Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name is Mrs. Riley and I'm here today to do some learning with you.

In our lesson today, we will be planning part of the opening of "Macbeth".

In our lesson today, we will be focusing on those three witches.

We're going to have a chance to describe them and also think about what they say and how we can use that in our opening.

So let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to use a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical features to plan a narrative opening of "Macbeth".

These are our keywords for today's lesson.

Get ready to repeat them back to me.

Adjective.

Fronted adverbial.

Inverted commas.

Reporting clause.

Great, well done for joining in.

So an adjective is a word that describes a noun.

So we're going to be thinking of lots of adjectives to describe the noun which are the witches.

A fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

Okay, so we're gonna be learning some of those to start our sentences.

Inverted commas are a pair of punctuation marks that signal direct speech to the reader.

Yes, 'cause we want to include speech, don't we, 'cause we want to include what these witches say to one another.

And a reporting clause is a clause that tells the reader who said the speech sentence and how.

So those reporting clauses will be things like, the witches cackled menacingly.

So in our lesson today, we've got three learning cycles.

First, we're going to think about a description of the witches.

How could we describe them?

Probably using lots of adjectives.

And then we're going to look at fronted adverbials and how they can help us in our writing.

And finally, speech using inverted commas.

So if you're feeling a little bit worried about including speech, don't worry, because we're going to go over all the rules together.

Let's start by describing the witches.

So we're gonna write the second part of the opening scene of "Macbeth".

Part one describes the setting and that was the heath, which lots of you have already probably done.

But today, we're going to look at the characters, because in an opening, we introduce the setting, where it happened and the characters, who are the main characters in our story?

So we're going to describe the witches in detail and include what they say to one another.

So let's watch the animation again of the opening scene to remind us of the three witches who meet on the heath.

As you watch, think about how you will describe the witches using all of your senses.

What do they look like?

What do you imagine that they would smell like?

What kind of sounds might they make?

Remember, we want to create a negative impression of the witches.

We want them to sound hideous and terrifying.

We want our readers to feel really scared as they read our opening.

So let's watch the opening scene of "Macbeth".

(ominous music) <v ->When shall we three meet again?

</v> In thunder, lightning or in rain?

<v ->When the hurly-burly's done,</v> when the battle's lost and won.

<v ->Where the place?

</v> <v ->Upon the heath.

</v> <v ->There to meet with Macbeth.

</v> (suspenseful music) (witch cackling) <v All>Fair is foul and foul is fair.

</v> Hover through the fog and filthy air.

(suspenseful music) (witches cackling) <v ->Okay, I hope that you didn't find that too frightening</v> and I hope it gave you some ideas of how we might describe them.

Remember, we're not just going to use the animation, we can also use our imaginations.

So that gives you an idea of what the witches might be like, but you might have a very different idea of what they look like in your mind, and that's fine.

As long as you describe them to me, then I can picture what you are imagining.

So here are some useful adjectives we could use to describe the witches.

So we're going to learn some new vocabulary.

This first one is shriveled.

My turn, your turn, shriveled.

Shriveled means wrinkled or shrunken, like hippo skin that has been in the bathtub too long.

So we could describe the witches' skin as being shriveled.

Devious means cheating or sly, like someone who is busy making evil plans.

Now, we know that these witches are very devious.

Pungent, very strong and smelly, like the stench of stinky, sweaty trainers after a long day of sport.

So we might describe their breath as pungent or their cloaks as pungent, and that's a nice word we could use to make sure we're describing using different senses.

And finally, repulsive, disgusting or gross, like an ugly, horrible gargoyle that makes you feel sick.

So we've got some adjectives there that we could use to describe their appearance, like shriveled and repulsive, to describe their character traits or personality, devious and to describe how they might smell, pungent.

Let's just say each one, my turn, your turn.

Shriveled.

Devious.

Pungent.

Repulsive.

Well done, so we've got four nice adjectives there that we can put straight in our toolkit for our writing.

Okay, let's check what we've just learned.

Could you match each adjective to the most appropriate word pair?

