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Our Place◆ C O N N E C T I N G T E X T A N D G R A M M A R ◆

P e t e r K n a p p &M e g a n Wa t k i n s

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Our PlaceLearning Areas:English, Studies of Society and Environment

Genres: Describing and narrating

Text types:Recount, Commonsense description, Literarydescription

© 1996 Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins

ISBN 186441 087 6Our PlaceBlake EducationSeries ISBN 186441 085 XPO Box 234Alexandria NSW 2015The material in this book can be reproduced by theoriginal purchaser for use with their class(es) only.Printed by Printing CreationsThe National Library of AustraliaCataloguing - in - Publication Data:

Knapp, Peter, 1947-Our Place,ISBN 1 86441 085 X (series).ISBN 1 86441 087 6.1. English language - Grammar - Study and teaching(Primary). 2. Language arts (Primary). I. Watkins, Megan.II. Title. (Series: Connecting text and grammar).

372.6

Contents

Introduction v

Unit outline—programming grid x

Lessons1 My Place—a first look 12 Exploring time in narratives—plotting the story 33 Exploring time in narratives—plotting my story 64 Exploring time in other narratives 95 Exploring other narratives—reading logs 126 Exploring place in narratives—part 1 137 Exploring place in narratives—part 2 158 Describing places—part 1 179 Describing places—part 2 2010 Examining figural language 2311 Exploring characters 2812 Describing characters—writing a character profile 3013 Describing characters using figural language 3114 Putting it all together! 3315 A class book—Our Places 35

Assessing students’ final drafts 37

Overhead transparencies1 Reference 412 When? Who? Where? What? 423 Narrative reading log 434 Canberra 445 Mary’s place 456 Mary’s place—scaffold 467 Canberra—structure 478 The chocolate factory 489 Verb identification 4910 Character profile 5011 The BFG 5112 Class book planning guide 5213 Your place—lay-out plan 5314 Description of me and my home 5415 Describing your map 55

Our Place iii

iv Our Place

Blackline masters1 Our Place—wordbank 562 Reference 573 The four Ws 584 Tense 595 More exercises on tense 606 Timeline 617 Conjunctions 628 Object/circumstance 639 Circumstances of time 6410 Narrative reading log 6511 Christopher in the attic 6612 Verbs 6713 My place 6814 Nouns and adjectives 6915 Articles 7016 Determiners 7117 Building noun groups 7218 Metaphoric verbs 7319 Adverbs 7420 Similes and metaphors 7521 Character analysis 7622 Character profile 7723 Verbs, nouns and adjectives 7824 Description of me and my home 7925 Describing your map 8026 Self-assessment chart 8127 Teacher assessment chart 8228 Teacher assessment chart (blank) 83Acknowledgements 84

Our Place v

Introduction

Our Place—what is narrative?Narrative is probably the most misunderstood of all of the genres. In the firstplace there is a view that narrative is a ‘natural’ genre—one that all studentswill automatically use because of its close alignment to speech. This view ispartly correct—while the writing of young students tends to naturally fall intotext types such as recounts and observation descriptions, there is notnecessarily a natural flow-on to stories and other narrative texts which arestructurally and grammatically complex and often incorporate other genressuch as describing and arguing. There is another, though quite different viewthat sees stories as a simple structure or formula such as—orientation,complication, resolution. While many simple narratives fit this structure, sucha view reduces and ignores the more salient aspects of the genre.

This book uses an approach to genre that teaches narrative as a type ofwriting that encourages students to experiment and ‘play’ with language ratherthan reducing it to formulas or structures. Nadia Wheatley’s My Place, whichis the focus text for this book, is an example of a narrative which does notconform to the orientation, complication, resolution structure. Overall MyPlace is a narrative, yet each episode within it provides an image or snapshotof a particular period by using elaborate written and visual descriptions. At thesame time, each episode also possesses the performative aspect of narrative inthat a story is told. My Place is a text with a number of individual images andstories which in totality make up the story of a particular place.

The approach to teaching narrative being proposed in this book builds onnatural aspects of student writing. It starts with recounts and commonsensedescriptions—text types that students will be quite comfortable with writing—and builds on these existing competencies. It focuses on narrative as a pictorialgenre—one that creates images of people and places, that moves in time, andthat uses complexity to weave images and messages. In doing this, it examinesthe figural aspect of grammar—how language can build complex imagesthrough the use of similes and metaphors. This book offers some ideas on howto show students how to play with language to create these effects.

Connecting Text and GrammarThis book forms part of a series of reference, training, teaching and studentmaterials titled Connecting Text and Grammar. The series has been developedto provide teachers and students with teaching/learning materials that makeexplicit connections between texts, their grammar and the knowledge andlearning processes of the school curriculum.

Teaching and learning grammar has been a vexed issue in education over thepast one hundred years or so. For the past twenty or thirty years we have seen atrend that has more or less abandoned formal instruction in grammar. In theConnecting Text and Grammar series we do not attempt to move the clock backto a time when the teaching of grammar was reduced to drill and practiceexercises; the educational reasons for abandoning formal instruction were wellsupported within the education community. In our view, it was not formalinstruction that was the major problem but the context in which the exercisestook place, i.e. the context being the grammatical categories themselves.

This series approaches teaching and learning from a thematic context and

vi Our Place

looks at appropriate texts for dealing with the knowledge of particular areasand topics. It examines the grammatical features salient to those texts and thatknowledge. By using a particular text and learning context to perform exercises,students are provided with the necessary skills and competencies to producetheir own texts which express the content knowledge they have learned.

What do we mean by genre?The term ‘genre’ (in relation to teaching writing) has been used in Australiaover the past few years mostly to describe the structure of commonly used texttypes in school writing, such as reports, explanations, recounts, narratives andexpositions. Genres, in this sense, provide a formula or framework for studentsfrom which they reproduce particular text types.

We see this model of genre as limiting for both teaching and learning. Themodel of genre used in this book reflects our view that genres are not so muchstatic products but are dynamic processes—capacities that provide studentswith the potential to write in different ways for different purposes andaudiences.

Genre, from this point of view, is more concerned with what is going onwith the language of texts (grammar) than the ways texts can be formularisedor structured. The immediate advantage of this approach is that it focuses onthe relationship between knowledge, texts and grammar and seeks to makeexplicit connections between all three. The following is a simple diagram thatrepresents the relationship between genres and text types:

Processes

Products

Commonly used in

Personal

descriptions

Commonsense

descriptions

Technical

descriptions

Information

reports

Scientific reports

Definitions

Explanations

of how

Explanations

of why

Elaborations

Illustrations

Accounts

Explanation

essays

Procedures

Instructions

Manuals

Science

experiments

Recipes

Directions

Essays

Expositions

Discussions

Debates

Reviews

Interpretations

Evaluations

Personal recounts

Historical

recounts

Stories

Fairy tales

Myths

Fables

Narratives

Describe

through

the process

of ordering

things into

commonsense

or technical

frameworks

of meaning.

Explain

through

the process

of sequencing

phenomena

in temporal

and/or causal

relationships.

Argue

through

the process

of expanding

a proposition

to persuade

readers to

accept a point

of view

Narrate

through

the process

of sequencing

people and

events in time

and space.

Instruct

through

the process

of logically

sequencing

actions or

behaviours

GenresSocial processes that:

Our Place vii

Teaching text and grammarThe approach to teaching text and grammar followed in this book uses ateaching/learning model that is based on three important premises:1. that successful writing depends on students knowing what they are writing

about;2. that teachers appropriately scaffold students’ learning by focusing on the

structure and grammar of texts;3. that grammar should be learned with a focus on students’ own writing.

The following three-stage model was used when we programmed thematerial in this book. It is designed so that, when teaching the lessons, it ispossible to move between the three stages according to the learning activitiesand students’ progress. It is not intended to be a three-stage lock-step model.Each stage, as a component of the whole, is repeated a number of timesthroughout the lessons. It is useful, therefore, to have an understanding of howeach stage or component works.

Stage 1 aims to build a strong connection between the language ofexperience and the language of writing.

Stage 2 aims to provide students with an explicit framework forconstructing texts that deal with the content/knowledge developedin the previous stage.

Stage 3 aims to give students well-defined writing and editing skills basedon students’ knowledge of the grammar, generic purpose andstructure of texts.

Teach

ing Experiences

Teaching/LearningProcesses

Teaching through:• Experiential work• Reading models• Research (note-

taking)• Scaffolding structure• Writing (whole text)• Editing (grammar)• Rewriting• Assessment

Content/Language

Making connections

between content

knowledge and language

through:

• Concrete experiences

• Describing and

explaining

• Reading models

• Research (note-taking)

• Defining concepts

1 Structure/Writing

Using the Generic

Structure to provide a

scaffold for student writ-

ing of first draft:

• Modelling Structure

•Scaffolding with con-

tent/language

• Students drafting whole

text

2

Grammar/Editing

Moving students’ writing

from orientation of

speech to orientation of

writing:

• Modelling verb identifi-

cation, tense, conjunc-

tions, reference

• Modelling theme, noun

groups, nominalisation,

modality

3

viii Our Place

BLM 1

OHT 1

Programming gridThere is a programming grid on pages x and xi which acts as a planning guideand overview of the objectives and outcomes expected to be covered in thelessons. Assessment tasks are provided which are linked to the ‘outcomeindicators’ of each lesson. This term is used in the same sense that ‘pointers’ areused in the National Profile documents and various state syllabus documents.These outcome indicators are intended to provide ways of looking for relevantfeatures that assist in analysing and assessing aspects of students’ work. As theyare only indicators, or pointers, teachers will need to relate them to the relevantoutcomes specified in system or state curriculum and syllabus documents.

All of the lessons in Our Place cover National Profile outcome levels 2, 3and 4 with an emphasis on level 3.

How to use the materialsThis book covers a unit of work involving fifteen lessons, each approximatelyninety minutes in length. Teachers can program the unit to meet the needs oftheir own students over an anticipated five to ten week teaching period.

Each lesson provides a step-by-step account and is supported by overheadtransparencies (OHTs) and blackline masters (BLMs) which are supplied forreproducing at the back of the book. The BLMs are to be retained by thestudents in a workfolder in numerical order so that completed BLMs can beeasily accessed when instructed.

Simple explanations of the genres and grammatical categories underinvestigation are provided in the lessons along with corresponding references tothe relevant pages of the series’ reference book Context-Text-Grammar formore detailed information. Definitions of grammatical terms are also includedin the BLMs although students can develop their own definitions as a classactivity.

A demonstration of how the Connecting Text and Grammar approachworks in a classroom is available on the training video Context-Text-Grammar:Ants and Other ‘Stories’.

Easy-reference iconsThroughout the lessons the following icons are used in the margins to signalthat a resource is required:

OHT icons signal that an overhead transparency should be made from theOHT resource at the back of the book (or that a previous OHT needs to bereused) and shown to the class to demonstrate necessary stimulus material forthe learning activity.

BLM icons signal that an accompanying student exercise or activity needs tobe photocopied from the relevant BLM at the back of the book and distributedto students.

Our Place ix

CTG icons signal that further information on the genres and grammar isavailable on the specified pages of the reference book, Context-Text-Grammar.As part of lesson preparation teachers may like to read the relevant part ofContext-Text-Grammar, or Context-Text-Grammar can be kept in theclassroom as a handy reference, especially as it uses both traditional andfunctional terminology.

Wordbanks

Each lesson utilises one or more wordbanks for students to keep a track ofnew words and meanings. It is recommended that class wordbanks are alsoused. During every lesson it is suggested that new words and meanings areadded to the wordbanks. At appropriate points in the book ‘Spelling Focus’exercises are conducted by utilising the words contained within thewordbanks.

Context– Text

– Grammar

x Our Place

Unit Outline Our Place

Less Teaching Learning Activities1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

• Introduce students to My Place• Discuss features of the text

• Examine elements of the story• Introduce students to tense

• Assist students to sequence events• Introduce types of conjunctions/ con-

nectives

• Examine concepts of time in narrative• Introduce students to circumstances

and circumstances of time

• Discuss reading logs and encourageindependent reading

• Assist students in writing a recount

• Examine the treatment of place in nar-rative

• Assist students in using variousspelling strategies

• Examine the treatment of place in nar-rative

• Introduce students to mental verbs/processes

• Demonstrate the different types ofdescriptions

• Assist students to identify verb types

• Investigate nouns and noun groupsand their use in description

• Examine different types of figural lan-guage

• Examine characterisation in narrative

• Assist students to write a characterprofile

• Assist students to incorporate descrip-tive devices in their own writing

• Help students to design and draft adescriptive text

• Assist students to compile class book• Provide strategies for students to

undertake self-assessment

Lesson One — My Place: a first look• Shared reading of My Place• Class discussion of layout and design, characters, time and place• Class discussion and exercises on internal and external reference

Lesson Two — Exploring time in narratives: plotting the story• Group work on the ‘when, who, where, what’ of My Place• Exercises on tense

Lesson Three — Exploring time in narratives: plotting My Story• Investigating time lines• Sequencing events and writing a recount• Exercises on conjunctions/connectives

Lesson Four — Exploring time in other narratives• Shared reading—stories dealing with time (eg, The Big Brass Key)• Class discussion of time in various narrative texts• Exercises on circumstances and circumstances of time

Lesson Five — Exploring other narratives: reading logs• Class discussion on reading logs• Writing a group recount or plot summary• Independent and guided reading of narrative texts

Lesson Six — Exploring place in narratives: part one• Class discussion on place• Group and individual mapping activities• Spelling exercises

Lesson Seven — Exploring place in narratives: part two• Class investigation of treatment of place in narrative• Exercises on mental verbs/processes

Lesson Eight — Describing places: part one• Comparing and contrasting description in narrative and factual texts• Class identification of verbs in a description in narrative

Lesson Nine — Describing places: part two• Identifying nouns and noun groups• Identifying the elements of noun groups• Exercises on describing using noun groups

Lesson Ten — Examining figural language• Identifying verbs in a literary description• Exploring the figural in language• Exercises on adverbs, similes and metaphors

Lesson Eleven — Exploring characters• Class discussion on characters in narrative• Group activity on characterisation

Lesson Twelve — Describing characters: writing a character profile• Devising a scaffold for a character profile• Writing a character profile

Lesson Thirteen — Describing characters using figural language• Class activity on the language of describing• Examining literary description in narrative

Lesson Fourteen — Putting it all together• Preparation for students’ contribution to class book• Drafting descriptions

Lesson Fifteen — A class book: Our Places• Editing descriptions and compiling class book• Reports on reading logs and self-assessment exercise

