Face: The Play by Benjamin Zephaniah and Richard Conlon
Year 9 Reading Activities
Introduction
The following resources provide a three-lesson study of three key areas of dramatic
writing:
 How an actor’s choices influence how an audience reacts to a character (AF3).
 The dramatic benefits of a non-chronological structure (AF4).
 How we know what a play is ‘about’ (AF6).
Each area is introduced and explored in whole-class work before students work
independently on an Assessment Task.
Resources include detailed lesson plans, marking guidance and student resource sheets.
Timing
It is envisioned that these reading activities will be taught over three lessons of about one
hour each, although you may wish to adjust timings to suit the needs of your class. The
Assessment Tasks are introduced discretely, one a lesson. It is suggested that each task is
completed before moving on to the next one. This might mean that extra time needs to be
given for task completion, either in the form of extra lessons or homework.
Framework Objectives and Assessment Focuses
Once you have completed the study with your students, they will have engaged with the
following Framework Objectives and Reading Assessment Focuses:
5.1 – Developing and adapting active reading skills and strategies.
5.2 – Understanding and responding to ideas, viewpoint, themes and purposes in
texts.
5.3 – Reading and engaging with a wide and varied range of texts.
6.2 – Analysing how writers’ use of linguistic and literary features shapes and
influences meaning.
6.3 – Analysing writers’ use of organisation, structure, layout and presentation.
AF2 – Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts
and use quotation and reference to text.
AF3 – Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts.
AF4 – Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including
grammatical and presentational features at text level.
AF5 – Explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and
literary features at word and sentence level.
AF6 – Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect
of the text on the reader.
1
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 1
Learning objective:

Resources:
To understand the impact
of a non-chronological
narrative.
Starter
Introduction

Copies of Face: The Play.

Resource sheet 1: A shift in time.

Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks.
Share the learning objective with the class. Divide the class into pairs
and give them four minutes to help each other to summarise the story
of Face in the order in which events actually happened: in other
words, in chronological order.
Hear some chronological summaries and encourage discussion
around what the narrative has lost compared with the way it is
presented in the script. Choose one time-shift moment from the play
and use it to explore with the class some of the advantages it brings
in terms of impact on the audience. You could use the extract in
Resource sheet 1: A shift in time.
Here are some aspects to explore:
Development

The sudden shift in mood.

The sudden shift in Martin’s mood from extrovert and excited to
quiet and thoughtful (introspective).

The juxtaposition of two contrasting images of Martin:
impressive, showing off at the club, then concealed and
monstrous. (Emphasise the beauty and the beast contrast.)

Excited and optimistic, contrasted with still and defeated.
Introduce the first Assessment Task, which is also set out on
Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks:
‘Choose two points in the play which shift suddenly from one point in
time to another. Use these two points to help you explain the impact
this time-shifting technique has on the audience.’ (AF4)
Independent
work
2
Ask students to complete the first Assessment Task. More-confident
students can plan and write alone, but you may wish to pair lessconfident students for the planning stages of this task.
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 2
Learning objective:

Resources:
To understand that a character can
be played in different ways, and
these different ways will cause the
audience to feel different things
about them.
Starter
Introduction

Copies of Face: The Play.

Resource sheet 2: Does Natalie
care?

Resource sheet 5: The Assessment
Tasks.
Draw the class attention to Natalie’s final appearance in the play on
page 93 ‘… Natalie approaches – is about to say something but thinks
better of it. She leaves, watched by the other girls.’ Ask students to
work in pairs to act out this stage direction without words. Can they do
it in more than one way?
Ask some volunteers to present their version of Natalie’s final
appearance. Point out some differences of interpretation, and take
suggestions on how this might impact on the audience’s feelings.
Ask what this moment suggests about Natalie’s feelings, and about
how we should feel about her. Give the pairs three minutes to come
up with some answers to this question.
Development
Share the learning objective with the class. Point out that students
have already learnt things to do with this objective in last lesson’s
Assessment Task.
Now show Resource sheet 2: Does Natalie care? Look carefully at
this dialogue and the dialogue that leads up to these lines.
Use these two questions to focus discussion:
Independent
work

What would you want the audience to feel about Natalie at this
point?

