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Study Plus English sample unit of work
Wish you were here
(Understanding how writers use language 1)
Curricular target cluster
● Pick out and comment on some of the words chosen by the writer
● Explain why a writer has chosen certain words or phrases
GCSE English assessment objectives
GCSE AO2 (i), (v)


Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate references to
texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them
Understand and evaluate how writers use linguistic, structural and
presentational devices to achieve their effects, and comment on ways
language varies and changes
Unit assessment questions (to be shared with pupils in advance)
Can I:




identify and comment on the importance of particular words and
phrases?
explain how writers target their readers through their choice of words
and phrases?
explain why writers use them and the intended effect on the reader?
suggest how readers might react to a text?
Unit topic
Pupils prepare to make a presentation in the role of representatives from an
advertising agency who need to persuade a holiday company that their writing
will be effective in marketing a range of holidays. Pupils study language used in
holiday and tourist attraction publicity. They build an understanding of certain
language features and their effects, and learn how to explain this orally and in
writing.
This unit has relevance to other subjects where pupils are required to read
closely and gain an understanding not only of the factual content of a text but
also of the writer’s intentions, for example identifying exaggerated language in
history texts.
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Unit overview
Lesson
Lesson overview
1
Introduction to topic and assessment
questions; commenting on the effect on
the reader of writers’ language choices.
2
Identifying and commenting on the effect
of words and phrases.
3
Explaining why a writer has chosen
certain words and phrases.
4
Understanding the role of certain
language features and learning how to
comment on them.
5
Pupils begin to draft short paragraphs
explaining writers’ use of language.
6
Pupils write commentary on holiday
brochure material and prepare their
presentations.
7
Pupils make their presentations and
undertake peer assessment.
Homework opportunities
Cloze exercise on resort
food outlets.
Note: Teachers could decide to add one or two additional lessons to this
sequence. These could be fitted in after lesson 4 and/or after lesson 5. The two
main purposes of these lessons would be to:
● strengthen cross-curricular links
● allow pupils more time to complete their writing and preparation for the
presentation.
These additional lessons could have a ‘workshop’ format in which pupils work
independently while the teacher and TA have planned conversations with
individuals or small groups to review how pupils are reading in their other
subjects. This process could usefully include a focus on key texts that pupils
need to read for other subjects, exploring how meaning in these texts is affected
by the writer’s language choices. These conversations are designed to
complement work done with pupils by the TA, e.g. in lesson 5.
Lesson 1


Objectives
Starter
15 minutes
Introduce topic
Identify, comment on and explain the effect of language on
the reader
Put pupils into pairs and ask them to match five captions (resource
1.1) to photographs taken from holiday brochures (appealing to a
range of target audiences). See CD ROM for some possible images.
Take feedback from pupils, reflecting on how they matched the
captions to the photographs. Comment on specific words in the
captions which provided clues about the target audience.
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Main
40 minutes
3
Introduction
Tell pupils that they are working for an advertising agency that wants
to get a contract for producing the brochure for a big holiday company
that provides a huge range of holidays abroad. By the end of the unit
they have to produce a piece of work that persuades the company that
they can produce a brochure that will sell those holidays by making
them sound appealing to a wide range of people. Each pupil will need
to provide themselves with a holiday brochure that they like.
Explain the unit assessment questions (see above) and point out that
the work will be assessed against them. Clarify if necessary.
Development
Model the process of matching one of the explanation cards (resource
1.2) to the original photographs and captions from the starter by
highlighting particular words in the caption and explaining the intended
effect on the reader or audience.
Ask pairs to match the remaining explanations to captions, highlighting
the evidence in powerful words and phrases. TA and teacher support
less-able pupils.
Take feedback focusing on evidence and oral explanation.
Show a previously unseen photograph and caption. Gather ideas
about the effect of the caption, and then get pupils to help you to
compose a statement explaining the effect of the photograph and
caption on the reader. Think aloud as you draft, edit and improve.
Plenary
5 minutes
Lesson 2
Objectives
Starter
15 minutes
Refer back to the assessment questions. In pairs, pupils tell each other
how the work in the main part of the lesson has addressed these
questions.
This lesson is based around a television advertisement or holiday
programme item for a holiday park or theme park.

