Eurovision Writing!

Junior Writers:

We started by catching up with what everyone has been doing since we saw them last term! Our group has been very industrious with their writing. Siya wrote a non-chronological report for her homework at school, Olivia wrote a playscript and a half, and Freya wrote her own story at home!

To get us into the groove Ali gave out some fill-in fun sheets, which our writers had five minutes to complete:

Lulu tiptoed into the garden, dragging a __

She stopped suddenly, stared at Jeff and then whispered: “____!”

Jeff lay on the grass. He was wearing his ___ so he felt ____

He opened his mouth and yelled “___.”

Lulu___.

And Jeff ____.

The stories had a generally intense vibe, with Jeff and Lulu tending to commit crimes as a running theme.

We then discussed how today is a very special day, because people around the world are getting excited for Eurovision! We had a quick chat about the history of Eurovision, ABBA, and how Sweden is hosting today. We talked about England’s few winning songs across the years, and then looked at the lyrics and discussed what themes there were. Ali then got our writers to make up a Eurovision song of their own! It proved to be quite a challenge, but everyone did very well and wrote a song which hit the brief perfectly. Here are some of the tiles our writers chose:

The Happiness Vibe

Oh Walrus

I’ll Love You For Life

You and Me

A Great Day

Ali set our group a task to write as if they were about to perform in the Eurovision song contest. How would they feel? What would the atmosphere backstage be like? What would they be able to see and hear around you? The idea was to end with singing the first line of your song. Our writers had some time in order to write a couple of paragraphs, and then read out their pieces - which generally focussed on nerves and elation when performing.

We finished with our writers doing a first line challenge. Ali gave us the starting words of “I stagger back into the pod, and…” our group was encouraged to imagine what would happen when they returned to their country’s “pod” backstage after Eurovision. In their pieces, many of our writers got a million billion points, and therefore performed admirably.

Young Writers:

We began by checking in with everyone about what they’d been writing since the group last met, and then moved on to the Jeff & Lulu fill-in sheets. Stories from our young writers featured unicorns, crocheted animals, and undercover policemen.

We then moved on to discussing why tonight was important, and the answer is of course… Eurovision! As before, we discussed the history of Eurovision, ABBA’s Waterloo, and then looked at the lyrics of the songs that won England the contest. We discussed the themes which come up in those songs: love, unity, hope. Ali then also challenged the writers to create their own entry for the song contest which could draw on those themes, to see if they could live up to our junior writers! Song titles included:

(I’ve Been) Lying to You

I Got Out of Bed

You Are The One

The World is Waiting

Don’t Blame Me

Broken Table

The Demi-God

Most of these were abstract songs, touching on the theme of protest or simply the bizarre. All of them could fit right in at Eurovision!

Ali then asked our writers to write a story about the moment of going onstage to perform at the Eurovision. What would they see and hear? Would they be alone or with a band? How would they feel?

Our writers’ stories included forgotten glasses blurring the audience and lights, streams of consciousness about anxiety, and switching your entry to be heavy metal behind your manager’s back.

We finished with our writers doing the first line "pod" challenge. There were themes of surprise about winning, elation at the performance, and illness with nerves.

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Eurovision Writing!