Literary
Non-fiction
C O L L E C T I O N
TEACHER’S BOOKLET
Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2JE
England and Associated Companies throughout the World
© Pearson Education Limited 2005
The rights of Helen Lines and Cindy Torn to be identified as the authors of this work have
been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence
permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP
ISBN-10: 1-4058-0667-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4058-0667-1
First published 2005
ISBN 1-405-80667-2
9 781405 806671
Introduction
This resource provides materials to support the teaching
of framework objectives through the reading of literary
non-fiction texts. Reading can be a shared, social
activity and it is important that pupils are given the
opportunity to talk and write about their thoughts,
hypotheses and speculations as they occur. When
teaching reading, we not only want to help pupils
decode text, but also engage with core ideas, adopt
critical stances, make connections, and enjoy the
pleasures that being a fluent reader brings.
The materials presented here aim to support the
assessment of reading through interactive speaking and
listening approaches, and as such are fully in line with
assessment for learning principles and practice.
In designing this ten-lesson sequence the following
prompts for pupils have been borne in mind:
• How should I read this text? Which reading
strategies should I use?
• What kind of text is this?
• What is the writer’s purpose? Why has the text been
written? What is it trying to do?
• Who is the text written for? Who is the intended
audience or reader? How do I know?
• Has the writer used any interesting features at word,
sentence and text level?
• What is the effect of the text on the reader? How
has the writer achieved that effect?
The resource is structured into five sections: Science;
Family and childhood; Sport; Witnessing history;
Travellers’ tales. Each section begins with an overview
sheet detailing the QCA reading Assessment Focuses
and Framework Objectives covered in the section, as
well as year group descriptors of the progression in the
learning within the unit. The overview also contains a
description of the unit’s assessed task and the
performance indicators for this, allowing for the
diagnostic assessment of pupils’ performances to be
carried out. A list of the teacher and pupil resource
sheets provided in the unit is also detailed.
2
Following the overview, the teaching sequence for the
unit is provided. This teaching sequence is organised
into sections covering before reading, during reading
and after reading. The reading is focussed on one text
from the section, allowing the teacher to explore and
model the conventions of that text, preparing pupils for
their own exploration of other texts in the section.
Guidance is also provided to support pupil preparation
for, and the carrying out of, their assessed task.
For each unit, pupil and teacher resource sheets are
also provided. These resource sheets are designed to
support the activities detailed in the teaching sequence
and also support assessment for learning by providing
support for self- and peer-evaluation. In addition to
this, a list of reading strategies is provided on the
following page in a form which allows you to
photocopy these and provide them on cards to pupils.
Science
Relevant QCA Reading Assessment Focuses
Progression characterised by increasing confidence, competence and independence in
pupils’ ability to:
AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and
reference to text
AF5: explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at word
and sentence level
AF6: identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader
Relevant Key Framework Objectives
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
R8 Infer and deduce meanings
using evidence in the text,
identifying where and how
meanings are implied
R5 Trace the development of
themes, values or ideas in texts
R7 Compare the presentation of
ideas, values or emotions in
related or contrasting texts
R10 Analyse the overall structure
of a text to identify how key
ideas are developed
R12 Analyse and discuss the use
made of rhetorical devices in a
text
Progression in the learning within this unit
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Developing an understanding of
the features of particular types of
texts
Investigating, exploring and
comparing in order to develop
new understanding
Identifying, analysing, explaining
and commenting on writers’
choices
Assessed task
Working in small groups, pupils prepare and perform their contribution to a class debate where they champion
their individual text as worthy of inclusion in a new high-profile collection of science writing for non-scientists.
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of how they selected their information and organised their
presentations.
Performance indicators
Always
Can use close reading to find detail or make comparisons
Can ask relevant questions
Can highlight relevant pieces of information relating to the
task and reject irrelevant information
Can discuss the impact of the use of rhetorical devices on
the reader
Can explain why and how successfully a writer has used
particular devices, supported by close reference to the text
Resources
Science pupil resource 1 (close reading frame)
Science pupil resource 2 (setting up the class debate)
Science pupil resource 3 (promoting or justifying a point of view)
Science pupil resource 4 (assessment task evaluation)
3
Sometimes
Rarely
Science
Before reading
Paragraphs 5 and 6
Quickly gather ideas on the questions:
• What different kinds of science writing and
programmes can we think of?
• As readers, what do we expect from science writing?
Eating and taste:
• use of rhetorical questions to draw the reader into
the description: ‘In such watery emptiness, how
do these mammals navigate around the globe to
find their food or one another?’
• use of long sentences to crowd in factual details
or explain something fully: ‘This forces the water
out of its mouth … toothless upper jaw.’
Chart responses on the flipchart or on an OHT and
store for later in the teaching sequence.
During reading
1 Explain that together you are going to read and
discuss Return to the water by Sir David
Attenborough in order to decide how science writers
bring alive facts, statistics and technical information
in a way that you can enjoy and understand.
2 Explain to pupils that the best science writing makes
the reader see familiar things in a new light, explains
difficult ideas in a way that the reader can relate to,
and excites the reader’s curiosity. The best science
writing moves beyond facts into story and discovery.
3 Establish with the pupils some particular focuses for
exploring the text together.
• What factual information are we given?
• What does the writer do to make difficult
concepts easy to understand for the non-expert
reader?
• What devices does the writer use to make the
account vivid and interesting, and to bring alive
the facts?
4 Read the text in stages, pausing after each division
to check understanding and to highlight techniques
used by the writer to engage the reader’s interest.
Suggested divisions and prompts are as follows.
Paragraphs 1 and 2
What the whale looks like:
• detailed description of the blue whale,
emphasising size, shape and colour for the reader
• use of precise factual details – ‘relict bones’,
‘external ears’ – helps the non-expert reader to
visualise the blue whale clearly.
Paragraphs 3 and 4
Finding whales:
• use of ‘you’ to draw the reader into the scene
• emphasis on noun phrases to paint a picture:
‘skilled helmsman’; ‘fishy-smelling droplets’;
‘distant spout’; ‘the sapphire blue of the Pacific
water’
• use of short sentences to emphasise a point: ‘It’s
the whale’s tail.’; ‘The whale is idling.’; ‘Your
encounter is over.’
4
Teaching sequence
Paragraphs 7, 8 and 9
Seeing and hearing:
• use of onomatopoeia to highlight sounds: ‘snaps’;
‘twitterings’; ‘whoops’
• repetition of ‘but’ throughout paragraph 8 for
emphasis and to demonstrate expert or deeper
knowledge: ‘But they can hear’; ‘But their hearing,
nonetheless, is acute’; ‘But, above all, they can
hear one another.’
