Stage One / Year One.
Fairytales - Narratives
Term Three: 6 weeks
Text type focus: Narrative
The group of learners this unit has been designed for range in literacy ability. The entire class are from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Reading levels average around RR16. Writing abilities vary, however most children approximate without too much prompting. The text chosen for
the unit is at approximately R.R.18. This is easily manageable by 12 children, who are reading at R.R22+. For the other children the text will be
heavily supported through repeated shared reading experiences. The listening post will also assist as they can follow the story individually.
Resources
Texts:
 The Paper bag Princess. By Robert Munsch (1 big book & 6 little books)
 Assorted traditional fairy tales
Materials: paper, pencils, costumes, pictures of fairytale characters, paint, crayons, collage materials for wall frieze, listening post, The Paperbag
Princess cassette.
Common grammatical features of narrative texts.
 Use of particular pronouns to refer to or describe the particular people, animals and things that the story is about;
 Use of adjectives to build noun groups to describe the people, animals or things in the story;
 Use of time connectives and conjunctions to sequence events through time;
 Use of adverbs and adverbial phrases to locate the particular incidents or events;
 Use of past tense action verbs to indicate the actions in a narrative;
 Use of saying and thinking verbs to indicate what characters are feeling, thinking or saying.
* Italics represent the grammatical features that will be the focus of the unit of work.
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
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Rationale and Pedagogical Approach
At the start of the unit much time will be spent building a field knowledge for the intended learners. This will include similar theme stories and poems, word and picture banks. This is
crucial that the children can build a familiarity of the topics /themes in the narrative. When considering the focus for the literacy unit the three aspects of the context of situation were
studied. The field included fairytales, magic, talking animals, princesses, princes, and dragons etc. – what experience the children had had with these ideas and images. The tenor
would be highlighted to the learners that narratives are written in order to entertain with characters and usually in the past tense and to show a lesson learnt (coda). Lastly the mode
was storytelling and reading in the text structure identifying the typical grammatical features of a narrative.
The most salient feature on initial reading of The Paper bag Princess is its surprising twist of modernity. The author positions the reader to expect a usual narrative style in its evolving
stages. However to look closely at the visual images that accompany the text there is almost a feeling of incongruence. Cleverly the author immediately positions the reader to
question Ronald’s worth as a partner for Elizabeth. For instance in the opening page Ronald is positioned to the left of Elizabeth and looking away from her. She is looking at him from
the right and representational, red love hearts surround her. Implying clearly she is ‘smitten’ with the indifferent prince. In referring to visual imagery and its connotations, ”Left and right
placement can also be used for particular effect…. the left side may present the already understood or ‘given’ information, while the right side presents the new information.” (Callow,J.
1999) From the onset if the illustrations are closely viewed it is clear already that Prince Ronald is a toad.
The language features of a narrative or recount can cause many problems for second language learners. The focus of the literacy unit is structural cohesion. The children that the
lessons have been planned for have demonstrated in previous writing samples that this is an area in need of further explicit instruction. The Paper bag Princess is an excellent
example of text cohesion.
It has many examples of backward referencing through pronouns and repetition of content words adding to lexical cohesion. Word associations include repetition, synonyms,
collocation and word sets. All of which can be found readily in The Paper bag Princess. Other linking devices in the story vary from simple joining words such as; ‘and’ to causal
connectives such as; but, because and so. The use of the temporal connectives; after and the conclusive ‘finally’ add to the cohesion of the text. The children need to be aware of the
structures within the text that help ‘pull’ the meaning together. “ Thematic cohesion is achieved through a variety of devices, ranging from lexical and grammatical ties to prosodic cues
and the use of temporal connectives. Anaphora and lexical ties are used to maintain referential cohesion and agent- perspective throughout the narrative.”(Collins.J & Michaels,S.
1986. p.215)
Through the activities planned in the unit of work children will be explicitly shown the words that help link the meaning. Once the children have experience and practice in ‘backward
and forward referencing, pronouns and demonstratives’ (Abdoolcader,L. 1983.p24) they can carry their knowledge over to other audience/ purpose texts and understand meaning on
a higher cognitive level.
The learners in One Red need explicit instruction in the structure of their second language. Two full hours of literacy is dedicated to the class daily in addition to the range of
experiential activities provided in the unit on fairytales. The children work in small groups for literacy periods throughout the day. Scaffolding is used quite extensively in this classroom.
In some ways the teaching of language has gone back to basics in terms of explicitly teaching language features and nuances. However there is a strong focus on meaning and
purpose in what the children are asked to do. The children need to see their learning experiences as enjoyable and with a reason. For example sheet work is still a powerful tool if
implemented correctly and with meaning or a purpose -not just busy work! Included in the unit is a cloze passage which helps the children identify the pronoun that refers to the
previous proper noun / noun.
