9 Imaginary worlds

Listening and speaking

1 Listen as your teacher reads you the first part of a

story called Sheetal’s First Landing. You will hear
the story twice.
2 While you are listening for the second time, think
about what might happen next. What do you think
Sheetal will find when she goes inside the alien
tomb? Make some quick notes about:
• what the tomb might
be like
• what Sheetal might see
and hear
• how she might feel
• who else might be in this
part of the story
• what might happen.
3 Talk with your partner
about your ideas.
Together, decide what you
both think is most likely
to happen. Then you can
share your ideas with the
rest of the class.

Listen, take notes and share ideas. 97

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 Reading

Read the rest of the story about Sheetal. Then answer the questions.

Sheetal’s First Landing

Sheetal has grown up on a huge spaceship that explores the galaxy.
Now her help is needed to investigate a mysterious alien planet.
I looked around at the strange alien desert of blue-white sand. On the
horizon, a dark, evil smudge of clouds flickered with lightning. It was the
storm we’d been warned about, approaching fast. In front of me was the
alien tomb we’d come to study – a vast, solid, oval bunker. My mother
waved from the roof of the tomb. The only way into the tomb was through a
hole in the roof, near where Mum was standing. I clipped a rope to my suit
harness and was winched up.
“Happy birthday, sweetie!” Mum
said. She sounded exhausted –
they’d all been working flat out
for days. “Be careful – this tomb
roof is mostly made of trap-doors.
Goodness knows what the alien
builders were thinking. That
rainstorm’s going to open the trap-
doors, then flood the whole tomb!”
My job was to winch down into
the tomb to attach sensors inside.
Mum said, “You OK?” Maybe she was worried about me.
“Yes, Mum,” I said. (Really! I was qualified for this!) “I’ll talk all the time I’m
down there, so you know I’m OK. I’ll position the sensors. Routine stuff.”
Mum patted my shoulder. “Sounds good. Ready?”
I nodded, and began talking.
“Sheetal Lin-Evans lowering into the Alien Tomb. The sun’s shining

98 Listen, take notes and share ideas.

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 through the roof hatch like a spotlight, but
otherwise it’s utterly dark. But that’s OK – my
suit lights are on. The tomb is packed with
big things like cocoons, hanging from the
roof on ropes. It’s OK – I’m small enough to
squeeze past. I’m positioning the first sensor.
Now I’m winching down to position the second
sensor …”
I went on winching slowly down the wall of
the tomb, attaching sensors, talking all the
time. Just keep talking, I told myself. Sound
calm and be calm. It wasn’t really spooky –
not spooky, but amazing! The cocoon things
were the mummified bodies of real aliens,
frog-like creatures who built the tomb ages ago.
And they’d made wall paintings! I could see
pictures showing that this desert was covered in lakes long ago. Then the
pictures showed dead aliens being wrapped up, and hoisted into this tomb
in the sand. The last pictures showed lakes and live aliens again. The Alien
Afterlife perhaps – who could tell?
I stood on the floor of the tomb to fix the last sensor. Maybe no human
had ever stood there before – or ever would do again. I wrote “S L-E 9” in
the sand with my finger. Then I winched up.
We climbed down the outside of the tomb. You could actually hear the
storm coming now– the distant rain sounded like someone raking gravel.
Raindrops began to fall on us as we reached the ship. Then it was as if
giants were hurling buckets of water everywhere. So this was what weather
was like.
When we got back into orbit, we checked the sensor camera. We could
see the tomb flooding. Then there was nothing except muddy, swirling
water. (“Alien mummy soup – yuck!” Dad said.) But then we saw something
moving! I actually screamed. In the murky water I saw live aliens, freeing
themselves from the cocoons.
Then an alien hand reached out, and grabbed the sensor.
The End (?)

