• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia; Expanding sentences with detail). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which technique is used here? Sally's six silly snakes slithered south. (hyperbole / alliteration / onomatopoeia / simile) → alliterationPrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?
2. A bird sang. Which sentence adds the most useful detail? (Sang a bird. / A tiny robin sang on the frosty fence at dawn. / A bird it sang. / A bird sang a song a song.) → A tiny robin sang on the frosty fence at dawn.Prompt: Good detail tells us more: what kind, where, when or why.
3. Which technique is used here? The stars winked at us from the sky. (alliteration / personification / onomatopoeia / simile) → personificationPrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?

• Show two openings to the same piece of writing and ask which makes them want to read on.
• Share the objective: Descriptive and narrative techniques. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Plain: Mum was angry. Which revision best SHOWS rather than tells?
• Step 1: Show, don't tell: let precise details and imagery create the effect.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard.
• Answer: Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard.
• 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. A story opening needs to hook the reader. Which opening is most engaging? (One day I woke up and had breakfast. / Nobody had opened the attic door in forty years — until Tuesday. / Once there was a house. It was a house. / This is a story about a girl.) → Nobody had opened the attic door in forty years — until Tuesday.Prompt: Strong description uses precise verbs, sensory details and imagery.
2. Plain: Mum was angry. Which revision best SHOWS rather than tells? (Mum felt anger. / Mum was cross and angry. / Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard. / Mum was very angry indeed.) → Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard.Prompt: Strong description uses precise verbs, sensory details and imagery.

• 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 5 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. Plain: Mum was angry. Which revision best SHOWS rather than tells? (Mum was very angry indeed. / Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard. / Mum felt anger. / Mum was cross and angry.) → Mum's lips pressed into a thin line, and she set her mug down a little too hard.Prompt: Strong description uses precise verbs, sensory details and imagery.
2. Plain: He walked into the room. Which revision uses the most precise verb? (He did walk into the room. / He walked into the room quickly slowly. / He went into the room. / He crept into the room.) → He crept into the room.Prompt: Strong description uses precise verbs, sensory details and imagery.

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