A Level Guide to Teaching Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale

jennywebb | Monday November 11, 2019

Categories: Archived Resources, KS5 Archive, AQA A Level, AQA A Level Pre-2015 Resources, AQA A Level English Language & Literature B, ELLB3, EDEXCEL A Level, Edexcel A Level Generic Skills, Edexcel A Level Skills Resources, EDEXCEL A Level English Literature, 6ET03, OCR A Level, OCR A Level Pre-2015 Resources, OCR A Level English Literature, F663, WJEC A Level, WJEC A Level Pre-2015 Resources, WJEC A Level English Literature, LT4, Hot Entries, Poetry, Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale, Writing, Literary Analysis, Prose Analysis

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Introduction

When Chaucer is to be taught, then ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ is something a gift for an A Level student: it is short, simple and highly accessible; and yet it simultaneously offers a wealth of rich language for analysis. Themes including greed, death, betrayal and blasphemy are ripe for advanced level discussion and I have always found that, despite the 14th Century setting, the story is a universal one which students find easy to understand and explore.

When studying an A Level Literature text, nothing can beat old-fashioned class reading, taking notes and discussing as a class – this ensures individual understanding and a free flow of ideas. Here are some ideas for that will hopefully add to that traditional reading-discussion pattern.