Module 4: A Thousand Voices - Discovering Poetry and Short Stories

Introduction

Now it is time to start thinking about your news report based on the Vancouver Island Earthquake of 1946! Consider the atmosphere and setting that you want to describe. How will you incorporate the facts? How will you incorporate an opinion?

Read the following news report. What are the atmosphere and setting? What are the facts?

The M7.3 Vancouver Island Earthquake of 1946

Vancouver Island's largest historic earthquake (and Canada's largest historic onshore earthquake) was a magnitude 7.3 event that occurred at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday June 23, 1946. The epicentre was in the Forbidden Plateau area of central Vancouver Island, just to the west of the communities of Courtenay and Campbell River.

This earthquake caused considerable damage on Vancouver Island (see photos), and was felt as far away as Portland Oregon, and Prince Rupert B.C. The earthquake knocked down 75% of the chimneys in the closest communities, Cumberland, Union Bay, and Courtenay and did considerable damage in Comox, Port Alberni, and Powell River (on the eastern side of Georgia Strait). A number of chimneys were shaken down in Victoria and people in Victoria and Vancouver were frightened - many running into the streets. Two deaths resulted from this earthquake, one due to drowning when a small boat capsized in an earthquake-generated wave, and the other from a heart attack in Seattle.

Click on the pdf icon to view pictures of the damage caused by the 1946 earthquake.

Earthquake damage

In Jack Hodgins' version of this event, "Earthquake," his narrator and the other characters offer up their own unique and sometimes creative experience of the earthquake. Many more details are added, but they are mostly based on first-person opinion, even exaggeration, and downright fiction.

Instructions

Imagine that you were a journalist from the Victoria Times at the time of the earthquake, and you have just been assigned the task of writing a front-page story of approximately 250 words about the earthquake and the locals' experience of the event. You must use a blend of facts (from the report above) and opinions (from the characters in Hodgins' story).

• Include a catchy headline.
• Describe the atmosphere and setting.
• Cover the 5 Ws when you present your facts - Who, What, Why, Where, and When.
• Include the most important information at the beginning of the article.
• Use quotes from the story as if you interviewed the characters in the story.
• Remember The Times was not a tabloid. When you present opinions, you cannot misrepresent them as facts.
• Be descriptive! Make sure your readers in Victoria, B.C., can "see" what you see in the Comox Valley.

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES