Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Johnson and I'm going to teach you English today.

In today's lesson we're going to be answering questions on the traditional child of Mulan.

If you haven't watched the previous lesson, then you should stop this video and go back and watch that one first.

But if you have, then let's get started.

We're going to start this lesson by recapping what we already know about Mulan.

Then we're going to read the next section.

Then we're going to ask some questions based on the text and then we're going to do some responding to the text.

And this is where you bring your own thoughts or something to the text.

In the lesson today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen.

It doesn't matter which one and your brain.

I want you to be answering the questions today, not me now.

Now, it's also a really good time, if there are any distractions in the room, for instance, if the window's open and it's noisy outside, or if there's a TV on, just to go pause the video and sort those distractions out and then press play when you're ready to get going.

Okay, let's get started.

We're going to start by doing a quick recap on what we know already where we left Mulan in the previous lesson.

If you haven't watched that previous lesson, Lesson One then you should go back and watch it now.

So can you remember what was Mulan worrying about in the opening pages of the tale? What was it that caused her to sigh? So pause your video here and write down what you can remember and then press Play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, she was worrying about her family, having to go to war and needing to send a man to fight in the Emperor's army.

Why is sending a man a problem for Mulan's family? So it says war, one man, from every family must join the army to fight for the emperor.

So why is this such a problem for Mulan's family? And what do you think? We left our last lesson thinking about this.

What do you think Mulan would decide to do to help her family? So press Pause, answer those two questions and then press Play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, this is a problem for Mulan's family, because it is saying that one man from every family must join.

Now we know from our reading that her brother is too young and her father is weak and frail and too old to go and fight in any war.

So we predicted that Mulan would go and fight in the war herself.

And we predicted this using the front cover and the introduction, which told us that she was a hero and a great warrior, which means soldier.

Now we're going to read the next few pages to see if our prediction was correct.

Chapter two, "A man from a family must go to fight "or we will all be punished", sighed Mulan's father.

"I will do what has to be done".

The sick old man tried to struggle to his feet, but he had not even the strength to stand.

"You will not last a day", cried Mulan's mother.

"Your fighting days are over".

"I will go instead of father", said little brother.

He picked up his tiny wooden sword and pretended to fight his toys, but he whirled his toy sword so quickly that he lost his footing and fell down, Oof! Mulan looked at her little brother lying in his pile of toys.

He was still clutching his toy sword.

He was much, much too young to fight for his country.

She looked at her father.

He was much, much too old.

True, he had once been a very skilled soldier but those days were long gone.

"I'm just the right age", she thought.

"I can run and hide.

"I can run and ride better than many boys.

"I can think quickly, and I have helped father practise "his fighting skills for years.

"I should be the one who joins the army".

Hmm, I wonder how everybody's going to react.

Just pause here and have a think.

How do you think her family will react when she says I will go and fight in the army? Press pause.

Have a think and then press Play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, let's see if your prediction is correct.

Mulan spoke up bravely.

I wonder why she has to be brave here.

"I want to buy a saddle and horse.

"I will go to the army in father's place".

Her little brother laughed, "Silly, silly, silly", he said.

"You're only a soppy girl".

How Mulan's mother fretted, "No, no, no, it's not right.

"Your place is here with us.

"Girls are not allowed in the Emperor's army".

Her father was too tired and sick to say much.

He just groaned, "No Mulan, no".

Mulan was determined.

"I have a plan", she said.

"I will dress like a boy.

"I'll wear padding and armour.

"They're never know I'm a girl".

"Impossible", said her mother.

"Dangerous", gusted her father.

"Crazy", said little brother Mulan had made up her mind.

She was ready to do anything to save her family In the East Market, she went to buy speedy horse.

So I'm going to stop my reading there.

This is an adapted version of Mulan.

It's a retold version and it's by Oxford University Press.

We're now going to have a go at answering some questions.

To answer the questions today, we're going to need to underline the keywords in the question, skim and scan the information for key information.

So skim and scan the text for key information.

Skimming and scanning means you take your tracking finger.

So you track along the text and you just look for the key words.

You don't re-read everything that's there because then it's not being an efficient reader.

Then you retrieve information to answer the question.

So you find where the information in the text, you pull it out and you use it to answer the question.

And then you read between the lines for hidden clues.

You don't have to do this for every question but some questions when the information is not there in front of you, you have to read around it and use what you know, ready to infer the meaning.

That means to work out what it means.

So my first question is a skim and scan question.

The information is that, but you need to think a little bit about why is she saying something? What does Mulan's mother mean when she says you're fighting days are over? Reading around the text, find where she says fighting days are over and then read above to find out what the meaning of that is, and to find out why she has said it.

She said it in reaction to something else.

So press Pause, write down the answer and press Play when you're ready to discuss.

Well done, so she means he is too old and frail, which means weak to fight.

We know that he's a sick old man.

He struggles to his feet, so he can't even stand up.

To hear, not even the strength to stand.

So this tells us he is too old and frail to fight.

So she means you're fighting days are over means he will not be able to fight anymore.

Our next question, why does Mulan decide she should volunteer? What is it about the men in her family, that means she thinks she needs to volunteer? So press Pause and look at the pictures for clues, if you get stuck and then press Play when you're ready to discuss.

Well done, missing the answer down.

So volunteers because her father is too old and her brother is too young.

It says he was much much too young to fight for his country, and her father is too old.

And you can see that he can't get out of bed and her brother can't even hold his sword, as he falls over as he tries to fight because it's a wooden sword.

So Mulan realises here that she would need to volunteer to help her family.

