Recall the previous week's lesson
Ask the students what they believe was the intention of Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch when they wrote and illustrated One Small Island.
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Activity 1: Thinking about the features of a persuasive text
By clicking on the blue button to the left, read to or with the students the persuasive text Help Save Macquarie Island!
Support the students to analyse and identify its organisational framework and language features, as it relates to a text of persuasion. Excellent teaching notes are provided to go with this analysis. Print them off from the file below. Point out that this text was written in 2007 and that since that time actions have been taken to restore the island and eradicate feral animals. ![]()
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Additional activities to follow up on back in class
Looking at a persuasive text in more detail
Introduce students to the PEEL strategy. Explain that PEEL stands for P: Point, E: Evidence, E: Elaboration, L: Link to the main argument. Using a paragraph constructed in this format, ask the students to identify the four elements. For example:
What is the impact of feral cats in Australia?
No-one is actually certain how many feral cats there are in Australia as the area is too vast for a conclusive head count. Estimates say there are between 4 and 6.6 million feral cats in Australia that continue to disturb natural ecosystems and are predators of many native animals. These feral cats are not native to Australia and they devastate fragile environments and animal populations across the country, causing irreparable damage. Without adequate controls, the environment continues to suffer and with feral animal eradication programs on the backburner, the devastation will continue.
Point No-one is actually certain how many feral cats there are in Australia as the area is too vast for a conclusive head count.
Evidence Estimates say there are between 4 and 6.6 million feral cats in Australia that continue to disturb natural ecosystems and are predators of many native animals.
Elaboration These feral cats are not native to Australia and they devastate fragile environments and animal populations across the country, causing irreparable damage.
Link Without adequate controls, the environment continues to suffer and with feral animal eradication programs on the backburner, the devastation will continue.
Introduce students to the PEEL strategy. Explain that PEEL stands for P: Point, E: Evidence, E: Elaboration, L: Link to the main argument. Using a paragraph constructed in this format, ask the students to identify the four elements. For example:
What is the impact of feral cats in Australia?
No-one is actually certain how many feral cats there are in Australia as the area is too vast for a conclusive head count. Estimates say there are between 4 and 6.6 million feral cats in Australia that continue to disturb natural ecosystems and are predators of many native animals. These feral cats are not native to Australia and they devastate fragile environments and animal populations across the country, causing irreparable damage. Without adequate controls, the environment continues to suffer and with feral animal eradication programs on the backburner, the devastation will continue.
Point No-one is actually certain how many feral cats there are in Australia as the area is too vast for a conclusive head count.
Evidence Estimates say there are between 4 and 6.6 million feral cats in Australia that continue to disturb natural ecosystems and are predators of many native animals.
Elaboration These feral cats are not native to Australia and they devastate fragile environments and animal populations across the country, causing irreparable damage.
Link Without adequate controls, the environment continues to suffer and with feral animal eradication programs on the backburner, the devastation will continue.
For the students
Organise the students into groups of three or four. Print out sufficient copies of the text Help Save Macquarie Island! (Download from file below) Cut them up into paragraphs, giving each group of students two or three paragraphs. The students work collaboratively to determine the role of each sentence within the paragraph, using the PEEL prompts. They use different coloured highlighters to distinguish the different functions of each sentence. Point out that some paragraphs may have more than four sentences and will actually have more of a PEEEEL structure (point, evidence, evidence, elaboration, elaboration, link).
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Use PEEL to structure your paragraphs when writing a persuasive text
The following video will give you some basic help on how to use the PEEL strategy. Yes there is a spelling mistake in it, but the video itself is still worthwhile. It is made by Audra Bolhuis and is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqftVOgDprk