Teaching+Students+How+to+Respond+to+Unfamiliar+Text

**__This page is intended as a resource for the teaching of Unfamiliar Text to Year 10 Students__** **// Scroll down for the resources! //**

**// text/feature/example of feature/effect on the writing/effect on the reader's physical and emotional feelings. //** **schpeel** Rather than have our students reach Year 11 still trying to memorise and locate/identify language features/techniques/devices, we want them to start "feeling" the EFFECT that these features have on the viewer or reader or listening. They need to have developed a level of unconscious response to the texts that allows them to UNDERSTAND WHAT THE AUTHOR or ARTIST IS SAYING or WANTING FROM THEIR AUDIENCE. But that's only one aspect of this responding. Their knowledge of the way language features/techniques and parts of speech **work** in verbal and visual language to create these effects and responses within viewers at the subconscious level, must be made CONSCIOUS to students.

Sure, students can respond that the words "dark" and "eerie" used to describe a cemetary at night might make them feel scared or worried or apprehensive. But they need to know why.

Same with the angry clouds strangling the sky with their dark mood - The students can respond that the author uses Personfication to compare the clouds to a human who is angry to tell us that the sky is getting really dark with thick clouds. But why do we respond to this in this way? Why is our response to this more intense or involved than it would be if the author had simply written: "The clouds were starting to be in the sky"?

Even "the clouds started to gather in the sky" is personification, but the audience isn't being asked to emotionally engage in this information because there is no human emotion added to the line. "Gathering" is just a verb that has no major human attachments. Reader's, humans, only engage at the emotional level with information if their own emotions are stimulated through visual techniques or words that have emotional value or symbols attached to them. These emotional values or symbols can be positive or negative.

We want our students to be CONSCIOUSLY THINKING about the effects of the authors words on the human mind. Not just UNCONSCIOUSLY knowing what the response is supposed to be and what the author or creator of the add or poster is up to and wanting from you. We want them making that link readers and viewers are responding to emotional stimulus caused by the inclusion or symbols and words with emotional values attached to them.

__** 2. Building knowledge of parts of speech **__ Teaching resources for Language Basics: Nouns, adjectives, verbs, present participles,past participles, personal pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions.

3. __Building knowledge of Language features/techniques____

__ **1. Response/comprehension material.** __




 * RESPONSE TO DESCRIPTIVE TEXT**

__ **Reponse to descriptive text about emotions** __ __ **Response to descriptive text about the five senses** __


 * RESPONDING TO NON FICTION TEXT - ACQUIRING FACTUAL INFORMATION**

RESPONDING TO NON FICTION TEXT - AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITING


 * RESPONDING TO NON FICTION TEXT - BIOGRAPHICAL WRITING**

RESPONDING TO FICTION: NARRATIVE TEXT