1. An extract from Boy by Roald Dahl
Y8 Language Paper 1
An extract from Boy by Roald Dahl

2. Pre-reading
Can you remember a time when you felt really, really excited about something to EAT? Discuss with your neighbour. What was the item? Why did you love it so much? How did it make you feel?

3. What Roald Dahl books have you read. What are the adults like
What Roald Dahl books have you read? What are the adults like? What are the children like?

4. In this extract, the writer Roald Dahl describes a funny childhood incident, entitled ‘The Great Mouse Plot’.

5. Let’s read the whole extract
After each paragraph we are going to:
Talk about any words we aren’t sure of.
Quickly summarise and then label each paragraph with what is important in it.

6. After reading
What do the boys feel about the sweetshop? Whose side are we on and why?

7. 1. Read again the first part of the source, lines 1-4
List four things from this part of the text about the sweet shop. [4 marks]

8. The sweet-shop in Llandaff in the year 1923 was the very centre of our lives. To us, it was what a bar is to a drunk, or a church is to a Bishop. Without it, there would have been little to live for. But it had one terrible drawback, this sweet-shop. The woman who owned it was a horror. We hated her and we had good reason for doing so.

9. the sweet shop was in Llandaff
the sweet shop was the centre of the boys’ lives
the boys visited the sweet shop in 1923
the boys thought there would be nothing to live for without the sweet shop
the woman who owned the sweet shop was a horror
the boys hated the woman who owned the sweet shop

10. 2 Look in detail at this extract from lines 5-14 of the source
Her name was Mrs. Pratchett. She was a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip and a mouth as sour as a green gooseberry. She never smiled. She never welcomed us when we went in, and the only times she spoke were when she said things like, ‘I’m watchin’ you so keep yer thievin’ fingers off them chocolates!’ Or ‘I don’t want you in ‘ere just to look around! Either you forks out or you gets out’. But by far the most loathsome thing about Mrs. Pratchett was the filth that clung around her. Her apron was grey and greasy. Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk. It was her hands, however, that disturbed us most. They were disgusting. They were black with dirt and grime. They looked as though they had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day long.

11. How does the writer use language here to describe Mrs Pratchett?
You could include the writer’s choice of:
Words and phrases
Language features and techniques
Sentence forms

12. Metaphor Alliteration Verbs Emotive language Symbolism Simile Colour Onomatopoeia Personification Pathetic Fallacy Senses

13. Start of the sentence Quote from the text Sentence stem
Effect on the reader
The name
Pratchett
The phrase
Small skinny old hag
The word
Moustache
makes the reader think
that the boys see her as scary and strange. Hairy faces in women are linked to them being witches who often hate children and treat them badly.
The phrase the
Filth that clung around her
The description
Her apron was grey and greasy.
The detail about her hands
Her hands… disturbed us. They were disgusting. They were black with dirt and grime.
Further description of her hands
They looked as if they had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day long.

14. Language features and techniques
Quote from ‘Boy’
Type of technique and what this does
Effect on the reader of the technique
A mouth as sour as a green gooseberry
Simile – compares two things, using like or as
Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it
Alliteration – words have repeated consonants (often at the beginning)

15. Sentence forms Quote from text Type of sentence Effect on the reader
She never…She never
Repetition (sometimes called parallelism)
‘I’m watchin’ you so keep yer thievin’ fingers off them chocolates!’
Speech
Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk.
List

16. The writer’s use of language creates the impression that Mrs Pratchett is a horrible old woman whom the boys dislike. The use of the list sentence “her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk.” makes the reader feel really disgusted as there are so many things on her blouse, it shows she is a really messy eater. She also doesn’t care about the fact that she works in a shop selling food and should really be clean to show that it is a hygienic place.

