Francis Gilbert

The Turn of the Screw: The Study Guide Edition

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“A great teacher,” Jeremy Paxman, BBC’s Newsnight.

“Clearly Francis Gilbert is a gifted and charismatic teacher,” Philip Pullman, author of ‘Northern Lights’.

“Gilbert writes so well that you half-suspect he could give up the day job,” The Independent.

Are you a student struggling to understand Henry James’s classic novella?

Or are you an educator wanting ready-made exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book?

This edition of James’s haunting narrative contains a comprehensive study guide as well as activities that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at pupils reading the book as an exam text, there are detailed instructions about how to understand the challenging language, to appreciate the novel’s contexts and to write effective essays. The complete text is punctuated by analysis and questions on every chapter with answers provided at the back. Essential reading for all students and teachers!

You can buy the paperback here.

 

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Wuthering Heights — A Study Guide

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You can buy the book here on Amazon.

Do you know the answers to these questions?

What fantasy world did Emily and her sisters invent which influenced the writing of the novel?

What does the novel have in common with modern-day soap operas?

How and why does Bronte make Heathcliff so unpleasant and yet so attractive?

How and why was Bronte influenced by Elizabethan dramas called Revenger’s Tragedies?

In what ways is the novel about social status?

If these questions have got you think, then maybe you should buy this study guide.

This is a detailed guide for anybody either studying or teaching Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights. It is tailored to help students write an excellent piece of coursework on the book, or assist them with studying for an exam. It could also be very useful for a teacher teaching the text in the classroom: it includes a long section which consists of important passages in the book, together with useful literary analysis of these quotations, followed by comprehension questions and discussion points. The guide is possibly more useful than many on the market because it is a) modern in its approach b) encourages a personal response to the text — vital if a candidate is going to get a higher mark in an exam. The guide includes a detailed discussion of the context Bronte’s fiction arose from, and an exploration how we interpret the novel now. It is lively and engaging in its approach and includes a useful summary of the book. It is written by an experienced teacher who understands what needs to be covered in a study guide. It should prove to be an excellent resource for GCSE and A Level students.

To sum up, this study guide is useful in the following ways:

It is a great resource for students aiming for top grades;

It offers a fantastic stimulus for encouraging students to develop personal responses to the text, which are vital if they are going to achieve at a high level;

It could prove to be a great classroom resource for teachers too; the important sections of the novel are quoted in full here, together with useful discussion points/comprehension questions;

It is written by an experienced teacher who has taught the text in “real” classroom situations and knows what students need to learn. You get the book here on Amazon.

Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: The Study Guide Edition

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Bronts_Wuthering_H_Cover_for_Kindle

“A great teacher,” Jeremy Paxman, BBC’s Newsnight.

“Clearly Francis Gilbert is a gifted and charismatic teacher,” Philip Pullman, author of ‘Northern Lights’.

“Gilbert writes so well that you half-suspect he could give up the day job,” The Independent.

Are you a student struggling to understand Emily Brontë’s classic novel ‘Wuthering Heights’?

Or are you an educator wanting ready-made exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book? This edition of Emily Brontë ‘s classic novel contains a comprehensive study guide as well as activities that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at pupils reading the book as an exam text, there are detailed instructions about how to understand the challenging language, to appreciate the novel’s contexts and to write effective essays. The complete text is punctuated by analysis and questions on every chapter with answers provided at the back. Essential reading for all students and teachers!

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Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: The Study Guide Edition

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Austens_Pride_and_P_Cover_for_Kindle

“A great teacher,” Jeremy Paxman, BBC’s Newsnight.

“Clearly Francis Gilbert is a gifted and charismatic teacher,” Philip Pullman, author of Northern Lights.

“Gilbert writes so well that you half-suspect he could give up the day job,” The Independent.

Are you a student struggling to understand Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice? Or are you an English teacher wanting ready-made exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book? This edition of Austen’s classic novel contains a comprehensive study guide as well as extensive questions that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at students and teachers reading the book as an exam text, there is a detailed introduction which outlines the historical context of the novel, the ways in which it was influenced by the other genres/writers and how it is structured. The complete text is punctuated by useful comments and questions on every chapter.  There is also a section on how to write successful essays. When you buy the paperback, you will be able to access the e-book for free and use many of the web links which are embedded in it.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Study Guide Edition

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“A great teacher,” Jeremy Paxman, BBC’s Newsnight.

“Clearly Francis Gilbert is a gifted and charismatic teacher,” Philip Pullman, author of Northern Lights.

“Gilbert writes so well that you half-suspect he could give up the day job,” The Independent.

Are you a student struggling to understand Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein?

Or are you an educator wanting ready-made exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book?

This edition of Shelley’s classic horror novel contains a comprehensive study guide to the work as well as extensive questions for students to work on in order to help their understanding. Aimed specifically at students and teachers reading the book as an exam text, there is a detailed introduction which outlines how to understand the difficult language, how to write top grade essays, and how to discuss the contexts of the novel. The complete text is punctuated by useful comments and engaging tasks on every chapter. When you buy the paperback, you will be able to access the e-book for free and use many of the web links which are embedded throughout the text.

“What’s really great about this edition is that my students can work through it and there are interesting and useful questions waiting for them at the end of every chapter,” a secondary English teacher.

“This was a good book to work through on my own. Buying the paperback meant I got the e-book free and I was able to use all the nifty links embedded in the text as well,” an A Level student.

