Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Smart.

Welcome to outcome three of the Rabbit-Proof Fence narrative writing unit.

In the next few lessons, we are going to be writing the journey from Rabbit-Proof Fence.

In today's lesson, we will be watching a clip and then describing the setting, the weather and the characters in preparation for writing.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some light paper, a pen or pencil and of course your brain.

Make sure that you are somewhere quiet so that you can focus and learn.

In this lesson, we're going to start with an introduction where we are going to watch the clip of the journey from Rabbit-Proof Fence.

We're then going to focus on three different aspects of this scene.

And we are going to describe them.

We are going to do a description of the weather, a description of the setting and finally, a description of the characters.

All of our descriptions today will feed into our journey writing in our next lessons.

Here are some stills from the film clip that we are going to watch shortly.

This is the journey that Molly, Gracie and Daisy go on when they're travelling from the camp where they've escaped all the way back to their house in Jigalong and where their mother and their family leave.

They're trying to find that rabbit-proof fence that will lead them home.

And you can see very easily just from looking at the images that this is a very long, arduous journey across really difficult, challenging terrain and landscapes.

Can you think of any other stories that have a journey in them? It's quite a common theme in stories that characters have to go on a journey before they reach their resolution.

What I would like you to do is write journeys in the middle of your page and create a mind map of all the stories that you can think of, where the characters go on a journey.

These could be stories from books that you've read, or they could be stories from films or TV programmes that you have seen.

Pause the recording and create your mind map now.

Well done.

I'm sure you've thought of lots of really interesting journeys.

Here are some of the ones that I've thought of from books that I have read and enjoyed.

The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman has a very famous journey that the main character Lyra, goes home.

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.

The Hobbit by J.

R.

R Tolkien.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

These journeys are all different but they all have that common theme.

Maybe you've got some of the same ideas, or maybe you have some different ideas.

We're now going to watch a clip from Rabbit-Proof Fence which shows us the journey that Molly, Gracie and Daisy go on through Australia to get home to their mother and their family.

While you're watching, I want you to consider the setting including the weather and the character's actions.

So remember the setting means where the story takes place.

Think about how you might describe what is around them, the landscape or the terrain that they are travelling through.

Think about the weather.

Remember they're in Australia, which we know can be a very hot country.

And if you look at the terrain and the landscape, it looks quite desert-like.

So what might the weather be like? Think about the temperature as well.

And lastly, think about the characters actions.

What are they doing? What's their facial expressions? What are they saying that might show us how they're feeling on this journey? Okay, let's watch the clip now.

This is Rabbit-Proof Fence directed by Phillip Noyce.

And the production company is HanWay films. Which way now? That way, that fence.

What's there in that fence? We go home.

Then we see our mom.

♪ ♪ She found it, she found it.

We're going to stop by describing the weather in this clip.

These three pictures in particular shows quite a lot about the weather.

And hopefully you thought carefully about the weather and the temperature that the characters were experiencing while you were watching the clip.

Here are some useful words that we can use to describe hot weather.

You may have seen these words before.

They are all Mrs. Wordsmith words.

Repeat after me.

Oppressive.

Oppressive means heavy, harsh, or overpowering like heat so strong.

You feel like it is crushing you.

Stifling.

Stifling means smothering or suffocating.

When the day is so hot it makes you pour with sweat.

Searing.

Searing means burning or scorching like a day so hot, you can fry bacon and eggs on the pavements.

Relentless.

Relentless means constant, nonstop like the sun when it beats down on you, until you nearly melt.

Suffocating.

Suffocating means stuffy or smothering like clothes so tight around your neck, you can't breathe.

I would now like you to pause the recording and make some notes under the heading Description of weather.

Think about adjectives that you could describe the weather but also consider verbs and adverbs to describe what the sun is doing or what the air is like.

Pause the recording and write down your ideas now.

Hopefully, you've now got lots of really ambitious ideas that you can use in your writing to describe the weather in this scene.

I'm going to go through some of my ideas now, and if you want to copy any of them down, then you can do so.

Blistering, stifling, oppressive, suffocating heat.

You could use any of these adjectives to describe the heat, the blazing sun glared down.

I think that verb glared is really effective 'cause it makes it sound like the sun is a horrible mean character doing something not very nice to the young girls.

Rays sliced into the scorched earth.

Again, sliced has that slightly aggressive violence sweat.

And the scorched earth also describes the hotness of the earth and the effect of the heat on the earth.

Like an orb of fiery light.

That's comparing the sun to an orb.

To an orb is a spherical, glowing spear.

Scolding sun, relentless blaze against scolding has that really negative aggressive, violent filled sweat.

And lastly, the air was still or you could say the air hummed.

Sometimes when it's so hot and there's no breeze at all it can feel like the air is almost humming with the heat.

We're now going to have a think about the setting.

Remember, that means where this part of the story is taking place.

So we're going to describe the land around them.

What we can see all around the characters.

These three pictures in particular, really focus on the setting of that terrain that they travelled through in Australia.

Here are some more Mrs. Wordsmith words that we could use to describe settings.

The first one is barren.

Barren could be used to describe the land all around them.

It means empty or bare like a lonely desert where nothing can grow and you'll notice their land around them has hardly any plants growing.

The next word is withered.

Withered might be used to describe the tree that you can see in one of the images.

It means old and drooping like a dying shrivelled tree that doesn't grow leaves anymore.

I now want you to make some notes under the heading Description of the setting.

Try and include as many adjectives, verbs and adverbs you can think of to describe the setting.

Remember, think about all the things that you can see around them.

Think about the land.

Think about the plants.

Think about what you might be able to see in the distance.

Pause the recording and write down your ideas now.

Excellent, well done.

