Perspectives 1

1) I turn to watch her leave, give a little curtsy to the princess going into the Year Seven area.

2) “A scarf,” I whisper back. I don’t know why a whisper came out. I try again, louder now.

“A scarf. Hijab.”

3) “I’m going to pull that tablecloth off your head.”

4) Asiya turns away. Her friends turn away. They race to the middle of the playground, their shoes pounding the pavement, playing tag.

5) Don’t carry around hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They are not yours to keep. They only belong to those who said them.

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Unit 1 Day 1

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Whose perspective is being shown?

Can you name an emotion or feeling that best fits the

extract?

What question would you like to ask them?

Perspectives 2

1) I turn to watch her leave, give a little curtsy to the princess going into the Year Seven area.

2) “A scarf,” I whisper back. I don’t know why a whisper came out. I try again, louder now. “A scarf. Hijab.”

3) “I’m going to pull that tablecloth off your head.”

4) Asiya turns away. Her friends turn away. They race to the middle of the playground, their shoes pounding the pavement, playing tag.

5) Don’t carry around hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They are not yours to keep. They only belong to those who said them.

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Can you think how they might answer your question?

What question would you like to ask them?

Can you name an emotion or feeling that best fits the extract?

Whose perspective is being shown?

Unit 1 Day 1

Perspectives – suggested answers

1) I turn to watch her leave, give a little curtsy to the princess going into the Year Seven area.

This is the narrator, Faizah, the sister of Asiya. Emotion: pride and perhaps joy

2) “A scarf,” I whisper back. I don’t know why a whisper came out. I try again, louder now. “A scarf. Hijab.”

This is also Faizah, the sister of Asiya. Emotion: shame or fear

3) “I’m going to pull that tablecloth off your head.”This is a boy who is laughing at Asiya because she looks different. Emotion: scorn, perhaps fear

4) Asiya turns away. Her friends turn away. They race to the middle of the playground, their shoes pounding the pavement, playing tag.

This is the narrator, Faizah, again. Emotion: bravery, determination

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5) Don’t carry around hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They are not yours to keep. They only belong to those who said them.

This is the mother of Asiya and Faizah – she is giving them advice. Emotion: courage, comfort

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Authors’ Notes

Dear Reader,

When I was twelve, after I hit puberty, I started wearing

hijab every day. Before then, my mother would have me

wear hijab on special occasions and to school on the days

when I didn’t have sport. Having my friends, classmates and

teachers see me wearing hijab a few times a week made the transition to wearing it every

day easier. Still, and even though my parents did a great job preparing me spiritually and

physically for covering my hair, I faced bullying from classmates because of the way I

showed my faith. I clearly remember one boy in school asking me why I was wearing “that

tablecloth on my head.”

It was at that time, in the first years of senior school, that I realised my faith had the power

to change how people treated me and that I may be “othered” - all because of my hijab. You

wouldn't think that a simple headscarf could cause such commotion, but throughout my

childhood, adolescence and adulthood, it has. It took me a long time to come to the place

where I could brush off the looks and ignore the haters. It isn’t easy, and I'm sure girls today

face the same treatment - or worse - than what I faced.

I wanted to tell this story so that children who look like me could see themselves in a picture

book - a story of family, love and faith. So that they can see two sisters taking pride in hijab,

and see that the parts of ourselves that might make us appear “different” are worth

celebrating. So that children of colour, Muslims, and those who are both (like me) know

they aren’t alone and that there are many out there who share our experience.

Finally, l wanted to say it loud and proud. My hijab is part of me - it's a testament to my faith

and love of Allah. It's a tradition I share enthusiastically with my

mother and sisters. My hijab is beautiful. To the young girls out

there reading this story who are hijabis: so is yours.

Ibtihaj Muhammad

Unit 1 Day 2

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Writing Guide

Think about a time when you felt very different to those around you.

Make brief notes in each box below. Use your notes to write a short descriptive paragraph for each box.

Set the Scene (When, where, what, why did it happen?)

Describe what happened (include details – actions, speech etc.)

