Lesson video

Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham.

I'm so glad to see you here for today's lesson.

Today, we're going to finish writing the build-up of the story of "Beowulf and the Dragon," and we're going to try and show our reader just how tense and dangerous Beowulf's situation is as he prepares to fight this dragon.

So let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called "Writing the Second Half of the build-up of 'Beowulf and the Dragon,'" and it comes by unit called, "'Beowulf': Narrative Writing." By the end of today's session, you'll have written the second half of the build-up of "Beowulf and the Dragon" using a range of narrative elements and cohesive devices to connect your ideas.

And for this lesson, you will need to have with you the plan that we wrote in a previous lesson.

If you're ready, let's begin.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

And here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by preparing to write and then we'll be writing the third and the fourth paragraphs of our build-up, with the fourth being the final paragraph of our text.

So, as you know, we've already written the first half of our narrative version of the build-up of "Beowulf and the Dragon," and we've written paragraph one where the dragon attacks the stronghold, and paragraph two, where Beowulf surveys the damage to the stronghold and explains that he's going to lead the attack on the dragon.

So, today, we're going to write paragraphs three and four.

In paragraph three, Beowulf goes to Eagleness and summons the dragon out for a fight.

And then in paragraph four, we're going to show the dragon emerging from its cave and approaching.

We're not gonna have Beowulf and the dragon fighting just yet, because that will be part of the climax, which we're not going to write today.

So, we're going to write these two final paragraphs today, and we're going to use our plan to help us, and if we need to, we can refer to our text maps as well.

So these final two paragraphs of the build-up, as I said, lead into the climax of the whole story where Beowulf and Wiglaf fight the dragon together.

So, as a result, we need to make sure that we show the tension rising and rising and rising during this part of the build-up, and we can do this using our different narrative elements.

So we can tell the action in a pacy way so it feels tense and fast-moving.

We can give our reader a clear description of how bleak Eagleness is and how terrifying the dragon is.

Those two factors will really help to ramp up our tension as well.

And we're gonna show characters emotions clearly, to show they're nervous about the prospect of facing the dragon.

And we're going to use characters' dialogue to show the emotions they have as well.

So we've got our four narrative elements there, action, description, emotions, and dialogue, combining to build the tension as we get towards the end of our build-up, which is going to lead in to the fight in this story.

So which version below best shows the tension we're aiming for in our narrative? Pause the video and have a look.

Well done.

Good job.

Hopefully spotted that it's C.

Here we've said, "As an icy wind swept across the rocky promontory, the warriors scanned the barren landscape for traces of the vile beast." The other two were a bit too cheerful, weren't they? And a bit too pleasant-sounding.

Here, we're describing Eagleness as being kind of a barren and unpleasant place, and we're describing the dragon as being a vile beast.

So we're trying to create a negative impression of both those things, of Eagleness and the dragon, which really helps to make this sound much more tense and threatening, which is the mood we're aiming to set.

Well done if you spotted that.

And just like we did in the first two paragraphs, we want to use a range of cohesive devices to connect our ideas together.

For example, we might want to use a range of fronted adverbials, so we can use fronted adverbials of time, of place, and of manner.

Fronted adverbials of time might include, "Just then, Beowulf glimpsed a puff of dark smoke on the barren hillside." We've got a common after our frontal adverbial, as always.

For place, we could say, "In front of them, there was a bleak promontory projecting into the choppy ocean." And for manner, I could say, "Slowly, the vile worm slid down the rocky headland towards the waiting Geats." So why use these? Well, fronted adverbials of time help us to show pace in our narrative.

They help us move events forward quickly, and we can use quick ones like "Just then," or "Suddenly," or "At that moment," to really move things along at a fast pace, which is what we want to show that these actions are coming thick and fast.

And then fronted adverbials of place and of manner, help us to describe places and things, and how things are done.

So they're also really useful in building this tension in our narrative.

We can also use hyphens to create compound adjectives to add really detailed descriptions to our narrative.

And this is where we join two words with a hyphen to create one adjective to add description to a noun.

So, for example, "wind-whipped cliffs." I've taken two words, join them with a hyphen, and now they are a compound adjective together describing that noun cliffs.

