Looking for time saving, creative, ready-to-use activities to kick-start and round up your lessons? Look no further!

Starters and plenaries are now an essential part of all lessons and this highly practical, bestselling book provides busy English teachers with creative activities to use in the classroom. The tasks will help ensure the first five minutes of any secondary lesson are a time for motivation, energy and forward thinking and will help students to reflect on, and embed their learning at the end.

Step by step instructions, teacher’s tips and worksheet examples make these 25 starters and 25 plenaries ready-to-use or easy to adapt for any secondary English lesson, helping students to develop and consolidate skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. This new book also comes with online PowerPoints and printable resources, giving you everything you need not just for planning your starters and plenaries but also for delivering them to your class.


The book covers the whole spectrum of topics that every English teacher needs to cover, and makes use of music, drama, maps, charts and practical props. Some ideas involve students managing and monitoring each other; some use all the senses; others involve creative thinking and where practical and appropriate, the content is embedded in the real world so that students can immediately see the wider application of their efforts. The 'teacher tips' section offers guidance on how to deliver the idea to get the best results based on years of trial and error by the author.