Video: To develop an understanding of key characters from 'The Borrowers'

﻿Hi everyone. Thank you for joining me for English writing. My name is Miss Salter. It is lovely to be a part of the Oak teacher team to bring you one of my most favourite things to teach. This unit is so much fun, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Let's get started with the first lesson. In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper, a pencil or something to write with, and you'll also need your brain, you'll need to switch on your brain, ready for the learning. Okay, so let's have a look at our agenda for this lesson. So, we are first going to be doing a writing warm-up. Then we're going to move on to our introduction to "The Borrowers" and "The Borrowers" unit. And we're going to be looking at the book and the visual narrative. We are then going to watch a clip. Then we are going to meet the characters in detail and see what they are like and have a go at describing them. And then finally we are going to do a plenary task. Okay, so this is our writing warm-up. I would like you to write these words with their correct synonyms. So we have a group of words that either mean the same as big or the same as, small and I need you to match them up to the correct synonym. We're going to go through each of the words first, we're going to do my turn, your turn. And then you're going to go off and pause the video to match the correct synonyms with either big or small. So let's go through each of the words. We have colossal, tiny, vast, massive, enormous, huge, little, miniature, and microscopic. Okay, so I want you to figure out which one of those means big and small, which of those are synonyms of big or small. Have a go at that writing task. Pause the video and have a go at matching those up. Okay, let's have a look at the words and which synonyms they match with. So, the first word is colossal, meaning extremely big. It is a synonym for big. We also have enormous, again another synonym for big. We have huge. We have massive, meaning really big, and we also have vast and a synonym for big. Let's have a look at the synonyms for small. Really well done if you managed to match the correct synonyms for big, with the word big. let's have a look at small. We have tiny, so really small. We have little. We have microscopic, so teeny tiny, we need to use a microscope to be able to see them. And we also have miniature, something that is small, miniature in size. Well done, if you've managed to match the correct synonyms to both big and small. So for this unit, we are going to be focusing on a book and visual narrative 'The Borrowers' for this entire writing unit. So, where did the borrowers come from? Who wrote the book? So 'The Borrowers' is a book that was written by Mary Norton and was originally published in 1952. It was then also made into a TV series in 1992. And lots of our writing is going to be based on both the book and the TV series. So what I would like you to think about, have a look at the front cover of 'The Borrowers' book. What do you think it's about? What do you know about the word 'Borrowers'? What word within borrowers do you recognise? Have a think about what that might mean and what you think the book might be about. Pause the video and have a go at writing down what you think the book is about. Okay, well done for having a go at thinking about what the borrowers might be about, and I know you would have had a look at the book cover and thought about what 'The Borrowers' could be based upon. Let's have a look at the blurb, let's read the blurb and see if we can get an idea about what 'The Borrowers' is going to be about. So, Pod, Homily and Arrietty are a family of tiny people who live beneath the floorboards. Everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans' who don't even know they exist. That is, until the fateful day when Arrietty makes friends with the boy upstairs. Was your idea the same as this idea? I want you to have a think. Does your idea match this idea? Has your idea changed in any way? And I also want you to think, now that we've read the blurb, is this book fiction or nonfiction? You can pause the video and have a think. Do you think this book is fiction or nonfiction? Okay, I want you to say it to the screen. What do you think it is? Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction, you're absolutely right. As much as I would love to have little people running beneath my floorboards. It is a fictional story. It is a made up story about a tiny family who live under the floorboards. Okay, so now we're going to watch a clip from the TV series of 'The Borrowers'. And while we're watching the clip, I want you to write down what the character's names are. So you might hear the character's names. I want you to write down what they are. And I also want you to write down where do 'The Borrowers' live. We've spoken about this a little bit, but where do they live? Let's watch the clip and let's find out who they are and where they live.

I didn't want a whole one.

No you didn't say.

It could be ruined much cut of slice, you can't really back in all that dust.

What does it matter? There's plenty more.

Plenty more? Your father risked his life with this potato.

I mean there's plenty more in store.

I thought I heard him. He's late.

He'll be alright.

Yes. Yes, of course he will. Put some more coal on the fire there's a good girl. I hope your father hasn't been climbing any curtains.

I could climb a curtain.

Don't be silly. You shouldn't be climbing anything, not at this age.

I'm not being silly, I could. I could go borrowing.

You don't know what you're saying, you have no idea what it's like upstairs and thank goodness you don't. You're back then.

Yes, is your mother being worrying again?

I always worry.

There's no need, you know, I do know what I am doing

What's that tear in your jacket?

Nothing its just, I got caught in a piece of pipe, it's nothing.

Where, what happened ?

What have you borrowed?

There's something you're not telling me.