I could say, "razor-sharp talons," "blood-soaked serpent," "weather-beaten hero," "wave-battered headland," "storm-tossed sea," and "battle-hardened sword." So, all of these are compound adjectives, where we've taken two words, join them with a hyphen, and they're describing a noun in a really rich way.

Now, notice that not all hyphenated words are compound adjectives, because for instance, "mail-shirt" and "dragon-slayer" are nouns.

We couldn't say dragon-slayer followed by a noun, because it's not an adjective.

Dragon-slayer is itself, a noun.

So just watch out for that one.

And using well-chosen compound adjectives like this really helps us to make sure our description builds this tense mood, instead of just saying, steep cliffs, wind-whipped cliffs makes them sound much more threatening and much more tense and anxious, which is what we are aiming to do in our writing today.

So which of the following are compound adjectives that we could use to set the appropriate mood in our narrative? Pause the video and have a look.

Good job.

Well done.

Hopefully you spotted these three would be really useful, and we could use them like this.

We could say, "battle-ready warlord," "armor-clad king," "blood-covered scales." Each of those really helps us to build that tense mood.

By describing the dragon scales as already being blood covered, we really build that sense of threat for Wiglaf and Beowulf because we know this dragon has killed before and recently.

We could also use dialogue to help show our tense mood.

And when we write dialogue, we know that we can choose to place the direct speech first in the sentence before the reporting clause, or second in the sentence, after the reporting clause.

Let me show you.

In a speech first sentence, the speech comes before the reporting clause, it comes first.

For example, "'Come out, you worthless snake.

' Beowulf bellowed, full of fury." We've got there our direct speech and inverted commas, followed by the reporting clause, where we've got Beowulf, the person, and how they spoke, they bellowed, full of fury.

Then we've got our speech second sentence, "Full of fury, Beowulf bellowed, 'Come out, you worthless snake.

'" Here, the direct speech comes second, and the reporting clause comes first.

And notice how after that reporting clause after "Beowulf bellowed," we've got our comma which has to come before our inverted commas before our direct speech in our speech second sentence.

And we can add tension as well by using appropriate synonyms for said, like bellowed in my example, and adverbs in that reporting clause.

So, for instance, I could say "raged furiously" instead of "said" as a way of showing that tension and drama we're adding to this section.

And we can also show tension, obviously, through the words the characters say.

So we can show that anger as we've done for Beowulf here.

The words that Beowulf said here are showing his contemptive disdain for this dragon.

He's saying it's a worthless snake.

By doing that, by including those words in his dialogue, we make the tension rise further.

So can you think of an appropriate reporting clause for each piece of direct speech here, and use it to make a speech sentence? So what could you add to these pieces of direct speech to make them complete speech sentences? And remember, you could put the reporting clause before or after this piece of direct speech.

Pause video and have a think.

Well done.

Great thinking.

For the first one I could say, "'It's not safe!' whispered one Geat warrior anxiously to the others." So I've added my reporting clause after, so this is a speech first sentence.

I've got that synonym for said "whispered," which adds a bit of tension because it's showing they're scared to speak loudly.

For the second one, I'm going to do a speech second sentence.

"Beowulf growled, 'Where is the infernal creature?'" Describing it as an infernal creature is itself adding to the tension.

Then that verb growled instead of said, ramps up that tension even more.

And for the last one I've said, "'What a god-forsaken place!' Wiglaf muttered, shaking his head." So I've got an action there that Wiglaf is doing as well in that reporting clause.

And by describing Eagleness as a god-forsaken place, again that adds tension to our narrative as well.

Really well done if your answer is there.

So, let's do our first task.

I'm going to show you three simple sentences which are not in the correct mood for our narrative.

I'd like you to discuss how you could rewrite each of them to add the tense mood that is appropriate for our narrative.

And you might want to add cohesive devices including different fronted adverbials, and improve different narrative elements as well as changing the narrative speech if that's appropriate.

So, here are your three sentences.

The tone is not right yet.

How could you add to this tone to make it tense and dramatic using your different cohesive devices, different vocabulary.

If you wish, you might want to change up how we've used the narrative elements as well.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Great effort.

Here's some ideas for what you might have done to create that tense mood that we want.

For that first one you could have written, "'That ugly beast needs to come out and meet its fate!' Beowulf snarled, pounding his sword on the rocks." So we're showing Beowulf's anger in that reporting clause.

