Video: To analyse character (Part 2)

﻿Hello, my name is Ms. Johnson, and I'm going to be teaching you reading today. In today's lesson, we will be analysing a character from Holes by Louis Sachar. If you have not watched lesson one, two, three, I suggest you pause the video now and go back and watch those lessons, first, the story of this book also focuses on a boy who was sent to a juvenile correction centre. This is something that might make you feel uncomfortable. I suggest you pause the video and go and ask an adult to watch it with you. If not, then let's get started. We start today's lesson by looking at some vocabulary that you need to know for the section of the text that we'll be beating today. Then we're going to do some reading. I'll be reading to you this morning, and then we're going to analyse your text. We're going to be looking at one character in particular, and then we're going to summarise everything that we've learned in today's lesson, in the lessons today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, or pen and your brain. I want you thinking throughout today's lesson. If you have any distractions near you, for instance, if the TV is on or if your phone is right near you, then I suggest you move those away. Pause the video and make sure you're ready to go. When you're ready, let's get started. We're going to start today by doing a vocabulary check-in, so these are some words that you just need to know before we read the next part of the text. These what's specific to the text that we are reading. Remember Holes is set in Texas. And so some of the words are American words that perhaps we didn't use so often in our vocabulary. The first one that we're going to be looking at is guard, say it, guard and that's just like a police officer, someone who's in charge in guarding the camp. Then we have some sunflower seeds, say it, sunflower seeds. And these in this text that we read, the main character, he says eating these sunflower seeds. And that's what they look like for you. Sneakers after me, sneakers, that's just another word for trainers. And then juvenile, say it, juvenile. Juvenile is a young person who is, so it's basically referring to a young person in here, young person who was sent to a juvenile correctional facility, which is like a juvenile prison. So somewhere that he's going in order to be corrected and become a good boy. We're now going to do some reading, as we read, I do want you to be thinking, I want you to listen to what I'm saying as I read the text, because as I read, I'm going to be verbalising some of my strategies that I use when I read through a text. Don't worry if you can't see the words very clearly, but just make sure you are listening. Remember that if we come across some words that we're unsure of, and if it's got a capital letter and it's in the middle of a sentence, then that just means is the name of something as a proper noun. For instance, Texas is a proper noun and I don't need to know what it means. I just need to remember it's the name of a place. Okay, so I'm going to start my reading now. So Stanley has just arrived at Camp Green Lake. So he's just had his long hot bus journey and he's just arrived at Camp Green Lake. Stanley felt somewhat dazed as the guard unlocked his handcuffs and let him off the bus. He'd been on the bus for over eight hours. "Be careful", the bus driver said as Stanley walked down the steps. Stanley wasn't sure if the bus driver meant for him to be careful going down the steps or if he was telling him to be careful at Camp Green Lake, "Thanks for the ride." he said. His mouth was dry and his throat hurt. He stepped into the hard dry dirt. There was a band, that was like a strip, of sweat around his wrist, where the handcuffs had been. The land was barren and desolate. So that means empty. He could see a few run down buildings and some tents, Farther away, there was a cabin beneath two tall trees. That's like a wooden house. Those two trees were the only plant life he could see. There weren't even weeds. The guard led Stanley to a small building. A sign on front said, "You are entering Camp Green Lake juvenile correctional facility" Next to it was another sign, which declared that means stated that it was a violation of the Texas Penal Code to bring guns, explosive weapons, drugs or alcohol onto the premises. As Stanley read the sign he couldn't help but think, "Well, duh" that guard led Stanley into the building where he felt the welcome relief of air conditioning. A man was sitting with his feet up on a desk. He turned his head when Stanley and the guard entered, but otherwise didn't move. Even though he was inside, he wore sunglasses and a cowboy hat. He also held a can of soda, a fizzy drink, and the sight of it made Stanley even more aware of his own thirst. He waited while the bus guard gave the men some paper's to sign. "That's a lot of sunflower seeds." the bus guard said. Stanley notice a burlap sack filled with sunflower seeds on the floor next to the desk. "I quit smoking last month." said the man in the cowboy hat. He had a tattoo of a rattlesnake on his arm. And as he signed this name, the snake's rattle seem to wiggle. "I used to smoke a pack a day. Now a sack of these every week." the guard laughed. There must've been a small refrigerator behind his desk because the man in a cowboy hat produced two more cans of soda. For a second Stanley hoped that one might be for him. But the man gave one to the guard and said the other was for the driver. "Nine hours here and nine hours back." the guard grumbled, "What a day." Stanley thought