So the adjectives are shriveled, repulsive, pungent and devious.

And then you could match them to either breath, skin, creature or cackle.

And we've got the different senses there.

So the breath might be a smell, the skin or a creature, something you would describe that you could see, a cackle might be something you could hear.

Pause the video while you complete that task.

Well done.

So for each one, we will go through and pair them up.

So for example, shriveled, hmm, let me try the first one.

Shriveled breath.

Could breath be shriveled?

No.

Shriveled skin.

Ah, I think that is a good match.

So shriveled skin.

Repulsive, hmm, I could describe breath as repulsive.

Repulsive creature, that also sounds good.

I'm gonna go for that one, because I think pungent describes the breath, because that's a smell.

And devious, cackle, a devious, evil cackle, which is another word for a laugh.

Well done.

So it's time for your first task.

In this task, I would like you to first sketch a picture of the three witches.

A sketch is a rough design and it should not take long.

Sometimes it's quite hard doing a quick sketch, because you might start adding lots of detail.

But today's lesson isn't an art lesson, it's a writing lesson.

So we're just going to quickly sketch what we think they might look like, and don't worry if you don't feel like your sketch isn't very good.

It doesn't need to be a work of art.

It's just a quick sketch.

And then you're going to label the sketch with the different parts of the witches that you will describe in your narrative writing.

So first, a quick sketch.

Your teacher might even do a timer.

And then you're going to label the different parts you want to describe.

You might describe any of these things.

You might describe their skin, maybe shriveled skin, eyes, maybe you might use a simile, eyes like something, their noses, their hair, what might their hair be like?

Their teeth.

You might describe their limbs.

That's their arms and legs.

Their cloaks, what were they like?

Or their robes.

You might describe their breath.

Maybe you could use that word pungent or putrid.

You might describe something like their grins, their laughter, their shrieks or their stance.

And you'll notice within those things, we've got different senses.

For example there, shriek is something we could hear.

Their breath might be something we could smell.

Their hair is something we could see or maybe we could smell it as well.

So first, you're going to do a sketch.

Then you're going to think about what aspects of the witches do you want to describe, and obviously we're going to try and use lots of lovely adjectives to describe them.

Now, here's an example, just if you're a little bit unsure.

So first you are going to do your sketch and then you might, for example, choose their hair and you might just draw a little line to their hair.

And you might say it's unkempt, wild hair that hung over their withered faces.

So I'm not just doing an adjective, I haven't just said, "Unkempt hair," I've said, "Unkempt, wild hair.

" And then I thought, what was it doing?

Ooh, it hung over their withered faces.

Here's another example.

Laughter.

I might say, "Hmm, okay, what could I describe?

I'm going to draw a line from my sketch and I'm going to say they laughed deviously as they huddled together.

" So I've turned that word devious, the adjective there, into an adverb by adding LY.

They laughed deviously as they huddled together.

And if I put that in my writing, which I'm going to do, then I'm going to be including a complex sentence, because I've got the conjunction as there.

So we're not just picking something and doing an adjective and a noun, unkempt hair.

We're trying to think about something we could describe and then thinking about how we can kind of stretch it so we've got a really lovely idea we can put straight into our writing.

So pause the video and complete this task now.

Excellent, well done.

Now, here's an example of something that you might have sketched.

You can see there, there are three witches.

You can see it's not a work of art, but it gives me a rough idea of what the witches look like in my mind.

And now, here are some things you might have described.

So hideous hags huddled together.

Oh, I've used some alliteration there, 'cause I've got H sound repeated.

Hideous hags huddled together.

I described their skin, shriveled skin on emaciated hands.

Emaciated means that they're very thin.

They whispered with pungent breath.

They had unkempt, windswept hair.

Hollow eyes that reflected the moonlight.

Tattered robes that hung off their scrawny frames.

They revealed their repulsive, toothless grins as they plotted their devious plans.

Now, if you really like any of those ideas, you could pause the video and maybe steal one of them to add onto your sketch now.

Okay, well done.