Programming grid

Our Place xi

Our Place Unit Outline

– Predict what the story is about– Understand the interrelationship between illustrations and written text– Understand the difference between internal and external reference when reading

– Identify the key elements of a story—when, who, where, what– Identify and use past, present and future tense– Consistently use past, present and future tense– Recognise the differences in lifestyle in the lives of different generations– Recognise the impact of contemporary events on the lives of different generations

– Record a series of events in their own life– Make a timeline to record events in their own life– Recognise relationships in sentences signalled by conjunctions– Identify how language is used to signal temporal and logical relationships– Write a recount from personal experience

– Can distinguish between fact and fantasy in stories– Identify circumstances and circumstances of time in sentences– Use circumstances and circumstances of time in sentences

– Choose texts from a range provided for enjoyment on the basis of interest area– Read for personal enjoyment and interest– Jointly write with peer a recount of story they have been read– Explains key ideas to a peer or shares ideas before writing

– Draw a simple plan of a place and describe features– Identify symbols used for features on simple maps– Listen attentively to, and comment on the contributions of others– Exchange perceptions and feelings with peers about similar experiences– Use a range of strategies to spell words correctly

– Engage in discussion of a story read to the class– Retell and offer opinions about scenes from a story– Identify different verb types—mental, relational, action– Adjusts reading strategies for different texts and different purposes

– Understand the use of different verb types in descriptions– Describe the characteristics of a place– With teacher guidance examine models of a text type (purpose, features)

– Identify elements of a noun group and their function– Identify rhyme, repetition and wordplay to create effects in stories– Record key information about stories in a reading log– Make brief notes of information relevant to the topic, recording resources used– Write simple noun groups to build description

– Identify elements of a verb group– Identify simple similes and metaphors– Distinguish between concrete and metaphoric action verbs– Write simple similes and metaphors

– Create and describe aspects of a character– Reflect on and attempt to adopt strategies for effectively taking part in group work– Write simple questions and responses– Write complex questions and responses

– Participate in planning a scaffold for a written task– Write a description of a character– Write a detailed description of a person and place, that creates a complete image

– Recognise simple similes and metaphors in a literary text– Use other texts as models for aspects of own writing– Attempt to rearrange sections of text to improve organisation of ideas

– Actively engage in class discussion on layout and design of work– Write a brief description of place and character– Write a detailed description of place and character using a range of descriptive devices

– Present report on reading log– Set and monitor realistic short-term goals as a writer– Uses a range of strategies to spell correctly

• Contribution to class discussion• Exercises on internal and external refer-

ence

• Participation in group activity• Exercises on tense• Contribution to class discussion

• Construction of a personal timeline andwritten recount

• Exercises on conjunctions and connec-tives

• Contribution to classroom discussion• Exercises on circumstances and cir-

cumstances of time

• Participation in group writing activity• Discussion of independently read texts

• Participation in group mapping exercise• Individual mapping exercise• Spelling exercises

• Contribution to class discussion• Exercises on verb types• Exercise on place in narrative

• Contribution to class discussion• Exercises on use of verbs in narratives• Written description of a place

• Exercises on nouns and noun groups• Contribution to class discussion• Compilation of a reading log

• Exercises on elements of a verb group• Exercises on figural use of language

• Participation in group characterisationexercise

• Contribution to class discussion ondevising scaffold of character profile

• Character profile

• Contribution to class discussion on liter-ary description in narrative

• Edited character profile

• Contribution to class discussion• Draft of description of a place and char-

acter

• Verbal report on reading log• Edit of final copy• Spelling exercises

Outcomes Indicators Assessment

xii Our Place

Our Place Unit Outline

Genres used: Describing and narrating

Text-types used: Recount, commonsense description, literary description, narrative

Outcomes Learning Area

The following is a guide, if you are linking outcomes with National Profile Levels.

English

Speaking and Listening

Reading

Writing

SSETime continuity andchange

Place and space

2.1 Interacts in confident ways in structured and spontaneous school situations3.1 Interacts with people in the classroom and school community using a range of genres4.1 Interacts confidently with others in a variety of situations to develop and present familiar ideas,

events and information2.4 Speaks and listens in ways that assist communication with others3.4 Reflects on own approach to communication and the ways in which others interact.4.4 Assists and monitors the communication patterns of self and others

2.5 Constructs and retells meanings from short written texts with familiar topics and vocabulary, pre-dictable text structures and frequent illustrations

3.5 Interprets and discusses some relationships between ideas, information and events2.6 Understands that texts are constructed by people and represent real and imaginary experience3.6 Identifies simple symbolic meanings and stereotypes in texts and discusses their purpose and

meaning2.7 Recognises basic structures and features of texts3.7 Identifies and uses the linguistic structures and features of a range of text types4.7 With teacher guidance, identifies and discusses how linguistic structures and features work to

shape readers’ and viewers’ understanding of texts2.8 b With teacher guidance, selects own reading material, and gathers and sorts information on a topic

from a variety of sources2.8 a Uses basic strategies for interpreting written and visual texts and maintains continuity in under-

standing when meaning is disrupted3.8 a Integrates a variety of strategies for interpreting printed and visual texts.

2.9 Writes brief imaginative and factual texts which include some related ideas about familiar topics3.9 Experiments with ideas and information when writing about familiar topics within a small range of

text types4.9 Uses writing to develop familiar ideas, events and information.2.10 Recognises some of the purposes and advantages of writing3.10 Recognises that certain text types are associated with particular purposes and audiences4.10 Adjusts writing to take account of aspects of context, purpose and audience2.11 Uses some basic linguistic structures and features of written language so that writing can be read-

ily interpreted by others3.11 Controls most basic features of written language and experiments with some organisational and

linguistic features of different text types4.11 Controls most distinguishing linguistic structures and features of basic text types such as stories,

procedures, reports and arguments2.12 a Uses talk to plan and review own writing3.12 a Experiments with strategies for planning, reviewing and proofreading own writing4.12 a When prompted, uses a range of strategies for planning, reviewing and proofreading own writing.2.12 b Attempts to spell words by using sound-symbol relationships and standard letter patterns4.12 b Uses a multi-strategy approach to spelling

2.4 Uses symbols to describe the location of places relative to each other

2.1 Identifies similarities and differences in the lives of different generations2.2 Uses calendars and objects to describe age and sequence3.2 Constructs a sequence from a set of events

Connecting Text and Grammar: Our Place © P Knapp and M Watkins

Our Place Lesson 1 1

BLM 1

Our Place

—wordbank

◆ Introduce students to the unit by explaining that they will be investigating stories,how they are written and what writers think about before they put pen to paper.To do this, students will be reading and examining many different types of stories,as a class, in groups and also on their own. The aim of this book is not only toexplore how stories are written, but to understand the key elements of a story andso help students in writing their own narrative texts.

◆ Start a class wordbank and distribute BLM 1 ‘Our Place—wordbank’ to studentsand have them retain it in their writing folders for use throughout the lessons inthis book. The class wordbank acts as a constant visual reinforcement of the keywords students need to know in their study of this unit. By also recording thewords on BLM 1 students receive spelling and vocabulary practice. Reproduce theBLM as required

◆ Begin by reading the class Nadia Wheatley’s My Place. If possible, use a class set,or enough copies for one between two. This will allow students to engage inshared reading, and also to closely examine the maps related to each of the timeperiods in the book. If only a single copy is available, ensure students have achance of seeing the lay-out of the page and the key features of the text.

◆ Before reading the book:

• Point out the warning on the back cover: WARNING—THIS BOOK ISA TIME MACHINE!

• Discuss what is meant by a time machine.

• Have students predict what the book might be about.

◆ Begin to read My Place with the class, highlighting the following features throughdiscussion:

Lay-out, design and organisation

• the year of each episode;

• the ten-year interval between each episode;

• the illustrations of ‘my place’ and characters;

• the maps: their relatively constant features, i.e. ‘my place’, the big tree,the canal/creek, brick pits/swampy land; its changing features, i.e otherhouses, shops.

Written text

• the characters’ names and characteristics, family relationships;

• accounts of the central characters and place, i.e. generally discuss howthese accounts are written, i.e. as descriptions given by the centralcharacter of each period (a much closer examination of these accounts

Lesson 1 My Place—a first look

2 Our Place Lesson 1

will be undertaken at a later stage in this book);

• the place, i.e. each episode is set in the same place—an inner-city suburbof Sydney called St Peters;

• the interrelationship of the illustrations and the written text.

Reference

◆ Closely examine this last point to highlight the grammatical feature of reference.Consider how confusing the written text would be if it was not accompanied byan illustration or a map. For example, discuss the following sentences in the first‘episode’:

• My name’s Laura and this is my house.

• This is me and Gully. I have to keep her on a lead because she chases cars.

Without illustrations of Laura, Gully and the house, the reader would be leftwondering who Laura is, where the house is and what Gully might be.

◆ Display OHT 1 which will assist in explaining the concepts of internal andexternal reference.

◆ Ask the following questions:

• Why in box 1 does the girl say ‘Look she’s eating it all’ rather than ‘LookMaria, Sally is eating all of the ice-cream’ as she does in box 2?

• What could be misleading in the first sentence? The use of the pronouns‘she’ and ‘it’.

◆ Explain that the speaker in box 1 can refer directly to what she is talking aboutbecause the person listening is also part of the scene and knows who the personalpronouns are referring to. Very often in spoken language we make use ofpronouns that could be misleading in a written text where the reader is removedfrom the action. Illustrations in books fill this gap, as they do in My Place.

◆ The terms ‘external reference’ and ‘internal reference’ need not be used withstudents at this stage. It would suffice to merely bring the notion to students’attention through the above explanation and to make use of the terms ‘pronoun’and ‘reference’ which have already been examined in previous units.

◆ Follow-up this discussion by asking the class if they can think of an example of aspoken text where two people are talking to each other, in which the dialogue inbox 1 would be misleading. An example is a phone conversation. Explain tostudents that the mode of communication—i.e. whether the communication isspoken or written—will greatly affect the language a person uses. One aspect oflanguage greatly affected by the mode or type of communication is reference.

◆ Record the words ‘reference’, ‘communication’ and ‘mode’ in the class andstudent wordbanks and include the following definitions:

36

Context– Text

– Grammar

36

Context– Text

– Grammar

OHT 1

Reference


reference the way in which we use language to refer to other informationcommunication the exchange of ideas or information between peoplemode the way ideas or information are communicated

◆ If class copies of My Place are available, turn to the written text of the 1968period. Alternatively, reproduce the passage on an OHT.

◆ Ask the class to look for sentences that directly refer to things in the illustrationsand map and have them suggest ways of rewriting these sentences.

◆ Distribute BLM 2 ‘Reference’, have students read the text and then:

• underline the parts that need a picture; ie

1. This is me sitting on the back of Horace

2. That’s him on the old red tractor

3. Here we are driving…

4. Here’s a wild pig…

• draw simple pictures to make the text complete.

◆ To conclude the lesson, return to the book and continue the class discussion onthe central elements of the story, i.e. time, place, people (characters) and events.Discuss the role of each element in My Place by asking the following questions:

• In what way is My Place a time machine? The reader travels through timeas they read the book.

• How important is time to the story? It carries the text, as the changes intime provide the action.

• Apart from time, what else is the story about? A place, people and whatthey do. The happenings in a story are called the plot.

◆ Focus discussion on time and place. Point out how time changes the features ofthe place—the shops, other houses, etc.—but the setting of the story staysessentially the same. The action of the story is centred around one place.

◆ Explain how the book is more a story about time and place rather than peopleand events. Because of this, the characters, and what they do, aren’t developed inany great detail, unlike many stories they would have read.

◆ Recap on the points made in the last lesson, i.e. that My Place is a story about aplace and how it changes over time. The story of the place, however, is also thestory of the people who have lived there over a 200-year period, aspects of their

BLM 2

RRf

Lesson 2 Exploring time in narratives—plotting the story


lives and what it was like living at a particular time in the past. Overall, the storyis about time, a place, people and what they do: ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘who’, and‘what’.

◆ Begin to investigate each of these elements of the story with the class through acloser reading of the written text and an examination of the maps andillustrations. Display OHT 2 ‘When? Who? Where? What?’ and consider eachfeature in relation to the year 1988. Explain that when examining the ‘where’ ofthe story, it is the changes to the setting which are important.

When? Who? Where? What?

◆ Discuss each of these features with the class and record their responses on OHT 2.

◆ Following this class activity, have students organise into five groups andassign each group four time periods, for example:

Group 1 1978–1948Group 2 1938–1908Group 3 1898–1868Group 4 1858–1828Group 5 1818–1788

◆ Distribute BLM 3 ‘The four Ws’ and ask students to complete the table oneach of the time periods their group has been assigned. On completing thisactivity, have each group report back to the class on the information theyhave found. Record this information on a class wall chart for later reference.Ensure all new or difficult words are recorded in the class and studentwordbanks.

◆ As a class, consider each group’s response by discussing:

• changes to the characters over time, e.g. the story begins and ends withthe Aboriginal inhabitants of the place;

• the ethnic background of the characters, e.g. Aboriginal, Greek, German,English, etc.;

• historical events that are mentioned in certain periods, e.g. the VietnamWar and the Depression;

• changes to the place over time, e.g. move from a natural to builtenvironment, rural to urban;

• changes in terms of food, transport and entertainment.

◆ Each of these points could be considered in much more detail—indeed theycould be developed as separate units with a Studies in Society andEnvironment focus. The focus here, however, is the examination of conceptssuch as time, continuity, change and sequence in relation to narrative texts. Aclose examination of these aspects of the text will assist students in refiningtheir skills in recounting. Effective recounting is generally a precursor to more

BLM 3

Th

Ws

OHT 2

Wh ?

Who?

Wh ?

What?


sophisticated narrative forms in which writers manipulate time and relatedconcepts to add interest and complexity to their storytelling.

Tense

To deal effectively with notions of time in stories, students need anunderstanding of tense. That is, how to locate events in the past, present orfuture.

◆ Introduce the concept of tense and how it can be used in stories.

◆ Distribute BLM 4 ‘Tense’ and BLM 5 ‘More exercises on tense’. Read through theexplanation of tense with them and provide other examples if necessary.

◆ After explaining the exercises in both BLMs 4 and 5, have students complete themfor homework.

