Presentation: Nineteen Eighty Four - explain the plot of the novel.

Read the opening of Nineteen Eighty Four up to '..he had suddenly decided to come home and begin the diary today.' [This will need to be photocopied from the text as the novel is still copyright protected and not legally available on the internet.]

Ask the students to draw 2 columns, one entitled 'Winston's World' and the other entitled 'Our World'. Then read through the text and pick out any aspects of Winston's world which they find unusual, disturbing or frightening.

Then ask the students to go back down their list and to try and think of examples which actually exist in our world today.

Presentation: Nineteen Eighty Four

Using the sheet on language and referring to the opening extract, ask the students to look at the three slogans of the Party ...

• War is Peace
• Freedom is Slavery
• Ignorance is Strength

and answer the questions below [also on the sheet] ..

What do you think they mean? What sort of effect might they have on the inhabitants of Orwell's futuristic world and what are the slogans designed to make them think?

What examples of new words or 'Newspeak' can you find in the extract? Why do you think these words have been 'coined'?

Go to the final question ... What examples can you think of in today's language or words which mean entirely the opposite of what they previously meant?

Presentation: Nineteen Eighty Four. Look back at the language findings from the previous lesson to recap.

Discuss the descriptive writing task on the sheet provided. Brainstorm ideas of the way in which our society is controlled and watched - ask the students to think of specific examples they have heard about in the news [for example, high pitched noises that only 'young people' can hear, ASBOs for young people, layout of supermarkets helping to guide our choices, targeted advertising on the internet -' if you like this, you might also like' etc]

Complete the writing task, thinking of the layout of the letter etc