ReadXxxxxxx
silently. 99

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 Comprehension

1 Discuss these questions with your partner. Then write down the answers.
a How does Sheetal get down into the alien tomb?
b Find one detail in the story that shows the planet is not like Earth.
c Find a simile in the story. What is it describing?
d Why does Sheetal need to keep talking all the time that she’s in the tomb?
e Why do you think Sheetal writes ‘S L-E 9’ on the floor of the tomb?
f Find one sentence of dialogue that is in the present tense, and one sentence
that is in the future. Remember to use speech marks when you write them.
g Reread the first paragraph of the story. Sum up the main thing that happens in
this paragraph, in one sentence.
h Find a clue (in the paragraph that starts ‘I went on winching’) that helps
us to guess that the aliens might be coming alive at the end of the story.
Explain what the clue means in
your own words.
2 Write a short paragraph
describing the inside of the
tomb. Include vivid words and
phrases to help the reader to
‘see’ it! Add details from your
own imagination.
3 Write three sentences to sum up
the main things that happen in
this story.

Thinking deeper
• Although stories are usually written in the past tense, the dialogue is often in
the present tense or the future. Why do you think this is?
• Choose two sentences of dialogue from the story and rewrite them in the past
tense. Remember to think about punctuation, including speech marks.

100 Meanings in text. Write a descriptive paragraph and summary.

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 Listening and speaking

1 Take turns with your partner to retell the story in your own words.
Remind each other, if you forget any important bits!
2 In a small group, talk about what might happen next in the story.
Is it really the end?
• Discuss your ideas and agree on a good follow-up story.
• Act out the story in your group. Make sure everyone has a part!

Story structure
You’ve already seen that many stories have five stages:
introduction ➞ build-up ➞ climax ➞ resolution ➞ conclusion.
We can also show this as a ‘story mountain’!

climax

build-up resolution

start ending

3 Think about the story you acted out in your group.

• Does it fit the five stage pattern?
introduction ➞ build-up ➞ climax ➞ resolution ➞ conclusion
• If not, how could you change it so that it follows the pattern?
• Act it out again.

Alternative endings. Perform a story. 101

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 Grammar

1 Find and write out a sentence from

the story Sheetal’s First Landing
that uses expressive language in
each of these ways:
a a sentence that describes what
Sheetal can see, feel or hear
(the ‘setting’)
b a sentence that makes the
reader feel nervous or excited
(the ‘atmosphere’)
c a sentence that describes how
Sheetal feels.
2 Underline the most descriptive
words in each of your sentences.
Label them to show whether they
are nouns, verbs, adjectives or
adverbs.
3 Now write three more sentences of
your own to describe the setting, the
atmosphere and how Sheetal felt in
the story. Can you make yours even
more descriptive than the author’s?

102 Expressive and descriptive language.

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 Reading Lost Magic
Here are two poems about imaginary y
animals. Read them twice – once
silently to yourself, and once out
loud to your partner.

Today I found some lost magic –

The Last Dragon a twisty-twirly horn
of a unicorn lying at my feet.
By a dusk-damp cave And when I stopped
as the first snows fall to pick it up, to hold it
a dragon breathes; in my fist, I remembered
the last of them all. how once upon a time
His eyes are dull, you could always find unicorns,
his memories old; but there are no unicorns now.
his breath is pale, You would find them on the shoreline,
his fire now cold. flitting in and out of caves in cliffs,
The forest mice or climbing hills at twilight.
who ran from his roar They would lead you through forests,
now nest by his feet, sometimes hiding behind trees,
afraid no more. and if you lost them or they lost you,
you could always find them again,
He turns his face but there are no unicorns now.
to the winter moon;
his claws are furled, And it didn’t matter
his courage gone. if you followed them all day,
the edge of the world was miles away,
The first owl swoops there was nothing to fear.
to the forest floor; And none of the unicorns we knew ever
but the last of the dragons changed into dangerous strangers.
is no more.
Once upon a time there were unicorns,
by Judith Nicholls but there are no unicorns now.
by Brian Moses

Read poems silently and aloud. 103

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 Comprehension

Write down the answers to these questions.

