3 Conventions of diaries and journals

Assessment objectives IGCSE examination

AO2 Writing • Paper 1
W1 Articulate experience and express what is thought, felt and Question 2
imagined • Paper 2 Question 1
W2
W3
Sequence facts, ideas and opinions
Use a range of appropriate vocabulary
• Component 4
Coursework
W4 Use register appropriate to audience and context Portfolio
W5 Make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar

Differentiated learning outcomes Resources

• All students must understand and use the basic conventions of • Student
diary writing – using time to structure their writing, and using Book:
personal emotions and feelings as content (Grade E/D). pp. 70–1
• Most students should appreciate and use writing in diaries that is • Workshee
fit for purpose, audience and form, making good use of the ts:
conventions of diaries – first person, time-based sequence, 3.3 Diary
personal reflection (Grade D/C). writing
• Some students could use the conventions of diary writing with • PPT:
flair, appropriately using a range of tenses, voices and content 3.3a–d
to explore feelings and engage the reader (Grade B/A).
Other Student Book pages
• Writing to
describe:
structure,
pp. 100–3

Exploring skills
As a starter, ask groups of four to discuss what they know about diaries already.
Who writes them? Why are books and films made about them? Why are people
interested in them? Do you know anyone who has written one?
Introduce or recap on examples of some famous diaries and diarists (real and
fictional): Samuel Pepys, Anne Frank, Alan Bennett, Bridget Jones, Adrian Mole.
Then read the text on Student Book p. 70 and show the example diary using PPT 3.3a.
Ask students to name the features (they could also obtain this information from the
annotated version in the Student Book). Draw out what makes it instantly
recognisable as a diary.
For Q1, elicit who is writing the diary and ask students whether they find the style of
writing compelling or uninteresting as it is so personal to one particular person. Ask
students whether they think that time would be well spent keeping a diary and what
effect it would have on the writer. Introduce the idea of diary writing offering a means
of organising and reflecting on one’s thoughts and troubles. Discuss the fact that this
Key writing skills
Chapter 3

can lead to diaries being very frank and emotional.

Building skills
Return to the central concepts of content, structure and style (CSS is a useful
acronym to introduce here as it also features in later lessons), recapping on how
these headings supported learning about dialogue and speech writing. Ask
students to tackle Q2 in pairs with one student looking at content and the other
looking at structure and style. Give students five minutes to answer the question on
Student Book p. 70 related to their heading, and then ask students to share their
findings with another pair.

44 • Lesson 3 © HarperCollins Publishers 2013

 Give extra support using Worksheet 3.3, which explains the three headings
further and could be used alongside Q2 for targeted pupils.

Take feedback on what students have found in the diary extract and use the Checklist
for success to revisit the main features we would expect to see in a diary entry.

Developing skills
Read the longer diary extract on Student Book p. 71, covering over Q3, and taking
brief feedback on the CSS of this piece in comparison with the previous one.
Worksheet 3.3 could support the first bullet of Q4 as it displays both texts together
and gives explanations of content, structure and style.
As part of Q4, you could highlight features of the Kenyan diary that are immediately
significant, using PPT 3.3b and 3.3c. The red highlighted text shows the different
content; the green shows similar structure; the blue shows different style (long,
complex sentences). Also draw attention to the more developed ideas and style of the
Kenyan diary.
Then ask students to work in pairs to answer the remaining bullets in Q4.
Display these on PPT 3.3d to help confirm students’ understanding of the questions.
You might also need to recap on use of past and present tense, ellipsis, colons and
lists, and the poetic devices of simile, personification and metaphor.

Applying skills
Ask students to work in pairs on Q5 to discuss the picture they have formed of the
diarist from Kenya. Encourage students to write a summary of no more than three
bullet points about the writer and her interests.
Then ask students to complete Q6 independently to demonstrate their secure skills in
diary writing. You could use the Checklist for success on Student Book p. 70 to recap
on what the success criteria for the task are.

Give extra challenge by asking students to write a diary in the same style as the
description of the garden in Kenya but instead describing their own garden. This
could be a slightly tongue-in-cheek piece of writing, describing an urban setting:
Yesterday it was cloudy and rainy all day, the local youths starved of any fresh
air and barely any daylight...
Ask students completing this to describe how they tailored content, structure and
style in their writing to suit the task.

After students have finished their diary entry for Q6, invite them to work in pairs to
peer-assess each other’s writing, using the Sound progress and Excellent progress
criteria on Student Book p. 71.

Towards Diary writing can seem straightforward to potential A* students, and ensuring that
A/A* they use the full repertoire of writing skills on these tasks can be difficult. Encourage
Key writing skills
Chapter 3

students to read models of high-quality diaries on a regular basis and to try to

imitate or subvert their style. Remind students that diary entries should be full and
extended, and that in the exam they should include a maximum of two or three
entries.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2013 Lesson 3 • 45