Years 7 and 8 English: Building Suspense and Drafting Narratives

Sep 7, 2026 | English, Newsletter

Year 7

Over the past fortnight, the Year 7 students have been immersing themselves in the craft of narrative writing by studying how authors engage readers’ interest, build suspense, and develop vivid characters. They have explored how to structure compelling stories, using sentence openings purposefully, to connect plot points and transition across time, location, and context. To support their storytelling, students have been experimenting with sentence structure, combining simple, compound, and complex sentences, to control pacing and build detail. Putting these techniques into practice, the classes are now drafting their own original narratives.

Year 8

Over the past fortnight, Year 8 students explored narrative techniques by analysing extracts from When the Mountains Roared and adapting them into original audio drama scripts. They investigated how authors convey character, personality and emotion through dialogue and carefully chosen reporting verbs. Using SEED paragraphs, students analysed how writers blend narrative structure and varied sentence types to build suspense and implied meaning. Integrating these insights, students are now planning and drafting their own original stories.

Both year groups were pleased to welcome the Auckland Libraries mobile bus team back.

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