Beowulf faces a new foe
I can outline the key events in the fifth chapter of ‘Beowulf’ and I can explain the author’s language choices.
Beowulf faces a new foe
I can outline the key events in the fifth chapter of ‘Beowulf’ and I can explain the author’s language choices.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- After Grendel is defeated, another monster - his mother - arrives at Heorot, taking away a Dane.
- Beowulf and his companions travel across bleak countryside to find her lair.
- Beowulf fights with Grendel's mother, narrowly avoiding death before killing her with a special sword.
- Authors make specific language choices in their writing in order to have a specific effect on the reader.
- A kenning is an Old English way of replacing a noun with a two-word phrase that describes it indirectly.
Keywords
Setting - where a story takes place
Language choices - decisions writers make in order to create a certain impression or have a certain effect on the reader
Impressions - feelings about a person, place or thing gained from reading a text
Kenning - a phrase of two words that replaces a noun that is often used in Old English poetry
Common misconception
Pupils may struggle to identify the effect of the kennings in the second task.
You may want to complete this task orally with partner talk, or as a class discussion, rather than as independent work.
To help you plan your year 6 english lesson on: Beowulf faces a new foe, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 6 english lesson on: Beowulf faces a new foe, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 english lessons from the 'Beowulf': reading unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions
go faster
flickering
be amazed by something
make burn again
Exit quiz
6 Questions
woken up
put on
well-known
dangerous