Learning objective: To develop descriptive skills
It’s easy to tell students to ‘show not tell’ in creative writing tasks, but harder to teach.
Try using the concept of ‘symptoms’. How do you know when someone has a cold? Because of their symptoms: they sneeze, they cough and their voice is croaky.
Ask students: how do you know when someone is sad, or angry, or happy, or excited?
Describing the ‘symptoms’ of an emotion is far more effective than simply naming the emotion.
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