Paragraphs 10, 11 and 12
The circle of life and killer whales:
• a focus on the length of the journey and factual
information about the speed a calf can swim is
broken by the blunt ‘pods of killer whales lie in
wait for them’
• use of story within the text – we want to find out
about the calf and its mother
• sentence variation and the succession of vivid
details build the tension of the chase
• powerful verbs and battle imagery build tension
and enable the reader to visualise the scene:
‘harassing the calf’; ‘blow from her tail’; ‘force
themselves between it and the mother’; ‘Forcing it
downwards’; ‘preventing it from breathing’
• use of comparison to secure our understanding –
comparison with a pride of lions.
Teaching sequence
Science
After reading
1 Return to the OHT or flipchart notes about our
expectations of science writing, completed in the
pre-reading exercise. Ask pupils: ‘How far does this
extract meet our expectations, and how far does it
go beyond what we expected?’ Take feedback.
2 Complete the chart (Science pupil resource 1) with
pupils and use it to summarise and explain the
effectiveness of the writer’s craft. Following teacher
modelling, you could ask pupils to use the chart to
analyse a section of the text independently, working
in pairs or small groups, to consolidate the learning
at this point.
Pupil investigation leading to the
assessed task
1 Remind pupils of the particular focuses for exploring
a text in this unit:
• What factual information are we given?
• What does the writer do to make difficult
concepts easy to understand for the non-expert
reader?
• What devices does the writer use to make the
account vivid and interesting, and to bring alive
the facts?
2 Explain the assessment task to the pupils and tell
them that they will prepare and perform their group
contribution to the class debate using a text from the
science writing section.
3 Ask pupils to analyse their chosen text using the
questions above and Science pupil resource 1 to
focus the discussion.
4 Ask pupils to prepare their debate points and
rehearse their contribution. Use Science pupil
resource 3 to help pupils prepare their contributions.
Assessed task
In small groups, pupils should prepare their contribution
to a class debate which requires them to champion
their text for inclusion in a new high-profile collection
of science writing for non-scientists. They must be able
to argue why their text is worthy of inclusion on the
basis of how it goes beyond the boundaries of factual
information. The class debate will use the structures of
a balloon debate (see Science teacher resource 2).
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of why
their text should be included in the ‘Science for the
non-scientist’ collection.
5
Science
Pupil resource 1
Close reading frame
How do science writers present factual writing so that non-scientists can
understand and enjoy it?
What kind of facts
has the writer
selected?
How has the writer
organised the
information to have
an impact on the
reader?
What devices does
the writer use to
make the factual
information easy to
understand for the
non-expert? For
example, use of
comparison, stories
within the text.
How does the
writer use language
to engage and
interest the reader
and make the
account vivid? For
example, rhetorical
devices, sentence
variation, figurative
language.
6
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Science
Teacher resource 2
Setting up the class debate
• Pupils work in small groups and choose a suitable group name by which they can be identified in the debate.
Each group has to champion their text and explain why it would be worthy of inclusion in a collection of
science writing for non-scientists.
• Explain the concept of a ‘balloon debate’: a knockout competition will be played over two rounds, resulting in
one overall winner. The champions for each text are in an imaginary hot air balloon which is rapidly descending
and likely to crash. The only way to keep the balloon in the air is to throw out ‘dead weight’ – in this case, the
pieces of science writing that are not considered worthy of saving in the science writing collection. The best
piece of writing will keep the balloon aloft. Groups will need to prepare sufficient arguments and examples to
last for two rounds of debating.
• Establish a time limit for each group’s debate, perhaps 4–5 minutes. Using the score card below, explain the
audience’s role: to judge each piece of writing when it is championed by its team on the strength of its ideas
and the quality of the writing. Notes about each group’s performance can be made, to inform constructive
feedback at the end of the debate.
• When all groups have presented their first round of arguments as to why their piece of science writing should
be saved, the class votes for the top three. These groups then conduct a second round of arguments, using
fresh evidence and repeating the most important reasons.
• The class then votes to establish the overall winner.
✁
Balloon debate score card
Title of text ………………………………………………………… Group name ………………………………
Should this text stay in the science writing collection?
The importance of the information and the strength of the ideas
10
The qualities of the writing and its appeal to the non-expert reader
10
Notes for feedback to group about their performance:
7
Marks available
Marks awarded
Science
Pupil resource 3
Promoting or justifying a point of view
When you are justifying a point, use some of the tips below to help you:
Techniques
Use supporting material to make your points
credible
• Make a point
• Introduce an example
• Show how the example
confirms your point
Use impersonal language
• Make your arguments more
persuasive by concealing that
they are subjective
• Try to convince your listener that
it is logical to think this
Use the rule of three to give your points extra
credibility
• Giving three examples rather
than just one can often make
the point more effectively
Useful phrases for making a point
8
Ways of introducing your evidence
Consider …
For example …
If we take the case of …
This is seen when …
One example of this is …
This is shown by …
Ways of showing how the example confirms
your point
This points to …
We can assume that …
Clearly …
Obviously …
There is little doubt that …
So it is clear that …
Significantly …
This shows …
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Science
Pupil resource 4
Assessment task evaluation
Working with a response partner, use the prompts below to help you evaluate the success of
your contribution to the class debate and your close reading of the extract.
Evaluating your close reading skills
Give an example of how your
text explains difficult facts in an
interesting or engaging way
Give an example of where your
text uses language in an
interesting way
Give an example of where your
text made you stop and think
Evaluating speaking and listening skills
Thinking about the ways you worked on this extract as a group, consider:
• How well did you work as a group?
• What did you do well?
• What could you do better next time?
• How will you improve this aspect of your group work?
9
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Family and childhood
Relevant QCA Reading Assessment Focuses
Progression characterised by increasing confidence, competence and independence in
pupils’ ability to:
AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and
reference to text
AF3: deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts
AF6: identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the
reader
Relevant Key Framework Objectives
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
R8 Infer and deduce meanings
using evidence in the text,
identifying where and how
meanings are implied
R5 Trace the development of
themes, values or ideas in texts
R7 Compare the presentation of
ideas, values or emotions in
related or contrasting texts
Progression in the learning within this unit
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Extending the reading repertoire
and the range of strategies used
to read for meaning and
understand the author’s craft
Investigating, exploring and
comparing in order to develop
new understanding
Identifying, analysing, explaining
and commenting on writers’
choices
Assessed task
In pairs, pupils prepare and perform a ‘This is Your Life’ role-play which explores and analyses a character’s
experiences at various points in a text. This will need to be strictly timed, for example to 60 seconds.
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of why they chose their incident and how they adapted it for their
broadcast.
