Zephyr Learning - English and General Literacy Shop - TES (2024)

Speech marks / dialogue / direct speech

(Starter or mini-lesson) Provides a quick revision of the guidelines for punctuating direct speech to encourage students to incorporate quotes/ dialogue in a creative writing task (e.g. English Language Paper 1 Section B). It’s in Powerpoint format; simply copy and paste into your own existing Powerpoint for a ready-to-use starter activity.If you find this useful, please leave a review to spread the word!

Of Mice and Men - Analysing the text (extracts on George, Lennie, Curley's wife, Slim and Whit)

A series of worksheets that provide students with extracts from the text depicting characters' words and actions. For each extract, students must record their impressions in the corresponding box. A straightforward but useful exercise in helping students to move from text to sub-text.

Unseen Poetry - Response Planning Sheet

Straightforward planning guide for a response to two unseen poems. Students read the poems and answer the questions in the boxes provided. This should give them everything they need for a satisfactory response.

Of Mice and Men - Plot Sorting Task

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!

Fully resourced lesson - students use their knowledge of sentence structure to replace the missing full stops in an article taken from the BBC Wales website. Students start by circling the subject of each sentence and underlining the predicate (the verb and all the words that work with the verb to say something about the subject); they then add full stops and capital letters to separate the sentences from one another.

Literature Paper Question - Response Guide (inc. Exemplar Paragraph on Romeo and Juliet)

A straightforward guide for helping students to structure a response to a literature paper question. Students answer 6 prescribed questions to craft a body paragraph that contains the elements they need for success.A sample paragraph based on Act I, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet is included as an exemplar.

Extract question response planning guides (audience response, impression of a relationship, mood)

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).

Adverbials at the ends of sentences

This complete lesson:explains what an adverbial is,gives students practice identifying adverbials,challenges students to construct their own adverbial phrases and clauses.The lesson was prepared and delivered during lockdown, so it is very straightforward and tailored for direct delivery.If you find it useful, please spread the word by leaving a positive review!

Extract question (lit exam) focused on a character - general planning grid

This is a grid for planning a response to an extract question focused on a character (as opposed to audience response, a relationship, etc.).I used the general label 'THE CHARACTER' throughout when designing this; whenever I use it with a text I go back and do a 'Find and Replace' search, inserting the actual name of the character in place of the general label 'THE CHARACTER'. This way I've been able to use it with a variety of texts and characters. I've found this scaffold very useful in helping students who have struggled with the extract question to plan and structure their response.

British Literary Periods

A summary of major periods in British Literature from 1485 to the Twentieth Century in six pages, originally created for use with 11th and 12th grade / Sixth Form students but useful for helping all students of British Literature to place and understand works within a historical context.

Terms to use when discussing style and effect in literature

A list of useful terms (along with their definitions) to use when discussing how an author creates an effect in a work of literature.

Of Mice and Men - design a TV mini-series

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).

Connectives for comparing and contrasting (starter or mini-lesson)

Students use designated connectives to craft sentences that make comparisons and that draw contrasts.

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.

Identifying the subject in questions, imperatives and inverted sentences

Worksheet that teaches students to identify the subject in sentences with unconventional word order (questions, imperatives and inverted sentences); concludes with an exercise to give them practice. This helps them to better understand sentence structure and to maintain subject-verb agreement when writing.

Contrasting and Developing Connectives / Subordinating Conjunctions / Complex Sentences

A grammar-for-writing lesson with worksheet (answers provided in presentation). Students are given two simple sentences and challenged join them with a subordinating conjunction to create a complex sentence. Useful for encouraging sentence variety.

Identifying noun phrases in apposition / appositive phrases

Lesson and worksheet - students read passages from The Call of the Wild by Jack London and identify the noun phrases in apposition/ appositive phrases that London includes in the text.

Nouns - complete lesson with worksheets (with extracts from A Christmas Carol and The Wizard of Oz)

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.

Adverbs and adverbials

A fully resourced grammar-for-writing lesson that teaches students what adverbs and adverbials are and then gives them practice with placing adverbials in different places within sentences (i.e. at the front (fronted adverbials), in the middle or at the end). I have found it particularly useful in preparing students for Section B of GCSE English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2.The powerpoint includes a starter, an explanation of adverbs and adverbials (with examples), instructions for the worksheet (with an example), a list of possible answers and a plenary.

Peer assessment-Writing across the curriculum

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.