empathic genre conversion

Empathic Genre Conversion

IGCSE English : Question 1

What is empathy?

Empathy is NOT sympathy!

Reading most texts requires some degree of empathy in order to appreciate the perspective of the narrator or

characters presented

How can you identify the elements which reveal the thoughts, feelings, opinions and attitudes expressed by

characters in a text?

Explicit statements made

Implicit information conveyed through:

Dialoguelanguage choices

What is left ‘unsaid’Tone

This task requires you to empathise with the thoughts, feelings and opinions expressed by one or more people in

the text and then DEMONSTRATE that understanding

• Read and extract salient details

• Imagine and expand beyond the text while maintaining faith with the original text

• Complete the task using the target genre and capture an authentic sense of ‘voice’ using these details

What is genre?

What type (genre) of writing might you be asked to convert the

source text into?

Newspaper reportMagazine article

Journal entrySpeech / interview / debate

ReportFormal / informal letter

Each genre has a set of features which define them in the same way that a film type has a set of

recognisable elements:

Special effectsDramatic soundtrackTechnophobic themeMuted colour scheme

Stark lightingPseudo spiritual or philosophical exploration

StructureNarrative perspective

FormalityVocabulary

Tone

What are the features of a newspaper report?

What are the features of a journal entry?

What are the features of a debate transcription?

What are the features of a formal letter?

So you might read a magazine article about homelessness and

then have to write a journal entry from the perspective of a

homeless person

Or you could be asked to read a transcript of interviews with a

survivor of a house fire and a local domestic safety advisor. Then

you’ll need to convert the information into a newspaper

report on the incident.

Let’s try a sample question...

Max Brooks

What is the genre and form of the text?

How do you know?

From whose perspective is the text written?

What are the thoughts, feelings, opinions and outlook presented

by Sardor Khan?

How do you know?

Which other characters also feature and how might their

perspective differ from Khan’s?

What leads you to this conclusion?

Sergeant Mukherjee

General Raj-Singh

What empathetic genre conversion tasks might be suitable

to set for this source text?

Write a newspaper account reporting on the demolition of the

bridge (you may adopt a sympathetic or antagonist stance)

Assume that General Khan survived the demolition. Write his journal entry from that evening.

Write the transcription for a debate with an extended

comment from each of the following participants:

Sergeant Mukherjeea surviving relative of a victim

Sardor Khan

Write a letter from Sardor Khan to the surviving widow of General Singh expressing your respects

and thoughts about her late husband.