Othello: Activity Pack for AS/A Level English Literature

Set text for:
  • AQA A AS & A Level
  • AQA B AS & A Level
  • Edexcel A Level

Transport your class to the exotic and tragic world of the Renaissance Mediterranean, with comprehensive and dynamic activities on Shakespeare’s most theatrical tragedy.

Explore the play’s destructive and gripping themes, observe Shakespeare's amazing ability at characterisation, and discover the contextual factors that make Othello such a fascinating text.

Enhances learning via its thoroughness... Requires students to consider all of the major characters, all of the themes, Shakespeare’s language... Leaves few stones unturned!

J Clarke, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Ready-to-use handouts cover the whole text, for you to mix and match to suit your class.

Activities include:
  • engaging questions
  • critical thinking
  • close reading
  • pair and group tasks
  • visual, audio and kinaesthetic tasks
  • further research

Accessible for every level and linked to the AOs

Plus! Answers to all activities included.

  • Prepare Pre-reading exercises provide a starting point for study
  • Explore Appealing scene-by-scene tasks guide students through the novel, allowing them to gain understanding and analytical skills while remaining engaged
  • Reflect Whole-text activities show the bigger picture, exploring key areas of: Characterisation • Relationships • Genre • Themes • Attitudes and values • Writer’s use of language • Form • Structure • Context • Critical reception

What do teachers say about this resource? (7685)

An effective resource as it offers a range of activities to help develop not only understanding of the plot, characters and context, but it also helps to develop a critical approach to how to think about authorial intent behind each of these aspects... There are a variety of activities to be able to use and choose from based on individual teachers’ preferences... It would be helpful to teachers to have a bank of these on hand to be able to draw on – I think the plot section is particularly useful as it focuses on key moments in the play in a helpful manner, prompting independent responses from students... There’s a wide range of activities so it does not become repetitive for students... The suggested answer section at the end for the activities help reassure teachers of the sort of answers to expect from students... The resource helps to enhance learning by fostering opportunities for independence and enabling students to develop their own critical reviews of the play... It matches the AOs appropriately and the signposts to the AOs for each activity... The teacher notes are extremely helpful.

J Murdoch, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

This is an amazing resource, it is thorough and includes some highly engaging activities that encourage higher level critical thinking... I love the fact that this resource takes you scene by scene with activities that can be completed alongside the reading of the text. The activities are a great mix of analytical and physical/dramatic activities... This is engaging and moves beyond reading and analysing. These activities make learning the play much more fun! It really is a fantastic resource.

S Kinsey, Teacher of English & Peer Reviewer

A diverse range of activities, covering a broad range of difficulty, so lots for teachers to choose from... Helpful in planning lessons and student could use for independent study/homeworks so useful on multiple fronts.

E Harpley, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The resource enhances learning via its thoroughness. [It] requires students to consider all of the major characters, all of the themes, Shakespeare’s language, etc: it leaves few stones unturned! I particularly liked the extraordinarily comprehensive way the resource addresses all of the AOs. So many resources on the market only truly address AO2 in detail, but this one is very wide-ranging. The author is especially talented at exploring AO3 and hits the perfect note between simply telling students characteristics of the Renaissance and guiding them to discover these on their own. Some of the language exercises were super too. The exercise on modal verbs really ‘nailed’ the root of Iago’s ability to deceive. I liked the colourful language that cropped up from time to time, starting off in the Intro with the reference to Romeo and Juliet being a 'gateway drug'. The resource is skilled at recognizing which vocabulary words (such as misogynist) would be useful for the students to learn. J Clarke, English Teacher and Independent Reviewer

J Clarke, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

I like the activities exploring aspects of language and connections with other plays. These would be very useful to a classroom teacher.

L Prince, English Teacher & Expert Reviewer