula.
Although there are no associated tasks included here (they are on the VLE) we are happy to make these texts available to anyone who cares to read them. They were chosen for their engaging content and so even if you do not use these as specific tasks, we hope that you will find them collectively an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. If you love to dip in and out of literature, you have come to the right place!
When substantial additions are made (this is an ongoing project) we will update the document available online.
The fiction and non-fiction extracts in this collection are all used on the VLE - https://gcseenglish.moodlecloud.com/
You can learn more about the VLE at its associated website - https://www.passgcsenglish.com/
Bundle
GCSE English Language 9-1 Picture-Prompted Scaffolded Story Writing - 2 PACKS
This are editable resources but PDFs are also included.
I really enjoyed creating these and they have gone down very well with my students.
Ever tried to teach story writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a story writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality.
This is one way to encourage students to write good stories which are suitable for GCSE English.
These sets of prompts are designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways…
The resources are designed as TWO 60-90 minute classes and focus on a FULL RESPONSE for a story featuring a different structural feature for each paragraph.
If you want to use exercise books, there are ‘instruction only’ sets here too.
Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts - both picture-based and written. The prompts indicate what they should write. There is also plenty of time for sharing and class discussions between each paragraph.
GCSE English Language 9-1 Picture-Prompted Scaffolded Story Writing - Whole Text Exercise #2
This is an editable resource but a PDF is included too.
I really enjoyed creating this and it has gone down very well with my students.
Ever tried to teach story writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a story writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality.
This is one way to encourage students to write good stories which are suitable for GCSE English.
This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways…
The resource is designed as a 60-90 minute class and it focuses on a FULL RESPONSE for a story featuring a different structural feature for each paragraph.
If you want to use exercise books, there is an ‘instruction only’ set here too.
Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts - both picture-based and written. The prompts indicate what they should write. There is also plenty of time for sharing and class discussions between each paragraph.
So, the first (major) prompts, for example, are:
The opening - a picture of a young woman leaning out of the window of a train’s door. Students are asked to write about her, including time and place for their first paragraph.
Shift of focus - a picture of he railway station where she is starting her journey. The story shifts to a description of the platform.
…and so on. The story is then further developed with pictures - a “power paragaraph” (one sentence), a shift to describe her thoughts and feelings, a flashforward where she anticipates her future, a shift to a description of the countryside outside the train as it whizzes by and then a climax where she discovers she has lost her train ticket!
It’s a very simple st
The prompts then progress, enabling the students to create a complete response which includes all of the skills descriptors for Paper 1 Question 5. Your students should end up with a piece containing a minimum of 8 paragraphs of varying language with structural features and language devices used throughout. There is also an extension task which asks the students to create a word-processed second draft for homework.
This lesson could also be used as a ‘snap’ creative writing session or a cover class. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things.
There is also a ‘five senses’ prompt on the lesson handout, to encourage students to use one or more of these in their writing.
These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives:
AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
GCSE English Language 9-1 Picture-Prompted Scaffolded Story Writing - Whole Text Exercise
This is an editable resource but a PDF is included too.
I really enjoyed creating this and it has gone down very well with my students.
Ever tried to teach story writing and been met with a sea of faces staring back blankly? However, when the terminal exam promises the distinct possibility of a story writing task (Paper 1 Question 5) then students must be prepared for this eventuality.
This is one way to encourage students to write good stories which are suitable for GCSE English.
This set of prompts is designed to introduce students to descriptive writing in a number of ways…
The resource is designed as a 60-90 minute class and it focuses on a FULL RESPONSE for a story featuring a different structural feature for each paragraph.
If you want to use exercise books, there is an ‘instruction only’ set here too.
Each paragraph the students must write is accompanied by a number of prompts - both picture-based and written. The prompts indicate what they should write. There is also plenty of time for sharing and class discussions between each paragraph.
So, the first (major) prompts, for example, are:
The opening - a picture of a moody looking teenage boy in a cafe. Students are asked to write about him, including time and place for their first paragraph.
Shift of focus - a picture of a marketplace on a high street. The story shifts to the busy street outside the cafe, busy with people.
…and so on. The story is then further developed with pictures - a “power paragaraph” (one sentence), a shift to describe the interior of the cafe, a flashback when the teenager remembers his ex, a shift to a climax when his ex enters the cafe and finally a cliffhanger.