Performance indicators
Always
Can demonstrate an increasing awareness of ideas, values
and emotions in a range of texts
Can identify and explain a writer’s viewpoint
Can identify how the writer uses evidence to support
ideas, values or emotions
Can identify vocabulary choices that indicate a writer’s
viewpoint or values
Can pick out key themes during reading by predicting and
speculating, making inferences and deductions,
empathising, making judgements
Resources
Family and childhood pupil resource 1 (card sort)
Family and childhood pupil resource 2 (prompts for discussion)
Family and childhood pupil resource 3 (evaluation)
10
Sometimes
Rarely
Teaching sequence
Family and childhood
Before reading
After reading
1 Discuss with pupils what they know about
autobiography or memoir as a text type. Use an OHT
or a flipchart to record what they know already and
store for later use. This knowledge can be applied to
the texts as they are read and a note can be made of
how far the texts meet these criteria.
1 Model hot-seating by asking pupils in pairs to think
of two questions they would like to ask a character.
Assume the role of that character and answer the
questions. It might be helpful to have a bank of
questions from which less able pupils can select. As
this process becomes established, invite pupils to
take the hot seat. This work could form the basis for
a guided session where a small group prepare to
assume the role of a character for the hot seat.
2 Hand out Family and childhood pupil resource 1
as a card sort. Use the cards to group the extracts in
a number of ways, such as extracts they liked or
would like to read further; extracts that seem to fulfil
the criteria established for autobiography/memoir;
cards that have been taken from the same extract;
extracts that suggest the adult is looking back on his
or her childhood; extracts that suggest the writer is
exploring a feature of childhood.
3 Stress to pupils that they need to make informed
choices and will be asked to justify their responses.
During reading
1 Use paragraph 3 of Oulton Park, taken from And
When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake
Morrison, to model how Morrison sets the scene and
conveys character. Highlight:
• the way that gaps in the text suggest that the
occupants in the writer’s car are not having fun
• how the use of multiple ‘-ing’ verbs in a list
suggest this is on-going fun
• how use of the short sentence ‘But my father is
not like them’ abruptly stops the fun and brings
the reader’s attention back to the car
• how Morrison builds the picture of his father as
an impatient man who is unwilling to wait and let
things happen
• how the reader predicts that something is going
to happen involving the ‘tantalizingly empty’
country lane
• how the use of hyphens in ‘waiting-to-get-to-thefront’ suggests that this is something that is
familiar – like a family saying or his father’s saying.
2 Establish with the pupils some particular focuses for
exploring the text together.
• How does Morrison structure his account to build
a picture of family life?
• How do Morrison’s word choice and sentence
structure add to the picture of family life?
• How can the reader infer emotions and empathise
with characters in the extract?
3 On the flipchart or classroom wall, display the outline
of a car. At significant points in the reading of the
text, ask pupils to construct thought bubbles
showing the thoughts of individual occupants to add
to the car outline. For example, the mother’s
thoughts as Arthur gets out of the car; the father’s
thoughts as his wife slides out of her seat onto the
floor.
11
2 Divide the text into five sections as follows:
A – from the start of the extract to ‘There is a pall of
high-rev exhaust, dust, petrol, boiling-over
engines.’
B – from ‘“Just relax, Arthur,” my mother says,’ to ‘I
wait for the squeal of brakes, the clash of
metal.’
C – from ‘After an eternity of – what? – two
minutes,’ to ‘Ahead and to your right.’
D – from ‘This is the way it was with my father.’ to ‘I
felt conned.’
E – from ‘Oulton Park, half an hour later.’ to the end
of the extract.
3 Use the sections above to allocate portions of the
texts for groups of pupils to analyse. Ask pupils to
show the effects of language choices at sentence and
word level. Use jigsaw/rainbow group techniques to
allow pupils to feed back their findings.
Assessed task
Pupils should work in small groups or pairs to rehearse
and perform an extract from a ‘This is Your Life’
programme with either Blake Morrison or his father as
the subject of the show. One group member should
take the role of the presenter and other group
members take the roles of family members. See Family
and childhood pupil resource 3 for evaluation.
Pupil investigation
1 Return to Family and childhood pupil resource 1.
Ask pupils to remove cards B and H, then re-read the
cards and select one other extract they would like to
investigate. (A and E are from Snaps by Liz Jobey; C
and F are from Letter to Daniel by Fergal Keane; D
and G are from Toys Were Us by Nicholas Whittaker.)
2 Ask pupils to analyse their chosen text using Family
and childhood pupil resource 2 to focus the
discussion.
3 As an extension activity for more able pupils, ask for
feedback on the following question: ‘How has my
reading of this text been influenced by the other
texts I have read as part of this unit?’
Family and childhood
Pupil resource 1
Card sort
There is a photograph of my mother, taken on the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay in
Yorkshire when she was nineteen, during a holiday with girlfriends from her training
college, that suggests to me something of how happy she must have been in those
days – the days she talks about often now, since she’s over eighty, and lives alone.
B
A hot September Saturday in 1959, and we are stationary in Cheshire. Ahead of us, a
queue of cars stretches out of sight around the corner. We haven’t moved for ten
minutes. Everyone has turned his engine off, and now my father does so too.
C
My dear son, it is six o’clock in the morning on the island of Hong Kong. You are
asleep cradled in my left arm and I am learning the art of one-handed typing. Your
mother, more tired yet more happy than I’ve ever known her, is sound asleep in the
room next door and there is soft quiet in our apartment.
D
As a parent, I can’t help thinking that children today have less fun than we had. Their
lives seem dominated by the race to acquire, to compete with a peer group that has
no leader except some figure on TV, a figure who could be viewed as being equally
manufactured and slickly marketed as the toys.
E
Now when I look at these slides I scarcely recognize the people in the pictures. I can
see facial similarities between myself and my mother when she was the age I am now.
But trying to find signs in the child I was then of the person I am now, there is little to
go on.
F
Your coming has turned me upside down and inside out. So much that seemed
essential to me has, in the past few days, taken on a different colour.
G
In 1999 Warner stunned the toy industry by announcing that Beanie Babies were for
the chop. No explanation was given. Speculation was rife. Why would Warner want to
kill off a golden goose that had earned him billions and could yet earn him many times
more?
H
My childhood was a web of little scams and triumphs. The time we stayed at a hotel
situated near the fifth tee of a famous golf-course – Troon, was it? – and discovered
that if we started at the fifth hole and finished at the fourth we could avoid the
clubhouse and green fees.
✁
A
12
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Family and childhood
Pupil resource 2
Prompts for discussion
1 How does the writer structure his/her account to build a picture of family life or
childhood?
• What picture of family life or childhood is developed by the writer in this extract?
• What is the key idea within the extract? How do the paragraphs develop this idea?
• Does the extract lead to a crisis point or build tension?
• Are there repeated words or phrases which echo through the text?
2 How do the writer’s word choice and sentence structure add to the picture of family
life or childhood?
• Which words stand out for you as a reader and why?
• Does the writer use figurative language (similes and metaphors) to describe a scene?
• Are short sentences used for impact?
• Are there questions within the text for the reader to answer? What is the impact of these?
