April 2026 teaching English update
Dear Colleagues
Many of you will currently be taking a break, but I hope you find some ideas in my April update to help you with the practical tasks ahead as well as inspiration for your teaching at the start of the summer term.
What’s in the April teaching English update?
• Signing Shakespeare: opening the world of Shakespeare to every learner
• Coursework/SLE submission reminders
• Summer term GCSE networks
• British Library A level: Fairy Tales Study Day – Angela Carter
• ActiveLearn to ActiveHub
• Exam Practice Assistant for GCSE English Language 2.0
• English and Media Centre Close Reading Competition 2026
• Hot Poets Take Over: poetry, creativity, hope and science
Signing Shakespeare: opening the world of Shakespeare to every learner
Every young person wants to feel like they belong in the classroom, and that they have the tools they need to thrive. But when Shakespeare, the most challenging and linguistically dense part of GCSE English is taught without adapted support, deaf and hard of hearing learners can feel left behind before the lesson has even begun.
Signing Shakespeare is Pearson’s commitment to changing that.
This pioneering suite of resources, developed in partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute, are designed to support deaf and hard of hearing learners to access Shakespeare, while also offering an engaging multimodal experience that benefits all learners.
Get advice on all your emerging submission questions in these key posts:
Coursework submission for GCSE, Int GCSE, A level and ELC.
SLE submission FAQs
‘The Bloody Chamber’ has long been a favourite text for A level English Literature coursework. If you are in London, why not take students on a free study day at the British Library on 19 May 2026.
Find out more about this and a huge array of other schools’ events.
Do you subscribe to English Language and Literature on ActiveLearn?
Your upgrade to ActiveHub is coming soon
If you’re currently using ActiveLearn Secondary (ALS) for English, you’ll be given access to ActiveHub by the start of summer term. In ActiveHub, you'll find a completely new suite of teaching and learning resources to cover all your needs for English Language and Literature.
There are over 700 lessons with resources that can be used flexibly in class or at home, including online activities, videos, worksheets and PowerPoints, all supported with assessments and intervention resources.
If you subscribe to Rapid Plus resources on ActiveLearn, you’ll be given access to ActiveHub in August. Rapid Plus on ActiveHub will continue to include all the features you know and love but with updated reporting making it even easier to track students' progress.
Over the coming weeks, subscribing schools will receive an email from noreply@notifications.pearson.com confirming access to ActiveHub. You’ll log in using the same username and password you use for ActiveLearn, making the transition straightforward.
Find everything you need to prepare for the move.
Not currently using ActiveLearn for English Language and Literature?
If you don’t have an ActiveLearn subscription but want to find out more about ActiveHub for English, including content, assessment tools and classroom benefits, explore our dedicated ActiveHub pages.
Discover ActiveHub
The Exam Practice Assistant provides automated marking and feedback for 2.0 language and structure analysis questions. Covers 19th to 21st century texts. Auto-generated flashcards help reinforce natural language and structure terminology. Free teacher access available.
Find out more
Sign up for free teacher access to try it out.
At the very heart of ‘English’ as a subject is ‘close reading’. It’s not too late for your students to enter this competition for advanced level students. The competition is simple – read the extract from the prose text, Twist by Colum McCann, and write 500 words about it. The deadline is 20 May 2026.
Find out more about the competition.
Subject advisor
Clare Haviland
English
