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Year 5 - English

Writing the section about Harriet Tubman's activism

Harriet Tubman: biographical writing

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils write a biography based on Harriet Tubman, centred around her significance as a historical figure, her early life and her civil rights activism. Pupils conduct research about the subject and organise their research into clear paragraphs, using a range of cohesive devices.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use your research and plan to write the activism section of a biography about Harriet Tubman.

Key Notes

  • The main body of a biography is split into paragraphs, which are organised by theme.
  • Using a range of cohesive devices can enhance text flow and achieve text purpose.
  • A complex sentence includes a main clause and any type of subordinate clause.
  • Adverbial complex, relative complex and non-finite complex sentences can all be used in biographies.
  • In biographies, extra, factual information can be added to clauses using brackets.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • cohesive devices: linguistic structures that can enhance text flow
  • adverbial complex sentence: a sentence formed of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause
  • non-finite complex sentence: a sentence formed of a main clause and a non-finite subordinate clause
  • parenthesis: extra information that can be added or removed from a sentence and it still makes sense
  • brackets: punctuation marks that can be used to add additional information to a sentence

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may use a lot of subject-specific vocabulary without clearly explaining its meaning to the reader.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

The main body of a biography is split into paragraphs, which are organised by theme. Using a range of cohesive devices can enhance text flow and achieve text purpose.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'cohesive devices'

linguistic structures that can enhance text flow.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may use a lot of subject-specific vocabulary without clearly explaining its meaning to the reader. Correction: Pupils should be taught how to use parenthesis demarcated using brackets to add additional information to sentences. Brackets are a great tool with which to explain meaning of tricky vocabulary to the reader.

More Lessons In This Unit

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