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Edexcel (KS4)

KS3 & KS4 English curriculum

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English
Year 7

'The Twisted Tree': fiction reading

32 lessons

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  • Exploring the Gothic

Description

In this unit, pupils read, explore and respond to the modern fairytale novel 'The Twisted Tree'. They start by reading the novel before practising writing analytically about the novel's key characters and themes. They finally respond creatively to the novel by writing an article and short script.

This unit uses and builds on pupils' understanding of authorial choices from the Sherlock Holmes unit. In this unit, pupils start to develop their analytical writing more comprehensively so that they can start to write coherently and succinctly in response to a text. This unit is also the pupils' first introduction to the Gothic, which then sets up their understanding for the full 'exploring the gothic' thread. This unit prepares pupils for 'The Monster Within', where they will look at gothic fiction more deeply through some classic gothic texts.

  1. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': exploring the opening
  2. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': introducing the setting
  3. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': exploring and creating similes
  4. Reading ‘The Twisted Tree’: the presence of the tree
  5. Reading ‘The Twisted Tree’: Mormor’s letter
  6. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': identifying key themes
  7. Exploring the use of mythology in 'The Twisted Tree'
  8. Reading ‘The Twisted Tree’: explaining the creation of tension
  9. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the draugr as a villain
  10. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the theme of fate
  11. Reading ‘The Twisted Tree’: Martha and Stig’s relationship
  12. Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the climax
  13. The resolution of 'The Twisted Tree'
  14. 'The Twisted Tree': Consolidating knowledge of the plot
  15. 'The Twisted Tree': understanding narrative arcs
  16. 'The Twisted Tree': the novel as a Gothic text
  17. 'The Twisted Tree': making impressive inferences about the tree
  18. 'The Twisted Tree': Norse mythology
  19. 'The Twisted Tree': analysing the dreadful draugr
  20. 'The Twisted Tree': creating a newspaper headline about the draugr
  21. 'The Twisted Tree': planning a newspaper article about the dreadful draugr
  22. 'The Twisted Tree': writing an effective article about the draugr
  23. 'The Twisted Tree': symbolism
  24. 'The Twisted Tree': how the writer builds tension
  25. 'The Twisted Tree': introducing thesis statements
  26. ‘The Twisted Tree’: selecting excellent quotes when writing about the novel
  27. 'The Twisted Tree': expressing my ideas about the novel
  28. Reporting on Mormor's death in 'The Twisted Tree'
  29. 'The Twisted Tree': writing an article about Mormor's death
  30. 'The Twisted Tree': introduction to script writing
  31. 'The Twisted Tree': Revising inferences
  32. 'The Twisted Tree': scripting a scene from the novel
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