BLM 4 ANSWERS

1 Our class will go on some excursions. Future

2 The tide will come in soon. Future

3 Our place is big and noisy. Present

4 We often run home from school. Present

5 We went on the ferry to Manly. Past

6 Josie will buy a new book. Future

7 Horace broke down last Friday. Past

8 Tomorrow we will go to the farm. Future

9 Nguyen dumped her bag by the door. Past

10 My room has a big desk in it. Present

11 My father cooks dinner most nights. Present

12 On Sunday we will do the shopping. Future

13 Greg often works at night. Present

14 We explored our neighbourhood. Past

15 Maria borrowed Misery Guts from me. Past

16 We will take the books back soon. Future

17 Every night I read before bed. Present

18 Tom wrote a very funny story. Past

19 I write my stories on the computer. Present

20 My story will be funnier. Future

BLM 5 ANSWERS

1 Many people have never seen the sea.2 Soon we will be reading a new book.3 Last week we watched a funny video about a fish who talked.4 Yesterday at the aquarium we saw a shark which ate lots of small fish.5 I have finished reading my book, now I will go to sleep.6 Next weekend we will go to the museum.7 The last time we went we saw a dinosaur exhibition.8 Tomorrow after school, Mum will pick us up and we will drive to the farm.9 This morning I missed the bus so I was late for school.10 Soon I will write a story about what happened on our holiday.

BLM 4

BLM 5

MMMMMM

Mx i

t


◆ Discuss the homework on tense with students.

◆ Following this, make an overhead of BLM 6 ‘Timeline’ and distribute a copy ofthe BLM to each student.

◆ First, discuss the following function and feature of timelines with students byasking:

• What is the function or purpose of a timeline?

• Why does the timeline have an arrow at either end?

◆ Point out to students that they will be constructing a timeline of their own lives.

◆ Begin by asking students to indicate at which end of the timeline they wouldplot the current year. Have students mark in the year at the top of the timeline.

◆ Discuss the reasons for plotting the year in this position by raising the followingpoints:

• Timelines begin with the present and travel back in time, much in thesame way as Nadia Wheatley’s My Place.

• In cultures with an English-speaking background, time can be representedby a line, with the present at the top and the past moving downwards.

◆ Ask students to consider the direction of time if the timeline was drawnhorizontally. Would the current year be located on the right or left?

◆ To explain the reasons for plotting the year on the right, ask students to thinkabout the way they read books, i.e. the words travel from left to right. Therefore,if travelling backwards on a horizontal line, time would be plotted right to left.

◆ Indicate how this may vary in other cultures. The representation of time as a linemay be quite alien in some cultures, e.g. Aboriginal and many native Americancultures. Also, the direction a script is read or written varies depending on aculture, e.g. Arabic is read horizontally from right to left and Japanese is readvertically from top to bottom from the right.

◆ Return to the timeline and ask students to plot the remaining years on the timelinein descending order.

Lesson 3 Exploring time in narratives—plotting my story

BLM 6mmmmmm


◆ Ask students to write their name in the space at the top of the timeline. Followingthis, have them choose four or five different years and write one or two sentencesabout an event that happened in each of these years, as shown in the examplebelow. Ensure all students include the year of their birth and the present year astwo of their choices. Discuss how they will use tense in this exercise, i.e. mainlypast tense.

1997 For my birthday this year I was given a cat. I called her Licorice because she

is black.

1996

1995

1994

1993 I started school at Stanmore PS with my friend Rose.

1992

1991 In this year I broke my arm falling off a slippery dip.

1990

1989

1988 I was born in King George Hospital in Sydney.

◆ On completing this exercise, select students to read out their sentences and recorda selection of years from different students on the OHT you made from BLM 6.

◆ Ask students now to rewrite their sentences as a paragraph in the space providedbeneath the timeline, but this time in reverse order, beginning with the year theywere born.

◆ Explain that in writing these sentences as a paragraph—instead of single sentencesnext to the timeline—that they will need to give careful attention to reference sothat there is no misleading information. They will also need to use words to linkthe sentences together.

◆ Prior to writing, construct a sample response with the class using the sentencesrecorded on the OHT, for example:

My name is Molly and I was born in King George Hospital in Sydney in 1988. In 1990 I brokemy arm falling off a slippery dip. When I was five I started school at Stanmore PS with myfriend Rose. It is now 1997 and for my birthday this year I was given a cat. I called her Licoricebecause she is black.

◆ Alternatively, make an overhead of the sample timeline and paragraph andcompare and contrast them by asking students:

• Why does the paragraph start with Molly stating her name? If she startedwith ‘I was born’. . . the reader would wonder who ‘I’ was. For the purposesof this recount, it is important to ensure all information is contained in thetext. Remind students about the work on reference in lesson 1.


• What is important about how sentences 2, 3 and 4 begin? Each of thesesentences either states which year the event occurred, because the writercan no longer rely on the timeline to perform this role, or has used a time-joining word to ensure the writing flows, i.e. ‘when’.

◆ On completing the recount, have students peer-edit their work in pairs, focusingon the following:

• Is there any misleading information?

• Has their partner used time words to link the sentences together?

• Apart from the opening identification statement, is the recount written inthe past tense?

• Does each sentence start with a capital letter and end with a full-stop?

• Are any words misspelt?

Joining words—conjunctions

◆ Following the peer editing exercise, begin to focus on the words students use tolink their sentences together. Ask the class for examples of these words andcompile a list on the board, for example: ‘when’, ‘after’, ‘then’.

◆ Explain that these words are called conjunctions. ‘When’, ‘after’, and ‘then’ aretime or temporal conjunctions.

◆ Distribute BLM 7 ‘Conjunctions’ and read through the information with the class.Explain the exercise to them and have them complete it for homework.

BLM 7 ANSWERS

1 We left early because we were tired. Causal

2 The dolphin swam into the beach and played with the ball. Additive

3 When we got home we went to bed. Temporal

4 Since the water was warm, we all had a swim. Causal

5 Then the class went on the train to Circular Quay. Temporal

6 Sharks swim fast, but not as fast as dolphins. Contrastive

7 Whenever the bell goes, we stop playing. Temporal

8 Furthermore, we have to line up in classes. Additive

9 After we line up, our teacher takes us to our room. Temporal

10 Before I was born, my parents lived in Lebanon. Temporal

11 When they came to Australia, they lived in Melbourne. Temporal

12 Then, in 1979, they moved to Sydney. Temporal

13 In addition to me, my mother had two other babies. Additive

14 In my family there are two boys and one girl. Additive

15 I like pizzas but I like lasagne better. Contrastive

16 Yesterday we went shopping as well as to the movies. Additive

17 Since it was so cold, we stayed inside. Causal

37

Context– Text

– Grammar

BLM 7

CCCj


◆ Discuss the homework on conjunctions with students.

◆ Begin to focus more specifically on the element of time in narratives by conductinga class reading of Ruth Park’s The Big Brass Key. This is merely a suggested text.Other books which are of a similar length, i.e. approximately half an hour to read,and deal with time in a comparable way, would be equally suitable. The Big BrassKey revolves around the main character Eliza, who finds a key which unlocks adoor to another time. A complication occurs when a dog, which belongs to a girlEliza’s age from another time, becomes trapped in the present. Eliza must returnthe dog to its own time by once again unlocking the door with the big brass key.However, her second visit back in time brings about further complications thatmust be resolved.

◆ After reading the book, discuss the characters and setting, focusing on thecentrality of time to the plot. Consider the following with the class:

• the time Eliza travels back to;

• the mechanism which allows the time travel to occur, i.e. using the key tounlock a door;

• how the plot is complicated by an item from the past remaining in thepresent, i.e. the dog;

• associations between the present and the past, i.e. other characters,aspects of the setting.

◆ Also, make comparisons between the treatment of time in My Place and The BigBrass Key. Consider how:

• My Place has a factual basis whereas The Big Brass Key is a fantasy;

• My Place is about travelling back in time whereas The Big Brass Key istravelling back and forth from the present to a specific time,approximately 65 years earlier.

◆ Ensure students are clear about the terms ‘fact’ and ‘fantasy’. Define these and addthem to the class and student wordbanks.

◆ Widen the discussion by asking students about other stories they know in books,films or videos, that ‘play’ with time. Stories that could be mentioned include:

Books• Jeannie Baker—Window

• Charles Dickens—A Christmas Carol

• Ruth Park—Playing Beatie Bow

• Philippa Pearce—Tom’s Midnight Garden

Lesson 4 Exploring time in othernarratives


BLM 8

//

Circumstances

Films• Back to the Future I, II and III

• Playing Beatie Bow

• The Navigator

◆ If possible, involve the school librarian in this discussion to guide studentstowards books in the school library which play with time and could be borrowedfor independent reading.

◆ Investigate how writers refer to time in stories. Consider how fairytales begin, i.e.‘Once upon a time’. . . Brainstorm ideas for sentence beginnings or endings whichdeal with time, e.g. long long ago, in another time, etc.

◆ Point out that these can be called circumstances of time.

Circumstances

Circumstance is a term useful for identifying the element of a clause orsentence that tells us how, why, where or when something is happening. If wewere describing them formally we would call them adverbs, adverbial phrases,or prepositional phrases.

◆ To investigate circumstance, distribute BLM 8 ‘Object/circumstance’ and askstudents to complete the exercise on identifying circumstances and objects.

◆ First, recap on the meaning of the term ‘subject’ and then explain the following:

• Sentences tell us something about the subject. If the part of a sentencethat follows the verb is a thing or noun then it is called the object:

Effie rode her surfboard.

• If the part following the verb tells us how, when, where,or why then it iscalled a circumstance:

Low tide was at six o’clock.

In this sentence the circumstance is telling us about when somethinghappened and therefore it is a circumstance of time.

BLM 8 ANSWERS

1 The ferry went to Manly. Circumstance

2 It departed at 2 p.m. Circumstance

3 We saw lots of big waves. Object

4 The class saw many beautiful shells. Object

5 A ship appeared on the horizon. Circumstance

6 Manly has a large wharf. Object

7 Dad fixed the car. Object

8–9

Context– Text

– Grammar


8 Then we drove to the farm. Circumstance

9 I helped Koko drive the tractor. Object

10 The class enjoyed the excursion. Object

11 Our family arrived in 1987. Circumstance

12 We drove the tractor very slowly. Circumstance

13 We arrived before too long. Circumstance

14 The shearers were shearing the sheep. Object

15 The shed was out the back of the farm. Circumstance

16 In Sydney we always catch a train. Object

17 In 1989 we moved to a big house. Circumstance

18 The first child was a boy. Object

19 I was born in 1986. Circumstance

20 My brother Mohammed was a comedian. Object

◆ After this, have students move on to discuss circumstances of time.

Circumstances of time

◆ Explain the following:

• Stories locate characters in time and they sequence events in time. Wewould expect therefore that the sentences that we use in stories very oftenhave circumstances of time.

• Circumstances of time can be just one word such as ‘quickly’, ‘slowly’,‘rapidly’, ‘now’, ‘recently’.

• They can also be groups of words such as ‘once upon a time’, ‘long longago’, ‘in another time’, ‘before sunset’, ‘on Monday’.

◆ Distribute BLM 9 and have students identify the circumstances of time in the sentences.

BLM 9 ANSWERS

1 We woke up early the next morning.2 Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.3 Time passed slowly, we were totally bored.4 We went on an excursion last week.5 Long ago, before time began, there was a land of giants.6 Jerry had to leave before dawn.7 After the carnival, we all went home in Horace.8 More recently we have lived in Dubbo.9 Last January we moved back to Sydney.10 We crossed the old bridge slowly.11 My brother Mohammed is always cracking jokes.12 The water at the intersection was rising rapidly.13 The shearers always move quickly and efficiently.14 Kathy ran in and started talking so fast no one could understand her.15 The following week we all went back to school.16 By now the team was unbeatable.17 The situation has changed since then; we now live in a flat.18 How long does it take to drive to Bathurst?19 We should be there in about two hours.20 Back then we didn’t have a worry in the world.

BLM 9


◆ Pool results on completing the exercises.

◆ Conclude by reminding students that time is only one of many elements that isimportant in writing stories. While time is central to My Place and The Big BrassKey, other stories may place greater emphasis on other elements, such ascharacters or place.

This activity is best conducted in the library.

◆ Distribute BLM 10 ‘Narrative reading log’.

◆ Explain to students that they will be keeping a reading log, or a record of thestories they read. Indicate that keeping a log is not a competition, that the pointis to record information about two or three storybooks to investigate what writersdo with the elements of story writing, i.e. time, place, characters and plot.

◆ Focus on the categories of information to be recorded in the reading log bydisplaying OHT 3 ‘Narrative reading log’. Explain each category and exemplifyby using The Big Brass Key.

◆ Discuss each category with the class and record their results on the overhead. Besure to indicate where the name of the publisher and date of publication are foundin a book.

◆ Explain:

• what a publisher does;

• why the date of publication is important;

• what is meant by a plot summary.

◆ Spend time on this last point by asking students, either individually or in pairs, towrite a recount, or plot summary, of The Big Brass Key on a scrap of paper or intheir writing book. Before beginning this activity, ask them to turn back to therecount of their own life (BLM 6 ‘Timeline’).

◆ Explain that, as with their own recount, the plot summary of The Big Brass Keyshould only highlight the key points of the plot and be linked together with time-joining words and circumstances of time. Also, as the summary is an account ofwhat has happened in the story, past tense should be used.

◆ On completing this task, use students’ responses to construct a sample summary,as below, and record on the OHT.

Lesson 5 Exploring other narratives—reading logs

BLM 10

NNNNNNNvd g log

OHT 3

NNNNNNivdi g l g

BLM 6


Plot summary

Eliza and her family moved into a big old house in Manly. One day Eliza and her older sisterPaulina found a big brass key. After finding the key, an old wall with a door appeared at thebottom of her garden where there had previously been a fence. Eliza decided to use the keyto unlock the door, which opened into another time. Eliza met a dog called ‘Tot’ and a girl herown age called Bethie. After this Eliza returned to the present but a complication occurred.The dog ran through the door and became trapped in the present. Eliza had to return the dogto its own time by once again unlocking the door with the big brass key. The key, however,was lost. Eventually, Eliza found the key and returned Tot to Bethie. In Bethie’s time, which was65 years ago, Eliza met Bethie’s angry brother, Matty, who took the key as Eliza returned toher own time.

◆ After this, allow students to investigate the fiction section of the library, followingup books discussed in the previous lesson and then reading silently. Have studentsrecord the name of their first book on the reading log and borrow the book priorto the end of the lesson. While students are involved in these activities, take theopportunity to assist slower or reluctant readers.