Describe how it felt at the time and/or how it makes you feel when you think about it

Describe what happened in the end (How did you stop feeling different?)

Unit 1 Day 2

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Writing Prompt

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt very different to those around you?

What happened? How did being different make you feel? What happened in the end?

Make notes of your answers on this sheet. Organise these ideas into 3-4 paragraphs to tell the story of this experience. Write a descriptive piece, including your emotions and how other people

responded to you. Include detail to create the atmosphere of the experience.

Unit 1 Day 2

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Perfect Extract

All summer long I played outside, alone. When people asked about my sister, I turned my head away. I didn’t want to feel the way I felt. But I couldn’t love my sister, no matter how I tried.

Every night I watched the swifts fly up and up into the dusk. They disappeared into the blue. Sometimes I wished I could vanish with them.

Every morning they’d be back, snipping at the air between the rooftops with their scissory wings, their screams as sharp as arrows pointing to the stillness in my sister’s room. From outside in the garden, I’d watch them, visiting their nests in the roof above her quiet window.

Then one August dawn, I saw something on the grass, like a sooty piece of half-burned paper from a garden bonfire: a fledgling swift had crashed into the lawn.

Down on the ground it looked all wrong: its puny legs too small, its crumpled wings too long, but when I gently stretched them out, they were quite perfect. Its dark eye looked at me as it lay quiet in my hands.

Perhaps, I thought, it only needs a little help.

I went inside, and carried it upstairs, right up to the little bedroom on the top floor of our pointy house.

I opened up the window and held the swift out on my hands, so it could see the sky and feel the air.

Its small feet gripped my finger for a moment, and its body trembled.

Then its wings flickered, fast as thinking and it was gone, scissor-slicing through the morning air until it was a black dot, high above the rooftops.

I turned around and stood beside my sister’s crib. Her dark eyes opened and her tiny fingers curled tightly onto mine. She smiled at me, a perfect, perfect smile.

From Perfect By Nicola Davies Unit 1 Day 3

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Comprehension Questions A

1. How does the boy answer people who ask about his sister? Why

do you think he does this?

Every night I watched the swifts fly up and up into the dusk. They disappeared into the blue.

2. What word could you use instead of ‘blue’?

3. Why do you think the boy wishes he could vanish like the swifts?

4. What is described as ‘sharp as arrows’?

5. What happens in August which changes the boy’s way of thinking?

6. In what way is the fledgling like a ‘sooty piece of half-burnt paper’?

7. In what way does the boy give the bird a little help?

8. How can you tell that the fledgling is nervous by the window? Give

two clues.

9. In what ways are the fledgling and baby similar?

10. What do you think will happen next?

Unit 1 Day 3

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Comprehension Questions B

1. Explain why you think the boy turns away in the first paragraph.

Every night I watched the swifts fly up and up into the dusk. They disappeared into the blue.

2. What does it mean by ‘disappeared into the blue’? What image does this create?

3. Why do you think the boy watches the swifts so often? Can you

think of a reason which relates to the story?

4. In what way are the screams of the birds ‘sharp as arrows’?

5. What happens in August which changes the boy’s way of thinking?

6. In what way is the fledgling like a ‘sooty piece of half-burnt paper’?

7. In what way does the boy give the bird a little help? Why might he

think this will help it?

8. How can you tell that the fledgling is nervous? Give two clues.

9. How does the author encourage us to make links between the bird

and the baby? Can you give an example from the text?

10. What do you think will happen next?

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Comprehension Questions A Suggested Answers

1. How does the boy answer people who ask about his sister? Why do you think he does this?

He turns his head away – he doesn’t want/know how to answer.

Every night I watched the swifts fly up and up into the dusk. They disappeared into the blue.

2. What word could you use instead of ‘blue’?

sky/clouds/air

3. Why do you think the boy wishes he could vanish like the swifts?

He is upset/confused by his situation.

4. What is described as ‘sharp as arrows’?

The birds’ screams.

5. What happens in August which changes the boy’s way of thinking?

He rescues/finds a fledgling.

