Bring an award-winning children’s author into your classroom and inspire pupils to plan and write powerful stories from the past.
In this episode of Author in Your Classroom, Bali Rai (author of Now or Never) explores the power of historical fiction and how untold stories from the past can be brought to life. Pupils are guided to write their own stories based on historical events, using voices that may be familiar – or those that are often unheard.
The unit links to wider history topics studied in class, providing an authentic, research-based approach to historical fiction. Short podcast extracts introduce key ideas, and the teaching sequence provides a full, ready-to-use classroom unit.
Resource pack contents
This free classroom pack includes everything needed for a complete historical fiction writing unit:
- PowerPoint for teaching and discussion
- Extracts from Now or Never: A Dunkirk Story
- Planning sheets to structure ideas, events, and emotions
- Working wall images and quotes for inspiration
- Writing sheets for pupils’ first drafts and redrafts
Teaching overview
Across four sessions, pupils will:
- Choose a historical event – Pupils consider whose stories we usually hear and explore perspectives that may be unheard. Pupils begin to gather factual information to support their writing.
- Explore characters’ emotions – Using extracts from Now or Never, pupils explore how the narrator experiences the events. They discuss how to show characters’ feelings through dialogue, actions and sensory description. Pupils plan their own characters’ emotional journeys.
- Write the story – Pupils write a first-person story, bringing their chosen character’s voice to life.
- Edit and redraft – Pupils review and refine their stories, identifying strong sections and areas for improvement. The focus is on clarity, voice, and effectively conveying emotion and historical context.
How to listen
Search for Author In Your Classroom wherever you get your podcasts. A free resources pack is available with every episode.
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