◆ Return to My Place and discuss the idea of ‘setting’ or ‘place’ in the story withstudents. Recap on the changes to the site already discussed in earlier activities.Focus on the 1988 map and discuss its features. Examine the 1848 and 1838maps, which make use of a key. Discuss how keys work and why they are used.

◆ Ask students to divide into groups of four and distribute a sheet of butcher’s paperto each group. Explain that the place they will be investigating is the school. Eachgroup is to draw a map that locates the school in the local area, much like themaps in My Place. Indicate that on their maps students should include:

• the school buildings;

• playgrounds;

• school fence;

• entry points;

• surrounding streets;

• additional features such as shops, houses, parks, bus stops, crossings, etc.;

• comments about certain places on the map, e.g. ‘This is where we wait forthe bus’, ‘Joe fell over here last week’, ‘This spot is good for handball’, etc.

◆ On completing this exercise, discuss each group’s result, i.e. the similarities anddifferences in the features each group has chosen to include. Display the mapsaround the room.

Lesson 6 Exploring place in narratives—part 1


◆ After this group exercise, distribute a blank piece of paper to students and askthem to draw a map of their place—where they live—highlighting similar featuresto the maps in My Place. Select students to display their completed work or allowstudents to share their work on an individual basis with other students in the class.Have them file the map in their writing folder for use in lesson 8.

Spelling

◆ For the remainder of the lesson focus on the words in the wordbank and havestudents in their groups complete a selection of the following activities:

• Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check the list or a selection of the words;

• peer-quizzing on a selection of words;

• make crosswords or word mazes for students in other groups or for useat a later date;

• place words in dictionary order;

• identify the ‘tion’ words from the wordbank and list another ten;

• long vowels/short vowels—list additional words with a long ‘o’ as in‘mode’ and a long ‘i’ as in ‘time’—discuss the rule regarding the effect of‘e’ in these two words to create a long vowel sound;

• identify adjectives from the wordbank which use ‘al’ as a suffix and listanother five;

• find words inside words in the wordbank, e.g. ‘act’ in ‘character’, and‘rat’ in ‘narrative’, etc.

Suggested list of words

1 character 14 time2 narrative 15 illustration3 place 16 reference4 plot 17 communication5 mode 18 element6 entertainment 19 transport7 ethnic 20 Aboriginal8 recount 21 timeline9 direction 22 vertical10 horizontal 23 complication11 factual 24 fantasy12 circumstances 25 publisher13 summary

◆ Distribute a new blank wordbank for students to use for the remainder of thelessons.

BLM 1


Lesson 7 Exploring place in narratives—part 2

◆ Return to a discussion of how ‘place’ is an important element of My Place.

◆ Explain how it acts like an anchor while everything else—time, characters etc.—change.

◆ Explain that, as with time, writers often play with place or setting when writing stories.

◆ Read the class Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are and discuss howplace is used in this story by asking the following questions:

• Where is Where The Wild Things Are set?

• What happens to Max’s bedroom the night the story is set?

• What does his bedroom become?

• What happens in the end?

• Did Max’s room really change?

• What explanation does the writer hint at as the reason for these strangehappenings?

◆ Explain how the writer has chosen to play with place rather than time. The storyrevolves around the place and the characters Max meets as his bedroom istransformed in his dreams.

◆ Continue this focus on place by distributing BLM 11 ‘Christopher in the Attic’.Read through the text together, explaining new or difficult words and recordingthem in the class and student wordbanks.

◆ Ask students to reread the story and to name each of the places Christopher visitsin the boxes alongside the text. Following this, discuss how the writer of this shortstory has played with place by asking:

• Where is the story set?

• What other places does the character Christopher travel to in the story?

• What happens to Christopher when he is ‘in’ each of these different places?

• How does he manage to move from the attic to a pirate ship, to a castle inFrance and back to the attic again, changing character in every location?

◆ Focus discussion on this last point to examine the importance of fantasy in storywriting. Consider how fantasy can be almost unbelievable with only a shred ofreality, as in this story, or made to appear real, as in The Big Brass Key. We knowChristopher is only imagining these strange happenings, as is Max in Where The

BLM 11

hhhhhhphh A


Wild Things Are, but Eliza in Big Brass Key truly does travel back in time andfantasy has become reality.

Mental verbs

◆ Action and relational verbs are examined in the book ‘The Sea’ in the series.

◆ Review any previous work on action verbs and relational verbs.

• Action verbs refer to someone doing something in the sentence. For example:

On Friday we went on an excursion.

What did we do? We went somewhere.

• Relational verbs, on the other hand, tell us about the relationshipbetween one thing and another in a sentence. For example:

A whale is a sea mammal.

The verb ‘is’ in this sentence is acting like an = sign. It is not doinganything, it is simply saying that A whale = a sea mammal.

◆ In preparation for work in the next lesson, begin to examine mental verbs. Theseare important when students begin to express their feelings and impressions aboutwhat they are describing.

• Mental verbs refer to things going on inside of us—things like ‘thinking’,‘feeling’, ‘liking’, ‘wanting’. For example:

I like creepy movies at night.

Lara thought she knew her way home.

Sometimes I feel happy when I see my brother.

Phuong believed her silly story.

Mental verbs are especially useful when we are writing stories and arguments.

◆ Distribute BLM 12 ‘Verbs’, and have students complete the exercises and discussresults.

BLM 12 VERBS

1 Maria has beautiful brown hair. Relational

2 Sometimes I go to the pool before school. Action

3 I usually swim backstroke first. Action

4 My Mum drives me to the pool. Action

5 Our house has a big back yard. Relational

6 Sean loves vanilla ice-cream. Mental

7 Charlie always dreams about his future. Mental

8 Alan’s mum bought him a new cricket bat. Action

43–44

Context– Text

– Grammar

BLM 12VVVb


9 Steve is basically a good student. Relational

10 Claire was a gymnast. Relational

11 She wanted a gold medal. Mental

12 She thought about it all the time. Mental

13 Her backflips were spectacular. Relational

14 She fell over in the finals. Action

15 Her mother was hysterical. Relational

16 She worried about her reputation. Mental

17 Norman felt sorry for her. Mental

18 Effie writes very funny stories. Action

19 She often reads them to the class. Action/Mental

20 I like Horrible Hannah best. Mental

◆ Devote the remainder of the lesson to independent student reading. Also, havestudents update their reading logs.

Comparing descriptions/writing a description of ‘My own place’

◆ Explain to the class that they will now be finding out about the different wayswriters describe places to make them appear real to the reader. Once again, beginwith Nadia Wheatley’s My Place.

◆ Read through the 1988 entry with the class and discuss generally what thelanguage is doing by asking students:

• What is the purpose of the written text next to the map? It is describing.

• What things are described in this text?

◆ As a comparison, display OHT 4 of an information report on a place—Canberra.

◆ Compare and contrast this text with the descriptions in My Place by asking:

• What is the language doing in this passage? It is describing.

• Is it a different type of description to those in My Place?

• What names would you give to the different texts? Descriptions in MyPlace—personal or everyday descriptions; description of Canberra—aninformation report. Remind students of other information reports theymay have read or written themselves.

• Why are these texts different? They are written for different audiencesand for different purposes.

◆ Consider the structure of the information report.

◆ Examine how each paragraph is about a particular category of information, i.e.:how the place is classified in terms of location and then there are descriptions ofgeography, history and tourist sites.

Lesson 8 Describing places—part 1

OHT 4

CCCb

59

Context– Text

– Grammar


◆ Conduct a class verb identification exercise on the text by underlining the verbs,recording the verbs on the board and asking students to indicate whether they areaction, mental or relational.

Relational verbs are in bold, action verbs are underlined.

OHT 4 ANSWERS

Canberra

Canberra is the national capital of Australia. It is a modern city with many public buildings,government offices, wide roads and parklands.

Canberra is a city in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT is within the boundariesof the State of New South Wales. Canberra is in the Molonglo River valley to the east of theBrindabella Range.

Canberra was designed by Walter Burley Griffin, who won a competition in 1911 which washeld to choose the future shape of the city. The construction of the city began immediately butit was interrupted by World War I. The Federal Parliament moved there from Melbourne in1927, although the government offices did not move there until after World War II.

Canberra is now a popular tourist attraction. Every year many thousands of people visit thenew Parliament House, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Library, the CanberraBotanic Gardens and the Black Mountain Telecommunication Tower.

◆ Discuss the results by asking:

• When are relational verbs used? When the text is describing what andwhere Canberra is.

• When are action verbs used? When referring to things happening, e.g.history, tourism.

• Why aren’t any mental verbs used by the writer? The report is factual. Itis concerned with facts about Canberra, not people’s feelings or attitudeswhich would vary depending on the person writing. Relate this point tothe purpose of the text.

◆ Return to a discussion of My Place and consider how it differs from theinformation report.

◆ Explain how My Place is made up of a series of descriptions that the narrator, theperson telling the story, is giving of their place at a particular time. The narratorsin the story are all aged around ten years and writing about their friends, familiesand where they live.

◆ Display OHT 5 of a map and description by Mary, a ten-year-old student. Readthrough the description and as a class identify and classify the verbs in the passage.Record results on the OHT.

OHT 5

y’ p


Action Mental Relational

play like isplayed felt isgoing hasranjumpedspunwent

◆ Link the use of different verbs, i.e. action, mental and relational, to different waysof describing, i.e.:

• When Mary describes features, relational verbs are used, e.g. ‘This is amap of my place’, ‘There is a park’, ‘It has lots of big old trees’, etc.

• When Mary describes things that happen, action verbs are used, e.g.‘play’, ‘ran’, ‘jumped’, ‘spun’.

• When Mary describes her feelings, mental verbs are used, e.g. ‘like’, ‘felt’.

◆ Using OHT 6 ‘Mary’s place—scaffold’ as a guide, draw a scaffold of how Maryorganises her description on the board and discuss with the class.

◆ Point out how she starts her description first by naming the place and thenidentifying a particular feature, i.e. the park. Following this, she describes the parkitself, i.e. ‘It has lots of big old trees and some play things’, her feelings about it,and then moves on to describe a happening at the place and how it affected her.

◆ Explain that if Mary were to describe another feature on her map, e.g. the school,she would probably use a similar technique.

◆ Display OHT 6 which shows a scaffolded version of Mary’s text.

◆ Compare this structure with the structure of the information report shown onOHT 7 and consider the differences. Refocus on the different purposes ofdescribing and how the structure of texts will vary depending on the use of thelanguage of describing.

◆ Distribute BLM 13 ‘My place’ and have students now write their own descriptionof their place using the map from lesson 6. Ask them to be sure to make use of thedifferent types of describing, as used by Mary and signalled by the different verbtypes. On completing their draft, have students identify and classify the verbs intheir text and to write a final copy for homework.

OHT 6

Mary’s place —scaffold

OHT 7

BLM 13

My place


◆ Recap on the types of describing signalled by different verb types. Select studentsto read out the descriptions they have completed for homework, and discuss as aclass.

Nouns and noun groups

◆ Explain to students that there are many different ways of describing. In My Place,Nadia Wheatley, like Mary in her text, concentrates on describing happenings andfeelings. These types of descriptions could be called personal or everydaydescriptions. When we write stories without the help of illustrations and pictures,we have to use words to create an image for the reader. While verbs do a lot ofthe work of describing, nouns and noun groups also have an important part toplay.

◆ Distribute BLM 14 ‘Nouns and adjectives’ and discuss the term ‘noun’ with theclass by using the example set out there. After this, have students complete theexercise on nouns and adjectives. The nouns are underlined, the adjectives are bold.

BLM 14 ANSWERS

1 The Thompsons were evicted from their old, weatherboard house.2 Laura has an Aboriginal flag on her front window.3 Maroula works at the local milkbar.4 Mick was born on Kalimnos but his parents moved to Sydney soon after.5 His favourite shows are Ren and Stimpy and The Simpsons.6 There’s a polluted canal near the street where Jen lives.7 Charlie likes to ride his old, red bike down the steep hill.8 Sometimes we play behind the new tractor shed.9 When we moved to the farm we were scared of lizards and snakes.10 Now we have a pet blue-tongue lizard called Andy.11 Andy likes to laze around the hot sun.12 Mum likes Andy because he eats lots of insects and garden pests.13 We have a pretty front garden with lots of pink petunias.14 In the vegetable garden Mum grows enormous, blue pumpkins.15 Dad thinks Mum is a fabulous gardener, he says she has a ‘green thumb’.16 Her favourite flowers are red roses and bright, yellow marigolds.

◆ Display OHT 8 ‘The chocolate factory’, a description of a place, i.e. WillyWonka’s chocolate factory. (The noun group answers are underlined.)

OHT 8 ANSWERS

In the town itself, actually within sight of the house in which Charlie lived, there was anENORMOUS CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

Just imagine that!

And it wasn’t simply an ordinary enormous chocolate factory either. It was the largest and

Lesson 9 Describing places—part 2

BLM 14

Nouns nd dj tiv s

OHT 8TTTT

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTy


most famous in the whole world! It was WONKA’S FACTORY, owned by a man called Mr WillyWonka, the greatest inventor and maker of chocolates that there has ever been. And what atremendous, marvellous place it was! It had huge iron gates leading into it, and a high wallsurrounding it, and smoke belching from its chimneys, and strange whizzing sounds comingfrom deep inside it. And outside the walls, for half a mile around in every direction, the air wasscented with the heavy rich smell of melting chocolate!

From R. Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Unwin-Hyman, London, 1985.

◆ Point out that this is a description from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the ChocolateFactory. Ask students if they have read this book. Refer to other books by thesame author, e.g. The BFG, The Witches and James and the Peach.

◆ Read through the description together, asking the students to identify the noungroups. Begin to examine the different elements of noun groups, starting with theexample below:

an enormous, chocolate factory

◆ Write the example on the board and explain that there are different ways oftalking about language, e.g. what words are and what they do. First, considerwhat the words are, i.e. their class, or the formal names of each element, i.e.:

an enormous, chocolate factoryarticle adjective adjective noun

◆ Write the terms on the board under the example and discuss with the class.

◆ Then discuss what each word is doing, i.e. their functional terms:

an enormous, chocolate factorydeterminer describer classifier thing

◆ Write these terms on the board under the example.

◆ Record these words in the class and student wordbanks.

Articles

◆ Distribute BLM 15 ‘Articles’ and point out that nouns generally need other wordsto help us to understand what they refer to. The functional name for these wordsis determiners. Determiners can be articles, pronouns or adjectives.

