Lesson Plan for Senior Secondary 2 - Literature in English - Suspense

### Lesson Plan: Suspense in Literature #### Subject: Literature in English #### Level: Senior Secondary 2 (Grade 11) #### Duration: 90 minutes #### Topic: Suspense --- #### Objectives: 1. **Understanding Suspense**: Students will understand what suspense is and its role in literature. 2. **Identifying Suspense**: Students will identify techniques used by authors to create suspense. 3. **Analyzing Suspense**: Students will analyze excerpts from texts to understand how suspense influences the reader’s experience. 4. **Creative Writing**: Students will create their own short passages demonstrating suspense. --- #### Materials: - Whiteboard and markers - Projector and laptop - Handouts with text excerpts - Notebooks and pens - Short story or novel excerpt (e.g., Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Tell-Tale Heart" or an excerpt from a thriller novel) --- #### Lesson Outline: 1. **Introduction to Suspense (10 minutes)** - Begin with a discussion: What is suspense? Why is it important in stories? - Define suspense: Suspense is a feeling of excitement or anxiety about what will happen next in a story. - Explain how suspense is utilized in different genres, especially in mystery, thriller, and horror. 2. **Techniques for Creating Suspense (15 minutes)** - Discuss techniques authors use to create suspense: - **Foreshadowing**: Giving clues or hints about what might happen later. - **Pacing**: Varying the speed at which events unfold. - **Detailed Descriptions**: Using vivid imagery to create a tense atmosphere. - **Unreliable Narrator**: A narrator whose credibility is compromised. - **Cliffhangers**: Ending a scene or chapter at a critical moment. - Show examples from well-known texts. 3. **Analyzing Text Excerpts (20 minutes)** - Distribute handouts with selected passages filled with suspense (e.g., an excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart"). - Read the passages as a class. - Discuss and identify the techniques used by the author to create suspense. - Prompt students with questions about how the passages make them feel and why. 4. **Class Activity - Group Work (20 minutes)** - Divide the class into small groups. - Assign each group a different excerpt or scene from a suspenseful story. - Each group will analyze their excerpt, focusing on how suspense is built and its effect on the reader. - Groups will present their findings to the class. 5. **Creative Writing Exercise (20 minutes)** - Students will individually write a short suspenseful scene or paragraph using the techniques discussed. - Encourage students to think about setting, character actions, and pacing. - Select a few volunteers to share their work with the class, discussing what techniques they used. 6. **Conclusion and Homework (5 minutes)** - Summarize the key points covered in the lesson. - Answer any remaining questions from students. - Assign homework: Read a suspenseful short story or a chapter from a novel and write a brief analysis on the techniques used to build suspense. --- #### Evaluation: - Participation in discussions and group activities. - Quality of analysis during group presentations. - Creativity and application of techniques in the writing exercise. - Homework analysis assessment. --- By the end of the lesson, students should have a deeper understanding of how suspense is constructed and its importance in literature, along with improved analytical and creative writing skills.