Roald Dahl Day Lesson
LO: to be able to use a Roald Dahl text as a
stimulus for our own creative writing.
• PLTS - Be creative thinkers
Starter Activity
Collecting Words
Roald Dahl kept all sorts of notes and lists to help him when he wrote his
stories
Words that have the same or very similar meanings are called synonyms.
At the beginning of his career as a writer, Roald Dahl collected lists of
words in an old school notebook. “When you’re describing something or
someone,” he said, “you can’t just choose dull words like beautiful, pretty
or nice. You must search for more meaty and imaginative words.”
Synonyms – words that have the same
or a similar meaning
• Here is a list of words Roald Dahl collected
under the heading Beautiful:
Agreeable
Beaming
Brilliant
Charming
Exquisite
Dazzling
Delicate
Elegant
Engaging
Dazzling
Glowing
Graceful
Handsome Intriguing
Dainty
Pretty
Radiant
Shining
Lovely
Sparkling
Your turn
• Create your own table of synonyms for the
word horrible:
Nasty
Awful
THE WITCHING HOUR
When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. She longed to
duck underneath them and lean out of the window to see what the
world looked like now that the witching hour was at hand. She
listened again. Everywhere it was deathly still.
The longing to look out became so strong she couldn’t resist it.
Quickly, she ducked
under the curtains and leaned out of the window.
In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well looked
completely different. The houses looked bent and crooked like
houses in a fairytale. Everything was pale and ghostly and milkywhite.
Across the road, she could see Mrs Rance’s shop, where you
bought buttons and wool and bits of elastic. It didn’t look real.
There was something dim and misty about that too.
Witching hour continued
Sophie allowed her eye to travel further and further down the street.
Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the
opposite side.
It was something black…
Extract from The BFG by Roald Dahl
Task
You are going to describe the scene. Imagine it is
you looking out of that window? What do you see
coming towards you?
Is it a scary monster? Or a demon dragon? A
cackling witch or a flock of crows? Or maybe it’s just
an innocent-looking old lady shuffling up the
street…or maybe it isn’t!
In pairs, write down how you feel about what you
see. Describe your feelings and your reactions. Are
you scared? Surprised? Maybe just a little bit
excited…?
Use your whiteboards...
Feelings
Mind map ideas of what you could
write in your description of the
alleyway
The witching
hour
Remember:
Adjectives
Adverbs
Similes
Metaphors
Top Tips:
• Start a sentence with an emotion (ed word).
“Startled, I...
• Start a different sentence with a verb (ing word).
“Trembling, I...
• Start another sentence with an adverb (ly word).
“Carefully, I
Avoid starting too many sentences with “I” or “The”
‘ly’ opening
‘ing’ opening
‘ed’ opening
Suddenly
Running
Scared
Quickly
Stepping
Relaxed
Frantically
Moving
Prepared
Slowly
Thinking
Daunted
Dangerously
Feeling
Panicked
Immediately
Laughing
Surprised
Calmly
Breathing
Shocked
Steadily
Imagining
Pleased
Hurriedly
Dreaming
Focused
Nervously
Hoping
Tired
Pleasantly
Timing
Exhausted
Carefully
Asking
Excited
Nearly
Looking
Dismayed
Secretly
Checking
Reassured
Mysteriously
Panicking
Depressed
Timidly
Remembering
Rejuvenated
HOW is it
done?
WHAT is
being done?
FEELING whilst
doing it?
Plenary
• Choose your best bit of description and write
it on a post it note. Then go and stick it on the
board.
• Choose another person’s description that you
particularly like and return to your seat.
• Discuss with your partner what you like about
it.
EXTRA EXTENSION TASKS:
MEET THE FAMILY
Aunt Sponge was enormously fat and very short. She had small piggy eyes,
a sunken mouth, and one of those flabby faces that looked exactly as
though it had been boiled. She was like a great white soggy over boiled
cabbage. Aunt Spiker, on the other hand, was lean and tall and bony, and
she wore steel-rimmed spectacles that fixed on to the end of her nose with
a clip. She had a screeching voice and long wet narrow lips, and whenever
she got angry or excited little flecks of spit would come shooting out of her
mouth as she talked
Extract from James and the Giant Peach by
Roald Dahl
Imagine you’ve just met a long-lost relative. It could be an aunt or an
uncle, a cousin or a grandparent, a niece, or a nephew – anyone you like.
It could be someone older, middle-aged perhaps, or a teenager or child.
Write a poem about the person you meet, with lots of attention to
detail. Remember, your poem doesn’t have to rhyme. What kind of
person is she or he? What is she or he wearing?
How does that person behave? How do you feel towards them?
Finish your poem by saying whether or not you were glad to have finally
met them
METAMORPHOSIS .
‘The alarm has gone off!’ shrieked The Grand High Witch. ‘The Mouse-Maker is
beginning to vurrrk!’
She started hopping about on the platform and clapping her gloved hands together
and then she shouted out,
‘This smelly brrrat, this filthy scum
This horrid little louse
Vill very very soon become
A lovely little MOUSE!’
Bruno was getting smaller by the second. I could see him shrinking…
Now his clothes seemed to be disappearing and brown fur was growing all over his
body…
Suddenly, he had a tail…
And then he had whiskers…
Now he had four feet…
It was all happening so quickly…
It was a matter of seconds only…
And all at once he wasn’t there any more…A small brown mouse was running around
on the table top…
Task
Using the boxes on your sheets make a
storyboard to show the different stages in
this episode from The Witches as Bruno is
turned from a greedy boy into a tiny mouse.
In your own words complete the
two columns
WHAT I SAW
HOW I FELT
Competition
• WIN A ROALD DAHL BOX SET!
• Hand your completed form in to Mrs Sibbit
(room 30) by the end of the week.
CHARACTER’S NAME
(BONUS POINTS ARE
AWARDED FOR NAMING
MORE THAN ONE!)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
THE NAME OF THE BOOK
Competition winner: Idrees, year 7.