◆ Work through the examples of definite and indefinite articles with students, thenhave them complete the exercises.

BLM 15

Articles

46

Context– Text

– Grammar

48–49

Context– Text

– Grammar


BLM 15 ANSWERS

1 The water in the creek is too dangerous for swimming. The, the - definite2 For Easter we have a feast in the backyard. a - indefinite, the - definite3 Yesterday we went for a walk by the canal. a - indefinite, the - definite4 The road at the back of our place is the main street. The, the, the - definite5 Michaeli is a soldier in the army. a - indefinite, the - definite6 The house across the road could also be demolished. The, the - definite7 After the party we had a cup of tea. the - definite, a - indefinite8 We also had a piece of cake. a - indefinite9 An old lady arrived with some lemonade. An - indefinite10 The children then went home to bed. The - definite11 The next day some builders arrived. The - definite12 The builders nailed some boards across the doors. The, the - definite13 The whole street held a protest meeting. The - definite, a - indefinite14 The meeting was a huge success. The - definite, a - indefinite

◆ Consider other words that have nominal quality, i.e. that act like nouns, e.g.personal pronouns.

◆ Also point out how nouns can be common or proper, using examples from theextract from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on OHT 8.

◆ Distribute BLM 16 ‘Determiners’ to students and introduce them to the othertypes of determiners. Spend some time familiarising them with the newterminology. Read through the information on the BLM and ask students tocomplete the exercises. Discuss the results.

BLM 16 ANSWERS

1 My house is on a corner. My - possessive, a - article2 Every day we walk to the shops. Every - quantifier, the - article3 In 1993 we moved into our house. our - possessive4 This house used to be painted blue. This - demonstrative5 Their car is big and noisy. Their - possessive6 Each house has a verandah. Each - quantifier, a - article7 That billycart has a steering wheel. That - demonstrative, a - article8 Those books are from the library. Those - demonstrative, the - article9 My mother makes our clothes. My - possessive, our - possessive10 We didn’t have any breakfast. any - quantifier11 The council built that big fence. The - article, that - demonstrative12 My mate Thommo lived next door. My - possessive13 Their school was next to a factory. Their - possessive, a - article14 This truck belongs to our uncle. This - demonstrative, our - possessive15 His mother took him to the shops His - possessive, the - article16 Her sister is a good cricketer. Her - possessive, a - article

◆ Return to the passage from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on OHT 8 andexamine the other noun groups. Discuss the words in the noun groups that domost of the work of describing, i.e. the adjectives. Identify the adjectives with theclass. Consider the importance of the adjectives by reading a couple of lines anddeleting the adjectives from the noun groups, for example:

OHT 8

BLM 16

DDDDDDDDDDD


In the town itself, actually within sight of the house in which Charlie lived,there was an ENORMOUS CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

In the town itself, actually within sight of the house in which Charlie lived,there was a factory.

◆ Distribute BLM 17 and work through the information on building noun groups.Complete the first couple of examples together and then have students read out aselection, recording responses on the board.

◆ Return to Roald Dahl’s description of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory on OHT8. Examine more closely how the writer builds up the descriptions of the factory.First, focus on sentences 6–8. Consider how:

• each feature of the factory is described through the use of long noun groups;

• the description of each feature is linked by the word ‘and’;

• the repetition of ‘and’ is intentional in that it creates an image of the factorybeing large, i.e. ‘and’, ‘and’, ‘and’.

◆ Briefly discuss the effect of repetition and rhythm in the language through therepeated use of ‘it’ in sentences 3–5.

◆ Devote the remaining time in class to reading, and have students update theirreading log. Ask students about their progress with their reading record.

◆ Conduct a general discussion on the books students are reading by asking:

• Is it interesting?

• Is it a fantasy?

• What are the characters like?

• Where is it set?

• Does anything unusual happen to the place where the story is set?

• Is it set in the present, past or the future?

• Is there any ‘time travelling’ in the story?

In the previous lesson, students were taught the grammatical categoriesnecessary for building descriptions. The descriptions they worked on describedthings in a ‘concrete’ sense because they focused on the appearance andproperties of particular things. In this lesson, students will be shown how‘abstract’ descriptions are used in narrative. In particular how categories suchas simile and metaphor are used to build images of characters and places instories.

BLM 17

BBBBBBBBB

BBBBBBBBBBB

OHT 8

Lesson 10 Examining figural language


◆ Display OHT 9 ‘Verb identification’, Roald Dahl’s description of Willy Wonka’schocolate factory. Examine the verbs in the passage by conducting a class verbidentification exercise.

OHT 9 ANSWERS

In the town itself, actually within sight of the house in which Charlie lived, there was anENORMOUS CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

Just imagine that!

And it wasn’t simply an ordinary enormous chocolate factory either. It was the largest and mostfamous in the whole world! It was WONKA’S FACTORY, owned by a man called Mr Willy Wonka,the greatest inventor and maker of chocolates that there has ever been. And what atremendous, marvellous place it was! It had huge iron gates leading into it, and a high wallsurrounding it, and smoke belching from its chimneys, and strange whizzing sounds coming fromdeep inside it. And outside the walls, for half a mile around in every direction, the air was

scented with the heavy rich smell of melting chocolate!

From R. Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Unwin-Hyman, London, 1985

Action Mental Relationallived imagine was (4 times)owned wasn’tleadingsurrounding has beenbelching hadcomingwas scented

◆ Give special attention to the verb ‘belching’. Using class dictionaries, find thedictionary definition and add this to the class and student wordbanks. Alsodiscuss the word ‘literal’, and define and add it to the wordbanks. Ask students ifchimneys really, or literally, belch smoke. Discuss why and how Roald Dahlwould have used this word. Explain that ‘belching’ is a highly descriptive word.It is being used metaphorically, i.e. to create an image for the reader. Ask studentsto find the meaning of the word ‘metaphor’, have them define and add it to thewordbanks, and contrast with the word ‘literally’. Ask students what images theword conjures up for them.

◆ Following this, make an overhead of BLM 18, a passage from PatriciaWrightson’s The Nargun and the Stars and distribute copies to students. Ifstudents are not familiar with the story, point out that a Nargun is a mythicalAustralian creature like a bunyip, only much larger and less friendly.

◆ Read through the passage with the class discussing and defining new or difficultwords and adding them to the wordbanks. Ask students what the passage is aboutand what is being described.

OHT 9VVVVV

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

BLM 18

MMMMMMMMMMM

MMMMM


◆ Conduct a class verb identification exercise. List all the verbs on the board andthen have students:

• Categorise the verbs as action, mental or relational;

• Circle the action verbs that are used metaphorically, like ‘belching’ in theWilly Wonka passage.

BLM 18 ANSWERS

From round the end of the mountain came a sudden roar, the bulldozer had started. It was verynear, but still out of sight round the curve of the mountain. Simon had no time for it yet. He was

too busy with the Mountain itself.

The trail wriggled up it like a snake, turning back and forth between a fence and a small gully.At every turn the horses heaved themselves heavily up to the next level. Soon the sound of thebulldozer was below. The world fell dizzily away into vistas of far blue ridges; the wind curled

round the mountain with a dangerous pull. The end ridge was so far under that you looked

down on the tops of the forest; they were rippling in the wind and roaring huskily like the sea.The complicated pattern of ridge and gully was flattened into a map, easy to see. The housewas a white shoe-box with a small toy Edie walking across the yard.

From P. Wrightson, The Nargun and the Stars, Puffin Books, Harmondsworth, 1978.


came was (5 times)had started hadwriggledheavedfellcurledlookedwere ripplingroaringwas flattenedwalking

◆ Focus on the action verbs that are used metaphorically. Discuss the image eachof these verbs creates, by asking questions such as:

• Why does Patricia Wrightson write that ‘the trail wriggled’?

• What type of path does this suggest it is?

• What image does she want to create by saying ‘the wind curled’ etc.?


Adverbs

◆ Following this discussion, begin to focus on the adverbs used in the text.

◆ Explain that, as with noun groups containing descriptive words, called adjectives,verb groups can contain descriptive words called adverbs. Adverbs add extrainformation to verbs. They can also add information to an adjective.

◆ Use this definition and include the term in the wordbanks. Examine the adverbsused in the passage from The Nargun and the Stars, e.g. ‘fell dizzily’, ‘roaringhuskily’.

◆ Distribute BLM 19 ‘Adverbs’ and explain the information about adverbs to theclass.

◆ Ask students to complete the exercises on adverbs, then discuss their results as aclass.

BLM 19 ANSWERS

1 It was extremely dangerous to swim in the creek.2 Maria finished her picture beautifully.3 It was a really excellent idea.4 The class was told briefly what to do.5 We all thought the task was just impossible.6 Most of us finished it easily.7 Fortunately, we could take it home with us.8 Nearly everyone went to the performance.9 They were quite good actors.10 We could only stay there for about an hour.11 Mick quietly left the room.12 Monday was a very good day.13 Lara hit the ball powerfully.14 The wicket-keeper almost caught it.15 He slowly went back to his mark.16 The crowd was chanting noisily.

◆ To extend this exercise, have students write their own sentences using the sameadverbs they found in BLM 19.

◆ Return to BLM 18 ‘metaphoric verbs’ and focus on the following lines from thepassage:

The trail wriggled up it like a snake. . .they were rippling in the wind and roaring huskily like the sea.

41

Context– Text

– Grammar

BLM 19

BLM 18


◆ Ask students:

• What images are created in these lines about the trail and the trees?

• Apart from using the metaphoric action verbs, and the adverb ‘huskily’in the second example, what else does the writer do to create theseimages? The writer uses the phases ‘like a snake’ and ‘like the sea’.

◆ Explain that these phrases are called similes. A simile is a figure of speech in whichone object is compared to, or said to be like some other object. Other examplesof similes include ‘as flat as a pancake’, ‘as big as a house’, etc. Add the term anddefinition to the wordbanks.

◆ Next, examine the use of metaphors in the passage, for example:

The house was a white shoe-box with a small toy Edie walking across the yard.(Edie is in fact a grown woman.)

◆ Consider the images created by the writer, i.e. looking down at the house from themountain top, the house appeared to be a shoe-box and Edie a small toy.

◆ Ask students in what way these phrases are different to the similes. Explain thatthese lines are saying one object is another object whereas the similes are sayingthey are like the object. Point out that the second phrases are called metaphors.Define the term and add to the wordbanks.

◆ Following this, distribute BLM 20 ‘Similes and metaphors’ and ask students tocomplete the exercises for homework. Instruct them also to return to thedescription of their place on BLM 13 and to incorporate some of these descriptivedevices in their own writing.

BLM 20 ANSWERS

1 The road was as slippery as a snake. Simile

2 The sun was a fire melting the bitumen on the road. Metaphor

3 Greg was as quick as a rabbit darting in and out of the bushes. Simile

4 The field of wheat was like a sea, rising and falling in the breeze. Simile

5 Jessie was a clown, she made everyone laugh. Metaphor

6 Lee was so embarrassed he was as red as a beetroot. Simile

7 Her house was a castle, huge and imposing on the landscape. Metaphor

8 The car backfired like a bomb, scaring everyone who was standing near. Simile

9 Nicholas was like a vacuum as he slurped his spaghetti into his mouth. Simile

10 His timing was like clockwork, while everyone else was late. Simile

11 Alinta was a beanpole, tall and skinny and towering above everyone else. Metaphor

12 The room was an oven; someone had turned off the air conditioning. Metaphor

BLM 20

SSS SSSSSSSSS

S SSSSSSSS

BLM 13yyyyyyy


◆ Discuss the homework on similes and metaphors and ask students who haveincorporated these devices in their writing to read out their work. Discussresponses, focusing on students’ use of similes and metaphors.

◆ Explain to students that stories are also about people (or characters). In fact, it isgenerally the characters that are the focus of a story and hold the reader’s interest.Refer to the wall chart of the ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘who’ and ‘what’ of My Place,completed in lesson 2. Focus on the ‘who’—the characters of the story.

◆ Recap on previous points made about the elements of a story and theirimportance in My Place, i.e. explain how there is little information about thecharacters in each of the periods because the focus is time and place, not peopleand what they do.

◆ Explain to students that their job will be to explore these characters, to investigatetheir interests, feelings and experiences and to develop a more complete picturethan is presented in the book.

◆ To do this, write down each of the years referred to in the book, i.e. 1988 to 1788,on small pieces of paper. Place these in a hat and complete the following with theclass:

• Ask students to organise into pairs and to choose a year from the hat.

• Ask each pair to refer to the wall chart to find out who the main characterfor their year was and what information was recorded about them.

◆ Alternatively, if enough books are available, pairs may refer to the entry in thebook.

◆ Distribute BLM 21 ‘Character analysis’. When pairs are familiar with what hasbeen recorded or written about the character, explain that each student will berequired to write down ten questions to ask their character. Discuss possiblequestions and answers by choosing one of the remaining years from the hat thatwas not selected. Discuss possible categories of questions, e.g. about appearance,feelings, interests, family, school, etc. Questions for Sofia in 1968 might include:

• Do you like school?

• Who are your friends?

• What are your interests?

• What do you like to eat?

• What is your budgie’s name? Can it speak?

• Do you ever go ice-skating?

Lesson 11 Exploring characters

BLM 21


• What is your bedroom like?

• What are your brother and sister like?

• What does your brother say about the war?

• What kind of things do you and Mareka get up to on weekends and afterschool?

◆ Historical events such as the Vietnam War and the Great Depression, or aspectsof life during the time, could be discussed more fully before students proceed. Abox of books prepared by the school librarian on some of the periods may beuseful for students to refer to in completing this exercise. However, historicalaccuracy is not really necessary. Now ask students to write their questions.

◆ On completing this, have students pass their page to the other person in their pair.They should then imagine they are the character and respond to each of thequestions in the space provided. Explain that their answers are not necessarilyright or wrong but that they are playing the role of a particular character so moreinformation can be obtained about them.

◆ On completing the exercise have pairs report results to the class, reading out thequestions and answers. Ask other students to consider each pair’s responses andto suggest alternate answers.

◆ Discuss how they now have a much fuller picture of many of the characters.

◆ To complete the lesson, select students to provide updates on their reading logs:

• Who are the characters in their books and what have they found outabout them?

• Are all the characters in the books they are reading human?

• Do they have any funny habits, etc.?

◆ Conduct a general discussion of famous characters in books, e.g. Winnie thePooh, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pippi LongStocking, etc. Compile a listand display.


◆ Refocus on the information obtained about the characters in My Place andexplain to students that they will be writing a character profile based on theresponses to the questions in the interview activity on BLM 21 ‘Characteranalysis’.

