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Listed under:  Language  >  Text types  >  Imaginative texts
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To plan or not to plan

Different writers approach writing in different ways. Some just dive in with nothing but an idea, while others like Morris Gleitzman like to spend some time planning their story before writing. What's your writing style like? Discuss the pros and cons of both styles.

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Tony Wilson's advice for new writers

What does author Tony Wilson think the hardest thing for new writers is? What does he say is the best way to get better at writing? Tony mentions an Australian author called Sonya Hartnett. Do some research and find out how old Sonya was when she wrote her first book. If writing is something you have fun doing, perhaps ...

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How to Build Stories, Ch 1: What is a story?

Stories are all around us and they're happening all the time. But what exactly is a story? Stories teach and explain things, create emotion and entertain us. Watch this wonderful video and find out more.

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Heywire: Fortissimo frogs frustrate family

How could words convey the nightly racket of hundreds of croaking frogs outside your bedroom window? Can you think of ways to engage readers' senses so that they 'experience' the frog chorus? A use of imagery is one of them. It's something we'll explore in this humorous story about the perils of frogs. Could you write or ...

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BTN: Andy Griffiths' writing tips

Watch this clip as Andy Griffiths offers his tips on how to write a story. See if you can come up with your own story that begins with you opening a box marked, "DO NOT OPEN". What's in the box? What happens next? Keep in mind Andy's three tips!

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How to retell a story (for kids)

A short video (1:48) for students explains how to retell a story focusing on characters, setting and major events.

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Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about emus

Imagine what it would be like to be a bird that cannot fly? Watch the clip and listen to the song by Don Spencer that captures in words and rhythm how the flightless emu thunders through the Australian bush.

Online

What is Shakespeare Unbound?

Shakespeare doesn’t get any better than this. Actors from Australia’s famous Bell Shakespeare Company, including Artistic Director John Bell, present key scenes from six of Shakespeare’s best-known works before joining conversations to dissect the playwright’s use of character, plot and language. Custom-made for Australian ...

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ABC Open: Using descriptive language to evoke mood and feeling

Is there a particular place or time of day that you love? How would you describe this place and time to someone to convey how you feel? What sort of mood would you want to create? The narrator in this video tells us she loves sunrise. How does she communicate this through the language she uses? What is the mood created?

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Thinking about settings with Leigh Hobbs

As Leigh Hobbs says, the great thing about inventing a character is that you also have the power to choose where they live. What's your character's world like? Describe your character at home. Where do they live? And what do they do there? Now choose a completely different location and plonk your character there. Think ...

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TrackSAFE Education Primary School Resources: Year 5 and Year 6 English

This unit of work focuses on the influences that impact on safe behaviours in and around tracks, platforms and trains. Guided activities build students' rail safety vocabulary including grammar and word building. Modelled writing activities support students to shape a research-based inquiry investigating factors that impact ...

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What's With Poetry?, Ch 4: Sounds count!

In poetry every word, syllable and sound counts! Poetry is usually much shorter than stories so it is important for a poet to convey as much as possible using as little as possible. Sounds can be a very powerful tool in expressing mood and emotion when used correctly. Watch as Matt from the Sydney Story Factory gives examples ...

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Rebecca Lim's advice for writers

Do you want to be a writer? Watch this clip to get some tips from author Rebecca Lim. What are some of the things she suggests? Find out about writing competitions - and enter one!

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ABC Open: Australian Children's Laureate, Jackie French

Jackie French is the Australian Children's Laureate for 2014-2015, and the author of the famous Wombat series of books. Watch this video to find out how a wombat inspired and conspired against her literary ambitions! What are your inspirations when you write?

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Radio National: Is the Great Gatsby 'tilting at windmills'?

Intertextuality is about the process of making connections, either consciously or subconsciously, and can shape the way we interpret a text. In this audio clip, explore the intertextual link between two classic novels: 'The great Gatsby' by F Scott Fitzgerald and 'Don Quixote' by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. This clip ...

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Heywire: Sussing out the similes in a footy game

If you've ever tried to describe an experience to a friend and said, 'It was just like', you were using a simile. Similes and their close pals metaphors are figures of speech that writers of all sorts of texts use. As you listen to this Heywire audio story, explore Taylor Smith's use of them in his recount of a Saturday ...

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Adventure Stories

This resource for students discusses the conventions of action and adventure stories, suggests some possible scenarios, how to plot the story and examples of descriptive writing techniques, as well as suggestions for proofreading and revising.

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'Animal Farm' Writing Tasks: Write a Fable

This resource for students is twelfth in a series of thirteen based on a study of the novel 'Animal Farm'. The resource presents a list of 'moral messages' from the novel and asks students to choose one, and then write a fable illustrating the message. Information on fables is also provided, as well as links relating to ...

Online

Horton Hears a Who

This resource for primary school children examines the Dr Seuss picture book classic and the film based on the book. It examines the theme of sustainability. It contains questions and activities on the book and the film, as well as a teacher guide.

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How to Build Stories, Ch 2: Creating characters for your story

Great characters help us fall in love with stories. Characters need to keep readers excited, but they also need to think and feel in ways we can all understand, and they need to remind us of people in our own lives. Follow these fantastic tips to create interesting, relatable characters!