2 How does the reader infer emotions and empathise with characters within the
extract?
• Are you expected to like or trust the ‘voice’ or main character in the extract?
• Does the writer’s experience seem similar to something that you might think or feel?
Explain why.
• What is the mood/emotion of either the writer or the main characters? How do you know
this?
13
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Family and childhood
Pupil resource 3
Evaluation
Working with a response partner, use the prompts below to help you evaluate the success of
your ‘This is Your Life’ performance and your understanding of the writer’s craft in the extract
you chose.
Evaluating your ‘This is Your Life’ performance
How did your performance
reveal the thoughts and emotions
of your chosen character?
How did your performance show
the audience what Morrison family
life was like?
Did your performance hold your
audience’s interest from beginning
to end?
Evaluating the writer’s craft
Thinking about the extract you chose:
• What were the most successful features of the writing?
• What were the least successful features of the writing?
• What did you find most interesting or surprising about the writing?
14
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Sport
Relevant QCA Reading Assessment Focuses
Progression characterised by increasing confidence, competence and independence in
pupils’ ability to:
AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and
reference to text
AF3: deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts
Relevant Key Framework Objectives
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
R2 Use appropriate reading
strategies to extract particular
information
R2 Undertake independent
research using a range of reading
strategies
R2 Synthesise information from a
range of sources, shaping
material to meet the reader’s
needs
Progression in the learning within this unit
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Extending the reading repertoire
and the range of strategies used
to read for meaning
Investigating, exploring and
comparing in order to develop
new understanding
Identifying, analysing, and
synthesising material to shape
meaning
Assessed task
In pairs, pupils prepare and conduct an ‘on-the-spot’ interview in role with a sportsperson featured in the
extracts. This interview will explore factual information about the sport and subjective information. (Year 9
pupils will need to interview at least two sportspeople in order to fulfil the objective.)
This will need to be strictly timed, for example to 2–3 minutes.
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of how they selected their information and formulated their
interview questions.
Performance indicators
Always
Can choose the appropriate reading strategy to extract
information
Can use close reading to find detail or make comparisons
Can ask relevant questions
Can highlight relevant pieces of information relating to the
task and reject irrelevant information
Can discriminate between fact and opinion when
researching
Can use appropriate planning formats to record information
and make notes about the researched information
Resources
Sport pupil resource 1 (note-making frame)
Sport pupil resource 2 (zone of relevance card sort)
Sport pupil resource 3 (planning questions – based on Bloom’s taxonomy)
Sport pupil resource 4 (assessment task evaluation)
15
Sometimes
Rarely
Teaching sequence
Sport
Before reading
After reading
1 Hand out the generic Reading strategy cards as a
card sort. Ask pupils to read the cards and, thinking
of any text that they have read already that day (such
as a newspaper, text book or cereal packet), select
which strategies they used to complete this reading.
Use a paragraph of your choice from one of the texts
in the Sport unit to explicitly model the strategies
you use as you read the text.
1 Hand out Sport pupil resource 1. Ask pupils to
scan the text for vocabulary relating to boxing. Note
the vocabulary in the first column on the sheet. Take
feedback and explain any difficult terms. Keep the
sheet for following stages.
Example:
‘I want to get a sense of what this text is about, so
I quickly glance over it to get the gist of what it is
saying – this is called skimming’;
‘When I read that section I imagined that … this is
called visualising’.
Ask pupils in pairs to select a paragraph from one of
the extracts and select the reading strategies they
used as they read the paragraph. Confirm their
choices and ask whether there were any differences
within the pairs as to the strategies they used.
2 Reinforce scanning skills by creating a range of
questions about a text for pupils to answer having
quickly scanned the first 3–4 paragraphs of the text.
Ask pupils to articulate how they found the answer.
Example:
‘To answer the question where he was born, I
knew I had to look for a place name and that
would start with a capital letter; to answer the
question when he was born, I knew I had to look
for a number …’.
3 As a mini-plenary, give pupils sentence prompts to
consolidate the reading strategy.
Example:
‘The most effective strategy I used was … because
it helped me to …’; ‘We found the information
by …’.
During reading
1 Explain to pupils that the core text will be Williams
hits new high by Kevin Mitchell.
2 Establish with the pupils some particular focuses for
exploring the text together.
• What do we learn about the sport itself?
• What do we learn about the sportspeople
portrayed?
• What strategies do we need to use as a reader to
recognise fact, opinion and bias?
3 Read the text together.
16
2 Hand out Sport pupil resource 2 and ask pupils to
read the text on the cards. On the whiteboard or the
flipchart, write the following question:
‘What do we learn about Williams as a boxer?’
Ask pupils to select the cards that would provide
information relevant to the question. Take feedback
and discuss any differences. Ensure pupils are
prepared to justify their choices. Repeat this with the
questions:
‘What do we learn about Tyson as a boxer?’
‘What do we learn about boxing as a sport?’
3 Again using Sport pupil resource 2, model the
process of establishing whether a statement is a fact
or an opinion. For example, give pupils the strategy
that if they can put ‘I think’ in front of a statement
then it is likely that it is an opinion. If something can
be proven, then it is probably a fact. Ask pupils to
sort the cards into two categories, ‘fact’ and
‘opinion’. Take feedback and discuss any problem
areas.
As an extension here, add in the notion of bias with
the additional questions: ‘How reliable is that
source?’, ‘Could it be biased?’
4 Return to Sport pupil resource 1. Ask pupils to
make notes in the other two columns. Under ‘Details
about the sport’, they should write as much factual
information as they can about boxing as a sport;
under ‘Background details about the person’, they
should write facts and infer information about
Williams as a sportsman and as a person.
5 Explain to pupils that they are going to devise a bank
of interview questions for Williams, which will
explore factual information about the sport of boxing
as well as subjective information about his life and
attitudes towards boxing. Stress that they will be
selecting and synthesising material. Hand out Sport
pupil resource 3. Explain that different questions
have different purposes or functions and explore the
examples with pupils.
6 Ask pupils to work in pairs to prepare their questions
and role-play their answers. Ask pupils to select their
three most effective questions and feed back. These
questions could be displayed as a class resource for
the investigation that leads to the assessed task.
Teaching sequence
Sport
Pupil investigation leading to the
assessed task
1 Remind pupils of the particular focuses for exploring
a text in this unit:
• What do we learn about the sport itself?
• What do we learn about the sportspeople
portrayed?
• What strategies do we need to use as a reader to
recognise fact, opinion and bias?
2 Explain the assessment task to the pupils and tell
them that they will prepare and perform their
interview using a text of their choice from the Sport
section.
3 Ask pupils to analyse their chosen text using the
questions above and Sport pupil resource 1 to
focus the discussion. (In order to fulfil the objective,
Year 9 pupils will need to interview people from
more than one text.)
4 Ask pupils to prepare their interview questions and
rehearse their interview.
