/ Learner Resource /
School Name / Helensvale State High School
Subject / English / Topic: / Examining perspectives on an issue / Year / 8
Description / Pre assessment task for Unit 1 Year 8- Examining perspectives on an issue.
Instructions / Students read the article and respond to the questions provided.
Task designed by / Hollie Smith / Contact / Janelle Dickman 0467777965

BULLYING

Tragic family's crusade against bullying

By EMMA HOPE

September 19, 2013

Chloe Fergusson's sister Cassie Whitehill, holding a recent picture of Chloe, has launched a campaign against bullying.

Picture: Kim Eiszele

Source: Mercury

CHLOE Fergusson gave the appearance of a typical teenage girl.

The 15-year-old loved watching Home and Away, listening to pop music and was interested in fashion.

She had aspirations to become a hairdresser or a beautician and always took immaculate care of her appearance.

Like many teenage girls Chloe would take "selfies" and post the pictures on Facebook.

The youngest of six siblings, Chloe lost her mother after she had a long battle with breast cancer in 2006 when Chloe was just seven. The family pulled together and remain close.

Yet none of her brothers or sisters was aware that for three tortured years Chloe was the victim of severe physical, verbal, mental and cyber bullying.

"We could not believe that the girl we knew as so happy, confident and compassionate could be seen as otherwise by anyone else. We were horrified," said Chloe's oldest sister, Cassie Whitehill, 30.

Last Tuesday, Chloe caught the bus into town after school, as she did every weekday.

Ms Whitehill said two people were waiting for Chloe at the Elizabeth St bus mall.

She was king-hit from behind, kicked, and the assault filmed on a phone camera by the attacker's accomplice.

Ms Whitehill said the video was posted on Facebook that night. It has since been removed.

Two days after the attack, Chloe was found in her room after taking her own life.

"I got a phone call and it was a big, massive shock. No one saw it coming. I saw her a couple of days before and she was her usual, happy self," Ms Whitehill said.

The assault and video were reported to police on Monday.

Chloe's family is distraught and in shock.

"She was a bright, intelligent girl. Always happy and confident and never really let anything, that we knew of, worry her," Ms Whitehill said….

Chloe attended Sacred Heart Primary School where she was a happy and popular student and never experienced any bullying. It was when she reached high school that problems began.

She moved schools in the middle of last year after being bullied at her previous school.

"She was getting picked on for absolutely horrible things, like not having a mother ... it was awful," Ms Whitehill said.

"We saw the principal and spoke to him about it. He said he would look into it, and keep an eye out. But the bullying kept happening.

"We knew it was an issue at the new school but thought it wasn't as bad as at her previous school."

Ms Whitehill said the bullying took a number of forms.

"There was physical bullying. She was assaulted ... obviously there was name calling, mental stuff and the cyber bullying was the big one."

Ms Whitehill said she was shocked to discover that although bullying is illegal, there are no formal anti-bullying laws in any Australian state except Victoria.

"I have made a promise to myself and Chloe that I will make these laws recognised in every Australian state and territory," she said.

"It may not bring her back but it may save the life of another victim of bullying one day and her suicide will have not been in vain."…

Story from: (accessed 12/11/13).

Student Name / Class / Date
Answer the following questions relating to the newspaper article.
  1. State the headline for this story: ______
  2. State the by-line for this story:
  3. State the caption for this story:
  4. What is the main idea of this story? ______
  5. State the 5W’s and How of the story.
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
  1. Describe what you can see in the image: _____
  1. Describe the shot used in the image. Why would the photographer have chosen this type of shot? ______
  1. Identify one quote in the story:
  1. Explain what a metaphor is: ______
  2. Provide an example of a metaphor to describe what Chloe’s situation was like:
______
  1. State one example of language of judgment in the text: ______
  2. State one example of language of affect in the text: ______
  3. The text includes a quote from Ms Whitehill, explaining that Chloe was a “happy” and “confident” girl before she was bullied. Think of a synonym for each of these words: ______
  4. Tick the box of the pyramid below that you think best reflects the hard news story genre.

  1. Who does the text privilege? ______
  2. Who does the text marginalise? ______
  3. Provide evidence of both of these from the text: ____
  1. Provide one example of a gap/ silence in the text:
  1. The text uses the word ‘bullies’ frequently. Explain how this word choice/ selection is an example of bias: ______
  1. This story was not on the main page of the Mercury News website. You had to click on a tab to find the story. What does this placement suggest about its importance? ______
  1. Circle/highlight the words relating to grammatical tense in the following passage.
CHLOE Fergusson gave the appearance of a typical teenage girl.
The 15-year-old loved watching Home and Away, listening to pop music and was interested in fashion.
She had aspirations to become a hairdresser or a beautician and always took immaculate care of her appearance.
Is the above passage:
  1. Past tense?
  2. Present tense?
  3. Future tense?

South East Region Learner Resource template V1 – Aug 2013