Associated Resources
Lesson One: Constructing Descriptive Sentences
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson students will be able to:
- To be able to make use of the five senses
- To be able to develop the opening of a descriptive piece
Starter Activity
Display Edward Hopper’s Night Hawks to the class.
Students have a few minutes to come up with as many adjectives that describe this scene as possible. Take feedback on the board - highlighting particularly effective choices. Explain that describing a picture is going to be the focus of our Assignment 2 Coursework.
First Activity
Hand out the Senses Grid in Associated Resources (at the start of this resource) explaining how the use of these features is one of the most powerful ways of making descriptive writing work. The students should create some sentences about ‘Nighthawks’ using the five senses. Draw attention to how the adjectives on the board could be used in filling in the sentences in this grid. This may take between 15 and 20 minutes.
It is worth noting, purely for your own piece of mind, that unlike other examination boards, CIE is perfectly happy with a purely descriptive task. Indeed, the idea for this lesson came from a consideration of their Syllabus where they note a good task would…
