Lesson video

Hi everybody, and welcome back to our next lesson.

Today, we are finally going to meet our main characters.

So the main focus of today's lesson is to meet the main characters, make some inferences about them and generate some descriptive vocabulary with a real focus on show-no-tell.

I'm really looking forward to all of the amazing outcomes we're going to produce today, let's go.

So this is our first lesson of our next writing outcome.

Over the next 10 lessons, we are going to develop vocabulary to eventually write a character description.

So this is lesson number one of 10.

And today, we will be developing our understanding of those key characters.

In this lesson, you will need your exercise book or lined paper, your pen or handwriting pencil, and your very best thinking brain.

Pause the video if you need to go and get any of those things.

Okay everyone, so our agenda for learning today, firstly, we are going to make inferences about the characters based on their appearance.

We'll talk about that word inferences in a moment.

Then we're going to discuss some new vocabulary to describe feelings.

And finally, we are going to generate some show-not-tell descriptive vocabulary about our characters.

For our writing warm-up, we are going to make inferences about the characters based on their appearance.

So when we make inferences, it basically means what can we work out about the characters using what we already know? In this case, we are going to make inferences about the characters personalities based on their appearance in some images that we are going to look at.

So what can we infer about Sherlock Holmes from these images? Infer means work out.

So what can we work out about Sherlock Holmes's personality by looking at these images? I've got three images of Sherlock Holmes.

I would like you to look carefully at each one.

Do you notice any particular objects he often seems to have with him? How is he dressed? Look carefully at his facial expressions, especially in image number two and number three.

Can you make any inferences or assumptions about his personality by looking at any of these images? Now pause the video while you have a really good look.

Okay everyone, so I've added a few different things that I've noticed about Sherlock Holmes and maybe you've noticed the same things.

First of all, his magnifying glass.

This suggests that he's always on the hunt for clues.

A magnifying glass is quite a symbolic object for a detective to have, because detectives look carefully through their magnifying glass to try and catch out any criminals or solve any crimes.

It also suggests that perhaps he's quite a curious person and he's always determined to find the next crime and solve the next mystery.

He wears a peaked cap.

This doesn't really tell us anything about his personality, but I think it's a really important thing to note because Sherlock Holmes has his trademark peaked cap.

That means he always seems to be wearing one.

This image in the centre of the screen looks like Sherlock Holmes is on a bit of an adventure.

He seems to be in the middle of nowhere up a mountain trying to solve a crime.

To me that seems like he's really adventurous and he's a bit of an explorer and he'll travel wherever he needs to in order to solve a crime.

Perhaps also adding to that idea of him being really determined.

Again, another trademark object or symbol that seems to go with Sherlock Holmes is his pipe.

I can see him smoking his pipe here and also he's got a pipe in his mouth in this image.

So this image is actually his outline or his silhouette.

My turn, silhouette.

Your turn, well done.

We can't see Sherlock Holmes's face or really any detail about what he's wearing, but we can see his outline.

So that trademark pipe which he always seems to be puffing on or smoking.

And finally, these two images, as we've already said in this silhouette, we can't really see his facial expression, but in these two images we can.

He seems to be quite a solemn or serious person.

The word solemn might be a new word.

My turn, solemn.

Your turn, well done.

It just means serious.

So he often seems to wear a solemn or a serious expression.

He might often have a furrowed brow.

Show me a furrowed brow.

Well done, I'm showing you my furrowed brow.

Having a furrowed brow may make him look as if he's crossed a lot of the time, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's crossed.

He may have a furrowed brow because he's so deep in thought all of the time, constantly thinking about the next mystery that he needs to solve.

So if you'd like to, you can pause the video whilst you add some vocabulary to your mind map about Sherlock Holmes.

Perhaps you've made some additional inferences about Sherlock Holmes that we haven't even talked about yet.

Make sure you add those as well.

Okay everyone, let's move on and meet our other character.

Dr.

John Watson, your turn, well done.

So Dr.

John Watson is Sherlock Holmes's accomplice or his colleague.

The person who works with him, his partner.

But he's also a very, very dear friend to Sherlock Holmes.

Now let's look at these two images of Dr.

John Watson.

Now set up your page with your mind map, Dr.

John Watson in the centre.

And what can we infer or work out about Dr.

John Watson from these two images? Pause the video while you have a really good look at those two images and think about what we can infer or assume or work out about Dr.

John Watson, by looking at these images.

Okay everyone, I bet you've already made some fantastic inferences about this character based on his appearance.

Here are some of the inferences that I made.

This is a new word, pensive.

Pensive, your turn.

Excellent, this is a high level word meaning thoughtful.

We might also describe him as reflective.

He's pensive, thoughtful, reflective.

Meaning he's often lost in his thoughts.

We know that Dr.

John Watson is a doctor, hence his name.

That means he's intelligent.

He's intellectual and he's a deep thinker.

He's a little bit younger than Sherlock Holmes.

I almost think of them as the Victorian Batman and Robin.

So Batman would be Sherlock.

He leads on solving the crimes, but he needs Robin's help.

Just like Sherlock Holmes requires the help and the assistance of John Watson to solve the crimes as well.

