Persuasive Travel Brochures

Section 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIT

This is a two week unit of work intended to be taught as part of a term long unit of work about
travelling around Australia.

1.1 YEAR LEVEL

Primary Years – Year 3/4

1.2 WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO STUDY THIS TOPIC?

Persuasive brochures and advertisements are readily available to all students and for
this reason students need to understand that these brochures are produced to
persuade them to purchase goods or services. In particular the students will learn the
structure, language features and visual elements of travel brochures and how they
can use these features to persuade the reader or viewer.

1.3 KEY ASPECTS OF ENGLISH TO BE TAUGHT

Through reading and viewing a variety of books, brochures, television programs and
websites, students will be taught;
-The structure of persuasive travel brochures; the thesis statement, arguments and
reasons and a conclusion.
-The language features of persuasive travel brochures; emotive and positive words,
second person pronouns, action verbs, abstract nouns, present tense and
conjunctions associated with reasoning.
-The visual elements of persuasive travel brochures; use of photographs, pictures
and maps
After being taught these features the students will be provided with a number of
opportunities to practice writing persuasive texts, through modelled, guided and
independent writing.

1.4. SPECIFIC REFERENCED TEXTS SELECTED FOR NOMINATED

CATEGORIES

Starting point text

"Disneyland Resort brochure" – a fifty page coloured brochure that asks the reader to
celebrate at ‘the place where dreams come true’. It shows photographs of Can’t-Miss
Attractions as well as places to shop, eat and stay.

Literature text
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Alison Lester “Are We There Yet?” – a picture book about Grace’s recount of her
family’s holiday around Australia, filled with maps, her journal and many pictures.

Media text
Online websites
“Disneyland Resort” – builds on the Disneyland Resort brochure with video footage of
Can’t-Miss Attractions and the Disney District.
“Getaway” – details must-see places and must-do activities that have been aired on
the television program.
“The Great Outdoors” – details must-see places and must-do activities that have
been aired on the television program.
“NT travel” – all the information you need for travel to the Northern Territory, including
where to stay, what to do and package deals.

Television program
“Getaway” – a variety of television episodes of must-see places and must-do
activities.

Everyday text
A map of Australia
A variety of travel brochures from around Australia that detail places to visit, where to
stay, what to do and package deals.
Alex’s family travel program – a travel program of Alex’ family’s expected holiday
around Australia.

1.5 HOW ARE THE CHOSEN TEXTS SIGNIFICANT TO STUDENTS’ LIVES IN

RELATION TO LEARNING
• WITHIN THE CLASSROOM PROGRAM AND
• BEYOND SCHOOL?
Persuasive brochures are easily accessible to every child therefore it is important to
teach children about brochures so they understand that they carry a message, that
information is available in a variety of forms and from a variety of sources and that
brochures are written for a purpose, in this instance to persuade the reader.
Travel brochures may not be as easily accessible to students as other persuasive
brochures however they take the same form of persuasion and therefore are a useful
tool within the classroom to link what the students are learning at school with their
everyday lives outside of school. In making this link the students are often engaged
and find pleasure and enjoyment during their learning. The websites and television
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programs that the students will be exposed to within the classroom are used for the
same reasons as was detailed above.

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Section 2. THE PROGRAM PLAN

2.1 ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOMES THAT REFLECT THE KEY ASPECTS TO

BE LEARNED IN THIS UNIT
By the end of this unit the students will be able to;
-Listen to, read and view a range of persuasive texts and make a connection to their
everyday experiences with persuasive texts
-Listen to, read and view a range of persuasive texts and identify the structural
features of the text
-Listen to, read and view a range of persuasive texts and identify the language
features of the text
-Share a persuasive conversation about travel to another state in Australia using the
structural features and language that is being learnt
-Write a persuasive travel brochure with the necessary structural, language and
visual features

2.2 RICH TASK

“Will you never, never know if you never, never go?”
Alex and his family have recently left Adelaide to travel around Australia, you will
follow his travels learning about cities, towns and sights along the way. Read and
view a range of travel brochures, travel websites and travel television programs to
examine how they influence you in what to visit in the Northern Territory.
Use this information to persuade others to travel to the Northern Territory by
electronically creating a brochure of where to stay and what to visit (cities, towns and
sights).