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: The Study Guide Edition

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Charlotte_Bronts_J_Cover_for_Kindle

“A great teacher,” Jeremy Paxman, BBC’s Newsnight. “Clearly Francis Gilbert is a gifted and charismatic teacher,” Philip Pullman, author of Northern Lights.

“Gilbert writes so well that you half-suspect he could give up the day job,” The Independent.

Are you a student struggling to understand Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre?

Or are you an educator wanting ready-made exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book? This edition of Brontë ‘s classic novel contains a comprehensive study guide as well as activities that stimulate and engage. Aimed specifically at students and teachers reading the book as an exam text, there are detailed instructions about how to understand the challenging language, to appreciate the novel’s context and to write effective essays. The complete text is punctuated by analysis and questions on every chapter.

The e-book contains the best weblinks on the novel.

“What’s really great about this edition is that my students can work through it and there are interesting and useful questions waiting for them at the end of every chapter,”  a secondary English teacher.

“This was a good book to work through on my own. Buying the paperback meant I got the e-book free and I was able to use all the nifty links embedded in the text as well,” an A Level student.

The Turn of the Screw: A Study Guide

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The_Turn_of_the_Scre_Cover_for_Kindle

What ghost story inspired James’ novella?

Are the ghosts in the novel real or figments of a neurotic imagination?
How does James use an unreliable narrator to create suspense?
How does James generate such a sinister atmosphere in the story?
For the price of a chocolate bar, you can become an expert on one of the greatest novellas in the language.

This is a detailed study guide for anybody either studying or teaching Henry James’s novella. It is tailored to help students write an excellent piece of coursework on the book, or assist them with studying for an exam — but it will be of interest to the general reader too. For the teacher, it quotes important passages in the book and offers literary analysis of them. The guide is distinctive because it is a) modern in its approach b) encourages a personal response to the text — vital if a candidate is going to get a higher mark in an assessment. There is a detailed discussion of the context in which James’s work arose and an exploration of how different readers might interpret the text now. Lively and engaging, it is written by an experienced teacher who understands what needs to be covered in a study guide. An excellent resource for GCSE and A Level students, or anyone studying the book at school or university.

To sum up, this study guide is useful in the following ways:

It is a great resource for students aiming for top grades;
It offers a fantastic stimulus for encouraging students to develop personal responses to the text, which are vital if they are going to achieve at a high level;
It could prove to be a great classroom resource for teachers too: the important sections of the novel are quoted in full here, together with useful discussion points/comprehension questions;
It is written by an experienced teacher who has taught the text in “real” classroom situations and knows what students need to learn.

Pride & Prejudice — A Study Guide

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Pride_and_Prejudice__Cover_for_Kindle

 

You can buy the book here on Amazon.

Why did Jane Austen never marry?

Who shows pride and who shows prejudice?

How and why does Austen create comedy in the novel?

This is an up-to-date study guide to Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, aimed at 15-19 year olds and the general reader. The guide is modern in its approach and provides all the necessary information to get a top grade in an exam and/or coursework. It is particularly useful because it not only provides the key details about Austen’s life and the social and literary influences upon the text, but also offers a detailed textual analysis of key passages in the book.

If students read the last section of the book carefully, they will not only learn about the vital sections of the text quickly, but also see how top-grade analysis can be conducted. Discussion points are provided so that students can think about the key issues related to the text. The second section of the guide would make a great classroom resource for a teacher wanting to cover the text quickly and thoroughly because students could read the key passages highlighted in the guide and answer the discussion points in their exercise books or in group discussions. This would give them invaluable practice for an exam or coursework.

The study guide is essential reading because:

It’s a great resource for students aiming for top grades;

It encourages students to develop personal responses to the text, which is vital if they are going to achieve at a high level;

It’s a great classroom resource for teachers too: the important sections of the novel are quoted in full here, together with useful discussion points/comprehension questions.

The Hound of the Baskervilles: A Study Guide

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For the price of a chocolate bar, you can become an expert on one of the greatest novels in the language.

Can you answer these questions?

Do you know why “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is the most unusual Sherlock Holmes story?

Why did Conan Doyle feel so ambivalent about the famous detective he created?

How did Conan Doyle employ elements of the Gothic in his story?

Is ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ the first modern detective story?

If you can’t, maybe you should read this guide! This is a detailed, lively study guide on Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. Above all, it is ideal for students studying the text for various examinations and coursework, as well as the general reader. The guide contains a detailed explanation of the contexts of the novella: how and why it came to be written, and the ways in which it invented the concept of the modern detective novel. In contrast to many other study guides, it encourages the reader to develop his or her own personal response to the novel. It does this by including detailed analysis of key passages from the book, together with important discussion points. There is a useful reading list, and a lively, engaging style is adopted throughout.

The guide is written by an experienced English teacher who understands the concepts, facts and literary techniques that students need to learn about when writing about a text. It could be useful to teachers as well, particularly the second section which focuses upon textual analysis and generating a personal response from students.

To sum up, this study guide is useful in the following ways:

It is a great resource for students aiming for top grades;

It offers a fantastic stimulus for encouraging students to develop personal responses to the text, which are vital if they are going to achieve at a high level;

It could prove to be a great classroom resource for teachers too; the important sections of the novel are quoted in full here, together with useful discussion points/comprehension questions;

It is written by an experienced teacher who has taught the text in “real” classroom situations and knows what students need to learn.