Video: To analyse and interpret a setting description from an extract

﻿In this lesson you will need an exercise book or some paper or pencil or something to write with, and your brain needs to be switched on ready for learning. If you need to go and get those things now, pause the video to go and get them. Okay. So for this lesson, we are going to start with a writing warm-up. Then we're going to move on to learning some new vocabulary. Then we're going to start looking at a setting description from "The Borrowers" book, and then we're going to do a plenary task. Okay. So for this writing warm-up, I would like you to write a compound sentence for the image below. Now a compound sentence is a main clause and a main clause joined with a coordinating conjunction. A main clause is a sentence that it makes sense on its own and it contains a verb. To remember our coordinating conjunctions, I have this image to help you BOA, standing for but, or, and and. Here is my example sentence to help you get started. So, the courageous borrower dangled high above the ground and clenched on to his torn bag. I would like you to pause the video and have a go at writing a compound sentence. Okay. For the next part of the lesson, we are going to learn some new vocabulary that we're going to come across when looking at the extract from "The Borrowers" book. we're going to do my turn your turn for each of the words and their definition. The first word is bust. Now bust is a small statue figure of the head and shoulders. And there's an image here to show you it's just a small statue of just the head and the shoulders. The next word is lacquer trinket box. And that's three words all together, lacquer trinket box. And lacquer trinket box is a small jewellery box with a shiny finish. Lacquer means something that is shiny and has a shiny finish. And a trinket box is a small box much like a jewellery box. And there's an image here of a small trinket box. So, let's see if we can remember each of the definitions for the new ways that we have learnt. A small statue figure of a head and shoulder is it option one, a bust. Option two a lacquer trinket box. Say it to your screen. If you said option one of bust you're absolutely right. Let's have a look at the next one. A lacquer trinket box is option one, a small jewellery box with a shiny finish. Option two, a small statue figure of the head and shoulders. Say it to your screen. And if you said a smooth jewellery box with a shiny finish, you're absolutely right. Well done. Let's have a look at some more new vocabulary. The first word is pedestal. A pedestal is a small column, usually for the base of a statue. It's usually this small column that the statute sits upon. And here is an image of one. And then the next word is fireplace. You may have come across a fireplace before, but a fireplace is a place for a fire inside a house. They typically look like this and it's for burning wood on a fire to warm a home. Okay. Quick quiz. A fireplace is a option one, a pedestal. Option two, a place to have a fire inside a house. Say it to your screen. If you said option two, a place for a fire inside a house. Well done. Let's have a look at the next one. A small column usually for the base of a statue is known as option one, a pedestal. Option two a fireplace. Say it to your screen. Absolutely. Right. It is option one a pedestal. For the next part of the lesson, I am going to read you a setting description and all I want you to do is just listen to the setting description, see if you can point out the new vocabulary that we just looked at within the text. Arrietty had wandered through the open door into the sitting room. The fire had been lighted and the room looked bright and cosy. Homily was proud of her sitting room. The walls had been papered with scraps of old letters out of waste-paper baskets. And Homily had arranged the handwriting sideways in vertical stripes which run from floor to ceiling. On the walls repeated in various colours, hung several portraits of Queen Victoria as a girl. These were postage stamps borrowed by Pod some years ago from the stamp box on the desk in the morning-room. There was a lacquer trinket box padded inside and with the lid open which they used as a settle. And that useful stand-by, a chest of drawers made match-boxes. There was a round table with a red velvet cloth which Pod had made from the wooden bottom of a pill-box supported by the carved pedestal of a Knight from the chest-set. Besides the fire in a tilted wooden bookcase, stood Arrietty's library. This was a set of those miniature volumes, which the Victorians loved to print, but which to Arrietty seemed the size of very large church Bibles. Let's have a closer look at the text. So, Homily was proud of her sitting room. The walls had been papered with scraps of old letters out of waste-paper baskets, and Homily had arranged the handwriting sideways in vertical stripes which ran from floor to ceiling. So when Pod had borrowed, he had borrowed some letters in which were written horizontally, but Homily has decided to turn those letters to create vertical stripes, so then she could use that as wallpaper. On the walls repeated in various colours, hung several portraits of Queen Victoria as a girl. These were postage stamps borrowed by Pod some years ago from the stamp box on the desk in the morning-room. So at the time Queen Victoria was the queen and therefore her image was on postage stamps which Pod had borrowed and now the borrowers were using as images on their walls. In comparison to us, a postage stamp would be around this size, whereas to the borrowers, a postage stamp would be a huge portrait that they could use on their walls. There was a lacquer trinket box padded inside and with the lid open, which they used as a settle and that's useful stand-by, a chest of drawers made of match-boxes. So, in the first part of the lesson, we looked at the new vocabulary, the lacquer trinket box, which is the shiny jewellery box that they used as a settle. A settle means something to sit on and they also have a chest of drawers. So like a chest of drawers you might have to put your clothes in. They use that, and it's made from match-boxes. There was a round table with a velvet cloth, which Pod had made from the wooden bottom of a pill-box supported by a carved pedestal of a Knight from a chess-set. So they have a round table with a cloth that Pod had borrowed, and this was supported by that pedestal. That column that usually supports a statue was supporting their table along with the Knight from a chess-set. I'm going to now read the setting description again. We've just looked at the texts really closely and pulled down each of the really distinctive features that are found in "The Borrowers" setting. I'm going to read the setting description again and what I would like you to do this time is to have a piece of paper in front of you. And I want you to draw the setting. I want you to listen to those key features that you can draw and think about the things that we just looked at in the text. Arrietty had wandered through the open door, into