This lesson plan is for a mixed ability Year 7 class studying The Hunger Games. The key learning goals are to understand how the author creates tension in the opening paragraph and to analyze the text as a piece of dystopian writing. All students will analyze word choice in the opening paragraph by identifying positive and negative words and writing a paragraph explaining how tension is created. Formative assessments include a mind map activity, teacher questioning, and identifying words. Students will demonstrate their understanding by writing their own paragraph set in a dystopian world using positive or negative words. Homework involves continuing the opening paragraph using imagery, onomatopoeia and senses to build tension.