◆ Discuss what is meant by a character profile and begin to consider how the textmight be organised.

◆ Point out that a character profile is a description, or a text that uses the processof describing.

◆ Ask students about the information each group obtained during their interviewwith the character and record responses on the board.

◆ Brainstorm how they might categorise their information, e.g. appearance, family,personality, interests, experiences, likes and dislikes.

◆ Explain that these categories of information should form the scaffold for theirtext.

◆ Display OHT 10 of a blank scaffold for a character profile and with the studentsfill in the categories alongside the paragraph boxes.

◆ Discuss each stage by asking the following questions:

• How do descriptions, especially factual descriptions like informationreports, begin? They begin with a classification.

• Would it be helpful to start this description with a classification?

• How might the character from My Place be classified? The character’sname, the book they come from and the time in which they lived.

• Are the categories of information in the best sequence?

• Could they suggest another way of ordering the information?

◆ Distribute BLM 22 ‘Character profile’ and ask students to fill in the categories ontheir blank scaffold.

◆ Following this, ask students to use the scaffold to draft a description of theircharacter on a separate piece of paper. Have students peer edit their work with agroup member on completion, checking:

Lesson 12 Describing characters—writinga character profile

BLM 21

BLM 22

ffff

OHT 10


• paragraphing

• sentence construction

• spelling

• punctuation

◆ Ask students to redraft their work in the space provided and select students toread out their descriptions. Discuss the results.

◆ Recap on the strategies for describing, as discussed in previous lessons. Compilea list from students’ responses on butcher’s paper as a wall display for classreference (see below).

◆ Ask students for examples of each, focusing on describing a character andbuilding up the description by using each strategy.

The language of describing Example

Using verbs:• to describe appearance (relational) Iman was tall and a good bowler.• to describe feelings (mental) She liked cricket.• to describe happenings (action) She played with the local under-12 cricket

team.

Using long noun groups She had a fast, straight and accurate bowlingaction.

Using metaphoric verbs The wind would whistle as her bouncersflew through the air.

Simile They were as fast as lightning.

Metaphor Everyone thought that Iman was a demonwith a cricket ball.

◆ Display OHT 11 of an extract from Roald Dahl’s The BFG.

◆ Discuss where this extract comes from, i.e. it is written by the same author asCharlie and the Chocolate Factory. Ask students if they have read the book. Whatare their opinions? Explain that BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant, but that thestory also has characters who are not so friendly and also much bigger than theBFG. Point out that the extract is a description of one of the nasty giants in thestory whose name is Bloodbottler.

Lesson 13 Describing characters usingfigural language

OHT 11BFG


◆ Read through the extract with the class, discussing any new or difficult words andadd these to the wordbanks. Discuss the image that Roald Dahl creates ofBloodbottler.

• How does he use descriptive and metaphoric language to create this picture?

◆ After a general discussion, distribute BLM 23 ‘Verbs, nouns and adjectives’ andfocus on this point by asking students to complete the exercises.

BLM 23 ANSWERS

The Bloodbottler was a gruesome sight. His skin was reddish-brown, there was black hairsprouting on his chest and arms and on his stomach. The hair on his head was long and darkand tangled. His foul face was round and squashy-looking. The eyes were tiny black holes.The nose was small and flat. But the mouth was huge. It spread right across the face almostear to ear, and it had lips that were like two gigantic purple frankfurters lying one on top of theother. Craggy yellow teeth stuck out between the two purple frankfurtery lips, and rivers of spitran down over the chin.


sprouting was (7 times)spread werelying hadstuck out wereran down

Adjectives

gruesome round tworeddish-brown squashy-looking giganticblack tiny purplelong black craggydark small yellowtangled flat twofoul huge purplefrankfurtery

◆ Following this, ask students if Roald Dahl has used either similes or metaphors inhis description. Discuss the difference between:

like two gigantic purple frankfurtersand

the two purple frankfurtery lips

◆ Point out how the first is a simile whereas the second is a metaphor. Also considerthe other metaphors: ‘rivers of spit’, ‘tiny black holes’.

◆ Following the discussion of this passage, ask students to return to their characterprofile on BLM 22 and to examine the use of descriptive and metaphoric languagein their own passage.

BLM 23

,,, , , , , , , , , ,, , j


◆ Have students redraft their profile for homework, making use of some of thedescriptive devices listed on the wall display. Students could draw a picture of thecharacter to accompany their profile.

◆ Explain to students that the class is to produce a book entitled Our Places. Thiswill involve every student contributing two pages to the book, bringing togetherall the skills they have learned in this unit, in particular, the different strategies fordescribing. Indicate that the book is to be a record of their place here and now,and as with Nadia Wheatley’s My Place, each entry will include:

• a description of their place, themselves, their family and friends;

• happenings that have occurred around the place;

• a map;

• illustrations.

◆ Explain that students already have the basis for their contribution from the workcompleted in previous activities, i.e.:

• lesson 6—the map

• lessons 8 and 9—describing places

• lessons 12 and 13—describing characters

◆ Explain that they now need to:

• plan their lay-out and design;

• redraft their map;

• write a passage which incorporates the different aspects of descriptioncovered in this unit, i.e. on both place and characters.

◆ Display OHT 12 of a planning guide for the class assignment and discuss withstudents.

◆ Focus first on the narrative elements of time, place, people and events. Using theOHT, explain that:

• the description is to be set in the present, although there may be referenceto past events;

• the description is to be set around their place, i.e. the area covered in themap;

BLM 22

Lesson 14 Putting it all together!

OHT 12

gg

ggggg


OHT 15

Describing

your

map

• while they are each to be the central character they may include family,friends, etc.

◆ Next, discuss ideas for organising the description, focusing on the following:

• description of their appearance;

• description of their personality and interests;

• description of other characters;

• the location of their place;

• description of the appearance of their place;

• events;

• different descriptive devices.

◆ Also consider reference. Ask students:

• If they are going to include illustrations and a map, how might that affectreference?

◆ Students will also need to think about the lay-out and design of their two-pagespread, i.e. the placement of the description, map and illustrations. Discusspossibilities. Point out how variation in design will add interest to the appearanceof the class book. Draw possible designs on the board or show OHT 13 as anexample.

◆ Following this discussion, ask students to turn back to the descriptions they wrotein earlier lessons and to reread them prior to completing their plan for their two-page spread. These plans could be completed on scrap paper. While the class iscompleting this task, conference with individual students on their ideas for theassignment.

◆ After students have completed their plan, begin to discuss how students mightscaffold their descriptions, i.e. the written text of the assignment:

• the description of themselves and their home, and;

• the description of the map and things that have happened.

◆ Display OHT 14 ‘Description of me and my home’ which shows a suggestedscaffold for the first of these descriptions, and discuss the text organisation withstudents.

◆ Next, ask students to turn to the description of ‘My place’ they wrote on BLM13. Discuss this text with them and then display OHT 15 ‘Describing your map’.Explain how the next description they are to write is an extended version of theprevious one—i.e. more than one feature of their place is to be described. Tocomplete this description therefore, students will simply need to extend andredraft the earlier text using BLM 24 and BLM 25.

OHT 13

YYYYYYYYYYY

Y YYY-

OHT 14

DDDDDDDDDDDD

DDDDDDDDDD

DDDDDDD


◆ Following this, have students complete drafts of both descriptions for homework.

◆ Discuss the descriptions that students have completed for homework and havethem edit and complete final drafts.

◆ Distribute two sheets of paper to each student and have them begin to lay outtheir assignment, i.e.:

• drawing their illustrations;

• writing up their redrafted description (if computers are available, havestudents use a word processing program to type their final draft);

• adding the finishing touches.

◆ This process may take a couple of lessons to complete.

◆ Students who finish early may be given the task of designing and drawing thefront and back covers and also compiling a title and acknowledgements page forthe class book.

◆ When each student has finished their contribution, collect all copies, compile andbind the class book.

◆ Conduct a class reading of the finished product and have the book placed in theschool library.

◆ Recap the process of writing and compiling the book with the class.

◆ To conclude the unit, have students give their final reports on their reading logs,highlighting the narrative elements they have investigated in the stories they haveread, i.e. time, place (setting), people (characters) and events (plot).

◆ Have students complete some of the following spelling activities on the new wordsadded to the wordbank since lesson 6:

• Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check the list or a selection of the words;

• peer-quizzing on a selection of words;

• make crosswords or word mazes;

• place words in dictionary order;

• investigate other ways of writing the ‘e’ sound, as in ‘musty’, and makea list of another five examples where the ‘e’ sound is written in the sameway;

BLM 24

BLM 25

Describing

your map

Lesson 15 A class book—Our Places


• investigate the ‘er’ suffix, finding out what it means and identifying thewords in the wordbank with an ‘er’ suffix and listing another five;

• investigate the ‘ph’ digraph as in ‘metaphor’ and list another five wordswhich make use of this digraph;

• investigate ‘ive’ words—what is the role of ‘ive’ in words like ‘possessive’and ‘demonstrative’?—and list another five words which use ‘ive’ in asimilar way.

Suggested list of words

1 musty 10 gangsters 18 imagination2 describer 11 chocolate 19 classifier3 possessive 12 assailants 20 demonstrative4 rhythm 13 quantifiers 21 stallion5 belching 14 noun 22 figural6 determiners 15 adverb 23 literal7 simile 16 function 24 class8 article 17 mental 25 metaphor9 adjective

BLM 1

OOOOP

w


Assessing students’ final drafts

Unlike technical texts such as information reports assessing narrative texts isdifficult to systematise as interesting narrative writing quite often breaksestablished rules. It is the innovative use of language and experimentation withtextual form, rather than adherence to predetermined schema that oftencharacterise effective narrative writing.

In order to respond productively to creative writing, therefore, teachers needto be flexible when assessing narrative. While generally we implicitly ‘know’when a text works, we often don’t have the language to tell students andothers what we know and what they might need to understand. Therefore, tryto see the following not as rules for ‘correct’ or ‘good’ narrative writing, butas a vocabulary to share with students to help make the assessment processmore effective.

As students’ narrative writing develops, a range of assessment categories canbe used, such as those relating to theme, structure and description. These willbe investigated in the various units dealing with narrative in this series. ForOur Place the emphasis is on students’ use of descriptive language and simplestory-telling skills. While a structure has been provided for students to scaffoldtheir descriptions, it is not essential for them to follow this ‘to the letter’. Aslong as their descriptions are well structured, i.e. presented in a logical andcoherent fashion, students could vary from this model. Emphasis here shouldbe given to the way students create descriptive images with language throughthe use of adjectives, adverbs, similes and metaphors.

Use the texts and assessment guidelines below to provide direction in assessingstudents’ contributions to the class book Our Places.

1997

Hi, my name’s Kathryn and I’m 10. I’ve got two brothers named Patrickand Sam. My mum’s name is Susan and my dad’s name is Malcolm.Everyone says I’ve got my mum’s skin and my dad’s eyes. My mumhas really dark skin and dad’s eyes are blue. Sam looks like me. I havea cat called Alice who is a ball of fur. We might be able to get a dog.My best friend’s name is Kate. She has short hair and wears smallround glasses. We learn Rock ‘n’ Roll dancing together which I reallylike.


BLM 27

Teacher

assessment

chart

This is my place. I live inHowes Rd in East Kurrajongin the country. We used tolive in Morilla Rd, one streetdown. My new home is bigand roomy. It’s surroundedby bush and is made ofbrick. My room is veryspecial to me because Ican do what I want to do init. It’s a hiding place frommy brothers.

This is a map of my place. I catch the bus to school with my brother Patrick. We travel a longway to get there. I love my school. My favourite teachers are Ms J and Mr Shorten. At my newhouse I ride my bike a lot. It’s much better than my old house because my piano is in aseparate room.

Assessment report

Genre/s Describing

Text type Narrative description

Structure

Description of self

Classification Name and ageAppearance Description limited to family characteristicsFamily Reference to family members and petsFriends Reference and description of friend and common interest


Description of home

Appearance Describes the setting, location and appearance of her home

Description of map

Naming the place Identifies the map as her place

Features and happenings Limited description of features of map; no account ofhappenings

Text organisation Separate paragraphs provided for each description

Grammar

Sentence construction Shows development through use of some sentences whichhave subordinate and co-ordinate clauses

Tense Consistent use of present tense

Descriptive noun groups Has made some attempt to build descriptions through noungroups, e.g. ‘small round glasses’Further development required

Adjectives Requires further work

Metaphoric action verbs No evidence of use

Adverbs No evidence due to absence of description of events

Metaphors and similes Use of two metaphors, ‘ball of fur’, ‘hiding place’

Spelling/punctuation Spelling and punctuation quite goodCapital letters missing from ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’

Comments

Kathryn has written a satisfactory description of herself, and her home and place.However, she has tended to focus on the appearance of things and not described events.Her description therefore only points to some of the outcomes expected for thisassessment task. She needs more work and understanding on using descriptive devicessuch as adjectives, adverbs and metaphoric action verbs.

Student self-assessment

◆ Conference with students on their edited descriptions and assist them incompleting their self-assessment charts on BLM 26. This process may becompleted over a number of lessons.

BLM 26

SSlf- t

h t

External and internal reference OHT 1

Reference

© Blake Education. © P. Knapp & M. Watkins. Our Place: Connecting Text and Grammar. This page may be reproduced.

Our Place 41

‘Look, Maria, Sally is eatingall of the ice cream!’

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s h e

2. Internal reference – reference inside the text.

1. External reference – reference outside the text.

OHT 2 When? Who? Where? What?



42 Our Place

When? Who? Where? What?Year—1988 Main character: Laura’s place Laura moved

Laura is near to the cityMcDonalds. from Bourke.She lives near Sometimesher friend, she canoes.Soniya.

Othercharacters:Laura’s Mum There is aand Dad, Terry, canal at theLorraine, end ofAuntie Bev, the street.Soniya, Tony,Diane, Deanand Gully

Narrative reading log OHT 3

Narrative reading log


Our Place 43

Name Author Publisher Year of Charactersof book publication

The Big Ruth Park Hodder 1983 • ElizaBrass Key and • Paulina

Stoughton • Vivien• Parents• Bethie• Mr Finch• Tot• Matty

Plot summary

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OHT 4 Canberra

Canberra


44 Our Place

Canberra is the national capital of Australia. It is amodern city with many public buildings, governmentoffices, wide roads and parklands.