The prompts then progress, enabling the students to create a complete response which includes all of the skills descriptors for Paper 1 Question 5. Your students should end up with a piece containing a minimum of 7 paragraphs of varying language with structural features and language devices used throughout. There is also an extension task which asks the students to create a word-processed second draft for homework.
This lesson could also be used as a ‘snap’ creative writing session or a cover class. In fact it’s a highly adaptable (and editable!) resource which you can turn to many things.
There is also a ‘five senses’ prompt on the lesson handout, to encourage students to use one or more of these in their writing.
These exercises cover the following Assessment Objectives:
AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
Bundle
BTEC First L2 Unit 1 Online World "Do It Now" Revision Activities Bundle
The first set of this revision resource proved so popular among my learners that I had to make some more! So here they are as a bundle…
These “Do It Now” activity sheets are designed for the BTEC Fist in Information and Creative Technology – Unit 1: The Online World externally set exam.
You have probably heard of “Do Nows” – brief warm-up activities that are usually at the beginning of a lesson to help students to start thinking. They are rooted in Dewey’s constructivist theory as well as Hinton, Fischer & Glennon’s active learning theories of student-centred learning.
These can take place in the usual “Online World” session but can also be used at the beginning of any IT classes when the Online World exam is coming up. I know how difficult it is to squeeze in mock exams so you could think of these as mini-mocks! They are designed to be quick (five minutes for the questions, five for the answers) and to provide a different revision and recall route for your learners. However, they could just as easily be given out as homework or used by individual students for short revision bursts.
Each activity sheet contains two multiple choice, one or two “explain” questions and two or three “true or false” statements. The latter does not exist in the exam as a question type but is intended here, to give students quick and easy definitions for course elements that regularly appear in the exams. Elements from all Learning Aims are included on each sheet wherever possible, but Learning Aims A & B are at the forefront. Answers are included, of course! This time round I have included a few network diagrams for learners to label, too.
As they are time-constrained they reproduce an exam-style atmosphere where students must spend five minutes silently working on the questions. The answers can then be delivered in a way that you choose, to best suit your learners. I tend to ask individuals the answers and choose them according to ability. This part of the activity can often provoke discussion which will help students recall the information again.
The activity sheets are formatted in PowerPoint – you can edit as you wish.
These activities have proven highly popular with my learners and I hope will with yours too!
MORE BTEC Online World "Do It Now" Revision Activities
The first set of this revision resource proved so popular among my learners that I had to make some more! So here they are…
These “Do It Now” activity sheets are designed for the BTEC Fist in Information and Creative Technology – Unit 1: The Online World externally set exam.
You have probably heard of “Do Nows” – brief warm-up activities that are usually at the beginning of a lesson to help students to start thinking. They are rooted in Dewey’s constructivist theory as well as Hinton, Fischer & Glennon’s active learning theories of student-centred learning.
These can take place in the usual “Online World” session but can also be used at the beginning of any IT classes when the Online World exam is coming up. I know how difficult it is to squeeze in mock exams so you could think of these as mini-mocks! They are designed to be quick (five minutes for the questions, five for the answers) and to provide a different revision and recall route for your learners. However, they could just as easily be given out as homework or used by individual students for short revision bursts.
Each activity sheet contains two multiple choice, one or two “explain” questions and two or three “true or false” statements. The latter does not exist in the exam as a question type but is intended here, to give students quick and easy definitions for course elements that regularly appear in the exams. Elements from all Learning Aims are included on each sheet wherever possible, but Learning Aims A & B are at the forefront. Answers are included, of course! This time round I have included a few network diagrams for learners to label, too.
As they are time-constrained they reproduce an exam-style atmosphere where students must spend five minutes silently working on the questions. The answers can then be delivered in a way that you choose, to best suit your learners. I tend to ask individuals the answers and choose them according to ability. This part of the activity can often provoke discussion which will help students recall the information again.
The activity sheets are formatted in PowerPoint – you can edit as you wish.
These activities have proven highly popular with my learners and I hope will with yours too!
BTEC Online World "Do It Now" Revision Activities
These “Do It Now” activity sheets are designed for the BTEC Fist in Information and Creative Technology – Unit 1: The Online World externally set exam.
You have probably heard of “Do Nows” – brief warm-up activities that are usually at the beginning of a lesson to help students to start thinking. They are rooted in Dewey’s constructivist theory as well as Hinton, Fischer & Glennon’s active learning theories of student-centred learning.
