Read the short story, Initiation, then fill in a story planning sheet for it. Then answer the comprehension questions. Everything you need is in your homework folder, but if you lose it, it is all below, apart from the planning sheet, which won't copy across. This is due on Monday, October 17th.
Initiation
As she walked up to the school gates, Sam shuddered slightly, but not from the cold. The building loomed there in front of her, foreboding, menacing. Its bricks were a lifeless, dirty grey, and in the centre, above the main entrance, was an imposing tower that stood like a sentinel. The new school would have obliterated her primary school in a fight.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Sam’s dad in his best attempt at a reassuring voice as they came to a halt, ‘you’ll be fine. Grace’ll look after you.’ As he spoke, he adjusted her blazer, which was about two sizes too big for her, although she was very petite, so was used to clothes not fitting her properly.
‘Yeah …’ Sam replied, although she wasn’t sure she would be.
‘Bye then,’ said her dad awkwardly as he dispatched a peck on the head and started to walk away. He had never been that good at making his youngest daughter feel comfortable.
Sam gave him a final desperate look, then began shuffling nervously through the gates, her bag, heavy with books, hanging clumsily off her shoulder. All around her children ran, shouted, played, or just congregated in huddled, conspiratorial groups, as if they were plotting some mischievous deed. She felt like a thousand pairs of eyes were all staring at her, even though she knew they weren’t.
She remembered from her taster day a few months previously where she was supposed to go: her form room was at the end of the main corridor, on the left, so she made a beeline for it. She knew she should probably try talking to people, but she didn’t really feel like trying to socialise in that moment. In fact, what she actually wanted to do was curl up into a little ball in a corner somewhere.
When she found the room, she looked inside, but it was vacant. The bell hadn’t rung, so she waited outside. As she waited, a gaggle of three chirping girls approached her. They were all a few years older than her and their faces were caked in makeup. Sam shrank back against the wall.
‘Aaah,’ said one of the girls, who was slightly taller than the others and had long hair that had been considerably lightened by peroxide. ‘It’s one of the new year sevens. How sweet!’
For a second, Sam relaxed; it seemed like they were just being friendly, but then one of the other girls reached out and snatched her bag right out of her hand.
‘What’s in here?’ she said gleefully as she began rifling through Sam’s belongings. ‘You won’t be needing these,’ she continued as she the pink pencil case Sam’s mum and dad had given her for Christmas spilt out onto the floor, followed by some of her exercise books.
Sam wanted more than anything to stand up for herself, to tell the girls to stop, but she just couldn’t muster up the courage to say anything. Instead, she felt her eyes begin to moisten.
Then, through the tittering of her torturers came a new voice. ‘What’s going on?’ it asked, authoritatively. The voice belonged to another girl. She was about the same age as the other three, but there was something about the way she spoke that betrayed a maturity beyond her apparent years.
‘We’re just making sure this year seven is settling in,’ said the blonde.
‘Come on,’ the new girl said, ‘I didn’t have breakfast this morning. Let’s go and get some food.’
As the four girls walked away, the new girl glanced back at Sam and winked.
The rest of the day went surprisingly well. Sam made friends with some of the other girls in her form, all of whom were in the same boat as her: nervous and new. When she got home that evening, her sister Grace was sitting in the living room.
‘So,’ she asked, ‘how was it?’
‘Yeah,’ Sam replied. ‘Not too bad.’ Then, after a pause, she said, ‘thanks for helping me out this morning. Those girls were really mean.’
‘I know,’ Grace said. ‘I should really get some new friends.’
The two girls smiled at each other and, in that moment, Sam knew that, however difficult big school got, she would always have her big sister around to look out for her.
Initiation comprehension questions
1. In the first line, if it wasn’t the cold that caused Sam to shudder, what was it?
2. Write down three adjectives that could be used to describe the school that haven’t already been used in the story.
3. There is an example of simile in the first paragraph. Copy it down.
4. There is also an example of personification in the first paragraph. Copy it down.
5. What word does the writer use in the first paragraph that could be replaced by ‘destroyed’?
6. Write down one sentence to describe Sam’s dad.
7. As well as stating that she is petite, what detail does the writer give to emphasise the fact that Sam is very small?
8. Based on how it used in the story, what do you think the word ‘conspiratorial’ means?
9. How does the writer create a sense of foreboding about the school? Mention the following things:
· The description of the building
· The description of the children playing outside it
Try and write around 100 words for this. You can use the following sentence starters:
‘The building is described as … This creates the impression that it is … The children playing outside it are ... This creates the impression that they are …’
You can also use the following words to help you:
Foreboding menacing big daunting scary
Huddled conspiratorial unfriendly antisocial
10. Now think about the girls who bully Sam. How does the writer create a sense that they are unpleasant? Aim to write around 100 words, but this time without any sentence starters or key words to help you.
11. Why do you think the writer doesn’t tell us that the girl who helps Sam out is her sister until the end?
12. Why do you think the story is called Initiation?
