RELATING WAR WITH TROY TO THE NLS FRAMEWORK
YEAR 5 TERM 2 TEXT LEVEL OBJECTIVES
INTRODUCTION
It may be useful to offer children at the start of their listening some information about the
Trojan War, by discussing background features such as where it takes place, how old the
story is and some of the main characters. It is also helpful to introduce new sections by
recapping on the previous ones, especially if there has been a gap of more than a few hours.
Teacher’s notes on this can be found elsewhere in this pack, summarising each episode and
with advice on key points of children’s understanding to check and carry forward to the next
episode. Other common methods for ‘recap’ are to ask:
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All children to consider then discuss as a class the single most important word,
character or event from the last episode;
Particular children to listen especially carefully to an episode and prepare the
introduction to it ‘for next time’;
The class in 2s/3s to prepare a ‘frozen picture’ of key action from the last episode and
present it;
Groups of children to discuss what particular characters said or did in the last episode
and one person to report back.
What is not recommended – though feedback from you as teachers would be useful on this
point - is for NLS teaching objectives and follow-up points to be used extensively during the
children’s first hearing of the story. Our experience has been that the best way for children to
learn about War with Troy is by being drawn into the story as a whole, without diversions
into worksheets; to learn to enjoy listening to it, whilst also having a teacher or other adult on
hand to answer questions, offer relevant information and help with any misunderstanding of
key points.
War with Troy
Links with NLS Framework
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Fiction and poetry: (i) traditional stories, myths, legends, fables from a range of cultures; (ii) longer classic
poetry, including narrative poetry. .
Non-Fiction: (i) non-chronological reports (i.e. to describe and classify); (ii) explanations (processes, systems,
operations, etc.). Use content from other subjects, e.g. how the digestive system works, how to find a
percentage, the rain cycle.
PUPILS SHOULD BE TAUGHT:
Fiction and poetry
Reading comprehension
Follow-up points when teaching War with Troy:
The Story of Achilles
1. to identify and classify the
features of myths, legends and
fables, e.g. the moral in a fable,
fantastical beasts in legends;
War with Troy displays a mixture of features from
myth and legend, with a little from fable too:
 Gods and Goddesses are crucial to The Iliad e.g.
Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon. These are mythic:
there is no ‘scientific’ evidence of their
existence, but their stories express and explain
things that are readily observable in the world
(e.g. the power of nature, of love, of the sea and
earth);
 Legends are stories that often refer to ‘actual’
places (e.g. Troy, Sparta, Ithaca, Mycenae) or
people (e.g. Menelaeus, Achilles, Priam), mixing
facts with imagined actions and explanations;
 Fables are told to teach clear moral lessons –
although these lessons are ambiguous in War
with Troy ‘moral’ choices (e.g. the elopement of
Helen and Paris, the keeping of the oath to
retrieve her, the argument of Achilles and
Menelaeus, the choice of Achilles to fight)
underpin the narrative.
2. to investigate different versions
of the same story in print or on
film, identifying similarities and
differences; recognise how
stories change over time and
differences of culture and place
that are expressed in stories;
3. to explore similarities and
differences between oral and
written story telling;
(e.g. Rosemary Sutcliffe, Henry Treese, Peter
Connolly, Lucilla Burn, Kathleen Lines are just some
examples of authors who have used the Trojan War –
fuller bibliography to follow)
War with Troy
This exploration can be led by listening, perhaps to a
repetition of a particular episode. Look out for oral
features such as:
 Epithets (adjectival clauses describing people or
places)
 Repetitions (e.g. ‘If I could sing’)
 Formulae (A ring … whose sharp point touched
its feathered tail’)
 Concise description
 Intonation and volume of voice
 The use of sound effects
Links with NLS Framework
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4. to read a range of narrative
poems;
5. to perform poems in a variety of
ways;
6. to understand terms which
describe different kinds of
poems, e.g. ballad, sonnet, rap,
elegy, narrative poem, and to
identify typical features;
7. to compile a class anthology of
favourite poems with
commentaries which illuminate
the choice;
War with Troy
War with Troy is probably the longest story or poem
that children will ‘hear’ at school. This version
overall is not in poetic form, though it has some
poetic features. After experiencing it children can
compare the story with shorter poems or songs that
describe an action and tell a story. Then explore with
children that the original Iliad was created as
hexameters – lines organised around 6 units of long
and short sounds – in nearly 16000 lines.
