The Lorikeets Are Sleeping

EN3-5Bungroup | ACELY1701ungroup

Students compose a factual text about Rainbow Lorikeets.

First, students read the poem ‘The Lorikeets are sleeping’. Using a copy of the poem, in one colour highlight or underline the parts of the poem that are facts about lorikeets. In a second colour, students highlight the parts of the poem that are fictional about lorikeets.

Sample answers include:

The mothers ‘sing’ – lorikeets do whistle and sing to their children and to their partner

‘You might find small heads peeping Out from deep inside the trunk’ Baby lorikeets may peep out of the nest hole to see where their parents are when they are hungry

Students then conduct research about the Rainbow lorikeet and put the information you find into a fact file. Give students a copy of page three of Animal fact file worksheetungroup from the British Council website to gather their information.

Before students write their factual text, view ‘Sylphie’s Squizzes Nature’s Magic—How Trees Change Colour’ or any Sylphie’s Squizzes from a past issue of Orbit. Project the page onto the board and work as a class to annotate the key features of this text type:

• Headline
• Subheading
• By line
• Image
• Main text

For each of these features ask students why this feature is an important component for a factual text – how does it meet the purpose of the text?

You may also like to comment on stylistic features such as the use of jargon and technical language that connects to the topic.

Students are now ready to write their ‘Sylphie’s Squizzes’ style article about Rainbow Lorikeets. They must ensure they include the features annotated in the previous task.

After students have completed their task, compare their information text with the poem about Rainbow Lorikeets. Students work in pairs to compare the two texts and make a list of similarities and differences. Students discuss with their partner why the texts are so different.