A Revision of English in a Pandemic World

What a catastrophic start to the year - an extended bush fire season, smoke, constant heat waves, flooding rains, and now a pandemic. I tell you what, while I do tend to prefer the indoors I do like fresh air on occasion but it has been an inside life lately - poor baby has not seen as much of the world as I would have hoped.

In response to all of these events I would probably try to crack a smile and say something like 'what else...?' but honestly, I do not want to know. I do not want to tempt fate. I did joke glibly a few weeks ago and I regret it now, that I could use a little break from face to face teaching - call the holidays a few weeks early so we can hunker down for a bit - then I would be able to catch up on my school administration, sort everything out for my uni assignment, clean the house, and do things like dig my winter clothes out.

Big mistake!

The last three weeks of term were horrendous. There were not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Baby got sick, too, so we were all having a bad time. I sought answers to the questions being asked of me, and answers I need to be able to move into Term 2 with some semblance of order and I got some, and made some acceptable decisions for others. We are all making the best out of an untenable situation.

These are a few of the activities adapted from the Children's Writer's Notebook by Wes Magee. I would recommend the book. It has over 70 prompts, many of which would work well in the classroom.

1.   Draft a 250 word story for small children about a young creature (for example, a crocodile, panda, or polar bear) who goes to the moon. How does the young creature adapt to his or her new life and surroundings? What does he or she do? Who, or what, does he or she meet? As the story ends, the young creature returns to planet Earth unharmed. Be sure that the language you use is appropriate for little kids.

2.   Draft a short story of 250 words. Send one character on a journey. Leaving the house they could go through the woods to an island or perhaps out into space. Who, or what, does the child encounter? What happens? The child returns home safely after the adventure. Reread your story and chop any unnecessary words.

3.   Make a list of FIVE childhood toys. Give each toy a new name — for example, a cuddly dog could be called Hugbug. Now write a brief description of each newly named toy (40-words for each toy), so that they become familiar as characters. Choose a setting that you know well, such as a beach, a field or a garden. Write a short story of 250 words, describing the newly named characters’ adventures.

Extension: Select two of the characters you created during the first activity last week. Write a conversation between them. It could be a conversation about something they found or lost. Bring in the feelings that the characters experience. Bring the conversation to an end with a single word.