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FR IE ND O R F O E This is one of 16 activities to try during Michael Morpurgo Month, each of which explores an extract from a different book written by the world famous author. The books are grouped into four themes: natural world, animal adventures, tales retold, and times of war. All the activities can be used as either a quick starter or a longer lesson and provide a great opportunity to develop children’s comprehension and vocabulary - not to mention a love of Michael Morpurgo’s books.
Friend or Foe
Evacuated from London, David and Tucky feel like the war is a long way away from their new life in the Devon countryside. Then one night the skyline of the moor is lit up with gun flashes, and the distant crump of bombing miles away brings the war back to them and shatters their new-found peace.
Using the resource This resource shares a scene where David and Tucky have agreed to help a German pilot escape. His friend is too injured to travel, so he must remain as their prisoner. The German pilot hands his revolver to David. After reading the text, there are suggested discussion activities considering: • Reading a text closely and making inferences • Author’s craft, focusing on small details to show how characters feel Depending on time and the needs of your class, you may want to work through all of these interrelated activities or focus on just one. There is also a sheet with a writing challenge based on the extract. For Friend or Foe it focuses on narrative writing and dialogue. This could be used as a short classroom activity or as homework to consolidate the learning in the teaching session. After reading and discussing the extract some children may 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.
Teacher’s notes for the PowerPoint Slide 2 • Share the front cover and blurb to introduce the book and give context.
• Ask children if anyone has read the book before. Does the blurb make them want to read on?
Slide 3 • Tell the children that Tucky and David have been evacuated from London to Devon. When a German bomber crashlands, they find the pilots, and also find themselves helping them, even though they are supposed to be the enemy. In this extract, one of the pilots is about to escape, but his colleague is too injured and ill to travel, so he must remain behind.
• Read aloud together (either with the
teacher reading aloud and children following, children reading together as a class or children reading together in pairs) then ask the children to briefly recap what has happened with a partner.
• Ask the children: - Why do you think the pilot gives Davey the revolver? - How does Davey feel when he holds the gun? - What thought crosses Davey’s mind now he has the gun? - What might have happened previously in the story for the German pilot to say, ‘But friends do not use guns on each other’?
• Ask the children to predict what they think will happen next in the story.
• What would they do if they were David and Tucky?
Slide 4 • Read these two sentences again and ask the children why these two small details might have been included in the text.
• If necessary, prompt the children by asking:
- Why might it be important to know that the gun is different to how David expected? - Would David have held a gun before? - Might he have played games with pretend guns? How is this different? - What does the trigger of the gun do? - Why is it interesting to know that David has curled his finger around the trigger? - What might this tell you about what he is thinking? Slide 5 • Return to the front cover and blurb.
• Ask the children if they would like to
read Friend or Foe having looked at this extract in detail and thought about Michael Morpurgo’s skillful writing.
• Point children to where they can find a
copy (either any copies you have in the classroom, the school library, or suggest the local library or a bookshop).