by the Super Baby Project

This teaching guide for students of higher ability is designed as a self-contained unit which can be used to produce the AQA A GCSE Pre-1914 Prose coursework. It can also be used as a springboard for Original Writing.

A Modest Proposal is an excellent alternative for the more able students to the rather well-worn (though useful) Pre-1914 Prose path of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice. Its blistering satire allows students to produce some quite subtle and impressive analyses.

• The AQA A Pre-1914 coursework...

A Pre C20th GCSE Assignment on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Speaking & Listening and/or Written Response

I often get asked how to make Pre-Twentieth Century texts more accessible. This assignment has been used with a number of classes with children with statements of SEN and the students have enjoyed it. I hope you can make use of it too.

It can be used in conjunction with the full novel, the full chapters and/or the film version of the novel. The full chapters are available as a separate download and can be used on a whiteboard or...

Points to consider when assessing Chapter One of “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens.

Some ideas to get you started…

• What makes this opening chapter a good read? It might be useful to colour code your sheets with a highlighter pen!
• Narrative technique – first person narrative. What effect does this have on you, the reader? What does first person have that third person misses and vice versa?
• Setting (Where is the story set?)

The setting is very important in Great Expectations in a number of key scenes. The varied settings...

A Scaffolded Essay Guide to Lord of the Flies

At the beginning of the novel, Ralph stands on his head and celebrates the fact that there are no adult survivors.

This is a dream come true. How does this dream turn into a nightmare?

It is true that at the beginning of the novel that in conversation with Piggy that Ralph celebrates the fact that there are no adults on the island. I think he…

Within hours of celebrating the lack of adult supervision. Ralph assumes the role of…

The dream really turns into a night mare when…

Another key...

Binary Opposition

The way a text creates and shapes its reader’s interpretation to develop both meaning and feeling can be fruitfully and subtly analysed by means of binary opposition. Despite its apparent complexity, this method can easily be understood by students of varying levels and ability from GCSE upwards. It can allow them to create subtle analyses of texts of the kind that can fulfil the requirements of the highest grade bands.

The theory works from the premise that many words and phrases have, as Steve Campsall terms it, their...

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein subtitled ‘The Modern Prometheus’ is one of the most famous novels of the Gothic genre.  Frankenstein was an offshoot of a ghost-story writing project proposed by Byron in 1816. Mary Shelley’s explanation of how she came to write this novel is used in the introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein: ‘I busied myself to think of a story… One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror.’

Shelley’s decision to ‘awaken thrilling horror’ can be seen,...

1984 Film Artwork by Shepard Fairey

Areas to focus on in Part 3:

• Chapter 1 | Winston’s imprisonment in the Ministry of Love; its description at the opening of the chapter and its contrast with conventional images of love; the lack of emotion Winston shows in relation to his mother now; Winston’s love for Julia stated as fact and then it disappears.
• Chapter 2 | Winston clings to O’Brien; Winston’s love for O’Brien; the death of love in Winston; the betrayal by Julia.
• Chapter 3 | Love...

1984 Film Artwork by Shepard Fairey

Areas on which to focus in Part 2:

• Chapter 1 | Julia’s first message to Winston and his response; their meeting in the crowd at Victory Square.
• Chapter 2 | Winston and Julia meet and consummate their relationship.
• Chapter 3 | Winston and Julia meet several times; the discussion of Winston’s temptation to murder to ideologically orthodox wife, Katharine.
• Chapter 4 | Winston’s plans to use Mr Charrington’s shop as a place for him and Julia to meet; the...

1984 Film Artwork by Shepard Fairey

Love and Relationships in 1984

1984 is commonly studied at A Level and is often cited as a fine modern example of dystopian fiction. At the heart of the narrative lies a relationship between two characters: the protagonist, Winston Smith and his girlfriend and accomplice, known simply as Julia: this has both thematic and symbolic significance. In addition, Winston’s relationship with his mother, his colleagues, and O’Brien, and the relationship between the present and the past, are important, as well as...

Associated Resources

DARTs Literary Analysis and Wuthering Heights.doc

I teach some students with special needs and I found one particular technique really useful when tackling Pre-Twentieth Century Literature recently.

To put the lesson in context, I try to enter my autistic students for GCSE English examination as soon as possible.

This gets them used to the system and the particular demands of the syllabus, particularly in coursework and the examination itself.

Some students thus take the examination as early as Year 8 or Year 9 in the...

By following this guide, students will be able to construct an argument based on Lockwood, the narrator of Wuthering Heights.

Lockwood, the narrator of Wuthering Heights is often dismissed as mere writing device. What do you think of him?

What do we know about Lockwood? His role as the ostensible narrator allows Bronte to include a Germanic “Rahmenerzahlung” approach to the piece. Simply stated, the novel Wuthering Heights is a “frame story”. One tale sits inside another like a picture sits in a frame. This type of narration was very...

The Task

The boys on the island busy themselves looking for a beast or demon. We are painfully aware of the irony here. There is indeed a devil on the island… or rather several and they are openly on view.

Looking closely at the action in Golding’s novel, who do you consider could be described as a demon?

Beelzebub (Hebrew בעל זבוב, with several variants) appears as the name of a god worshipped by the Philistines. In ancient contexts, there appears to have been little, if any, meaningful distinction between Beelzebub and Baal....

The Monkey’s Paw - Version B

W.W. Jacobs

Two versions of the same story…

• One was written for children who find reading difficult.
• What has changed?
• Why?

The Monkey’s Paw

W.W. Jacobs (Version B)

The year was 1876. A fire burned brightly in the front room of Laburnum Villa. Outside, the weather was cold and wet. It was night time and Mr and Mrs White had drawn the curtains to try and keep out the draught.

“Just listen to that wind,” said Mr White to his son opposite. Father and son were enjoying a game of chess.

“I’m listening,”...

The Monkey’s Paw - Version A

W.W. Jacobs

Two versions of the same story…

• One was written for children who find reading difficult.
• What has changed?
• Why?

The Monkey’s Paw

W. W. Jacobs (Version A)

Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess; the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old...