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English lesson plan · 9th grade (Year 10 in England) · 30 minutes

Rhetoric and persuasive techniques

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RI.9-10.6CCSS RI.9-10.8England: GCSE English Language Paper 2 Q3England: AP Language

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Rhetoric and persuasive techniques.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Claims, reasons and evidence; Author's purpose

Leads to: Evaluating arguments and reasoning; Rhetorical situation: audience, purpose, ethos, pathos, logos; Ethos, pathos or logos?

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Claims, reasons and evidence; Author's purpose). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Come to Sunny Farm this Saturday! Meet the baby goats, ride a pony and taste our famous apple pie. Tickets only $5! What is the author's main purpose? (to tell a funny story / to persuade people to visit the farm / to explain how goats grow / to describe the weather) → to persuade people to visit the farmPrompt: Is the writer mainly trying to inform, persuade, entertain or explain?
  2. Schools should plant more trees. Trees provide shade on hot days, clean the air, and give pupils a calm place to read. A study in one city found that pupils with green views from their classrooms scored higher on attention tests. Which detail is evidence from research? (Pupils with green views scored higher on attention tests. / Trees provide shade on hot days. / Trees give pupils a calm place to read. / Schools should plant more trees.) → Pupils with green views scored higher on attention tests.Prompt: What is the writer's main claim?
  3. Every pupil should learn to swim. Swimming keeps you fit, it is fun, and it could one day save your life. What is the author's main purpose? (to entertain / to describe a pool / to explain how to swim / to persuade) → to persuadePrompt: Is the writer mainly trying to inform, persuade, entertain or explain?

Hook · 3 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Rhetoric and persuasive techniques. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Imagine a world without bees: no apples, no almonds, no strawberries. That world is closer than you think. Which technique opens this text?
  • Step 1: Arguments have a claim supported by reasons and evidence.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: asking the reader to imagine a vivid scenario
  • Answer: asking the reader to imagine a vivid scenario
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. When I was twelve, my grandmother's village flooded. I watched her lose everything she owned. That is why I care about climate policy. Why does the writer include this story? (to appeal to emotion and show personal stakes / to give statistical evidence / to present the opposing view / to entertain with a comedy) → to appeal to emotion and show personal stakesPrompt: What is the writer's main claim?
  2. Critics claim the plan is too expensive. Yet doing nothing will cost us far more in repairs within a decade. What does the writer do in these sentences? (describes a setting / tells a personal story / agrees completely with the critics / acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts it) → acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts itPrompt: What is the writer's main claim?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • 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.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. We are not asking for much. We are asking for safe roads. We are asking for clean air. We are asking for a future. Which technique is used? (a statistic / onomatopoeia / repetition (anaphora) / understatement) → repetition (anaphora)Prompt: What is the writer's main claim?
  2. Critics claim the plan is too expensive. Yet doing nothing will cost us far more in repairs within a decade. What does the writer do in these sentences? (agrees completely with the critics / tells a personal story / acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts it / describes a setting) → acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts itPrompt: What is the writer's main claim?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Claims, reasons and evidence.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Evaluating arguments and reasoning; Rhetorical situation: audience, purpose, ethos, pathos, logos; Ethos, pathos or logos?.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-9.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Rhetoric and persuasive techniques

Name

Date

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The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls

In recent years, a growing number of companies have experimented with a four-day working week, in which employees work about 80 per cent of their usual hours for 100 per cent of their pay, on the condition that they maintain their output. Supporters argue that the model could transform working life. Critics warn that its benefits may be exaggerated. The most widely reported trials have produced striking results. In one large study involving several dozen organisations, most companies chose to continue the four-day week after the trial ended. Employees reported less stress, better sleep and fewer days off sick, while company revenue remained broadly stable. For businesses struggling to recruit, the promise of an extra day off can be a powerful attraction. Yet these findings come with important caveats. Companies that volunteer for such trials may already be enthusiastic about flexible working and well suited to it. Their success may not be representative of all workplaces. Moreover, many of the participating organisations were offices or creative businesses, where output is relatively easy to reorganise. In hospitals, schools or factories, where staff must be present to deliver a service, reducing hours without hiring more people may simply be impossible. There are also questions about what happens in the long term. Early enthusiasm can fade, and the pressure to fit five days of work into four may eventually lead to longer, more intense working days, cancelling out the benefits to wellbeing. None of this means the idea should be dismissed. It does suggest that the four-day week is less a universal solution than a tool that may suit some sectors far better than others. The challenge for policymakers is to learn from the trials without assuming that what worked for a marketing agency will work for an emergency ward.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls". What is the main point of paragraph 3?

