Our town's best-kept secret

Objective & content

This writing sheet teaches pupils to write a magazine article (a catchy title; a hook: Ask any... and they'll tell you...; Fair enough, ... But...; a contrast: From the outside..., Inside, though...; What makes it special isn't just... It's...; Have you ever...?; an ending that sends the reader somewhere). Pupils read Theo's article for a teen magazine, take its techniques and write their own. By the end, they can write a lively article of 180 to 250 words that speaks to the reader.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 has Theo's article, with a photo of a Victorian market hall. Tourists in his town all visit the castle, but Theo would send them to the old Market Hall by the river: a grey building that was nearly knocked down in the 1990s and has been transformed inside, with over thirty stalls and live music on Saturdays. What makes it special is the people, like the man who has run the bike repair stall for forty years and the students who started a bubble tea stand with a table and a borrowed fridge. The town and the hall are made up. Pupils answer six questions with three options each, read the useful phrases, set out in the order of the article (a catchy title, the hook, contrast, bring it to life, talk to the reader, the ending), and match five words from the text to their meanings. Page 2 starts with four pairs of sentences where pupils tick the livelier one for a magazine. Then pupils write about a place from a card (an old cinema, a climbing centre in a church, a lake for wild swimming, a night market, each with three facts) or a place in their own town, and tick the checklist. The answer key gives a model article about the old cinema.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask "Where would you take a visitor in our town, apart from the obvious places?"
2. (10 min) Read the article aloud; pupils answer the questions.
3. (10 min) Read the useful phrases with the class; pupils do the word match and find the passives.
4. (5 min) Page 2: pupils choose the livelier sentences.
5. (25 min) Pupils choose a place, write the article and tick the checklist.
6. (5 min) Pupils read only their title and first sentence; the class picks the best hook.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils write one paragraph for each line of the phrases box.

[A] Pupils add a quote from a person who works there.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 and 2 per pupil. Page 3 is the answer key, the model article and the teacher notes: keep it. Pupils need the passive, the present perfect and relative clauses. To take it further, the class makes a magazine of "best-kept secrets" for visitors.