Year 11 - English
Comparing Stevenson and Steinbeck's attitudes to their travelling companions
Non-fiction: explorers
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Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils develop their non-fiction reading and writing skills by looking at non-fiction texts about explorers. They first conceptualise travel writing, before building towards making concise and developed comparisons between texts. They finally create a compelling account about a place.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to understand and explain two writers' different attitudes to their animal traveling companions.
Key Notes
- Robert Louis Stevenson was a Victorian writer of novels and travel books.
- John Steinbeck was a 20th century American writer of novels and travel books.
- Both Stevenson and Steinbeck wrote books about travelling with animal companions.
- When writers describe someone or something, they are also conveying information about themselves.
- We use inference to understand the more hidden information they are telling us.
Vocabulary To Learn
- intuitively: in a way that is based on feelings not facts
- perceptive: good at noticing and understanding things that other people may miss
- compassionate: feeling or showing sympathy for the suffering or bad luck of others
- euphemism: a word or phrase used to avoid saying something unpleasant or offensive
- daunting: making you feel nervous about your ability to achieve something
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- When considering description, students often focus on the external effect.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Victorian writer of novels and travel books. John Steinbeck was a 20th century American writer of novels and travel books.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'intuitively'
in a way that is based on feelings not facts.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: When considering description, students often focus on the external effect. Correction: Ask how things might look different depending on your personality or circumstances? Offer examples e.g. how a town might be described differently by someone who enjoys living there and someone who dislikes living there.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Conceptualising travel writing and making predictions based on titles Study Guide
- Identifying and using different perspectives Study Guide
- Making inferences from two non-fiction texts Study Guide
- Using compound adjectives and analogies for effect in non-fiction writing Study Guide
- Using inverted sentence structures and chiasmus for effect Study Guide
- Writing a compelling account Study Guide
- Writing concise and developed comparisons of non-fiction texts Study Guide
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