2.3 ASSESSMENT TASK

DESCRIBE THE ASSESSMENT TASK

Write a persuasive travel brochure for travel to the Northern Territory, ensure it
follows the structure of persuasive texts and uses appropriate persuasive language
and visual elements to encourage others to travel there.

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 SACSA OUTCOME
2.8 (Writing – Language)
CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT BASED ON THIS OUTCOME
The persuasive brochure will include;
-A title or statement that grabs the readers attention
-Five arguments for travel to Northern Territory, with the strongest argument first.
-Visual elements that portray a positive image of Northern Territory
-Positive persuasive language, for example, emotive words, abstract nouns and
action verbs
-Use of second person pronouns, present tense and conjunctions
-A conclusion

ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
Product Analysis – persuasive brochure about travel to Northern Territory.

WHO WILL ASSESS?

The teacher will assess.

RECORD OF ASSESSMENT
A copy of the student’s persuasive brochure and the teacher’s analysis of the
brochure. The teacher and students will work collaboratively to design the
assessment rubric that will determine how well the students will produce a persuasive
brochure. The persuasive brochure will be displayed in the classroom before being
placed with the assessment rubric in the student’s individual portfolio.

2.4 LINKS TO SACSA

APPROPRIATE ESSENTIAL LEARNING THAT IS THE MAIN FOCUS AND HOW IT

CONNECTS TO YOUR UNIT
Thinking – students will be required to participate in a wide range of thinking modes
throughout this unit, in particular thinking about patterns of writing, thinking about
creative and imaginative writing and thinking about their own opinions and reasoning.

ICT’S THAT STUDENTS WILL LEARN TO USE IN THIS UNIT

- Computer
- Search engines on the internet
- Scanner
- Inserting found or scanned pictures and photos into their brochure
- Microsoft Publisher
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 - Printer

From SACSA
STRAND: Language
MODE: Writing
KEY IDEA: Students plan and compose, with increasing independence, a range of
texts about familiar, new and imaginary experience. They demonstrate knowledge
about, and increasing control of, language choices in written texts.
OUTCOME: 2.8 - Uses aspects of language when planning and composing a range
of well-structured texts about familiar and new experience.

2.5 (10) SEQUENCED ACTIVITIES

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF EACH ACTIVITY SPECIFIC RESOURCES

ACTIVITY 1
Build the field of knowledge
In shared reading display an enlarged version of the Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Resort brochure to identify language used in brochure
persuasive brochures.
1. Read the front cover, pages 1-13, 16, 20 & 21 and
the back cover of the brochure to the class. Discuss
how the brochure made the students want to visit
Disneyland.
2. Point out the language used in the brochure,
especially the emotive and positive words and action
verbs. Discuss.
3. Start a word wall of these types of words, students
can contribute to it.

ACTIVITY 2
Build the field of knowledge
Watch a Getaway episode to identify emotive and Getaway episode, Castle
positive language, action verbs and visual elements. Mountain Farmstay
1. Remind students of the language that was used
when viewing the Disneyland Resort brochure. Refer to Castle Mountain Farmstay
the word wall. website
2. Watch the Getaway episode of Castle Mountain
Farmstay and ask the students to participate in Focused Disneyland Resort
Listening and listen to and record any emotive or brochure
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positive language and action verbs that were used.
3. Discuss the language that was used and add any Word Wall
additional words to the word wall.
4. Ask the students what made them want to stay at
Castle Mountain Farmstay. Discuss the visual elements
of the television program.
5. Read & View the Castle Mountain Farmstay website
and look for and record any further emotive and positive
language, action verbs as well as the visual elements.
6. Use the Disneyland brochure and Castle Mountain
Farmstay website to record common visual elements.
Display this list for further use.

