A/A* English LanguagePaper 1: Writing to Persuade – Lesson 1

Starter: What techniques can you use in your writing to be more persuasive?

‘Street Trash: Beggars of Britain’

This is the title of the article...

What do you think the article is going to be

about?

Fill in the blanks

You have the first paragraph of the articleTask: fill in the blanks with what you think the writer might

have written.

Let’s share!!

________ beggars, ________beggars, beggars with

_______. Beggars in _________ and beggars in

________.

Punk beggars, drunk beggars, beggars with babies.

Beggars in shell suits and beggars in rags. Beggars with

snot on their chin and a mangy mutt on the end of a

piece of string. Lots of them.

Can anyone remember the key persuasive techniques?Here’s a clue...

A aliteration

F facts

F flattery

O opinions

R repetition

R rhetorical questions

E emotive language

S superlatives

S statistics

T triples

Reading on...

Lets read the rest of the article...

Powers of persuasion!

In pairs, read through thearticle again and circle anypersonal pronouns.What have you noticed?

Now, identify all the persuasive techniques used in the article.

(Be prepared to discuss their effects).

Group feedback

Our thoughts...

On the green post-it note, write down how you think beggars are presented in the article. Is it positive or negative?

On the pink post-it note, write down why you think Tony Parsons wrote the article.

Plenary: Counterblast!!

In groups of 3 or 4, using a variety ofpersuasive techniques you are goingto write a letter to the editor of Arena magazine to counterblast Tony Parsons’ article on street beggars.

How does all this relate to your exam?

In your Paper 1 exam, you will get two sectionsSection A = You’ll get an unseen media passage which

you will have to comment and analyseSection B = Writing to persuade or argue.