ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MEDIUM TERM PLAN
YEAR 7
Telling Tales
Aims:

This scheme of work aims to improve students’ writing skills, with a focus on developing
narratives. They will focus on narrative hooks and structure as well as creating characters and
setting. Finally, the scheme requires students to write their own narrative text.

It is designed to make students enthusiastic about reading and introduces them to a range of
fiction and media texts as stimulus.

The medium term planning format allows teachers the freedom to choose resources and plan
individual lessons, including starter activities. However, in order to ensure equality of provision
and progression for all pupils, teachers will adhere to the stated objectives and outcomes for
each week.
Duration: 6 weeks
Resources:
The Story Wheel
Page Turners Worksheet
Narrative Structure
Reading list and Reading Journal Sheets (1-3)
Story Structure grid
Story openings: hooking the reader
Colour OHTs of settings
Rules of direct speech
How to be a good story writer
Checking for accuracy sheet and bookmark
Planning frames
Extracts from:
The Man with a Yellow Face
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – JK Rowling
The Practical Princess
Yazley’s Cat – Weston
Mrs. Prachett – Roald Dahl
The Hobbit – Tolkein
Hroun and the Sea of Stories – Salman Rushdie
Suggested Film extracts:
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Shrek
Most students will: read narratives both as shared text and within groups. They will write narratives
showing understanding of both the techniques used by the writers studied, and the themes within their
work. They will also engage in speaking and listening activities.
Some student will not have progressed so far and will: read the narratives and enjoy and engage with
most of the material and related activities. They will write about, and in response to, the narratives and
will write their own story. These pupils may need a variety of scaffolds to support reading and writing.
Some students will have progressed further and will: respond to the texts as pieces of well crafted
writing and then attempt to replicate these devices in their own work. They will read and discuss
narrative texts independently. Extended writing will show control of language and some evidence of
independent study.
KEY TEACHING AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Pupils should be taught to:
SENTENCE LEVEL


Use speech punctuation accurately to integrate speech into larger sentences; (S7)
Vary the structure of sentence within paragraphs to lend pace, variety and emphasis; (S11)
TEXT LEVEL – READING






Distinguish between the views of the writer and those expressed by others in the text; (R9)
Identify how media texts are tailored to suit their audience, and recognise that audience responses
vary; (R10)
Recognise how print, sounds and still or moving images combine to create meaning; (R11)
Comment, using appropriate terminology on how writers convey setting, character and mood through
word choice and sentence structure; (R12)
Recognise how writers’ language choices can enhance meaning e.g. repetition, emotive vocabulary,
varied sentence structure or line length, sound effects; (R14)
Trace the ways in which a writer structures a text to prepare a reader for the ending; (R15)
TEXT LEVEL – WRITING





Plan, draft, edit, revise, proofread and present a text with readers and purpose in mind; (Wr1)
Structure a story with an arresting opening, a developing plot, a complication, a crisis and a satisfying
resolution; (Wr5)
Portray character, directly and indirectly, through description, dialogue and action; (Wr6)
Describe an object, person or setting in a way that includes relevant details and is accurate and
evocative; (Wr14)
Write informal advice, anticipating the needs, interests and views of the intended reader; (Wr17)
TEXT LEVEL – SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Recount a story, anecdote or experience and consider how this differs from written narrative; (S/L2)
POSSIBLE TEACHING SEQUENCE
Week 1: What makes a page turner?
OBJECTIVES:

Recount a story, anecdote or experience and consider how this differs from written narrative;
(S/L2)

Comment, using appropriate terminology on how writers convey setting, character and mood
through word choice and sentence structure; (R12)

Trace the ways in which a writer structures a text to prepare a reader for the ending; (R15)
RESOURCES:
Mini whiteboards
Page Turners grid
Story Structure for Suspense Writing (E1.1)
Storywheel
Story Structure Grid (E1.2)
Reading list and Reading Journals Sheets (1-3)
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

Introduce scheme of work – Telling Tales – which will get them to focus on skills and ingredients
needed to be a good story teller. N.B. Remind them they are all good at telling stories to one another
because they have been doing that for years but it is harder to write a good story because you don’t
have the benefits of eye contact, body language and intonation to enhance your meaning.

