Suspense filled fairy tales!

In English this week, we have begun learning about writing suspense in stories. As a way to deepen our understanding of what suspense is and how to include it in stories, we spent a lesson doing some acting! In groups, we were given a section of a fairy tale and we had to create a piece of drama which used strategies to build up the suspense and tension.

For example...

• When hiding in the house of the 3 bears, Goldilocks kept hearing ominous noises before realising it was 3 bears!
• The witch lured Hansel and Gretel into a false sense of security by being kind to them before putting Hansel into a cage!
• The wolf thought carefully about the way he would stomp to create the most fear in the 3 little pigs!
• Many of the characters used facial expressions to show how scared they were feeling when they didn't know what was going to happen next.

Overall, we've learnt that when using suspense we need to reveal a little at a time and keep the audience guessing.