about long, miserable bus ride. and felt little sorry for the guard and the bus driver. The man and the cowboy hat spit sunflower seed shells into a wastepaper basket, a bin. Then he walked around the desk to Stanley. "My name is Mr. Sir." he said, "Whenever you speak to me, you must call me by my name, is that clear?" Stanley hesitated "Uh, yes, Mr. Sir." he said. Though he couldn't imagine that was really the man's name. "You're not in the Girl Scouts anymore." Mr. Sir said. Stanley had to remove his clothes in front of us to Mr. Sir who made sure he wasn't hiding anything. He was then given two sets of clothes and a towel. Each set consisted of a long sleeve orange jumpsuit, an orange T-shirt and yellow socks. Stanley wasn't sure if the socks had been yellow originally. He was also given white sneakers, remember sneakers are trainers, an orange cap and a canteen made of heavy plastic, which unfortunately was empty, that's for water. The cap had a piece of cloth sewn on the back of it for neck protection from the sun. Stanley got dressed. The clothes smelled like soap. Mr. Sir told him he should wear one set to work in and one set for relaxation. Laundry was done every three days. On that day, his work clothes would be washed. Then the other set would become his work clothes and he would get clean clothes to wear while resting. "You are to dig one hole each day including Saturdays and Sundays, each home must be five feet deep and five feet across in every direction. Your shovel is your measuring stick. Breakfast is served at 4:30." very early, Stanley must've looked surprised because Mr. Sir went on to explain that they started early to avoid the hottest parts of the day. "No one is going to babysit you here. The longer it takes you to dig, the longer you will be out in the sun. If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any other counsellor." any other guard, "when you finish, the rest of your day is yours." Stanley nodded to show he understood. "This isn't a Girl Scout scout camp." said Mr. Sir. He checked Stanley's backpack and allowed him to keep it. Then he led Stanley outside into the blazing heat. "Take a good look around you." Mr. Sir said, "What do you see?" Stanley looked across the vast wasteland. Remember, wasteland is the land that's not used anymore for anything. The air seemed thick with heat and dirt. "Not much." he said then hastily added, "Mr. Sir." Mr. Sir laughed, "You see any guard towers?" "No." "How about an electric fence?" "No, Mr. Sir." "There's no fence at all is there?" "No Mr. Sir." "You want to run away?" Mr. Sir asked him. Stanley looked back at him, unsure what he meant. "If you want to run away, go ahead. Start running, I'm not going to stop you." Stanley didn't know what kind of game Mr. Sir was playing. "I see you're looking at my gun. Don't worry. I'm not going to shoot you." He tapped to holster. "This is for yellow spotted lizards. I won't waste a bullet on you." "I'm not going to run away." Stanley said. "Good thinking." Said Mr. Sir, "nobody runs away from here. We don't need a fence, know why? Because we've got the only water for a hundred miles. You want to run away? You'll be buzzard food in three days." Stanley could see some kids dressed in orange and carrying shovels dragging themselves towards the tents. "You thirsty?" asked Mr. Sir. "Yes, Mr. Sir." Stanley said gratefully. "Well, you better get used to it. You're going to be thirsty for the next 18 months." Okay so now we've read the section of the text that we want to look at today. We're going to start analysing some extracts from this text. And the character that I want you to focus on today is Mr. Sir. And I want you to think about what impression of Mr. Sir does the author create in reader's mind? Remember impression is another word for what picture is created in the reader's mind. So we're going to look at what he says, and we're going to look at how he acts or his body language as well. I'm sure you've already got quite a strong impression of him. So in a minute, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and answer the question below. But first of all, I'm going to read the extract and the question to you. A man was sitting with his feet up on a desk. He turned his head when Stanley and the guard entered, but otherwise didn't move. Even though he was inside, he wore sunglasses and a cowboy hat. So I want you to look at Mr. Sir's body language. How does he react when Stanley enters the room and what does this tell us about him? So how does his body react? What does he do when Stanley entered the room? I want you to imagine what you would do and saw him when he walked into the room. How would you act this one was to walk in right now? What would I do, do you think? So pause the video and have a go at answering the question. Well done, shall we see how you've gone? So if somebody walked into the room now, right now, I would definitely look at them in the eye and I would greet them, basically. I would not keep looking, just turn my ahead and then carry on with what I was doing. I would definitely look at them and greet them. But what does Mr. Sir do? This says his feet up on his desk. And when Stanley walks in and the guard walks in, he doesn't move. He says he didn't move. Now, he didn't move which shows he does not care that Stanley or the guard have entered the room. And this shows he does not regard Stanley as important. So if my head teacher walked into the room right now and my feet were on the desk, I would take them off the desk straight away. And I'm sure you would do that, if a teacher walked into the room as well, you would take your feet off the desk straight away. So this shows us that he just doesn't care that Stanley has entered the room. That shows kind of his attitude towards the boys. And so now we're going to do question number two. Again, I'm going to read the extract to you, and then I want you to have a go at answering the question. "My name is Mr. Sir" he said, "whenever you speak to me, you must call me by my name, is that clear?" So what does this tell us about Mr. Sir? I want you to pick one. Does it show us he is friendly? Does it show the reader he is in charge or does it show us he likes Stanley? He's telling him to call him by my name. So what does that tell us? So pause the video and have a go. And when you answer this one, I want you to explain why. Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to resume. So, as I look through this, I could see that he says, "You must call me by my name." which means he's being quite strict and this is a rule. And he repeats it. He puts a question tag on the end and he says, "Is that clear?" And so to me, that's not being friendly and it's not showing he's got any liking for Stanley. He wants to tell Stanley he is in charge. And so it was a very formal way of addressing someone, it's not his real name as Stanley says, it's a really formal way of addressing someone. And so must as well really emphasises that this is a strict rule and he wants to show Stanley he is in charge. Again, I'm going to read, ask you to pause in a minute. I'm going to read the question first to you, and then I would like you to have a go at answering the question. So "No one is going to babysit you." He added, this is Mr. Sir. "The longer it takes you to dig, the longer you will be out in the sun." So do you think Mr. Sir will look after Stanley and how do you know? So what do you think? How does he, what does he say? So pause the video and have a go at writing down the answer and press play when you're ready to resume. Well done, shall we check your arts together? So I said no, because he said, "No one is going to babysit you." babysit you is to look after you. And it's something that somebody would do if your parents were not in the house, someone else might babysit you and look after you because he's away from his parents. Mr. Sir said, "No one is going to babysit you." You're on your own, even though you're only a child, you're on your own. And so it shows that Mr. Sir doesn't care about Stanley at all. Okay, now the question again, I'm going to read the question first, then I'll ask you to pause the video. "You thirsty?" asked Mr. Sir. "Yes. Mr. Sir." Stanley said gratefully. We know he's really thirsty. "Well, you better get used to it. You're going to be thirsty for the next 18 months." So I want you to pick a word to describe Mr. Sir and I want you to explain your answer. So is he friendly, helpful, funny or cruel? So pause the video now and pick your word? Well done, so I have said he is cruel, he is definitely not friendly, even though he appears to be offering him a drink. He's actually being really cruel because he's offering him a drink almost, and then he's taking it away and said, "You're not going to have one for 18 months, so get used to it." which is really hard because he's been on an eight hour bus journey in this sweltering heat. So he must be really thirsty. So this shows us that Camp Green Lake and Mr. Sir is going to be a really strict place, a very hard work for Stanley. Now we're going to summarise so overall, I want you to think about what impression of Mr. Sir, does the author create in your mind? Now to do this, I thought we tried a nice activity where you can draw a picture of Mr. Sir. So as I was reading, as we've answered the questions, what picture do you now have in your head of Mr. Sir? And to show maybe how he speaks and what he's like, what he says. You can have a bit of speech. You might say, you must call me. Mr. Sir, you might say you can paraphrase it. You don't have to copy the text. You might say, get used to being thirsty. I'm not going to babysit you. I really want to see what impression you have got of Mr. Sir and draw a picture as well. So I hope you enjoy that task. So pause the video now and have a go at doing that. Well done, I've got one final question for you before you go today. Would you like to meet Mr. Sir? What do you think if you turned up perhaps to school and that's who your new head teacher was, would you like to meet Mr. Sir? I want you to get a full answer. So I want you to write down, yes because, no because, and give me your reason. So pause the video now and have a go at answering this question and then resume once you're finished. Well done, so would you like to meet Mr. Sir? I would definitely say no because he sounds like he's really cruel and harsh. He sounds like he's really set on being the authoritative voice at Camp Green Lake as well. So you must do as he says, and he's got no regard or respect for anybody, he didn't even take his feet off the table or offer Stanley a drink. So no, I would not like to meet Mr. sir. So congratulations, you've completed today's lesson. Well done, I'm being really impressed with how hard you've worked. We've done lots and lots in that lesson. I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today and take care.

Completed: To analyse character (Part 2)

In this lesson, we will analyse a character through inference and retrieval-based questions. In this text, the main character is sent to a juvenile correction centre.

English

To analyse character (Part 2)

Video

Lesson Complete