Inspired by: Blodin The Beast - Week 3

The lesson on "That Night…" delves into the use of commas after fronted adverbials, taking inspiration from Michael Morpurgo's "Blodin The Beast." Students explore how to effectively set the scene and convey the passage of time through the placement of adverbials at the beginning of a sentence. The activity encourages them to think of alternative adverbials of time that could express the same dedication and fatigue experienced by Shanga in completing his carpet. Examples such as "After dusk," "When dawn broke," and "Before everyone else was awake," are provided to demonstrate how these adverbials, followed by a comma, can add depth to the narrative and help readers to vividly imagine the scene.

In the "Be Brave" segment, the lesson shifts to oral sentence composition, particularly in the context of dialogue. Students are prompted to imagine a conversation between a young boy and an old man, where the boy attempts to persuade the old man to join him on a quest for a peaceful land. The activity challenges students to rehearse and compose sentences that capture the essence of persuasion and response, using sentence starters like "If you…," "then…," and "Although I…." In "I Am Too Old," the focus is on punctuating direct speech. By comparing sentences with the reported clause in different positions, students learn to punctuate direct speech accurately. They are tasked with formulating rules for this punctuation and providing their own examples. Lastly, "Our Chance Has Come" introduces students to listening to plays and preparing play scripts. They learn to write a play script complete with scene headings, stage directions, scenery, props, and sound effects, culminating in a performance that demonstrates their understanding of intonation, tone, volume, and action.