• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Naming language techniques (GCSE); Allusion, irony, oxymoron and pun). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which technique matches this description? Deliberate exaggeration for effect. (hyperbole / personification / pathetic fallacy / metaphor) → hyperbolePrompt: Recall the key test for each technique: like/as? human actions? weather? s-sounds? exaggeration? contrast?
2. Which device is used? "Lovely weather," she said, as rain poured through the broken roof. (verbal irony / pun / oxymoron / allusion) → verbal ironyPrompt: Is it a reference to a famous story, contradictory words side by side, a play on words, or the opposite of what's expected?
3. Which technique is used here? The lake was as still as glass. (pathetic fallacy / simile / sibilance / juxtaposition) → similePrompt: Check for 'like' or 'as' first, then human actions, then exaggeration.

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: Words from myth, literature and history (herculean, quixotic, boycott…). Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which word or phrase matches this description? a trusted adviser (from Mentor, who guided Odysseus's son)
• Step 1: Many English words come from Greek and Roman myth, literature and real people; knowing the story helps you remember the meaning.
• Step 2: mentor: a trusted adviser (from Mentor, who guided Odysseus's son)
• Step 3: So the answer is: mentor
• Answer: mentor
• 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 word or phrase matches this description? needing enormous strength or effort (from Hercules and his twelve labours) (galvanise / Pandora's box / herculean / laconic) → herculeanPrompt: Recall the story behind each word: the hero, the god, the place or the person.
2. Type the word or phrase (in English) that matches this description. a source of many unforeseen troubles (from the myth of Pandora) → Pandora's boxPrompt: Recall the story behind each word: the hero, the god, the place or the person.

• 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 8 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 word or phrase matches this description? a source of many unforeseen troubles (from the myth of Pandora) (draconian / quixotic / Pandora's box / mercurial) → Pandora's boxPrompt: Recall the story behind each word: the hero, the god, the place or the person.
2. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? The director's ___ temper meant the actors never knew what to expect. (herculean / stoic / mercurial / laconic) → mercurialPrompt: What idea does the sentence need: effort, few words, harshness, idealism, temptation, protest, weakness…?

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