    • A. Four-day weeks always fail.
    • B. The trials were dishonest.
    • C. Offices are better than hospitals.
    • D. The trial results may not apply to all kinds of workplaces.

Cooling the City (with data)

On hot summer afternoons, the centres of large cities can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. This "urban heat island" effect occurs because dark surfaces such as asphalt and roofing absorb sunlight and release it slowly as heat, while buildings trap warm air and reduce the cooling effect of wind. A lack of vegetation makes the problem worse: trees and plants cool the air by providing shade and releasing water vapour. In a recent study, researchers measured the average afternoon surface temperature in July across four neighbourhoods of one city, alongside the percentage of each area covered by trees. Their results are summarised below. Neighbourhood | Tree cover (%) | Average July afternoon surface temperature (°C) Northgate | 8 | 41 Riverside | 15 | 38 Elm Park | 27 | 34 Hillcrest | 35 | 32 The researchers caution that tree cover is not the only factor: Riverside, for instance, is next to a large river, which may have cooled it independently. Nevertheless, they conclude that expanding urban tree cover is a promising strategy for reducing extreme heat, particularly in neighbourhoods where many residents lack air conditioning.

  1. Question 2

    Read "Cooling the City (with data)". Which conclusion do the researchers draw?

    • A. Air conditioning should be banned.
    • B. Cities should be built near rivers.
    • C. Tree cover is the only cause of temperature differences.
    • D. Planting more trees is a promising way to reduce extreme urban heat.

Rethinking Screen Time

Few debates generate as much anxiety among parents as the question of screen time. Headlines warn that smartphones are "destroying a generation", while technology companies insist that their products connect and empower young people. The truth, as so often, is more complicated than either side admits. Part of the problem is that "screen time" is a crude measure. An hour spent video-calling a grandparent, coding a game or researching a school project is not the same as an hour spent scrolling through an endless feed of short videos. Researchers increasingly argue that what young people do on screens matters more than how long they spend on them. That said, quantity is not irrelevant. Several large studies have linked very heavy use – more than five or six hours a day of recreational screen time – to poorer sleep and lower wellbeing. Screens can displace other activities that support health: exercise, face-to-face friendship and, crucially, sleep. Light from devices and the stimulation of social media late at night can delay sleep for teenagers, whose body clocks already push them towards later bedtimes. It is worth noting, however, that most of these studies show correlation, not causation. Teenagers who are already unhappy may turn to their phones more, rather than their phones making them unhappy. Untangling cause and effect is notoriously difficult. What, then, should families do? Rather than fixating on a single number, experts suggest asking three questions. Is screen use getting in the way of sleep? Is it crowding out exercise and real-world relationships? And does the young person feel in control of it, or controlled by it? If the answers are reassuring, the exact number of minutes may matter less than we fear.

  1. Question 3

    Read "Rethinking Screen Time". Why does the writer say "screen time" is "a crude measure"?

    • A. It is impossible to count hours.
    • B. Screens are bad in every case.
    • C. Parents exaggerate the numbers.
    • D. It treats very different activities as if they were the same.

  1. Question 4

    We are not asking for much. We are asking for safe roads. We are asking for clean air. We are asking for a future. Which technique is used?

    • A. repetition (anaphora)
    • B. onomatopoeia
    • C. a statistic
    • D. understatement

  2. Question 5

    Nine out of ten dentists recommend brushing twice a day. Which persuasive technique is used?

    • A. an anecdote
    • B. a rhetorical question
    • C. humour
    • D. statistics and expert authority

  3. Question 6

    Critics claim the plan is too expensive. Yet doing nothing will cost us far more in repairs within a decade. What does the writer do in these sentences?

    • A. tells a personal story
    • B. agrees completely with the critics
    • C. describes a setting
    • D. acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts it

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Answer key: Rhetoric and persuasive techniques

  1. 1. D. The trial results may not apply to all kinds of workplaces.

  2. 2. D. Planting more trees is a promising way to reduce extreme urban heat.

  3. 3. D. It treats very different activities as if they were the same.

  4. 4. A. repetition (anaphora)

  5. 5. D. statistics and expert authority

  6. 6. D. acknowledges a counterargument and rebuts it