Canberra is a city in the Australian Capital Territory(ACT). The ACT is within the boundaries of the Stateof New South Wales. Canberra is in the MolongloRiver valley to the east of the Brindabella Range.

Canberra was designed by Walter Burley Griffin whowon a competition in 1911 which was held to choosethe future shape of the city. The construction of thecity began immediately but it was interrupted byWorld War I. The Federal Parliament moved therefrom Melbourne in 1927, although the governmentoffices did not move there until after World War II.

Canberra is now a popular tourist attraction. Everyyear many thousands of people visit the newParliament House, the National Gallery of Australia,the National Library, the Canberra Botanic Gardensand the Black Mountain Telecommunication Tower.

Mary’s place OHT 5

Mary’s place


Our Place 45

This is a map of my place. There is a park near my house. It has

lots of big old trees and some playthings. Sometimes my friend

Beth and I play in the park. We like the roundabout best. One

day we played on it after going to McDonalds. We ran all the way

to the park. I jumped on the roundabout and then Beth spun it

around really fast. It went so fast I felt sick.


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OHT 6 Mary’s place—scaffold

Mary’s place—scaffold


46 Our Place

Naming the place

relational verbThis is a map of my place.

Identifying a feature

relational verbThere is a park near my house.

◆ It has lots of big old trees andsome playthings.

◆ Sometimes my friend Beth and Iplay in the park.

◆ We like the roundabout best.

◆ One day we played on it aftergoing to McDonalds.

◆ We ran all the way to the park.◆ I jumped on the roundabout and

then Beth spun it around reallyfast.

◆ It went so fast I felt sick.

Describing the feature

◆ appearancerelational verbs

◆ happeningsaction verbs

◆ feelingsmental verbs

◆ happeningsaction verbs

◆ feelingsmental verbs

Canberra—structure OHT 7

Canberra—structure


Our Place 47

Descriptionhistory

Descriptiontourism

Classification Canberra is the national capital ofAustralia. It is a modern city with manypublic buildings, government offices, wide

Canberra is a city in the AustralianCapital Territory (ACT). The ACT is withinthe boundaries of the State of New SouthWales. Canberra is in the Molonglo Rivervalley to the east of the BrindabellaRange.

Canberra was designed by WalterBurley Griffin who won a competition in1911 which was held to choose thefuture shape of the city. The constructionof the city began immediately but it wasinterrupted by World War I. The FederalParliament moved there from Melbournein 1927, although the government officesdid not move there until after World WarII.

Canberra is now a popular touristattraction. Every year many thousands ofpeople visit the new Parliament House,the National Gallery of Australia, theNational Library, the Canberra BotanicGardens and the Black MountainTelecommunication Tower.

Descr ipt ionlocat ion/geography

OHT 8 The chocolate factory

The chocolate factory


48 Our Place

In the town itself, actually within sight of thehouse in which Charlie lived, there was anENORMOUS CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

Just imagine that!

And it wasn’t simply an ordinary enormouschocolate factory either. It was the largest andmost famous in the whole world! It wasWONKA’S FACTORY, owned by a man called MrWilly Wonka, the greatest inventor and maker ofchocolates that there has ever been. And whata tremendous, marvellous place it was! It hadhuge iron gates leading into it, and a high wallsurrounding it, and smoke belching from itschimneys, and strange whizzing sounds comingfrom deep inside it. And outside the walls, forhalf a mile around in every direction, the airwas scented with the heavy rich smell ofmelting chocolate!

From R. Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,

Unwin-Hyman, London, 1985.

Verb identification OHT 9

Verb identification


Our Place 49

In the town itself, actually within sight of the house inwhich Charlie lived, there was an ENORMOUSCHOCOLATE FACTORY!

Just imagine that!

And it wasn’t simply an ordinary enormous chocolatefactory either. It was the largest and most famous in thewhole world! It was WONKA’S FACTORY, owned by a mancalled Mr Willy Wonka, the greatest inventor and maker ofchocolates that there has ever been. And what atremendous, marvellous place it was! It had huge irongates leading into it, and a high wall surrounding it, andsmoke belching from its chimneys, and strange whizzingsounds coming from deep inside it. And outside thewalls, for half a mile around in every direction, the airwas scented with the heavy rich smell of meltingchocolate!

From R. Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,

Unwin-Hyman, London, 1985.


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OHT 10 Character profile

Character profile


50 Our Place

◆ Character’s name __________________________

◆ Book’s name_______________________________

◆ Period in which they lived _________________

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Personality–likes anddislikes

Interests andexper iences

Family

Appearance

Classification

The BFG OHT 11

The BFG


Our Place 51

The Bloodbottler was a gruesome sight. His skinwas reddish-brown, there was black hairsprouting on his chest and arms and on hisstomach. The hair on his head was long and darkand tangled. His foul face was round andsquashy-looking. The eyes were tiny black holes.The nose was small and flat. But the mouth washuge. It spread right across the face almost earto ear, and it had lips that were like two giganticpurple frankfurters lying one on top of the other.Craggy yellow teeth stuck out between the twopurple frankfurtery lips, and rivers of spit randown over the chin.

From R. Dahl, The BFG, Jonathan Cape, London, 1988.

OHT 12 Class book planning guide

Class book planning guide


52 Our Place

Narrative elements

◆ Time◆ Place◆ People◆ Events

Description

Main character◆ Appearance◆ Personality/interests

Other characters

Place◆ Location◆ Appearance◆ Events

Reference◆ Links to illustrations and map

Layout and Design

Page 1 Page 2

Your place—lay-out plan OHT 13

Your place—lay-out plan


Our Place 53

Description of me and my home

Picture of me

Picture of my home

Year

Description of map and thingsthat have happened

Map of my place

OHT 14 Description of me and my home

Description of me and my home


54 Our Place

◆ My name__________________________________

◆ Age ______________________________________

◆ Where I live________________________________

◆ Family and friends _________________________

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What myhome lookslike

What I likeabout myhome

Myappearanceand Interests

Classification

Description of map and things that have happened OHT 15

Describing your map


Our Place 55

Naming the place


Describing a feature ◆ appearance

◆ happenings

◆ feelings


Describing a feature ◆ appearance

◆ happenings

◆ feelings

© Blake Education. © Copyright P. Knapp & M. Watkins. Our Place: Connecting Text and Grammar. This page may be reproduced.

56 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Our Place—wordbankBLM 1

This is a list of all of the new words you will find doing these activities that:

◆ deal with describing time, place and characters in narrative;◆ describe the language you will use (grammar).

Word Meaning

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Our Place 57

BLM 2Reference

In the following text:◆ underline the parts that need a picture;◆ draw simple pictures to make the text complete;◆ label the pictures

This is me sitting on the back of Horace. Dad would sometimes help Koko on thefarm. That’s him on the old red tractor. He’s my grandfather and everyone calls himKoko. Here we are driving across the bumpy tracks to do some fencing out theback of the farm. It’s a bit scary out there because it backs onto a big old mountainand there’s lots of huge trees and stumps and moss. Here’s a wild pig we oncesaw. It was big and black and had ivory tusks.

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58 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

The four WsBLM 3

In your groups, complete the details for the time periods you have been given.


Year Main character _________________________ _________________________

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Other characters _________________________ _________________________

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Sentences can tell us what is going on and also when it is happening. Verbs are thepart of a sentence that deal with time—they have tense. In English we have threetenses: past, present and future. Verbs change their form when the tense changes.Look at the following sentences and see how the verbs change their form.

The children played in the water. Past

The children play in the water. Present

The children will play in the water. Future

Underline the verbs and write their tense (past, present or future) after each of thefollowing sentences. The first one has been done for you.

Our class will go on some excursions. ___________________________________

The tide will come in soon. ___________________________________

Our place is big and noisy. ___________________________________

We often run home from school. ___________________________________

We went on the ferry to Manly. ___________________________________

Josie will buy a new book. ___________________________________

Horace broke down last Friday. ___________________________________

Tomorrow we will go to the farm. ___________________________________

Nguyen dumped her bag by the door. ___________________________________

My room has a big desk in it. ___________________________________

My father cooks dinner most nights. ___________________________________

On Sunday we will do the shopping. ___________________________________

Greg of ten works at n ight . ___________________________________

We explored our neighbourhood. ___________________________________

Maria borrowed Misery Guts from me. ___________________________________

We will take the books back soon. ___________________________________

Every night I read before bed. ___________________________________

Tom wrote a very funny story. ___________________________________

I write my stories on the computer. ___________________________________

My story will be funnier. ___________________________________20

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Our Place 59

BLM 4Tense

future tense


60 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

More exercises on tenseBLM 5

Rewrite the following sentences using the correct tense of the verbs in brackets.

Many people have never (see) the sea.

Soon we will be (read) a new book.

Last week we (watch) a funny video about a fish who (talk).

Yesterday at the aquarium we (see) a shark which (eat) lots of small fish.

I have (finish) reading my book, now I (go) to sleep.

Next weekend we (go) to the museum.

The last time we (go) we (see) a dinosaur exhibition.

Tomorrow after school, Mum (pick) us up and we (drive) to the farm.

This morning I (miss) the bus so I (am) late for school.

Soon I (write) a story about what (happen) on our holiday.

Now write your own sentences in the following tenses:

Past tense

Present tense

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Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 61

BLM 6Timeline

Use the following timeline to record important events in your life.

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In one paragraph, write about the events recorded above, starting with your birth.

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62 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

ConjunctionsBLM 7

Conjunctions are the words we use to connect one bit of information with another.Words like and, but, because, then, when, on the other hand, nevertheless, and as aconsequence of, are conjunctions.

The main kinds of conjunctions we use are:

◆ Temporal or time conjunctions—words that deal with time, such as meanwhile,then, when, afterwards, finally, etc.

◆ Additive conjunctions—words that simply add one bit of information to another,such as and, as well as, besides, in addition, etc.

◆ Causal conjunctions—words that make one thing the cause or effect of the other,such as because, therefore, however, since, yet, so that, etc.

◆ Contrastive conjunctions—words that contrast one thing against another, such assimilarly, on the other hand, except, but, as if, etc.

Read the following sentences and underline the conjunction and say what type it is.

We left early because we were tired. ____________________

The dolphin swam into the beach and played with the ball. ____________________

When we got home we went to bed. ____________________

Since the water was warm, we all had a swim. ____________________

Then the class went on the train to Circular Quay. ____________________

Sharks swim fast, but not as fast as dolphins. ____________________

Whenever the bell goes, we stop playing. ____________________

Furthermore, we have to line up in classes. ____________________

After we line up, our teacher takes us to our room. ____________________

Before I was born, my parents lived in Lebanon. ____________________

When they came to Australia, they lived in Melbourne. ____________________

Then, in 1979, they moved to Sydney. ____________________

In addition to me, my mother had two other babies. ____________________

In my family there are two boys and one girl. ____________________

I like pizzas but I like lasagne better. ____________________

Yesterday we went shopping as well as to the movies. ____________________

Since it was so cold, we stayed inside. ____________________17

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Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 63

BLM 8Object/circumstance

If the part of a sentence that follows the verb is a thing or noun then it is called theobject.

Effie rode her surfboard.

Sentences tell us something about their subject. If the part following the verb tells ushow, when, where or why, then it is called a circumstance.

Low tide was at six o’clock.

In the following sentences, say whether the part following the verb is a thing (an object)or tells us how, when, where or why it happened (circumstance). The first one is donefor you.

The ferry went to Manly. ___________________________________

It departed at 2 p.m. ___________________________________

We saw lots of big waves. ___________________________________

The class saw many beautiful shells. ___________________________________

A ship appeared on the horizon. ___________________________________

Manly has a large wharf. ___________________________________

Dad fixed the car. ___________________________________

Then we drove to the farm. ___________________________________

I helped Koko drive the tractor. ___________________________________

The class enjoyed the excursion. ___________________________________

Our family arrived in 1987. ___________________________________

We drove the tractor very slowly. ___________________________________

We arrived before too long. ___________________________________

The shearers were shearing the sheep. ___________________________________

The shed was out the back of the farm. ___________________________________

In Sydney we always catch a train. ___________________________________

In 1989 we moved to a big house. ___________________________________

The first child was a boy. ___________________________________

I was born in 1986. ___________________________________

My brother Mohammed was a comedian. ___________________________________20

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64 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Circumstances of timeBLM 9

Stories locate characters in time and they sequence events in time. We would expect,therefore, that the sentences we use in stories very often have circumstances of time.

Circumstances of time can be just one word, such as quickly, slowly, rapidly, now,recently.

They can also be groups of words, such as once upon a time, long long ago, inanother time, before sunset, on Monday.

In the following sentences, underline the circumstances of time. The first one is donefor you.

We woke up early the next morning.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.

Time passed slowly, we were totally bored.

We went on an excursion last week.

Long ago, before time began, there was a land of giants.

Jerry had to leave before dawn.

After the carnival, we all went home in Horace.

More recently we have lived in Dubbo.

Last January we moved back to Sydney.

We crossed the old bridge slowly.

My brother Mohammed is always cracking jokes.

The water at the intersection was rising rapidly.

The shearers always move quickly and efficiently.

Kathy ran in and started talking so fast no one could understand her.

The following week we all went back to school.

By now the team was unbeatable.

The situation has changed since then; we now live in a flat.

How long does it take to drive to Bathurst?

We should be there in about two hours.

Back then we didn’t have a worry in the world.20

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Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 65

BLM 10Narrative reading log

Name of book Author Publisher Year of publication

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Characters _____________________________________________________________________________

Plot summary

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66 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Christopher in the atticBLM 11

Old and musty time was in every object. Christopher had discovered thewonders in his dimly lit attic. He was only seven but he had an amazingimagination. He could fly planes and battle gangsters without leaving hisbedroom. Now he had hit upon a goldmine of props for his adventures.

He brushed away the cobwebs from an old eyepatch. Instantly ChristopherHaydon became Blackbeard, fiercest pirate ever to terrorise the seas.Christopher giggled with glee at his latest creation.

‘Ship to starboard,’ screamed a lookout, and Blackbeard laughed a heartylaugh, eager to attack the Spanish gold carrier. ‘Prepare for contact,’ screamedthe mate, as the hapless frigate came closer. ‘Fire!’ came the command. Amuffled roar came from the cannon deck. A powerful explosion ripped throughthe deck of the ship. Like a lame duck, it waited for the attack, which nevercame. Christopher had grown bored with this story.

He rustled through more boxes, after abandoning the eyepatch. Christopherwas beginning to love this place. He was rummaging through a large chest,rather absentmindedly, when he ran his finger along a small blade. Immediatelyhe knew it was the sword of Pierre Descartes, famous musketeer andswordsman.