Identify, comment on and explain the effect of language on
the reader
Without telling pupils what they are watching, play an advertisement
(or holiday programme item) without sound.
Elicit what kind of text they think this is. Who do they think the intended
audience might be? What do they think is the intended effect on the
viewer? Remind them to explain their responses.
Show the advertisement again without sound. Give pupils a bank of
adjectives (resource 2.1) and ask them to choose ones they think
describe the place being publicised.
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Main
35 minutes
4
Remember
Refer back to the unit assessment questions. Say that they will have a
chance to reflect on these at the end of the lesson.
Model
Using the opening of the transcript from the advertisement (or a similar
written advertisement), model how to identify words and phrases that
create a particular impact (evocative language, powerful verbs, precise
adjectives, repetition and so on).
As a group, compose a statement to explain the effect of the identified
devices on the reader. Make a point of using similar language to that
used in the statements from lesson one and refer back to this.
Try
Pupils identify the next two examples in the text and try to explain the
effect.
Apply
Pupils work in pairs to select significant words and phrases from the
second half of the transcript (or written advertisement).
Pairs then compose a statement explaining the effect on the reader of
the words and phrases they have selected.
Plenary
10 minutes
Ask a pair who have successfully completed the task to share their
chosen words and explanations.
Ask the rest of the class to refer to the assessment questions and to
reflect for a moment on whether they can answer ‘yes’ to them. Pupils
talk with a partner and give a grade out of five – (high) 1 2 3 4 5 (low) –
to show how confident they feel on each of the questions.
Lesson 3
Objective
Starter
10 minutes

To explain why a writer has chosen certain words and
phrases
Hand out resource 3.1 (phrases from various ski-resort descriptions).
Ask pairs to colour code the phrases that they think are targeted at a
particular audience/market and group them into:
● families
● 18–30s
● beginners
● advanced skiers
Lead a whole-class discussion of decisions made.
Main
40 minutes
Introduction
Introduce objective (above)
Ensure that pupils have access to a dictionary and/or a thesaurus.
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Show resource 3.2 (bland description of a ski resort) on an OHT or IWB.
Ask the class to choose five weak words from the description, write them
on their mini whiteboard and then replace these words with more
powerful or evocative words or phrases, with a particular target audience
in mind. Share examples.
Show resource 3.3 and model annotating the word choices in the
improved description of a ski resort. Focus on the words and phrases
that make the resort appealing to the target audience.
Development
Independent
Groups of three or four receive a different page from a
travel brochure stuck on to A3 paper. They underline
effective words or phrases and annotate them with brief
explanations of why they have been chosen.
Guided
Teacher works with a group of pupils who find it difficult
to explain writers’ use of language. Pupils try out useful
sentence stems.
Individual support
TA works with individuals who still find it difficult to
identify relevant examples of language use.
Plenary
10 minutes
Ask groups to feed back on two effective word choices and explain why.
Display the annotated brochure pages on the ‘work in progress’ board.
Homework
Cloze exercise on resort food outlets (resource 3.4)
Lesson 4

Objectives
Starter
10 minutes
Main
40 minutes
To develop the ability to comment on language used for a
specific purpose in a text
Cloze activity – see resource 4.1 – following on from pupils’ cloze
homework. Ask pupils to fill in the blanks in the description of a ski
resort to make it appeal to a specified audience – one half of the
class to target an older audience, the other the youth market. Take
feedback from both sides. How does the choice of words differ?
Introduction
Prompt pupils for examples of effective words and phrases from last
lesson (from annotated work on display). Collate suggestions on the
board, and discuss why these were particularly effective.
Use resource 4.2. Pretend that you have created this text as part of
a brochure page and model making notes that identify and explain
how you have chosen language to make an impact on the reader.
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Development
Independent
Pupils, working individually or in pairs, select from
their own brochures some pages that they think use
language effectively. These are the pages they will
use to sell their agency to the holiday company.
They identify particular words and phrases that are
important and make notes that they can build into a
commentary later. Resource 4.3 can be used to
scaffold these notes
Guided
Teacher works with a group that needs additional
support in understanding and explaining the impact
of language on a reader.
Individual support
TA works with individuals or pairs who need support
in identifying the right material and identifying
interesting examples of the way writers use
language.
Plenary
10 minutes
Two pairs explain to the class why they have chosen particular
pages from the brochures.
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Lesson 5
Objectives
7
● To write short paragraphs that explain how writers have used
language effectively for a specific purpose
Starter
15 minutes
Review the language features used in previous lesson (resource
4.2). Spend some time providing examples for the techniques
provided. Write these ideas on the whiteboard in a list that the
pupils can use later in the lesson. Pupils should remember the
following: emotive language, repetition, rhetorical questions,
powerful verbs, interesting adjectives and alliteration, and rule of
three (you could provide prompt sheets or bookmarks).
A sentence is then provided by the teacher and written on the
board (‘Come and visit the theme park’). Pupils must then write an
alternative sentence, on whiteboards provided, that includes
interesting adjectives (‘Come and visit the
refurbished/dazzling/amazing theme park’). The best two
sentences are written on the board.
Repeat this activity with other examples of rhetorical devices from
the list or prompts discussed. Some ideas are listed below. If the
pupils are finding the activity difficult, underline the words or areas
that you want the pupils to improve upon.
1. Rule of three – At the theme park you can have lots of fun (At
the theme park you can have fun, excitement and thrills /
excitement, adventure and thrills)
2. Alliteration – Can you deal with the excitement of the Terminator
ride? Can you deal with the death-defying thrill of the truly terrifying
trip on Terminator?)
Main
40 minutes
Introduction
Return to the text from resource 4.2. Model for pupils how to turn
the annotations into short paragraphs that comment on a writer’s
use of language. Make sure pupils see how a commentary should:
1. identify the feature of language use (such as a powerful verb)
2. quote the example
3. explain the intended impact on the reader taking into account the
target audience.
Model the writing in role as the advertiser. For example, ‘I used this
powerful verb because…’
Development
Independent
Pupils complete their notes on their chosen
brochure pages. Taking on the role of the writer of
the pages who has to explain to the holiday
company how the writing will be effective, pupils
begin to draft short paragraphs that explain and
justify language features in their text.
Guided
Teacher supports a selected group who are likely
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to struggle with writing the paragraphs that were
modeled.
Individual Support
TA has conversations with selected pupils to draw
out where they can apply what they are learning in
other subject areas.
Plenary
5 minutes
Teacher reads one or two draft paragraphs. Pupils are asked to
judge them against the unit assessment questions.
Lesson 6

