Starter - discussion

1. What do you know about Somalia?

2. Have you ever watched a news programme
which has reported a war or a famine? What
do you remember about it and what effect
did it have on you?
3. Does television coverage of terrible events
help the people who are suffering? How?
Somalia is in the East of Africa to the
east of Ethiopia.
 Context : A Passage to Africa
1. George Alagiah is a well known and
respected news correspondent for
the BBC
2. He is from Sri Lanka but was brought
up in West Africa before moving to
the UK
3. This extract comes from his
autobiography, ‘A Passage to Africa’,
which is about his experiences as a
correspondent in Africa. It tells the
story of a report he made in Somalia.
4. This extract was written to describe
and inform about the brutal war in
Somalia.
 A Passage to Africa
To help you to understand a text, it is often helpful to ask
yourself a few questions as you are reading.
• What type of text is it? (TEXT TYPE)
•‘Where’ is the text about? (SETTING)
•What point is the writer trying to make? (PURPOSE)
•Who is the writer writing for? (AUDIENCE)
•How does the writer feel about what s/he has
written? How does the text make you feel? (TONE)
What is the PURPOSE of the Text?
 To shock people (into action)
 To give readers insight into how journalists
see suffering and hardship and how they are
obligated to report harsher and harsher news
 To emphasise the distance between the
journalist and the people he is reporting about
 “I owe you one” - a dedication to the man
who smiled
 Who is the intended AUDIENCE?
• Adults
• Those interested in current affairs
• Those interested in journalism
• People who like reading
autobiographies
 TONE
 Definition: 
TONE is an attitude that the writer adopts with
regard to a specific character, place or event.
Tone can evolve. Tone helps us to understand
the writer’s feelings about a topic and influences
our understanding.
 Example: 
In the Harry Potter series, Rowling has taken an
extremely positive and inspiring tone towards
the idea of parental love.
 What is the TONE of ‘A Passage to Africa’?
o Inured: “What might have appalled us ... no longer impressed us much.”
o Revulsion for the dying and sick
o Pity: “they aspire to a dignity that is almost impossible to achieve”
o Curious :“I had to find out.”
o Regretful that he never “found out what the man’s name was”
o Shocked at the smile: the unknown man’s smile moves him whilst the suffering do
not

o Hopeful and hopeless

o “I resolved there and then that I would write the story of Gufgaduud with all the
power and purpose I could muster”
o “the only adequate answer a reporter can give to the man’s question”
 Techniques
What kinds of devices are Evidence Effect on the reader
used to create effect?
Rhetorical Questions
Emotive vocabulary
Repetition
Alliteration
Short Sentences
Verbs
Adjectives
Simile
Triplet
 Plenary
• How does this text make you feel?
• Which poem does this text remind you of?
Explain how the ‘texts’ are similar.
 Question

In this passage, how does George Alagiah

present his views about his experiences as a
television reporter in Somalia?

In your response include brief quotations from

the text to support your answer. 10 marks
 Modelled - Focused Annotation
“how does George Alagiah present his views about his
experiences as a television reporter”

As we read the text, we are looking for words or phrases that

tell us his views about his experiences.
We are also looking for techniques that are used that might tell
us something about how he feels about his experiences i.e.
Onomatopoeia – noise words
Personification – gives it characteristics that people have
Metaphors – describing it as another thing
Similes – like or as
Repetition – repeating the same words over and over
Hyperbole - exaggeration
 Repetition: many neg. adjectives - their pain this
doesn’t register – he is hardened! one
stands
out –
why?

Doesn’t seem
very
organised or
professional
Sees it as “ghoulish” – what does this suggest? On the hunt: are they predators?

Lack of
humanity –
simile –
hunger for
the macabre
is an
addiction

Short sentence
makes it seem
very matter of
fact! No
trauma, no
anguish – just a
passing. Triplet
 Structure – presents her as an object that smells – non human?
Emotive
language –
the smell of
decaying
flesh –
appeals to
our senses.
Imagery –
unnatural
form for a
leg to take.

Ellipsis – like he’s

One line paragraph just a face warrants our / his attention? Why? searching for the right
Repetition to words for what the army
present to us how was doing – as if it does’
awful the human make sense!
condition is in
Somalia!

We are
appalled as
readers but
he seems
indifferent
to it – very
factual: to
be ...

Metaphor / personification making them seem

absolutely horrific!
 Anecdotal evidence – their efforts are futile –
reminder that they are still human

Metaphor making it seem as if it actually came

Rhetorical Question – almost ridicules the idea
over and pushed him; jolted him

Repetition of it touched; it moved - shows the

effect that this one moment had on him.
Rhetorical question. The smile has caught him
out. Short sentence emphasises his Urged – gives a strong feeling of his
determination desperation

Repetition of smile – and extra detail

emphasises how unusual it is that anyone
should be smiling in this situation.
 Anaphora - he is used to it and the
juxtaposition emphasises how unsettled he is
by the smile

Another
metaphor to
show how
deeply it
touched him

The smile undermines his

strength and confidence.
Final rhetorical Repetition – list of three – juxtaposition – no
question to end the togetherness – there is no ‘we’
paragraph makes
the reader
understand his
surprise and we
engage with what is
happening to him
 Alliteration: power and purpose.
Writing a story is this an adequate answer?

Ending by talking directly to the man, using an

idiom and the personal pronoun ‘you’, makes
the article seem all the more personal!
Plenary: Exam Style Question 2
In your own words, explain what the writer’s
thoughts and feelings are about the smile.
 Writing about
In this passage, how does George Alagiah present his views about his experiences as a television reporter in
Somalia? (10 marks) You may include brief quotations from the text to support your answer
 Purpose
Why has the text been Evidence Effect on the reader
written?

The description in the first

sentence establishes what
the extract will be about
and that it will describe to
us the suffering of the
people of Alagiah met.

To provoke a response
from the reader
 Audience
Who is the text aimed at?
An adult audience

‘There was Amina Alagiah retells the stories

Abdirahman…’ and ‘There of people he meets on his
was the old woman who journey and gives us an
lay in her hut…’ insight in to their lives. This
would be interesting to
those who want to learn
about such things.
 Exam Practice
 How does George Alagiah make the suffering of the
Somali people so vivid?

 How does George Alagiah show that he is repulsed by

the sights and smells that meet him on his journey?
 
 There is repeated reference to “The face I will never
forget” in this extract. What effect does this
encounter have on George Alagiah and how does he
express the extent of its impact upon him?