Describing people and events Getting you thinking Look

Describing people and events Getting you thinking – Look at this image of Bill Sikes, a famous villain from Charles Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’. Basing your ideas on this picture, make notes on Sikes’s appearance, how you think he might behave, and how he might speak.

LO: To be able to use a range of techniques to make your descriptions of people vivid and memorable and to convey experiences and events in a convincing way

Did you identify key features of his attitude or personality? 1. What is the overall impression given of Sikes? 2. Why do you think Dickens adds the detail about Sikes’s dog?

Choosing one of the aspects not mentioned in Dickens’s description, for example, the stick in the picture, write another sentence about Sikes. You might want to: ü Use a verb to describe how Sikes is moving or gesturing ü Use one or more adjectives to describe the item or feature concerned

Asthma lent a breathy vehemence to her curses and when she laughed she’d fall into wheezing fits that required a sniff of smellingsalts. She had a repertoire of mysterious catchphrases that always sent her off. If anyone asked her the time, she’d retort, ‘just struck an elephant!’ and cackle triumphantly. Then, ‘Dew, Dew’ she’d mutter as she got her breath back – or that’s what it sounded like – meaning ‘Deary me’, or ‘Well, well’, shaking her head. That ‘ew’ sound was ubiquitous with her. She pronounced ‘you’ as ‘ew’, puckering up her small mouth as if to savour the nice or nasty taste you represented. She had lost her teeth and could make a ghoulish face by arranging the false set, gums and all, outside her lips, in a voracious grin. […] She was soft and slightly powdery to the touch, as though she’d been dusted all over with icing sugar like a sponge cake. She shared her Edwardian generation’s genteel contempt for sunburn and freckles, and thanks to her nocturnal habits her skin was eerily pale. ‘Bad Blood’ by Lorna Sage

Develop the skills 1. What do we learn about how Lorna Sage’s grandmother looks, act and speaks from this extract? 2. The writer uses several of the five senses to create this portrait: which ones, and where? 3. The writer says that the grandmother squeezed her lips together when she spoke as if deciding whether someone tasted ‘nice’ or ‘nasty’. What fairytale or story does this remind you of? 4. What simile does the writer use to describe the feel of her grandmother’s skin? Why is this an appropriate comparison when describing a grandmother?

Write your own descriptive paragraph about an older person (you can use the image above for inspiration), but make it about someone who appears warm and comforting, not witch-like.

Develop the skills In this further extract from ‘Bad Blood’, Lorna Sage describes learning to swim with her best friend Gail.

Develop the skills 1. What do we learn about the public baths and the mere? What attitude does Lorna Sage have to them? 2. What do we learn about the gym mistress; the other children in the village; Gail? What impression does Lorna Sage want us to have? 3. What descriptive phrase links the final sentence to the beginning? Switching between descriptions of people and places in this way will make past events or experiences all the more realistic and vivid for your readers.

Apply the skills Choose 1 of the three experiences or events below. Write a description of the experience in no more than 175 words Learning to ride a bike or pony Helping a relative or family friend out with a job Going on public transport on your own for the first time Checklist for success: ü Create a convincing portrayal of the people involved through showing the reader details about appearance, behaviour and speech ü Create a realistic picture of the experience itself through details about the setting and what happened and your response/feelings about it

Peer assessment

Which person best represents your learning today? Why?

Asthma lent a breathy vehemence to her curses and when she laughed she’d fall into wheezing fits that required a sniff of smellingsalts. She had a repertoire of mysterious catchphrases that always sent her off. If anyone asked her the time, she’d retort, ‘just struck an elephant!’ and cackle triumphantly. Then, ‘Dew, Dew’ she’d mutter as she got her breath back – or that’s what it sounded like – meaning ‘Deary me’, or ‘Well, well’, shaking her head. That ‘ew’ sound was ubiquitous with her. She pronounced ‘you’ as ‘ew’, puckering up her small mouth as if to savour the nice or nasty taste you represented. She had lost her teeth and could make a ghoulish face by arranging the false set, gums and all, outside her lips, in a voracious grin. […] She was soft and slightly powdery to the touch, as though she’d been dusted all over with icing sugar like a sponge cake. She shared her Edwardian generation’s genteel contempt for sunburn and freckles, and thanks to her nocturnal habits her skin was eerily pale. ‘Bad Blood’ by Lorna Sage

Extract from ‘Bad Blood’ by Lorna Sage