English / Year 6 / Literacy / Interpreting, analysing, evaluating

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Listen as Gary Crew talks about the narrative structure of his book, Strange Objects. What are the reasons he gives for incorporating so many different sorts of texts (from newspaper articles to diaries and archeological reports) into his narrative?

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This is a very rich resource for students from the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), which gives them an insight into the art of Shaun Tan through a focus on both the book and the film of The Lost Thing. The content focuses on aspects of storytelling, including themes, techniques, forms and language, visual, ...

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A web page resource with information, teacher guides and activities on types of sentences to support the Australian Curriculum in English K–10. It has detailed activities, links to resources and quizzes.

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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!

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Listen as Sally Rippin talks about how her characters come to life. What does she say about the link between the writer and the characters they create? Why does she say that imagination is like a muscle?

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Watch this clip to find out about the relationship between authors and illustrators. What role does the publisher play in this relationship? What does Sally Rippin say about the role of illustrations in books for young children?

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When authors write stories involving historical events, they often spend time doing research. Why do you think they might do this? What are some of the primary source documents Gary Crew used to inform his book, Strange Objects?

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Thomas Keneally likes to put himself in the shoes of figures from history, whether it's as a member of the SS or an Indigenous man treated unjustly, and ask ‘What would I have done?' In this interview he discusses why he was drawn to the Jimmie Governor story and the significance of the looming Federation of Australia.

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According to Gow, his play Away became an Australian classic ‘accidentally'. In this interview, he talks about the way he overlays the context of the Vietnam War and the rise of materialism with the themes of coming of age and accepting the death of a child to create a play that is powerful and complex.

• TLF-IDM020968

Many of us enjoy writing when it is about something we care passionately about. Watch Lili Wilkinson describe her love of gardening and how she incorporated that love into her book, 'Green Valentine'. Can you think of something you care passionately about to create a story around?