• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Parts of an argument: claim, reason, evidence, counterclaim, rebuttal). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What role does this sentence play in an argument? After one city added protected lanes, cycling there rose by 60 per cent in a year. (claim / reason / evidence / rebuttal) → evidencePrompt: Is it the writer's main position, an explanation why, a fact/figure/example, the other side's view, or a reply to the other side?
2. Which sentence works as this part of an argument: claim? (Every pupil should learn to cook at school. / In one study, students who started later slept about 45 minutes more a night. / Teenagers' body clocks make it hard for them to fall asleep early.) → Every pupil should learn to cook at school.Prompt: Is it the writer's main position, an explanation why, a fact/figure/example, the other side's view, or a reply to the other side?
3. What role does this sentence play in an argument? Critics say bike lanes take space away from drivers. (claim / reason / counterclaim / rebuttal) → counterclaimPrompt: Is it the writer's main position, an explanation why, a fact/figure/example, the other side's view, or a reply to the other side?

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Persuasive techniques: rhetorical questions, statistics, anecdotes…. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which persuasive technique matches this description? Grouping ideas or words in threes to make them memorable.
• Step 1: Persuasive writers combine appeals to feeling (emotive language, anecdotes) with appeals to logic and authority (statistics, expert opinion), plus memorable patterns (rule of three, rhetorical questions, direct address).
• Step 2: rule of three: Grouping ideas or words in threes to make them memorable.
• Step 3: So the answer is: rule of three
• Answer: rule of three
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which persuasive technique matches this description? Speaking straight to the reader as 'you' to involve them. (direct address / statistics / expert opinion / emotive language) → direct addressPrompt: Think of how each technique works on the reader.
2. Which persuasive technique is used here? Your voice matters, so make sure it is heard. (rhetorical question / expert opinion / direct address / rule of three) → direct addressPrompt: Is it a question, a number, a story, a quotation from an expert, a list of three, strong feelings, or 'you'?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Type the persuasive technique (in English) that matches this description. Speaking straight to the reader as 'you' to involve them. → direct addressPrompt: Think of how each technique works on the reader.
2. Which persuasive technique is used here? Is it fair that some children go hungry in one of the richest countries on Earth? (rhetorical question / rule of three / expert opinion / emotive language) → rhetorical questionPrompt: Is it a question, a number, a story, a quotation from an expert, a list of three, strong feelings, or 'you'?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-8.