lesson plan

Love Sports competition – Activity Ideas

We’ve all been treated to a feast of sporting excellence this summer with football’s FIFA World Cup held in Brazil in June and July and the triumphs of our athletes in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July and August. Next year we’ve got rugby’s world cup and the start of… Read More

What is Plague?

Throughout medieval times, plague was a word that struck fear into the hearts of all that heard it whispered or shouted in their towns and cities. In this activity the pupils will find out what ‘plague’ actually is and how it was spread as well as the shocking news that… Read More

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – teaching classics to a Harry Potter generation

By Jo Fliski The appeal of Harry Potter, I feel, is magic. Real, honest magic, the magic children are consumed, enraptured and engaged by. The same principle can be found in Lewis’ classic – it is after all, a story about magical lands, friendship and moral dilemma – the core… Read More

Wish you were…analysing language!

Being able to comment on the effects of language choices is essential to achieving grade C and above in GCSE English. Nonetheless students often struggle with this, getting tangled up in knots listing any literary terms they can remember and forgetting that the foundation of all language is words.A recent… Read More

A Skulduggery Success Story

Bridget Young, English and Humanities teacher at The Holmewood School in London, tells us about her class’s rewarding experience using the Collins Readers schools edition of Skulduggery Pleasant in the classroom. Skulduggery posters had been plastered around the school and in my classroom. Read More

The Horror Genre: Creating Atmosphere

by Naomi Hursthouse What is it about the horror genre that continues to grip teenage readers? Two hundred years ago the young Mary Shelley was so enthralled by the ghost stories she heard that her imagination gave birth to Frankenstein. And now, my students still flock to the horror section of… Read More

Writing and editing with Darren Shan

The idea for Cirque Du Freak popped into my head one day when I was sitting in a car, babysitting a young cousin who was asleep on the back seat. The question a writer gets asked the most is “Where do your… Read More

Wish you were . . . analysing language

Being able to comment on the effects of language choices is essential to achieving grade C and above in GCSE English. Nonetheless students often struggle with this, getting tangled up in knots listing any literary terms they can remember and forgetting that the foundation of all language is words. A… Read More

Fun with Foreshadowing

By Cathy MacPhail You know the kind of stories I love? The kind of stories that begin like this: We all arrived at the lakeside cottage, my friends and I, for a weekend of fun. The lake sparkled in the sun; we could hear the birds singing… Read More

How a Book is Made – The Editor

Meet Cathy Martin, editor. Cathy is the Commissioning Editor for all the ‘Read On’ books including, of course, Lone Wolf. This means she came up with ideas for the books and found authors and illustrators to… Read More