“Syntactic cloze deletes structure words of one type, such as all the pronouns or all the connectives or perhaps word endings. These deletions may be particularly difficult for second
language learners because they relate closely to the structure of the language.” (Gibbons,P. 1991.p.82)
Many opportunities will be available to the children for practising this particular structure. Sheets, board, whiteboards will be used for cloze purposes and shared book experiences
covering the key words. The objective is to enable the children to identify key words within the structure. Thus facilitating their ability to ‘carry meaning across chunks of text’.(Gibbons,
P.1991.p.83)
To conclude, all literacy activities need to show a social purpose. To help create writers and readers, from any background, to have a mastery of the complexities of language requires
direction and knowledge.
”Any literacy pedagogy has to be concerned, not just with the formalities of how texts work, but also with the living social reality of texts in use. How a text works is a function of what it
is for.”(Cope,B. & Kalantzis, M.(1993.)
Children from non-English speaking backgrounds need saturation in structure, verse, style and vocabulary, in order to give them the same language privileges as others. We need to
set our second language learning classrooms up for success with empowering, well informed practices.
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
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References
Abdoolcader,L. (1983) Have you heard of cohesion yet? In Language Links Nov 1983 21-31
Callow,J. (1999) Image Matters Newtown : PETA
Collins,J. & Michaels, S. (1986)Speaking and writing: Discourse strategies and the acquisition of literacy. In The social construction of literacy_Ed. J. Cook- Gumperz.
Cambridge University Press.
Cope,B. & Kalantzis,M (1993) How a genre approach to literacy can transform the way writing is taught. In The powers of literacy: A genre approach to teaching writing. Bristol, P.A.:
The Falmer Press
Gibbons,P. (1991) Learning to learn in a second language Newtown: PETA
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
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http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/
Focus: Traditional Tales
Term: 3
Weeks:
Text Focus: Narrative
Grammar Focus: past tense verbs, cohesion:- text connectives of time, pronoun referencing, saying verbs
T& L
Learning
To
Learning
About
Teaching
Strategies
Reading
TS1.1
 provides a brief retelling of a familiar
story
 experiments with varying voice,
tone, volume and pace to indicate
emotions
TS1.3
 retells a narrative, showing
emerging awareness of structure
TS1.4
 explains the importance of an
orientation stage in an oral recount
 plans delivery of presentations and
role plays
1. Initially build up field knowledge
about Traditional fairy tales and their
structure. eg. animal characters,
magic, witches, princesses, princes,
kings etc. Include word banks and
pictures.
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
Writing
RS1.6
 identifies noun-pronoun, subject-verb
links in written texts
 identifies conjunctions in printed texts.
RS1.7
 makes inferences and expresses an
opinion about a character’s actions,
qualities, characteristics and motives in
texts read or viewed
RS1.8
 identifies action, thinking, feeling and
saying verbs in a narrative
 identifies repeated words or synonyms as
ways in which a text links together
meaning
 identifies pronouns and understands that
they are used instead of a noun, and
understands the purpose of personal and
possessive pronouns.
1. Copious shared reading of traditional
tales initially and then shift to modern fairy
tales with The Paperbag Princess-Robert
Munsch as the text focus.
2. Investigate why authors write narratives.
Point out that the social purpose of
WS1.9
 reads own writing aloud
and makes some
corrections to clarify
meaning
 writes elementary
descriptions of familiar
people and things
WS1.10
 uses pronoun references
accurately
 uses past tense relatively
consistently in literary
texts
WS1.14
 discusses functions of
stages of narrative text
1. Model writing to whole
class.
Elizabeth was a princess.
She had princess clothes.
Ronald was a prince.
He played tennis.
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Teaching
Strategies
2. Read aloud The Paperbag Princess
by Robert Munsch (big book) to the
class for enjoyment. Subsequently
revisit it everyday so the children
can listen for different aspects of
structure and language in each
reading. Provide focus questions for
listening.
3. Review narrative stages of
orientation, complication and
resolution. Build on language terms
of beginning, problem/s, end. Ask
children as a group to identify from
A4 pictures which part of the story
the picture is from.
4. Read orientation and focus on what
the author is trying to achieve.
( Introduction of the characters).
5. Ask children to tell their partner what
they think of each character so far.
Focus on the usage of gender
pronouns.
6. Make a poster with a picture of the
princess and label it with pronouns.
e.g her, hers and she. Do the same
for Ronald and the dragon.
7. Short role plays in groups of threeeach child assuming one the
characters. Ask who may like to
present to the class.
8. Children are provided with pictures
of usual/ probable characters in
fairytales. They need to choose who
they might be able to build a story
around. Once the characters have
been decided ( joint verbal
construction) children need to
suggest ideas, through talk and
pictorially, of possible problems that
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
narratives is to create a view of the world
where characters confront problems and
attempt to solve them.
