Lourdes, a special place

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By David Clayton

This poster is a recount, providing information about the French town of Lourdes where, it is alleged, miracle cures have taken place at a spring which was discovered after a local girl experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. It can be used as a basis for exploring recounts and hybrid texts, and could also be used in cross-curricular RE studies looking at aspects of the Roman Catholic church.

Shared teaching and learning

Shared reading

Read the title and first paragraph of ‘Lourdes’ and discuss what type of text this is (recount). Ask the children what they remember about this type of text from previous learning.
Read the rest of the poster. Identify the purpose and discuss how it has been organised. What tense is it written in and why?
Have any of the children been to Lourdes? Are they aware of any other stories about miraculous happenings or cures?
Can they identify other text types within the poster? (There are elements of non-chronological report writing.)