51ºÚÁÏ

'Punctuation Marks Are People, Too' explains the main punctuation marks as characters. This clarifies the job that each one of them does. This sheet can be used to introduce a whole series of punctuation worksheets that will be uploaded here soon. Alternatively, this sheet can be used for revision. Capital letters, full stops, commas, semi colons, colons and the apostrophe are all in this cast of characters!

This is longer than most glossaries, because I have included examples of each term. The title is just my opinion, of course! For homework, you could choose five terms and tell pupils to find their own examples of each. These could be from songs as well as poems. It is often examples we like that fix in the mind what a technique is, and even more importantly, what it can do. You could then use this Amazing Glossary in conjunction with my POETRY FLOWER. This would help pupils to keep the bigger picture in mind and not get swamped in detail.

This imaginative, moving poem goes down well with pupils of all ages. It builds simple images step by step into something highly original. The poem is printed in quite a large font and double spaced to allow room for pupils' own annotations, e.g. of unfamiliar words. They can also illustrate it to help them build up the picture of why death might be wonderful for a very poor person.

You can print this sheet straight off and give it to students. You know your class, so you will know if the older ones are likely to feel that a dragon's cave is a bit too Year 8 for them! You can add your own titles in that &'The Someone&';s Something' format to suit any subject area or literary text that you have studied or are going to study. &'The Sorcerer&';s Cave' for &'The Tempest&'; could ignite interest in how Shakespeare paints Prospero for us. Have fun!

To encourage pupils of all ages to find things out for themselves, and to make links between different subjects, this labelled cartoon dinosaur can be displayed on classroom walls, in libraries. It can also be photocopied and given to classes to stimulate discussion about what we mean by 'independent learning&'.

Paul Verlaine’s ‘Le Ciel Est, Par-Dessus Le Toit…’ uses simple language to set a beautiful scene then deliver an emotional punch at the end. The text has been set out in large font with lots of space around each short verse, for pupil annotation and illustration. After studying this poem, pupils can write their own poem that a) describes a setting then b) expresses a mood or state of mind. This formula works in any combination - e.g. lovely park + murderous rage, rainy day + joyful expectation.

A Powerpoint in Spanish introducing the characters and plots of some of Shakespeare's major plays, very briefly and in very simple Spanish.

This is written directly for students, so you can give out the whole thing or pages from it as you wish, at any stage of GCSE English. Getting pupils to write their own examples of techniques listed in these pages is a nice quick homework for you to mark and a great way to check that they have grasped something. It helps their knowledge about language to 'stick&': they are more likely to notice techniques in others&'; writing when they have used the techniques - and named them - themselves. Hope it helps!

Here are three short, accessible poems by great French poets - Verlaine, Hugo and Alfred de Vigny. Pupils then write the fourth season - Le Printemps!

This uses cartoon people to explain how the apostrophe is used to show possession. Always ask yourself: what does this apostrophe know? Check out my HANDWRITING PEOPLE too! That resource is called HANDWRITING: A CLASS OF 26 LITTLE PEOPLE.

This uses cartoon people to explain the job of the semi colon. It’s like a door ajar between two sentences! Check out my HANDWRITING PEOPLE too! That resource is called HANDWRITING: A CLASS OF 26 LITTLE PEOPLE. I teach grammar, punctuation this way. Imagining the letters and punctuation marks as little people draws learners into the detail by bringing them to life. Each time you explain a rule and/or examine an example, it’s like telling a little story. This is easier to picture, easier to remember, and can be quite funny at times.

This uses cartoon people to explain how the apostrophe is used to show that a letter has been omitted. The apostrophe is a spy who knows exactly which letter has escaped from a word! Check out my HANDWRITING PEOPLE too! That resource is called HANDWRITING: A CLASS OF 26 LITTLE PEOPLE.

This uses cartoon people to explain the job of the colon in a sentence. Check out my HANDWRITING PEOPLE too! That resource is called HANDWRITING: A CLASS OF 26 LITTLE PEOPLE.

The famous part in 'A La Recherche du Temps Perdu&' by Marcel Proust when he takes a spoonful of madeleine (cake) soaked in tea and is suddenly strangely happy, and puzzled, and remembers...A brilliant evocation of how taste prompts memory - and also of tea and cake! Worth reading aloud as the French is so delicious. This sheet starts with a short biog of Proust that suggests why he was &';in search of lost times'. Long extract; pages 4, 5 or 6 could stand alone, though. Double spaced for annotation. Pupils could write their own memories prompted by childhood sweets.

You can use all three pages of this worksheet or just sections of it. There is a version with cartoons and without. It aims to inspire pupils to read old books - fiction or non-fiction - and give them a method for understanding an extract from one of them. There is so much technical jargon in the teaching of GCSE prose analysis that it can turn pupils off reading books altogether. This worksheet - or 'thinksheet' as you can also call it - aims to explain some of the reasons why picking up a book that was written a long time ago can be worth doing in the first place. See also 'MORE TIPS ON READING OLD BOOKS' for more practical advice. Analysis using technical terminology is vital, of course. Other sheets will deal with that. However, these sheets mainly aim to motivate wider reading for enjoyment, and make students realise that they can pick up any old book and see where it takes them.

This goes with my other sheets, 'HOW TO READ OLD BOOKS AND EXPLORE NEW WORLDS'. Like them, there is a version with cartoons and a version without. These sheets offer practical advice about how to understand a book that was written a long time ago, e.g. how to spot a word that you already know when it's hiding inside another one, e.g. disembody, dissatisfied and so on. Like 'HOW TO READ OLD BOOKS', this one aims to inspire pupils by suggesting what's in it for them to explore wonderful classic novels, non-fiction etc. Analysing how those books created amazing impressions in their heads can come later.

This detailed cartoon explains three stages of creating a play: 1. The playwright choosing lines and stage directions 2. The characters onstage with various props and effects of lighting and sound 3. The audience reaction with emotions ranging from tension to anger, sadness to disgust. You can print this off and give it to pupils and then get them to practise that three-stage analysis themselves. It can apply to any play. In essays, get them to include points & even start sentences with 'Priestley', 'The stage directions' and 'The audience' to help nudge dramatic insights.

Link to YouTube audio of Juliette Greco singing this dramatic song by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. There are some extra contractions in the lyrics so it is worth letting students know this. Pupils could write diaries or letters after listening to the song. There were a few female pirates, so pupils could write a letter from a pirate to a girlfriend or boyfriend. Or they could write a reply from the pirate to the woman in this song!

Lyrics and YouTube version of a Pirate Song in Spanish. Fun to get the class to write new verses for this song using the vocabulary of everyday life. So pirates are not only the demons of the sea - 'Lavamos los platos&' as well!

This sheet is designed to help students to think of the play they are studying as a drama to be acted onstage, not a book to read in silence. You can do some of the exercises in class or as a homework. Reading a section of dialogue with sock puppets is a fun way to explore who is speaking to whom, who has power in a scene and who is silent. Encouraging students to do this at home can make revision stimulating and memorable. Theatrical observations start to creep into essays as a result.