This pack of CHRISTMAS picture questions is designed for AQA GCSE English Language 9-1. They simulate Paper 1 Question 5 where students are given a picture and are presented with two options (it’s hard, almost to call them questions!). The tasks can be for a descriptive or a narrative response (although both tasks can be descriptive or narrative and this pack reflects that). I hope that you will be able to use this pack to help you increase the story-telling powers of your learners as well as their descriptive prowess!
The pack gives teachers the opportunity to have a selection of ready-made questions for Paper 1 Question 5. These can be used to ensure that there are always writing tasks at hand. They might be used to stimulate class or small group discussion or can be used as interchangeable exercises to be done during a session. I hope that there is a sufficient variety of Christmassy mages in this pack to pique the interest of even the most reluctant of writers. By giving your learners a choice of task (while the assessment objectives - A05 and A06 remain the same) these sample questions might help to ensure both differentiation and an element of choice. There are also a few naughty suggestions…
Each is formatted to include the question on a single A4 sheet. The originals are also included on their own if you would like to use them without the question stimulus. Plus if it’s easier for you - PDFs are also included of both files.
They would probably also be very useful if you are covering a class - the skills that students develop with these questions are vital for success in GCSE English as this question alone represents 25% of the entire exam.
All of the wonderful pictures have been ethically sourced and are available under a Creative Commons license which means you do not have to worry about copyright with them at all. Each originator is credited by use of a link to the original.

GCSE English Paper 1 Question 5 - Student Examples of Short Stories


You may have your GCSEs coming up in a short amount of time – in which case you may also be thinking “How one earth am I going to pass my English?”  Well, there are a number of ways – one of which is to look at example answers written by other students.  This video shows two examples of how to write a story – something which comes up in AQA GCSE English Paper 1 and is worth a whopping 50% of the entire paper – and 25% of the entire qualification.

So, it’s worth taking a look at what others students write and the grades that they get for their writing.  If you wonder how you might get a grade 5 or above for GCSE English then look no further!

You can also find PDFs of the stories on our TES store.  Don’t worry, it’s a free resource like all of our others!


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