Starter quiz
- What does it mean if something is 'anachronistic'?
- It is written in time order
- It is out of keeping with the time period we're writing about ✓
- It is in keeping with the time period we're writing about
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- Which of the following would be good to include in a setting description of Victorian London in order to show the historical context?
- open sewers ✓
- street urchins ✓
- slums ✓
- poverty
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- Which of the following were forms of transport in Victorian London?
- urchin
- smog
- penny farthing ✓
- omnibus ✓
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- Which of these words means 'impossible to see through'?
- imposing
- impenetrable ✓
- havoc
- nauseating
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- Which of these words means 'ruined' or 'broken'?
- dilapidated ✓
- serene
- skulk
- stench
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- Which of the following are fronted adverbials of place?
- All of a sudden,
- On every street corner, ✓
- In the serene streets, ✓
- Beneath imposing buildings, ✓
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Exit quiz
- Which of these sentences are in the present tense?
- Dilapidated houses huddle around narrow alleyways ✓
- Dilapidated houses huddled around narrow alleyways
- Dilapidated houses were huddling around narrow alleyways
- Dilapidated houses are huddling around narrow alleyways ✓
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- Which of the following are preposition phrases?
- down a crowded, cobbled street ✓
- a crowded, cobbled street
- across a serene, tree-lined street ✓
- a serene, tree-lined street
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- Which words in this sentence are adjectives? 'The nauseating stench of human waste fills the air.'
- nauseating ✓
- human ✓
- stench
- waste
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- Which of the following descriptions shows the use of the 'hearing' sense?
- The wheels of the omnibus are caked in horse manure
- The wheels of the omnibus clatter on the cobbles ✓
- The wheels of the omnibus give off the foul stench of horse manure
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- Which description best shows a mood of chaos and misery in describing the slums?
- Market vendors chat happily as children play beside them
- Market vendors bellow over each other as urchins beg desperately for scraps ✓
- Market vendors talk loudly as children feast on bread and cheese
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- Which description best shows a mood of calm and cosiness in describing Holmes' study?
- As Watson sits in a plump armchair, the fire crackles gently ✓
- As Watson perches on a firm chair, the fire blazes angrily
- As Watson stalks around the room, sparks fly from the raging fire
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Writing is most successful when it is planned.
- Setting descriptions can start from a bird's eye view and zoom in to a city's streets.
- We use adjectives and rich vocabulary and we explore the five senses to set a particular mood when describing a setting.
- Fronted adverbials of place and preposition phrases place items in a setting.
- We can write a setting description in the third person and the present tense.
Common misconception
Pupils may feel tempted to write in complete sentences in their plan.
Model and encourage note-taking; this gives pupils more flexibility when they come to write and it allows them to jot down more ideas - some of which they can reject later.
Keywords
Present tense - shows action happening now
Adjective - describes a noun
Third person - a perspective where we describe things happening without saying they are happening to us personally
Senses - the physical abilities of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste
Mood - the feeling a piece of writing gives the reader or the ideas that it makes them think about
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