Writing to inform

Preparation and Planning

If available, students can use ICT facilities to design their leaflets. If PCs are not available, you may like to offer students art and design materials to use in generating ideas for layout. It is important to explain however that students will not have access to these kinds of facilities in their final exams.

You will need ICT facilities and a projector in order to display the slides which support this lesson.

Students work in pairs for much of this lesson. Student Worksheet 1 and 2 can be shared between two students and Student Worksheet 3 is for singular use.

About the MOD Topic

Defence Museums are built on the tremendously rich heritage of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. The MOD have unparalleled access to military artefacts and a commitment to ensuring that great historical events are not forgotten. At the same time, some of the most sophisticated technological advances can be seen in evidence at Defence Museums, with a strong focus on the future as well as the past. The principal museums are:

The Royal Naval Museum
Located in Portsmouth, historic home of the Royal Navy, this is the Museum of Britain's Senior Service. It provides research and information services for serving members of the Royal Navy, the general public and schools.

Royal Marines Museum
The Royal Marines Museum aims to preserve and present all aspects of the Royal Marines' history for the education and enjoyment of the general public. This is done through the acquisition, conservation and research of documents, books, weapons and other artifacts.

Royal Navy Submarine Museum
Its purpose is to promote an understanding of the role that the Royal Navy, and in particular the Royal Navy Submarine branch, has played in the nation's history, using its important and valued collections for exhibit, education and research. This unique museum offers the chance to walk on board a real submarine, discover tales of heroism & relive a life under sea.

Fleet Air Arm Museum
The museum of British naval aviation preserves and exhibits the history of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm. Its purpose is to maintain aircraft, related documents and general exhibits of historical interest, predominantly related to the Royal Naval Air Service and Fleet Air Arm for public display and education.

National Army Museum
The only museum to tell the story of the Army from Agincourt, in the 15th Century, to peace-keeping in the Twenty-first Century. The purpose of the National Army Museum is to present the history of the British Army over 5 centuries, and to encourage research into its history and traditions. Its collections include uniforms, weapons, vehicles and equipment, medals, paintings, drawings and archives.

The Royal Air Force Museum
The Royal Air Force Museum aims to preserve, conserve and exhibit the history of the RAF and its relationship with aviation. The only National Museum to concentrate on the development of aviation, it promotes an understanding of the role and achievements of the RAF in that context. The collections are held at the RAF Museum London in London and Cosford in Shropshire.

For more information go to www.museums.mod.uk

Further Opportunities for Learning

Invite students to design their own school leaflet using ICT. They should include their own digital photography and consider (for example) layout or fonts that might resonate with their target market. If any of the leaflets are sufficiently well constructed you may like to replicate leaflets for school use. Ask students to obtain quotes from local printers for production.

Students should gather together a selection of informative leaflets encountered during the course of a week e.g. in cafes, at school and at the doctor's surgery or train station. During class-time leaflets should be pooled and then divided by type e.g. according to source, target market or the type of information being disseminated. Divide the class into groups and allow each group to evaluate all leaflets within a specific category, identifying those that successfully communicate and achieve their objectives, those that don't and the reasons why not.

Web content is a form that informative writing is often used for. If you have a school site or intranet, ask students to write materials to contribute to that site. If students' work is sufficiently well executed, you may like to upload it to the site.

Ask students to choose a subject they are interested in and to use the internet to find three examples of informative writing on that subject. Students should compare and contrast their items, outlining both areas of difference and commonality.

Travel writing is another example of writing to inform. Ask students to study the style of travel guides and to write an entry on a destination within or outside the UK that they may have visited while on holiday. Ask them to include key points such as: location, weather, currency (if necessary), food, travel (getting there and once at the destination).

Student worksheet answers

Download the teachers notes PDF to access the answers for this lesson.