And in the direct speech itself, we're describing it as an ugly beast, and we're showing Beowulf's impatience and anger, his desire to kill this beast.

For the second one I've said, "The colossal beast slid out of its dark cave and it slithered down the barren, wind-whipped headland." So here, slid and slithered are verb, which really add to that tense mood and describing Eagleness as being barren and wind-whipped, adds to the tension as well.

Finally, I've said, "Eagleness was bleak and desolate as waves battered its sheer cliffs." Again, it doesn't really work to describe Eagleness as a beautiful, calm, relaxing place.

We want it to sound bleak and desolate as we've done here, by describing it in that way.

So really well done for your thoughts there.

And hopefully, you now feel ready to use that correct tense mood when you come to write for yourself.

So let's get ready to write the third paragraph.

So, as you know, when we're preparing to write, before we write, it's really useful to orally rehearse our ideas, connecting our notes together into complete sentences out loud, using different cohesive devices to show the relationships between them.

So, I can take my notes from paragraph three here.

I've written, "Wrinkled, old king put on armour, trudged to Eagleness." So, this is my first note for paragraph three, where Beowulf is going to Eagleness with his warriors and tried to summon the dragon.

So how could I turn this note into complete sentences? Well, I could do it like this, saying it out loud, I could say, "Quickly, the wrinkled, old king put on his chainmail and his strong, iron armour.

Gathering his bravest warriors, he began the long trudge across boggy, barren countryside to Eagleness.

The slave who had angered the dragon led the way." So I've added some extra details there, which I remembered from the story or from my text map, and I've used my cohesive devices here to connect the ideas together.

For example, I've got "quickly" there as a fronted adverbial of manner to show how he did this.

I've got "gathering" there, starting on non-finite -ng clause, and I've got a relative clause there, "who had angered the dragon" as well.

So now you have a go.

Here's another note from my plan for the third paragraph.

I've said, "Bleak, barren promontory, battered by icy waves, sheer, wind-whipped cliffs." So I'm describing Eagleness here.

How can I say this out loud as complete sentences using different cohesive devices to connect it up? And you might want to use more than one sentence here.

Pause the video and have a go, and saying your sentences inspired by these notes.

Have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

Here's an example of what you could have said.

"Eagleness, which was a bleak, barren promontory sticking out into the cold ocean, was battered by icy waves.

On every side, it was surrounded by sheer, wind-whipped cliffs.

So I've got my cohesive devices there, I have my relative clause, and my fronted adverbial of place on every side.

But I've also tried to set the appropriate tone by describing Eagleness in this dark and moody way, and by showing that it's not a pleasant place to be, using the description that we've included from our notes there.

Really well done for your effort there.

Good job.

So, I'd like you to do your first task for this lesson.

We're going to orally rehearse your third paragraph, using your notes, out loud, trying to use a range of cohesive devices to connect them.

So make sure you look at your plan notes, and if you like, your text map as well, and say the sentences out loud that you'd like to use.

You might want to try out different cohesive devices to see which ones work best, including those different types of fronted adverbials we've talked about, of time, of place, and of manner.

And remember, we're trying to add tension to our narrative, so try to include a piece of direct speech as well that adds tension, as well as using the different narrative elements we've discussed, in a tense way.

And try and think about where you could include a compound adjective to add some description as well.

So pause the video and have a go, orally rehearsing this third paragraph.

Well done.

Fantastic job.

Here's Izzy's oral rehearsal of this paragraph.

She said, "The wrinkled, battle-hardened king puts on his chainmail and he summoned his warriors.

Cautiously, they followed the slave towards Eagleness.

In front of them, a rocky, barren promontory rose into the choppy, grey sea; on every side, it was surrounded by sheer, wind-whipped cliffs.

The men peered at the headland, searching for the dragon's cave.

'Come out, vile worm, and face me!' Beowulf roared angrily, pounding the rocks with his sword." So Izzy has used a range of cohesive devices there, like "cautiously," and "in front of them" as fronted adverbial.

She's also got a semicolon there.

And she's got her dialogue as well.

So she's used a range of narrative elements, and she's used them in a way that really adds to our tense mood by describing Eagleness in such a desolate way, which is what we're really aiming for in this section.

Now, your oral rehearsal would have sounded just like that, because, obviously, I got to write this down and you have just said it out loud.