a Where is The Last Dragon set? Write down
three phrases from the poem that give you Thinking deeper
clues about the setting. • Lost Magic is a very
b What do you think ‘dusk-damp’ means? thoughtful poem.
Explain it in your own words. Sometimes in poems,
c What do the mice do that proves they are not one thing stands for
afraid? Why aren’t they afraid? something else. For
example, a poet might
d Write down two pairs of rhyming words from
write about a terrible
The Last Dragon.
storm, and the storm
e One of the verses in The Last Dragon doesn’t might stand for the
rhyme in the same way as the others. Which poet’s feelings of anger,
verse is this? fear or sadness.
f In the line ‘His claws are furled’, what does In this poem, perhaps
‘furled’ mean? Use a dictionary to help you if
•
the unicorns stand for
you need to! something else. What
g How does The Last Dragon make you feel? do you think they might
What would you say to the dragon if you stand for? There’s no
could talk to him? right or wrong answer
h In Lost Magic, what makes the narrator to this, but be prepared
suddenly think about unicorns? to explain your reasons!
i Write down a repeating line from Lost Magic.
Why do you think the author repeats this line
in the poem?
j How do you think the narrator of Lost Magic
feels about the fact that there aren’t any
unicorns anymore?
k In what way are the poems similar, and in
what way are they different?
l Which of the poems do you prefer? Give at
least two reasons for your choice.

104 Respond to poems. Compare poems.

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 Writing

1 Reread The Last Dragon (page 103), and as you read, note down all the
words and phrases that describe the setting.
2 Take turns with your partner to describe the setting out loud. Use words
and phrases from the poem, and add some descriptive words and phrases
of your own.
3 Add your new words and phrases to the notes you made in question 1.
4 Now use your notes to help you write a detailed description of the setting.
Make it as clear and vivid as you can!
5 Write a final draft of your description, and add a picture!

Plan and write a description of a setting. 105

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 Spelling

1 Read the information in the box about rhyming words. Write the
rhyming pairs of words from the poem. Underline the letters
that make the rhyming sound in each pair.

2 Think of at least two more words that use the same spelling
patterns as the words you found. Write these words in lists.
For example, one list of words with the spelling pattern all, one
list with the spelling pattern oar, and so on.

all oar ore aw

fall roar more saw
3 Practise spelling the words on your lists, and then ask your
partner to test you!
4 Choose one word from each of your lists, and write a sentence
that uses that word.

106 Spelling: patterns and rules.

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 Writing

You are going to

plan and write yourr
own fantasy story,
using one of the pictures
ctures
below as a prompt..

<Artwork: included in this spelling box,

showing the same dragon as from the poem
on page 7 of this unit – same illustrator
- this time zoom in on the previous scene
of the dragon to show the little mice and the
nest they have made near the dragon’s feet.
This corresponds with the lines in the poem
which say: “The forest mice, Who ran
from his roar, Now nest by his feet, Afraid
no more.”>

Plan a fantasy story. 107

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 Step 1: Planning

1 Choose one of the pictures
as the setting for your story.
Then decide on a fantasy
creature for your story (pick
one from the pictures – or
make up your own creature!).
2 Think about what might happen in the
story. Write some notes to help you
remember your ideas, and then tell
your partner about it. Can your partner
help you improve your ideas so that
your story sounds really exciting?

3 Think about how your story will fit the five-stage story structure:
introduction ➞ build-up ➞ climax ➞ resolution ➞ conclusion.

4 Use the five story stages as headings, and write notes about
what happens under each heading. You could use the story
mountain (page 101) to help you plan your story if you prefer

5 Use your plan to help you write your story. Each part of the
plan will need at least one paragraph.

Step 2: Redrafting and revising

6 Read your first draft out loud to yourself and make

changes if you need to.

7 Now read the story out loud to your partner. Can they
make any suggestions to improve the story?

8 Write a final version of your story, including all the changes that
you think will improve it. Don’t forget to include a picture that
shows the main setting and any fantasy creatures.

108 Xxxxxxx
Plan a fantasy story.

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