Task 2: Teaching and Assessing an Unseen passage (Characterization).

Chosen extact: Description of Miss Trunchbull from Roald Dahl's 'Matilda'

Pre-reading: Dramatization/Sensory impression
Part 1:
Read a related extract aloud to class, ask students to walk in the manner the character is described. Repeat the exercise perhaps two or three times and have students write a word or phrase to describe the character.

Part 2:
Have students work in groups. One student per group to dramatize the character, the others to react to her presence as described in the extract. Repeat this exercise perhaps twice and have students make notes on how they reacted to the character.


Body of lesson: Character on the wall
Part 1:
Using several images, elicit responses from students as to which more closely resemble their impression of the character. Ask students to justify their decisions using words they came up with in the pre-reading exercise.

Part 2:
Ask students to draw an outline of the character in action, for example, an outline of a person striding, yelling, pointing or in any other ‘freeze frame’ position. Detailed drawings are not necessary. Outlines will suffice.

Within the outline, students will list all the personality traits of the character. They may refer and add words to the vocabulary bank in the pre-reading activity. At this stage, teachers may wish to read the extract for their students one more time just to refresh their memory.

Around the outer portion of the outline, students will list words and phrases that describe:
The IMPRESSION that other people might have of Miss Trunchbull
The kind of MOOD and ATMOSPHERE that is create when such a character is present.

Conclusion: Reading the short extracts
Distribute the extract read earlier for students to read. Using the extract as a reference, students now ELICIT information from the extract and continue to add on to their impression of the character in question. Students can then attempt the an unseen passage focused on characterization, on their own.

Assessment:
Provide students with an unseen passage with a clear focus on characterization. Students will be marked for their ability to identify character trait from what the character says and does as well as how other characters react to the character.


Submitted by: Annisa Sha'aban