These can take place in the usual “Online World” session but can also be used at the beginning of any IT classes when the Online World exam is coming up. They are designed to be quick (five minutes for the questions, five for the answers) and to provide a different revision and recall route for your learners. However, they could just as easily be given out as homework or used by individual students for short revision bursts.
Each activity sheet contains two multiple choice, two “explain” questions and three “true or false” statements. The latter does not exist in the exam as a question type but is intended here, to give students quick and easy definitions for course elements that regularly appear in the exams. Elements from all Learning Aims are included on each sheet wherever possible, but Learning Aims A & B are at the forefront. Answers are included, of course!
As they are time-constrained they reproduce an exam-style atmosphere where students must spend five minutes silently working on the questions. The answers can then be delivered in a way that you choose, to best suit your learners. I tend to ask individuals the answers and choose them according to ability. This part of the activity can often provoke discussion which will help students recall the information again.
The activity sheets are formatted in PowerPoint – you can edit as you wish.
These activities have proven highly popular with my learners and I hope will with yours too!
GCSE English Creative Writing "Past Papers" - Suitable for Classroom, Cover or Online Delivery
This pack of “past paper” picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response. I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess!
The resources included here are suitable for use in a number of ways:
Classroom delivery or progress tests - why reinvent the wheel when these questions are prepared for you?
Cover classes - an ideal way to give a class a task which will engage them and last an hour!
Online delivery - the five question sets have been saved in a format which will allow students to complete them online by typing their response below the questions (MS Word needed).
The papers will familiarise learners with the way that the questions are presented in the exam as well as giving you a little time off from preparing “past paper” questions.
All resources are editable if you want to tweak them a little. The “classroom” delivery resources are also saved in PDF format (in case that’s how you need them).
A set of grade boundaries in included which can be adapted/edited to make the papers more challenging (they use the most generous grade boundaries AQA have ever used).
These resources can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand.
All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.
**Assessment Objective: **
AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
GCSE English: Nouns & Adjectives in Creative Writing
Context: Paper 1 Question 5 is the creative writing question where learners may be asked to write a description suggested by a picture or a story given its title. This lesson is designed to support building the skills needed for this question in a “low stakes” way by returning to nouns and adjectives.
This lesson recaps nouns and adjectives and how the latter modify the former. A well-placed adjective can change the way that a character in a piece of creative writing is perceived by the reader. This is the first step in that “discovery” – and one which will hopefully provide a little fun and discussion along the way.
Students begin by recognising nouns and adjectives and progress throughout the session to using them in a “story in a paragraph” – effectively the creation of some flash fiction!
This is very much aimed at learners using adjectives and nouns creatively, rather than spotting them in a text and explaining them. It is not hight stakes (and has a specially made Kahoot to go with it) so could be delivered as a cover class or at the beginning of an academic year while things are still “settling in”.
PDF of the files are included as well as editable versions.
GCSE English Creative Writing: Hidden from History (Victorian Child Prisoners)
This pack of picture questions is designed for (AQA) GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5. Often this can become a little boring for the students as they are given picture after picture to write about. This tries to be a little different. In this case the pictures are of child prisoners from the Victorian era with a small bio of each (age, crime, punishment). Altogether, ten prisoners are pictured (all ten are 100% real-life cases) - five girls and five boys.
There is also some background history about the kind of places underage Victorian lawbreakers ending up - altogether not very pleasant - with some discussion suggestions. It may well tie in with things that your students have studied in their history classes. I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess - and to bring these children who have been “hidden from history” back to life.
The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of images in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice.
Each is formatted to include the question on a single A4 sheet. The originals are also included on their own if you would like to edit them. Plus if it’s easier for you - PDFs are also included of all files.
They would probably also be very useful if you are covering a class - the skills that students develop with these questions are vital for success in GCSE English as this question alone represents 25% of the entire exam.
All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.
30 More Christmas GCSE English Language P1 Q5 Style Descriptive & Narrative Writing Questions + Pics
This pack of CHRISTMAS picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response (although both tasks can be descriptive or narrative and this pack reflects that). I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess!
The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of Christmassy mages in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice. There are also a few naughtier suggestions…
Each is formatted to include the question on a single A4 sheet. The originals are also included on their own if you would like to use them without the question stimulus. Plus if it’s easier for you - PDFs are also included of both files.
They would probably also be very useful if you are covering a class - the skills that students develop with these questions are vital for success in GCSE English as this question alone represents 25% of the entire exam.
All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.