On mini whiteboards, students brainstorm favourite stories from childhood. Take feedback. What
elements do these stories have in common? E.g. characters, plot, themes, setting? Now think about
books and films they enjoy. What kinds of characters, plot, themes, settings do these have? Draw up
class list. Are there any similarities between the first list and the second list? (Try to extract ideas
such as heroes and villains, crisis, love, happy endings, fantasy characters.) Keep these lists to refer
back to later.)

Students complete the Page Turners grid looking at typical settings, characters, words/phrases, etc.

Establish the structure of a good story using the terms on E1.1:
Opening Setting
(Resolution)
Fiction trigger
Keeping up the momentum (Development)
Climax
Conclusion

Teacher to model use of Storywheel. (Throw dice and select corresponding character from purple
segment, throw a dice again and move one circle in until you have 6 different elements to weave a
story e.g. detective, a crumbling castle, a jewelled casket, a mysterious stranger, a murder, a
discovery.) From the teacher’s list, class to have a go at making up stories.

Students play the Storywheel in pairs and come up with their own lists. Use story structure grid E1.2
to plan ideas for their stories. Pairs to fours telling stories. Groups to decide which ones work best
and why. Feedback best storylines to class. Discuss which characters, settings and themes on the
Storywheel work best together to create the most effective stories?

Encourage independent reading by handing out reading list. There could be an expectation that they
all read at least one other book during this unit. Reading Journal sheets could be used to log this.
OUTCOMES:
o Completed Page Turners grid
o Oral story telling
NOTES:
Week 2: Narrative Hooks and Endings
OBJECTIVES:

Trace the ways in which a writer structures a text to prepare a reader for the ending; (R15)

Distinguish between the views of the writer and those expressed by others in the text; (R9)

Structure a story with an arresting opening, a developing plot, a complication, a crisis and a
satisfying resolution; (Wr5)

Identify how media texts are tailored to suit their audience, and recognise that audience
responses vary; (R10)
RESOURCES:
Story Openings (E3.2)
Story Structure Grid (E1.2)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories extract
The Man with the Yellow Face opening (E3.1)
The Man with the Yellow Face (whole story)
Story Endings – Teacher Prompt sheet
Examples of Story Endings
Opening of film e.g. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

Give out worksheet E3.2 Story Openings – hooking the reader (cut into strips of card if possible.)
Read through each story opening and discuss in pairs. How does each story opening ‘hook the
reader’ into the story. What do we want to find out? Collect ideas on board. Which ones make
them want to read on? In pairs, students to choose one of the openings and plan how they think
this particular story might develop and end (use worksheet E1.2 to write plan). Allow them time to
share their ideas with their response partners and revise their opening in the light of their
comments. Take feedback from selected pairs. (An alternative opening to look at could be Haroun
and the Sea of Stories).

Recap story openings and idea of narrative hooks to get the reader interested. Read opening of
‘The Man with the Yellow Face.’ (worksheet E3.1) In pairs, discuss what they think might happen in
the rest of the story. Class annotation of opening (use OHT) to show hooks and clues laid down by
the writer.

Discuss class ideas for how story might end. Then, individually, students to write their own last
paragraph for the story, picking up on some of the main clues from the opening. Once ending is
complete, students to annotate/highlight ideas in own end paragraph showing how their writing
links back to the opening. Ask for endings to be read to whole class (from selected students) and
discuss.

Read ending of ‘Man with the Yellow Face’ starting from ‘I didn’t even know anything was wrong
until it had happened.’ Discuss ending. What clues from the opening have been developed and
explained in the ending? How different is it from what we were expecting? Read the whole story.

What advice would you give a writer about what to avoid when ending a story? Come up with three
golden rules about how to ‘hook the reader’s interest’ for a new writer. (See separate teacher
sheet with prompts).

Film openings – look at one or more openings to films e.g. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.
Discuss how it is effective at hooking the viewer. How are these similar to the way the writers
hooked the reader in the stories already covered?