5 As an extension writing activity, give each pair a
different audience, for example seven-year-olds,
teenage girls, teenage boys or fellow sports
personalities, and ask them to produce a short article
featuring their interviewed sportsperson for a
magazine aimed at this audience.
17
Assessed task
In pairs, ask pupils to prepare and conduct an ‘on-thespot’ interview in role with a sportsperson featured in
the extracts. This interview will explore factual
information about the sport and subjective information
about the background and personality of the person
interviewed. (Year 9 pupils will need to interview at
least two sportspeople in order to fulfil the objective.)
This will need to be strictly timed, for example to 2–3
minutes.
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of how
they selected their information and formulated their
interview questions.
Pupil resource 1
Sport
Note-making frame
Sport-specific
vocabulary
Details about the sport
Background details about
the person
Name of sportsperson:
______________________________
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Pupil resource 2
Sport
Zone of relevance card sort
‘Williams [was] derided as a soft touch, a
fighter who has cried before fights, who is
mentally weak and lacks heart.’
‘Williams went to the ring calm
and determined.’
‘[Williams] not only held on but then
engaged in the sort of war of which few
thought he was capable.’
‘Williams admitted that he abandoned his
game plan of jabbing and moving after two
left hooks had nearly separated him from
his senses.’
‘Referee Dennis Alfred [is] one of those
clowns boxing occasionally throws up.’
‘Williams laughed at the explanation.’
‘“I have never had a bigger moment than
this,” Williams said.’
‘[Tyson] has been playing the monster most
of his working life.’
‘[Tyson] blew his career, and much of his
life.’
‘There will be no more rising from the
ashes for Tyson.’
‘[Tyson] underestimated his opponent.’
‘Williams [is] one of the nicest people in a
sometimes not-so-nice business.’
‘Tyson … complained that he could not get
full purchase on his left hook.’
‘The strong suspicion was that Tyson was
staying on his mood-calming medication
until the last minute.’
‘The night belonged to Williams.’
‘[Williams] was magnificent.’
‘Once destroyed, [Tyson] lost his
admirers.’
✁
‘Williams [was] dismissed here as a 9–1
outsider.’
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Pupil resource 3
Sport
Planning questions – based on Bloom’s
taxonomy
Purpose of the question
Possible question stems
To draw out knowledge and
understanding about a topic
• What do you know ….?
• What do you remember …?
• Describe in your own words …
• How can you explain …?
• What does that tell you about …?
To draw out an analytical response to
the topic
• What caused …?
• What are the benefits/disadvantages of
…?
• What is the result of …?
• How are … similar/different?
To draw out an evaluation of the topic
• Why do you think …?
• How could you improve …?
• What is there still to understand/find out
about …?
To draw out thoughts and feelings about
a topic
• Why did …?
• What would you do differently …?
• How did you feel when …?
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Sport
Pupil resource 4
Assessment task evaluation
Working with a response partner, use the prompts below to help you evaluate the success of
your ‘on-the-spot’ interview and your understanding of how to select and synthesise material
from the extract you chose.
Evaluating your interview
Give an example of a relevant
piece of information relating to
the task and an irrelevant piece
of information. How did you
decide this?
How useful did you find the
planning formats for the task?
What changes might you make
to them?
Outline which questions were most
successful and explain why this was
the case.
Evaluating speaking and listening skills
Thinking about the ways you worked on this extract as a pair, consider:
• How well did you work as a pair?
• What did you do well?
• What you could do better next time?
• How will you improve this aspect of your pair work?
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Witnessing history
Relevant QCA Reading Assessment Focuses
Progression characterised by increasing confidence, competence and independence in
pupils’ ability to:
AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and
reference to text
AF4: identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and literary
features at text level
AF5: explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at word
and sentence level
AF6: identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader
Relevant Key Framework Objectives
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
R12 Comment, using appropriate
terminology, on how writers
convey setting, character and
mood through word choices and
sentence structure
R10 Analyse the overall structure
of a text to identify how key ideas
are developed, e.g. through the
organisation of the content and
the patterns of language used
R12 Analyse and discuss the use
made of rhetorical devices in a
text
Progression in the learning within this unit
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Developing an understanding of
the features of particular types of
texts
Applying the skills they have
learned in new contexts and
forms
Developing a critical stance to
their own use of language and
that of others
Assessed task
Individually or in pairs, pupils prepare and perform an eye-witness report of events described in one of the
extracts in the unit. The report is for ‘live broadcast’ on television or radio and will need to be strictly timed, for
example to 60 seconds.
Pupils can add a written or oral explanation of why they chose their extract and how they adapted it for their
broadcast.
Performance indicators
Always
Sometimes
Can use close reading to find detail or make comparisons
Can identify key ideas in a text
Can identify and comment on how a text is structured for
effect on the reader
Can use appropriate terminology to talk about the key
features of a text
Can explain why and how successfully a writer has used
particular devices, supported by close reference to the text
Resources
Witnessing history pupil resource 1 (summaries of the extracts)
Witnessing history pupil resource 2 (planning framework)
Witnessing history pupil resource 3 (prompts for evaluating eye-witness reports)
22
Rarely
Teaching sequence
Witnessing history
Before reading
1 Discuss the following with pupils.
• Their understanding of the term ‘eye-witness
account’. Have they ever been an eye witness to a
memorable incident, such as an accident? If so,
how would they sum up the experience for
someone who wasn’t there?
• The advantages and disadvantages of an
eye-witness account. Advantages might
include: sense of involvement and excitement;
trust in the narrator’s account because he or she
was actually there. Disadvantages might
include: a one-sided or partial view of events; a
biased or over-subjective account.
2 Explain to pupils that the core text will be A Chinese
square by Kate Adie. Use the following statements
made by Kate Adie to discuss with pupils what the
job of a news reporter entails, especially when
required to make a live broadcast.
• ‘We risked a stand-up, just a few seconds of me
talking to the camera.’
• ‘I mustered everything I could to find the right
words, the words which would both paint a
picture accurately and convey a sense of the scale
and the atmosphere.’
3 Establish with the pupils some particular focuses for
exploring the text together.
• How does Kate Adie structures her account to
hold the reader’s interest? Discuss:
– the build-up of tension
– the series of crises
– the anti-climax or resolution.
• How does she describe moments of crisis to ‘bring
them alive’ for the reader?
During reading
1 Skim read the beginnings of paragraphs, highlighting
temporal connectives to establish how the text is
structured:
• paragraphs 1–4 describe the build-up
• paragraph 5 the first incidence of shooting
• paragraphs 6–22 successive incidences of tension
or violence
• paragraphs 23–24 the resolution when the live
broadcast is made. Establish where direct speech is
used and why there is so little of it.