I'm sure you've got lots of really ambitious ideas.

I'm going to go through my ideas now.

And again, if you want to write any of them down then you can do so.

Scorched, dry or parched soil.

All of these words mean that if the soil is lacking in moisture it's really, really dry because of the heat from the sun.

Blistered earth, to be either burn your skin possibly you might've experienced having a blister.

So this ground gets really, really hot.

Then it might also form blisters.

Withered trees, bare branches would be a really precise way of describing the tree that you can see in one of the images.

Gnarled, skeletal branches describe the branches on the tree.

You can see they've got no leaves on at all.

Lifeless, solitary tree swayed with thirst.

So, it's got no life in it.

It's a dead tree, it's solitary which means it's one tree completely on its own and it's swaying with thirst.

It's almost begging for water or pleading for a drink.

Little bit like when we get really, really thirsty, that's how plants can sometimes feel as well.

Shrivelled shrubs dotted the landscape.

So there aren't many plants but you can see some small shrubs randomly arranged on the landscape.

They're not really arranged, they're just randomly grown wherever they can.

Rugged Hills lined the horizons.

If you look right into the distance, you can see some hills or some mountains that look very rugged and not very smooth or even.

We're now going to think about the characters.

So we're going to be focusing on them walking through the landscape but then also the part where they spot the fence and they run towards it and hold on.

Think about all the different examples of body language and facial expressions that you can identify that might show how these characters are feeling at these key points in the story.

Here are some more words that we could use to describe the characters in this scene.

The first one is tenacious.

Tenacious means determined or strong willed like refusing to let go of something.

Persevere.

Persevere means to keep going or carry on, like running all the way to the end of the marathon.

Determined.

Determined, means driven or single-minded, working extra hard to get what you want.

All of these words well describe the three girls really accurately on their journey.

Through that really challenging, unforgiving landscape.

The girls are both tenacious and determined, made persevere.

That means they do not give up in trying to get home.

Gruelling.

Gruelling means difficult or draining like the effort of carrying a huge bear.

You might describe the girl's journey as gruelling.

Exhausted.

Exhausted means worn out or very tired.

When you are so tired, you sleep deeply for hours and hours.

I'm sure this would describe how the girls are feeling towards the end of the their journey.

Squint means to look through half closed eyes like when you shield your eyes from the bright sun.

And you see Molly doing this in the clip As she's trying to find the rabbit proof fence.

So she's shielding her eyes from the sun and she's squinting, scanning the horizon trying to spot the fence.

And as you saw, eventually she does.

I now want you to make some notes under the heading Description of characters.

write down any description of how the girls might be feeling in particularly about what their bodies might be feeling or the emotions they might be experiencing.

Their actions or their facial expressions or what they say that might also show their feelings and emotions.

Pause the according and write down your ideas now.

Well done.

I'm going to share my ideas with you now.

And if you want to copy any of them down then you can do so.

Weary, aching limbs.

So, remember, they'd been travelling, walking for a long, long time.

So their bodies are going to really ache.

Limbs means your arms and your legs they are really, really tired.

Blistered feet.

You've ever walked for a long, long time.

You might've got some sores or some blisters on your feet.

Bodies consumed with exhaustion.

Their whole body is really, really tired.

It's exhausted.

Trudged on.

So that's a really precise verb to use.

Instead of walked, you could say they trudged to show that they're not walking very quickly and that they're feeling really tired.

Parched to dehydrated.

It's just like the tree we said was swaying with thirst, the girls will also be really, really thirsty 'cause they haven't had much to drink or to eat.

Persevered to their gruelling journey.

Remember that Mrs. Wordsmith word persevere means to carry on, to keep going.

Even when something's challenging.

Gruelling journey means a really difficult or challenging journey.

Determined to reach the fence again.

Another Mrs. Wordsmith word to show they really wanted to reach the fence and they weren't going to give up until they found it.

If you want to write any of those ideas now, please do.

Now, I want you to think about the characters, but we're now going to focus on the part where they spot the fence.

They run towards it and they hold onto it.

So you can keep going under the same heading description of characters, pause the recording and write down any actions, body language, facial expressions or anything they say that would show the reader how they're feeling at this point.

Pause the recording and off you go.

Excellent.

I'm going to share some of my ideas with you now.

Squinted into the distance.

Remember squinted means to slightly close your eyes and it's very sunny.

You might need to shield your eyes so that you can see clearly.

and the sun is not shining into them.

Heart filled with joy or heart filled with hope and then joy washed over them.

Two ways of showing feeling really hopeful or joyful.

Charged towards freedom.

So charged is appropriate precise verb to use to show that movement towards the fence was very, very quick, desperate.

Propelled forwards.

So it's almost like they're being pushed forward towards the fence.

They gripped or they clutched onto the fence.

You can see in that image there, the three pairs of hands holding really tightly onto the fence.

Gazed into the distance.

It's almost like they gazed along the fence imagining their mum, also holding onto the fence at the same time and tears streamed down their cheeks.

They're going to feel really, really emotional at this point.

They're not tears of sadness, they're tears of happiness and joy because they know that now they've found the rabbit proof fence.

They'll walk along the fence and they will find their home.

If you want to pause the recording and write down any of those ideas on your notes, you can do so now.

So in today's lesson, we have focused on the journey, the journey that the three girls go on, through that challenging landscape to try and finally get home and escape from the camp.

Hopefully you've got lots of really descriptive vocabulary that you can use in your writing in our next lessons.

In this lesson, we started with an introduction to journey and we watched the clip.

We then described the weather, the setting and the characters.

Congratulations! You have completed your lesson.

If you would like to, please share your work with your parents or carer.

I will see you in our next English lesson.

Goodbye.