But by saying it out loud, it makes it so much easier to write in the way you're seeing here, when you come to write in a moment.

So here's the success criteria we're going to use to write today.

It says, "I've used a range of narrative elements to build a tense mood." "I've connected ideas from my plan using a range of cohesive devices, including different types of fronted adverbials." "I've used hyphens to create compound adjectives." And "I've included correctly-punctuated direct speech." That's your dialogue, isn't it? And of course, we can take these off as we write.

So let me show you now how I'd write this paragraph.

Okay, so I'm going to start here with a fronted adverbial of time to show when the next step of my story happens.

So I'm going to start with, "The next morning.

." Now, it's not necessarily the next morning, but we do know that Beowulf had to have a metal shield created.

So that could have taken some time.

So I'm going to say this is happening the next morning when they're heading to Eagleness.

So I could say Beowulf put on his armour, couldn't I? But I want to say a slightly different noun phrase.

So I'm going to say, "The battle.

." I could say "battle weary," but I don't think that actually Beowulf is weary.

I think he is determined as ever.

So I'm going to say, "The battle-hardened.

." I could say, old warrior or old king.

I think I wanna show here that he's still someone who's very respected.

So I'm going to say, "The battle-hardened old king." What did he do? Yeah, he's putting on all his armour, isn't he? His weaponry.

So I'm gonna say, "Put on his.

." Ah, what's that special word for a piece of armour going over the torso? Do you remember? Yeah, the corslet.

So I could say, "Put on his chainmail corslet." And I think I'm gonna have him picking up this brand new shield that he's just had made for him.

So "He put on his chainmail corslet and he lifted.

." We could say his newly-made metal shield, but when we make metal, we forge it, don't we? So I could say, "He lifted his newly.

." And this is a compound adjective, isn't it, with a hyphen? "His newly-forged metal shield." Okay, so, I've given this idea of him getting prepared for battle.

So now he has to gather his warriors together, doesn't he? And head towards Eagleness.

So, I want to show that he's taking lots of good warriors with him.

So I think I'm gonna use a non-finite -ing complex sentence, starting with a verb in its -ing form.

I'm gonna do gathering.

Gathering what? What's he gathering together? Yeah, I could say, "Gathering his bravest warriors." Where does he then start to lead them? Yeah, I could say "he," it's got to be "he," 'cause he's the one gathering, so "he" has to be after the comma.

So "Gathering his bravest warriors, he let them off." And we could say, "over.

." What kind of countryside might it be? Wanna make it sound a bit tense and bleak, don't we? So let's have it as, "over the barren moorlands.

." That makes it sound kind of dark and gloomy, doesn't it? "Over the barren moorlands towards Eagleness." I mean, that Eagleness is this headland, isn't it? Where the dragon is thought to be living.

Okay, so, now I want to describe Eagleness.

So I'm gonna say.

Well, they got there first of all.

In order for us to describe it, they need to be there.

So I'm gonna say, "Before long," that's my fronted adverbial of time, and then I'm going to describe it kind of looming above them.

So I could say, "There's something headland loomed above them." Hmm, yeah, instead of headland, we could use that great word promontory, couldn't we? So, "There's something promontory.

." Oh, I think I could do another compound adjective here.

I could say, "The wind-whipped promontory.

." And in fact, I could even use that adjective bleak as well, couldn't I? So let's say, "Before long, the bleak, wind-whipped" with my hyphen to make a compound adjective, so "the bleak, wind-whipped promontory.

." Oh sorry, spelling mistake there, promontory.

Promontory.

There we go.

I could say, "was looming or loomed," both are fine.

So I think I'm gonna go for "was looming." So, "was looming in front of them." And because I'm going to continue describing it, I'm actually going to do a semicolon, because I wanna do another piece of very closely related description.

So I'm going to say.

Oh, this time I'm gonna use a different type of fronted adverbials, one of my success criteria.

I'm gonna do a fronted adverbial of place.

I'm gonna say, "On every side.

." What's going to surround this headland on every side? Yeah, well then it's got the ocean, hasn't it? So I'm gonna say, "On every side it was battered.

." Again, trying to show this sense of threat.

Even the headland is under attack, "was battered by.

What's it gonna be battered by? Calm, blue waters? No, we want tension, don't we? So, "by icy.

