Gothic Stories – Beginnings &
Endings.
L.O. – To make the ending of a story
relate to its beginning.
A teenage boy walks into his local park
at around 7 o’clock at night. He is
carrying his skateboard and is heading
towards the skate area which is
situated in the middle of the park. He
hears a noise and then someone
shouts. He turns around and...
1) A freeze frame to sum up the main action.
2) A freeze frame showing the end of the the
story.
• Why were there different or
similar interpretations of the story?
• What clues or previous
knowledge made you choose the
ending you did?
How does the writer try to grab our
attention in the opening of this story?
(He may use a number of ways to do
this.)
You got any pets? Dog, cat, goldfish maybe?
Well, Tommy had lots of pets – jars and tanks
of them. Tommy bred stick insects, though I
guess it wouldn’t be quite right to call them
‘pets’.
The writer tries to grab our attention in the
opening of this story in several different
ways. Firstly.................Secondly............
What do you think will happen in the
rest of the story?
You got any pets? Dog, cat, goldfish maybe? Well, Tommy had lots of pets –
jars and tanks of them. Tommy bred stick insects, though I guess it
wouldn’t be quite right to call them ‘pets’. His pet was really the gheko
lizard that lived in the big glass tank on his chest of drawers. Every now
and then he’d get that out and, you know, pet it, stroke it, chat to it, that
kind of thing. The stick insects, well they had other uses. Some of them,
he sold – and made a fair amount of cash, too. It was amazing how many
kids were willing to pay for the brown stick-like things. At school, there
was a craze for them. Tommy thought they were kind of boring himself.
They didn’t do anything, did they? They just hung about on the wire
mesh frame he’d put up against their container wall, imitating twigs. Big
deal. He much preferred praying mantises. His dad had a whole collection
of those, but he wouldn’t let Tommy near them.
I think that the rest of the story will be
about ...........The reason I think this is
because at the start of the story it says.......
• Complete the grid about the story ‘Night of
the Stick Insects’.
Complete the questions (2, 3a & 3b at
the top of the sheet.)
Use full sentences to answer the questions:
2) The mood of the opening is different to the
mood of the ending in that....
3a) I think the stick insects and gecko became
huge because...
3b) The clues in the opening prepare us for the
ending because...
Do Emily & her
family still live in
the same house?
The noise behind the
fireplace at the start –
what was it?
‘Home’
How it will end..?
What has happened
to her parents?
What has happened
to Emily?
Homework
• Write the last 50-100 words of the story
‘Home’. (The ending).
• Due in Tues 19th Jan.