17. Now it is your turn to write about how the writer uses language features:
Roald Dahl describes Mrs Pratchett’s mouth using a simile… Try to say TWO things in the explain Try to use TWO sentence stems

18. 3. You now need to look at the whole of the source.
The text is a description of an amusing childhood incident.
How has the writer structured the text to bring it to life for the reader?
You could write about:
Why the writer changes the focus as the extract develops from the sweet shop to Mrs Pratchett and then to the classroom
Any other structural features that you think bring it to life for the reader.

19. Being a writer is a lot like being a film director.
You have to think about:
How you start to make the reader / viewer interested?
What kind of shots do you use:
Establishing
Close up
Extreme close up
Point of view
Panning

20. How ‘the camera’ moves / writing – discuss and use examples in the classroom
Camera shot
Why used
Writing
Establishing shot
Used to set a scene
Setting at the beginning of a story or text to set the scene for a character to then inhabit
Zoom
Use to focus on a particular aspect of a scene, to show detail
Focusing in on a particular aspect of the setting that is important
Extreme close up
Used to show emotion on the face of a character
Focused writing on a character’s emotions or even inside their thoughts
Panning
Moving around a location to show everything that is in the character’s world
Moving over details in a setting - perhaps in a list sentence, or several list sentences in a paragraph.

21. Storyboard the source

22. Can you identify elements of the structure?
1. What viewpoint?
Who is telling the story? What perspective is it from?
2. When is it?
What time is it? What sort of sequence do I see?
3. Where am I?
What’s the place, location, setting? How did I find out?
4. Who is here?
What character(s) have I met and how were they introduced?
5. How is it made?
What shapes, styles and patterns can I see in the sentences?

23. Some ideas about structure
Sequence – what order things come in
Movement from big to small – ideas or perspectives
Introductions - of characters - and developments
Narrative perspective
Beginnings and endings
Check their understanding of these terms – group task to identify these things in Birdsong or a practice text.
Examples:
Sequence
Movement from big to small – ideas or perspectives
Taking an outside to inward perspective
Introductions and developments
Reiterations
Repetition, threads, patterns, motifs
Summaries and conclusions
Shifts in focus
Narrative perspective
Connections / links across paragraphs
Topic sentences

24. Sweet shop: Mrs Pratchett: (and parts of her body) Classroom: Narrative voice:

25. Feature Key Questions Introducing Changing / Developing Concluding
How does the text start? What does the writer focus on? Narrative perspective?
Changing / Developing
Where does the focus shift? What changes? When?
Concluding
How does the text end? Is there a link or contrast to the beginning?
Ask kids to identify these things first – do on board together

26. At the beginning Dahl focuses our attention on

27. At the beginning Dahl focuses our attention on the sweet shop because it is so important to the boys “it was the centre of our lives”. It is setting up where the plot will happen and bringing the story to life straight away as most readers will love sweets and sweetshops.

28. He then moves our focus to… We look at…We focus most on…This brings the text to life for the reader because Lastly Dahl focuses on… Dahl writes in…

29. At first Then At this point Narrows down Shifts away from Focuses in The author returns to Changes the scene to Wide view of Now There is a change of perspective when The reader / we are introduced to This progresses to Making the reader focus their attention on

30. Q4
Focus this part of your answer on the second half of the source, from line 26 to the end.
Roald Dahl once said: ‘Every writer in the world has to use characters that have something interesting about them.’
To what extent do you agree that the characters in this extract have something interesting about them?
In your response, you could:
write about your own impressions of the characters
evaluate how the writer has created these impressions
support your opinions with quotations from the text.
[20 marks]

31. On your exam paper and source make notes – how are they interesting?:
Roald Dahl The boys Thwaites Mrs Pratchett

32. I think the characters in this story are all interesting
I think the characters in this story are all interesting. Roald Dahl seems really interesting in this extract. He seems like a natural leader. “Hold on a tick,” I said. “Don’t throw it away.”” which suggests he is clever and confident. “Thwaites hesitated. They all looked at me.” makes the reader think that they listen to him and are waiting for his idea. Dahl also seems interesting when… The boys seem interesting because… Thwaites seems like an interesting character… Mrs Pratchett is interesting here because The characters all seem almost…