Teaching creative writing
teaching english

Year group

UK school year / form groups

  • Re-writing autobiographical extracts, editing and improving them

      Read these passages and answer the questions that follow: he looked like a turtle his little bald head with his oversized blazer, it looked like a home on his back! What is effective about this image? we seized every opportunity to get him back we didn’t care, we was going home after this and…

  • How successfully does Hardy open Far From The Madding Crowd?

    Learning Objectives To learn about the techniques Hardy uses to create a suspenseful opening to Far From The Madding Crowd To learn about the contexts of Hardy’s novel An important point Starter activity: put these elements of the opening in the correct order Gabriel Oak loses his sheep Oak is rescued from suffocation in his…

  • Steps towards writing an excellent essay on the play

    Lesson objective To learn how to use your notes to write an essay To collect your thoughts together quickly and write them down Starter activity – put these events in the right order Willy commits suicide Biff and Willy agree to set up the Loman brothers Willy remembers when there were trees in the yard…

  • Coursework — writing a sequel to the play or writing an essay which analyses the use of suspense

    English Death of a Salesman coursework   To be completed in CONTROLLED CONDITIONS in class   Either: Sequel plus commentary (COUNTS as ONE piece of coursework)     Write a sequel to the play, set ONE year later, where Biff returns home to visit Happy and Linda. Set the scene in the house. DO NOT…

  • Dramatising your life

    Learning objectives: to learn how to dramatise elements of your life Learning outcomes To write in detail about an aspect of your life NOT covered in the autobiography in detail, but dramatised. The question will be: Write an entertaining account which explores in depth moments when you have been alone or lonely in your life.…

  • The bully — reading an FGI extract and planning your answer

    Read this passage, written by me and use it to help you plan your own autobiographical extract.   Although I don’t know him at all, a kid, Andrew Mintern, in the year above senses my difference and decides to pick on me. One break-time there’s a massive surge after all the “spazzies” in the school…

  • Complications leads to a crisis, chapters 24-43, attraction

    Learning Objective: To explore the concept of attraction and explore what it is… What makes a person attractive? Rank these qualities and add your own, with the most important first Good looks? A kind and generous personality? A dangerous and risk-taking personality? A high-status, respectable profession such as lawyer/celebrity A dangerous, romantic profession such as…

  • Far From The Madding Crowd – complications, chapters 13-26

    Learning objectives: to learn how Hardy develops complications in Far From The Madding Crowd Hardy takes some time to ‘open’ the novel – justify your answers Why is this? Because he was a writing in serial form and therefore needed to put cliffhangers in his opening which meant it was longer than most modern openings.…

  • Far From The Madding Crowd — CHARACTERISATIONS

    Learning objectives To learn how to answer exam questions To learn about CHARACTERISATIONS as opposed to CHARACTERS Important definition – COPY THIS, LEARN IT! CHARACTERISATION is how and why an author presents a character in the way he does. CHARACTER is a person in a novel WHY does more sophisticated analysis discuss CHARACTERISATIONS as opposed…

  • Teacher’s comments on two Romeo and Juliet essays on hatred

      Important note   TEACHER COMMENTS ARE IN CAPITALS. Pupils’ work are in lower case. Essay 1     ‘This play is as much about hate, as it is about love.’ Analyse how the theme of hatred is explored in Shakespeare’s play, discussing how it is represented in the language of the play and could…

  • ‘This play is as much about hate, as it is about love.’

    Analyse how the theme of hatred is explored in Shakespeare’s play, discussing how it is represented in the language of the play and could be presented dramatically.    Hate plays a pivotal role in the play. The long feud between the families (‘from ancient grudge’) and when individuals fight like Tybalt and Mercutio (‘Tybalt, you…

  • Romeo and Juliet: To what extent does Shakespeare present Capulet as being to blame for the death of his daughter?

    A pupil’s essay with teacher comments TEACHER COMMENTS ARE IN CAPITALS AND ITALICS Capulet’s character is very deceiving form the very beginning and Shakespeare makes it very clear at the end that both Capulets and Montague’s actions were to blame for the outcome as, “heaven found a means to kill your joys with love”. This…

  • Romeo and Juliet: Revision Quiz for Romeo and Juliet

    Act OneWhat are the causes of the fight in the square? List FOUR important factors that lead to the fight. What does the Prince threaten to do if there is another fight? Why is Romeo not at the fight? How do we know Lady Montague and Montague are caring, concerned parents? What does Benvolio find…

  • Romeo and Juliet: Pupil essay: Youth and Age. Should Friar Lawrence and the Nurse have been more careful about the way they encouraged Romeo and Juliet’s love? To what extent does Shakespeare present them as being to blame?

    Youth and Age Should Friar Lawrence and the Nurse have been more careful about the way they encouraged Romeo and Juliet’s love? To what extent does Shakespeare present them as being to blame? Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet were aided in their love. It was according to Romeo and Juliet love at first sight…

  • Romeo and Juliet: PUPIL ESSAY: What do you think that Shakespeare is trying to say about the feud in this play?

    William Shakespeare tries to set a scene with two families that have pure hatred for each other. Right from the first scene he tries to introduce us to the conflicts between the Montagues and the Capulets. He tries to give us a sense that the feud has been going on for a long long time.…

  • Romeo and Juliet: Exam questions on Romeo and Juliet for revision

    Romeo and Juliet essay questions1. To what extent do you think Mercutio and his death is to blame for the tragedy that ensues after his death? 2. Shakespeare’s presents fate as playing a vital part in the death of the lovers. To what extent does he convinces the audience that fate plays a central role…

  • Romeo and Juliet: Exam questions on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with page references for quotes

    Exam questions on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with page references for quotesComplete some detailed plans of the following questions which are grouped around the key themes of the page, the page references give you an idea about where to find your key quote but you MUST find it for yourself! Youth And Age To what extent…

  • Romeo and Juliet: Compare Romeo and Juliet’s different attitudes towards love in the play — a pupils essay with teacher comments

    TEACHER COMMENTS ARE IN CAPITALS AND ITALICS Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet’s attitude towards love changes dramatically. Both of the characters at the end of the play are willing to die for each other in the name of love. At the beginning of the play we are introduced to Romeo and we are shown…

  • Year 13: Useful websites for Child Language Acquisition

    Should you want further reading on language acquisition, these websites are very helpful and explain all the relevant hypotheses and theories:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition   http://home.cogeco.ca/~monicafitz/theories.htm   http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling001.html

  • Useful grammar exercises

    Log onto: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/exlist/exlist.htm