Looking Back at Unit 2: Language and Truth
Choosing Topics and Text-Types for a Written Task 1
Part 2:
Essential Question:
Enduring Understanding:
Language and Mass Communication
How do we use our words to impact our world?
Authors engage with and manipulate language in order to
convey their ideas, thoughts and beliefs.
Quick Write Topics:
 This book is called The Things They Carried. So today, I’d like you to write about the
things you carry with you. What do you have in your pockets? Your backpack? What
do those things say about who you are as a person, and what kinds of things you value?
 Think about your elementary school… the teachers, the rooms, the library, the kids… now zoom in and write
about “One time in elementary school…”
 Write about your earliest memory. Feel free to embellish, stretch the truth, or outright lie.
 Angry, Worried, Happy
a. First, think about a time that you were really angry at someone. Write directly to them about the
situation/your feelings.
b. Now, think about a time that you were worried about someone. Now, write directly to them about
the situation/your feelings.
c. Finally, think about a time where you felt happy or content to be with someone. Write about that
time.
 Write about your most embarrassing moment or the worst decision you ever made.
 Write directly to the author O’Brien.
 Read “Oranges.” Write about your first crush. Is there anything you’d do differently? Write it into reality.
 Write about writing. Is it important? Why do you do it (or not do it)? What’s the power of writing, if at all?
Texts and Text-Types:
These are the text-types we’ve read, discussed and identified the conventions of:
“The Things They Carried”
“Spin”
Early excerpts from On Writing
“Enemies”
“Friends”
“On the Rainy River”
Interview with Tim O’Brien
“How to Tell a True War Story”
“The Man I Killed”
“Ambush”
“Speaking of Courage”
“Notes”
“In the Field”
“Good Form”
“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”
“Lives of the Dead”
“Oranges”
Later excerpts from On Writing
8 Days
Excerpt from The Outpost
“The War Memoirist’s Dilemma” by Shannon Meehan
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Memoir
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Interview
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Chapter from The Things They Carried
Poem
Memoir
Children’s Book
Author’s Note and excerpt (NF)
Blog entry/commentary
Discussion Topics:
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What is truth? reality?
Is “story truth” truer than “happening truth”?
Women in war
The effects of war: before, during, after
The effects of particular grammar and
conventions on the reader (e.g. commas,
ands, semi-colons, dashes, quotation marks,
etc.)
One event through multiple perspectives
The power of story telling
Death
Whether you have to experience something to
write about it (well)
War (as a setting)
Stories with no beginning and no end
The effect of repetition
1st person narration vs. 3rd person narration
Discussion Topics:
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What is truth? reality?
Is “story truth” truer than “happening truth”?
Women in war
The effects of war: before, during, after
The effects of particular grammar and
conventions on the reader (e.g. commas,
ands, semi-colons, dashes, quotation marks,
etc.)
One event through multiple perspectives
The power of story telling
Death
Whether you have to experience something to
write about it (well)
War (as a setting)
Stories with no beginning and no end
The effect of repetition
1st person narration vs. 3rd person narration
Discussion Topics:
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What is truth? reality?
Is “story truth” truer than “happening truth”?
Women in war
The effects of war: before, during, after
The effects of particular grammar and
conventions on the reader (e.g. commas,
ands, semi-colons, dashes, quotation marks,
etc.)
One event through multiple perspectives
The power of story telling
Death
Whether you have to experience something to
write about it (well)
War (as a setting)
Stories with no beginning and no end
The effect of repetition
1st person narration vs. 3rd person narration
Discussion Topics:





What is truth? reality?
Is “story truth” truer than “happening truth”?
Women in war
The effects of war: before, during, after
The effects of particular grammar and
conventions on the reader (e.g. commas,
ands, semi-colons, dashes, quotation marks,
etc.)
 One event through multiple perspectives
 The power of story telling
 Death
 Whether you have to experience something to
write about it (well)
 War (as a setting)
 Stories with no beginning and no end
 The effect of repetition
1st person narration vs. 3rd person narration
Part 2: Language and mass communication
In part 2 students consider the way language is used in the media. Mass media include newspapers, magazines, the internet
(for example, social networking), mobile telephony, radio and film. This section also addresses the issue of how the
production and reception of texts is influenced by the medium through which they are delivered. The study of language and
mass communication means that students will be able to meet the following learning outcomes. While each of the learning
outcomes must be covered, the examples provided are not prescriptive but are intended to provide guidance on the ways in
which these learning outcomes can be incorporated into the teaching of part 2.
Examine different forms of communication within the media. Areas to be considered could include:
 advertising
 news coverage
 opinion
 blogs
 mobile media.
Show an awareness of the potential for educational, political or ideological influence of the media. Areas to be
considered could include:
 public service broadcasting
 campaigns
 censorship
 satire
 propaganda.
Show the way mass media use language and image to inform, persuade or entertain. Points to be considered could
include:
 the diversity of audiences
 use of style and register
 overt and covert forms of bias
 layout and use of images
 deliberate manipulation of audience
 placement and the selection of platform.
The above learning outcomes can be achieved through the study of some of the suggested topics listed below.
 Textual bias (news reporting, sports coverage)
 Stereotypes (gender, ethnicity)
 Popular culture (comics, soap operas)
 Language and presentation of speeches and campaigns (elections, lobbying)
 Language and the state (public information, legislation)
 Media institutions (television channels, internet search engines)
Further guidance: Parts 1 and 2
A wide range of text types should be included to help students with analysis and production. The list of suggestions below is
not exhaustive.
Advertisement
Appeal
Biography
Blog
Brochure/leaflet
Cartoon
Chart
Database
Diagram
Diary
Editorial
Electronic texts
Encyclopedia entry
Essay
Film/television
Guide book
Interview
Letter (formal)
Letter (informal)
Magazine article
Manifesto
Memoir
News report
Opinion column
Parody
Pastiche
Photographs
Radio broadcast
Report
Screenplay
Set of instructions
Song lyric
Speech
Textbook
Travel writing