2 Scan paragraph 6 (starting ‘We got our first sight of
army trucks …’) for use of verbs, highlighting how they
change from slow to hectic activity as panic takes hold.
Example:
‘We abandoned the car to walk down and join
the little crowd … The fuel tank blew … they
were … hammering bullets relentlessly …
swerved … hurled … shaking with
helplessness’.
23
3 Close read the text with pupils in the sections
indicated above. Use paragraph 8 (starting ‘Scores of
people were jamming the entrance.’) to highlight
how Kate Adie creates tension and paints a vivid
picture, with an emphasis on choices at sentence
and word level, such as:
• use of powerful verbs, many ending in ‘-ing’ for
immediacy – ‘jamming’, ‘screaming’, ‘fetching up’,
‘slinging’, ‘pointing’, ‘begging’
• use of short sentences for impact – ‘The whole
floor was red with running blood. As well as
panic, there was fear.’
• use of punctuation, especially the dash, to
emphasise ideas – ‘All the injuries were bullet
wounds – in some cases multiple.’
• use of rhetorical devices such as lists of three – ‘all
distraught, screaming, demented.’; ‘There were
elderly women, teenagers, children.’
• emotive vocabulary and figurative language –
‘mayhem … fetching up on tables … slinging
corpses on to the floor ... red with running blood.’
4 Ask pupils to analyse paragraph 18 (starting ‘I set off
at a hard run.’) and/or paragraph 22 (starting ‘A
policeman went for the tape in my hand.’) to show
the effects of language choices at sentence and
word level.
After reading
1 Review with pupils Kate Adie’s statement: ‘I mustered
everything I could to find the right words, the words
which would both paint a picture accurately and
convey a sense of the scale and atmosphere.’
Evaluate how successfully she has done this here.
2 Ask pupils in groups to decide on the most dramatic
moment from the whole account and to prepare an
explanation for another group of what makes it so
dramatic. The chosen moment could also be
presented as a sketch, using details from the text to
decide what to draw, or as a series of drama freezeframes or tableaux, linked by a spoken commentary.
3 Ask pupils to work in pairs to rehearse and perform
an interview about the experiences of the night. One
takes the role of a BBC reporter who has been
‘viewing the carnage from the balcony’; the other
takes the role of Kate Adie.
Assessed task
Individually or in pairs, ask pupils to plan and present
an eye-witness report of events described in one of the
extracts. Encourage pupils to use the summaries of
each extract (Witnessing history pupil resource 1),
and skim reading, in order to choose one extract to
explore in detail.
The report is to be in the form of a ‘live broadcast’ on
television or radio. Pupils should use the planning
framework in Witnessing history pupil resource 2 to
help them prepare their contributions.
Witnessing history
Pupil resource 1
Summaries of the extracts
Use these summaries of each extract in the unit to help you decide which one to choose for
your eye-witness report, and which incident you will concentrate on in your ‘live broadcast’.
Forgotten Voices of the Great War
Sergeant-Major Richard Tobin describes:
• returning from battle patrol at night and capturing a German rations wagon
• going over the top into the German front line.
Corporal Reginald Leonard Haine describes:
• trench warfare at the battle at Beaucourt
• the noise of the guns and the number of the casualties.
Corporal Clifford Lane describes:
• soldiers hoping to get wounded so they would be sent home from the Front
• how he was wounded himself.
Prisoners of war (from A Testament of Youth)
Vera Brittain describes:
• conditions inside the hospital tents where she nursed injured German prisoners in
the First World War
• her feelings of fear but also pity for the German soldiers and officers.
Disaster (from The Wars Against Saddam)
John Simpson describes:
• driving in a convoy of vehicles in Iraq from where he reported news of the war for
the BBC
• how the convoy was attacked by American planes
• the injuries caused by the 1,000-lb bomb that was dropped, including those he suffered
himself.
The fire of London (from The Diary of Samuel Pepys)
Samuel Pepys describes:
• hearing how fire had broken out in London during the night of 2 September 1666
• seeing the fire burning and the damage it caused; telling the king about it
• unsuccessful efforts to stop the fire by pulling down houses.
The story of an eyewitness
Jack London describes:
• what happened when an earthquake struck the city of San Fransisco in 1906
• people trying to escape from the fire which followed the earthquake
• scenes of devastation after two days of raging fire.
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Pupil resource 2
Witnessing history
Planning framework
Use this planning framework to help you prepare your timed eye-witness report of events
described in the extract you have chosen.
Prompt questions
Your notes
Audience and purpose
Which extract have you chosen and why?
What impact do you want your broadcast to
have on your listeners?
Viewpoint
Where are you broadcasting from and at
what time of day?
Have you been watching events from a
distance or have you been directly caught up
in them?
How do you feel about the events you are
describing and how can you get this across to
your listeners?
Structure and organisation
Your broadcast will be a short one so it’s
important to structure it carefully.
Which event(s) will you concentrate on?
How will your report start?
What will be the most dramatic part?
How will your report end?
Language
Remember that your aim is to paint a vivid
picture of the events you are describing.
Which words and phrases from the original
text do you want to include in your report?
What techniques and devices can you use to
hold your listeners’ interest?
25
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Witnessing history
Pupil resource 3
Prompts for evaluating eye-witness reports
Working with a response partner, use the prompts below to help you evaluate the success of
your eye-witness report and your understanding of the writer’s craft in the extract you chose.
Evaluating your eye-witness report
Was your report clear and easy to follow?
Did your report sound realistic, as though
you really had witnessed the events you
were describing?
Did your report hold your listeners’
interest from beginning to end?
Evaluating the writer’s craft
An eye-witness account of an event in history aims to paint a picture accurately and to
convey a sense of its scale and atmosphere.
Thinking about the extract you chose:
• What were the most successful features of the writing?
• What were the least successful features of the writing?
• What did you find most interesting or surprising about the writing?
26
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Travellers’ tales
Relevant QCA Reading Assessment Focuses
Progression characterised by increasing confidence, competence and independence in
pupils’ ability to:
AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and
reference to text
AF5: explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at word
and sentence level
AF6: identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader
Relevant Key Framework Objectives
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
R12 Comment, using appropriate
terminology, on how writers
convey setting, character and
mood through word choices and
sentence structure
R10 Analyse the overall structure
of a text to identify how key ideas
are developed, e.g. through the
organisation of the content and
the patterns of language used
R7 Compare the presentation of
ideas, values or emotions in
related or contrasting texts
Progression in the learning within this unit
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Developing an understanding of
the features of particular types of
texts
Investigating, exploring and
comparing in order to develop
new understanding
Identifying, analysing, explaining
and commenting on writers’
choices
Assessed task
In pairs or small groups, pupils plan a website ‘Travel Blog’ for one of the characters whose experiences are
described in the unit. They can then present their design to another group or the class, explaining why their
travel blog should be published on the internet for others to read.
