KS3 English Topics

Analysing how a Shakespeare character is presented to an audience

• Analysing a Shakespeare character

Identifying themes in a Shakespeare comedy: love, power, disorder

• Themes in a Shakespeare comedy

Performing a short extract — using voice, pace and pause for effect

• Performing a Shakespeare scene

Reading *A Midsummer Night's Dream* — plot, world, comedy

• Reading *A Midsummer Night's Dream*

Reading a short *Romeo and Juliet* extract — love, conflict, fate

• Reading a *Romeo and Juliet* extract

Reading an *An Inspector Calls* extract — responsibility and class

• Reading an *An Inspector Calls* extract

Shakespeare's theatre — the Globe, the audience, the staging

• Shakespeare's theatre and its audience

Tracking how a Shakespeare character is presented across acts

• Analysing a Shakespeare character across the play

Tragedy as a form — the tragic hero, hubris, catharsis

• The conventions of tragedy

Writing a paragraph that uses a quotation as evidence (Point–Evidence–Explain)

• Writing a PEE paragraph about a play

Active and passive voice — what changes and why a writer would switch

• Active and passive voice

Apostrophes for possession and contraction

• Using apostrophes correctly

Building vocabulary: prefixes, suffixes and root words

• Building new words from roots

Dialect, idiolect and Standard English

• Dialect, idiolect and Standard English

Identifying word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

• Word classes in a sentence

Language and power — how word choice shapes who speaks and who listens

• Language and power

Semi-colons to join two related clauses

• Using semi-colons for effect

Standard English vs informal English — register and audience

• Formal and informal register

Subject–verb agreement in Standard English

• Subject–verb agreement

The history of English — how the language has changed over time

• A short history of the English language

Using a range of clauses for sophisticated effect

• Sophisticated sentence structures

Using colons and semi-colons to structure complex analytical writing

• Colons and semi-colons in analytical writing

Using commas accurately in lists and after fronted adverbials

• Commas: lists and fronted adverbials

Using subordinate clauses to add detail to a sentence

• Using subordinate clauses for effect

Writing simple, compound and complex sentences for effect

• Sentence types and their effects

Analysing a newspaper front page — image, headline, lead

• Analysing a newspaper front page

Analysing a print advert — how it persuades the viewer

• Analysing a print advert

Analysing how a film or TV trailer is constructed to attract an audience

• Analysing a film trailer

Analysing how a news story is framed — what's chosen, what's left out

• Analysing how a news story is framed

Looking at a film poster or advert — identifying who it's aimed at and how

• Reading a film poster

Analysing language in a non-fiction extract — word choice and effect

• Language analysis on a non-fiction extract

Comparing two non-fiction texts on the same topic

• Comparing two non-fiction texts

Persuasive writing — ethos, pathos, logos

• Persuasive writing — three pillars

Reading a magazine article and summarising it in your own words

• Summarising a non-fiction article

Reading a short newspaper or magazine article and identifying its purpose

• Reading a non-fiction article

Reading a Victorian non-fiction text — adjusting to vocabulary and tone

• Reading Victorian non-fiction

Reading and analysing a women's rights speech or article

• Reading a women's rights speech

Rhetorical devices: rhetorical question, anaphora, tricolon, direct address

• Rhetorical devices in a speech

Writing a clear, formal letter for a real purpose

• Writing a formal letter

Writing a formal letter for a serious purpose (complaint, application)

• Writing a formal letter for a serious purpose

Writing a newspaper opinion article on a real issue

• Writing an opinion article

Writing a persuasive speech for a real audience

• Writing a persuasive speech

Writing a short newspaper-style report

• Writing a newspaper report

Writing a speech of your own on an issue you care about

• Writing a speech on a real issue

Writing a travel article — sense of place, voice and detail

• Writing a travel article

Analysing imagery in a single poem

• Analysing imagery in a poem

Analysing patriotism in Rupert Brooke's *The Soldier*

• Analysing patriotism in *The Soldier*

Comparing two short poems about the same theme

• Comparing two poems

Comparing two WWI poems — perspectives on war

• Comparing two WWI poems

Identifying poetic devices: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration

