An Eagle in the Snow This is one of sixteen resources that you can use with your class to celebrate Michael Morpurgo Month in February, or to explore books from the world famous author at any other time of the year. Each resource is built around an extract but also shares some of the key themes from the complete story that make the book such a rich and enjoyable text to share with your class. The extracts can be read with the class using the accompanying PowerPoints, and there are teacher notes and pupil challenges to help children develop their own story-writing skills. This activity looks at the language choices Michael Morpurgo makes to describe characters, and his different use of sentence structure and poetic devices.
An Eagle in the Snow 1940. Barney and his mother, their home destroyed by bombing, are travelling to the country when their train is forced to shelter in a tunnel from attacking German planes. There, in the darkness, a stranger on the train begins to tell them a story. A story about Billy Byron, the most decorated soldier of WWI, who once had the chance to end the war before it even began, and how he tried to fix his mistake. But sometimes the right thing is hard to see – and even harder to live with…
Themes and ideas An Eagle in the Snow is a powerful novel, inspired by a true story. The tale combines moments of action and excitement with poignancy and reflection, and raises many ideas and themes to be explored with a class of children, including: Big decisions In the story, the decision Billy makes, to spare Hitler’s life, is one that haunts him. Billy wonders if his decision makes him responsible in some way for Hitler’s rise to power and WWII itself.
Illustrations © Michael Foreman, 2015
Key discussion questions: • Did Billy make the right decision, given what he knew at the time? • D o you think Billy would make a different decision if he knew what would happen later? Is it ever right to kill someone, even if it will save more lives later? • Is it possible to know the results of our decisions? Of course, other themes and ideas might emerge from reading and discussing the book: bravery and courage, the reality of war, as well as the chance to explore an important time in history.
Using the resource This resource shares an extract from the story where Barney is on a train on his way to Cornwall. As he thinks about how much he loves trains, his passion bubbles out through his words. The activities start with reading the text aloud and concentrating on intonation and rhythm. They also give children the chance to better understand the author’s craft, in particular the use of different sentence structures and poetic devices. There is also a pupil activity sheet with a storytelling challenge based on the extract. For An Eagle in the Snow, it focuses on children talking or writing on a subject about which they are passionate. This could be used as a short classroom activity or set as homework, where children prepare a piece to share that consolidates what they have learned in the lesson. After reading and discussing the extract, hopefully some children will be inspired to read the book itself. You could read it aloud as a class novel or direct children to where they can find a copy to read themselves: the book corner, school library, local library or a local bookshop.
Illustrations © Michael Foreman, 2015
Teacher’s notes for the PowerPoint Slide 2 Share the front cover and blurb to introduce the book and give context. Ask: has anyone read this book before? Does the blurb make you want to read on? Slide 3 Tell the children that Barney’s house has been destroyed in an air raid and he is on his way to Cornwall to stay with his aunt. Read aloud together (either with the teacher reading aloud and children following, children reading together as a class or children reading together in pairs). Slide 4 Ask the children to talk in partners or small groups: how does Michael Morpurgo show that Barney is passionate about trains? They might discuss: •
What he says (I love trains)
•
How he says it (one long, excited, multi-clause sentence with lots of evocative verbs – puffing, rocking, whistling, whooping, burst)
Draw out the idea that in great storytelling, the “how” matters as much as the “what” and that a writer/storyteller can convey emotion through their choice of words and the rhythm of their sentences. Slide 5 Ask the children to work with a partner to prepare the section in bold for reading aloud. Depending on the class, they could do this with very little preparation, or you could model how it might be read first. Ask the children: how does the rhythm of this section reflect what Barney is talking about? (Perhaps the rhythm of the lines reminds them of the rhythm of a train rattling along? Perhaps as it is repetitive, quick and fluid, it captures Barney’s excitement?)
Illustrations © Michael Foreman, 2015
Draw the children’s attention to the phrases “the rhythm and the rattle and the rocking” and “the whistling and the whooping”. Do they recognise this language feature (alliteration)? Why might it be particularly effective here? Slide 6 Ask the children to choose a topic about which they are passionate and prepare to write or talk about it using the ideas drawn from Michael Morpurgo’s writing. Once they have chosen a topic, they are going to share their enthusiasm not just through what they say (I really like football; ballet is my favourite thing in the world!), but how they say it (choice of vocabulary; rhythm of their writing; sentence structure; alliteration or other poetic devices). Challenge the children to think carefully about their audience – while they might want to convey excitement, will it always be easy for their audience to follow what they are saying if they talk very quickly or write in very long sentences? How might they get around these challenges?