Pathetic fallacy is giving human emotions to inanimate things, usually the environment.

Foreshadowing means a warning of a future event.

Analysing atmosphere and character in ‘The Speckled Band’

English

in 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories', pupils practise using analytical writing sentence structures, to formulate their arguments. In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils develop these skills further, applying them to a range of pre- 20th Century texts. 

in 'When the Sky Falls' pupils read fiction texts for fluency and comprehension. In 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories' pupils start to analyse the language choices of an author.

In this unit, pupils read and explore two famous Sherlock Holmes stories. They start by reading and analysing 'The Speckled Band' before using it as inspiration to write a newspaper article. They then read and analyse 'The Boscombe Valley Murder' before writing a comparison of the two stories.

Sherlock Holmes: short stories

Subjects which particular individuals may be sensitive to, eg, adoption, migration, bereavement or death, divorce, poverty, deprivation.

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

giving human emotions to inanimate things, usually the environment.

comparing two things using the words like or as 

’I sprang from my bed and rushed into the corridor.’

'...there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman.'

Which word best describes the night Julia died in 'The Speckled Band'? 

In 'The Speckled Band', how is Helen presented when she hears her sister’s screams?

it helps us come up with ambitious vocabulary to use

it helps us conduct deep single word analysis

Why use quote explosions before analytical writing?

Why use conjunctions in analytical writing?

to help her solve the mystery of how her sister died

to catch up with him as they were good friends

In 'The Speckled Band', why had Helen Stoner gone to visit Sherlock Holmes?

She was involved in a traffic accident on the way there

In 'The Speckled Band', why is Helen shivering when she comes to Holmes?

Using ambitious vocabulary in a paragraph

In 'The Speckled Band', what is Helen Stoner likened to when she meets Holmes?

Why is Julia Stoner's death a mystery in 'The Speckled Band'?

In 'The Speckled Band', what did Julia cry out as she died?

Content guidance

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Adult supervision recommended

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Analysing atmosphere and character in ‘The Speckled Band’

Lesson outcome

Content guidance

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.