Compare the opening of the one of these films to the ending. Does if refer back to the opening?
If so, how? Is it effective? (e.g. beginning of Lord of the Rings and end of Return of the King).
OUTCOMES:
o Planning endings to story openings given
o Own ending to The Man with the Yellow Face - annotated
o Golden Rules
NOTES:
Week 3: Creating Characters
OBJECTIVES:

Identify how media texts are tailored to suit their audience, and recognise that audience
responses vary; (R10)

Recognise how print, sounds and still or moving images combine to create meaning; (R11)

Comment, using appropriate terminology on how writers convey setting, character and mood
through word choice and sentence structure; (R12)

Portray character, directly and indirectly, through description, dialogue and action; (W6)
RESOURCES:
Mrs. Prachett
Description of Bilbo Baggins and Gollum from The Hobbit
Yazeley’s Cat
The Practical Princess
Films e.g. Shrek, Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), Saruman the White (Lord of the
Rings).
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

With a partner make a list of all the heroes and villains you can think of from stories, TV and
films e.g. Witch, Wolf, Cruella, Darth Vader, Skywalker, Batman, Jack, etc. Make a list of all the
adjectives you can think of that would describe these different characters. Put these adjectives
on a continuum from most ‘good’ to most ‘evil.’ Do any of the characters exhibit both good and evil
characteristics?

Focus on the role of villain in stories. Who tells their story? What are we expected to believe?
Take as model Three Little Pigs. In pairs note down all the ‘bad things’ said and done by the Wolf.
How might the Wolf try to defend himself (what excuses/reasons might he give?) Class
brainstorm.

In pairs, work on another key tale e.g. Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the
Beanstalk, Goldilocks, etc. Pairs to work out the ‘villain’s defence.’ Class hot-seat the key villain.
Villain to explain their side of the story, offer justification and answer questions put to them by
the rest of the class.

Introducing starter activity.

Teacher reads a good description of a character e.g. Mrs. Prachett (Roald Dahl), Yazley’s Cat
(Weston) to the class. (N.B. the class should not be able to see the text at this point.) On mini
whiteboards, students draw the character as the teacher reads (may need to read more than
once). Share pictures with each other and discuss the character. Give them a copy of the
description so they can compare their pictures with the words. Discuss how easy/difficult they
found this exercise? Make it clear that good description should enable the reader to visualise or
imagine the character. Pick out of imagery used. (Other descriptions you may wish to look at are
of Bilbo Baggins and Gollum).

Read The Practical Princess as a class. How is the character made more interesting?

Characterisation in film: show the class an extract from a film focusing on a character but
without any sound. Brainstorm what the viewer can tell about the character visually e.g. colour of
clothes, body language, facial expressions, etc. Play again with the sound. Do their opinions stay
the same or change? Why? Make the point that is not just what they look like that tells us about
the character but what they say and what they do. Suggested films – Shrek, Sheriff of
Nottingham (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), Saruman the White (Lord of the Rings).

Students write a description of a character. It could be a character where the visual description
may contrast with their personality.
OUTCOMES:
o Hot-seating
o Description of a character
NOTES:
Week 4: Settings and Description
OBJECTIVES:

Vary the structure of sentence within paragraphs to lend pace, variety and emphasis; (S11)

Comment, using appropriate terminology on how writers convey setting, character and mood
through word choice and sentence structure; (R12)

Recognise how writers’ language choices can enhance meaning e.g. repetition, emotive vocabulary,
varied sentence structure or line length, sound effects; (R14)

Describe an object, person or setting in a way that includes relevant details and is accurate and
evocative; (Wr14)
RESOURCES:
What’s in the Attic? (E4.1)
Extract from The Man with the Yellow Face (E4.2)
Range of images suitable as settings
Extracts from Harry Potter
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

Ask students to close their eyes while teacher reads extract E4.1 What’s in the Attic? When you
have finished reading, ask them to jot down three words or phrases which they thought were
very effective in making the scene scary.

Display the extract on OHT and annotate the text, demonstrating how the choice of vocabulary
and combination of short and complex sentences create a setting which appeals to all our senses
and engages the reader’s interest. Point out that the setting is also working to set up questions in
the reader’s mind.

Give them the extract from The Man with the Yellow Face E4.2. In pairs, annotate the extract
about how the writer lays clues and makes them curious about the photo booth. Share as a class.
Alternatively give the class/groups extracts from other texts e.g. Dumbledore’s office, the
woods in the school’s grounds containing the Whomping Willow, Diagon Alley, etc. from Harry
Potter. N.B. You could give different extracts to groups. Take feedback.

