Lontown Glossary

Create a glossary containing words and phrases that

help to authenticate the alternative town of Lontown.

Word/Phrase Definition
   

The Literacy Shed © 2017 Brightstorm resource 1a

With its small single-hulled capsule, the Serenity is
the perfect airship for short-haul travel within the
First Continent. An inverted teardrop shaped
montgolfier with simple but elegant decoration
allows effortless gliding across the sky. The ship is
powered by a standard single engine, connected to a
pair of high-mounted quadrablade fans which sit
above the gold-embossed white hull. Beneath the
blades there is a midmount fan to provide essential
lift to the balloon. Inside the cramped hull is space
for a limited amount of personal cargo and sleeping
quarters for a reduced crew.
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Brightstorm resource 1b
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Brightstorm Res 1c
How big is the ship?

What shape is Montgolfier (balloon) like?

How many propellers are there?

What is the hull made of?

What type of fan is there?

Where might the ship fly?

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 Children’s Perspective
What was Racing to be the first person
Ernest to get to South Polaris to
Brightstorm expand people’s knowledge
doing on his about the world.
expedition?
Was Ernest Ernest Brightstorm is a good
Brightstorm a father because he is missed
good father? by the children and he has
educated them well, letting
them live in books and use
tools. He had insured the trip
so they’d be looked after. He
had arranged for Mistress
Poacher to care for him.
Was Ernest Yes, he was meticulous at
Brightstorm a calculating.
good explorer?
Was Ernest Yes, because bloodlines are
Brightstorm not important. He has
trustworthy? worked hard to be an
explorer against the odds.
He is honest and wouldn’t
steal from anybody.
How did Ernest They don’t believe he could
Brightstorm have perished as he was too
perish? well prepared.
Did Ernest No, he was a good father. He
Brightstorm had planned everything
deserve to die? meticulously. He was an
honest person.
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Public Perspective
Trying to win money at whatever
cost.
He is not a good parent as a
sensible father would have sent
them to boarding school. He has
let them live in books and
protected them too much from
the real world. He allowed the
children to have a scruffy
appearance and “run wild”. He
didn’t follow the rules so left the
children penniless with nowhere
to live.
No, he was foolish enough to run
out of pitch.
No, he is a new explorer and they
don’t hold the same values as old
bloodlines.
He stole from another crew and
tricked people. He was no better
than a thief from the poor areas.
He and his crew had landed his
ship and were attacked by wild
beasts.
Yes, because he broke the code
and stole from another explorer.
He was a new family who didn’t
respect the old ways. They had
already judged him.
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An unfortunate event Last night, in York, Mrs
occurred during the Smith found herself knee
changing of the guard this deep in water in her front
morning. A uninvited room when she should
spectator, Humpty- have been sleeping. Once
Dumpty, fell from an again, flood defences in
unusually high position the area have failed.
and was damaged beyond
repair.

This week, the worst storm for a decade hit the UK and
caused widespread chaos to road and rail, killed two and
left thousands homeless. Many are asking if Britain is
paying the price of global warming.

Food parcels have been

deployed over the Disaster was narrowly
weekend, to assist avoided this week after
residents of Narnia two brave children
who have been caught escaped from a wicked
up in unexpected witch by shoving her
unseasonal snow. into an oven.

Tragedy struck on Tuesday morning when a married

couple, Mr and Mrs Trotter, were attacked and gobbled
up by an enormous rhinoceros who had escaped from
London Zoo.

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 Death In The Frozen South
What Really Happened?
   
 
Who

   
 
Where

   
 
When

   
 
What

   
 
Why

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 Death In The Frozen South
What Really Happened?
 
  New-Family explorer Ernest Brightstorm, who was
Who racing to be the first to reach South Polaris. 

   
  Just after the Last Post in the second continent, in a
Where great frozen forest in the Third Continent.

 
  Towards the end of the race when the competitors
When were running low on supplies. After a suspect robbery
from competitor Vane.
 

   
  Ernest Brightstorm’s ship, Violetta, was found
What abandoned in the frozen forest. Blood stains makes it
appear that the crew had been attacked by great
beasts.

 
  He was unprepared and did not follow the explorer’s
Why code, so had to steal and land in dangerous terrain. 