Performance indicators
Always
Sometimes
Can identify and summarise key ideas in a text
Can identify and explain a writer’s viewpoint
Can identify and comment on how a text is structured for
effect on the reader
Can use appropriate terminology to talk about the key
features of a text
Can explain why and how successfully a writer has used
particular devices, supported by close reference to the text
Resources
Traveller’s tales pupil resource 1 (card sort)
Traveller’s tales pupil resource 2 (prompts for designing a travel blog)
Traveller’s tales pupil resource 3 (note-making framework and prompts for discussion)
27
Rarely
Travellers’ tales
Before reading
1 Quickly gather ideas on the questions: ‘Why do
people travel?’ and ‘Why do people write about their
travels?’ Briefly share examples given by pupils of any
books they have read in the travel genre, and their
opinions about them.
2 Give out both sets of cards in Travellers’ tales pupil
resource 1. Ask pupils to match the summary of
each book with the reason for travelling that they
think fits it most appropriately. Stress that more than
one reason may apply and encourage pupils to add
further reasons as appropriate.
3 Establish with pupils what a travel blog is, using
Travellers’ tales pupil resource 2 and examples
from travel journal websites on the internet. Carry
out a search using the key words travel + blog (over
50,000 entries) or travel + journal (over 600,000
entries). Read some accounts by travel bloggers and
gather more responses to the questions asked at the
start.
4 Explain that together you are going to read and
discuss Into the Heart of Borneo in order to decide
answers to the same two questions and to a further
question: ‘How does Redmond O’Hanlon make his
account vivid and interesting for the armchair
traveller at home?’
During reading
1 Use Travellers’ tales pupil resource 3 to chart
reactions as you read and explore the text with
pupils. You could allocate the questions to smaller
groups to report back to the class as a whole, which
could be done using OHT strips for pupils to
complete and lay onto the grid displayed on an OHP.
2 Read the story in stages, pausing after each division
to check understanding and to highlight techniques
used by the writer to engage the reader’s interest.
Suggested divisions and prompts are as follows.
Paragraphs 1–4, setting up the shelters in the
jungle campsite:
• note precise factual details in the description of
constructing the beds – this helps the non-expert
reader to visualise the scene clearly
• the skill of the locals in constructing shelters is
stressed; this prepares us for the contrast in how
unskilled the ‘white men’ are in coping with
sleeping outdoors
• note the naïve reaction of the writer, who
mistakenly thinks it’s like a childhood game, ‘the
childhood tree-house par excellence’.
Paragraphs 5–7, catching and cooking fish for
supper:
• note the emphasis on powerful verbs to stress the
Iban’s strength and skill in fishing and to help the
reader visualise the process: ‘dived … bobbed up
... stung into action ... swinging it back and forth
28
Teaching sequence
… swaying slightly … cast it out ... jumping in,
scrabbling about … scooped it all up again’
• note the detailed description of the fish that are
caught, emphasising size, shape and colour for
the reader: ‘handsome, streamlined … armoured
with large silver scales ... adorned with a bold
black bar down each side.’
• note the detailed, step-by-step description of
cooking the fish; it makes supper sound as if it
will be delicious – the opposite of the truth.
Paragraphs 8–12, getting ready for bed as night
falls and ants appear:
• note the contrast between expectation and reality
– the fish is ‘tasteless ... full of bones ... like a
hairbrush caked in lard.’
• note the long, complex sentence used to crowd in
detail of the sudden appearance of night-time
creatures – movement and sound prepares us for
worse things to come
• note the humorous exchange between O’Hanlon
and Fenton – macho talk is made more amusing
in retrospect when we see O’Hanlon’s hysterical
reaction to the ants
• note the humorously exaggerated descriptions of
the size, number and movement of the ants:
‘Every nook and cranny in the bag was alive with
inch-long ants … anything so huge must be the
Elephant ant.’
• note the imagery of warfare: ‘the first wave … a
procession of dark ants poured ... with massive
pincers ... the soldiers had arrived ... swarming
along the poles … rearing up on their back legs ...
you had to sleep straight out like a rifle.’
• O’Hanlon’s panic is stressed through the verbs
used: ‘brushed the first wave off ... clothes
swarming with ants ... rummaged quickly … for
my army torch ... drew it out fast and switched on
... flicked them off … fastened myself into.’
Paragraphs 13–18, noises in the night:
• note the onomatopoeia used to mimic the noises
of night creatures; harsh sounds, almost like
warfare
• note the short sentences and repeated use of
exclamation marks to increase pace, to stress
quick-fire exchange of noises, and the mounting
hysteria of O’Hanlon and Fenton; this increases
the humour for the reader.
Teaching sequence
Travellers’ tales
Paragraphs 19–21, more night noises:
• note the succession of short sentences, listing
different creatures, and the use of question marks
to build up tension and suspense, and to stress
O’Hanlon’s desperation for sleep in the face of
increasing animal noises
• note the use of simile and metaphor to bring alive
the scene for the reader and help him or her to
compare this strange world with a more familiar
one – ‘the decibel-level was way over the limit
allowed in discotheques … phosphorescent
fungus glowed in the dark like a forty-watt bulb.’
• note the balancing of similar sentence
constructions to increase the humour of the
situation and emphasise O’Hanlon’s resignation –
‘I switched off the torch … I switched on again.’
After reading
1 Complete the chart with the pupils and use it to
summarise and explain the effectiveness of the
writer’s craft.
2 Model for pupils how to select information from the
text and re-present it as a travel blog journal entry,
writing in character as O’Hanlon.
3 Ask pupils in groups to decide on the most dramatic
episode from O’Hanlon’s account and to re-present it
in another form.
Example:
• a collage of words and pictures
• a series of freeze-frames linked by commentary
• a live piece spoken to camera.
4 Help pupils in groups to design a set of interview
questions and responses for a 3-minute radio or
television item about the expedition. Roles are the
interviewer and one or more of O’Hanlon, Fenton, a
local guide, an SAS trainer.
Pupil investigation leading to the
assessed task
1 Explain the nature and purpose of the assessed task:
to design a travel blog for one of the characters in
one of the extracts and present it to other pupils,
stressing why people would want to read it. Stress
the reading skills being tested:
• selecting and summarising important details
• presenting them in a different format, using
pupils’ own words and original text where
appropriate
• showing pupils’ understanding of aspects of the
writer’s craft and their impact on the reader
• showing pupils’ understanding of the writer’s
character and reactions.
2 Encourage pupils to use the summaries of each
extract (Travellers’ tales pupil resource 1), and
skim reading, in order to choose one extract to
explore in detail for the assessed task.
3 Encourage pupils to use the note-making framework
and prompts for discussion (Travellers’ tales pupil
resource 3) to explore the extract they have chosen
and to gather ideas for their travel blog. (Note that
these questions will need to be slightly adapted if
pupils choose Coming to New York, by Alistair
Cooke, where ‘the characters described by the
writer’ will be more appropriate.)