They work together like a team.

He's a little bit younger than Sherlock and less experienced.

He's very well dressed.

You can see him on the right hand side with his top hat.

And he's got a tailcoat, which is like a jacket with a long back on it.

He's very fancy and well-dressed.

You can see he's got trousers and shiny shoes on.

He's very well put together.

He looks very professional.

We've already talked about him being intellectual.

He's a doctor, but he also dresses very professionally as well.

He's got a walking cane.

Mhh, why might somebody walk with a cane? Let me think.

Hmm, really good suggestions.

So John Watson is actually a war hero.

Means his leg was injured during the war.

He was once a soldier and now he's come back.

He's no longer a soldier anymore.

He now works with Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes, but his leg injury means that he still walks with a walking cane.

He's very intelligent or intellectual.

That might be a new word for you.

Intellectual, your turn.

Fantastic, meaning intelligent.

Now that we've just met our new characters and we've made some inferences about their personalities already.

We're now going to discuss some new vocabulary to describe feelings.

So I'm going to set the scene for you.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson have not had a new mystery to solve for several weeks.

How do you think each character might be feeling? Now, let's use what we've inferred about Sherlock Holmes.

Let's just think about Sherlock for now.

Not worry too much about John Watson just yet.

So we know that Sherlock Holmes is a really determined, curious.

He's constantly thinking and trying to solve the next crime.

How do you think he might be feeling if he hasn't had a new crime to solve for several weeks? Let's use our inferences to make an assumption about how he might be feeling in this situation.

Do you think he's going to be feeling positive about not having had a new mystery to solve or a negative? Is he going to be thinking, "Thank goodness, I could really do with a break.

Do you know what? I think I might try and have a little holiday." Or do you think he might be feeling negative? "When is the next crime going to come along? There's got to be a crime right there waiting for me to solve it." Which one do you think? Is he feeling positive about having no new cases or negative? In three, two, one show me.

He is feeling negative, well done.

You've got it right.

He's a curious person.

He always needs to be busy.

So he is not going to be enjoying having no new crimes to solve.

Here are some words that I might use to describe his feelings in this situation.

Frustrated, your turn.

Agitated, your turn.

Exasperated, your turn.

Irritated, your turn.

Excellent, well done.

Exasperated, your turn.

This is a stressed or scared word.

So it's an adjective.

He's feeling annoyed or frustrated.

When you feel like screaming, 'cause you can't have what you want.

So Sherlock Holmes is feeling so exasperated and frustrated and annoyed because he just wants a crime to arrive.

Irritated, your turn.

Well done, another adjective.

This is an angry word.

An adjective meaning annoyed or a little bit angry.

Like your skin, when you fall in stinging nettles.

Sherlock Holmes is feeling irritated and frustrated at his lack of new crimes to solve.

Now, we've already discussed some vocabulary for Sherlock Holmes's feelings.

Let's now think about Dr.

John Watson.

How do you think he is feeling? Now, we know that Dr.

John Watson is an intellect.

He's intelligent, he's thoughtful, pensive, reflective.

Do you think he's going to be feeling the same way as Sherlock Holmes or differently? Hmm, have some thinking time.

Okay, so Dr.

John Watson, he's also very curious, just like Sherlock Holmes, but he's a little bit more tranquil or relaxed than Sherlock Holmes is.

Here are some words that I've used to describe how John Watson is feeling about having not had any new mysteries to solve.

Thoughtful, your turn.

Reflective, your turn.

Patient, your turn.

Optimistic, your turn.

So while Sherlock Holmes might be feeling really irritated and getting more and more and more frustrated about not having a crime Dr.

John Watson is feeling more calm and optimistic and patient.

He knows that a new crime will eventually arrive and he's not going to get too stressed out about not having one just yet.

Optimistic, your turn.

Great, this is a hopeful word.

John Watson is feeling hopeful or optimistic.

This is an adjective which means hopeful and positive.

Like being certain that the weather is going to get better.

Just like this cartoon, John Watson is optimistic because he feels certain that a crime will eventually present itself.

Right everyone, we've just generated some great vocabulary and we've started to really get to know our characters.

Now we're going to generate some show-not-tell descriptive vocabulary.

Now before we get started, can you tell me what show-not-tell means? Have some thinking time.

Hmm, what does show-not-tell mean? Okay, some really great suggestions coming in from everyone.

I really like your answers.

So show-not-tell is when we know how a character is feeling, but rather than just telling our reader those exact adjectives, we show our reader how the character feels instead by describing their actions.

I could say, for example, Ms. Mullins was really, really happy.

Or I could say Ms. Mullins jumped up and down in glee with a huge smile across her face.

Which one brings the character to life more for my listener? You're right, the show-not-tell.

Ms. Mullins jumped up and down in glee with a huge smile across her face, helps the reader to visualise the character rather than just being told.

Sometimes we do want to just tell our reader how a character feels.

But if we did that all the time, it would get a little bit boring for our reader.

We would just be listing feelings.

So now we're going to make our characters come to life by describing what they were doing and using those actions to give away how they were feeling.

So let's go back to Sherlock's office.