ACTIVITY 3
Build the field of knowledge
Review a variety of travel brochures to identify the Sno ‘n’ Ski; Ski NSW
structural features, continue identifying the language brochure
and briefly continue looking at visual elements.
1. Provide the students with multiple copies of Sno ’n’ Sno ‘n’ Ski; Ski Victoria
Ski NSW & Victoria brochures to read, direct them to brochure
the first few pages.
2. Ask the students to compare the brochures and Word Wall
record the similar structural features in their workbooks.
3. Have some students share the similar structural Visual Elements List
features they found.
4. Link the structural features to the thesis statement
(gains attention and gives information to hold the
reader’s interest), the argument (appeals to the reader’s
emotions) and the conclusion (demands action by the
reader) that all persuasive brochures have.
5. Record the structural features on a Feature List so
the students can refer to it during further lessons.
6. Ask the students to look at the brochures again and
identify language features, in particular second person
pronouns and abstract nouns. Add these categories to
the word wall.
8. Briefly discuss the visual elements in the brochures
and add any further elements to the list constructed in
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Activity 2.

ACTIVITY 4
Modelled Writing
Look at the Disneyland Resort brochure to identify Disneyland Resort
structural features, language features and visual brochure
elements before the teacher models writing a
persuasive brochure. Disneyland Resort video
1. Use the Disneyland Resort brochure the teacher recording of California
explicitly identifies the structural features of the Adventure Park
brochure by underlining them. The teacher must explain
what elements of the brochure fit into each of these Feature List
features and hence it’s purpose. For example,
appealing to the reader’s emotions in the argument. Word wall
2. Continue using the brochure to explicitly identify the
language features; emotive words, positive words, Visual Elements List
second person pronouns, action verbs and abstract
nouns. Underline these words in different colours.
3. Continue using the brochure to identify the visual
elements, in particular the coloured glossy photographs
of
4. Read and view the Disneyland Resort brochure
(pages 14 & 15) and the California Adventure Park
video as a class. This is the stimulus for the teacher’s
modelled writing.
5. When modelling writing use think aloud statements to
express thoughts while writing, refer to the previous
brochures and video, the Feature List, the word wall
and the visual elements list.
6. Begin by writing a thesis statement to gain the
reader’s attention, ensure emotive and positive words
and abstract nouns.
7. Write the strongest argument first with evidence and
reasons to support it, ensure action verbs and
conjunctions are used, e.g. because, therefore and so.
8. Write further arguments and ensure they are
structured like the first.
11. Write a conclusion that asks the students to visit
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California Adventure Park.
Note: Use second person pronoun.
12. Draw a couple of pictures of happy people on the
brochure.
13. Identify the structure and the language features with
the student’s assistance.

ACTIVITY 5
Shared Writing
As a class write a persuasive brochure about travelling Are we there yet?
to Queensland.
1. Read ‘Are we there yet?’ to the class. Feature List
2. Remind students of structure and language features
of a persuasive brochure by directing them to the Word wall
Feature List and word wall.
3. Begin a draft of the persuasive brochure by allowing
the students to share the pen.
4. Start with the thesis statement.
5. Go back to the story and reread from The Far North
to Surfers Paradise.
6. Students brainstorm arguments and reasons for
travelling to Queensland.
7. Students choose the three strongest arguments to
use.
8. Finish with the conclusion.
9. Review the brochure to check for emotive and
positive words, action verbs and abstract nouns. If
necessary add these words to the brochure.
10. Students to identify the structure by pointing to the
thesis statement, arguments and conclusion on the
board.
11. Students to highlight persuasive language.
12. Students highlight arguments in a different colour.
13. Keep for reference in future activities.

ACTIVITY 6
Guided Writing
Students are provided with a cut up persuasive travel Blank A4 paper to stick cut

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brochure on Tasmania and must work in pairs to piece it outs on
together.
1. Display the persuasive brochure that was written Tasmania 2009/2010
during Shared Writing. brochure – AAT Kings
2. Guide students to piece the text together in the
correct structure. Tasmania 2009/2010
3. Students to identify the thesis statement, arguments brochure – Scenic Tours
and conclusion
4. Students highlight the emotive and positive language, Feature List
action verbs and abstract nouns.
5. Students highlight the arguments in a different colour. Word Wall
6. Provide explicit feedback to the students about the
structure and language features of the brochure they
construct.
7. Students share their brochure with the class,
explaining the thesis statement, arguments and the
conclusion.
8. Students share one argument and one new word to
add to the word wall.

