• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Narrative techniques: unreliable narrator, in medias res, frame narrative…; Drama terms: soliloquy, aside, foil, hamartia, catharsis…; Literary analysis: theme, symbol, ambiguity). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which narrative technique matches this description? Writing that imitates the flow of a character's thoughts, often jumping between ideas. (stream of consciousness / in medias res / frame narrative / epistolary) → stream of consciousnessPrompt: Think about who tells the story, in what form, and where the story starts.
2. Which drama term matches this description? Instructions in a script about movement, setting, sound or how lines are spoken. (foil / tragic hero / hamartia / stage directions) → stage directionsPrompt: Who is the character speaking to: themselves, the audience, or other characters?
3. Which narrative technique is used here? Each chapter is narrated by a different member of the family, so we see the same argument from four sides. (unreliable narrator / stream of consciousness / epistolary / multiple narrators) → multiple narratorsPrompt: Is the form unusual (letters, thoughts), does the story start mid-action, sit inside another story, or have a narrator we can't trust?

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which literary movement matches this description? 1830s–1840s New England: intuition, self-reliance and the spiritual value of nature.
• Step 1: Literary movements share themes, styles and historical contexts; recognising them helps you write about context.
• Step 2: Transcendentalism: 1830s–1840s New England: intuition, self-reliance and the spiritual value of nature.
• Step 3: So the answer is: Transcendentalism
• Answer: Transcendentalism
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which literary movement matches this description? Mid–late 20th century onwards: playfulness, metafiction and scepticism about single 'grand' truths. (Transcendentalism / Romanticism / Gothic / Postmodernism) → PostmodernismPrompt: Think about the period and the key features: emotion and nature? terror? everyday life? experiment? jazz-age Harlem? self-reliance? play with fiction itself?
2. Which literary movement does this description most closely match? A poem celebrates a solitary walk among mountains and lakes, valuing feeling and imagination over logic. (Gothic / Romanticism / Harlem Renaissance / Modernism) → RomanticismPrompt: Which features in the description are most distinctive?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Which literary movement does this description most closely match? A novel's narrator interrupts the story to discuss with the reader how she might end it, offering three different endings. (Realism / Postmodernism / Romanticism / Gothic) → PostmodernismPrompt: Which features in the description are most distinctive?
2. Which literary movement matches this description? From the mid 18th century: mystery, terror, the supernatural and gloomy settings such as ruined castles. (Harlem Renaissance / Realism / Gothic / Postmodernism) → GothicPrompt: Think about the period and the key features: emotion and nature? terror? everyday life? experiment? jazz-age Harlem? self-reliance? play with fiction itself?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-12.