Hideous and Horrible

Subject: English Literature
Level: Secondary
Age Group: 11 - 14
Order Number: 5040

Hideous and Horrible is a selection of thirteen copyright-free poems and stories suitable for English groups from Year 8 to Year 10. The subject of horror has great appeal for this age range; at this stage many of the books students choose to read are of this type.

The stimulus materials included range in difficulty from fairly simple to quite complex, both in content and expression. The pack includes well-known poetry standards such as sections of The Ancient Mariner and Childe Rowland, and less well known poems by Walt Whitman and Arthur Graeme West describing the horrors of war on land and at sea.

Narrative selections are adapted from classic nineteenth century writers- Emily Brontë- Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Mary Godwin and Edgar Allen Poe. Each extract is coupled with a comprehensive worksheet, designed to give students practice in areas such as comprehension, research skills and spelling and vocabulary exercises.

Suggestions for spoken English and group work include preparation of dramatic readings, discussion and debate, prepared talks and group projects. Written outcomes consist of story telling, poems, personal and descriptive writing, letters and newspaper articles, questions on characterisation and expression of personal opinions.

All the worksheets have been recently revised in line with the new National Curriculum for English.