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Listed under:  Language  >  Language modes  >  Creating texts  >  Text structure
Video

Story development and plot holes with Andy Griffiths

How do you move your characters forward in a story? A trick Andy Griffiths uses is asking a lot of questions. His favourite question to ask is "what's the worst thing that can happen next?" Try asking yourself that question if you get stuck when writing your next story. In this clip Andy also talks about plot holes. What ...

Video

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.

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Changing the ending with Michael Gow

Have you ever watched a play or read a book and been dissatisified with the ending? Michael Gow talks about how he changed the ending to his play Away once and how angry his audience was. What do you think about authors and playwrights re-writing their stories and plays to give them different endings?

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David Malouf on violence in literature

Do you think we live in a violent world? Do you agree with David Malouf when he says that violence is everywhere? Should stories reflect what is happening in the world? How do you feel about violence as a theme in literature?

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BTN: Meet a young author

Do you love writing stories? Learn how Hannah Chandler got a book published at the age of 12! Why don't you make your own book? Once you're happy with your story, find yourself an illustrator (a friend, family member or even yourself!) and start designing your pages. Once they're ready attach them all together. Don't forget ...

Online

Australia's Trade through Time

Using an interactive timeline created by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, this Teacher guide provides 12 series of learning experiences that engage students in the analysis and interpretation of data about Australian trade from 1900 to the present day. Students study videos, tables, images and texts in order ...

Online

The ad campaign

This learning sequence invites students to analyse the 'Dumb Ways to Die' advertising campaign and how the key messages are communicated to the audience. Students then design a new iteration of the Dumb Ways to Die campaign, that could engage a young audience and provide messages about travel safety not covered by the original ...

Text

Wide Reading

Good advice for students encouraging them to read widely beyond the classroom, with useful links to ways to finding a good book

Text

Show, Don't Tell

This resource for students explains the importance, when writing narratives, of showing your reader rather than telling, with an example, ways of achieving this, and some follow-up activities

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Shakespearean Language

This resource for students is the first in a series of three entitled 'Introduction to Shakespeare', which focuses mainly on 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Students are asked to write sentences in modern English which feature a common word from Shakespeare's time. A link to Shakespearean insults is then provided and students ...

Text

'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 ...

Text

Ramayana: an introduction to the great Indian epic

This is a resource that provides detailed information about the epic story Ramayana, with an enlargeable image and hyperlinks to further resources. Below the information there is space for readers to comment and contribute to a discussion about the story. Ramayana is a most important Hindu story from southern and south-eastern ...

Online

TrackSAFE Education Primary School Resources: Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 English

This unit of work focuses on developing student understanding of the importance of being track safe and the key message 'Stop, Look, Listen, Think'. It builds students' familiarity with the vocabulary and key concepts related to rail safety and provides differentiated activities for writers at different stages of development ...

Video

Heywire: Life-changing moments: from basketball to guitar

Sometimes devastating events have a silver lining. Brendon Reynolds's life changed completely after a major injury during a basketball game. Hear how as you listen to his Heywire audio story.<br /><br />Could you write or record a story about yourself and/or your community? The ABC's Heywire competition calls for stories ...

Video

Jane Eyre: Fairytale and realism

Do you detect a hint of the supernatural in Jane Eyre? Professor John Bowen, Professor of Nineteeth-century Literature at the University of York, says, 'It is a novel with a lot of haunting in it.' Listen as Professor Bowen discusses the fairytale and gothic elements in Charlotte Bronte's classic novel. This clip from The ...

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Lifting the lid on Gothic literature

What comes to mind when you think of 'Gothic fiction'? What are some of the characteristics of the genre? In this clip from the British Library, Professor John Bowen from the University of York suggests the Gothic tradition emerged in literature with the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Qtranto in 1764 and ...

Video

Migratory birds

Discover a program that builds awareness about Tasmania's shore birds. See how community involvement is helping to monitor their populations. View this clip called 'Migratory birds', created by young reporters from Circular Head Christian School, Tasmania. The clip was developed as part of the ABC Splash Live 'Making the ...

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Heywire: Digging for diprotodons

Ever dreamed of finding buried treasure in your own backyard? For Natasha Camp, this is a reality. Her 'treasure' is not gold or silver, but the bones of ancient Australian megafauna. In this Heywire photo story, Natasha describes the latest dig at Floraville Station, Queensland, her family's property. It was on this dig ...

Audio

Heywire: Inspirational Teens

Have you ever made a big contribution to your local community? Heywire is a national competition that assists young people to make a difference in rural communities. Bridie Johnstone from Woodend, Victoria, was a finalist of the 2012 Heywire storytelling competition for young people. Listen to how she is using music to ...

Video

First Tuesday Book Club: The story behind 'Jasper Jones'

'Jasper Jones' is a novel that recently featured on a list of '10 Aussie books to read before you die'. Does it belong on the list? Many texts make connections to other texts but is this novel too close a retelling of the classic American novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird'? Explore the concept of 'intertextuality' in this clip.