• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Theme). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. The new boy didn't speak English yet. At first, Sam ignored him. Then they discovered they both loved football, and soon they didn't need many words at all. What is the theme? (New pupils should stay quiet. / Learning English is easy. / Friendship can grow across differences. / Football is the best sport.) → Friendship can grow across differences.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?
2. The old fisherman had caught nothing for days. Still, every morning he rowed out. On the ninth day, his net came up full. What is the theme? (The sea is dangerous. / Perseverance can pay off. / Old people should rest. / Fishing is boring.) → Perseverance can pay off.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?
3. The king had gold, jewels and a hundred rooms, yet he was lonely. The poor shepherd had only a hut, but his family filled it with laughter. What is the theme? (Huts are small. / Love matters more than wealth. / Kings are cruel. / Shepherds are poor.) → Love matters more than wealth.Prompt: What big idea about life does the text explore?

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Poetry forms: sonnet, haiku, limerick, ballad, free verse…. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which poetry term matches this description? A funny five-line poem with the rhyme scheme AABBA.
• Step 1: Poetic forms are defined by length, rhyme, rhythm and purpose.
• Step 2: limerick: A funny five-line poem with the rhyme scheme AABBA.
• Step 3: So the answer is: limerick
• Answer: limerick
• 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 poetry term matches this description? Poetry with no regular rhyme or metre. (free verse / ballad / ode / quatrain) → free versePrompt: Think about the number of lines, the rhyme pattern, and the purpose (to praise, to mourn, to tell a story, to amuse).
2. Which poetic form is this? (/ shows a new line) The bus is late again. / Rain writes its long letters on the glass, / and nobody reads them. (sonnet / haiku / limerick / free verse) → free versePrompt: Count the lines and check whether they rhyme.

• 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 poetic form is this? (/ shows a new line) A cyclist who lived in Dundee / Rode into the side of a tree. / She said with a frown, / "I was looking down!" / And went home for a nice cup of tea. (elegy / sonnet / limerick / couplet) → limerickPrompt: Count the lines and check whether they rhyme.
2. Which poetry term matches this description? A three-line poem from Japan, traditionally with 5, 7 and 5 syllables, often about nature. (haiku / elegy / ballad / sonnet) → haikuPrompt: Think about the number of lines, the rhyme pattern, and the purpose (to praise, to mourn, to tell a story, to amuse).

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-8.