English · Summarising & accuracy
Unreliable Witness
Three witnesses, one true account. Work out who can be trusted.
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Why this works
A good summary keeps three things exactly as they were: the size of what happened, the reason it happened, and the details that were actually written. Distortions almost always attack one of those three. Making it bigger is exaggeration, so "clung on halfway" becomes "fell all the way to the ground" and the whole meaning flips, because a boy who holds on is brave and a boy who falls is unlucky. Swapping the reason is the sneakiest, because "the kite was stuck" becomes "his sister dared him", which invents a motive the passage never offered. Adding a detail is the easiest to miss, since invented facts sit quietly among the real ones. So when you check a summary, including your own, test each claim against the exact words: if you cannot find the line, take the claim out.
Helping a child through Unreliable Witness
It runs in 2 steps
- 1. Honest. Which witness retells the passage without bending it?
- 2. Lies. Now catch each liar. Tap the exact words they twisted.
Hints, least revealing first
- Do not ask which retelling sounds best. Ask which one you could match to the passage line by line.
- A distortion is usually one phrase, not a whole sentence. Look for a word that has been made bigger, or a reason nobody actually gave.
- The passage says he clung on, and it never gives a reason for the climb beyond the kite being stuck. Anything else has been added.
When they finish it: “Case closed. Both liars caught.”
2 11+ skills this exercise practises
Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it.
- Distinguish fact and opinionClassify one statement as presented fact or opinion.
- Identify a main ideaSelect the main idea of a passage or section.
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