Choose a favourite or particularly colourful passage
for some of these:
 Re-writing as a poem, either rhyming or not, and
metrically regular or not;
 Reciting from the transcript individually;
 Enacting from the transcript as a small group,
using it as a script;
 Borrowing linguistic features from a passage but
re-forming these into a song;
Discussion of the following terms can arise from
hearing War with Troy. Many link to word and
sentence level work too:
Adjective, adverb, alliteration, analogy, antonym,
assonance, ballad, blank verse, character,
chronological writing, clause, coherence, connective,
couplet, dialogue, elegy, embedding, empathy, epic,
epithet, eulogy, exclamation, fable, fact, fiction,
figurative, flow-chart, genre, imagery, internal
rhyme, intonation, legend, metaphor, monologue,
myth, narrative poem, noun, ode, onomatopoeia,
passive voice, person, personification, phrase, poem,
rap, riddle, rhyme, sentences, simile, speech direct
and indirect, story board, stanza, synonym.
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Devise an anthology of ‘key moments’ from War
with Troy, with commentaries;
‘I would include or omit War with Troy (or
extracts) in my anthology because …’
Links with NLS Framework
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8. to distinguish between the author and
the narrator, investigating narrative
viewpoint and the treatment of
different characters, e.g. minor
characters, heroes, villains, and
perspectives on the action from
different characters;
9. to investigate the features of different
fiction genres, e.g. science fiction,
adventure, discussing the appeal of
popular fiction;
10. to understand the differences between
literal and figurative language, e.g.
through discussing the effects of
imagery in poetry and prose;
This version of the Trojan War has an authorial
voice: the narration of descriptions of actions is
conducted by somebody we do not know, and
who has no character within the story.
Nevertheless the voices of the two tellers are
broadly identified with each side: Hugh Lupton
with the Trojans, Daniel Mordern with the
Greeks. Numerous opportunities also exist to
highlight different perspectives on the same
event e.g.:
 Describing Hector’s death in-role as his
father or wife, or as Achilles or one of
Patroclus’s foot soldiers.
 Describing Aphrodite from the point of
view of Hera and Athene, or vice versa.
 Describing Troy from the inside and the
outside, or before and after its fall.
After hearing the whole story:
 War with Troy is like this other story …
because …
 War with Troy is different to any other
story because …
Comparing other stories about violence, war or
love in different genres e.g. science fiction,
historical fiction, journalism, adventure stories.
Figurative language pervades War with Troy,
for instance in episode 4:
“The Trojans saw him like a dancer, leaping through the
air … And where he landed, a spring burst out of the
ground. And then, as though running through long grass,
he ran across the battlefield, until he was standing in
front of Cygnus.”
Returning to language such as this (after the
story has been heard) offers children the chance
to discuss the effects of graceful words such as
‘dancer, spring, grass’ in the context of battle:
they can then create alternatives to make
different impressions.
Writing composition
11. to write own versions of legends,
myths and fables, using structures
and themes identified in reading;
War with Troy
Each of the twelve episodes offers the
opportunity to re-tell or to write ‘own versions’.
Some contain ‘mini-stories’ (the Golden Apple,
Cygnus, the Trojan Horse), told elsewhere as
stand-alones. Other approaches to consider are:
 Using War with Troy and other research, to
write a myth or legend around a particular
goddess or god;
Links with NLS Framework
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Re-writing a short extract in a modern
setting, in the style of an urban myth or
legend;
 Condensing and telling the story as the
legend of just one person (e.g. Queen
Hecuba, Helen, Odysseus, Hector).
Using storytelling devices and styles referred to
earlier (e.g. epithets, repetitions, formulae,
concise description, intonation, volume and
sound effects) children create own descriptions
of characters or actions to say and/or write.
