Learning Programme
Unit:1
Subject: English
Year 8
Title: Media- Cult of celebrity
Learning objectives:
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To explore a variety of media texts and techniques, looking at format, language and style.
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Once students have studied and analysed a range of media texts, they will produce their own magazine
article, newspaper report, webpage template, TV interview, advertising campaign and group
presentation.
The reading and writing activities in this scheme prepares students for some of the reading and writing
demands of the Year 9 tests.
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SMSC
Cultural cultural traditions, respect for their own culture and that of others, an
interest in differences, understand, appreciate and contribute to culture;
willingness to participate and respond to artistic, musical, sporting, mathematical,
technological, scientific and cultural opportunities; respect diversity
Explores our modern culture and looks at a range of traditions around
music, fashion and media.
Week
1
Description of work to be covered
Class work
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Starter: ‘I’m a Celebrity…’ – In pairs, students come up with a list of 10
celebrities. Come up with links between them e.g. female, American,
actors, etc. Feedback and discuss: Why are we so interested in
celebrities? Where do we find our information?
Introduce Pupil Challenge. They are trainee journalists on a 6 week
course. In groups they will be learning about an d experimenting with
different journalistic styles e.g. newspapers, magazines, TV interviews,
advertising campaigns, websites and a final presentation at the end.
Give out Pupil Challenge sheet to stick in their books and to be used as a
checklist.
Give each group a different example of a newspaper front page. Using
the labels provided they must stick them onto their newspaper in the
appropriate place. These may be used to form a wall display.
Feedback examples and ensure understanding of the terms.
Tabloid and Braodsheet Newspapers:
Starter: Using the Headline sheets, students have to come up with
different examples for the same news story using emotive language,
repetition, exaggeration, alliteration, etc.
Each group is given a tabloid and a broadsheet for the same story but
each group is given a different story.
You may need to recap the terms tabloid and broadsheet. (How has this
distinction recently become blurred?)
Complete the Comparison Grid in their groups.
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Feedback their findings from each group and compile a class list of their
overall findings about the similarities and differences between these two
styles of newspaper focusing on the language.
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Writing a Newspaper Article:
Starter: Paragraphing – give out topic sentences for an article and
students have to put in the order they think most appropriate.
Students write their own newspaper article for the story used as part of
the headlines work or one of their own choice.
Options: (a) Write the whole of either the broadsheet or the tabloid article
or (b) the headline and opening paragraph of each.
Teachers may wish to provide writing frames and sentence starters, etc.
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OUTCOMES:
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2
Newspaper article.
Homework
Class work
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Investigating Magazine Articles:
Starter: Layout – give each group a copy of the six different layouts and
they have to decide where they would find them and what type of text it
would be. Feedback. (1.TV listings, 2. Interview, 3. Advert, 4. Review,
5. Letters, 6. Gossip).
Give each group an example of a magazine article (or they could bring in
their own).
Complete Key Features of a Magazine article focusing on the language
and style.
Plenary: Justin Timberlake cloze passage.
The Language of a Magazine Article:
Starter: Mix and Match. Extend this by getting them to come up with
captions for some of the pictures.
Give out a copy of the article ‘Clean Teen’ and in their groups they
annotate it focusing on:
colloquial language, informal speech, reported speech, interviews,
background information, emotive language, and any thing else they
notice.
Report back to whole class and define the style and language appropriate
to a magazine. How does it differ to a newspaper?
Complete Proposal Form for their magazine and decide on their celebrity
article.
Plan/research in order to write own article.
Writing a Magazine Article:
Starter: Connectives – ‘Yes but…’
Individuals write their own article for a film, sports or pop celebrity of
their choice.
The teacher may wish to give planning/writing frames, vocabulary lists,
etc.
Plenary: Listen to opening paragraphs from volunteers. Comment on how
effective they are at grabbing attention. Complete for homework.
OUTCOME(S):
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Own magazine article for a pop star, film star or sports personality.
3
Homework
FOCUS:
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Investigating Webpages:
Starter: High Tech – understanding the language of ICT.
In groups discuss how webpages and printed text articles differ. (links,
web names/addresses, colour, typography, graphics, headings,sound and
video clips, etc.) Feedback.
Look at examples of webpages which have been printed out. How
accurate were they? What else could they have mentioned?
Plenary: You have been asked to write a glossary of the terms for
someone who has never used the internet.
Either: (a) As a group complete a full glossary. Or (b) As an individual
pick several terms and come up with clear and precise definitions.
Investigating Webpages:
You will need to book an ICT room for this lesson.
In pairs, students must look at three webpages, one for a pop star, one for
a film star and one for a sports star.
Complete a grid that focuses on language, reliability, etc.
