Dystopian fiction

Objective & content

This sheet on dystopian fiction opens on Adam's book review for the school website. It starts by explaining what a dystopia is, the opposite of a utopia, and names two famous examples, George Orwell's 1984 and The Hunger Games. Then it reviews The Grey City, an invented novel: in the clean, safe city of Nova, the government controls everything, cameras watch the citizens and books are forbidden, until sixteen-year-old Mila discovers that the government has lied for years. The review carries every word of the tasks, from society, freedom and citizens to obey, rebels, surveillance and gripping. By the end, pupils understand and use the words to describe a dystopian world and to review a story ("The government controls...", "Citizens aren't allowed to...", "The plot is gripping").

Pedagogical guide

The vocabulary work comes out of the review, never from a list. The real novels are named but never quoted. Page 1 checks understanding with six multiple-choice questions. Page 2 matches eight words such as poverty, forbidden and surveillance with their meanings, then uses ten words in new sentences, with two extra words in the box. Page 3 turns five adjectives into nouns with -ness (dark, darkness), with a worked example, and ends on a crossword: pupils find ten words from clues about the review. It is the hardest task, as pupils must recall each word and spell it with no word box to help. Every task tests words, never grammar. The sheet fits the cycle 4 theme "Langages".

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask pupils which dystopian books, films or series they know; write the titles on the board.
2. (10 min) Pupils read the review and answer the six questions.
3. (12 min) Page 2: match the eight meanings, then complete the ten sentences.
4. (8 min) Page 3: make the five nouns with -ness.
5. (12 min) Pupils complete the crossword from the clues.
6. (8 min) Correct with the answer key on pages 4 and 5; ask "Would you like to read The Grey City? Why?"

Adaptations

[S] Read the review aloud together first; ask pupils which dystopian books, films or series they know.

[A] After the -ness task, pupils invent three rules for a dystopian school. To take it further, pupils write the blurb or the first page of their own dystopian story.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of the three pupil pages per pupil, in colour or in black and white. Pages 4 and 5 are the answer key with teacher notes: keep them. Pupils should know the present simple, the present perfect, have to, must, can't, be allowed to and relative clauses with where.