Our setting is in the office early in the morning.

What might these characters have been doing early in the morning in Sherlock's office? Have some thinking time.

So let's begin with Sherlock.

What might Sherlock have been doing early in the morning in his office.

Now up in the top left hand corner, I've got those adjectives: frustrated, agitated, exasperated, irritated.

Those are all adjectives describing his feelings.

Now your task is to show the reader how he was feeling without telling them.

So what actions might Sherlock Holmes have been doing which would give away how he was feeling.

I'm going to show you an example.

He paced the room in agitation.

There's my green verb, pacing the room.

Like a lion paces a cage whenever it's feeling frustrated and agitated and wants to be set free.

He paced the room in agitation.

Now pause the video while you think about some other actions that Sherlock Holmes might have done which gave away that he's feeling angry.

If you're feeling a little bit stuck, how do you think about your own actions? When you're feeling frustrated and irritated and angry, how might it show on your face? And what might your body language be like to show other people that you're feeling irritated? Pause the video now while you start to mind map some more show-not-tell.

Okay everyone, you're doing such a great job so far.

I know you've already got some incredible show-not-tell.

I'm going to show you some more of mine.

He drummed his fingers against the table impatiently.

So drumming his fingers.

He was.

I'm drumming my fingers impatiently against my keyboard of my laptop right now.

So if he's drumming his fingers against the table impatiently, it's the opposite of patient.

He's feeling agitated.

He just needs to be moving or doing something while he waits for this next crime to arrive.

Here's my next one.

He sighed exasperatedly.

I would like you to sigh exasperatedly at me right now.

Fantastic, I'm going to sigh at you.

He glared out the window.

Show me a glare.

Oh, got so many people glaring at me at once, well done.

He glared out the window, an angry look, he glared.

His frown across his forehead.

And finally, he puffed furiously on his pipe, frowning.

So he's doing two things at once there.

He's puffing on his pipe furiously.

And he's also frowning.

Show me a frown.

Make a little wrinkle between your eyebrows.

Well done, so he could have been doing some of these things at the same time whilst he paced the room in agitation.

He may have also puffed furiously on his pipe, frowning.

Now, by giving my reader this show-not-tell, I'm helping them to see how the character moves.

I'm making them picture in their mind's eye or their imagination what's happening in the room.

This is so much more engaging for my reader than just saying, "Sherlock was feeling frustrated." Now, If you would like to take a moment to pause the video and magpie some of my show-not-tell and add it to your own mind map, you can do that now.

Okay everyone, now we've discussed Sherlock's actions.

Now we're going to think about Dr.

John Watson.

What might he have been doing early in the morning in Sherlock's office? They're both in the same room.

So up here I've got my adjectives for Dr.

John Watson's emotions: thoughtful, reflective, patient, optimistic.

Now, I want you to tell me what his body language might have been like.

Is he sitting down? Is he lying down? Is he looking at the window? What's he doing? Is he watching Sherlock or is he ignoring Sherlock completely? Remember it's early in the morning.

So what might he have been doing then? Have some time to think.

Again, if you're finding this a little bit tricky, think about what your body language is like when you're maybe feeling quite thoughtful or feeling quite reflective, quite relaxed? Here's my first example to get you started.

He silently watched Sherlock.

So perhaps he's just watching, surveying, observing, those three words mean the same thing.

Watching, observing, surveying.

He watched, he surveyed, he observed Sherlock silently.

Now, I would like you to pause this video while you have some thinking time about what else Dr.

John Watson might have been doing in Sherlock's office that morning, which gives away that perhaps he's feeling a little a bit more relaxed than Sherlock Holmes.

Off you go.

Okay everyone, I bet you've got some amazing ideas so far.

Let's share a few more of mine.

He rolled his eyes with a small sigh.

Everyone roll your eyes with a small sigh.

He might be feeling a little bit amused by Sherlock Holmes.

He knows Sherlock so well.

He's probably seen Sherlock do this hundreds of times.

Every time that they don't have a kiss and by now he almost finds it a little bit amusing, how irritated Sherlock gets because Dr.

John Watson knows that they are going to get a new crime any minute.

And there's no point in worrying about it.

He lounged on his arm chair.

Everybody lounge back in your chair.

I'm lounging in my chair right now.

He's lying back on it.

He's feeling very comfortable and lounging is a verb that makes us feel that the character is quite relaxed and comfortable.

He carefully pored over the journals he was reading.

So pored means he was really focused.

He was hunched over a book that he was reading.

So here is me with my book.

I'm poring over the text and reading very carefully.

He's totally engrossed in what he's doing.

He's almost ignoring Sherlock, because remember he's an intellect.

So he may be doing lots of reading in the mornings.

Now I would like you to pause the video while you add some more vocabulary and some more show-not-tell to your Dr.

John Watson mind map.

And you can magpie some of my show-not-tell as well.

And that brings us to the end of our lesson, everyone.

So in this lesson, we've met our characters.

We've got to know them better.

We've discussed their feelings and we've generated some incredible show-not-tell descriptive vocabulary to help our reader understand more about the characters as well.

Well done everyone.