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 Mean Queen
UnBEElievable – swarms attack!

Big Black Bear Bit

Boy
Cat’s all, folks!

Truck by lightning!
Hot POP-erty!
Witch costume will you choose?

Boy Stuck In Well

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Brightstorm resource 2e
 Journalist Prompt Cards

Name: Link to story:

Name: Link to story:

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 Character:

Character:

Brightstorm Resource3b
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“Serves ‘im right’s what I ses!” the
large woman sniffed, contemptuously.

A concerned member of the public

told us she felt he deserved it.

Captain Vane, age 25, who found the

abandoned ship reported that, “The
crew had seemingly vanished.”

“In the middle of the frozen forest,” the

enigmatic captain shuddered, “we
spied in front of us the spine-chilling
sight of a deserted and abandoned
ship.”

A spokesperson from the Geographical

Society informed us that investigations
will continue.

“Investigations into the disappearance

will continue,” a spokesperson of the
Geographical Society informed us.
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 yelled
reported

said informed

cackled bellowed

whispered told

mused
explained
uttered

giggled stammered

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 We found Violetta abandoned
in the frozen wasteland. It was
completely empty—the crew
had disappeared.

Using the correct punctuation,

Explorer how many ways can you write this
Eudora Vane, speech?
aged 36.

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Brightstorm Res 4c
 Compare the similarities and differences in these
two pieces of speech:

“The crew had disappeared,” Vane told us.

Vane told us crew had disappeared.

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Brightstorm Res 4d
 Lontown Chronicle
Death in the Frozen South—What Really Happened?

Loads of people went to listen

to a hearing today about what
happened to Ernest
Brightstorm and got a massive
shock because he’d been really
bad and done nasty things
before he died.
He was on a big exciting trip
going to a place called the Third
Continent where nobody’s been
before. Loads of people are
talking about it and there was a
guy who works at the Society
that was saying that he thinks
that they’re going to have to
stop doing things like this
because of what he did.
There was a really famous
Explorer called Eudora Vane and
she told everyone that
Brightstorm had been really bad
and he’d stolen all of her Pitch
when she was just about to go
on the last bit of the race. "I was
just waking up when I heard the
loud rumble of his engines as he
left really early in the morning
before I had even woken up
properly,” Vane said “But I
didn’t
realise how horrible he’d been
until after I’d got up and gone
and found he’d taken all of our
Pitch.” Another bloke who
Brightstorm’s
worked airship, airship
on Eudora’s Violetta
found out that someone had
drilled a hole in the side of the
airship and taken out all of the
fuel! Everyone thinks
Brightstorm must have done it!
When they got stuff sorted and
went after him, they saw what
nasty things had happened to
the horrible man. Wild animals
had attacked them and Vane
says she thinks they must have
died.

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 Lontown Chronicle
Death in the Frozen South—What Really Happened?
During a hearing at the
Geographic Society today,
people found out that explorer
Ernest Brightstorm had
committed some terrible
crimes before his awful death. told everybody in the hearing.
“But I didn’t realise how
Brightstorm was going on a horrible he’d
journey into the Third been until after I’d got up and
Brightstorm’s airship, Violetta
Continent to try and find out gone and found he’d taken all
more about the unknown of our Pitch.” It was after
place, as it hasn’t been daybreak that chief engineer of
explored before. A person who the Victorious, Mr Wicketts,
works at the society said to our found out that someone had
reporter that they thought drilled a hole in the side of the
Brightstorm’s behaviour was airship and taken out all of the
terrible, and the Society might fuel. It seemed to everyone
not arrange any more listening to her story that
expeditions that far way. Brightstorm must have stolen
During the hearing today, it.
famous and experienced When they had managed to
explorer Eudora Vane, told the sort out the problems, the
panel about an attack on her captain and crew set off and
ship. Somebody had stolen all found out what terrible things
of the Pitch from her craft the had happened to Brightman
Victorious just as she was and his crew. Wild animals had
about to set off on the last bit attacked them and Vane thinks
of the journey. “I was just they must have died.
waking up when I heard the
loud rumble of his engines as
he left really early in the
morning before I had
even woken up properly,” Vane

