The Explorer - Teaching Slides

The provided teaching slides from Focus Education UK Ltd offer a comprehensive and interactive approach to exploring the novel "The Explorer". The slides guide students through vocabulary exercises, where they can guess the meaning of words like 'determinedly' and 'summon', and then check their understanding. They also engage in synonym matching activities, where they find phrases in the text that correspond to words such as 'grimacing' and 'ferocious'. Students are encouraged to use these words in sentences to demonstrate their grasp of the language used in the book. The slides prompt students to reflect on their impressions of the book's cover and blurb, speculate about the identity of the explorer, and imagine the adventures awaiting the children stranded in the wilderness.

As students delve deeper into the chapters, they analyse character traits and emotions, using evidence from the text to support their conclusions. For instance, they examine how 'the boy' Fred's feelings evolve during a flight, and how the introduction of the four children shapes the narrative. The slides facilitate discussions on the contrasts presented in the text, the significance of a watch to Fred, and the use of personification to describe a fire. Additionally, students are tasked with writing diary entries from the perspectives of the characters, considering their thoughts and feelings at key points in the story. The slides also include activities that focus on understanding the setting, such as gathering descriptive words and phrases to create a vivid image of the Amazon rainforest, and exercises that help students to improve their writing by evaluating sentence types, using prepositional phrases, and expanding noun phrases to enhance the atmosphere and imagery.