4 The following is an extension activity, which could be
teacher-led or be carried out by pupils working
independently:
Coming to New York is the only account written in
the third person. Compare this text with one other
of your choice and prepare an answer to the
question: ‘Which do you think is the most effective
viewpoint for telling a traveller’s tale – the first
person or the third person? Give as many reasons as
you can for your decision, supported with examples
from the texts.’
Assessed task
In pairs or small groups, ask pupils to plan and present
an imaginary travel blog designed by one of the
characters from one traveller’s tale. In most cases this is
likely to be the writer himself or herself, but in the case
of Coming to New York, the travel blog could be from
the viewpoint of a particular character described in
Alistair Cooke’s account.
This is intended as a predominantly oral response;
extracts from the travel blog can be spoken from notes
or presented as a dramatised reading.
Pupils should include explanations of why the travel
blog should be published on the internet.
29
Travellers’ tales
Pupil resource 1
Card sort
✁
Set A: Reasons why people travel
To experience the fun and excitement of meeting new people and seeing new sights
To start a new life in another country
To escape from worries and troubles at home
To provide a mental or physical challenge
To learn more about people from a different culture
To journey where few other people have been
To learn things about yourself that you wouldn’t discover if you stayed at home
To experience memorable things to look back on when you return home
✁
Set B: Summaries of the extracts in Travellers’ tales
In Coming to New York, Alistair Cooke tells the story of the immigrants who made modern
America. He describes the arrival in New York of people from all parts of Europe who were
seeking a better life at the start of the twentieth century – people who were hoping to find
work or food, or escape from war or persecution.
In Going to New York, from his autobiography Angela’s Ashes, the Irish writer Frank
McCourt describes how he left Limerick in 1949 on a ship bound for New York. He was just
19 and was leaving behind the appalling poverty and hardship suffered by his large family,
in hope of a brighter future in America.
In The pursuit of fear, from his book Mountains of the Mind, Robert Macfarlane recounts
his experience of climbing in the Alps with a friend and their close brush with death when
rocks start to fall towards them. He explains what drives him to risk his life to climb
mountains.
In A Walk in the Woods, the writer Bill Bryson describes the challenge he faced with his
friend Katz: walking The Appalachian Trail in America. This stretches for over 2,000 miles
from Georgia to Maine and crosses a landscape of mountains, forests and lakes – a vast
area of wilderness in the most developed country in the world.
Into the Heart of Borneo, by the naturalist Redmond O’Hanlon, describes the journey he
makes with his friend, the poet James Fenton, deep into the remote tropical jungle. With
the local tribespeople as their guides, travelling by canoe and sleeping in hammocks
provided by the SAS, the two men experience a close-up view of Borneo’s wildlife – most of
which bites or stings!
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Travellers’ tales
Pupil resource 1
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Set B: Summaries of the extracts in Travellers’ tales (continued)
In the first few decades of the twentieth century, Freya Stark travelled alone to remote
regions of the world, such as the Arabian Peninsula, where she mixed with Sultans and
Bedouin tribespeople, learning their language and drawing maps of their country. In
Makalla, from The Southern Gates of Arabia, she describes aspects of the local culture.
In 2004, the writer and broadcaster Michael Palin spent six months travelling with a BBC
camera crew through the countries connected by the Himalayan mountain range: Pakistan,
India, Nepal and Tibet. The stories of his adventures, including The polo match, and of the
lives of the people he met are told in the television series ‘Himalaya’ and in the book of the
same name.
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© Pearson Education Limited 2005. This may be reproduced for class use solely within the purchaser’s school or college.
Pupil resource 2
Travellers’ tales
Prompts for designing a travel blog
What is a travel blog?
An online travel journal – or travel blog – is a brilliant way of sharing your travellers’ tales. It’s a
personal website which you can use to track your journey and keep all your friends and family
up to date. Each time you add an entry to your journal, it will automatically email your contacts
to tell them to read your latest instalment. You can upload photos, chart your route on a global
map, receive messages from home and update the site from anywhere in the world. So what
are you waiting for? Get blogging!
Tips for blogging
Let your readers know where in the
world you are. You could include
details about:
• the landscapes and scenery
• the climate and weather
• your reactions to a new culture
• why you chose to go there.
Let your readers know how your
travels are affecting you.
You could include:
• the highs and lows of your travels
• how you reacted to particular events
• what you’ve learned about yourself
• how your experiences have changed
you.
Think about the memorable sights and events from your travels that you will want to
capture in photographs for your travel blog. They could be a record of:
• people who have made an impression on you
• places you will never forget
• a funny or frightening incident.
What will you include in your next journal entry
that will be emailed to all your family and friends? You
could describe:
• something that was amusing
• something that was frightening or which tested you
• an incident that you will never forget
• someone who made an impression on you.
Think about the details you will include and the style
you will use to keep your readers’ interest.
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Remember that travel blogs
are interactive. What
questions do you think your
readers at home will want to
ask you about your travel
experiences, and how will
you answer them?
© Pearson Education Limited 2005. This may be reproduced for class use solely within the purchaser’s school or college.
Travellers’ tales
Pupil resource 3
Note-making framework and prompts for
discussion
Where does the writer travel to, and why
does he or she go there?
Which words or phrases give you the
clearest picture of the place?
How does the writer react to the place and
how can you tell?
How has the writer shaped and organised
his or her travel account? What happens
first, next, last?
Is there a main incident that the writer
describes? What details make this incident
memorable?
How would you describe the tone the
writer uses (for example amused, shocked,
afraid)? Which words and phrases let you
know?
How would you describe the writer’s
character and personality (for example
brave, caring, thoughtful)? What evidence
do you have for your judgement?
What questions do you want to ask the
writer about his or her experiences?
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Generic resources
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Reading strategy cards
Using prior knowledge
Making links with other books you’ve read; drawing on what
you already know about the topic or theme
Visualising
Picturing what is happening in the text and describing the
images you can see
Empathising
Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and imagining how
they feel
Predicting and
speculating
Working out what you think will happen at different points
in the text, based on the evidence you’ve been given
Asking questions
Knowing useful questions to ask about different aspects of a
writer’s craft. Being an active reader by looking in the text
for answers to your own questions.
Summarising
Checking that you’ve understood the text by summing up
main ideas, values and emotions briefly, using your own
words
Making inferences and
deductions
Knowing the difference between literal and non-literal
meanings; using evidence to read between the lines and
comment on what is suggested and implied
Interpreting patterns
Making links between different parts of the text; noticing
repeated ideas or patterns of language
Making judgements
Deciding what you think about the people, events, ideas in
the text and being able to provide evidence for your views
Scanning
Looking quickly through the text to find specific information
Skimming
Getting a general impression of what the text is about
before you read it closely
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