• Poetic devices and their effects

Performing a poem aloud — voice, pace, pause

• Performing a poem

Reading a poem closely — what it's about and how it makes you feel

• Close reading a poem

Reading a WWI poem — patriotism, propaganda and reality

• Reading WWI poetry

Reading Gothic poetry — atmosphere, the supernatural, dread

• Gothic poetry

Recognising and analysing more advanced terms: caesura, enjambment, sibilance

• Advanced poetic terminology

Recognising rhythm, metre and rhyme in a poem

• Rhythm, metre and rhyme

Studying a single poet in depth — Maya Angelou

• Single poet study: Maya Angelou

Writing a comparative analysis paragraph on two poems

• Writing a poetry comparison paragraph

Writing a short poem in a chosen form — sonnet, ballad, free verse

• Writing a poem in a chosen form

Writing your own short poem about a place or feeling

• Writing a poem about a place

A myth or legend — tracking how an old story carries meaning today

• Reading myths and legends

A short pre-1914 prose extract — adjusting to older vocabulary and sentence rhythm

• Reading a 19th-century prose extract

Allegory — when a story stands for something else

• What is allegory?

Comparing two characters in a novel — similarities and differences

• Comparing two characters in a novel

Detective and mystery fiction — genre conventions and reader expectations

• Reading detective fiction

Gothic fiction — conventions: setting, atmosphere, the supernatural, the monstrous

• Reading Gothic fiction

Identifying themes in a novel and tracking them across chapters

• Identifying themes in a novel

Inference: working out what a writer suggests but doesn't state

• Reading between the lines

Reading a dystopian novel — society, control and the individual

• Reading dystopian fiction

Reading an opening chapter and tracking first impressions of a narrator

• Reading a novel opening

Reading and analysing an unseen extract — language, structure, effect

• Reading an unseen prose extract

Recognising narrative structure — exposition, rising action, climax, resolution

• Plot structure in a short story

Tracking a character's development across an extract

• Analysing characterisation in a novel extract

Tracking how a writer builds tension and atmosphere across a passage

• Analysing how a writer builds tension

Tracking how structure creates meaning across a whole novel

• Analysing structure in a novel

Writing a full-essay introduction and conclusion

• Essay introductions and conclusions

Writing a Point–Evidence–Explain–Link (PEEL) paragraph for an essay

• Writing a PEEL analysis paragraph

Analysing a recorded speech — how a speaker holds an audience

• Analysing a spoken speech

Delivering a formal presentation with rehearsed structure and visual support

• Delivering a formal presentation

Giving a short, planned spoken presentation on a topic you know well

• Giving a short presentation

Listening actively — summarising and building on what others say

• Listening and responding in discussion

Participating in a structured debate — proposition, rebuttal, summary

• Taking part in a debate

Slam poetry — performance, voice and rhythm

• Slam poetry performance

Taking part in a structured class discussion — listening and building on others

• Joining a class discussion

Crafting a controlled, atmospheric short story ending

• Writing a controlled ending

Improving a piece of writing by editing for vocabulary and accuracy

• Editing and improving your writing

Planning a short story — character, setting, problem, resolution

• Planning a short story

Using ambitious, precise vocabulary instead of common, vague words

• Upgrading your vocabulary in writing

Using dialogue with correct punctuation in a story

• Writing dialogue in fiction

Using show-not-tell to describe a character

• Describing a character: show, don't tell

Using varied sentence lengths and structures for effect

• Sentence variety in your writing

Writing a piece of descriptive writing inspired by an image

• Descriptive writing from an image

Writing a vivid setting description — using the five senses

• Describing a setting

Writing a vivid story opening using setting detail and tension

• Writing an opening hook

Writing extended descriptive writing under timed conditions

• Timed descriptive writing

Writing the opening of a Gothic story — setting, atmosphere, tension

• Writing a Gothic opening

Writing the opening of a malevolent or villainous character

• Writing a malevolent character