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 Lontown Chronicle
  Death in the Frozen South—What Really Happened?
The public were left stunned today
following the news that the Lontown
Geographical Society have found that
one of their accredited explorers,
Ernest Brightstorm, was involved in
criminal and unsportsman-like
activities in the lead up to his
previously reported grisly death.
Brightstorm—a self-made new-blood
explorer with dubious experience—
had been taking part in the much-
publicised expedition into the Third
Continent; the expedition had been
intended to uncover what lies to the
south of the great mountains which
mark the southernmost point of
human exploration. However, this
noble quest to expand our knowledge
of geography and the very structure of
this planet has been marred by the
unsavoury actions of this maverick
explorer in the lead up to his death. A
Society spokesman told us it is thought
that his actions may also jeopardise
any future expeditions.
During the hearing today, evidence
was given by eminent and well-
renowned explorer Eudora Vane,
herself a member of one of the most
respected explorer families. She gave
evidence of a calculated attack on her
ship, during which all of her precious
Pitch was stolen from her craft the
Victorious on the eve of her final push
to reach South Polaris. “I heard the
rumble of
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his engines as he left early in the
morning,” Vane told the esteemed
members of the society, “But I did not
realise that a crime had been
committed until later that day. It was
after daybreak that chief
Brightstorm’s engineer
airship, Violetta of
the Victorious, Mr Wicketts, discovered
that all of the ship’s fuel had been
extracted from a hole bored into the
zeppelin's hull. The only logical
conclusion seems to be that the
precious store of Pitch was stolen by
Brightstorm.
It was only after the brave and
resourceful captain and crew had
battled to overcome this adversity that
they were able to set off and discover
the hideous fate of Brightman and his
crew: they found The Violetta
abandoned and blood smeared across
the scene, suggesting the scurrilous
explorers had been attacked by wild
beasts.
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Lontown Chronicle

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Brightstorm resource 6a
 Orientation Who?

When?

Where?

What?
Main body
Time line of main events

Reorientation
What is
happening
now?

The Literacy Shed © 2017 Brightstorm resource 6a

 Use evidence from your article to say what we know about
the airship crash.

Who

When

Where

What

Why

How is the finding going to affect future trips?

What will happen to Brightstorm’s friends and family next?

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Brightstorm resource 6c
 SURPRISES Editing method

Say in head
Rehearse in head to listen to what immediately stands out, which sentences are
you happy with? Unhappy with? Mark anything you think needs to change.

Under breath - mumble

In a muttered voice, begin to FEEL how the piece fits together- are your
sentences varied enough? Are your sentence lengths varied enough? Did you
include short snappy sentences?

Read aloud
Are there unplanned repetitions? Are your tenses accurate? Does it need
anything adding in?

Punctuation power
Look at your use of punctuation, is it accurate? Is it varied enough? Can you show
that you can use punctuation to help clarify meaning?

Read the openers Is there enough variety in your openers? Look at your linking
sentences between paragraphs, are they strong enough? Is there flow? Improve
worrisome words

Improve vocabulary
by checking the quality of your word choices, particularly verbs, adjectives and
adverbs. Can you expand your noun phrases?

Say in head or aloud

Read it through to listen to how it is now sounding? Have you done enough? Has
it improved? What more needs to be done? Could you re-order some sentences
to improve the overall effect?

Emotive and figurative check

Look at your sentence choices, are there similes, metaphors? What about
personification and pathetic fallacy? Have you used powerful verbs and
adjectives?

Share with a friend

Together can you improve your work in any other ways? Does it feel finished?

The Literacy Shed © 2017 Brightstorm resource 7a

 Self-evaluation

I have found the journalistic writing task:

Difficult

OK

Easy

Something I learned in the unit is:

I have been successful at:

I am going to continue to work on:

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Brightstorm resource 7b
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Brightstorm resource 8a
 Can you find more precise adjectives to
describe the boy’s emotions?

       
Sad Angry Unhappy Depressed

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Brightstorm resource 8b
 n s Hall
Beggi

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Brightstorm resource 8c
 The twin I am considering is:

Significant Event How did they feel? What did they think?
   

   

   

   

   

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Brightstorm resource 8d
 Compare the thoughts and feelings of Maudie
and Arthur.
Significant Event How did Maudie feel How did Arthur feel
and what did she and what did he
think? think?
   

