10 easy British literature lesson plans for your ELA classroom |

Are you looking for British literature lesson plans for your ELA classroom? New to teaching British literature? Or just on the lookout for some quick new activities to add to your existing British literature curriculum?

Look no further, just grab a coffee, or tea, or chai mochaccino frappe latte, and plonk your booty on a chair. Because today we have 10 easy British literature lesson plans for you to whip right out in your next class.

Now, I’m not trying to give a full British literature curriculum complete with suggested reading lists. I’m just going to show you a basic lesson plan that you can adapt with all of the resources I’m going to show you today.

These are your fast, easy, ready-to-print lessons that you need yesterday because your kid is puking on your shoe at the supermarket. And you can guarantee that you are going to be up all night.

And you just might be puking on your own shoe by 3am.

#teacherlife

Also, why are you wearing shoes at 3am? Just wondering.

The basic plan

So, the basic plan is for your students to watch a short video and then complete the accompanying British literature worksheet. I know. Brilliant. Fast. Easy.

All you have to do is copy the video links onto a lesson plan with a set of instructions and a copy of the worksheet and you’re done.

You could probably even do it mid-puke. Or you know, while your kid is sleeping and (hopefully) before you succumb to whatever nasty bug has decided to throw your guts into turmoil.

My favorite videos for anything ELA, history, geography, or just-about-anything-related are of course the Crash Course videos. You can read my embarrassing love letter to them here.

Or you can just skip that (please!) and check out the British literature texts they cover below, as well as our awesome worksheets to complete the British literature lesson plans.

At the end of each section, I’ll link to blog posts with other activities. I’ll also cover a few follow-up activities you could add to the British literature lesson plan you want your substitute-teaching angel who takes your class to follow.

British literature lesson plan #1: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Crash Course Literature has two videos on this Shakespearean tragedy (this one and this one)

We also have these two easy worksheets to go with the videos.

And if you’re after more resources for Romeo and Juliet, you can check out this blog post that has a bunch of teaching resources for Romeo and Juliet.

British literature lesson plan #2: Shakespeare’s Hamlet

On to another Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet. You can find the Crash Course Literature videos for the play here and here.

And our easy worksheets are here.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a blog post to show you a bunch more resources for Hamlet, just haven’t got to it. Let me know on Facebook or Instagram if you want one!

British literature lesson plan #3: Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Really. . . another tragedy . . . come on Shakespeare. I guess it was the Middle Ages and you could die from drinking water. So there’s that.

You can find the Macbeth videos by Crash Course here and here.

Our printable, no-prep worksheets are here.

And we have a blog post with more Macbeth teaching ideas and resources here.

Lesson plan #4: Shakespeare’s sonnets

Ok, last lesson plan for Shakespeare. This one is for some of his sonnets. You can find the Crash Course video here.

Our worksheet is here.

And if you want some more Shakespeare content, teaching ideas, and teaching resources, check out these blog posts:

Lesson plan #5: Frankenstein

Now, let’s get some lovely ladies into this British literature lesson plan blog post, shall we? First up we have Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. You can find the Crash Course Literature videos here and here.

Our fun worksheets are here and this is a blog post you can use to find other resources to help you teach Frankenstein.

Lesson plan #6: Pride and Prejudice

And what British literature reading list or curriculum would be complete without Ms. Austen? Check out the Crash Course videos for Pride and Prejudice here and here.

We have some fun worksheets here and a blog post with other teaching resources for Pride and Prejudice here.

British literature lesson plan #7: To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf’s modernist To the Lighthouse is next. The Crash Course video for it is here, and our worksheet is here.

We don’t have a blog post with more resources for her, but let us know if you want one.

Lesson plan #8: Jane Eyre

The last of the ladies is Charlotte Bronte and her novel Jane Eyre. You can find the Crash Course video for her novel here and our worksheet here.

We also have this blog post with more resources for teaching Jane Eyre.

Lesson plan #9: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Back to the gents with George Orwell’s dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Crash Course videos for his novel are here and here. Our worksheets are here.

Let us know if you want a blog post with extra teaching resources for his novel.

British literature lesson plan #10: Lord of the Flies

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a long-standing inclusion of the British literature curriculum for many schools. You can find the Crash Course video for the text here.

Our worksheet for it is here and we also have a blog post with teaching resources for the book here.

If you want all the worksheets, you can buy the bundle at a discount here.

Now, you’re still puking. . .

You’ve managed to type up your lesson plan between hanging your head over the toilet and rinsing your mouth out with Listerine.

But you can’t help but think that your students might breeze through the worksheets and the poor substitute-teaching angel might be left with a bunch of feral teens to manage for half a lesson.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’re going to explain a few easy activities you can give your substitute-teaching angel to use to stretch the lesson if they need to. You can even copy and paste the instructions and links below if it helps.

British literature lesson plan follow-up activities

Check out these easy, low-to-no prep British literature activities to follow up on the basic video + worksheet lesson plans listed above.

Write a paragraph explaining how British literature is ir/relevant to teens today using evidence from the video/text to back up your opinion.
Find 5 quotes from the text and create quote posters illustrating the quotes.
Create an infographic (using Canva) about some element of a British literature text you’ve studied. It could be about the author, themes, the plot, characters, or important quotes.
Create 5-10 memes using a meme creator to explain the plot of a British text you have studied before. You could use imgflip, makeameme, or Canva.
Do a ‘brain dump’ about every British literature text you’ve studied this year. You have 5 minutes to write down everything that you can think of or remember.
Create a fake text-message exchange between two characters from a British literature text you’ve studied before.

That’s all folks . . .

We hope you feel better soon. Nobody wants to be lesson planning when they’re puking, but hopefully, we made it a little easier.