Writing the diary entry of a Windrush passenger before their arrival in the UK
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can write the diary entry of an imagined Windrush passenger before arriving in the UK, using a conversational tone and a range of cohesive devices.
Key learning points
- Writing is most successful when we orally rehearse before writing.
- A diary can include events and feelings written in the past and present tense.
- We use a range of cohesive devices in all writing, including different punctuation, sentence types and parenthesis.
- Because a diary is a personal piece of writing, it can have a conversational tone.
- We can create a conversational tone using questions, exclamatives, verbless sentences and conversational openers.
Keywords
Conversational tone - the effect created by using language features such as conversational sentence openers that may break normal ‘rules’ of writing
Exclamative - a word, phrase or sentence that expresses strong emotion or surprise
Verbless sentence - a conversational or informal sentence that does not contain a verb, breaking the normal written convention
Cohesive devices - language structures that develop text cohesion
Common misconception
Pupils will have been taught that exclamation sentences must contain a verb, as in 'What a mess there is!'
We use the term exclamative to include verbless construction like 'How cool!' alongside 'proper' exclamation sentences like 'How warm it is!'.
Teacher tip
Ensure pupils have access to their plans and that they draw on all their role play experiences when writing. If required, complete lessons on the cohesive devices briefly mentioned here can be found in our KS2 Grammar curriculum.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.True or false: a diary can only be written using the present tense.
Q2.In which tense is this sentence written? 'I am determined to make a success of this place.'
Q3.In which tense is this sentence written? 'I rushed over to her and I hugged her tightly.'
Q4.Which of these sentences show thoughts and feelings rather than events?
Q5.Which feeling best completes this action? 'As I sat down on the bed, ...'
Q6.How does Celia feel at the end of our diary plan?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Why is a conversational tone appropriate for a diary entry?
Q2.Which of the following are features that build a conversational tone?
Q3.Which of the below are verbless sentences?
Q4.Which of the sentences below use conversational sentence openers?
Q5.Which sentence has the colon in the correct position?
Q6.How is Celia feeling at the end of this diary entry?
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Writing the diary entry of a Windrush passenger before their arrival in the UK, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Writing the diary entry of a Windrush passenger before their arrival in the UK, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the The Empire Windrush: diary writing unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.