He closed the chest and climbed onto it, but in his mind he was climbing ontohis brown, smooth stallion, and riding off into the southern French countryside.His trusty horse sped across the plain, and soon Pierre reached his destination,a castle by the sea.

He ran inside to meet Renee, a close friend, and her father, the Count. At thisvery moment, though, his arch enemy, Ferdinand Gonzalez, a Spanishnobleman, leapt from behind a pillar and a sword fight began.

Christopher was leaping from box to chest, fighting an invisible enemy.

Gonzalez seemed to be gaining strength, as Descartes struggled to keep up.Descartes lost his balance on the wall, but just before tumbling to his death, hethrew his sword straight into Gonzalez’s heart.

Christopher howled as he hit the floor, not actually falling from a wall, but theold chest. He heard his mother’s footsteps between sobs, and knew that thiswould be the end of his acting. His mother came to the door, picked him upand carried him away.

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 67

BLM 12Verbs

Action verbs refer to someone doing something. For example:

On Friday we went on an excursion.

Relational verbs tell us how one thing relates to another. For example:

A whale is a sea mammal.

Mental verbs refer to things going on inside of us—things like thinking, feeling,liking, wanting. For example:

Lara thought she knew her way home.

In the following sentences, underline the verbs and say whether they are action,mental or relational. The first one is done for you.

Maria has beautiful brown hair.

Sometimes I go to the pool before school.

I usually swim backstroke first.

My Mum drives me to the pool.

Our house has a big back yard.

Sean loves vanilla ice-cream.

Charlie always dreams about his future.

Alan’s mum bought him a new cricket bat.

Steve is basically a good student.

Claire was a gymnast.

She wanted a gold medal.

She thought about it all the time.

Her backflips were spectacular.

She fell over in the finals.

Her mother was hysterical.

She worried about her reputation.

Norman felt sorry for her.

Effie writes very funny stories.

She often reads them to the class.

I like Horrible Hannah best.20

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68 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

My placeBLM 13

Draw a map of your place.

My place

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Our Place 69

BLM 14Nouns and adjectives

Nouns are the things that take part in what is happening in a sentence. So in a sentencelike:

The bus smashed into the fence

there are two things taking part in the smashing—the bus and the fence. We cantherefore say that there are two nouns in the sentence—The bus and the fence.

Adjectives are words that describe and classify a noun.

Underline the nouns in the following sentences and write any adjectives in the spaces.The first one is done for you.

The Thompsons were evicted from the old, weatherboard house.

Laura has an Aboriginal flag on her front window.

Maroula works at the local milkbar.

Mick was born on Kalimnos but his parents moved to Sydney soonafter.

Mick’s favourite shows are Ren & Stimpy and The Simpsons.

There’s a polluted canal near the street where Jen lives.

Charlie likes to ride his old red bike down the steep hill.

Sometimes we play behind the new tractor shed.

When we moved to the farm we were scared of lizards andsnakes.

Now we have a pet blue-tongue lizard called Andy.

Andy likes to lay around in the hot sun.

Mum likes Andy because he eats lots of insects and gardenpests.

We have a pretty front garden with lots of pink petunias.

In the vegetable garden Mum grows enormous, blue pumpkins.

Dad thinks Mum is a fabulous gardener, he says she has a ‘greenthumb’.

Her favourite flowers are red roses and bright, yellow marigolds.16

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old, weatherboard

ArticlesIf we read:

The toy that Iman has is a bear.

we know that ‘the toy’ the writer is referring to is a particular toy, while ‘a bear’describes a class or a group of toys (bears).

The article the is called a definite article because it refers to definite things, such as thecat, the dog, the moon. Articles that do not refer to definite things but refer to thingsin general are called indefinite articles—words such as a car, an apple.

In the following sentences, underline the noun groups and say whether the articles aredefinite or indefinite. The first one is done for you.

The water in the creek is too dangerous forswimming.

For Easter we have a feast in the backyard.

Yesterday we went for a walk by the canal.

That road is the main street.

Michaeli is a soldier in the army.

The house across the road could also bedemolished.

After the party we had a cup of tea.

We also had a piece of cake.

The old lady arrived with some lemonade.

The children then went home to bed.

The next day some builders arrived.

The builders nailed some boards across thedoors.

The whole street held a protest meeting.

The meeting was a huge success.14

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70 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

ArticlesBLM 15

The–definite, the–definite

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 71

BLM 16Determiners

DemonstrativeDemonstrative determiners point to definite things, such as this car, those apples,these books.

PossessivePossessive determiners point out that a thing belongs to someone, such as myhouse, your backyard, their front balcony, his cricket bat, her favourite toy.

QuantifierQuantifying determiners point out how much of a thing there is, such as everyday, any minute, each banana.

In the following sentences, underline the noun groups and say what types ofdeterminers are used, whether they are demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers orarticles. The first one is done for you.

My house is on a corner.

Every day we walk to the shops.

In 1993 we moved into our house.

This house used to be painted blue.

Their car is big and noisy.

Each house has a verandah.

That billycart has a steering wheel.

Those books are from the library.

My mother makes our clothes.

We didn’t have any breakfast.

The council built that big fence.

My mate Thommo lives next door.

Their school was next to a factory.

This truck belongs to our uncle.

His mother took him to the shops.

Her sister is a good cricketer.16

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72 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Building noun groupsBLM 17

the beautiful

Adjectives are the words that are part of a noun group that describe and classify thenoun, words such as large, Aboriginal flag. The adjective large describes the size ofthe flag (the describer) and the adjective Aboriginal classifies the flag as a particulartype (the classifier).

When we build noun groups we have to think about the type of information wewant to give our readers. Normally noun groups have: a determiner, sometimes oneor more adjectives that describe or classify the noun, and finally the noun.

Build your own noun groups from the following nouns, using suitable determinersand adjectives. The first one is done for you.

Definite article , describer, noun garden

Indefinite article, describer, noun beach

Definite article, describer, noun castle

Indefinite article, describer, noun city

Definite article, classifier, noun yard

Indefinite article, describer, noun park

Indefinite article, classifier, noun shop

Indefinite article, describer, noun school

Definite article, describer, noun bush

Indefinite article, describer, noun road

Definite article, classifier, noun fence

Definite article, describer, noun apple

Indefinite article, describer, noun truck

Definite article, classifier, noun snake

Indefinite article, describer, noun waves

Indefinite article, classifier, noun dog

Definite article, classifier, noun bus

Definite article, describer, noun boat

Indefinite article, classifier, noun library

Definite article, describer, noun tree20

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Circle the action verbs that are used figuratively like belching in the Willy Wonka passage.

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 73

BLM 18Metaphoric verbs

Underline the verbs

From round the end of the mountain came a sudden roar: the bulldozer had started. Itwas very near, but still out of sight round the curve of the mountain. Simon had no timefor it yet. He was too busy with the Mountain itself.

The trail wriggled up it like a snake, turning back and forth between a fence and asmall gully. At every turn the horses heaved themselves heavily up to the next level.Soon the sound of the bulldozer was below. The world fell dizzily away into vistas of farblue ridges; the wind curled round the mountain with a dangerous pull. The end ridgewas so far under that you looked down on the tops of the forest; they were rippling inthe wind and roaring huskily like the sea. The complicated pattern of ridge and gullywas flattened into a map, easy to see. The house was a white shoe-box with a small toyEdie walking across the yard.

From P. Wrightson, The Nargun and the Stars, Puffin Books, 1978.

Categorise the verbs as action, mental or relational.


74 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

AdverbsBLM 19

Adverbs are words that add information to verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Forexample:

The white horse ran quickly. – adds information to a verb

Adverbs like these often add -ly onto the end of adjectives, such as—strange~strangely.

They were very happy children. – adding to an adjective

They walked home quite slowly. – adding to another adverb

Adverbs that modify adjectives and other adverbs are words like—very, quite, just,only, well, back, down, near, somehow, probably.Some adverbs are also circumstances.

In the following sentences, find the adverbs. The first one is done for you.

It was extremely dangerous to swim in the creek.

Maria finished her picture beautifully.

It was a really excellent idea.

The class was told briefly what to do.

We all thought the task was just impossible.

Most of us finished it easily.

Fortunately, we could take it home with us.

Nearly everyone went to the performance.

They were quite good actors.

We could only stay there for about an hour.

Mick quietly left the room.

Monday was a very good day.

Lara hit the ball powerfully.

The wicket-keeper almost caught it.

He slowly went back to his mark.

The crowd was chanting noisily.16

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Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 75

BLM 20Similes and metaphors

Simile

Identify the similes and metaphors in the following sentences. The first one is done for you.

The road was as slippery as a snake.

The sun was a fire melting the bitumen on the road.

Greg was as quick as a rabbit darting in and out of the bushes.

The field of wheat was like a sea, rising and falling in thebreeze.

Jessie was a clown, she made everyone laugh.

Lee was so embarrassed he was as red as a beetroot.

Her house was a castle, huge and imposing on the landscape.

The car backfired like a bomb, scaring everyone who wasstanding near.

Nicholas was like a vacuum as he slurped his spaghetti into hismouth.

His timing was like clockwork, while everyone else was late.

Alinta was a beanpole, tall and skinny and towering aboveeveryone else.

The room was an oven, someone had turned off the airconditioning.

Now write two sentences that contain similes and two sentences that have metaphors.

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My character is _________________________________________

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A10

Q10

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A3

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A2

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76 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Character analysisBLM 21

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Description of character

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 77

BLM 22Character profile

The Bloodbottler was a gruesome sight. His skin was reddish-brown, there wasblack hair sprouting on his chest and arms and on his stomach. The hair on hishead was long and dark and tangled. His foul face was round and squashy-looking.The eyes were tiny black holes. The nose was small and flat. But the mouth washuge. It spread right across the face almost ear to ear, and it had lips that were liketwo gigantic purple frankfurters lying one on top of the other. Craggy yellow teethstuck out between the two purple frankfurtery lips, and rivers of spit ran down overthe chin.

From R. Dahl, The BFG, Jonathan Cape, London, 1988.

1 Identify and classify the verbs.


2 Circle the metaphoric action verbs in the grid.3 Underline the noun groups in the passage.4 List the adjectives.


78 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Verbs, nouns and adjectivesBLM 23

◆ My name ______________________________________________________

◆ Age ___________________________________________________________

◆ Where I live____________________________________________________

◆ Family and friends _____________________________________________

◆ ________________________________________________________________

◆ ________________________________________________________________

◆ ________________________________________________________________

◆ ________________________________________________________________

◆ ________________________________________________________________

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◆ ________________________________________________________________

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Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________


Our Place 79

BLM 24Description of me and my home

Now write a description of you and your home from the information in the scaffoldabove.

Classification

What I likeabout my home

What my homelooks like

My appearanceand interests


80 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Describing your mapBLM 25

◆ Naming the p lace _____________________________________________________________

◆ Identifying a feature _____________________________________________________________

◆ Describing a feature

appearance _____________________________________________________________

happenings _____________________________________________________________

feelings _____________________________________________________________

◆ Identifying a feature

◆ Describing a feature

appearance _____________________________________________________________

happenings _____________________________________________________________

feelings _____________________________________________________________

Now write a description of your map and things that have happened from theinformation in the scaffold above.


Our Place 81

BLM 26Self-assessment chartName: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Genre

Text type

Very good Good Needs work

Structure of description/

paragraphing

Grammar

Descriptive noun groups

Adjectives

Adverbs

Metaphors and similes

Metaphoric action verbs

Noun groups

Vocabulary

Spelling

Punctuation

Areas of improvement

When I write descriptive narrative I need to work on

Genre/s

Text type

StructureDescription of self

Classification

Appearance

Family

Friends

Description of homeAppearance

Description of map

Naming the place

Features and happenings

Text organisation

Grammar

Sentence construction

Tense

Descriptive noun groups

Adjectives

Metaphoric action verbs

Adverbs

Metaphors and Similes

Spelling/Punctuation

Comments


82 Our Place

Name: ___________________________ Date:________________________

Teacher assessment chartBLM 27

Genre/s

Text type

Structure

Text organisation

Grammar

Vocabulary

Spelling/Punctuation

Comments


Our Place 83

BLM 28Teacher assessment chartName: ___________________________ Date:________________________

84 Our Place

Acknowledgements

The following teachers have been involved in trialling these teachingmaterials and have provided invaluable feedback and advice in helping makethe units relevant, useful and easy to follow for teachers and their students:Tanya Rose (Shalvey Public School), Joanne Ismay (Oakhill Drive PublicSchool), Carol Fisher (Inala State School), Judy Hawkins (St John Bosco’sSchool, Collinsville), Helen Grayson (Dalby State School), VanessaFerguson/Debbie Barkler (Marrickville Public School).

Connecting Text and Grammar - the seriesThis series aims to provide teachers with teaching/learning resources designed tohelp students write effective texts that deal with content knowledge across thelearning areas of the curriculum.

Each book contains 15 complete lessons in one integrated unit. All black-linemasters (BLMs), overhead transparency masters (OHTs), teaching notes andassessment strategies are included. The series gives a practical step-by-stepapproach to teaching grammar in real contexts.

Our PlaceThis unit integrates key aspects from the learning areas of English and Studies ofSociety and Environment. It aims to develop narrative writing skills by examiningdescriptions of people and places in the students’ own lives. Students then go onto create imaginary pictures of people and places by using some of the elementsof literary description such as simile, metaphor and repetition.

Our Place features:• A programming grid that presents an overall view of the content,

objectives, outcome indicators and assessment strategies for each lesson inthe unit.

• Fifteen 90 minute structured lessons with detailed teaching notes andaccompanying black-line masters (BLMs) and overhead transparency masters(OHTs).

• Grammar exercises on BLMs that make connections between texts,grammar and the content knowledge of the unit.

• Outcome indicators that assist with the assessment of student learning.

Other resources in the series

Peter Knapp has written and produced many books and videos on teaching genre andgrammar. He is currently at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Universityof Technology, Sydney where he is completing his doctorate on genre theory.

Megan Watkins is an experienced teacher and K-12 literacy consultant. She iscurrently working in teacher education at the University of Western Sydney –Nepean and is completing her doctoral studies in linguistics and languageeducation.

Tucker Box◆ C O N N E C T I N G T E X T A N D G R A M M A R ◆


The Sea◆ C O N N E C T I N G T E X T A N D G R A M M A R ◆


Tucker Box The Sea Teacher Resource Video

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