- Point
out that the words presented here convey a lot more meaning than a simple 'said'
and in many cases can convey emotion.
- Role
play and dramatise situations where these words can be used for maximum impact.
-
One of my favourites is to do a little play building where the phrase, 'What
are you doing?' has to be used to portray: anger, surprise, interest, suspicion,
intrigue, humour, dismay etc.
- Substitute
some of these words for said in existing sentences and ask the students to comment
on how the sentence has changed.
- Word
Wall - these words were collected during reading sessions. Each time another way
of saying said was discovered we wrote them up on a large sheet of paper hung
on the wall.
- Make
your own word wall - The power of this activity came from having the children
to collect their own words.
- Avoid
repetition of 'said' (Unless you wish to convey bordom or the fact that a person
is going on and on and on)
- Reference
chains - go through a passage from a writer that the children think is good. Record
the ways the characters say said over a couple of pages. You'll find something
like this...
said,
echoed, exclaimed, exploded, muttered, said, snapped, demanded Next
take a piece of writing done by a child (I usually keep a few from previous years)
and track the 'said' words. Mostly it will look like this... said,
said, said, said, said, said - Have
the students go back through a piece of their writing and track the 'said' words
and then substitute other more descriptive words into their narratives. (I
find this best done in small groups or pairs the first few times you do it)
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