The Sign of Four

Last updated: 15/11/2023
The Sign of Four cover
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Key stage
Resource type
Teaching pack

Ensure your students are GCSE-ready with our new teaching pack, The Sign of Four.

Written for AQA’s GCSE English Literature paper, this pack takes a detailed look at this 19th century text and features tasks such as text analysis, character profiles, comprehension questions, word maps, Venn diagrams, tension graphs and exam practice questions.

Tasks are mapped to assessment objectives and can be differentiated to suit all levels.

Immerse your students in Sherlock Holmes’ second mystery – one of murder, greed and betrayal.

What's included?

  • 24 lessons
  • includes starters, introductory activities, development tasks, plenaries, homework and assessment opportunities
  • exam practice questions.

What's inside?

Introduction (pages 3-21)

  • AQA specification summary
  • Pre-reading activities:

Chapter 1: The Science of Deduction (pages 22-40)

  • Lesson 1: Holmes and Watson: first impressions
  • Lesson 2: Holmes and Watson’s relationship

Chapter 2: The Statement of the Case (pages 41-52)

  • Lesson 3: Creating suspense and mystery
  • Lesson 4: Mary Morstan: the Victorian woman

Chapter 3: In Quest of a Solution (pages 53-68)

  • Lesson 5: The characters in context
  • Lesson 6: The people of Victorian London

Chapter 4: The Story of the Bald-Headed Man (pages 69-79)

  • Lesson 7: Thaddeus Sholto
  • Lesson 8: Greed, reputation and Victorian policing

Chapter 5: The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge (pages 80-93)

  • Lesson 9: Structure, suspense and romance
  • Lesson 10: A Gothic tale

Chapter 6: Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration (pages 94-106)

  • Lesson 11: Detectives
  • Lesson 12: The superhuman, the human and the other

Chapter 7: The Episode of the Barrel (pages 107-122)

  • Lesson 13: The romance
  • Lesson 14: The rising action

Chapter 8: The Baker Street Irregulars (pages 123-135)

  • Lesson 15: Characters and social status
  • Lesson 16: Holmes’ investigation methods

Chapter 9: A Break in the Chain (pages 136-148)

  • Lesson 17: Structural techniques
  • Lesson 18: Developing relationships

Chapter 10: The End of the Islander (pages 149-161)

  • Lesson 19: The boat race
  • Lesson 20: Tonga: the ‘other’

Chapter 11: The Great Agra Treasure (pages 162-172)

  • Lesson 21: The dangers of greed
  • Lesson 22: Mary Morstan: the real treasure

Chapter 12: The Strange Story of Jonathan Small (pages 172-188)

  • Lesson 23: Telling the story
  • Lesson 24: The denouement

This sample student activity looking at language in The Sign of Four:

Creating suspense
1. Explore how Conan Doyle uses the journey to the theatre to create and build suspense. How does a sense of foreboding and suspense develop throughout the chapter? Comment on the following features: 

  • pace and the passing of time
  • the use of mysterious and unknown characters
  • pathetic fallacy to create mood and atmosphere
  • description.

2. Explore the impact of the descriptions of the settings on the reader. Focus on the extract from ‘At the Lyceum Theatre …’ to ‘… the kitchen window’. (pp.21–23)
Key quotations you could explore: 

  • ‘a furious pace through the foggy streets’
  • ‘questionable and forbidding neighbourhood’
  • ‘the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country’
  • ‘None of the other houses were inhabited, and that at which we stopped was as dark as its neighbours.’
The Sign of Four
£15.00
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All reviews

Have you used this resource?

5
Excellent: informative, comprehensive with great links

Olga Kouri

26/01/2022

5

03/02/2021

5

23/04/2020

5

18/03/2020

5
Excellent: informative, comprehensive with great links

Olga Kouri

26/01/2022

5

03/02/2021

5

23/04/2020

5

18/03/2020