How should she act in order to evoke those feelings in the
audience?
Ask students to complete the following Assessment Task, which is
also set out on Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks:
‘Imagine you are directing the play. Write a letter to the actor playing
Natalie, giving her advice about how she should behave and how she
should make the audience feel at those three points.’ (AF3)
More-confident students can plan and write alone, but you may wish
to pair less-confident students for the planning stages of this task.
3
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 3
Learning objective:

Resources:
To understand how a story
can be meant to teach the
reader particular things.
Starter

Copies of Face: The Play.

Resource sheet 3: Diamond nine template.

Resource sheet 4: Diamond nine statement
cards.

Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks.
Share the learning objective with the class. Point out that Face has a
‘moral’ – or more than one – things that the authors want the reader to
learn from Martin’s experience. Suggest these as examples of
‘morals’ of the story:

Don’t judge others by appearances.

Be proud of who you are.
Put students into groups of three and give each trio nine post-it notes.
Give them ten minutes to write one different thing on each post-it that
readers or an audience might learn from this play.
Introduction
Show students Resource sheet 3: Diamond nine template and use it
to explain to them how a diamond nine rank order exercise works.
Give the student trios five or ten minutes to diamond-rank their post-it
notes.
Development
Now hand to each trio Resource sheet 4: Diamond nine statement
cards for them to cut up into a pack of fifteen cards. Ask them to
compare their post-its with these new cards.
Now give them the instructions for the third Assessment Task, which is
also set out on Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks:
‘Work with two other students. Use your learning from the previous
lessons to create a ‘diamond nine’ of what the play is about. You must
use at least five of the statement cards in your diamond nine ranking.
You can add up to four of your own things that the play is about.’
(AF6)
Advise the class that they should take their time over this task: its
purpose is to let them talk through their ideas about what the play is
about.
Independent
work
4
Students complete the third Assessment Task in their groups of three.
You may wish to group students into more-confident or less-confident
groups and offer extra support to those groups that need it, or create
mixed-ability groups who can offer peer-support as they work.
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
Marking guidelines
Level
AF2
4
Some relevant points
identified.
Comments supported by
some generally relevant
textual reference or
quotation, e.g. reference is
made to appropriate section
of play but is unselective and
lacks focus.
AF3
(Task 2)
Comments make simple
inferences based on
evidence, e.g. ‘The audience
might think Natalie is selfish.’
Inferences often plausible,
but comments are not always
rooted securely in the text or
they simply repeat narrative
or content, e.g. ‘The
audience won’t like Natalie if
she ignores Martin on page
86.’
AF4
(Task 1)
Some basic aspects of timeshifts are identified, e.g. ‘We
have to wait until a dramatic
moment to find out about
how Martin had his accident’.
5
The most relevant points clearly identified,
including those selected from different
places in the play.
Comments generally supported by
relevant textual reference or quotation,
even when points made are not always
accurate.
Comments develop explanation of
inferred meanings drawing on evidence
across the text, e.g. ‘You know that
Natalie must be feeling guilty because
earlier she told Martin off for judging
people “by what they look like” (page 14)’.
Comments make inferences and
deductions based on textual evidence,
e.g. in drawing conclusions about what
the audience will feel about Natalie in the
light of how she treats Martin.
Comments on how the play is structured
show some general awareness of the
play's stagecraft, e.g. ‘It's very effective to
organise the play around shifts in time
because it allows contrasting events to be
put next to each other in a sad way’.
Continued
5
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
6
Relevant points clearly identified.
Evidence compared from different parts of
the script.
Use of apt textual reference and quotation
to support main ideas or argument.
Comments securely based in textual
evidence.
Different layers of meaning identified, with