." Ooh, you know when you get on the top of waves, you get this white bits, don't you? And that shows the kind of choppiness of the sea.

So I can say, "icy, white-capped", there's another compound adjective, "white-capped waves." Okay, we've done some really nice rich description there of that headland.

I think I've really set the scene and I've connected those two closely related sentences with my semicolon.

So now I wanna have Beowulf looking for the dragon.

So a bit action from him.

And I think I'll use here a fronted adverbial of manner, to show how determined he is.

I'm gonna say, "Full of determination." What's he doing at this point, full of determination? Yeah, he's looking, isn't he, for signs of this dragon.

So, "Full of determination, Beowulf.

." did what? Yeah, we say say, "looked around the headland." Hmm, yes.

Scanned might be a better word, wouldn't it? So, "Beowulf scanned the desolate place." Yeah, let's do the desolate headland, that's nice, isn't it? Desolate is a good word to show how bleak it is.

I've already used bleak and barren.

So desolate is a good third option there.

Headland for what? What's he looking for as he looks over this headland? Yeah, we could say "for signs of life," couldn't we? Or "for any sign of life." So he's looking isn't he, for any clues at all, that the dragon is here.

Oh, no, any sign of life.

There we go.

Any sign of life, any sign of clues.

Okay.

So, now, I want to say he hasn't seen anything.

So that's when he starts to shout and banged down his sword, isn't it? So let's see if we can include that here.

So I could say, "Then, with a.

." Oh, in fact I can do two fronted adverbials in a row here.

So I've got a fronted adverbial of time, and then I'm gonna do a fronted adverbial of manner.

I'm gonna say, "with a roar of fury.

." So we've got a double fronted adverbial here, "with a roar of fury.

." What did he do? Yeah, we could say, "he lifted his sword.

." And did what with it? Yeah, "and he banged it" or "and he pounded it against the rocks." Which you prefer, banged up, pounded it? Yeah, I think pounded it.

"And he pounded it angrily against the rocks." Okay.

Now, I want to say what he's saying at this point too.

What's he shouting at the dragon.

Well, I think he's gonna tell it to come out, isn't he? "Come out and fight." So, I'm going to have a new line here, and I'm gonna open my speech mark.

I'm gonna have a speech first sentence.

So what Beowulf says is going to come first.

I'm going to say, "Come out and fight me, you vile worm." So he's insulting the dragon, kind of trying to goad it outside.

Now I've come to the end of what I want to say, so I'm gonna put my exclamation mark, close the inverted commas, and then I'm going to have my reporting clause where I say who's speaking, so I'm gonna say, "He roared.

." And then I want to add a little bit extra detail here.

I think I'm gonna say, "he roared into the howling wind." Just that extra descriptive detail really gives this impression of this headland, this place where they're going to fight, being extremely desolate and bleak.

Okay, let's read this through.

Read with me.

"The next morning, the battle-hardened old king put on his chainmail corslet and he lifted his newly-forged metal shield.

Gathering his bravest warriors, he led them off over the barren moorlands towards Eagleness.

Before long, the bleak, wind-whipped promontory was looming in front of them; on every side, it was battered by icy, white-capped waves.

Full of determination, Beowulf scanned the desolate headland for any sign of life.

Then, with a roar of fury, he lifted his sword and he pounded angrily against the rocks.

'Come out and fight me, you vile worm!' he roared into the howling wind." Okay.

So, have I met my success criteria? Well, I've got lots of narrative elements going on.

We saw that dialogue there.

We saw "roar of fury" for some emotion.

We've got description of the headland, and of course lots of action going on where he's pounding the rocks and so on.

We've got cohesive devices, including several fronted adverbials, including fronted adverbial of time here.

We had our fronted adverbials of manner, for instance here and here, with "full of determination." And we've got also things like as semicolons as well.

And we've got other compound sentences as well like this one with "and he." So we've met that one.

We've got loads of compound adjectives like battle-hardened, wind-whipped, and then over here, white-capped peaks.

And we've got our direct speech correctly punctuated at the end as well.

Okay, you've seen my version, now it's your turn.

I want you to write your third paragraph using your success criteria and your plan to write.

And make sure you think or say your sentence before you write it, so you've got a clear idea of what you want to say.

