The Great White Desert

Learning Intention: 

I am learning about how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic so that I can compose a persuasive advertisement. 

Success Criteria: 

• I can understand and explain the purpose and structure of an advertisement.  
• I can extract relevant information from an article.  
• I can adapt the information collected into an advertisement with a suitable structure for its purpose.  

Essential knowledge: 

• More information about agreed upon text structures can be found in the English Textual Concepts video Code and Convention. 

Conduct a readthrough of the article with the class. Before reading, pose the questions:  

• What would be the negative and positive aspects of living in Antarctica?  
• What characteristics would a person need to live in Antarctica?  

Discuss and record students’ answers to these questions. Read the article and make any additions or amendments to the students’ contributions, as necessary.  

Next, discuss the purpose and features of a job advertisement. You may wish to show students some sample job advertisements from websites such as Seek. Students should understand that the purpose is to inform people about the role and required skills of a job. An advertisement should also persuade people to apply for the job. Ensure that students can identify structural features of a job advertisement, including:  

• An eye-catching heading (so that people will stop and read it) 
• A persuasive introduction (that explains why this is a wonderful job and place to work) 
• A bullet point list of details (roles and responsibilities and personal characteristics) 
• Key information (salary, location, rewards such as accommodation or schooling) 
• A positive photograph (that makes the job look rewarding and exciting) 

List the range of occupations of people who live in Antarctica: scientific researchers, support staff (cooks, doctors, nurses, pilots, maintenance crew, teachers), hospitality and tourism. Ask students to choose one of these groups to write an advertisement for.  

Provide students with a planning page that contains the headings:  

• Roles and responsibilities 
• Personal characteristics 
• Key information 
• Interesting facts 

Students independently read the article and collect as much information as they can for each heading. Remind them to collect information that links specifically to the occupation for whom they will be writing the advertisement. For example, the roles and responsibilities of someone working in hospitality and tourism could include running luxury hotels, cooking and serving food and ensuring that tourists respect the fragile and precious environment. 

Once students have collected all the information relevant to their chosen occupation, they need to structure their advertisement using the structural features checklist above. Students should also choose one of the photographs from the article that best illustrates their chosen occupation.  

Students’ job advertisements can be collated into a class ‘Antarctica Job Gazette’. This can be published and distributed to other classes or parents who could then apply for their preferred job.