Our Dazzling Descriptions activity is the perfect choice for your students to practise the skill of using the ‘show, don’t tell’ method to describe characters and settings in a narrative text.

To complete the task, each student requires a Dazzling Descriptions worksheet and two images. Students will use vivid, detailed and specific language to describe the images, rather than stating directly what they see. Remind them to refer to the checklist at the bottom of the page to guide their descriptions.

Here is an example of a description using the ‘show, don’t tell’ method that is featured in our Year 5 Narrative Writing PowerPoint, which is a part of our Year 5 Narrative Writing UNIT PLAN:

A lock of dark hair fell from her messy bun as she hastily scrambled over a fallen log and looked in amazement at the dense, lush tangle of twisted vines and leaves that lay before her.

To enhance your students’ writing, encourage them to be creative and imagine that the person in the image is a character in an adventure narrative. Pose questions, such as:

• Why might the person be in that setting?
• What are they hoping to achieve?
• What could they be thinking or feeling?