Lesson 2: Characterisation and noun groups

This lesson will focus on how noun groups provide considerable detail about Mr Twit’s appearance and character.

Learning intention

We will read Roald Dahl’s description of Mr Twit with a focus on noun groups and how these contribute to building a picture of Mr Twit to help us understand what kind of character he is. 

Success criteria

I can identify, describe and explain the ways in which the author uses noun groups to build understanding of a character.

Links to the Victorian Curriculum – English

Reading and viewing

Level 2:

• Analyse how different texts use nouns to represent people, places, things and ideas in particular ways. For more information, see: Content description VCELY223

Writing

Level 4:

• Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases. For more information, see: Content description VCELA292

Level 5:

• Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea. For more information, see: Content description VCELA324
  

Links to the Victorian Curriculum – English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Pathway B

Writing

Level BL:

• Use basic descriptive words (VCEALL232)
• Use topic-specific vocabulary encountered in classroom activities (VCEALL235)
  

Level B1:

• Use a small range of simple descriptive phrases (VCEALL312)
• Incorporate learnt vocabulary into writing (VCEALL315)
• Use repetition for effect (VCEALL316)
  

Level B2:

• Use simple extended descriptive phrases (VCEALL392)
• Use modelled vocabulary appropriately (VCEALL395)
• Select some descriptive vocabulary appropriate to context (VCEALL396)
  

Level B3:

• Write using extended descriptive phrases (VCEALL471)
• Use a range of key vocabulary appropriately (VCEALL474)
• Create mood and feeling through the selection of appropriate vocabulary and idiom (VCEALL475)
  

For the teacher

About noun groups

Noun groups are the main grammatical resource for establishing the ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ in the clause. The head noun is the core part of the noun group.

Noun groups can consist of a single word or can be expanded by adding words before the head noun (pre-modifier) and/ or after the head noun (post- modifier or Qualifier).

Roald Dahl’s narratives have characters which appeal and those that do not. In the first chapter of The Twits, Roald Dahl introduces us to hairy-faced men. Recall this chapter, asking the students about some of the main ideas Roald Dahl introduces – for example, he suggests that hairy faced men might not want you to know what they actually look like, he wonders how they keep themselves clean.

This chapter sets the reader up for the next chapter where Mr Twit is introduced. Prior to reading this extract, a discussion of the meaning of ‘twit’ will have taken place. 

 It is possible to go into further detail about the language resources which make up the noun group. Derewianka and Jones (2016) suggest that questions can be asked to define what each part does, then identifying its function, and later the grammatical form.  That is, using terms like ‘pointer’ or ‘describer’ can help students understand the purpose of the item.  

Lesson sequence

1. Read the chapter ‘Mr Twit’ with the students. Highlight that this our introduction to Mr Twit. Ask students, ‘How is Mr Twit depicted? What are your first impressions?’ List responses, asking students to tell you the words that help them to get these impressions. Here, students might provide examples of the adjectives in the extract, or groups of words which provide descriptive details. At this point, accept all contributions, asking them what their selections tell you about Mr Twit.
2. We know that Mr Twit is not a very pleasant character, but how does Roald Dahl create this idea with us as readers? Roald Dahl’s description of Mr Twit tells us about:
   • Mr Twit himself - what he is, what he thinks of himself, his actions
   • Mr Twit’s appearance
   • one way in which Dahl does this is through groups of words we call noun groups.
3. On a copy of the text that all can see, highlight some of the noun groups for the students which help build a picture of Mr Twit:
   • Mr Twit was one of these very hairy-faced men. The whole of his face except for his forehead, his eyes and his nose, was covered with thick hair. The stuff even sprouted in revolting tufts out of his nostrils and ear-holes. Mr Twit felt that this hairiness made him look terrifically wise and grand. But in truth he was neither of these things. Mr Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever. The hair on Mr Twit’s face didn’t grow smooth and matted as it does on most hairy-faced men. It grew in spikes that stuck out straight like the bristles of a nailbrush. And how often did Mr Twit wash this bristly nailbrushy face of his? The answer is never, not even on Sundays. He hadn’t washed it for years.   (Roald Dahl, The Twits, Jonathan Cape Ltd & Penguin Books Ltd.)
4. Discuss the effect of the noun groups in building up details about Mr Twit and his hairy appearance. What do they tell you about the character?
5. Use some of the bolded examples to highlight the words which form the noun groups by identifying the head noun – and the ways it is this is usually a person or a thing. Look at the examples and ask the students
   • ‘What is the main noun? What words come before the noun? What words come after the noun?’
   • Model how the noun groups can be analysed to show pre- and post- modification. For example: Example 1: one of these very hairy-faced men 
   • The head noun is men – this noun group has a group of words before the noun. Example 2: The whole of his face 
   • The head noun is ‘face’. This noun group has a group of words before the noun. Example 3: The hair on Mr Twit’s face The head noun is ‘hair’.
   • This noun group has groups of words before and after the noun.
   • As you work through the examples, show the ways in which the noun groups are formed. You could use a table like the one below, or use different colours to highlight the parts.
     

     Words that come before the noun (pre-modifier)	Head noun	Words that come after the noun (post-modifier – Qualifier)
     one of these very hairy-faced	men
     the whole of his	face
     the	hair	on Mr Twit’s face

6. Have students identify the main parts of the remaining noun groups in the Mr Twit extract and share with the group. Again, emphasise the ways in which detail can be added both before and after the noun. Have the students complete a similar analysis of the remaining noun groups and compare responses.
7. In a discussion with the students, highlight: how these noun groups help to build a vivid image of Mr Twit and his disposition how information can be added after the noun rather than only adding adjectives before the noun.
8. Ask the students to rewrite parts of the extract, modifying the noun groups by adding their own words before and/or after the noun, for example: 
   Mr Twit was a hairy-faced man with a long beard.
   Only a small part of his face was covered with hair. 

Differentiation

The order of words in the pre-modifier might not be known to all students, especially those from EAL backgrounds. Teachers might familiarise themselves with the composition (as set out below) to help students who are unsure of the order in English. One way to do this is to provide different examples of the components which make up the pre-modifier on cards and allow students to make noun groups using different selections.