6. In what way is the fledgling like a ‘sooty piece of half-burnt paper’?

folded/curled up, dark coloured, thin/light

7. In what way does the boy give the bird a little help?

He takes it up to high window so it can see and feel the sky and air.

8. How can you tell that the fledgling is nervous by the window? Give two clues.

Feet gripped his finger, its body trembled.

9. In what ways are the fledgling and baby similar?

Any answers which relate to being a baby, needing help, not being able to move easily, both tightly

hold his finger, dark eyes, being perfect.

10. What do you think will happen next?

Any reasonable prediction.

Unit 1 Day 3

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Comprehension Questions B Suggested Answers

1. Explain why you think the boy turns away in the first paragraph.

He doesn’t want/know how to answer their questions so he turns away.

Every night I watched the swifts fly up and up into the dusk. They disappeared into the blue.

2. What does it mean by ‘disappeared into the blue’? What image does this create?

The blue is the sky. The birds fly so far away that they get smaller until they can’t be seen.

3. Why do you think the boy watches the swifts so often? Can you think of a reason which relates to

the story?

He is lonely so it is something for him to do / he is trying to distract himself from his confusing

feelings about the baby / he is avoiding spending time near the baby so is outside a lot.

4. In what way are the screams of the birds ‘sharp as arrows’?

They are a sharp sound (piercing the silence of the baby’s room).

5. What happens in August which changes the boy’s way of thinking?

He rescues/finds a fledgling.

6. In what way is the fledgling like a ‘sooty piece of half-burnt paper’?

folded/curled up, dark coloured, thin/light

7. In what way does the boy give the bird a little help? Why might he think this will help it?

He takes it up to high window so it can see and feel the sky and air. The bird is used to being up high

(in the nest) so this will feel familiar.

8. How can you tell that the fledgling is nervous by the window? Give two clues.

Feet gripped his finger, its body trembled.

9. How does the author encourage us to make links between the bird and the baby? Can you give an

example from the text?

Repeated words: ‘dark eyes’ ‘needs a little help’ or repeated behaviour: gripping finger, looking up.

10. What do you think will happen next?

Any reasonable prediction.

Unit 1 Day 3

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My ViewThe boy in the story is comforted by watching the swifts fly across the sky.

If you could choose a view to soothe or inspire what would it be? Use art techniques to create that view below. Write different emotions words around the frame to describe how it might make the viewer feel.

Unit 1 Day 3

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Letter Prompt

Ways to bring attention to the problem

I have noticed that…

It seems as if…

Ways to empathise and try to understand

I wondered if…

If I was in your position I might…

Ways to give advice

It might help if…

Have you tried…

Have you thought about…

Ways to end the letter

I hope that…

Maybe in future…

Next time…

Unit 1 Day 4

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What do we do with a variation?

What do we do with a difference?Do we stand and discuss its oddityor do we ignore it?

Do we shut our eyes to itor poke it with a stick?Do we clobber it to death?

Do we move around it in rageand enlist the rage of others?Do we will it to go away?

Do we look at it in aweor purely in wonderment?Do we work for it to disappear?

Do we pass it stealthilyor change route away from it?Do we will it to become like ourselves?

What do we do with a difference?Do we communicate to it,let application acknowledge itfor barriers to fall down?

By James Berry From Only One of Me

Unit 1 Day 5

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Peer Pressure

The fear of being left out is what it’s all about

No one wants to get laughed at or be the odd one out

No one likes to feel rejected put down and dejected

we all love to feel accepted, we’re all affected

but you have to learn to be your own person

just be yourself and aim to be your best version

You’re not a robot programmed to follow without thinking

just acting brainless with empty eyes blinking

I understand the pressure it doesn’t stop as you grow

It’s natural to follow where everyone goes

and sometimes it’s ok to go with the flow

but other times you have to swim against the tide and so

you’ll have to say no, when everyone says yes

and be firm with your choice deep in your chest

and overcome that fear of being left out

because that’s what peer pressure is really all about

by Karl NovaFrom Rhythm and Poetry, (Caboodle Books)

Unit 1 Day 5

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© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. difference_F561ST1_resources

Unit 1 Day 5