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  • Review of autobiography

    Task: Write a review of an autobiography Summarise briefly why you chose the book and what happened in your person’s life. Explain what interested you about their life, relating it to your life if you can. Explain what were your favourite parts of the book, quoting from your favourite passages and saying WHY the language and […]

  • 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. […]

  • 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 — 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 […]

  • Betrayal — Chapters 27-46

    What is betrayal? What’s your definition of it? Situations – what would you do? You learn that your partner is havinng an affair You learn after you have committed to each other that you partner had an important relationship they haven’t told you about You learn your partner has a secret love child An attractive […]

  • Write your own autobiography

    Writing to inform, describe and explain   Using these prompts to write about it. Give it a unique title.   The details of your birth? Where were you born? Was it a traumatic birth? Caesarean section? Parents thoughts and recollections on this. Your first memories: your first smell, your first accident, your first day at […]

  • Complications — The intrusion of Serjeant Troy

    Complications – The Intrusion of Serjeant Troy   Revision of Chapters 1 – 24 Who did what? STARTER ACTIVITY   Caused a stir in the Casterbridge Corn Exchange and set the farmers’ pulses racing. Lost his sheep, became a tramp and then got a job as a shepherd. Missed a wedding because of going to […]

  • How to get a foot in the door at Oxbridge

    With the deadline of October 15 looming, it’s a crucial time for students applying to Oxford and Cambridge universities. They’ve got two days to fine-tune applications and little more than a month to prepare for the infamous Oxbridge interviews. For some parents, this time of year is the culmination of years of blood, sweat and […]

  • Should parents take their children out of school during school time?

    I argued on BBC Breakfast that they should not. I cited the example of ‘Katie’ (not the pupils’ real name) who had missed weeks of school because her parents were taking her out regularly of school during term time, going on cheap holidays. They lied to the school and said that she was ill. There […]

  • Should parents pay for solicitors to help them get the school of their choice?

    Emphatically not! You’re far better off reading a school’s admission criteria very carefully and reading books like my Working The System. A BBC investigation has revealed that parents are paying lawyers thousands of pounds to get into the school of their choice. I appeared on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 5 Live and explained that […]

  • 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: 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 […]