Year Six Transition

2017

English

Your name:

Your primary school:

Your teacher’s name:

The voyage

The ship that was carrying me away from England to Africa in the autumn of 1938 was called the SS Mantola. She was an old paint-peeling tub of 9000 tons, with a single tall funnel and a vibrating engine that rattled the tea-cups in their saucers on the dining-room table.

The voyage from the Port of London to Mombassa would take two weeks and on the way we were going to call in at Marseilles, Malta, Port Said, Suez, Port Sudan and Aden.

Nowadays you can fly to Mombasa in a few hours and you stop nowhere and nothing is fabulous anymore, but in 1938 a journey like that was full of stepping stones and East Africa was a long way from home, especially if your contract with Shell Company said that you were to stay out there for a three year stretch.

I was twenty-two when I left. I would be twenty-five before I saw my family again.

Common nouns Proper nouns Verbs Adjectives

Knowledge: Writers use different word types for different purposesSkills: Classify word types from the extract from aboveUnderstanding: Complete the table to demonstrate you understand how to identify word class

Your own voyage

Write a description of a long journey you’ve been on. Try to describe the mode of transport and what you could see, as well as how you were feeling.

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Knowledge: Writers select vocabulary to influence their readersSkills: Choose individual words which really help your reader to picture the journey you tookUnderstanding: Write at least one descriptive paragraph with well-selected vocabulary

The animals

The frogs: All around us in the forest the frogs were croaking incessantly. African frogs have an unusually loud rasping croak and however far away from you they are, the sound always seems to be coming from somewhere near your feet. The croaking of the frog is the night music of the East African coast.

The giraffe: I would see them ahead of me nibbling green leaves from the tops of the acacia trees by the side of the road, and whenever I came upon them I would stop the car and get out and walk slowly towards them, shouting inane but cheery greetings up into the sky where their small heads were waving about on their long necks… and the giraffes would incline their heads very slightly and stare down at me with languorous demure expressions, but they never ran away.

The crocodiles: The crocodiles stared up at me with their cruel black eyes.

The elephants: A great sense of peace and serenity seemed to surround these massive, slow-moving, gentle beasts. Their skin hung loosely over their bodies like a suit they had inherited from larger ancestors, with the trousers ridiculously baggy.

Match the description to the animal!

1. They tilt their heads with interest but don’t run away.

2. They looked right at Dahl and he thought they had evil eyes.

3. Their skin looked too baggy for their bodies.

4. The noises they make at night are very loud.

Knowledge: Reading texts for understanding is importantSkills: Closely read the extracts to check comprehensionUnderstanding: Correctly match the statements to the animals they describe

Your opinions on animals

Write a description of your favourite animal. Try to select language which describes it as positively as possible.

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Your opinions on animals

Write a description of your least favourite animal. Try to select language which describes it as negatively as possible.

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The people

“The snake-man may have been old and small but he was an impressive-looking character. His eyes were pale blue, deep-set in a face round and dark and wrinkled as a walnut. Above the blue eyes, the eyebrows were thick and startlingly white but the hair on his head was almost black. In spite of the thick leather boots, he moved like a leopard, with soft slow cat-like strides.”

Knowledge: Characters have physical and explicit characteristics, and implicit/internal characteristicsSkills: Label outside the template with physical things you know about ‘the snake man’, and inside the template with things you’ve learned about his personalityUnderstanding: Understand what Dahl has told us about the character of ‘the snake man’

Your own character

You now need to create your own character.

Just like ‘the snake man’, they are going to have to face your least favourite animal from earlier on in the booklet.

Come up with physical characteristics outside the template.

Come up with personality traits inside the template.

Knowledge: Characters have physical and explicit characteristics, and implicit/internal characteristicsSkills: Label outside the template with physical things, and inside the template with personality traitsUnderstanding: Create your own character

Your own story

On the following pages, you are to write your own story about a character having to deal with a problem animal. Be sure to concentrate on writing in complete and accurate sentences, and on separating your writing into paragraphs.

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Skills Audit

No evidence Partial evidence Substantial evidence

Word class identification

Effective vocabulary

choices

Reading comprehension

Reading inferences

Sentence demarcation

Punctuation inside the sentence

Spelling

Paragraphing