Teaching notes and ideas
Name of resource:
Roald Dahl story openings
Age group(s)
Subject(s)
8 to11
English
Topic
Language Level
Story openings and adverbials
Intermediate / Advanced
EAL Nexus
Description of resource
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Grid with nine story openings on it
Teacher’s version with adverbials in red
Classification chart (3 columns: setting, people, dialogue)
Blank 3 X 3 grid
Instructions for learners for noughts and crosses game
Visuals (provided on PowerPoint, for printing out as flashcards or for electronic
use)
Preparation needed
You will need:
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A set of story openings and a classification chart for each pair of learners
A set of learner instructions for each pair for noughts and crosses game
Visuals for pairs of learners needing additional support as required
Blank 3X3 grid for the extension activity
You will need to:
 Print out the story openings (preferably on card) and cut into cards. These can
be laminated for reuse.
 If required, make a set of flashcards by printing out the PowerPoint and cutting
up. Print out as two-to-a page handouts for larger flashcards (recommended) or
six to a page handouts for smaller flashcards, and can be laminated for re-use.
 Print out an A3 size enlargement of the blank 3X3 grid for any learners taking
part in the extension activity.
Curriculum objectives
 To explore effective techniques for opening stories
 To understand what an adverbial is (adverbs, adverbial phrases or adverbial
clauses)
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2014
EAL Nexus
Language / literacy objectives
Functions
Structures
 Describing
Adverbials (see below in ‘Other ideas for making the
best use of this resource’ for explanation).
 Adverbs: e.g. ‘peacefully’
 Adverbial phrases: e.g. ‘down in the valley’
 Adverbial clauses: e.g. ‘when a man grows hair
all over his face’
Vocabulary
Valley, concrete, blister, dialogue, setting, describing, character.
This resource could be used:
 as a whole class activity
 as differentiation within class for a small group of EAL learners
Ideas for using the resource
What to do
 It isn’t necessary to teach story openings and adverbials in the same lesson,
this resource could be used as a basis for two separate lessons.
 Introduce the new vocabulary, using the visuals from the PowerPoint. Use the
pictures to elicit each item of vocabulary. Learners could pair talk to identify the
correct word. Drill the pronunciation of the word by saying it, and ask the learners
to repeat it as a class. You only need to spend two minutes on this. During preteaching key vocabulary you could ask learners to tell you the word in their first
language and have a go at pronouncing it yourself. This is an easy and effective
way of celebrating bilingual learners’ abilities.
 Elicit the different story starts Show the three pictures representing dialogue,
settings and characters. Ask the learners to pair share and say what sort of story
start each represents. Show the story opening grid and explain that Roald Dahl
uses one of three ways of starting these stories: dialogue, describing settings and
describing characters. Read each story opening from the sheet. Learners close
their eyes and hold up the corresponding number of fingers as on the classifying
chart. So if it describes a setting, the learners should hold up three fingers.
 Activity one: This is a collaborative activity, played in pairs. Place cards in a pile
face downwards. Player A turns over top card and reads it to player B. B places it
in the correct place on the classifying chart (which is an example of a graphic
organiser). Swap roles. Keep going until all the cards have gone.
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2014
EAL Nexus
 Activity two: This is another collaborative activity, played in groups of 4 (see
learner instruction sheet). Place the story opening cards used in activity one in a
3x3 grid like noughts and crosses. Play in two teams with two players in each.
Play like noughts and crosses. You need to get three in a row. Take turns to lay
the counters on the sheet. When laying counters, learners say how the story has
started (dialogue setting or character). They could also point out the adverbials.
You could model this activity rather than explain; it’s a lot easier.
Other ideas for making the best use of this resource
 Teaching about adverbials. These are words or groups of words which modify
(add information to) a verb. Adverbials tell you when, where, why, how or under
what conditions or with what concessions something happens. (They can also
modify adjectives and adverbs). The family of adverbials include:
o Adverbs: ‘peacefully’.
o Adverbial phrases: ‘down in the valley’. (They have more than one word
with either a verb a noun)
o Adverbial clauses: ‘When a man grows hair all over his face,’ (They have
more than one word with both a noun and a verb.)
Six of the story openings in the activity use fronted adverbials which are used at
the start of sentences. Some of the examples can also be described as
prepositional phrases and some as subordinate clauses.
 Elicit the grammar structure (adverbials) Do this by giving the learners a
simple sentence. You could use the second half of the opening line from ‘The
giraffe the Pelly and me’ ‘…there is a queer old empty house standing all by
itself...’ Ask learners to put some information after the sentence, which tells the
reader where it stood. They can write ideas on white boards in pairs. They will
need to make these up. Show the learners the adverbial phrase that Roald Dahl
uses: ‘… there is a queer old empty house standing all by itself on the side of the
road.’ Repeat the process asking when she died. This time put the adverbial at
the front of the sentence. Use ‘Danny champion of the world’: ‘When I was 4
months old, my mother died suddenly.’ Then finally ask how he lived. This time
put the adverbial in the middle of the sentence. Use ‘James and the giant peach’
‘He lived peacefully with his mother and father…’
Explain that the adverbials can be used at the beginning, middle or end of a
sentence. Read through the story starts highlighting the adverbials. Ask the
learners to write ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ on whiteboards to identify each
adverbial’s function as you read it. Give out the story openings cards and ask
learners to highlight the adverbials used.
Possible extension activities
 In pairs, learners could make their own story openings game using adverbials.
Give them an enlarged version of the blank 3x3 grid on an A3 sheet.
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2014