English - Session 1 - Maya's diary

Read the pdf of chapter 6.

Teacher model:

‘Egypt: Thebes – 13th March 1323BC

Dear Diary,

I feel I must scribe tonight as I don’t know who else I can turn to.’

When I arrived home this evening, I found my dear friend, Kyky, confiding in Lysandra.

Pupils write: ‘Egypt: Thebes – 13th March 1323BC

Dear Diary,

I feel I must write tonight as I don’t know who else I can turn to.’

Pupils describe what Maya saw/heard when he arrived home.

Teacher model: I can only imagine they were discussing his dreams as I saw a glimmer of secrecy flash across my sister’s face.

Pupils describe Maya’s thoughts about their discussions using the themes of treasure or the sun.

• Collect ideas on what Lysandra can see: hopes, dreams, terrors, worries, anxieties, aspirations, visions, desires, intentions, destiny, future.
• Collect questions about Maya’s feelings: Why the secrecy? What can be so bad? Surely, these can’t be dark dreams, can they?

Teacher model: I know my sister has the gift to read people’s dreams: their hopes and fears and their path to the Afterlife, but why hasn’t Kyky told me? What kind of dreams is he having?

Pupils describe Lysandra’s gift to see the future in people’s dreams and write 2/3 questions describing Maya’s worries over why Kyky would be confiding in his sister.

English - Session 2 - Maya's diary (continued)

Teacher model: ‘At dinner my thoughts were drenched with anguish and worry for my friend.’

More and more, recently, the role of king sits heavier upon his shoulders; blocking the sun and adding to his sunken pallid complexion.

Pupils write: ‘At dinner my thoughts were drenched with anguish and worry for my friend.’

Refer to Kyky’s frailty and fever. Show an image of a plant growing without sunlight. Collect descriptions: thin, frail, brittle, weak, limp, faltered, feeble. Create similes to describe Kyky’s appearance: like a stem smothered/desperately seeking light in a crowded border.

Teacher model: Another fever weakens him leaving him fragile, like a flower struggling to grow in a shaded border its stems thin and spindly and its petals never quite getting the chance to bloom.

Collect verbs to describe how Ay waits for Kyky’s demise: observes, eyes, bides, anticipates, whiles. Create similes: like a dog salivating before its food, like a vulture hovers, like a lion ready to pounce.

Teacher model: I worry there are those within the palace who see this too and watch and wait like a stalking lion for their prey. His Godfather, Ay, wants rid of him! I know it!