Crafting character through dialogue
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can carefully craft a character through the use of dialogue.
Key learning points
- Dialogue should be punctuated and laid out clearly and accurately to make it clear who is speaking.
- The reporting clause is helpful when crafting character.
- Strong verbs and adverbs are crucial for creating engaging dialogue that conveys characters' emotions.
- It’s important to include description when writing dialogue.
- The tone conveyed when crafting dialogue tells the reader a lot about the characters involved.
Keywords
Dialogue - a conversation between two or more people
Tone - the overall mood or attitude in a text
Verb - a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence
Adverb - a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb or even a whole clause; often ends in '-ly'
Reporting clause - comes before or after speech to tell the reader who is talking or thinking
Common misconception
The most important part of dialogue is what is inside the speech marks.
What is said through dialogue is really important, but it's also crucial to consider how that dialogue is to be said. Careful selection of verbs and adverbs give the reader a crucial insight into how dialogue should be read.
Teacher tip
You may wish to prepare examples of excellent dialogue from texts your pupils are already familiar with for LC2.
Equipment
You will need a copy of the example dialogue used in LC2 which is available in the additional materials.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of the following verbs would be most effective for showing a character's anger?
Q2.What is a key purpose of using adverbs in descriptive writing?
Q3.Which of these is an example of a simile?
Q4.In fiction writing, how does juxtaposition help in character development?
Q5.What is the purpose of using strong verbs in dialogue?
Q6.What is an essential rule for punctuating dialogue?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1. Which of the following is the correct way to punctuate dialogue?
Q2.Which example uses an effective verb to show surprise in dialogue?
Q3.The overall mood or attitude in a text is the definition of ...
Q4.What is the impact of using description alongside dialogue?
Q5.Which of the following adverbs would best describe a character who is speaking angrily?
Q6.In the following dialogue, which sentence best demonstrates effective use of dialogue to reveal the character's emotions and intentions?
To help you plan your 9 English lesson on: Crafting character through dialogue, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 English lesson on: Crafting character through dialogue, 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 3 English lessons from the Malevolent characters: fiction writing unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.