During shared reading opportunities point
to pronouns and ask ch’n who this word is
talking about. Look at previous clause and
identify the proper noun/noun. Refer to
gender posters to help explicitly
demonstrate the link.
Cover up nouns and pronouns and read
the story. Ask the children -What has
happened to the meaning? Do we know
who we are talking about?
Complete a cloze stencil on Page 3 of the
PBP – removing the pronouns.
Study as a whole group the illustrations in
the story. Particularly how Ronald’s back
is turned to Elizabeth in the opening page.
How do the illustrations make you feel
about the characters?
Provide the story on a listening post with
the text to follow for each child. After the
story- Ask the children to illustrate how
Elizabeth may have felt when Ronald was
admonishing her. Provide a clause under
the picture beginning with – She felt…..
/She knew….. /She was… (Small group
work).
Create a lexical chain from a segment of
the story to demonstrate how the author’s
choice of words helps link the story
together. Ask the children- How do they
know Elizabeth is the main character?
Refer to lexical chain and view as a class
how many times her name – title -pronoun
is repeated.
During a subsequent shared reading
experience point out the conjunctions and
text connectives and, but, because, so,
Dragon was a nuisance.
He burnt the whole castle.
2. Read story again discuss
events that happened to
each character. In a
whole group ask the
children to help jointly
construct clauses that tell
us something about the
characters and what they
did. Use markers and the
whiteboard. Encourage
the children to come and
add words to the story.
Focus on he, she, his,
her.
3. Make a wall story
focusing on the
orientation, complication
and resolution of the
PBP. Children draw and
paint the characters.
Small groups design
labels for story pictorial
features. Another small
group designs speech
bubbles for the
characters using the
word processor.
4. Demonstrate on the
board how two
sentences can become
one by using a
conjunction.
5. Make a chart of
conjunctions – Build on
language of joining
words. Provide the
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may occur. Provide a prompt list
with action words.. eg fell down a
hole, ate too much cake, rained all
night, lost a precious item, an
unhappy event.
9. Once characters and problem/
solution have been decided - jointly
construct with the class a
screenplay to present their ideas in
the form of a play to an audience.
Teaching
Strategies
Focus on what words or phrases will
be easy to learn/ remember. Will we
use the same words throughout the
play as Robert Munsch did
throughout the PBP?- ( When the
dragon repeats himself)
10. Children rehearse and focus on
their delivery of lines and
expressions of the character they
play. Perform to an audience at
school assembly.
11. Children discuss as a whole class
how they felt about the
performance. Then in groups/pairsHow could we have improved it? Did
the story work? Which part of the
play was the most fun? Do we think
the audience enjoyed it? How do we
know? Did they clap? Did they
comment?
after, finally. Explain their purpose,
discuss how some words help ‘pull your
story together’.
10. Present to the children -What did
Elizabeth do? Accept all responses then
start to focus on action verbs suggested
by the children. Write them on the board.
(Make lists with headings - action, saying,
feeling) What words in the story show us
(the readers) what was spoken
throughout the text. What words show us
how the characters were feeling?
11. Play a synonym game. Words are
presented on cards to the children and
they need to sort them into synonyms and
antonyms.
6.
7.
8.
9.
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
children with two
possible sentences from
the story on a sheet.
Instruct them to choose a
conjunction and write it
out again. Then if able,
make up their own
thinking about the
characters and how the
story developed.
List the text connectives
on the board. Explain
that these words have an
important function within
the text.
Discuss the word ‘finally’ask the children what do
they think it means and
how could we use it in
our own writing. Give an
oral example. Finally, it
was my turn on the
computer… Finally,
Elizabeth came to a
cave…Talk about time
and how the word
indicates a matter of time
has passed.
Encourage children to
use it in their
independent writing.
Display ‘Finally’/ ‘After’ /
‘So’ sentence starters on
the wall.
Focus on saying verbs
refer to list on board.
Revise function of –ed.
Ask children to draw a
character with a speech
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bubble and what was
said or shouted.
Underneath have the
children write Elizabeth
shouted / Elizabeth
whispered/ Ronald said/
The dragon said…
10. Make a flip book of
fairytale characters. The
book has two sections.
Top section is the head
and the noun. Bottom
section is the past tense
verb group. For
extension–make three
sections and add a
prepositional phrase.
11. Independent writingChildren are asked to
think about the story and
the characters. Choose a
character and start the
story by using the Proper
noun/noun first followed
with a referencing
pronoun in a following
clause/s. Then introduce
another character to their
story and do the same.
Revise pronoun chart.
12. Write independently what
it felt like on the stage
performing our fairytale.
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
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Evaluation
English Stage 1
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 and Jo Anne Eadie
2002
Page 8 of 8
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