some attempt at detailed exploration of
them, e.g. exploring what Natalie might be
thinking when she expresses surprise that
Martin is returning to school (page 55).
Comments consider how some events or
words become more significant in the light
of the whole script, e.g. tracing how
Natalie’s belief that ‘You shouldn’t judge a
person by what they look like’ (page 14) is
gradually developed.
Some detailed exploration of how the play
is structured around time-shifts.
Comments on how time-shifts contribute to
the play's theme and its effect on the
audience.
7
Evidence precisely chosen and
applied to the point being made,
e.g. close analysis of impact of a
single word, or, deft selection
across a longer textual stretch to
identify what the play is ‘about’.
Ability to see the significance of
something that Martin does in the
light of what we know about what
will happen to him later.
Comments begin to develop an
interpretation of Natalie, making
connections between insights,
teasing out clues and predictions
by weighing up evidence, e.g.
considering different ways of
interpreting Natalie’s behaviour on
page 86; exploring more than one
prediction.
Some evaluation of how timeshifts support the play’s dramatic
impact or its themes.
Some appreciation of the skill with
which the play is structured.
Level
AF4
(cont’d)
4
AF5
Some basic features of use
of language identified, e.g.
‘The doctor sounds calm and
full of authority’.
Simple comments on
language choices, e.g.
‘Describing Marcia as “really
nice” (page 27) makes
Natalie sound an ordinary
sort of girl and quite kind’.
AF6
(Task 3)
Main purpose identified, e.g.
‘It really makes us think
about how we judge others’.
Simple comments show
some awareness of writer’s
viewpoint, e.g. ‘The audience
will probably feel mainly on
Martin’s side'.
Simple comment on overall
effect on audience, e.g. ‘I
reckon that the audience will
mostly like Martin – or at
least think he is worth
sticking up for’.
6
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
5
Various features of the play's time-shifts
are clearly identified, with some
explanation, e.g. “Using three Martins lets
the narrative Martin choose the most
dramatic moments from his past to keep it
dramatic.”
Various features of language identified,
with some explanation, e.g. ‘The
Headteacher speaks in a broken, hesitant
way that makes him sound insincere’.
Comments show some awareness of the
effect of writer’s language choices, e.g.
‘When Natalie asks her quick, short
questions – “You? School? Monday?!”
(page 55) – it shows she is surprised and
the audience might think she doesn’t want
Martin to go back’.
Zephaniah’s and Conlon's main purpose
clearly identified, often through general
overview, e.g. ‘Conlon wants the audience
to feel a lot of sympathy for Martin even
though he was partly to blame’.
Viewpoint clearly identified, with some,
often limited, explanation, e.g. ‘The
audience will agree that you shouldn’t
judge others by appearances because
Martin can achieve a lot even though he is
very ugly now’.
General awareness of effect on audience,
with some, often limited, explanation, e.g.
‘You feel really sorry for Martin because
people are as uncaring to him as he was
before his accident. It’s like a punishment
but he can’t undo what he did’.
6
7
Some detailed explanation, with appropriate
terminology, of how language is used, e.g.
to underline the doctor's authority and to
contrast his character with that of the
nurse’s.
Comments begin to develop
precise, perceptive analysis of
how language is used, e.g. the
impression we get of Natalie from
her use of ‘them’ on page 44.
Some drawing together of comments on
how the writer’s language choices
contribute to the overall effect on the
reader, e.g. pointing out how different sorts
of language make the characters of
Anthony and Mr Hewitt believable.
Evidence for identifying Zephaniah’s and
Conlon's purposes precisely located at
word/speech level or traced through the
play.
Some appreciation of typical
features of language and how
they affect the reader, e.g. the
contrast between the ways that
different characters speak: e.g.
Martin and Dr Owens.
Responses begin to develop
some analytic or evaluative
comment on how Zephaniah and
Conlon convey their ‘messages’,
e.g. considering how the play’s
structure influences our reactions
to Martin’s story.
Viewpoint clearly identified and explanation
of it developed through close reference to
the text, e.g. ‘Vikki is not superficial and
tactless; she really cares. You can tell that
from the way that she shows her support at
the gym competition’.
