TEXTS TYPES ENGLISH

1.1. WRITING DESCRIPTIVE SENTENCES

Jan shared the book "Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log" by Sara Riches (Scholastic, 2000)
with a group of children from a grade 1/2. (7-8 year olds)
After each page was read the students discussed the illustrations. When answering
the question the students were asked to consider the characters' appearances and
actions. They were encouraged to find words to explain their answer rather than use
hand gestures.
A child was asked to use the whiteboard to
draw the frog from the story. Students were
then asked to think of the words they had
previously used to describe the frog. Jan
recorded these words around the picture of
the frog on the whiteboard. Words included:
skinny, slimy, thin, little, green, cheeky,
happy, slippery, yellow.
The students were asked to write a
description about a frog using as many of
the words from the whiteboard as they
could. The purpose of this activity was to
later include such a descriptive passage in a story about a frog.
After a short writing time the students came together to share their drafts. Discussion
included questions about the descriptive words they used in their writing, e g. 'How
big was your frog? Which word tells us this?', 'You could join your sentences together,
how could you do this?'.
After the discussion the students returned to work on
their drafts.
Some examples have
been included.

Jodie was a frog. Jodie

was a green frog. He
had warts on his back
and was a very small
frog. He was always
smiley and relaxing on
a lily pad. He was 10 cm
long.

Green is cheeky. Green

sits and he is lazy. Green is funny. Green is little.
Green is very silly. Green is very, very happy.
Green is slimy. Green is a tree frog.
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 1.2. INFORMATIVE TEXTS/DESCRIPTIONS
PLAN
HEADINGS KEY WORDS
Classification
What is it?
Opening statement

Description
What attributes does it
have?
(size, shape, features)
Place/Time
Where is it? Habitat?
When is it?

Dynamics/Behaviour
What does it do?

Summarising comment

Text FROGS Language

organisation Frogs belong to a group of animals called features
Begins with a amphibians. Amphibians have two stages in Uses a
general title that
statement. life; water and land. introduces
the topic
Has a series of Uses present
sequenced Frogs have four legs and no tail. Some frogs tense e.g.
paragraphs:
Appearance have spots and stripes. Their colour helps to belong, have,
appears
camouflage them. Frogs have wet skin and
bulgy eyes. Uses technical
Habitat Frogs live in damp places. The tree frog lives vocabulary
e.g. amphibians,
in trees. Other frogs live in ponds or creeks. camouflage
Frogs lay eggs in the water.
Behaviour Frogs come out at night. They make croaking
noises. Frogs jump high. Some frogs climb
trees.
Food Frogs eat insects and spiders. Some frogs eat
other frogs.

http://www.education.tas.gov.au/english/default.htm

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2. E- MAILS

Dear Sara,
This is the first time I've ever written a letter. My teacher told me we can
make friends by writing letters. I live in New Brunswick an you live in
Saskatchevan. What is it like? I live near St John River. We have a Burmese
cat. I put his picture in my letter. His name is Elliot and he likes to play. Do
you have pets too? I want to get your letter very quickly.
Your friend,
Julia

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 3. NARRATIVE
Purpose: Narratives entertain, engage, amuse, interest and intrigue readers by
telling real or imagined experiences. They might also explain, inform or instruct.
Text Is Thomas in trouble? Language
organisation Thomas was bored. His mother was planting tomatoes features
in the back garden, and Daisy, the dog, was snoring Uses past
Introduction loudly underneath the kitchen table. He had no one to tense e.g.
(orientation) play with and nothing to do. Suddenly he felt very opened,
- characters hungry. He opened the pantry and looked inside. He spotted,
(who? what?) spotted a box of chocolates on the top shelf. ‘Problem thought
- setting number one,’ he thought, “is how to get at it?”
(where?) After dragging the stool across the kitchen floor, Uses
- time (when?) climbing up, reaching high with arms outstretched, he conjunctions
e.g. after, as
still couldn’t grab it. He ran to get the broom. He
Uses
climbed up on to the stool, held the broom high and descriptive
balanced carefully as he poked it towards the top shelf. language e.g.
He watched in horror as the broom knocked other watched in
Series of things off leaving the chocolates sitting alone on the horror,
events which shelf. Glancing down, he saw the tomato sauce sliding chocolates
lead to a out of its bottle and spraying on to the floor. The lid sitting alone
problem flew off a canister of raisins and a packet of biscuits
(complication). split open. When they hit the floor it looked like the Writes in the
The problem flies were feasting on a forgotten barbecue. As he third person
relates to the picked up the containers, he wondered how he was e.g. He, she
characters or Can be
going to clean up the mess.
events written in
At that moment Daisy sprang into action. She the first
crunched up the biscuits, slurped up the sauce and person
Solution swallowed the raisins. In just a few seconds the floor e.g. I, we)
(resolution) was spotless.
The resolution Thomas turned to see his mother watching her hands Uses
explains how at the kitchen sink. ‘Would you like hamburgers for dialogue e.g.
the problem is lunch?’ she asked. think I’ve lost
solved. (Why?) ‘I think I’ve lost my appetite.’ said Thomas slowly. my appetite

