English

Words 1 - Fantasy: A Window Into Other Worlds

(A huge thank you to Dominic Bourke, WORDS 1 teacher, who constructed this new unit for WORDS 1 students)

Students studied Joseph Campbell’s theory of the ‘hero’s Journey’ and applied this to narratives and film. Once they grasped the concept, students chose Fantasy Literature to read and respond to such as The Hunger Games and Wolf Girl.

The main task, however, was to construct their own fantasy narrative based on the hero’s journey.

It has been interesting to see how students enjoy ‘Fantasy’ and write about important issues in their own creative narratives. Fantasy is a genre that has much to offer young readers. One of the most compelling reasons for giving children fantasy is that it prompts young readers to imagine and see the world in different ways. It teaches them to construct meaning and reflect on their own social issues.

The following, FANTASY NARRATIVE, demonstrates how well a student may use their imagination to create a surprising and imaginative fiction.

In this story, the main character enters a new, dangerous world, through their school locker!!!

By Julie Campbell

THE LOCKER – by Hannah Leahy Baulch

Sam, a shy 13-year-old girl starting high school, lives with her grandma. Although her grandma is very nice, she is old and can't do much, so Sam has a lot of responsibility. Sometimes, Sam feels that her life is just boring. 

Finally, the holidays are over, and it's the first day of school. Sam goes to her locker, and on the back wall of the locker, she sees a shadow. It is very strange, and she has never noticed a shadow like this before. She reaches in to touch it to see if it is just dirt or something, but when she puts her hand on it, she falls in. Sam feels a strange falling sensation, and the world goes black! 

"Bump!" She lands in a forest, but not just any forest! It has trees, but the wood is a light teal with light purple leaves. Sam wonders what happened to her school, and she realizes she has never, ever seen trees like this before. 

"Where on earth am I?" Sam wonders. 

She hears a sound coming from behind a tree, and a small creature appears. It is a little elf! 

"Hello, Sam," the elf says. "You are here to save the new world from Glitch." 

Sam is totally confused. Has she hit her head? Is she dreaming? Is any of this real? 

The elf continues, "Glitch is half human, half machine, and he is causing the world to change. That is why the trees are weird colours. He is trying to change everything so that it becomes robotic." 

Sam wonders how the little elf knows her name and why she has been chosen to defeat this horrible creature. 

The elf tells Sam that they need to make the journey to Glitch's lair and find the override code that will save both her world and this world. To get there, they have to cross through a dangerous desert with quicksand. 

The journey is terrible, and once, Sam almost gets caught in the quicksand, but the little elf saves her. 

Finally, they arrive. Unfortunately, Glitch spots them and yells, "So, you think you can defeat me? I will destroy you!" 

Luckily, the little elf jumps in and distracts Glitch so Sam can enter the code. She only has a few minutes, and she is shaking. She enters the code, but it doesn't work, so she tries again, but still, it does not work. 

Sam thinks, "I want to give up and go home. I will never complain about having a dull life again!" But she knows the elf is counting on her, so she says, "One more try, or it will shut down." 

Sam suddenly gets a weird feeling that the code is completely different from the one the elf has given her, that it has something to do with school. She risks it all and tries the code to her school locker. After all, that's how she got into this mess in the first place, by opening her locker. 

Suddenly, a light flashes and thunder roars over her head. The elf is startled, and Glitch starts to crumble and yell, "Noooooooo!" 

It worked! Sam defeated Glitch, and she and the elf return to the forest. When they arrive, the forest is a bright green, and everyone is happy. They celebrate Sam. "Our hero!" they yell. 

When Sam returns to school, it is time for her first lesson—it's as if time stood still. But she notices that the trees in the schoolyard look more beautiful than ever before. When she returns home, her grandma simply asks, "How was your day, Sam?" 

Sam thinks about all that has happened in just one day, but says to her grandma, "It was great, and it went so quickly." 

Sam slept so well that night, and in the morning, she felt very different. She went to school happily, with a newfound confidence. 

"After all that I did yesterday, I have learned to believe in myself!" Sam realized. 

 Hannah’s comments:

I took inspiration from ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ in the way where a normal object, the wardrobe, connects the characters to the new, magical but dangerous world.

I really enjoy how much creative freedom fantasy gives you, it also makes it more challenging to try and narrow down to the best ideas to write about, but for me I liked that.  Making my own story also gave me independence to work because I did not have to stick to a strict structure. I also really liked both of the movies because they were both fantasy but they were also so different, for example the original Jumanji was set in a different time frame and Spider-man into the Spider-verse was set in the current time and they were both very enjoyable.