Video: Context and Introduction to Annie John

﻿Hi, everybody. It's so nice to see you. I'm Ms. Bowling. And as an English teacher, I love reading and writing and poetry, but I think above everything else, I love reading books that are set in different places around the world. You know, those books that when you read, you travel with the characters in the book. And for that reason, I'm really excited to be able to teach you the wonderful novel of Annie John. This lesson is going to go through the context and the background to this book, and you're going to need a pen and a piece of paper. So I'd like you to pause the video now please, so you can go get everything you need and you can clear away any distractions. So let's start by learning a little bit more about Annie John. It tells the story of a girl as she changes from childhood to adulthood And actually what I really like about Annie is as a character is she isn't always perfect. In fact, the whole novel explores her rebellion, her breaking the rules throughout her adolescence. Adolescence is that period of time in your teenage years, from about 12 to around about the age of 17, where you're actually growing up and you change between being a child to an adult, and throughout Annie's adolescence, she is absolutely challenging the expectations of her and rebelling against the people around her. But ultimately it follows her journey from childhood all the way through to maturity and independence. So my big question to start off with is this one, do you think growing up is easy or difficult in your adolescence, is it an easy time or can it be a difficult one sometimes? Because for our author, adolescence is definitely an exciting time, but it can be a really difficult one as well. And here she is, here is our author. This is Jamaica Kincaid. She was born in 1949 and she lives in the USA, but she wasn't born there. In fact, she was born in the Caribbean and I want us to memorise that spelling at the moment, Caribbean with a capital C because the proper, proper noun, how many A has it got? It's got one A, but how many B has it got? It's got two Bs. And I want us to remember that when we're writing, now the Caribbean, a comprises, lots of different Island nations, for example, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Cuba, but Jamaica Kincaid was born on Antigua. This Island here have a look at it aah! Does it look amazing, I would like to be there right now. And not only was Jamaica Kincaid born and grew up on Antigua. She actually sets Annie John there too. So Annie John grows up on the Island and so it's fair to kind of assume, that lots of the things in Annie John as a story, are drawn from Jamaica Kincaid own experiences growing up in Antigua. Okay. So I've given you quite a bit of information and I'm now going to check your knowledge. I would like you to show me on your fingers, please. Well the answers to certain questions, if you think the answer is option one, you give me one. If you think is option two, you give me a two. So question number one is, what is the name of the book that we are learning about? Option one or option two, and of course it's option one, Annie John. Question two, What is the name of our author? And of course it's Jamaican Kincaid option one. Again, we need our capital letters both for the name of the author, Jamaica Kincaid, and for the name of the novel, Annie John. Question number three, where is the novel set? Show me on your fingers, and you should have two fingers up, option two Antigua. Option one Jamaica is confusing because Jamaica is another Island in the Caribbean, and our author is called Jamaica Kincaid, but Annie John is set not in Jamaica, but on Antigua. And let's put it all together please, show me on your fingers, one to four. What is the name of our author? Option two. What is the name of where the novel is set? Well, I don't know if you've got option for up in the air. What is the name of that period of time in your teenage years, When you changed from a child to an adult? Yeah you should have option three up adolescence. And finally, what is the name of the novel that we're learning about? I'm well done, if you've got one finger up for option one. Good job. Okay. We're now going to learn three key terms, three pieces of impressive vocabulary that I want you to use and memorise, because they're really great when we're talking about this book and actually lots of other books too. The first word we're going to learn is this. Coming of age, coming of age is that transition between being a child or being an adult. When you come of age, you grow up and you reach maturity, coming of age. Now, if a book describes a character's coming of age, if we have a book that the follows a story, as they turn into an adult, we call that story a Bildungsroman. I want you to repeat that please Bildungsroman. Okay, it's a strange word. It's a novel or a book that follows the coming of age of the character. Now I wonder if any of you can actually think of any famous Bildungsroman, any famous novels that do follow a character as they grow from a child to an adult. For example, Harry Potter, you might be thinking of, at the star of that and those books, He's 11 years old, and by the end, he's 18, he's grown up from a child to an adult he's we followed he's coming of age, it's a Bildungsroman. Another really famous one would be Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. The start of Jane Eyre, she's a young child, then she grows into adult, we could describe it as a Bildungsroman. And the third term I want us to learn today is this one memoir. Now, when an author writes about their own life experiences, their own memories, then we call that a memoir, is a little bit like an autobiography. And one of the most famous memoirs that you might know is Boy, by Roald Dahl, because in that, that the Roald Dahl is writing all about his childhood experiences, and his memories of being a boy, and so it's a memoir. Okay. Memorise those three words. See if you can also look at the spelling, especially that middle one Bildungsroman, break it down, Bildungsroman, Let's see if we can remember that one. Now we know what these three words are coming of age, the transition between childhood and adulthood. Bildungsroman, a book