Possible Written Outcomes or Incidental Writing
Opportunities
 Prayer of thanks to ancestors/commemorate survival
 Conversations between ancestors at key points in
story
 Retell events from different main characters’ point of
view or from ancestors’ point of view
 Report on slavery
 Instructions for making African hut
 Persuasion text - Chimwale to leave with the
villagers
 Discussion text from oral debate - What makes a
hero/heroine?
 Information text on Yao people.
 Poem based on illustrations of crossing the river using
The Sound Collector as a model
2. Capturing Ideas
 Map the village and the surrounding area
 Annotate map with words and phrases from text
 Identify story telling language and list. Compare with
language in other traditional tales
 Look at a familiar story and create oral version
adding oral story telling language
 Retell story using oral story telling language. Perform
and video. Evaluate effectiveness of language.
 Role play village meeting where the people are
deciding what to do
 Conscience alley - should Grandmother stay or go?
 What is heroism?: note qualities of 3 main characters
with evidence from text and pictures
 Debate - what makes a hero? Focus also on use of
discursive and persuasive language. Children
evaluate use of language
 Research the Yao people
 Research slavery
 Use pictures of villagers crossing river. Create
soundscape (instruments/Audacity). Develop bank
of phrases (the sighing of the reeds, the shrieking of
the children). Develop simile/metaphor
© Focus Education UK Ltd 2014
KS2

Hook
Materials to make an African hut in
classroom. Challenge to construct hut.

Sentence Games (use throughout unit)
 Chain writing with a focus on impact of
adverbials at the beginning
 Play with sound phrases developed to create
poetic sentences
 Similes game - The sun is like…
 Metaphor game - The sun is…
 Improve a sentence - focus on the
grammatical elements that need
consolidation or review
Guided Reading Possibilities
 Read other stories set in Africa
 Listen to/watch oral retellings - focus on the
difference between oral and written
 Read The Sound Collector by Roger
McGough. Explore use of language.
 Non-fiction texts on slavery
 Identify and discuss features of text type for
final written outcome. Level of text can be
pitched at each groups’ level, ensuring both
access and challenge.
1. Responding to the Text

Book talk: What do you like/dislike about the book? Are
there any puzzles or reminders in the book?

Book talk: How has the story been written? How do we
know? (Evidence from text and pictures)

Book talk: What is the role of the ancestors?

Picture exploration: Use the first picture of the village. What
information does this give about the context of the story?

Picture exploration: Look at the picture of the
confrontation with the slavers. How has the illustrator
depicted the tension of the situation?

Picture exploration: Look at the pictures of the villagers
crossing the river. What sounds might be heard?

Writer talk: How do the pictures help to enhance the text?

Writer talk: In groups look closely at identified pages and
find story telling language

Writer talk: What are the themes in the book?
3. Contextualised Grammar Teaching



Opening sentences of paragraphs to indicate a
change of time or place - when and where adverbials
Use of dialogue in narrative - correct use of inverted
commas and comma between direct speech and
reporting clause
Persuasive language and its use in narrative and nonnarrative texts
Week 2 & 3 - Stories from other cultures
Week 4 & 5 – Recounts ( Newspaper/ Magazine)
4. Modelled Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing
Independent Writing