Posted on: 11/03/2020
Dialogue enlivens the fabric of a narrative through the different tones and timbres of characters’ voices. It is intrinsic to the art of storytelling. So, it is no surprise, that the skills around dialogue come up time and time again in the English Curriculum.
Dialogue is formally developed from Year 3 onwards, until we have the statement in the Teacher Assessment Framework at the end of KS2: “integrate dialogue in narratives to convey character and advance the action.” For Greater Depth, a further statement reads, “distinguish between the language of speech and writing and choose the appropriate register.”
These are weighty statements and assume a plethora of skills and techniques. The important point to notice however is that it is to be primarily integrated in narrativeso very much part of the storytelling process and therefore dialogue interchanges between characters are needed. In this blog, we want to break open these statements and look in detail at some skills and techniques we can explore with children in the classroom.
Children need time to plan and act out their dialogue. They can do this on a large piece of horizontal A3 paper folded in two. In pairs, using speech bubble post-it notes (different colours for the two different characters), children map out what each character will say. They should also act it out together and decide how the characters are speaking. Children take notes around the speech bubbles recording what the character was doingand what the character was thinking whilst they spoke. Children will then “burst the bubble” and write the dialogue up with inverted commas and the reporting clauses. For example:
“It’s a-alright…I just want t’ be left alone right now,” Romeo said softly to Friar Lawrence between sighs whilst staring longingly at the setting sun. He was putting on a brave face and didn’t really want to be left alone at all.
There is nothing wrong with using the verb “said” (or “asked”) in narrative and writers use this word frequently due to its flexibility. Saying that, a well-chosen synonym or adverb will go a long way to add variation. Rather than giving the children a downloaded word bank of synonyms though, put the synonyms on cards and allow the class to sort and discuss them; ask the class, “Which character in this scene is most likely to talk in this way?” Perhaps in traditional storytelling, we may want to match up the alliterative verbs and adverbs also e.g. “growled and grumbled”, “barked bravely”.
Adverbs (especially using the suffix -ly) are great for adding further details as are prepositional phrases too e.g. “…she said quietly under her breath”, “he hissed aggressivelybetween his teeth”, “he shouted with frustration.” These are simple for children to use and can heighten the reader’s sense of depth and drama.
The reporting clause is an essential tool we can use to show characterisation and advance the action. As mentioned above, children can use “show not tell” techniques to explain what the character was doing while he/she was speaking. Consider:
“Did you bite your thumb at me sir?” Tybalt barked aggressively whilst drawing his sword.
The conjunction “whilst” is optional and replacing it with a comma can amplify the immediacy of the action.
“Did you bite your thumb at me sir?” Tybalt barked aggressively, whilst drawing his sword and pointing it straight at Benvolio.
If we start with the adverbial, the action is turned up even further:
Drawing his sword and pointing it straight at Benvolio, Tybalt barked aggressively, “Did you bite your thumb at me sir?”
We could also add a relative clause:
Tybalt, who was smirking behind the shadow of a cart, stepped out and barked aggressively, “Did you bite your thumb at me sir?”
Again, we can play around with omission here, this time with the relative pronoun and auxiliary verb:
“Tybalt, who was smirking behind the shadow of a cart, stepped out and barked aggressively…
It is important children can play around, as part of the editing process, with these different effects, changing the order of the direct speech and the reporting clause.
Spliced or split dialogue places the reporting clause in the middle of the speech and breaks the flow with movement. It is a fantastic way to advance the action in narrative and create a sense of tension e.g.
“I urge you think carefully, because if you don’t marry Count Paris,” Lord Capulet said, turning his back on his daughter and strutted to the bedroom door, “you will be no daughter of mine.”
“I will challenge you,” Tybalt demanded playfully, prancing toward Mercutio, “to a duel!”
Three pieces of punctuation that can help children develop the language of speechin their dialogue are the ellipses, the dash and the apostrophe. Initially, children will use the apostrophe for simple contractions to show the natural way most people talk. However, as they develop as writers, we may want to encourage them to use it to show accent, for example:
“Where ya’ goin’?”
“Watch’ya guys doin’ out here?”
“Ain’t nobody said nothin’ ‘bout that to me!”
The dash can be used to show sharp interruption, hesitation or an abrupt change in tone. Consider the following:
“Y-you n-n-need to turn around right now, or- “
“Or what?”
Immediately we catch that one character is hesitant and scared whilst the other is being assertive.
Ellipses are tonally different to dashes and show rather that the dialogue has “trailed off and could begin again” *. The following is an example of this:
“Are you aright Romeo?”
“Yeah…” Romeo sighed, “I’m just…. sick of all the drama.”
Slang and idiomatic speech are a really fun way to develop the language of speech in writing – the trick is making it appropriate for the character. The slang and idioms a modern-day teenager would use will be drastically different to a Victorian teenager or a cabin boy at sea on the Hispaniola. Consider the following piece of dialogue from Sharna Jackson in her wonderful book, High Rise Mystery:
“Ah yeah, that bit’s not so fire”, he said. “My aunt, Geeta, is going through it with her man right now. Real dark times. Friday night, she gets home, he’s just up and bounced. No trace.”
And compare to the slang and interjections in Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island:
“Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me. Here you, matey,” he cried to the man who trundled the barrow…
The slang and interjections tell the reader so much about each character and can define the historical period.
These pointers are by no means comprehensive but studying some or all of these with children will put them on track for creating dynamic dialogue, memorable characters and rich narratives.
*Quote from Terence Kuch’s blog How to Punctuate Dialogue in Fiction
Posted in: Curriculum
