Class:			UP3
	Topic:			Cheat – An alternative ending
	Teacher's comment:			We read a short story in class called ‘Cheat!’, about a boy facing a moral dilemma after he cheated in a competition. In the book, the story ends with a ‘cliffhanger’, to allow students to use their imaginations to think of possible endings to the story. We discussed these in class, and I then asked the students to plot ideas for the kind of ending they wanted. Then they wrote this out. This is a very nice example of the kind of work that the students did. It shows really good narrative structure, and an excellent awareness of how to use direct speech. She also shows she is a risk-taker with language, using some quite unusual expressions to try to challenge herself as an English-user. Lovely for a teacher to see! Lawrence Smith

The Work:

Cheat – An alternative ending
Danny hesitated but finally he overcame his feeling of guilt. Then he stepped onto the stage and started to talk.

‘Thank you to all of you. I’m so glad I can get this prize since I’ve spent a lot of time on this brilliant painting. It proves that I am a genius. I have great artistic talent’.

Suddenly, somebody in the crowd cried, ‘No! You are a liar. That’s not yours, kid. It’s Mr King’s.’

‘Oh! It’s Gran’. Her face looked terrible and it had turned red. Danny was dumbfounded and stood straight on the stage, just like a dummy. Everyone in the hall felt shocked.

Danny acted out a sad face and started to cry. He said, ‘It really was painted by myself. Why don’t you believe me? You know I’m an honest boy.’

The audience believed Danny and they stared at Gran. Gran was really disappointed about the response of the audience. So she brought Mr King home. Although Mr King had heard what Gran and Danny had said, he still kept his gentle smile on his face.

Danny got his prize and bought the thing that he wanted – an exciting new computer game. The next day he went out shopping and saw Gran taking Mr King out to the garden for a walk.

Gran saw him and she whispered, ‘What a liar!’ Mr King heard it so he knew Danny was nearby. He said, ‘Danny is a good boy. I’m sure he won’t make any mistakes again.’ When Danny heard that, he felt guilty and immediately apologized to Mr King. Eventually Mr King forgave him.