Exploring diaries

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literacy – Interacting with others

Read Chapter 12 of Mahtab's Story with students and discuss the following:

Mahtab asks for a book in which to record her thoughts. She then proceeds to write letters to her father that she doesn’t necessarily intend sending to him, but keeping the diary helps her to cope with the new unfamiliar situation she has found herself in.

Students will: Discuss the value of keeping a diary as a form of coping mechanism. Write a series of diary entries that express feelings, emotions and opinions in relation to a specific scene chosen by the teacher at this point in the text.

Personification

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literacy – Interpreting, analysing and evaluating

Personification is used to describe the bad memories Mahtab holds onto in the form of fog (page 2) in: 'When had the fog of darkness and fear wrapped itself around the house?' Ask students – what sense does this use of imagery evoke for the reader?

Students will: Consider the use of personification and what this adds to developing suspense and plot.

Dialogue, imagery and other literary devices

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literature – Creating literature

Dialogue

Demonstrate to students the ways in which dialogue between the children in the text (such as on pages 55–56, and pages 60–61) allows the reader to see that the children in the story are uncertain of their future. The dialogue is also another way for the children to cope with their current situation.

Students will: Study dialogue in the novel (for example, pages 88–89) including language and punctuation choices, such as speech marks, question marks, exclamation marks, commas and full stops. Write a sequence of dialogue that highlights confusion between two people about an unknown circumstance. For example, students may write a conversation spoken by two Year 6 students regarding their uncertainty about attending high school. The dialogue should explore how the characters cope with their feelings of uncertainty.

Imagery and other literary devices

Discuss with the students the imagery of birds and kites used throughout the text (on pages 3-4, 26, 40, 54, 75 and 81) and the concept of freedom. Discuss the use of other literary devices used in the novel, such as simile and metaphor.

Students will: Find examples of imagery used in the text (for example on page 78 ‘drawn along like flowing liquid’, or on page 147 ‘dust … dancing, teasing …’) to describe the setting of the various parts of the story. Use this imagery to annotate the landscape collage that was created as a ‘before reading’ activity (Lesson 2). Students will write a poem using similar imagery as a poetic response to the concept of freedom.