Emulating Saramago's use of structure in 'Blindness'
I can use interesting structural features to create an engaging narrative opening.
Emulating Saramago's use of structure in 'Blindness'
I can use interesting structural features to create an engaging narrative opening.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- You can utilise elements from a traditional story arc to help you create an interesting narrative opening.
- A mundane setting offers an opportunity for an interesting shift in tone.
- Shifting from a wider setting to a close focus on a specific thing or person demonstrates control of focus.
- Saramago crafts a shift in tone with the conjunction 'but', a list and the manipulation of sentence length.
- You can build suspense in a narrative by making the reader wait longer for a climax.
Keywords
Mundane - ordinary and therefore not interesting
Climax - the most important or exciting part of a story
Tension - a feeling of nervousness
Innovate - to introduce changes and new ideas
Common misconception
The traditional story arc can only be applied to full narratives.
You can find elements of the traditional story arc in writing of any length.
To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: Emulating Saramago's use of structure in 'Blindness', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: Emulating Saramago's use of structure in 'Blindness', 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.
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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 4 english lessons from the Fiction: read around the world unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
You will need access to the first two paragraphs from Chapter 1 of José Saramago's 'Blindness' for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
an introduction to a scene or characters
part of a story where tension builds
the narrative reaches the peak of tension