The effect on the reader clearly identified,
with some explicit explanation as to how the
effect has been created.
Responses begin to develop
some analytic or evaluative
comment on how viewpoint is
established or managed across
the play, e.g. tracing how the
audience's attitudes are
consistent or varied in different
parts of the play.
Resource sheet 1: A shift in time
STREET VOICE 5
And the space, the space that opened up, just
there and just then, finally, seemed like the very
place to be, at the very time.
STREET VOICE 6
Come the moment – come the man.
PAST MARTIN
I’m going in!
Sudden silence and stillness.
Scene 9
NARRATIVE
MARTIN
I could see it. The moment the doctor came in I
knew it was there. Under a towel all right, but I
knew what it was. It was under there.
DR OWENS
Now Martin, I am sure you know that you have
every right to a mirror but it has to be said that,
in my opinion, it’s a little early for that. I would
suggest that you give it at least a couple of
days. Sometimes it helps to prepare yourself,
to get used to the idea.
PRESENT MARTIN
DR OWENS
PRESENT MARTIN
DR OWENS
Of?
The idea of, your … condition.
I want the mirror now.
I’ve spoken to your parents and they are,
frankly, concerned that you want a mirror so
early.
Pages 28–29
7
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 2: Does Natalie care?
PRESENT MARTIN
NATALIE
PRESENT MARTIN
NATALIE
PRESENT MARTIN
NATALIE
PRESENT MARTIN
Will you knock for me on Monday
morning or not?
Yes, I’ll be there. I’ll be speaking to
Matthew later. See you on Monday.
Nat!?
What?
Aren’t you even going to ask me how I
am?
Yeah, of course. How are you?
I’m back.
Page 56
8
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 3: Diamond nine template
1
(Most important)
2
3
2
3
4
4
5
9
Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
3
Resource sheet 4: Diamond nine statement cards
The idea of a diamond nine is to rank or order statements by how true they
are: one ‘most true’ statement at the top, two ‘very true’ statements below,
etc, down to the bottom card that is only ‘partly true’.
Here are statements for you to put into order. There are some blank cards so
that you can add some statements of your own.
People learn from
their mistakes.
Don’t judge others by
appearances.
We are all champions
in our own way.
Girls are selfish and
superficial.
Be proud of who you
are.
Finding out about
yourself.
When people believe
in you then you can
achieve anything.
People shouldn’t
accept lifts from drunk
or drugged drivers.
It’s often people with
real problems who
value life most.
Teenagers are
reckless.
Doctors and nurses
are heroes.
10 Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 5: The Assessment Tasks
For all of the following tasks you will need to:
 use evidence to support your ideas (AF2)
 interpret evidence (AF3)
 explore examples of the language that authors give their characters (AF5).
Assessment Task 1
The play does not tell the story in the order it happened: it shifts between the present and
the past.
Choose two points in the play which shift suddenly from one point in time to another.
Use these two points to help you explain the impact this time-shifting technique has on
the audience. (AF4)
Assessment Task 2
The character notes at the end of the play (see pages 98–99) warn the actors and readers
that Natalie should not be thought of as ‘totally unfeeling’: she has ‘feelings of a complex
and contradictory nature’.
Imagine you are directing the play. Choose three different points in the play when
Natalie is on stage. Write a letter to the actor playing Natalie, giving her advice about
how she should behave and make the audience feel at those three points. (AF3)
Assessment Task 3
Here are some things that the play might be about:
 Don’t judge others by appearances.
 Be proud of who you are.
 It’s often people with real problems
who value life most.
 People learn from their mistakes.
 We are all champions in our own way.
 Girls are selfish and superficial.
 Finding out about yourself.
 Doctors and nurses are heroes.
 When people believe in you then you
can achieve anything.
 Teenagers are reckless.
 People shouldn’t accept lifts from
drunk or drugged drivers.
Work with two other students. Use some or all of the above statements to create a
diamond nine of what the play is about. You must use at least five of the statements in your
diamond nine ranking. You can add up to four of your own statements. (AF6)
Take your time over this task: its purpose is to let you talk through your ideas about what
the play is about.
11 Face: The Play Year 9 Reading Activities