The People's Prince?

I'm not a republican by any stretch of the imagination (I'm a Pom!), but even I found Trent Dalton's coverage of Prince William's recent visit vomitous (to use a friend's favourite word): "In the darkest hour, a handsome prince did come to southeast Queensland...It was the arrival of a rockstar. Sunburned face. Warm demeanor. Hands for shaking." Even the picture is a bit OTT.

If you can get hold of this Monday's Courier-Mail (March 22), there is a double-page spread of Dalton's article, pictures, etc. (see image above - pardon the food marks!).

But then, in true teacher style, I began thinking about how we could use it in the classroom, and it struck me that this is a prime example of bias and hyperbole being used to position readers. Lots of great words and phrases to analyse!

• To take things even further, you could then get students to consider the notion of perspective and persuasion by imagining they are a member of the Australian Republican Movement and writing their own report of Prince William's visit. How might this influence your word choices?

This might be an interesting activity as part of preparation for the NAPLAN persuasive writing task.

If you get a chance to try it out, let me know how it goes!