This document provides lesson instructions for analyzing a passage from "The Big Issue" and creating a magazine front cover. It states that by the end of the lesson, all students will be able to retrieve quotations from the text, most will be able to identify magazine layout conventions, and some will understand how conventions impact readers. Students are asked to answer comprehension questions about pages 61-69 and then design their own Big Issue cover targeting homeless people with uplifting stories.

2. Lesson 13 – What’s The Big Issue?

3. By the end of the lesson...
ALL of you will be able to select and retrieve
information from the text using quotations. RAF 2
MOST of you will be able to identify the basic layout of
a magazine front cover and produce a media text which
is appropriate to the reader and purpose. WAF 2
SOME of you will be able to identify why certain
conventions are used and the impact of these
techniques on the reader.

4. Read pages 61 – 69. Using quotations where
relevant, answer the following questions...
1. Why is Link worried about Ginger? (p.85)
2. Link asks a Big Issue vendor about Ginger. What information does
he give him? (p.86)
3. Who does Link meet in an 'all - night joint,' and what does she
suggest might have happened to Ginger? (p.88)
4. Why do you think that Link decides 'Don't let anybody close?'
(p.88)
5. Describe the unusual appearance of the 'dosser' that walks into
the café . (p.89)
6. What excuse does Link give for wanting to leave? What is the real
reason that he wants to leave? (p.91)
7. Give two reasons why Link decides to stay (p.91)

6. Now create your own...
• Who reads The Big Issue? (Be specific)
• What types of stories would you expect in the Big
Issue?
• How would you convince someone to buy The Big
Issue?
• Who would you put on the front cover?
Once you have thought through the questions above,
begin planning your front cover.

7. Are you able to...
...select and retrieve information from the text using
quotations. RAF 2
...identify the basic layout of a magazine front cover
and produce a media text which is appropriate to the
reader and purpose. WAF 2
...identify why certain conventions are used and the
impact of these techniques on the reader.

8. If you were
selling The
Big Issue,
what would
you say to
convince
someone to
buy a copy?
Free
delivery!
Two free
staples
with every
copy!