that is about the coming of age of a character, memoir, a when a writer writes their own life experiences. But now I'd like you to think about how these words might link to Annie John. Okay. You might be thinking that well, we know that Annie grows up from childhood into an adult in the story. So it's about her coming of age because only John is a story, a novel all about that coming of age of the character. We could describe that novel as, a yeah you got it, a Bildungsroman. but also because we know that Jam Jamaica Kincaid, grew up in Antigua and her character of Annie John is also growing up in Antigua. We can assume that she might've put lots of our own memories and her own life experiences into it. And so we could also call Annie John a memoir. But let's check your understanding of those three terms, we've got them on the left, and first of all, show me on your fingers please. What do you call a novel about a character growing into adulthood? One, two or three. And you should have chosen number two a Bildungsroman, repeat it please Bildungsroman, good. Get that tricky word into your head. Next question. What do you call the transition from childhood to adulthood? Show me on your fingers, and coming of age, well done. If you have number one and finally, what do you call a story written from a real personal experience? And of course you should have a number for three up, memoir. Good. Now it's going to get a little bit harder now because I'm not going to give you those three terms. You're going to have to remember them. Have look at these three questions. I'd now like you to pause your video, and use your pen to write down the three answers, please. Off you go. Okay. Let's check our work. Number one, What do you call a story written from a real person experience? You should have written down, memoir, check your spelling, check your work. Number two. What do you call the transition from childhood to adulthood? You should have got, coming of age. And finally the tricky one with the tricky spelling, what do you call a novel about a character growing into adult hood? Check your work. You should have got Bildungsroman. Well done. If you've got three out of three, let's draw everything together now please, cause I've got four true or false statements for you in a moment, I'd like you to hit pause. I'd like you to read the statements carefully and I'd like you to write down on your piece of paper, true or false hit pause now. All right, let's go through them. The first one Annie John is set in the Caribbean. Let's have a little look, it is of course true. And say to your screen, please, what was the name of the Island that it set in? Well done. If you remembered Antigua. The next one, it focuses on an adult's experiences with her daughter, that's false Isn't it? It doesn't focus on an adult, it focuses on an adolescent as she's changing and growing older from childhood. See Annie John can be seen this Jamaica Kincaid's memoir. Yes, that's true of course, we know that they, that Jamaica Kincaid was drawing from our own memories of growing up in Antigua. And finally, It's a coming of age story, because Annie grows more independent as she grows older. It's absolutely true. Okay. Well done. What have we done so far today? I've given you an introduction to Annie John. We've learnt about the background of the author. We've learned those three really impressive key terms. What were they again? We had, coming of age, we also had that novel about yeah. Bildungsroman well done if you're saying them aloud. And the third one we had, when you write about your own personal experiences, memoir good. The final section of today's lesson, we're actually going to read a short section from Annie, John from chapter two. And I really hope that you love this extract as much as I do. Now, this extract revolves around this and I wonder how many of you know what this might be? Okay. Well, this, as it says at the bottom is a trunk and by trunk, I don't mean tree trunk. And I don't mean elephant's trunk. I mean a luggage trunk. So before the invention of suitcases with that little handy wheels, so you could move round your luggage when people travelled or when people moved, they would pack all their items into a trunk like the one you see on screen. And then this trunk would be moved by several people, often onto a boat or a ship where we get transported to the destination. And in this extract, Annie John owns a trunk. And in this trunk, she keeps a lot of her really important, special items, but the trunk didn't always belonged to her. Let's find out more. When my mother at 16, after quarrelling with her father left his house on Dominica and came to Antigua, She packed all her things and an enormous wooden trunk that she had bought in Ro Roseau for almost six, six shillings. She painted the trunk yellow and green outside, and she lined the inside of the wallpaper that had a cream background with pink roses printed all over it. Two days after she left her father's house, she boarded a boat and sailed for Antigua. Okay. Let's have a little look, who did this trunk belong to before it belonged to Annie? Yeah. Belong to Annie's mother. And where did Annie's mother come from? Annie's mother came from Dominica and then moved to Antigua. Why did she make that move? Because in the first line it says she quarrelled with her father. Now, could it be that Annie's mother during her adolescence was rebelling? Is it that Jamaica Kincaid is pointing to us that growing up, that coming of age can be quite challenging and that Annie's mother found it so difficult as well She actually moved all the way to another Island. Let's find out more about that journey. It was a small boat and the trip would have taken a day and a half ordinarily, but a hurricane blew up and that boat was lost at sea for almost five days. By the time it got to Antigua, the boat was practically in splinters, and though two or three of the passengers were lost overboard, along with some of the cargo, my mother and her trunk were safe. Now, 24 years later, this trunk was kept under my bed, and in it with the things that bill had belonged to me, starting from when I was born. Okay. So we know that Annie's mother has made this quite treacherous journey over to Antigua with this