Persuasive Writing

This week we have begun to explore persuasive language. We talked about what this is and how it is used. The clue is in the word 'persuasive' - to persuade or convince someone, making you want to do or believe in something. It is about putting your opinions across and sometimes changing someone else's. We thought of all the different ways we see persuasive language in our everyday lives. Here are some of our ideas:

• advertising
• speech making
• lawyers
• politicians
• protesters
• the media - TV and newspaper

We discussed how persuasive language is used in each situation. We all found how advertisers use persuasive language to be really interesting - special offers and larger than life claims!

Our first activities involved carrying out mini debates in class around topics based on life at school. The two topics we had were - 'fizzy drinks should be allowed in school' and ' school holiday should be longer'. The class was split into 'for' and 'against' and each side had to come up with some key points and ideas. It was really fun sharing ideas back and forth. We noticed how some arguments were stronger than others.

Tomorrow we will begin writing to persuade. Our topic came from a conversation that Paton had with Mrs Jackson - how insects may become the next major food source. Would you eat bugs? We all said 'no - yuck!' at first but after watching the following clip some of us were beginning to see the possible benefits. Our writing will be trying to persuade others that eating bugs is a good idea!

Watch the clip and see if you can be persuaded!