ACTIVITY 7
Mini-Workshop - Proof Reading
Teacher to hold a mini-workshop as a refresher for Shared Writing from
students on how to proof read their brochures before Activity 5
publishing them. In particular the teacher will be
refreshing the students on how to check for correct Student’s work samples
punctuation and spelling.
1. Model checking punctuation in the Shared Writing
text written in Activity 5. Check for full stops, capital
letters, apostrophes and exclamation marks. Use think
aloud statements.
2. Write a checklist of the punctuation that has been
checked.
3. Check the Shared Writing text for spelling errors and
underline each word that is incorrectly spelt. Use class
resources to check the spelling of the word, for example
the word wall or a dictionary.
4. Add these steps to the checklist.
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5. Display a student’s sample of text, refer to the
checklist the teacher created, students proof read the
sample and make any necessary changes to the text.
6. Students find a piece of their own work that has not
been proof read and proof read the text, referring to the
checklist.
7. Students make any necessary changes and markings
on their work to show they have proof read and refined
their work.
8. Students complete the checklist and attach to their
proof read text.

ACTIVITY 8
Guided Writing
Students work in pairs to orally persuade the rest of the Queensland 2009-2010
class to travel to a state of their choice. brochure – Scenic Tours
1. Each pair is provided with one travel brochure for a
state in Australia. Queensland 2009-2010
2. Students must draft an oral persuasive conversation brochure – AAT Kings
after viewing their brochure. The persuasion must
include; Sydney Sightseeing 2009-
-A thesis statement to get the class’s attention, 2010 brochure – AAT
-Three arguments for travel to the state Kings
-Persuasive language
-A conclusion Southern Australia 2009-
3. Remind the students to refer to the Feature List, the 2010 brochure – AAT
word wall and the Shared Writing text from Activity 5. Kings
4. Students persuade the rest of the class to travel to Melbourne Sightseeing
their state by reading their conversation to the class. 2009-2010 brochure –
5. Students to identify the thesis statement, the AAT Kings
arguments and the conclusion in other student’s
conversations. Western Australia 2009-
6. Students to identify the persuasive language used 2010 brochure – AAT
during the other student’s presentations. Kings
7. Students to provide positive feedback to the pairs by
finishing this sentence, “I would travel to <state> Western Australian 2009-
because you…”. For example, “I would travel to 2010 brochure – Scenic
Tasmania because you used the words beautiful, fun Tours
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and exciting in your presentation.”
Feature List

Word Wall

Shared Writing from

Activity 5
ACTIVITY 9
Independent Writing
Students begin to collect information and arguments for Feature List
their persuasive brochure about travel to the Northern
Territory. Word Wall
1. Students view and read a variety of travel brochures,
online websites and television programs for the Visual Elements list
Northern Territory looking for reasons to travel there.
2. Students refer to the Feature List, word wall and Northern Territory 2009-
visual elements list to assist them. 2010 brochure - Infinity
3. Students begin their planning in their workbooks, Holidays
their planning should include;
-A thesis statement that is attention grabbing Northern Territory 2009 –
-Recordings of their arguments about where to stay and 2010 brochure - Scenic
what to visit; cities, towns and sights. Tours
-A conclusion with action for the reader
4. Students should be looking for photographs or Northern Territory 2009 –
pictures for their brochure and scanning and saving 2010 brochure - AAT
them for later use. Kings
5. Students write their draft in their workbooks when
finished planning. Computer & Scanner
6. Upon completion of their draft the students need to;
- use the Feature List as a checklist Internet access
- refer to the word wall categories as a checklist
- proof read their brochure Getaway episodes;
7. Students make necessary changes after using Kakadu scenic flight
checklists and proof reading. Jumping crocodile cruise
Katharine River heli-
kayaking
Kakadu animal tracks

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 Getaway website

Great Outdoors website

Northern Territory travel

website
ACTIVITY 10
Independent Writing
Students will complete their persuasive brochure about Computer
travel to the Northern Territory using Microsoft
Publisher. Microsoft Publisher
1. Students to refer to their draft while creating their
brochure. Printer
2. Students to add in the pictures and photographs they
previously saved.
3. Students to print the brochures in colour
4. Students show brochures with the class, sharing
either their thesis statement, one argument or their
conclusion.

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California Adventure Park 2008, video recording, Busch Entertainment Corporation, viewed 12
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