the sitting room. The fire had been lighted and the room looked bright and cosy. Homily was proud of her sitting room. The walls had been papered with scraps of old letters out of waste-paper baskets, and homily had arranged the handwriting sideways in vertical stripes which run from floor to ceiling. On the walls repeated in various colours, hung several portraits of Queen Victoria as a girl. These were postage stamps borrowed by Pod some years ago from the stamp box on the desk in the morning-room. There was a lacquer trinket box padded inside and with the lid open, which they used as a settle and that useful stand-by, a chest of drawers made of match-boxes. There was a round table with a red velvet cloth, which Pod had made from the wooden bottom of a pill-box supported by the carved pedestal of a Knight from the chest-set. Beside the fire in a tilted wooden bookcase, stood Arrietty's library. This was a set of those miniature volumes, which the Victorians loved to print, but which to Arrietty seemed the size of very large church Bibles. I now want you to have a go at drawing the setting description. I'm going to read it again so you can listen to it as you draw. Arrietty had wandered through the open door, into the sitting room. The fire had been lighted and the room looked bright and cosy. Homily was proud of her sitting room. The walls have been papered with scraps of old letters out of waste-paper baskets and Homily had arranged the handwriting sideways in vertical stripes which ran from floor to ceiling. On the walls repeated in various colours, hung several portraits of Queen Victoria as a girl. These were postage stamps borrowed by Pod some years ago from the stamp box on the desk in the morning-room. There was a lacquer trinket box padded inside and with the lid open, which they used as a settle and that useful stand-by, a chest of drawers made of match-boxes. There was a round table with a red velvet cloth, which Pod had made from the wooden bottom of a pill-box, supported by the carved pedestal of a Knight from the chest-set. Beside the fire in a tilted wooden bookcase, stood Arrietty's library. This was a set of those miniature volumes, which the Victorians loved to print, but which to Arrietty seemed the size of very large church Bibles. I want you to pause the video and carry on drawing your setting description. Hey, well done for listening to the setting description, and I really hope you enjoy drawing your own setting. This is the image that I have drawn, and I'm going to point out to you all the different features that I have picked up from the text. The first thing that I noted was the fireplace. And that was part of our vocabulary that we learnt in the first part of the lesson. I also notice the Queen Victoria stamps. These to us are very, very small, but in my image, I've made them quite big for The Borrowers home. I've also pointed out the drawer, which is made of match-boxes and the table that had the velvet cloth supported by the pedestal. Hey, so I had a go at labelling my setting description, but the only thing about it was that it wasn't very exciting. I want to add some more adjectives to describe what my setting is like. So, I had a look at each of the things that I have drawn, and I'm thinking about all of the different adjectives I could use to make it a little bit more exciting. The first thing was the fireplace. Then I also had my Queen Victoria stamps and the book case. And I thought, how could I describe these things? How were they described in the text? In the text the bookcase is leaning against the fireplace. So, I thought of three different adjectives that I could use to describe what the book case is like. I thought of crooked, leaning and towering. They are all adjectives to describe what the book case is like. I also thought about adjectives for the fire. Even an EMP. We've got cosy, ambient fire, and also a roaring fire. Arrietty walks into the room to the cosy, roaring fire. And then for the postage stamps, I also thought of the fact that they are oversized. They are very large and they are very decorative. In the text they are described as decorative stamps. What I would like you to do now is to label your setting description, but to make sure that you add some adjectives to describe each of the things that are in your drawing. You can use my descriptions as an idea to help you get started. Pause the video and have a go at labelling your setting description along with adjectives and EMPS to describe it. Well done for labelling your setting description with all of your adjectives and EMPS and using the different vocabulary that you've learnt in this lesson. Now I want you to write one sentence about the setting using the adjectives and EMPS from your setting description image. Here's some sentences that I came up with. The first sentence is, the cosy fire lit up the decorative portraits on the walls. The portraits being of Queen Victoria. Then my next sentence is, in the cluttered room, piles of borrowed furniture glowed in the light of the flickering fire. So I would like you now to pause the video and come up with your own sentence, using the vocabulary you have generated in your setting description. Now we're going to look at what makes up a story. What are the four main parts of a story? I want you to pause the video and have a think what are the four main parts in a story? Okay. Let's have a look and see if you were right. The first part of a story is there opening. We then move on to the build-up. Next is the climax and finally the resolution. What do each of these parts tell us? The opening introduces the characters and the setting and the storyline or the plot that is going to happen throughout. The build-up builds up on these things. That's why it's called the build-up. Is building up on getting to know the characters, the setting, and the storyline or the plot in more detail. The climax is where we're introduced to a problem. Maybe something in the plot there's a problem that happens. And then finally the resolution is where our problem is solved. So, these are the four main parts of a story. And these are the parts that we are going to focus on in "The Borrowers". We're going to be looking at in detail, the opening, build-up, climax and resolution. Congratulations, you have finished lesson six of our unit "The Borrowers", well done for completing your setting description, for labelling your image and for completing your sentences. In the next lesson, you'll be working with Mr. Burnsmith in spelling.

Lesson summary: To analyse and interpret a setting description from an extract

In this lesson, we will be focusing on an extract from the book and listening to a setting description. We will then discuss key vocabulary related to the setting and how we can apply this to our writing. For this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper and a pencil.

English

To analyse and interpret a setting description from an extract

Video

Lesson summary: To analyse and interpret a setting description from an extract

Time to move!

Browse Oak's lessons:

Take part in The Big Ask.