   

   

   

   

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Brightstorm resource 8e
I’m afraid I were led to believe
something erroneous.

I was so wrong.

I was proper off wi’ that.

I was wide of the mark with

that.

I believe I were mistaken.

One misjudged the status quo.

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Brightstorm resource 9a
Dear Diary,
Yesterday I told you that I thought that it’d be impossible
for thing’s to get any worse—I thought we’d reached the
pinnacle of what we could endure; I was so wrong! Today’s
the absolute worst day of my life (ever). It feels like I’ve
been thrown from the highest cliff, only to stand up, brush
myself down and be hit by a charabanc! My world has been
turned upside down: everything familiar has gone, all the
things I cherish have gone, everything of Mum and Dad’s,
all gone. Everything stolen from us without a thought. With
a broken-heart, I have to admit that I’m not sure how—or
even if—me and Maudie are going to get through it. I wish I
were able to turn back time.
A few days ago, I felt my life was all mapped out: Maudie
was destined to graduate from university and become a
world-renowned engineer, I was going to help Dad plan out
the routes of his next daring expedition and we were going
to go on adventures exploring the world, with Dad at helm
and us there with him every step of the way. Before all this
started, we were so happy. I mean, not enthralled to be
spending time with Poacher, but who has everything? Can
you imagine how I felt? When she told us, with that
unsympathetic half-smirk on her stupid face, that he was
gone? “Perished” she called it, like some leftover bit of
food nobody wants. Perished? He’s been ripped away from
us, leaving a dad-shaped hole in the world that no-one,
ever, will be able to fill.

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Brightstorm resource 9b
 Diary Writing

Language Feature Example from the text

Comparatives/  
 
superlatives/  
hyperbole
Adverbials of time,  
 
place and manner  

Authenticating  
 
vocabulary choices  

Rhetorical questions  
 
 

Self-reflection -  
 
thoughts and  
feelings, emotive
language, 5 senses
Familiar, informal  
language—contractions ,
colloquialisms/regional
dialect/ shared jokes

Detailed description  
–Expanded noun phrases,
figurative language:
simile/metaphor/pathetic
fallacy

Subjunctive voice  
 
 

Repetition for effect  

 
 

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Brightstorm resource 9c
 Diary Writing

Language Feature Example from the Effect on the reader

text
Comparatives/  
 
superlatives/  
hyperbole
Adverbials of time,  
 
place and manner  

Authenticating  
 
vocabulary choices  

Rhetorical questions  
 
 

Self-reflection:  
 
thoughts and feelings,  
emotive language, 5 senses

Familiar, informal  
language—contractions ,
colloquialisms/regional
dialect/ shared jokes

Detailed description  
Expanded noun phrases,
figurative language:
simile/metaphor/pathetic
fallacy

Subjunctive voice  
 
 

Repetition for effect  

 
 

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Brightstorm resource 9d
 Diary Plan
Language Feature
Important events  
 
 

Comparatives/
superlatives/ hyperbole

Adverbials of time, place  

 
and manner  

Authenticating  
 
vocabulary  

Rhetorical questions  
 
 

Self-reflection: thoughts  
 
and feelings, emotive  
language, 5 senses
Familiar, informal  
language—contractions ,
colloquialisms/regional dialect/
shared jokes

Detailed description –  
Expanded noun phrases, figurative
language—simile
/metaphor/pathetic fallacy

Subjunctive voice  
 
 

Repetition for effect  

 
 

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Brightstorm resource 9e
 Self-evaluation

I am finding the diary writing task:

Difficult

OK

Easy

I feel confident I can:

I can have a go at:

I need some help with:

The Literacy Shed © 2017 Brightstorm Resource 9f

What can you:

See?

Hear?

Smell?

Feel?

Taste?
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Brightstorm resource 8e
What can you:

See?

Hear?

Smell?

Feel?

Taste?

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Brightstorm resource 8e
 Self-evaluation

During this unit, what have you learned about the similarities
between diary writing and journalism?
Diary Writing Journalism

During this unit, what have you learned about the differences
between diary writing and journalism?
Diary Writing Journalism

Which genre do you prefer?

Diary Writing ` Journalism

Explain why you chose this type of writing.

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Brightstorm Resource 10c