So we've now got a really good idea of what these witches look like and how we're going to describe their appearance and also what they're doing, things like cuddling together or grinning as they plot their plans.

So now we're going to look at our second learning cycle, fronted adverbials, and this is now going to give us a really nice idea of how to start our sentences when we describe the witches.

So fronted adverbials are words, phrases or clauses that act as sentence starters.

For example, if this is my sentence, the witches plotted together, I could add, and here I've added an adverb or just a word, wickedly, the witches plotted together.

I could add with a shriek of laughter, the witches plotted together.

So it's kind of telling you what they're doing as they plotted.

As they huddled close, the witches plotted together.

Here's an example of three fronted adverbials.

The fronted adverbials give us more information about the action in the sentence that follows it and it's always followed by a comma.

What's it always followed by?

That's right, a comma.

So we've got wickedly, with a shriek of laughter and as they huddled close.

We've got there a word, wickedly, we've got a phrase, with a shriek of laughter and a clause, as they huddled close.

That one's a clause, because it contains a verb, huddled.

So fronted adverbials can be any of these.

A word, cunningly, a phrase, a group of words with no verb, with menacing looks or a clause, a group of words with a verb, as they cackled loudly, cackled is the verb.

So here it is as an example.

Cunningly, comma, the witch is plotted together.

With menacing looks, comma, the witches plotted together.

As they cackled loudly, comma, the witches plotted together.

Really nice sentence starters.

So which of these are true for fronted adverbials?

A, they are sentence starters, B, they can be words, phrases or clauses, C, they are followed by a comma, D, they always contain a verb.

There's more than one correct answer.

Pause the video now.

Well done, so they are sentence starters.

They can be words, phrases or clauses.

They are followed by a comma, but they don't always contain a verb.

They only contain a verb if it's a clause.

But it can be a word like wickedly, comma or a phrase with menacing looks, comma, which don't contain verbs.

So fronted adverbial words and phrases can have different purposes.

They all tell us more about the action after the comma.

You can have fronted adverbials of time.

These show us when something happened, for example, then, at that very moment, before long, all of a sudden.

All of these show us when it happened.

We can have fronted adverbials of place that show us where something happened.

In the distance, on the cliff's edge, below, on the heath.

They all tell us where the action is happening.

We also can have fronted adverbials of manner.

These show us how something happened.

With toothless grins, elated, with a sneer, without a backward glance.

They tell us how something happened.

So we have got fronted adverbials of time, they tell us when it happened, fronted adverbials of place that tell us where it happened and fronted adverbials of manner that tell us how something happened.

And in an ideal world, it would be really nice in our writing if we could mix it up and use perhaps one of each.

So let's check what we've just learned.

Decide whether each of these fronted adverbials is showing time, place or manner.

I'll read them to you now.

A, whilst they huddled together, there's the fronted adverbial, the witches plotted and planned.

So whilst they huddled together, is that time, place or manner?

B, on the very edge of the ragged cliff, the three hideous figures came together.

C, with a hiss of excitement, they spoke in riddles and D, in the blink of an eye, they disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Pause the video and decide whether each fronted adverbial is showing time, place or manner.

Okay, well done.

So the first one, whilst they huddled together, now, this is a fronted adverbial of manner.

It's telling us how, what they're doing as they plotted and planned.

On the very edge of the ragged cliff, that's a fronted adverbial of place.

It's telling us where the three hideous figures came together.

With a hiss of excitement, that's manner.

It's telling us how they spoke in riddles.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared in a plume of smoke, that's time.

It's telling us when they disappeared in a plume of smoke.

So it's time for your second task.

We're going to be using our drawing from Task A.

So make sure you've got that to hand.

You're then going to pick one of your annotations and think of an appropriate fronted adverbial of manner to start a sentence using that idea.

Then you're going to write a full sentence.

Then I'd like you to repeat using a different fronted adverbial of place.

And then repeat using a different fronted adverbial of time.

So you're going to take a look.

Here's my drawing from Task A.

You're going to pick one of the annotations, for example, I might pick hideous hags huddled together, and I'm gonna first of all think about a fronted adverbial of manner to start the sentence.

So I've chosen grinning wickedly, the hideous hags huddled together as their evil words and wicked intentions carried on the breeze.

I've got my fronted adverbial of manner with a comma after it.

I've used my idea from my plan.

Hideous hags huddled together.

And I've put it into a full sentence.

This sentence could go straight into my writing when I come to write the opening.

So this task is gonna be really helpful for us later on.

So could you now pause the video and complete this task?

Excellent, well done.

Let's look at a couple more examples together.

For example, shriveled skin on emaciated hands.

This time I've got a fronted adverbial of place.

Beneath their heavy cloaks, the shriveled skin on their emaciated hands twist as their arms writhed like the withered branches in the wind.

So in that example, again, I'm saying where the shriveled skin on their emaciated hand was, it's beneath their heavy cloaks.

It's a fronted adverbial of place.

I've taken my idea from my plan and I've turned it to do a nice, juicy full sentence to go straight into my writing.

So another one, this time a fronted adverbial of time.

All of a sudden, so there's my, it's telling you when, all of a sudden, a mighty gust of wind tore through their tattered robes that hung off their scrawny limbs, causing them to shriek in delight.

Again, I've used that idea, tattered robes that hung off their scrawny frames, but I've added this idea of the gust of wind is causing their tattered robes, that tore through their tattered robes, sorry and then it causing them to shriek in delight, a nice non-finite clause at the end there with my verb, ING verb causing them to shriek in delight.

So those would be two really nice sentences that I could put straight into my writing.

Right, and finally, we are going to look at speech using inverted commas, because we know in this opening scene, the witches don't just arrive and we're not just going to describe them.

We know that they talk to one another about their wicked plans.

So we're going to now think about what they might say to one another and how we can use the inverted commas to signal to our reader that these are things that our characters are saying.

So let's remind ourselves of what the witches say in Shakespeare's opening of "Macbeth".

The first witch says, "When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning or in rain?

" The second witch says, "When the hurly-burly's done, when the battle's lost and won.

" Where the place?

Upon the heath.

There to meet with Macbeth.

Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

So this is what the witches say in Shakespeare's opening of "Macbeth".

We can use these examples and put them straight into our writing, but we can also use our imagination and we can also use our imaginations, sorry, and we can imagine other things that they might say to one another about planning to meet Macbeth.

So we can use this part of this to include in our narrative writing or we can make up our own dialogue.

That's up to you.

We use direct speech to show that a character is speaking out loud.

Inverted commas go around the direct speech.

In a play, a play script, which is what we just looked at, there aren't any inverted commas, but we are writing a narrative piece of writing and so we have to use inverted commas to signal to our reader that this is something the character is saying, it is direct speech.

So upon the heath shrieked the elated hag.

We can see straight away looking at that sentence, it's a bit confusing, because I don't know what's speech and what's the reporting clause.

So upon the heath, that's the thing that the witch says.

Shrieked the elated hag, that is the reporting clause.

So I'm going to change this to, "Upon the heath!

" with my inverted commas to signal to the reader that that's the direct speech and then I have the reporting clause, shrieked the elated hag.

There's the reporting clause.

It tells us who said the direct speech and how.

Who said this speech?

The elated hag said it.

How did she say it?

She shrieked it.

If the direct speech comes before the reporting clause like this, we call it a speech first sentence.

What do we call it?

A speech.

Well done, a speech first sentence, because the speech comes first in the sentence.

"Upon the heath!

" shrieked the elated hag.

Upon the heath is the speech and it comes first.

The direct speech always has a capital letter.

The reporting clause does if it starts with a proper noun or if it comes first in the speech sentence, but here the reporting clause is shrieked the elated hag.

Shrieked is not a proper noun, it's just a verb, so we don't need a capital letter and because it's coming second, it's coming after our speech, we do not need a capital letter here.

So we've got a capital letter there, because that's the start of the sentence, upon the heath.

We haven't got a capital letter there, because it's not the start of the sentence and it's not a proper noun.

Another way of showing direct speech is to use a speech second sentence.