Plenary: Feedback general findings. What have they learned about how
they are similar or different? Write up an explanation of their findings for
homework.
Creating a Webpage:
 Starter: - Students come up with new and jokey
website names for celebrities e.g. Blue, Justin
Timberlake, Britney Spears, Jonny Wilkinson, etc.)
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All students on the journalism course have been asked to come up with a
proposal for a new website/page for a celebrity.
Complete a blank template. The best will be picked.
Plenary: Look at examples so far. Complete for homework.
OUTCOME(S):
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Glossary of terms
Template for a new web page for a celebritylass
4
work
Homework
Class work
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Advertising:
Starter: Students given sheet of sounds and images used in film and
advertising and they have to come up with what they mean or represent to
them. Why?
 Each group is given an example of a recent poster
advertising a film which has been stuck to a piece of
A3 paper.
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OHT a list is provided to focus their analysis e.g. use of colour, word
choice, image, layout/spacing, facial expression, body pose, proportions
of different images. Annotate around their poster.
Feedback from each group, holding up their examples. The rest of the
class is invited to further the discussion.
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Plenary: Their favourite film poster and why.
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Creating their own Advert:
Starter: Using colour OHT look at the example of the M&M campaign.
Based on the image what is implied about the personality of each one.
Discuss.
Recap the different techniques use to advertise and ways of reading an
image.
Produce a poster campaign for:
Film star – new film
Pop star – new album
Sports person – publication of a new book.
N.B. Their intended audience should be the same as their magazine
article.
Complete for homework if necessary. Students should also provide a
written explanation of their poster, using the correct terminology.
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OUTCOME(S):
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5
Poster and written analysis
Homework
Class work
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How are Celebrities Interviewed?
Starter: Come up with 5 open and 5 closed questions for a celebrity
currently in the news. Discuss what they were hoping to find out from
these questions.
Watch clips from TV programmes e.g. Jonathan Ross, children’s TV, T4,
etc. While watching complete analysis chart.
Discuss the different interviews.
Plenary: Do interviewers know what they want as an outcome from the
start or are they spontaneous?
Preparing an Chatshow Interview:
Starter: ‘What’s My Name?’ In their groups one of them is given a post it
with the name of a celebrity on their forehead. Through the use of
questions to their group they must guess who they are.
Each group to prepare their own chatshow interview. Follow the
instructions on the task sheet. One will be the interviewer, one the
interviewee, one is a researcher, one does the set design and one is the
storyboarder.
By the end of the lesson all of them should know what they are doing and
what else needs to be completed by next lesson.
Role Play: Chatshow Interview
Straight into the performance from each group. They will be filmed.
Evaluation of how effectively they feel they have met the objective – oral
and/or written.
OUTCOME(S):
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6
Role play performance
Evaluation
Homework
Class work
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Presentation Week:
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Starter: Brainstorm the features of an effective presentation? (assemblies,
etc.) Highlight use of resources as well as use of voice, etc.
Full explanation of their task:
Each group will become an expert panel on one of the aspects of the
media that have covered in this unit – newspapers, magazines, webpages,
advertising, TV interviews. In their groups they will have 2 lessons to
prepare a ten minute presentation to the rest of the class which should
include knowledge about: key features, examples, specific language,
good examples from class’s work. Each group will compete and a winner
will be chosen by the class teacher and/or class vote.
Encourage students to think about how they will present their ideas. They
may use OHTs, flipcharts, sugar paper, video clip, etc.
Homework
Success criteria:
Most students will: take part in the group and individual activities related to a range of
non-fiction and media texts. They will become familiar with the correct language, style
and format of these conventions and adopt techniques identified in their own writing and
speaking and listening activities. They will complete various writing tasks and take part
in a role-play activity and group presentation.
Some students will not have progressed so far and will: take part in most of the
group and individual activities related to a range of non-fiction and media texts. They will
encounter the correct language, style and format of these conventions and experiment
with the techniques identified in their own writing and speaking and listening activities.
They will complete various writing tasks with increasing independence and take some
part in a role-play activity and group presentation.
Some students will have progressed further and will: take some part in the group
and individual activities related to a range of non-fiction and media texts. They will
encounter the correct language, style and format of these conventions and with the aid
of planning and writing frames begin to experiment with using these techniques in their
own work. They will contribute to a range of speaking and listening activities.
Assessment arrangements:
Reading:
(AF3&6)
Comparison Grid of tabloids and broadsheets.
grid that focuses on language, reliability
Writing:
(AF2&8)
Students write their own newspaper article for the story used as part of the headlines work or one of their
own choice
S&L:
(AF4)
Complete Key Features of a Magazine article focusing on the language and style in groups