Rebecca: Activity Pack for AS / A Level

Set text for:
  • AQA A AS & A Level
  • OCR A Level (first teaching 2022)

With themes of first love, self-love, marriage, family and friendship, rolled in with passion, grief, jealousy and deception, du Maurier’s Gothic, psychological novel Rebecca is a perfect fit for both AQA A's 'Love Through the Ages’ and OCR's 'The Gothic'. Subtle horror, murder and mystery combine with vivid and beautifully written descriptions, making it a text accessible for learners at all levels. This focused and creative activity pack provides a variety of ready-to-use exercises, covering the whole text, for you to mix and match to suit your class.

It is a comprehensive walk through of the text with a series of activities that would help pupils address the main issues

J Hathaway, HoD & Peer Reviewer
Activities include:
  • engaging questions
  • critical thinking
  • close reading
  • pair and group tasks
  • visual, audio and kinaesthetic tasks
  • further research

Linked to the AOs throughout!

Plus! Concise chapter summaries and answers to all activities included.

Prepare
Pre-reading exercises provide a starting point for study

Explore
Appealing chapter-by-chapter tasks guide students through the text, 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

The resource's value lies in its comprehensive nature: it clearly addresses every aspect of the novel that is relevant to the AQA specification and would be an excellent support to a busy teacher

J Hathaway, HoD & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (9286)

The resource is excellent! I have read and reviewed several of the AQA Lit A Level resource and activity packs and this one is the best example I have seen... The list of activities is extensive and varied. There is a huge range of activities for students to complete in pairs, groups or independently and the style of activities varies from traditional grid-filling exercises to mind mapping, discussion, quiz, and other activities which promote engagement and oracy. The background activities list is also extensive and this is vital since the text features in the unit which spans the longest period of time - students need a good introduction to the text and its context within the time period... From a teacher's point of view, I think this resource would aid planning hugely. It can be difficult to keep the momentum when planning a scheme of work on an A Level prose text and towards the end it's easy to just revert to tried and tested activities which do the job but which don't necessarily enthuse students. This resource prevents that - the variety of activities is inspiring as a teacher and this would lead to more successful planning and more engaged students... I think the resource is perfectly matched to the specification and would provide everything needed for a teacher to plan a scheme of learning on Rebecca for students to complete both at home, for independent study and in the classroom.

N Selwood, Head of English & Peer Reviewer

A fantastic resource that explores the text in a structured, considered and thorough manner. An incredible asset to anyone teaching Rebecca for the first time or seeking to refresh teaching ideas... I love the explicit links to assessment objectives and the way the activities integrate analytical work with creative tasks. The focus on genre is really enriching as well as the discussion points... Whilst the analysis and activities for the novel are fantastic, what really makes this resource valuable are the links to wider themes and texts, for example the comparison with Jane Eyre and Othello, that really enrich pupils understanding of the novel and of its place in the canon in English literature... This is not just an excellent starting point, but provides a comprehensive and thorough scheme for the whole text, interleaving study of wider literary themes and novels with the opportunity for creativity and deep analytical focus.

C Peake , Head of English & Peer Reviewer

This resource contained a series of very thoughtful activities - mainly discussion based - that clearly highlight and target some of the main themes and issues in the text. It is a comprehensive walk through of the text with a series of activities that would help pupils address the main issues. I liked the comprehensive nature of the resource and how it clearly targeted Assessment Outcomes. The resource's value lies in its comprehensive nature: it clearly addresses every aspect of the novel that is relevant to the AQA specification and would be an excellent support to a busy teacher who does not know the novel well and/or has little time to plan and prepare activities. It would also be an excellent guide to give to more able pupils to engage in some self-study of the text. The resource targets the AQA specification expertly - there are plenty of comparison activities to other Love Through the Ages texts and the wider literary context is considered. There are plenty of activities to help pupils examine the treatment of love as a theme in Rebecca against the backdrop of the wider presentation of love as a theme. This is a carefully considered resource with a range of thoughtful activities.

J Hathaway, HoD & Peer Reviewer