Fire up the school Aston Martin, break out the gadgets and take your class undercover...
Are you about to embark on your first mission as a spy? If so, you will need the Multifunction Mobile Phone. Don’t be the only spy on the block left wondering how to phone home!
The Multifunction Mobile Phone is the ideal phone for all spies. It boasts a host of amazing features:
• Have worldwide access so that you can always be in contact with those back home;
• Make untraceable calls;
• Be certain that you cannot be hacked into;
• Made of titanium steel so that it works underwater and in space.
This ideal mobile phone has the added bonus of a hidden tranquillizer dart that can be fired through the aerial. Guaranteed to leave your enemies stunned (though with no serious after effects).
Perhaps the most essential reason for purchasing this ‘must have’ phone is that it can only be used by the owner. Access is made by modern fingerprint recognition!
This phone is recommended by E.T., and comes complete with charger and free leather case. Order now from spygadgetzone.com
Have you ever been captured whilst spying? Do you run the risk of your enemies finding you out? Are you a spy in need of a helping hand? If so, buy this Multi-purpose Spy Key Ring and all your troubles will be left behind.
The Multi-purpose Spy Key Ring is the latest gadget created by Smithers at the Covert Weapons Section of MI6. This is the updated version of the famous Stun Grenade Key Ring as used by Alex Rider, the spy that even James Bond feared. This new version has been fully upgraded to include:
• explosive light burst that will stun but never kill;
• laser light that cuts through all known metals;
• bug finder to check that you are not being spied upon;
• an amazing listening device; plus the latest smoke bomb technology.
Known in the trade as ‘The Striker’, this little key ring will literally knock out your enemies! Ideal when faced with imprisonment, but also invaluable for listening in to secret conversations. The inbuilt recording device can hone in and record conversations up to 100 metres away.
A key reason for buying this device is that it looks so harmless and yet it packs a punch. Specially coated in Lithian Diatrex, The Striker cannot be detected by any known device. Travel without a care.
Recommended by 007 himself, it comes complete with a set of keys that can open any known lock. Ideal for those tricky moments when you just cannot enter a forbidden place! Only available through spygadgetzone.com
It’s been over a decade since we first met Alex Rider, Anthony Horowitz’s teenage superspy who has since gone on to become one of the most popular characters in children’s fiction. Eight books have been released in that time and Stormbreaker, the first title in the series, has also been made into a blockbuster film, scripted by Anthony himself.
The children in your class will no doubt be looking forward to March 31st 2011 when the ninth Alex Rider book, Scorpia Rising, will be released. This gripping final mission brings together Alex Rider’s old enemies to frame the teenage superspy in an unstoppable plot of revenge, from which he can never return. Pursued from Europe to North Africa and Cairo’s city of the dead – this is the wistiest and most deadly plot of any Alex Rider mission yet, and will reveal Smithers’ ultimate gadget and see the shock death of a major character.
Books in the Alex Rider series:
• Stormbreaker
• Point Blanc
• Skeleton Key
• Eagle Strike
• Scorpia
• Ark Angel
• Snakehead
• Crocodile Tears
• Scorpia Rising (March 2011)
Visit alexrider.com to find out more about Alex’s upcoming final mission.
Get a whiteboard-friendly version of Pie’s instructions…
If you would like to share this example with your class on the whiteboard, you can download a copy from the following website teachprimary.com/ispy.php
Stormbreaker (Walker Books) by Anthony Horowitz is a cracking good read and sets the context for this topic on persuasive writing. Children are constant targets for advertisers and usually have thelanguage and tactics of persuasion at their fingertips. In this context, you may find the book Alex Rider: The Gadgets a useful addition. In the book, you will find the main gadgets that Alex has been given by Smithers who works in MI6 as the ‘Q’ figure that we know from the James Bond films.
Smithers provides Alex with various gadgets for his different adventures. They look harmless but all have different uses. For instance, a CD player becomes a cutter or a yoyo can be used to aid climbing. For this topic, I have imagined that some of the gadgets have become available through a secret website known only to those in the spying trade.
Just to tune children into the whole idea of persuasion, play a few simple games in pairs. In just one minute persuade –
• a snowman to come into the kitchen;
• a rabbit to have tea with a fox;
• a fly to make friends with a spider;
• Cinderella not to go to the ball;
• the ugly sisters to let Cinderella go to the ball;
• a parent to let you play out late;
• a teacher to let you stop work early.
Collect adverts from magazines and newspapers. Get the children to list words, phrases and techniques that advertisers use. Typical tactics include:
| Questions | Are you ever bored? |
| Imperatives (bossy sentences) | Buy now! |
| Personal appeal | Would YOU like to be… |
| Boastful language | The finest bread… |
| Short sentences | Don’t miss out. |
| Testimonials/quotes | As used by David and Victoria…. |
| Alliteration | The coolest collection… |
| Rhyme | Have a rest at the best hotel… |
To begin the topic on persuasive writing, you could read the scene in Stormbreaker, or any of the other Alex Rider books, when Smithers gives Alex various gadgets (page 84). The children might then be asked to invent a gadget for Alex out of an everyday toy. Make a list of common toys and then the children have to choose one and decide what it might be also used for. They should then role-play introducing the gadget to Alex, each taking it in turn to be Smithers, explaining how the gadget works. Gadgets could be designed and presented with instructions on how to be used or explanations of how they work.
Mock up on screen a website advert for spygadgetzone.com. This should include the two persuasive pieces of writing. The Multifunction Phone is the easiest and could be learned orally by using a simple text map and actions. In small groups the children could prepare a one minute advert to go on the website for either the phone or the key ring. To do this they could use some of the words, phrases and tactics that they discovered in the magazines and newspapers. Try watching some television adverts and making lists of the different tricks that are used to persuade people.
Work out and annotate both pieces, looking at the basic structure and the sorts of strategies that are being used (see right). Both pieces use the same structure. The children could then design their own ‘gadgets’, adding other features, and follow the same structure and language features to create adverts – either written or spoken. Or, advertise for one of Alex’s other gadgets such as the high-tensile yoyo.
If you would like to share this story with your class on the whiteboard or view more of our Pie Corbett resources, please click here
Power Maths – A Child-Centred, ‘Can-Do’ Mastery Teaching Programme for KS1 and KS2
Category: Maths
Fit To Dance Schools From Disney On Ice
Category: Other
‘S!ng Sensational’ And ‘A King Is Born’ – Two Fun New Musical Masterpieces That Children Will Love
Category: Music
Product review: Schofield & Sims Fractions, Decimals & Percentages
Category: Maths
Easy ways to combat teacher stress
Ace-Heads
How Financial Education Helps Children
Ace-Classroom-Support
