You Must Be a Carrot

Rationale

This song explicitly models the structure and language of a persuasive text. It demonstrates how to organise arguments into a clear sequence, using adverbs of time to link ideas across paragraphs and high modality language to strengthen opinions. The text provides students with a playful way to see how language can persuade, while also embedding values of respecting individual differences and pride in personal identity. It promotes empathy, confidence, and an understanding that diversity should be honoured.

Key Ideas for Parents and Carers

This song shows children how to build a strong opinion and explain it clearly. It models the structure of persuasive writing while encouraging kids to be proud of who they are. Through humour and wordplay, it helps children see that differences should be respected and valued.

Key Ideas for Teaching (English and Health)

• Text structure: models the structure of a persuasive text (introduction, arguments, conclusion).

• Cohesion: adverbs of time connect ideas across paragraphs.

• Modality: high modality language strengthens arguments.

• Voice and identity: emphasises being proud of who you are and valuing diversity.

Guided Inquiry Questions

• Form: What makes this song a persuasive text?

• Function: How does persuasive language work to convince others?

• Causation: Why do writers use high modality words when they want to persuade?

• Change: How can persuasive language change the way people think or feel?

• Connection: How is persuasion used in other contexts, like advertising or speeches?

• Perspective: How might the carrot’s point of view differ to the singer’s?

• Responsibility: How should we use persuasive language responsibly when sharing our own opinions?

Resources

Below you can find links to resources to support teaching and learning for You Must Be a Carrot. This list is constantly evolving as more resources are created. Ultimately, the best resources are those which are tailored to meet the needs of each individual classroom context and the strengths of each teacher. The AI prompt should be pasted into a chat-based AI, and gives teachers ideas for learning activities which match their own context and align with their own teaching styles. The lyric sheet button will download a printable PDF file in OpenDyslexic font, with a corresponding visual for text prediction and EAL/D support. The lyric video is synchronised with the music and presents the lyrics as they are heard, assisting the viewing with focus and facilitating the development of phoneme-grapheme correspondence and text decoding.