Elephants in Paris

Learning Intention:

I am learning to identify characteristics that define an author’s individual style so that I can experiment with stylistic features in my own work.

Success Criteria:

• I can analyse a poem to identify stylistic features used by the author
• I can experiment with the stylistic features of an author

Essential knowledge:

View the video Understanding Styleungroup from the English Textual Concepts. Ensure students identify the following:

• Style includes anything unique to the author/illustrator

Vocabulary

Read Blabbermouth, on page 31 of this issue of Touchdown. Discuss the use of repeated language when referring to the parrot, ensuring students note that most often the parrot is referred to as ‘it’. Identify the vocabulary used to describe it that differs from ‘it’ (brash, outspoken bird). Emphasise that here a descriptive phrase has been used, as has the word ‘bird’ as a synonym for parrot.

Discuss other synonyms/descriptive phrases that might have been used in place of the word ‘it’. Sample responses include:

• Tropical creature
• Feathered friend
• Psittacines (The scientific term)
• Egg-layer
• Colourful bird

Discuss the following:

• Why do you think the author has chosen to use the word ‘it’ multiple times, rather than using synonyms/descriptive phrases to describe the parrot? (For stylistic purposes, to ensure the readers focus on the behaviour of the bird, rather than on descriptions of it, to make the syllable pattern work)

Emphasise that choices made by authors are usually deliberate.

Understanding text:

Read the first six lines of Elephants in Paris or listen to the audio file if you have a digital subscription. Discuss stylistic features used in the poem:

• The use of the word ‘they’
• The word ‘they’ featured three times in the same line, followed by verbs (they search! They hunt! They scour!)
• Discuss further language features that stand out, such as the use of French terminology, such as ‘ooh la la!’

Place students with a partner and instruct them to read the remainder of the following. Tell students that they should discuss further examples of the stylistic features identified earlier with their partner. Sample responses include:

• The repeated use of ‘they’ continues throughout the poem
• The word ‘they’ featured three times in the same line, followed by verbs (They sob! They moan! They roll around!)
• Examples of French language, such as, Moi! Moi! Moi! à plus tard! ‘Les éléphants
• Alliteration such as in the line ‘pachyderms are penitent’
• An example of Tier 3 language (Pachyderms which means a thick-skinned animal)
• The mention of specific sites in Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre

Those with a digital subscription can complete the interactive activity now.

Creating text:

Inform students that they will be composing poems about a topic, and exhibiting their own style points using those utilised in Elephants in Paris as inspiration.

Refer back to the poem to identify key elements of style including:

• Repeating pronouns (such as they)
• Using repeated pronouns followed by three different verbs in one line
• Featuring vocabulary from another language
• Using alliteration
• Including Tier 3, subject specific language

Inform students that their chosen topic will depend on which language they choose to feature vocabulary from. Remind them that Elephants in Paris features vocabulary from French. Tell students that they may choose to include vocabulary from any language they are already familiar with, or to use digital apps such as Google Translate to identify vocabulary from another language. Plan an example together, by identifying a language, a country, an animal and key tourist sites in the country.

Tell students that they will be required to conduct research into the location that will feature in their poem to identify key landmarks and places of interest. Refer students to sites such as Britannica Kidsungroup and National Geographic Kidsungroup to research their chosen country and landmarks and the animal they have selected. Instruct students to identify any technical terms that they might use in their poems through their research.

Students can choose whether to work on this activity in pairs or independently and whether they wish to make their poems rhyme or not.

Assessment for/as learning:

Instruct students to complete the following sentence stems as a self-reflection:

The stylistic features I was most inspired by was___

The way I used this feature in my poem was through___

In future, I would like to experiment further with stylistic features, such as___