Hire a Fly

Learning Intention

I am learning to identify the audience and language features of persuasive texts. 

Success Criteria

I can: 

• identify the audience of a text
• analyse language features of persuasive texts
• experiment with language features of persuasive text
• compose a persuasive text 
• include persuasive language features in my text.

Essential knowledge

Ensure students are familiar with the meaning of the following language features of persuasive texts: 

• Rhetorical questions (Questions that do not require an answer, and instead challenge readers to think/to question)
• First, second and third person pronouns (first: I, me, second: you, your, third: them, her, him, they).

Introduction

View the following two texts (note, there is no need to read the text, merely to view it for text length and the layout and organisation of elements on the page):

Save animals!ungroup from National Geographic Kids

Wildlife Conservationungroup from World Wildlife Fund (Click on the tab in the banner at the top, named ‘What WWF is Doing’) 

Discuss the following, using the think aloud strategy to guide responses: 

• Who do you think is the audience for each of the texts? (Think aloud, the text length and sentence length of Wildlife Conservation is longer, it features more challenging vocabulary, and it features less photos, so it is most likely for adults, while Save Animals features less text, shorter sentences and more pictures so it is most likely for children) 
• What is the purpose of each of these texts? (To persuade the reader to protect animals) 

Teacher modelling (I do)

10 minutes

Read Hire a Fly or listen to the audio version if you have a digital subscription. Explain the audience and the purpose of the text, by focusing on the following elements: 

The type of text: It is persuasive as it is trying to encourage readers to use flies as workers

Identify the elements that make this clear including the following: 

The opening lines:

One day you may decide to start your own business. Why not hire some house flies? 

Inform students that this encourages readers to consider how flies might be useful for them

The use of rhetorical questions, which encourages readers to question their preconceived ideas, such as: 

Why not hire some house flies? 

Guided practice (we do)

5 minutes

Discuss one example of each of the elements used to persuade readers that are listed in the following frame, (sample answers provided): 

Once you are confident students understand the elements identified, instruct them to work with a partner to identify further examples. Further responses have been provided in the table. Students should record their responses in their workbooks, using a table similar to the one displayed. 

Display a list of items that might not appear to be useful, for example: 

• A chocolate frying pan
• Stripy paint 
• A pet umbrella 
• A rotating ice-cream cone

Inform students that they are to select one of the items. Tell students that their task is to compose a persuasive text that persuades others to buy their chosen item. Inform students that you will first plan an example together. Select one of the items, for example a chocolate frying pan. Display a new table on the board with similar headings to the previous table and discuss sample answers in relation to the chosen topic. Note answers in the table, for students to refer to later. For example:  

Discuss how you might include these ideas in an article and compose the first paragraph together. 

Note, if access allows, complete the joint composition activity using Google Slides, and encourage students to add their ideas to the slide before deciding on the best ideas collaboratively. 

An example of a first paragraph is: 

Ever wondered why your kids' eyes glaze over at mealtimes? Do your family complain about boring meals? Never fear, the chocolate frying pan is here! No more bland meals that are left uneaten. Your friends and family will wolf down your food and be asking for seconds. Considering the chocolate industry is worth over $150 billion, they must be doing something right. 

Independent activity (you do)

25 minutes

More capable students can select their own item to compose their persuasive article about. Provide a list of criteria that students should strive to include and instruct them to plan their ideas first using the prompts in the table completed in the joint construction to guide their ideas. 

Criteria include: 

• Connect directly to the reader
• Include factual information about your chosen item (Students may search online for ideas or make up facts for the purpose of this task)
• Identify benefits of using the object 
• Include second person pronouns
• Feature rhetorical questions

Students may work independently or with a partner. 

Differentiation

Students who find idea generation challenging may use the ideas planned during the joint construction activity. 

Students who prefer to write about a topic of their choosing may use the following frame to guide their writing: 

1. A sentence that connects with the reader (note, use ‘you’ or ‘your’ to make the reader think the topic is important to them)

2. A rhetorical question that makes the reader think about the topic differently

3. List three benefits of using the product

4. List one fact about the product (you can make this up if you wish).

Teacher note: 

Differentiate the number of tasks based on students’ needs. When reducing the required content, focus on the following elements in order of priority: 

1. List three benefits of using the product
2. A rhetorical question that makes the reader think about the topic differently
3. Include a sentence that connects with the reader (note, use ‘you’ or ‘your’ to make the reader think the topic is important to them
4. List one fact about the product (you can make this up if you wish).

Instruct extension students to refer back to the article, Hire a Fly, to reflect on whether the author really intends readers to hire a fly, or if in fact their intention is to create humour. Tell students to refer back to the list of reasons why the article suggests readers should hire a fly and write a sentence in their workbooks that refutes each of the benefits suggested in the article. For example: 

• Despite the fact that you can find flies anywhere, their size means there are limited uses for them. 

• The fact they lay so many eggs means that in no time you’ll be overrun with more flies than you need. 

• Although they eat anything, they also eat all the human workers’ food which they won’t like. 

Assessment

Instruct students to swap articles with each other. Tell students to use the criteria to peer assess their partner’s work. Instruct students to allocate one point for each element of the criteria their partner has included. 

Instruct students to provide oral feedback to their partners and tell them they can edit their work based on the feedback if they wish. 

Students should record their responses to the following exit-ticket question in their workbooks: 

• What are some of the strategies that authors use to persuade readers?