And then check it back to make sure you wrote down what you're planning to do.

So pause the video and have a go in writing your third paragraph, really working on setting that tense mood we're aiming for.

Good job.

Well done.

Here's an example of how the start of that paragraph could look.

I've written, "Ignoring Wiglaf's protests, the battle-hardened old warrior put on his chainmail armour.

He gathered his bravest warriors together and they set off anxiously towards Eagleness.

Soon, they were gazing over at a bleak, barren promontory, which was battered on all sides by icy waves.

All around it, there were sheer, wind-whipped cliffs." So we tried to start off here describing Eagleness in that tense way.

Have we met our success criteria? Well, we've got a range of narrative elements.

We've got "gathered" as an action, "anxiously" shows his emotion.

and "sheer, wind-whipped cliffs" as a description.

We've got plenty of cohesive devices.

For example, we've got, a non-finite -ing complex sentence, "and" to make a compound sentence, "soon" as fronted adverbial of time, and "which" to make a relative complex sentence.

And we've got a combined adjective here as "battle hardened." We haven't used direct speech yet, but let's see some in the next section.

And here's how the rest of the paragraph could look.

I've written, "Determinedly, Beowulf peered through the driving rain that battered the desolate place, hoping to find some trace of the dragon's lair.

As he roared in fury, he banged his iron-plated sword against the salt-covered rocks of the headland.

'Come out and face me you fiend!' Beowulf bellowed angrily." So again, we've got our narrative elements which are really used here to show that tension.

"Desolate" showing a description, "banging" there as an action, and some dialogue at the end here.

We've got cohesive devices, like "determinedly" as a fronted adverbial of manner.

We've got here, "hoping," creating a non-finite -ing complex sentence.

And "as" to make an adverbial complex sentence.

And we've got our combined adjectives, like "soft-covered," and we've also got "iron-plated" there.

And we've got our direct speech at the end here as well.

So we've really tried to show that tense mood through the use of all those narrative elements and through meeting our success criteria.

Really good job for your effort in that third paragraph.

Good work.

So now, let's get ready to write the fourth paragraph.

And here, we're going to follow the same process of oral rehearsal in order to prepare ourselves to write.

So, here are two notes for my fourth paragraph.

And remember that this is the paragraph where the dragon emerges and approaches.

So we're going to want to describe the dragon in a way that adds to this tense mood, to show how terrifying it is as it comes closer and closer.

So my notes say, "Puff of smoke on windswept headland" and "blood-soaked serpent snaked out of hole." So you see that already in my notes, I'm trying to set that mood.

So how could I say it in complete sentences as part of my oral rehearsal? Well, I could say, "All of a sudden, there came a dark puff of smoke from the windswept headland.

As the Geat warriors watched anxiously, the blood-soaked serpent slowly snaked out of its well-hidden hole." So we've used there "all of a sudden" as a fronted adverbial of time, show this happening quickly.

And then I've got descriptions of the dragon, as a blood-soaked serpent, and saying it comes from a well-hidden hole, adding a kind of sinister idea there as well.

So we're using our narrative elements and our cohesive devices in our oral rehearsal here.

So how could you have a go at doing the same thing here? I've got two new notes, "back covered in leather spines; sinuous, barbed tail" and "razor-sharp talons; in dark, glowing eyes." So this is description, isn't it? So how could you say these notes out loud as complete sentences, connecting them with those different cohesive devices while really trying to maintain this tense, dark mood? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Really good job.

Maybe you said something like this.

"The dragon, whose back was covered in leathery spines, had a sinuous, barbed tail that cluttered across the barren ground, On its scaly hands, there were razor-sharp talons and it's dark, glowing eyes seems to be fixed on Beowulf." So, we've taken those notes and we've tried to say out loud some really tense sentences.

And of course, I had a much easier job than you 'cause I wrote mine down.

But all that oral rehearsal you've just done will really help you when you come to write in a moment.

So now, as our first part of this task, I'd like you try and orally rehearse your whole fourth paragraph out loud, trying to use a range of these devices to connect your ideas.

So, as before, make sure you look at your plan and your text map if you want, and say the sentences out loud that you'd like to write, trying to use different pieces of devices to see what works, including those different fronted adverbials.

And remember, we're trying to add tension to a narrative, trying to include a piece of direct speech that adds that tension, along with all our other narrative elements used in a tense way, and trying to see if we can find a place to include those compound adjectives as well.

So pause the video, have a go orally rehearsing this fourth paragraph.

Well done.

Fantastic job.

Here is Izzy's oral rehearsal of this paragraph.

"Suddenly, a small puff of grey smoke appeared from between the rocks on the windswept promontory.

As Beowulf peered through the driving rain, he saw a vast, blood-covered serpent; it was snaking slowly but surely out of a well-concealed hole amid the rocks.

On its back, there are row of leathery spines and its tail was sinuous and barbed.

The Geat warriors gazed anxiously at the beast's razor-sharp talons, but Beowulf glared proudly into its dark, glowing eyes.

Slowly, the dragon slid down the headland towards the weather-beaten hero.

'Do your worst, worm' Beowulf growled threateningly." So our dialogue at the end there, really showing that tense mood.

But we've tried to set that throughout, through the descriptions of the dragon here.

So I've used my different piece of devices, like my fronted adverbials, like "suddenly" and "on its back." And then my description really tries to show a negative portrayal, a negative description of this dragon by describing it in this very sinister way.

Really well done for your oral rehearsal there.

It's going to really help you in a moment when we write.

So now it's your turn to write this paragraph.

We're going to follow the same success criteria as we did before.

And as before, try to say or think each sentence before you write it, and check it back afterwards, really using your plan carefully.

So pause the video and have a go at writing this fourth paragraph, really showing me that tense mood in your work.

Have a go.

Fantastic job.

Well done.

Here's an example of how the start of this paragraph could look.

I've written, "At that moment, a puff of grey smoke appeared on the windswept headland.

Instantly, Beowulf knew it was the dragon.

As he watched, a filth-encrusted serpent emerged slowly from a well-hidden hole in the headland.

On its back, there were rows of sharp-tipped leathery spines; behind it, a sinuous, barbed tail snaked and curled." So I'm trying to give this dragon a really sinister impression, aren't I? So you've got our narrative elements, like "watched" as my action and "filth-encrusted serpent" as a description.

I've got my cohesive devices, like "at that moment" as a fronted adverbial of time, "as" to make a complex sentence.

And then I've got a semicolon there, and "behind it" as a fronted adverbial of place, because I've used the two closely related sentences that describe the dragon's body.

I've got my combined adjectives here, like "well-hidden" and "sharp-tipped." And I don't have direct speech in this section, but it's coming up in a moment.

So here's how the rest of this paragraph could look.

I've written, "The Geat warriors gulped as they saw its razor-sharp talons crunch across the scree, but Beowulf had no fear.

Gazing into the beast's dark, glowing eyes, he longed for revenge.

The vile creature slid slowly down the headland towards the weather-beaten warrior.

'Prepare to meet your maker, serpent!' the old king roared." So again, I've got my narrative elements, "gulped" there, kind of showing emotion, isn't it, showing their fear.

Then we got "dark, glowing eyes" as description, "slid" as some action, and then a dialogue at the end there, which really shows Beowulf's feelings as well.

We've got our cohesive devices, adverbial complex sentence there using "as," "but" to make a compound sentence, and "gazing" as a non-finite -ing complex sentence.

And we've got our compound adjectives, like "razor-sharp" and "weather-beaten." And we've got that direct speech at the end there as well.

Really well done for your effort in that paragraph.

We've got to the end of our build-up, and I think you've done a fantastic job of showing that really tense mood that we're aiming to create, and really increased the tension as we head towards the climax of our narrative.

Great job.

Let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've written the build-up in "Beowulf and the Dragon" aiming to share a tension rising in the story, as the fight between Beowulf and the dragon nears.

And we aim to include a range of narrative elements including action, description, emotion, and dialogue, using these to add tension.

We know we can connect ideas from our notes using a range of cohesive devices, including a range of fronted adverbial.

And we know it's helpful to orally rehearse our ideas for sentences before we write, including creating ideas for direct speech to show emotions.

You've done a fantastic job in writing this build-up.

I hope you're really proud of the piece of work that you've produced.

I'd love to see you again in future lessons where we're going to write the climax of this story, and share the dramatic events that happened when Beowulf and the dragon fight.

I'll see you there.

Goodbye.