To Infer and Deduce Information from a Fiction Text

Take Cover

Teacher sheet

1Eccentric description

Learning objective

To infer and deduce information from a fiction text.

Resources required

Student instructions and student resource sheet, exercise books or plain A4 paper for the starter, coloured pens/pencils (if possible), dictionaries/thesauruses.

Lesson guidance

• Starter – students read the description of the village, draw and label it. (approx 10 mins)

• Development – students work individually to answer questions set on the text. They need to ensure that they answer them in sufficient detail using the point, evidence, explain format.

• Plenary – pairs discuss Pagus Parvus. Does it seem like a pleasant place to live? Why?
  (10 mins)

Notes for SEN students

Some of the vocabulary in the text is rather complex – students may need support in accessing the text.

Extension activities / notes for gifted and talented students

Encourage students to write their own description of an eccentric place like Pagus Parvus. The aim is to bring the place to life through choice of vocabulary and description.

Student instructions

1Eccentric description

Learning objective

To infer and deduce information from a fiction text.

Success criteria

By the end of the lesson, I will have:

• read the extract and drawn the place described
• found out five facts about Pagus Parvus
• written ‘point, evidence, explain’ paragraphs about a selection of quotations from the text.

Warm up

Read the description on the resource sheet, then draw either one house in detail or the whole village on plain paper. Make sure that you label it with evidence from the text.

Your main task!

1. Re-read the extract and write down five facts that we learn about Pagus Parvus.

1. What do the following phrases suggest about Pagus Parvus? You should write a PEE (make a point, give an example to back it up, and then explain and explore it) paragraph about each:

a) ‘a small village clinging for its life’

This suggests that the village is in danger of falling down the hill at any time. The word …

b) ‘a mixture of houses and shops built in the style that was popular around the time of the great fire in the famous city of London’

c) ‘sometimes the upper levels stuck so far out that they restricted the sunlight’

d) ‘the buildings were all at strange and rather worrying angles’

e) ‘for most villagers the intervening existence did not require regular church attendance’

1. What do we learn about Reverend Stirling Oliphaunt?

Extra challenge

Think carefully about somewhere that you know that is as eccentric as Pagus Parvus. It could be a street in your home town, or it could be a park, or it could be somewhere you have visited on holiday. Anywhere that is different from the norm is perfect for this task!

You should now imagine that you are writing a description of this place which is similar to the description above. While reading the description of Pagus Parvus you will have noticed that the author uses the buildings to suggest the atmosphere of the town. You should make this a priority in your own work.

© 2009 Teachit (UK) Ltd1

Take Cover

Student resource sheet

Pagus Parvus was indeed very different from the City. It was a small village clinging for its life to the side of a steep mountain in a country that has changed its name over and over and in a time that is a distant memory for most. It comprised one cobbled high street lined on either side with a mixture of houses and shops built in the style that was popular around the time of the great fire in the famous city of London. The first and second floors (and in the case of the home of wealthy Jeremiah Ratchet, the third and fourth floors) overhung the pavement. In fact, sometimes the upper levels stuck so far out that they restricted[1] the sunlight. The windows themselves were small with leaded panes, and dark timbers ran in parallel lines on the outside walls. The buildings were all at strange and rather worrying angles, each having slid slightly down the hill over the years and sunk a little into the earth. There was no doubt that if just one collapsed it would take all the others with it.

The village was overlooked by the church, an ancient building mostly frequented these days when someone was born or died. Entry into this life and exit from it were deemed[2] noteworthy[3] occasions, but for most villagers the intervening existence[4] did not require regular church attendance. On the whole this suited the Reverend Stirling Oliphaunt very well. He didn’t seek out his flock[5]; he preferred them to make their own way to him.

Besides, the hill really was unusually steep.

From ‘The Black Book of Secrets’ by F. E. Higgins

© 2009 Teachit (UK) Ltd1

[1] limited

[2] thought to be

[3] worth taking notice of

[4] the bit between birth and death

[5] the people who go to the church