My next question is this, and it's about Mulan's mother.

Why does Mulan's mother fret? It says, "How Mulan's mother fretted?" "No, no no, it's not right, your place is here with us.

"Girls are not allowed in the Emperor's army".

So why does she fret? Now, I got a bit stuck with this question.

And the reason I got stuck is I wasn't sure what that word fret or fretted the verb, past tense verb meant.

So I had to think about my strategy for understanding words that I'm not sure of.

This is a word both in the text and the question that I need to know There's nobody here I can ask.

I haven't got a dictionary to hand and this is often the case when we're reading.

So I need to have a strategy ready to go.

So before we answer this question, let's work out what the word fretted means and that will help us with the word fret.

It's just a different tense.

So how Mulan's mother fretted.

I'm going to skip out the word in the sentence first of all.

How Mulan's mother ? "No, no, no, it's not right".

So I know this is a verb.

That's helped me.

Now, I'm going to read around the word in the sentence.

She is saying no, no no which means she's really cross about it and she's really worrying about something because she's repeating what she's saying.

Still not 100% sure what's it might mean, is she angry or is she worried? I'm not sure.

So I'm going to look at the picture here to help me.

Luckily in Mulan, there are lots of pictures that I can use to help me in this version of Mulan by Oxford University Press.

There are lots of pictures to help me.

And I can see from the picture here that fretted, she's got kind of sweat dripping out for eyes.

Her eyes are bulging, her mouth is wide open.

She looks worried, she looks anxious.

So I think fretted means to be anxious, to show worry.

So now I can have a go at answering that question.

Why did Mulan's mother fret? Is because girls are not allowed in the Emperor's army.

And so we know she is worrying because she says girls are not allowed in the Emperor's army which shows she would be worried if Mulan was to go because then Mulan would just be at risk and in danger.

So by working out the meaning of that word, I have helped myself to answer the question.

And that's exactly what you should do in your reading.

If you come across a word that you're not sure of, you should pause, you should try strategy and look around it in the text.

Look at the picture and try and work out.

Often in our reading, we just skim over these words and that's okay to do now and then, but if you're doing that a lot then you won't actually be understanding what your text, the text is about, the book is about that you're reading.

Okay, now I'm going to show you another strategy as well.

And this is one I really like to use with character traits.

Character traits describe me.

So is Mulan determined? We could describe her as brave.

Someone could be described as being confident.

So I might be described as being shy.

That characters traits look different in different situations.

So there are many ways you can be kind, your actions for being kind can be very different.

You can be kind because you help somebody.

You can be kind because you ask how people are.

You could be kind because you do something for somebody else.

You could be kind because you're generous.

And so when we look at character traits, we have to think about everything we know about them, before we answer a question.

So let's try this now.

How do you know Mulan is determined? So the character trait we are looking at is determined, determination.

Let's just read the text first of all and then we're going to explore the word, determined.

Mulan was determined.

"I have a plan", she said.

"I would dress like a boy.

"I'll wear padding and armour.

"They'll know I'm a girl".

"Impossible", said her mother.

"Dangerous", gasped her father.

"Crazy", said her little brother.

Mulan had made up her mind.

She was ready to do anything to save her family.

So let's have a think about doing a mind map for the word, determined.

How do you know someone is determined? What do they do? Think of any, someone that you've met that was really determined.

Why do you think they were determined? What did they do? And how did they act? So what do they do? How do they act? So pause the video here, write down everything you can think of about that word and then press Play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, so this is my mapping and it's by Nikki Gamble.

Now we're going to have a look at mine.

So when I say the word, determined, I think that this is somebody that makes their own decision.

They never give up.

So never gives up.

They do something, even though it is challenging.

They do something, even though it is challenging Make their own decision and rebels against others.

Someone is determined is someone who rebels against others, rebels means you don't listen to others.

If you have decided to do something, you do it.

And this can be for a good reason.

Sometimes it can also be for a negative reason.

Someone who is determined doesn't necessarily listen to those around them and they do whatever they can to succeed, even if things get difficult, they carry on.

So let's think about that extract that we've just looked at and let's think about Mulan.

How do you know Mulan is determined? Okay, so let's go back to that question.

Look at the text now, how do you know Mulan is determined? Remember, you're looking for ways that she's determined.

So what does she say or what does she do that proves she is a determined character? Pause the video, write your answer down and then press Play when you're ready to discuss it.

Well done, how did you get on? I hope doing that mind mapping really helped you.

It definitely helped me.

So when I look back at the text here, I could see that her family said impossible, dangerous, crazy.

And then the text says that Mulan had made up her mind.

So this tells me that she's not going to listen to what other people say.

She will do what she wants to do, because she is determined.

She will do anything as well to save her family which means that she won't give up, even if it is dangerous.

So she shows determination because she will do anything.

it takes to save her family.

Very admirable.

Okay, now I want you to have a think about your opinion of the text.

And I've got a big question for you.

And this is my question today.

What advice would you give Mulan? Do you think she should go or not go? What would you say to her? If you were her family member, what would you do? Press Pause here and press Play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, I think I'd be really torn.

I would be really nervous of Mulan going.

It is dangerous, really dangerous and it's even more dangerous because girls were not allowed.

So if she is discovered to be a girl then she could be punished for that, but I think I would encourage her.

I know she is a skilled and strong fighter and I think that even girls can prove themselves to be strong warriors, and so she should have the courage to prove her worth and that she can also be a strong fighter.

Congratulations! You have now finished your lesson for today.

I hope that's left you thinking about that final question a little bit.

And I look forward to seeing you again soon.