Lesson · Grade 5 · English Language Arts
How Writers Show a Character
- Grade 5
- English Language Arts
- 1 min
- British Columbia
- BC5-EN-06
A single moment is written twice on one card: first the writer simply tells us "Maya was nervous before the race", then the same moment is rewritten to show it through three clues, her actions, her speech and her thoughts, each lit in its own colour and matched to a box on the right. The word nervous never appears in the second version, yet the viewer works it out, and the video ends on the recap: show, don't tell, through actions, speech and thoughts.
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
How does a writer show us what a character is like?
One way is simply to tell the reader.
Transcript
What the lesson says
How does a writer show us what a character is like?
One way is simply to tell the reader.
That is clear, but it is flat, and there is nothing to picture.
Good writers show the character instead, and let the reader work it out.
They use three main clues: the character's actions, speech and thoughts.
Here is the same moment, written to show instead of tell.
Actions: Maya retied her laces for the third time.
Speech: Is it time yet, she asked, too quickly.
Thoughts: she wished the whistle would never blow.
The word nervous never appears, but you can tell.
You worked out what Maya is like, so she feels real.
Show a character through actions, speech and thoughts, and let the reader work it out.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 5
English Language Arts, Story/text: literary elementsBC5-EN-06
Previous: Story structure: the plot mountainNext: Imagery: Writing for the Five Senses
- British Columbia, Grade 6
English Language Arts, Story/text: literary elementsBC6-EN-06
Previous: Story structure: the plot mountainNext: Setting: where and when a story happens
- British Columbia, Grade 7
English Language Arts, Story/text: literary elementsBC7-EN-06
Previous: Story structure: the plot mountainNext: Setting: where and when a story happens
This lesson is also listed in Grade 6 and Grade 7.
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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