Images: divide the class up into groups of 3-4 and give each a different picture of a setting. Get
them to brainstorm adjectives to describe the place. Write a description making use of powerful
adjectives and imagery such as similes and metaphors. Encourage them to think about creating
their own clues and what questions you want the reader to ask as they are reading. Share each
group’s description. The rest of the class can offer constructive comments. The image and a
redrafted version of the description would make a good piece of display work.

Optional: Film Setting - look at an example of a film that begins with a wide screen shot of the
setting and which gradually zooms in to focus on a smaller place. Discuss how effective this is as a
means of starting a narrative. Students produce a storyboard for the start of a film using some
of the techniques used in the example they have studied in class. Give students the appropriate
vocabulary of media terms. They could use one of the settings from the Storywheel.
OUTCOMES:
o
o
o
NOTES:
Annotation of extract from The Man with the Yellow Face
Group description
Storyboard opening
Week 5: Planning
OBJECTIVES:

Use speech punctuation accurately to integrate speech into larger sentences; (S7)

Vary the structure of sentence within paragraphs to lend pace, variety and emphasis; (S11)

Plan, draft, edit, revise, proofread and present a text with readers and purpose in mind; (Wr1)

Structure a story with an arresting opening, a developing plot, a complication, a crisis and a
satisfying resolution; (Wr5)

Portray character, directly and indirectly, through description, dialogue and action; (Wr6)
RESOURCES:
Rules for Direct Speech
Human Speech Marks instructions
Story Structure Grid (E1.2)
Checking for Accuracy
How to be a good story writer
The Long and the Short Of It starter
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

Use sequencing connectives to recap the plot of a story e.g. first, afterwards, later,etc.)

Writing Direct Speech – brainstorm the rules for writing direct speech. Share the rules using
OHT Rules for Direct Speech.

Students must come up with as many alternatives for ‘said.’ (Useful homework task.)

In pairs, students role-play a dialogue from the following list and then write it up as direct
speech:
 A conversation between a person and a machine which suddenly comes to life e.g. a
toaster
 A conversation between future and present self
 An argument between a parent/child about a night out, new boy/girlfriend, untidy
bedroom, etc.

Or, Human Speech marks activity.

Remind students about what makes a good story and share with them How to be a good Story
Writer. This should be used as a checklist for them as they write their stories.

Extension: Recap ideas from the Storywheels. Look at good examples from the story structure
grids. Look at how the order of events on these grids might be moved around to give a more
interesting narrative e.g. starting with the ending and then using flashback.

Students plan their own narrative using Story Structure Grid (E1.2). They may use the story
structure grids they completed in the first week or use the Storywheel to come up with a
different selection. Give them the option to swap characters and settings for another on the
Storywheel if they find they have a bizarre list of characters, etc. They may also want to think
about moving the order of events around to make it more interesting.

The Long and the Short Of It starter focusing on using sentences to create tension.
OUTCOMES:
o Plan of own narrative
NOTES:
Week 6:
OBJECTIVES:


Plan, draft, edit, revise, proofread and present a text with readers and purpose in mind; (Wr1)
Structure a story with an arresting opening, a developing plot, a complication, a crisis and a satisfying
resolution; (Wr5)
RESOURCES:
Story Structure Grid (E1.2)
Titles
Checking for Accuracy (Bookmark)
How to be a good story writer
Planning frames
IDEAS FOR TEACHING:

Titles – give students a list of titles of books and ask them to guess what they think they will be
about e.g. Lamb to the Slaughter, Boy, The Borrowers. Discuss the importance and effectiveness
of the title of a story. Students come up with a list of alternatives for their own story from
which they may choose the final title.

Students write their own narrative using Story Structure Grid (E1.2). They could write their
introduction and swap with a critical friend who gives feedback about its effectiveness at hooking
the reader. Alterations may be made in the light of these comments.

Students should be encouraged to swap stories during and/or at the end in pairs. Students
(readers) highlight best points and one target for improvement. Students may them choose to
redraft or make amendments.

When students have completed they should refer to the Checking for Accuracy sheet and amend
their work. Or encourage them to use the Checking for Accuracy bookmark as they go along.

Shared reading of stories. Get students into small groups and read aloud their stories/openings
to each other.

Final copies of stories would be great for display work.
OUTCOMES:
o
Own narrative
NOTES: