Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and it is great to see you on another lesson in this "Twisted Tree" sequence.

So I'm super excited about today's lesson where we are going to be writing a fantastic article about the death of the draugr in "The Twisted Tree." So should we get started? So today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome, so let's take a look at what it is.

So by the end of today's lesson, everybody should be able to do the following, which is I can annotate a model article and I can also write my own about the killing of the draugr.

We have some very important words in our lesson, our keywords, let's take a quick look at what they are.

So firstly, formal tone, a way of writing or speaking that is respectful, serious, and follows traditional rules of language.

Third person, a point of view in writing where the writer is removed and uses pronouns like he, she, it, or they.

And finally, a noun appositive, which is a phrase that explains or identifies a noun further.

So for example, "My friend, a skilled musician, plays the piano." In that sentence, "a skilled musician" would be the noun appositive.

So super excited for today's lesson because by the end of it you are going to have a fantastic written article about the killing of the draugr.

So in order to get there, we have the two following learning cycles.

Our first learning cycle is going to be all about annotating a model article, so we are going to look at an example that does things really, really well.

We're gonna pick out what it does well.

And then in learning cycle two, we are going to write our own newspaper article, so really excited to see how you got with that one.

But let's get started with learning cycle one.

So newspaper articles generally have the following conventions.

They are written in third person.

They have a formal tone that avoids slang.

And finally, they use a variety of language devices to intrigue the reader.

So my first question for you is as follows.

Why do you think newspaper articles usually have these conventions? Why do they have them? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas if you're working independently, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic start to that lesson, I'm really enjoying those conversations that are taking place.

Full of ideas, which is lovely to hear, so let's keep that going as we go throughout today's lesson.

I'm particularly enjoying all those conversations that kind of focus on the unbiased nature of newspaper articles, which kind of helps with the third person and formal tone, but also the fact that they have to hook the reader in, which may explain why they use language devices.

So let's take a look at a model article.

So this model article can be found in the additional materials accompanying today's lesson.

So let's read this model article.

"Draugr strikes Skjebne again.

Skjebne left reeling after multiple draugr sightings.

Skjebne has been left in shock and dread once more after multiple sightings of an otherworldly creature in the local area.

Distressed residents have been looking to history to explain this unnatural and nightmarish phenomenon.

Is it possible that the mythical draugr has been resurrected?" So a really fantastic start there, isn't it? Really kind of impactful, does lots of things really well.

So let's take a look at what it does well.

I've got some questions on the board for you.

So we have the first question, which is, what language device has been used in the headline? Then we've got the second question, which is, how many words is in the subheading and why? And our last question is, what do you notice about that last sentence? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic work on that, and I absolutely agree with you.

There's lots of things that are going on here that are really, really effective, aren't they? So let's unpick what they are.

So in the first one, that headline, the language device that we see is alliteration and it's been used to create a catchy headline.

So, "Draugr strikes Skjebne again." The striking of Skjebne is alliterative and that makes it a really catchy headline.

Then we've also got the subheading itself.

So the subheading is short, it is only seven words, and it is there because it gives a brief summary of the story to follow.

It says, "Skjebne left reeling after multiple draugr sightings." So we know absolutely what this story is going to be about.

It's about the local community seeing or potentially seeing this kind of scary mythical creature, the draugr.

It does not need to say any more information than that.

And if it did, it would become less catchy, wouldn't it? And then again, what do we notice about the last sentence? Well, we know it is a rhetorical question.

It says, "Is it possible that the mythical draugr has been resurrected?" It's a rhetorical question that is used to engage the reader.

So we don't just have to restrict our language devices to the headline, we can use them effectively sometimes throughout our actual wider text as well.

So we move on to the main body.

"Until now, all of the sightings have been in the darkest depths of night.

However, yesterday afternoon, in broad daylight, the creature was spotted on five separate occasions.

It is thought that the obscure blanket of fog that shrouded the mountains allowed the monster to conceal itself as it prowled through the dense forests." So again, discussion question forming.

Where does the main body use language devices to interest the reader? Where have language devices been used here to make this writing as engaging as it can possibly be to really kind of hook the reader into wanting to read on? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, well done if you were able to spot the followings.

We've got alliteration again.

We had it in the headline, didn't we? And now we've also got it in the main body, "the darkest depths." And we also have a metaphor, "the obscure blanket of fog," which is a really effective metaphor, I think, kind of capturing the kind of sinister, quite chilling weather conditions that we might find in "The Twisted Tree." The main body continues.

"Yrsa, a local resident, stated that at first she thought it was a lone wolf.

However, she soon stressed that the truth was far more petrifying.

She has described the beast as shrunken and withered, with long matted hair that trails behind it.

Nauseatingly, the stench of decay precedes the creature, which is only confirmed when you see the rotting bones protruding out of its emaciated flesh.

Most sickening, however, is the clicking of its claws against the cabin.

Claws as sharp as glistening knives." So really, really kind of engaging story there.

So we use a couple of things here, we see a couple of things here that make this so engaging.

So this sentence uses a noun appositive.

"So Yrsa, a local resident, stated that at first she thought it was a lone wolf." So the local resident is the noun appositive and we're gonna unpick that and why that's so effective in a minute.

And we've also got this definition here of what noun appositives are.

So they are really useful in newspaper articles because they give the reader more information about someone in a concise way.

So with Yrsa here, we do not need to know lots and lots about her, we do not need her life story, but we do need to know something about her and how it's relevant to the story.

And that is given to us in the noun appositive when it says "a local resident." So we know it's somebody who lives there, somebody who has local knowledge of the story itself.

So let's take a look at how we can create noun appositives in our own work.

So a noun appositive is a phrase that gives a piece of extra information about a noun in a concise way, and the sentence still makes sense without the noun appositive.

So for example, we would have a noun, we'd have a comma, we have a noun appositive, a comma, and a continued sentence.

And it might look something like this.

"My car is parked outside my house." So that is a perfectly fine sentence that makes sense on its own.

"My car is parked outside my house." However, there might be lots of cars parked outside my house, we might need to add a little bit more detail about which one is specifically mine, and we can use a noun appositive to do that.

So we can say "a red convertible." So, "My car, a red convertible, is parked outside my house." And that gives just a little bit more detail to that noun.

So we can apply that to "The Twisted Tree" itself.

We can talk about "the draugr has been spotted several times across Skjebne." So we can add a little bit more detail about what the draugr is.

We can say "an undead creature of the underworld." So when we put that all together, it reads as follows.

So, "The draugr, an undead creature of the underworld, has been spotted several times across Skjebne." So a really, really nice sentence that kind of gives that little bit more detail to the reader.

Again, we could do the same with Martha.

So we've got Martha and we have the continued sentence, which is, "reportedly saw the draugr and was able to chase it away." So my task for you is as follows.

How could you create a noun appositive here? What could you add to this sentence to add a little bit more detail about Martha to really kind of let the reader understand who she is? So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic work on that.

And there are quite a few different things we could put here, couldn't we? We could focus on her nationality, her age, her personality, but I've gone for "a local teenage girl," so that could give the reader some grounding about why she's relevant to the story.

So then it reads as follows.

"Martha, a local teenage girl, reportedly saw the draugr and was able to chase it away." Quick check for understanding for me then, please.

So which sentence uses a noun appositive correctly? Is it A, "Stig, a friend of Martha's, grew increasingly concerned for her safety as the draugr advanced." Is it B, "Stig grew increasingly concerned for her safety as the draugr advanced." Or is it C, "Stig Martha's friend grew increasingly concerned for her safety as the draugr advanced." So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, superb work to everybody who identified A.

A uses a noun appositive correctly, doesn't it? The noun appositive is "a friend of Martha's," and that is a noun appositive for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, if we take that out, it still makes sense.

We could say, "Stig grew increasingly concerned for her safety as the draugr advanced." That makes perfect sense to us.

And the noun appositive also adds a bit more detail about the noun, in this case Stig, so the detail we have is that he is a friend of Martha.

So really great work if you were able to pick up on that in your own discussions.

Okay, so then we reach the tail of the article and it reads as follows.

"Skjebne authorities have urged residents to stay indoors after nightfall and to report any suspicious activities or sightings immediately.

The local police, along with a group of volunteers, have increased their patrols in the area.

Despite these measures, the draugr has continued to elude capture, leaving the community in a state of heightened alert and fear.

Yrsa, echoing the sentiment of many Skjebne residents, emphasised the need for vigilance and unity in the face of this, by saying, 'We must remain watchful and support each other during these trying times.

'" So really nice conclusion to the article, isn't it? So what does it do? It adds two things that are really, really nice.

So it adds a conclusion and sums up the article.

It gives a sense of resolution.

It doesn't solve the problem, it doesn't say, you know, the draugr has finally been caught.

It just adds some sense of resolution about what the community are doing in the face of these sightings.

And it also has an eyewitness account at the end which crucially has been punctuated and embedded within the article itself.

Okay, we have reached our first practise task of today's lesson, so let's take a look at what it is.

So can you improve this paragraph by adding the following things? Can you add a correctly punctuated interview quote? Can you add a noun appositive? And can you add a language device? And the extract reads as follows.

"Local resident Olav said he was fearful of the draugr and was leading a local group of residents to find it.

He said it reminded him of stories his grandfather once told, of a dark and mysterious figure that haunted Skjebne many years ago." So your task is to add those things on the board into this extract from a newspaper article.

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic work on that.

It's really lovely to see you kind of incorporating these things that we've only just learned or really focused on in learning cycle one to actually develop them into your writing to make it really, really fantastic and really, really effective and really, really impactful, which is exactly what we want our newspaper articles to be.

So let's take a look at how we could have approached this.

So it now reads, "Local resident Olav, a retired fisherman, admitted he was fearful of the draugr and was leading a local group of residents to find it.

He said, 'This creature reminds me of the stories my grandfather used to tell, about a dark and mysterious figure that haunted Skjebne many years ago.

' The striking similarities to these old tales has reignited the town's deep-seated fears and memories, prompting Olav and his neighbours to take action." And we can see we've got a few things here.

We've definitely got a correctly punctuated interview quote that has been embedded into the text itself.

We've got the noun appositive, so adding a little bit more information about Olav, which is that he's a retired fisherman.

And a language device, so we have the alliteration of the striking similarities of what happened a long time ago.

So as you can see, these really enrich this article, they really just make it that little bit more impactful, that little bit more powerful, so well done for incorporating similar things in your own work.

Okay, then we have reached our final learning cycle of today's lesson, which is where we are gonna get that fantastic opportunity to put all of this into practise to write a really excellent article about the death of the draugr.

So we are going to be writing up our own newspaper articles, including all of those things that we have focused on in this lesson and previous lessons.

So those wonderful headlines, those wonderful subheadings, those multiple paragraph outlines, the body, the tail, the introduction, all of those things that make a newspaper article as impactful as it can possibly be.

So let's get started.

So here is a plan for the article reporting on the killing of the draugr by Martha that you could use.

So we have the headline, which is "The dreadful draugr meets ugly end." We've got the subheading, "Skjebne sleeps easy as draugr killed at last." Then we've got the opening, some things that might be relevant for the opening.

So talking about the who that was involved, like Martha, Stig, Martha's mother, and the draugr.

Talking about what happened, Martha killing the draugr.

Talking about why, to end its reign of terror.

And talking about where this took place and when, so at dusk and when the sun was setting.

We might think about for our main body kind of developing these ideas even further.

So we wanna talk about how Martha actually killed the draugr, so with the axe.

We might want to talk about the commentary from Martha's mother and how relieved she is that Martha wasn't killed herself.

And then we may want to talk about how Stig feels, how he feels so grateful to Martha after being saved.

So all of these things could be a really nice addition to the main body of an article.

And then finally, we want the tail of our article where we want to offer some degree of resolution, some degree of conclusion to the story.

So we might talk about how Martha and her mother have decided to remain in Skjebne, to remain at Mormor's cabin.

We might want to speak about how Martha is going to recuperate at Mormor's cabin.

And then we might want to speak about how they are committed to watering the Twisted Tree going forward to kind of prevent any events like this happening in the future.

So quick check for understanding for me then, please.

Which part of the article introduces the who, what, where, when, and why? Where does that come in our articles? So hit that pause button, complete the task, do push play when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, great job if you identified the opening.

It comes in the opening of our article.

Our readers want to know what is going on as soon as possible, so they want to know the who, what, where, when, and why as quickly as possible, so that needs to come in our opening.

We can develop those things in a bit more detail as we move through the article, but our initial opening definitely needs to cover those things, and great job if you picked up on that.

Okay, second check for understanding for me then, please.

Which part of the article needs to be eight words or fewer? Is it opening, is it tail, or is it subheading? Once again, hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, excellent work to everybody who identified subheading.

Yes, of course, our subheading.

We want it to be short, snappy, and concise to really hook our reader in.

Anything shorter than eight words and it's not really going to communicate the story, but anything longer and it's going to become a bit dry, a bit boring, and it might not hook our audience's attention in the way that we intend.

So well done if you picked up on that.

Okay, we have reached our final practise task of today's lesson, and it is as follows.

I would like you to write your own newspaper article reporting on Martha's killing of the draugr, and I would like you to use your plan to help you.

And I would like you to ensure that your article is written in the third person and it has a formal tone.

And we just have a couple of success criteria there to really help guide us with each of these individual elements.

So for our headline, we want it to be short and snappy.

We can use alliteration or rhyme or language to intrigue the reader in some way.

Again, our subheading, we want that to be eight words or fewer, a very quick summary of what the article is about.

Again, our opening, it must include those five Ws.

It must include the who, what, where, when, and why.

And we can even add some emotive language in there if we so wish.

Then we move on to the main body of our article, which is going to be all about the key details of the event itself.

So in this case, the killing of the draugr by Martha.

And we might want to include some interview quotes here as well.

And finally, our tail is going to include any other background information and it's also going to bring our article to an end by offering some kind of conclusive tone and talking about the next steps that are going to happen as a result of the news story.

Okay, then super excited to see how you get on with this one, so hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to move on to a little bit of feedback.

Okay, excellent work on that task.

It is personally lovely to see you bringing all of these elements together to be producing a first-rate news article, a really fantastic piece of work that includes all of those wonderful things that we've been looking at over the last few lessons.

So what I'd like you to do as your feedback task for this is as follows.

Can you reread your newspaper article reporting on Martha's killing of the draugr? And in particular I would like you to look at the success criteria for each section.

Does each section of your article meet all of the criteria? And identify directly, so where is your headline, where is your subheading, where is your opening, where is your main body, and where is your tail? So hit that pause button, complete the feedback task, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, we have reached the end of today's lesson.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you, as always, and we have learned a lot, haven't we? So let's just recap all of the fantastic things that we have learned today.

So firstly, a newspaper article should be written in the third person.

A newspaper article should have a formal tone without using slang.

You can use language devices in a newspaper article to intrigue the reader.

You need to punctuate quotes correctly using speech marks in a newspaper article.

And finally, you can use a noun appositive in an article to give more information about a noun.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence, so thank you very much and goodbye.