Exploring the gothic genre 

Overview

This overview is for lessons 7-9 within the ‘Exploring the gothic genre’ learning sequence. Students explore how language forms and features are used to establish tone, mood and atmosphere in gothic texts, using extracts from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ as examples. Students are given the opportunity to consolidate skills introduced in previous lesson sequences, notably annotating and summarising, through engaging with the annotation process and ‘7 strips’ activities. Students are supported in their writing through explicit vocabulary instruction and the provision of models and scaffolds. There are also opportunities for student self-reflection and extension activities. 

During these lessons, students will:

• review your understanding of language features   

• identify and describe the different types of imagery used by writers  

• explain why gothic writers use language features, including imagery, to evoke responses in their readers 

• understand the difference between tone, mood and atmosphere  

• experiment with creating a mood and atmosphere appropriate for a gothic setting 

• analyse how language features have been used to create tone, mood and atmosphere in an extract from ‘Dracula’  

• think carefully about the language used in the extract to create a visual representation of the setting  

• apply your understanding of how language features can build atmosphere and mood in your own imaginative writing  

• reflect on your writing. 

These lessons address the following outcomes: 

A student:

• EN5-3B: selects and uses language forms, features and structures of texts appropriate to a range of purposes, audiences and contexts, describing and explaining their effects on meaning

• EN5-4B: effectively transfers knowledge, skills and understanding of language concepts into new and different contexts

• EN5-6C: investigates the relationships between and among texts 

• EN5-9E: purposefully reflects on, assesses and adapts their individual and collaborative skills with increasing independence and effectiveness

Students revisit key ideas from the previous two lesson sequences by beginning the lesson with a 3-2-1 Bridge, thinking routine. Students will then identify language features used in an extract from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ before exploring the different types of imagery and the impact this literary device can have on readers of gothic texts. Students revisit their responses to the thinking routine from the beginning of the lesson to see whether their thinking has changed and to make a ‘bridge’ in their learning.  

Learning intentions

Students will:

• review your understanding of language features   

• identify and describe the different types of imagery used by writers  

• explain why gothic writers use language features, including imagery, to evoke responses in their readers.   

Outcome content 

• S504PE2: analyse texts from familiar and unfamiliar contexts, and discuss and evaluate their content and the appeal of an individual author's literary style. 

• S504RC4: locate, select, synthesise and creatively use information, ideas and arguments from texts to compose new texts 

• S506UA11: use appropriate metalanguage to identify, describe and explain relationships between and among texts 

The coding for this content point comes from the English Textual Concepts and Learning Processes resources for Stage 5 English – Stage 5. 

The focus of this lesson is consolidating students’ understanding of the difference between tone, mood and atmosphere in texts. Students practise their summarising skills by completing a ‘7 strips’ activity after reading information that explains each of these three literary elements. Students are also introduced to pathetic fallacy as a language feature often used by gothic writers to establish mood and atmosphere. After annotating and analysing how tone, mood and atmosphere have been created in a modelled response, students have the opportunity to experiment with each of these language features in their own creative writing. 

Learning intentions

Students will:

• understand the difference between tone, mood and atmosphere  

• experiment with creating a mood and atmosphere appropriate for a gothic setting. 

Outcome content 

• S506RC1 create imaginative texts that make relevant thematic and intertextual connections with other texts 

• S506UA11: use appropriate metalanguage to identify, describe and explain relationships between and among texts. 

• S509UA4 adapt knowledge of language forms and features for new learning contexts 

The coding for this content point comes from the English Textual Concepts and Learning Processes resources for Stage 5 English – Stage 5. 

Students continue their analysis of language and its role in establishing tone, mood and atmosphere in gothic literature, using extracts from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ as examples. Students practise their annotation skills through undertaking the steps in the annotation process, introduced in the previous lesson sequence. Students transfer their understanding of the mood and atmosphere of the extract through completing a ‘sketch to stretch’ activity before imaginatively responding to the question of ‘what happened next?’. This lesson also contains opportunities for student reflection and extension tasks.

Learning Intentions

Students will:

• analyse how language features have been used to create tone, mood and atmosphere in an extract from ‘Dracula’  

• think carefully about the language used in the extract to create a visual representation of the setting  

• apply their understanding of how language features can build atmosphere and mood in your own imaginative writing  

• reflect on their writing. 

Outcome content 

• S503PE1: engage with a range of increasingly complex language forms, features and structures of texts in meaningful, contextualised and authentic ways

• S504UA2 examine and evaluate the cohesion of syntax and content in familiar and unfamiliar texts

• S506UA11: use appropriate metalanguage to identify, describe and explain relationships between and among texts

The coding for this content point comes from the English Textual Concepts and Learning Processes resources for Stage 5 English – Stage 5.