1. The Imaginative Landscape
How to use the text in your writing

2. USE OF TEXT The texts are a way in to thought
You must be flexible – you need to have two texts prepared but it is better to use one in your answer
There needs to be a clear relationship between the answer and the text specified as the focus text
The Context Response must not be a Text Response answer

3. USE OF TEXT
It is important that you do more than just re-tell the story of the focus text
The starting point must be the ideas, issues and arguments from the focus text, not the plot

4. You are not expected to include quotes from the focus text
USE OF TEXT
Just moving the same story/material into another geographic place or another time is not developing the ideas
You are not expected to include quotes from the focus text
Supplementary material can be useful to stimulate ideas but does not need to be referred to in the response

5. USE OF TEXT
You are provided with a prompt. It is not a topic as in the Text Response question
The prompt is the springboard for ideas, but it cannot be ignored while you write your own self-chosen response
The relationship between the focus text and the response must be clear and apparent
You do not necessarily need to mention the focus text in your actual response

6. THE PROMPT
‘The inner landscape and its relationship to the outer world is significant in people’s lives.’
(VCAA, 2010)

7. THE IMAGINATIVE LANDSCAPE
This Context is concerned with:
The physical landscape
A sense of place
Humans and their relationship with the natural world
The features of the physical landscape - its beauty as well as its harshness
Connections with the landscape

8. THE IMAGINATIVE LANDSCAPE
The influences of the physical landscape on:
Our internal landscape
Our emotional state
Our imagination
Our memories
Our sense of self
Our views of the world
Our senses

9. Island – Alistair MacLeod
Links to the ‘Imaginative Landscape’
Island – Alistair MacLeod

10. IDEAS, ISSUES & ARGUMENTS
The short stories in Island explore the ways that the landscape represents:
Tradition
A sense of place
Danger
Beauty
Limitations
Freedom

11. IDEAS, ISSUES & ARGUMENTS
A way of life
A challenge
The past
The future
Memories

12. MacLeod uses a variety of techniques to describe life on Cape Breton Island. Some of these include:
A first-person narrator who is often unnamed to represent the many people who share similar thoughts, feelings and experiences
A strong use of colour to describe the physical features of the landscape
Language techniques you can use in your own writing to make your connections clear

13. MacLeod uses a variety of techniques to describe life on Cape Breton Island. Some of these include:
Images that recur through the stories, such as, fishermen, drunks or young men who feel trapped by their environment
A sad tone that pervades the stories and often reflects the landscape itself
Language techniques you can use in your own writing to make your connections clear

14. How to write on the Context
THE FORMS
How to write on the Context
Youwill have the option of responding to the Context in one of the following forms:
Expository
Persuasive
Imaginative

15. EXPOSITORY Expose or explain a detailed view of the Context
A discussion of how the Context works, not only in the world of the text, but also in your world
Consider different points of view on the Context

16. Possible forms include:
EXPOSITORY
Possible forms include:
An essay
A feature article
A news report
An interview

17. PERSUASIVE Responds to the Context by presenting a point of view on it
Argues a clear perspective for one side of the issue generated by the text/s
The world outside the text informs the response

18. Possible forms include:
PERSUASIVE
Possible forms include:
An essay
A speech
An opinion piece
An editorial

19. IMAGINATIVE
Can step inside the text and write from the point of view of a character
Can remain outside the text and use the language features, structures or conventions of the focus text to explore the Context
Can use personal experience as the base from which to explore the ideas in an imaginative way

20. Appropriate forms include:
IMAGINATIVE
Appropriate forms include:
A short story
A scene, interior monologue or section of script
An epilogue or a prologue
A reflective narrative

21. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Prompt – handling of, the connection with, the relevance to
Ideas – the quality and development of
Expression – control of language, spelling, punctuation & clarity

22. PROMPTS
‘The place in which we live has an impact on our understanding of the world.’
‘The physical setting of a place can often reflect the state of our emotions.’
‘The way we relate to our physical environment can determine the kind of person we become.’