trunk, And now this trunk holds all of Annie's special items. And I wonder if you have a similar trunk or a box or draw where you keep, some of your items that are important to you. I mean, I do, I've got a shoe box and in it, I keep all my cards and some letters and some objects that remind me of really important events. Let's learn a little bit about what's in Annie's trunk. First of all, there's a chemise, now a chemise is a kind of white cotton dress that babies are often dressed in for their christenings. So there was the chemise made of white cotton with scallop edging around the sleeves, neck and hem, and white flowers embroidered on the front, the first garment I wore after being born. My mother had made it herself, and once when we were passing by, I was even shown a tree under which she sat as she made this garment. Let's have a think about this garment for a little while. It's a chemise, It's a dress that was made lovingly by the mother, and notice how it must have taken the mother a really long time to make, I mean it's got those details, the scallop edging, a scallop edging is an edging that kind of goes up and down like that to make it pretty edge to the, to the garment. And that would have taken a lot of time and detail. We've got those flowers embroidered on the front, and we get the impression here that Annie's mother was lovingly and carefully making this for her daughter. Let's find what else, let's find out what else is in the trunk? There was a thermos in which my mother had kept a tea that was supposed to have a soothing effect on me. There was the dress I wore on my first birthday. There was also a photograph of me on my second birthday wearing my pink dress and my first pair of earrings, a chain around my neck, and a pair of bracelets, all especially made of gold from British Guiana. We've got three more items here. A thermos is one of those cups that keeps liquid hot for a long period of time. And notice that this jewellery in the photograph that she's wearing comes from British Guiana, which is another nation that's on the Caribbean sea and it's this luxurious gold material. And finally there was the first pair of shoes I grew out of after I knew how to walk. There was the first note book in which I wrote. There was my first straw hat, my first straw basket decorated with flowers my grandmother had sent me from Dominica. There were my report cards, my certificates of merits from school, And my certificate of merits from Sunday school. So we can really picture this trunk kind away, and all these items carefully, and lovingly placed in it for safekeeping. So my big question for you now is, what did we learn about Annie from the items in her trunk? What do they suggest about her, her family, her life, her background. So let's remind us, these are the kinds of items she's gotten in her trunk. What might they will suggest or imply about Annie? I'm here with some ideas for you, which item might suggest that Annie is loved or admired? which item might suggest that Annie is privileged? If you're privileged, it means you're lucky and you're wealthy, and you've got everything you need. And remember that photograph can show that picture of Annie wearing this beautiful jewellery, perhaps that indicates that she's privileged. Which items might suggest that she's cared for? But also which ones might suggest that she's intelligent and competitive and wants to do well to achieve things in life? And which item might suggest that she's quite creative person as well? Okay. We're going to use these ideas and to write some analytical sentences, have a look at this. This is a really clear, strong, analytical sentence about Annie based on the items in her trunk. It says from the chemise carefully made by Annie's mother, Kincaid implies that Annie is loved and cherished by her family. Now, this is a good analytical sentence because it does several things. First of all, it names an item from the extract from the trunk, and it says a little bit more about it, doesn't even got the chemise, but we also know it's carefully made by Annie's mother. And then it continues to analyse that item, and explain what it says about Annie. Kincaid implies that Annie is loved and cherished by her family. There was a phase good because we've used the author's surname Kincaid, rather than her first name Jamaica. And it's also good because we've got that nice analytical verb implies there, which shows that we're analysing. So this is an effective analytical sentence. I'd now like you to do a very similar thing in which, and you're going to write three more sentences about what we learn about Annie, from the items in her trunk. You've got your ideas that are on the right, but feel free to use your own as well. I'm Please, please press pause. So you can write your three sentences now. Well done. If you've written your three sentences, let's go through your work. Now you might've written a sentence like this one. From the photograph in Annie's trunk Kincaid implies that Annie was privileged and had a happy childhood. This is a good answer. We've got the item from Annie's trunk. We've got the surname of the author, we've used that analytical verb implies, and we're explaining what it suggests about Annie. Now, if we want to make it a great answer, we might add a little bit more detail and it might look like this. From the photograph showing Annie wearing expensive jewellery, Kincaid implies that Annie was privileged and had a happy and secure childhood. Let's see if you can upgrade any of your good answers into great ones by adding a little bit of detail. Well done everybody. It was a real pleasure to teach you today. Next time I'll be going through chapter one of Annie John, and Annie's quite surprising fear of death. So don't miss that and please do take the quiz so you can check your learning. Bye bye.

Exit Quiz: Context and Introduction to Annie John

Completed: Context and Introduction to Annie John

Annie John is an incredible coming-of-age story set in the Caribbean. In this first lesson of the unit, we'll learn about the novel, its author and its setting. Let's get started!

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Context and Introduction to Annie John

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