Objective
Pupils write commentaries that identify and explain
the use of certain language features
Starter
No starter in this lesson.
Main
Introduction
Explain to pupils that they have this lesson to prepare for their
meeting with the holiday company. They will need to have
their chosen brochure page stuck in the middle of a large
sheet of paper and several short paragraphs that explain how
they have used language pasted on around it with arrows
linking them to particular sections of the text. The work of
some pupils will be for display only but a few will be asked to
make a presentation in the following lesson.
Remind pupils that they are pretending that they wrote the
material and that they are explaining to hard-nosed
executives why the way they have written it will be effective.
Say that they can also add in some ideas on how they could
improve it further.
50 minutes
Development
Pupils write their explanation paragraphs and prepare their
material.
Teacher and TA work with pairs who have been identified as
confident to present their material orally and support them
with preparation for this.
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Plenary
10 minutes
9
Review with class the progress towards their presentations in
the next lesson.
Lesson 7
Objectives
● Pupils present their work
● Pupils are assessed against the unit assessment questions
Starter
No starter in this lesson.
Main
50 minutes
Introduction
Pupils spend first 15 minutes finalising their work or presentations.
A number of pairs – in role as representatives from the advertising agency
– present their brochure pages explaining how their writing will convince
the prospective holiday makers. Teacher invites questions and comments
for the class.
Development
Individuals or pairs swap their brochure pages complete with explanatory
paragraphs and assess each other’s work using the unit assessment
questions.
Teacher and TA support the process of peer assessment as required and
help pupils celebrate successful learning in the unit.
Plenary
10 minutes
Teacher leads a class discussion focused on the area of learning described
by the assessment questions. After the opportunity to discuss in pairs,
pupils comment on how they can apply what they have learnt elsewhere in
the curriculum.
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Resource 1.1 Photograph captions
Experience the magic of breakfast on your own
private balcony. Enjoy lunch on-board in one of our
seven top-class restaurants. Savour dinner in a
tropical paradise.
Unwind on the beach, safe in the knowledge that your
children are being entertained by our experienced
‘Kids-zone’ staff.
Enjoy peace of mind with our door-to-door luxury
coach service on a tour which will introduce you to the
wonders of Dorset’s historic houses.
Party from dusk ’til dawn within a stone’s throw of the
beach and your modern apartment.
Experience the thrill of a lifetime in this unrivalled
rugged landscape.
Note on use of resource 1.1
For the caption-matching activity (resource 1.1) you will need colour photographs of the following:
● a luxury cruise liner
●
●
●
●
a busy beach being used by families
a coach tour
an 18–30 type holiday scene
a landscape that would clearly be appropriate for an adventure holiday, e.g. New Zealand.
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Examples of suitable photographs can be found on websites such as www.freefoto.com. Alternatively,
photographs could be taken from holiday brochures or existing resources in schools. It would be useful to
laminate photographs and captions for future use. See also CD-ROM.
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Resource 1.2 Caption explanations
This caption is effective because it gives the
reader the impression that they will enjoy privacy
on their holiday. They will think that even
something as ordinary as eating will become an
exciting experience.
Readers will think that they can have a break
from the stresses of being a parent because
their children are being looked after whilst they
relax.
The wording of this caption reassures the reader
that they can rely on someone else for a hasslefree holiday.
The readers of this caption would want to be in a
place where there was a lot going on and where
nothing was too far away. The words make it
sound exciting and fun.
The words used in this statement show the
readers that they will discover something new
and have an adventure. They will feel like they
are going to do something they have never done
before.
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Resource 2.1
Adjective bank
relaxing
peaceful
beautiful
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fun-filled
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calm
secluded
bustling
energising
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exciting
unspoilt
noisy
depressing
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Resource 3.1 Phrases from various ski-resort descriptions
The vertical drop is perfect
for extreme skiing.
The resort is friendly and
quiet with a good range of
welcoming restaurants.
The cosmopolitan and chic
centre is the place to be
seen off the slopes.
The extensive off-piste area
offers exhilarating runs for
the snowboarder who likes to
be challenged.
This tranquil resort offers
extensive leisure facilities
and a crèche, making it an
ideal choice for mixed-ability
parties and non-skiers.
Many of the ski runs are
pleasant, gentle and
sheltered.
Après-ski and evening
entertainment are plentiful
and varied with lively bars
and plenty of opportunities
for dancing.
The wide runs offer plenty
of opportunity to gain
confidence and experience.
Colour key
family resorts
18–30 resorts
beginners
advanced
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Resource 3.2 Bland description of a ski resort
Snow time! So go to the nice and pretty resort of Snowlandia
for some good skiing and snowboarding. Try a fun
snowmobile safari on a steep slope. You will take home lots
of interesting memories.
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Resource 3.3 Improved ski resort description
Snowlandia is famous for its long sunny days and its reliable
snow; it is deservedly rated as one of the finest resorts in the
world. Skiers, freeriders and freestylers will find themselves
in a snowy paradise. The top of the snowball lift marks the
beginning of one of the most exciting black runs imaginable.
There is a heart-stopping 400-metre vertical drop of waisthigh moguls. In the village centre, the trendy bars and clubs
make this the ideal resort for mixed groups looking for a
lively holiday.
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Resource 3.4
Fantastic foreign food
If you’re feeling a little hungry, then why not sample our
_____food in a variety of venues. Take for instance ‘The
Sunny Sombrero’, a
restaurant with a great tapas
bar and fantastic fajitas! Or, if that’s too spicy for your
taste buds, then why not try our _______ fish restaurant
‘The Global Guppy’: specialities include Shetland Island
mussels, red snapper ratatouille and ______ fish and
chips.
Calling all our younger globetrotters! Don’t worry kids,
there’s ___________ for you too. Visit the Teddy Bear’s
Picnic and take your basket to eat outside in our
Woodland Wonderland. _______ delights like mini spring
rolls and crunchy _______ are just some of the goodies
in your ‘Bear Basket’.
No time to stop on your world tour? _______ into
‘Speedy Gonzales’ for your spicy Mexican takeaway.
______ to ‘Happy Hamburgers’ for a meal to eat on your
way to the next ________ experience. ‘Turkish Delight’
provides Eastern cuisine for the _______ kebab lover.
Whatever your _______ there’s a ______ treat for all
global _______ .
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Resource 4.1
22
Description of a ski resort
The
suitable for
resort of Lesneiges is particularly
. The village centre is ________
with _______ shops and _______ . There are many
________ slopes, which are particularly suitable
for
snowboarders, who enjoy
runs.
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Opens with 2
rhetorical questions
that use repetition
and emotive
language to
challenge the reader
about their holiday
expectations.
Uses second
person to
address the
reader directly.
Use of
alliteration to
evoke the sound
of the wind.
Resource 4.2
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Uses the rule of
three to
emphasise the
positive aspects
of the sport.
Ever dreamt your summer holidays could
be more exciting? Ever dreamt of learning
an unusual, daring and stimulating sport?
Come to glorious Windy Bay on the
beautiful West Coast and experience the
exhilarating thrills of power kiting.
Your only quiet moment will be waiting for
the perfect gust to send your power kite
soaring skywards. After that it’s hang on
tight for the adventure of a lifetime.
Excitement guaranteed!
Short sentence for
dramatic impact.
Links back to
opening rhetorical
question. © Crown copyright 2007
Uses upbeat
adjectives to
emphasise the
positive qualities
of the resort and
sport.
Repeats the name
of the sport twice
to emphasise what
it is that they are
selling.
Use of powerful verb choices
to create a sense of energy and
excitement that leaves the
reader feeling that they want
to get involved.
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Resource 4.3
TECHNIQUE
EXAMPLE
EXPLANATION
Emotive language
Repetition
Rhetorical questions
Powerful verbs
Alliteration
Short sentences
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Group of three
Interesting adjectives
Other techniques
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