Planning and programming Suggested activities for responding to Rap point 2 The Shaggy Gully Times: the f(p)unniest newspaper you’ll ever read, written by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley. Harper Collins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd 2007

Syllabus outcomes Stage 2
Syllabus outcomes Stage 3

Activity 1: How has the writer and illustrator made a connection with local newspapers (appropriated ideas)?

• You may want a local newspaper for a comparison.
• Read and enjoy The Shaggy Gully Times by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley.
• Read the preface, ‘A salute to country weeklies’, by Jackie French and discuss
  • What ideas from local newspapers have the author and illustrator used and ‘played with’?
• Examples of ideas found in local weeklies
  • crest on the front
  • layout of the first page (which is the front page of the newspaper) with feature articles, advertisements, sections.
• Discuss how French and Whatley have ‘played with’ or modified each of the examples
  • the crest
  • cost of the paper
  • Police Reports
  • Goo in Town article
  • or choose your own examples from the book.

Activity 2: How has the author, Jackie French, used ordinary words in innovative ways to create humour?

• Revisit the book as a class, or in small groups. Share student responses to the many puns and supporting illustrations. Rap sheet 4 has a few ideas for you to work on. How has the author used these words to create humour?

• Who is the most interesting character in The Shaggy Gully Times? Use Rap sheet 5 to organise your ideas which may include words and phrases associated with this character. What pieces of information did you bring together to make this decision?

Activity 3: Analysing the sports news

• Read the sports page article, ‘Kiwis versus Wallabies in match of the year’, from The Shaggy Gully Times (page 27).

• Discuss the features of the text, eg purpose, audience, theme and structure.

Rap sheet 6 may help you with this activity.

• You may wish to use this article as a model when creating newspaper article for Rap point 3.

Posting response to Rap point 2

• prepare the response to Rap point 2 with the class
• student/s (rap representative) type the response, edit and save
• teacher facilitates the student/s use of the word processor and blogging procedures to post the response to Rap point 2 once the teacher has approved the final text.