Does War with Troy describe a ‘real’ place? In
answer to this non-fiction question draft and
edit:
 A non-chronological report of evidence
from books and The Iliad that Troy existed
and that the events of The Iliad happened;
 A discussion of the evidence for and
against the above;
 An imagined recount of a witness at one of
the events in the story;
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12. to use the structures of poems read to
write extensions based on these, e.g.
additional verses, or substituting own
words and ideas;
13. to review and edit writing to produce
a final form, matched to the needs of
an identified reader;
Non-Fiction
Reading comprehension
14. make notes of story outline as
preparation for oral storytelling;
15. to read a range of explanatory texts,
investigating and noting features of
impersonal style, e.g. complex
sentences: use of passive voice;
technical vocabulary; hypothetical
language (if...then, might when the...);
use of words/phrases to make
sequential, causal, logical
connections, e.g. while, during, after,
because, due to, only when, so;
16. to prepare for reading by identifying
what they already know and what
they need to find out;
War with Troy
Once the complete story has been heard, in
pairs or threes children listen to particular
episodes, make notes and re-tell them in
summary form to the whole class.
Children’s books about the Trojan War may
contain sections displaying characteristics of
NLS ‘explanatory text’ (e.g. Connolly 1998
p.78 The Trojan War: Fact or Fiction?). These
research materials can be used as exemplars.
Many aspects of War with Troy lend
themselves to non-fiction research (see NC
History section of these notes). For instance,
after listening to episodes children can pursue
paired enquiries into particular gods or
goddesses, or weapons. Each child offers two
important things they already know. After
synthesising these the children then identify
what else they would like to know, and where
they might be able to find
Links with NLS Framework
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17. to locate information confidently and
efficiently through (i) using contents,
indexes, sections, headings (ii)
skimming to gain overall sense of text
(iii) scanning to locate specific
information (iv) close reading to aid
understanding (v) text-marking (vi)
using CDROM and other IT sources,
where available;
As above and see NC History section of these
notes.
18. how authors record and acknowledge
their sources;
Information books about ancient Greece and the
Trojan War offer numerous examples of this,
with Connolly (1998) combining information
(fact) and imagination (fiction) especially well.
War with Troy also offers a motivating
opportunity to discuss sources and authors,
since ‘Homer’ may or may not be a real person,
and great puzzles still exist about where the
different parts of the story came from. After
research and discussion, ask children to
imagine that they were the author of the Iliad or
‘publisher’: what would they say about
themselves and the story in ‘blurb’,
‘acknowledgements’, ‘the author’ etc.
19. to evaluate texts critically by
As 15, 16, 17 and 18 above and see Links with
comparing how different sources treat NC History.
the same information;
20. notemaking: to discuss what is meant The original Iliad contains numerous lengthy
by 'in your own words' and when it is speeches, monologues and dialogues, presented
appropriate to copy, quote and adapt; as quotations but fictional in origin. Some of
this is reflected from episode 6 on of this retelling, though its ‘speeches’ are deliberately
kept short. Taking extracts of interesting or key
speeches discuss how they could be re-worded
for example: in slang, at greater length,
abbreviated, made more realistic, said in one
sentence etc.
Writing composition
21. to convert personal notes into notes
for others to read, paying attention to
appropriateness of style, vocabulary
and presentation;
War with Troy
If group or paired research tasks set (e.g. 15-20
above and see NC History section of these
notes), then the processes of personal notetaking can be discussed and concentrated upon.
Links with NLS Framework
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22 to plan, compose, edit and refine
short non-chronological reports and
explanatory texts, using reading as a
source, focusing on clarity,
conciseness, and impersonal style;
23. to record and acknowledge sources in
their own writing;
24. to evaluate their work.
War with Troy
See 15-21 above and NC History section of
these notes. It is also useful to vary the media
in which reports and explanations are offered.
‘Radio’ is especially appropriate for War with
Troy given its oral flavour, and offers
opportunities for script-writing around reports
and explanations (e.g. radio reports on
characters, actions, battles, weapons, gods and
goddesses, the origin of the story,
archaeological evidence, was the Iliad fact or
fiction?)
To highlight the importance of ‘sources’
children can record their own questions about
the Trojan War, or class questions can be
recorded for the opening episodes. These can be
presented as a flowchart, with ideas for where
to find answers recorded, as well as which
sources were used.
Teaching and learning through War with Troy
necessitates some sustained curriculum time
and could form the basis for a half-term’s work
in literacy and history, with links to other
subjects. If this is the case then War with Troy
is ideal for working towards a class exhibition,
performance, publication or programme, during
which children evaluate their own contributions
and have them evaluated by others (not just
teachers).
Links with NLS Framework
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