This time, the reporting clause comes first and the speech comes, you've probably guessed it, it comes second.

Here we go, the elated hag shrieked, "Upon the heath!

" Exactly the same sentence, but this time, I've done my reporting clause first and my speech second.

There's my reporting clause, the elated hag shrieked.

There's my direct speech, "Upon the heath!

" The reason I know that's the speech is because it's been signaled to me by those inverted commas.

The reporting clause now has a capital letter, because it's the start of the sentence.

The important thing here though is it's also followed by a comma.

The direct speech still has a capital letter.

Again, that's important.

Even though this isn't the start of the sentence, the direct speech always has a capital letter at the start.

So we've got a capital letter at the beginning of the reporting clause, there it is, the T.

We've got our reporting clause, the elated hag shrieked.

We've got our comma after the reporting clause, there it is.

We've got our inverted commas to start the speech.

We've got a capital letter to start the direct speech.

We've got the speech itself, "Upon the heath!

" Then we've got our punctuation.

Now, it can be an exclamation mark, it can be a question mark if it was a question or it could just be a full stop.

And then, so here we've got an exclamation mark and then we close the speech with our closing inverted commas.

So find the mistakes in each speech sentence and correct them.

"Where shall we three meet again?

" howled the devious sorcerer.

So there's speech first, but there's something missing.

B, the cloaked figure replied, "Upon the heath to meet with Macbeth.

" There's speech second.

Something's missing, can you spot it?

C, the elated mystics began to chant, "Fair is foul and foul is fair.

" Speech, second, two things are missing in that sentence.

Can you spot them?

Pause the video now.

Well done, so in the first one, in A, "Where shall we three meet again?

" The question mark is missing before the closing inverted commas.

It's a question, we have to have a either a comma, question mark or exclamation mark when speech comes first at the end of the direct speech.

This is a question, so we've got a question mark.

The cloaked figure replied, there's my reporting clause, I remembered the comma, got my inverted commas, but I haven't got my capital letter.

I always have a capital letter at the start of my speech.

So there we go, there it is with the capital letter at the start of the speech.

And finally, the elated mystics began to chant.

Oh, comma missing before the speech comes and fair is foul and foul is fair, oh, it's a bit of a tongue twister, I haven't got my closing inverted commas.

So they were missing, so that's how it should have looked.

Well done if you spotted those mistakes.

They were quite hard to spot.

So we've seen that reporting clauses tell us who's speaking and how.

"Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble," shrieked the sorcerer elatedly with a look of sheer delight.

We can use synonyms for said, adverbs and actions to show the emotion with which something was said.

So in that example, my synonym for said is shrieked.

The adverb is elatedly and the action is with a look of sheer delight.

So all of that extra juicy information in my reporting clause, rather than just saying, "Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble," said the witch.

That would not be as descriptive.

So it was shrieked.

So here are some more synonyms for said.

Shrieked, howled, screeched, muttered.

These are all things that the witches, that's how we could describe the witches speaking.

Here's my adverb, elatedly.

Here are some more.

Deviously, menacingly, wickedly.

Again, all useful ways of describing how the witches might speak.

And here's the action, with a look of sheer delight.

We could also have howling with laughter, with a look of sheer delight, with a crazed look in her eye, as she threw her head back.

So lots of nice examples there of things we could put in our reporting clauses.

Now, these can include adverbial clauses and non-finite clauses.

For example, as she threw her head back is an action from my reporting clause, but if I popped that in my sentence, I've actually also written a complex sentence using an adverbial clause, because I've got the conjunction as.

Equally, if I did, at the end of my sentence, comma, howling with laughter, I've included a non-finite clause.

So the reporting clause is a really nice way of including some lovely added bits of information for our sentence.

Okay, I'm going to do something and then you are going to copy me.

So first of all, I'm going to find the reporting clause in this sentence.

Okay, I can do that.

Find the reporting clause.

Then I'm going to replace the word witch.

Yeah, because it's a bit boring if we keep just using the word witch.

Then I'm going to improve the reporting clause using a synonym for said, an adverb and an action.