Okay, who are the characters? I want you to say the characters names to your screen now and where do they live? See if you can remember from the blurb, where do they live? Let's have a look, let's meet each of the characters. So the first character we are going to meet is Pod. Let's meet Pod. Let's get to know him. So Pod is the father of the Borrower family. He is the provider. He is the one that goes upstairs to get the things from the 'human beans' He is Arrietty's father and he's Homily's husband. Arrietty is the young girl in the video. And Homily is her mother who was in the video. He is the only borrower to go upstairs and he's not frightened at all of the 'human beans'. He goes up to provide for his family and gain all of the things that they need to be able to live under the floorboards. Okay. I want you now to have a think at what Pod is like, and I want you to write down three adjectives to describe Pod. Is he brave for going upstairs? Is he quite fearful of meeting the 'human beans'? I want you to write down three adjectives about Pod. You can pause the video and have a go. Okay, well done for writing down your adjectives to describe Pod. Let's meet Homily. Homily is very different to her husband, Pod. She is quite fearful of upstairs and she's quite scared of the 'human beans'. The Borrowers like to call them the 'human beans'. We know they are the human beings, humans just like us that live above the floorboards. So, Arrietty's mother is Homily, and this is a picture of her. She is also Pod's wife, and as we've heard, she's extremely fearful of upstairs. In the clip she asked Pod lots of questions about him being back and what happened to his jacket. And if he is okay. she is very worried when Pod goes borrowing. She worries a lot about the 'human beans' and about being found out underneath the floorboards. Now that you know lots about Homily, I want you to have a think about three adjectives that you could use to describe Homily. Is she fearful of upstairs? Is she quite cautious or is she really brave and confident about living under the floorboards? I want you to pause the video and write three adjectives to describe Homily. Finally, we are going to meet Arrietty. Let's get to know who Arrietty is. Arrietty is the young girl in the video. She is the daughter of Pod and Homily. And she's very curious about upstairs. We see in the video that she asks her father, lots of questions about upstairs. What's it like? What did you borrow? What have you bought? Is it really heavy? She's asking him lots of questions. And she is really curious about the upstairs. She also wants to venture one day to upstairs. She talks to her mother about being able to one day climb curtains. So she's very confident about one day becoming an official borrower and going upstairs. She really wants to follow in her father's footsteps. I want you to have a think about the adjectives to describe Arrietty and what she is like. Is she fearful of upstairs or is she confident? Is she scared of the 'human beans' or would she like to one day meet them? I want you to write down three adjectives to describe Arrietty. You can pause the video and have a go. Really well done for writing down all of the adjectives to describe each of those characters. We know that Pod is quite brave. He goes upstairs to borrow and provide for his family. We see Homily is quite fearful of the upstairs. She's quite anxious and worried about what Pod is up to. And she's quite nervous about letting Arrietty go upstairs. When Arrietty questions, climbing curtains. She's very worried about that and she says, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't want to do that. So she's very worried about Arrietty's safety. Arrietty on the other hand is very confident and really curious about being upstairs and wants to go up and see what it's like in the world of the 'human beans'. So, really well done if you managed to write down all of those adjectives to describe those characters, and you can add some adjectives that I have been using to describe each of them. Now what we're going to do, we're going to re watch the clip. But this time I want you to think about the setting and describing the setting. What is it like? What adjectives would you use to describe what the setting is like? Where do they live? Think about where the Borrowers live, and from the blurb where we know they live. And I want you to write down three adjectives to describe what the setting is like. So, let's watch the video again, write down your three adjectives to describe the setting as we are watching.

I didn't want a whole one.

No you didn't say.

It could be ruined much cut a slice. You can't really back in all that dust.

What does it matter? There's plenty more.

Plenty more? Your father risked his life for this potato.

I mean there's plenty more in store.

I thought I heard him. He's late.

He'll be alright.

Yes. Yes, of course he will. Put some more coal on the fire, there's a good girl.

I hope your father hasn't been climbing any curtains.

I could climb a curtain.

Don't be silly.

You shouldn't be climbing anything, not at this age.

I'm not being silly, I could. I could go borrowing.

You don't know what you're saying. You have no idea what it's like upstairs and thank goodness you don't. You're back then.

Yes, is your mother being worrying again?

I always worry.

There's no need, you know, I do know what I am doing.

What's that tear in your jacket? Nothing, it's just, I got caught in a piece of pipe, it's nothing.

Where, what happened?

What have you borrowed?

There's something you're not telling me.

Okay, I want you to write down those three adjectives. What is the setting like? There are lots of things in that setting. How would you describe it? Is it really bright? Is it dusty? Is it dim? Is it dark? Have a go at writing down three adjectives. Okay, let's have a look at what I came up with. So, I thought about all of the objects that are in this scene and what I can see, and there seems to be lots of things that Pod has borrowed, and he's brought down to below the floorboards and to share with his family, but there are a lots of things there. And I thought it's quite unorganised and there's quite a few things. So, I came up with some adjectives. My first adjective I thought of was that it is quite cluttered. There are lots of things everywhere. I also thought that it's quite messy because of all the different things that are around, you can see lots of things hanging on the walls. There is lots of things in that small space. It's also quite unorganised and it's quite dark. There are glimmers of light throughout, but it's quite a dark environment because they are below the floorboards. It also looks quite dusty and it looks very cramped for all three of them to be living there, it's quite a small space. So it's very cramped. So you can steal all of these adjectives and steal all of these ideas and write them down along with the adjectives that you came up with. Now let's think about where do they live. You can remember say it to the screen if you can remember where the Borrowers live, what part of the house. That's right, they live under the floorboards. So the 'human beans' or the human beings, but the borrowers like to call them the 'human beans'. They live upstairs above the floorboards and the Borrowers live below the floorboards. Okay, congratulations. You have finished your first lesson in this writing unit. So well done. Well done for writing down all of your adjectives. In the next lesson, you will be working with Mr. Bryne-Smith in your spelling.

Completed: To develop an understanding of key characters from 'The Borrowers'

In this lesson we will be focusing on the key characters from the book and visual narrative, 'The Borrowers'. We will be introduced to each of the key characters and we will gain an insight into their personalities. For this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper and a pencil.

To develop an understanding of key characters from 'The Borrowers'

Video

Lesson Complete