Writing to describe

2. Describing the Antarctic

Required Resources

• Student Worksheet 1
• Slides 10-11
• Thesaurus / dictionary

Delivery

• Distribute Student Worksheet 1, which contains various texts about Antarctica from a variety of sources.
• Students' first task is to identify two quotes which use descriptive techniques to illustrate the conditions and environment. They then need to explain the effect created in the heart and mind of the reader by using the identified language devices.
• Feedback to class to identify the predominant ideas and emotions created in the texts.
• To identify words that can create an evocative setting for their written piece, you should then present Slides 10-11 which shows an image of Antarctica and some chilling facts.
• 30 second time challenge: Working in pairs, students have 30 seconds to come up with one or more words that they think best describes this polar environment and feed it back to the class.
• Teacher to note these on the board. No repetition allowed. Aim for at least 12 evocative adjectives.

Differentiation

Lower Ability:

Pair work.
Provide access to a thesaurus and dictionary.

Higher Ability:

Independent work.
Students could work in pairs to come up with three examples of imagery to describe the scene, ideally one example of metaphor, simile and personification.