I've always been a reader and I've always been a writer - it was how I defined myself. Now that I'm a teacher of reading and writing, I appreciate more than ever how important these two pillars are - and how under threat they are! Long before Ai reared its ugly head, young people were beginning to put down books in favour of the TV, games consoles or phones. Potential writers stopped imagining worlds in favour of having them imagined for them, rendered in vivid detail. Now, in this age of Ai, we need reading and writing more than ever. Students must understand the power of the written word to both reflect and create the worlds we share.

In many respects, despite going through a very 21st Century teacher training, and working in some excellent schools in the UK and abroad, my approach to teaching the language remains quite traditional: if you want to improve your reading, find something you love reading; and if you want to learn to write, have the confidence to believe that you can echo your heroes. All these resources are designed with this in mind.

The extracts below are all short enough to be enjoyed in a lesson, or completed as a homework - or even left as cover; though to do so would be to waste a remarkable chance to teach some of the best prose - and the biggest ideas - in English. The full list includes extracts by some of the world's best writers, some genuinely interesting work by ChatGPT, and some writing by myself, mostly work that is specifically geared towards the skills needed for English Lang/Lit assessment. Each piece contains the reading, with comprehension questions, some new vocab work and a piece of creative writing inspired by the reading. They're all neatly packaged and ready to go.

Feel free to click on any of the links below to explore...