20895 ACE Language (Yr 6) Structures and Language Features

The skateboard lesson – 1
1. Despite all the arguments Tess put forward, her parents stubbornly refused to buy her
a skateboard like her two elder brothers.
2. ’They’re too dangerous! I’ve seen kids flying up and down the roads on them’, stated
Mum. ’They skate all over the footpath and bowl over nearly every pedestrian in
sight.’
3. ’It’s not fair!’ mumbled Tess. ’I’ll die if I don’t get a skateboard! Bec has one and she’s
younger than me! All the cool kids have one!’
4. ’Maybe for your next birthday!’ Mum said emphatically, ending the discussion.
5. One Sunday afternoon, Mum and Dad paid their monthly visit to batty Great Aunt
Mildred and left Tess with her brothers.
6. ’This is the perfect chance to prove I’m old enough for a skateboard. I’ll practise while
Mum and Dad are away, and master the basics before they get back. Steve and Paul
always let me do what I want!’ Tess thought.
7. Before long, Tess was standing on her oldest bother’s skateboard on the footpath
outside her home, feet positioned correctly, feeling very confident. Even Spot the cat
came to watch.
8. ’Now take one foot off, and push slowly until you start moving’, Steve ordered.
9. Tess pushed hard—a bit too hard!
The skateboard shot forward like
a speeding bullet while Tess shot
backward. She landed heavily on
her bottom with her left hand
pressing on Spot’s tail. With
immense horror, she watched
Spot speed away. Her white face
deepened to beetroot red as the
skateboard flew in the opposite
direction with Steve in hot pursuit.
10. Spot hissed and bolted between Paul’s legs just as he was about to take a mouthful
of red diet cordial. The drink cascaded down the front of his new white T-shirt; the
remainder flowed onto the footpath like a sticky pool of blood. Spot, in a tizzy,
dived under the outdoor table, upending it and sending a ceramic pot plant of herbs
plummeting to the pavers.
11. The skateboard, meanwhile, continued onto the road towards Old Man Grump
cycling back from the market with fruit and vegetables in his basket. Swerving to
avoid the obstacle that had careered into his path, he upended the basket. Colourful
vegetables splattered and bounced everywhere, while Old Man Grump struggled to
Australian Curriculum English – Language: Text structure and organisation (Year 6) www.ricpublications.com.au R.I.C. Publications ®
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Understand how authors often innovate on text structures and play with language features to achieve particular aesthetic, humorous and persuasive purposes and effects (ACELA1518)
© Australian Curriculum: Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012