Okay, so you watch me.

You'll probably be able to do it better than me, but you watch if I can do this.

So, "When the hurly-burly's done," said the witch.

Okay, number one, find the reporting clause.

When the hurly-burly's done.

That's got inverted, so that's the speech.

So the reporting clause is, said the witch.

Number two, replace the word witch.

Okay, I'm gonna say instead of said the witch, I'm gonna say said the the hag or the old hag.

Okay, now I need to improve the reporting clause using a synonym for said.

Ooh, so I could say, shrieked the old hag.

And now I need an adverb and an action.

So I'm gonna put it all together.

I'm gonna say, "When the hurly-burly's done," there's the speech, I haven't changed it, shrieked, it's my synonym for said, the old hag delightedly as she revealed a toothless grin.

So I've added lots nice information by improving that reporting clause.

Okay, it's your turn.

Find the reporting clause, replace the word witch with something like hag or sorcerer and then improve the reporting clause using a synonym for said, like shrieked or muttered, an adverb, like elatedly or wickedly and an action, like as she revealed a toothless grin, as she threw her head back.

So here's your sentence.

"Double, double toil and trouble," said the witch.

Good luck, pause the video now.

Well done, here's an example of what you might have written.

"Double, double toil and trouble," screeched the sorcerer with a wicked glint in her eye.

Okay, it's time for your final task.

Well done, you're doing so well.

In this final task, you are going to decide if your sentence will include speech first or speech second.

Write the speech in the correct column, thinking carefully about the punctuation you will need to use.

Think of a reporting clause to go with it.

Use a different word to witch, include a synonym for said, an adverb and some action, just like we just did in the last slide, and then repeat.

Perhaps you might get two done, perhaps you might get three or even more.

Remember, it's quality, not quantity.

So I'd rather you had two really lovely examples that you could put straight into your writing when you write your opening, rather than having seven examples and then not being very detailed or having mistakes in them.

So first, you're going to think about your speech and then you're going to decide, am I going to write that in the first column, because it's going to be a speech first sentence and then the reporting clause in the next column?

Or am I going to do the speech second to write that in the second column and then do my reporting clause?

But you will be able to then put it together to make a full sentence, but you need to think about punctuation.

That's really important, because if my speech is coming second for example, after my reporting clause, I'm gonna need a comma, because the reporting clause is coming first.

Whereas if I have my reporting clause second, I won't need a comma, I'll need a full stop at the end of it, because it'll be the end of my sentence.

So good luck and pause the video now while you complete this final task.

Okay, well done, let's look at some examples together.

So here I've gone for speech second.

"In the depths of night, there we weave our darkest dreams.

" So I've imagined what the speech of the witches might say here.

I haven't chosen something that Shakespeare used.

I've imagined my own speech.

Because the speech is coming second, I've got a full stop at the end of it, because it's the end of the sentence.

And here's my reporting clause, grinning in delight.

It's a non-finite clause, the hunched hag howled sinisterly.

Now here, I've got a comma used instead of a full stop, because the speech will follow.

So I could then in my writing put this together.

Grinning in delight, the hunched hag howled sinisterly, "In the depths of night, there we weave our darkest dreams.

" Now, that's gonna be an incredible sentence for me to put in my writing.

So I hope that you enjoyed that task and hopefully you've got lots of lovely ideas now.

So let's summarize what we've done today.

We have learned that an opening should describe characters in detail.

Writing tools for this are fronted adverbials and direct speech.

A fronted adverbial is a sentence starter, followed by a comma, that tells us more about the action taking place after the comma.

We use direct speech to show the words a character says out loud, which is signaled to the reader by inverted commas.

The reporting clause says who is speaking and how they speak.

It can include synonyms for said, adverbs, actions, adverbial clauses and non-finite or ING clauses.

So we have got so many amazing ideas for our writing when we write the second part of our opening.

You have done so much incredible work today and should feel so proud of yourselves.

We're really prepared for our writing lesson.

So well done, thank you for learning with me and hopefully, I'll see you another time.