Traditional narratives include tales, fables, myths and legends while modern narratives includes
fantasy, realistic fiction, adventure, mystery and horror stories. Narratives are used in picture books,
simple short stories and longer stories with complicated plots. Some narrative features might also
be found in spoken stories, cartoons, comics and feature films.

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4. INFORMATIVE TEXTS: EXPLANATIONS or REPORTS

4.1. EXPLANATION

Purpose: An explanation tells how and why something works or happens in the world.
Text What causes a rainbow? Language
organisation A rainbow is a coloured arc of light that is often seen features
in the sky when the sun is shining after a shower of
Begins with a rain. Uses a
general A rainbow contains all of the colours of the spectrum. title that
statement to The top of the arch is always red, followed by orange, introduces
introduce the with yellow, green, indigo, blue and violet in that the topic
phenomenon order. Uses present
tense e.g.
Has a series of is, contains,
sequenced appears
paragraphs

Often includes Uses technical

labelled Light, which appears to be white, is really made up vocabulary
diagrams and from all the colours of the spectrum. When sunlight e.g. refracted,
flow charts reaches a drop of water, it is refracted, or bent, so reflected
that the beam of light is separated out into its colours.
Has a At the same time when a beam of light enters a Uses action
concluding raindrop, part of it is reflected from the inside surface verbs e.g.
paragraph and bounces back in the same direction. When this enters, reflected
happens inside many raindrops it makes a rainbow bounces
which can be seen by people who are standing with
their backs to the sun.
Because rainbows have always fascinated people
many stories have been told about them, but
unfortunately, there is no pot of gold at the end of a
rainbow.

It is important to explain the reasons why things happen as well as what things happen in some of
these text types. Explanation might link with science and technology topics to consider mechanical,
technological or natural happenings such as why a kettle boils, how a television works or why
volcanoes erupt.

http://www.education.tas.gov.au/english/default.htm

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 4.2. REPORT
Purpose: Reports present factual information in a concise and logical sequence.
Reports avoid personal comments and opinions from the author.
Text The Tasmanian devil Language
organisation The Tasmanian devil is a marsupial. (A marsupial is an features
A general Uses present
animal that feeds and carries its young in a pouch.) It lives
statement or tense e.g.
only in Tasmania and was called a devil by the early
classification is, has
European settlers because of its fierce appearance and loud
explains the
screeching. Uses
subject of the
specialised
report
vocabulary e.g.
marsupial,
Each paragraph
nocturnal
has different
information Writes in the
third person
e.g. it, they
Each paragraph
Uses precise
has a topic
and
sentence and The devil is the same size as a small dog. It has a large
economical
supporting head, a stocky body and a short, thick tail. While the fur is
language
details mostly black, there are often white markings on the back
gives
and chest.
accurate
Because the devil is a nocturnal animal, (it is active at
information
Visual texts e.g. night) it spends the days in the dense bush and hunts for
in short
maps, diagrams food after dark.
sentences) e.g.
and charts are While it can catch prey the size of a small wallaby the devil
Devils breed
often included often feeds on the bodies of dead sheep and cows from
in March,
Includes a farms. Its very powerful jaws and teeth enable it to eat
devils have
concluding bones and fur as well as the meat. Farmers are pleased that
been affected
statement or devils stop the spread of disease by removing the rotting
by cancer
summary bodies of dead animals. Groups of devils eat together from
the same carcass (body of a dead animal) and they are such Might include
noisy eaters that they can be heard for several kilometres. a glossary.
Includes a
Devils breed in March and the young are born in April. bibliography
While more are born, only two or three babies survive to live in
their mother’s pouch for four months. They move with their
mother into a hole or a hollow log until they are ready to live on
their own in the bush at the end of December.

Devils live until they are seven or eight years old.

Recently adult devils have been affected by cancer. This
begins with lumps around the mouth and spreads to the face
and neck. Scientists are studying the cancers so they can find
out the cause and save the devil population in Tasmania.

Bibliography:
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-5372WP?open
http://en.wikipedia.og/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil
Information reports ask students to question, define, describe, analyse and
evaluate information.

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