Lesson video

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

In today's lesson, we're going to be reading and looking at part of "Greenling" by Levi Pinfold.

So when you're ready, let's get started.

We're going to start today's lesson by, I'm going to start it by introducing you to "Greenling" by Levi Pinfold.

Then we're going to spend a little bit of time analysing parts of the text and looking at some of the illustrations, and then we're going to respond to the text and think about what our own feelings are towards it.

And if you have any questions about it, as well.

This is a really important part of the process of reading, because you should be asking questions about the stories that you read, because this is how you develop your own understanding of the story, and it's also how you get lots of enjoyment from what you read.

In the lesson today, you're going to need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, but most importantly today, you need your brain.

I want you to think about what you think the story is about.

I'm not going to tell you what the big ideas are in the story.

I want you to really consider them and to try and draw on your own experience of things and draw on the own kind of analysis of the pictures to work out what it might be.

Now is also a good time, if there are any distractions in the room to go and sort those out.

So if your phone is near you, if there's an iPad near you or anything that could distract you, move them away.

And I'm going to do that right now myself, I'm going to move my phone right over the other side of the room, so that I'm not distracted by it.

So pause the video now and sort that out and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So let's introduce you to the book that we're going to be looking at in this unit.

I really, really enjoy this story.

"Greenling" by Levi Pinfold is the story that we're going to be looking at today.

Now I purposefully have not put the front cover on this slide, because we're going to be thinking about what "Greenling" might mean and what it might be.

This story is a fable, which is a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

Okay, it's based on a fable, it's not exactly a fable, but it is based on one, and there is a moral to be learned in this story.

And I want you to try and think about throughout this unit, what that moral might be.

We could say this is an ecological fable because it's based on the environment and how we can be sustainable.

That means how can we produce food for ourselves and use the land around us.

So sustainable.

We're going to now look at the text in a little bit more detail.

And in this, there are some fantastic illustrations.

It really brings to life this story.

So we're going to think about those illustrations and how they might give us clues to tell us what this story is going to be about.

So, when you open the front page, the book cover, for "Greenling," this is the first picture that you see, and this is before the story even begins.

Now, I think it's a purposeful decision that this picture is there.

So what clues could this give you to tell you what the story is about? Can you tell that much from this picture? Why or why not might the author have not put a lot of stuff on this front page, as well? Why might it be quite empty? So, pause the video and do spend time looking at this, and really thinking about what you can see in the picture.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So when I'm looking at this picture, you can see the sun can't you? The sun is setting, I would say, because of the colours that are used in this picture, there's pinks, which kind of is often the sky you get when the sun is setting.

It could also be rising, though.

It's hard to know, 'cause you can also get those colours as well.

And then this landscape is hilly landscape, but I can't see any trees, can't see any houses.

It's just this vast, which means something that goes on for a long time, vast and empty landscape.

Now I wonder if the author, Levi Pinfold, is trying to draw our attention to the nature in this story.

Perhaps nature is going to play a big role in this story.

Then this is the back page of the book cover.

So I haven't even gotten to the story yet.

I want you to look at that really carefully.

What do you think is growing on Barleycorn land? So we're told, asked a question before you even started the story.

What is this growing on Barleycorn land? Now Barleycorn we know is a name, 'cause it's got a capital letter.

So it's a proper noun.

So that's the place.

That's where this story is going to be set.

So what do you think is growing? Look closely.

What can you see in this picture? Where are we, as well? So pause the video here and spend a few minutes really analysing that picture.

You can jot some notes down and then press play when you're ready to resume.

So if you've never seen this front cover of this book, you wouldn't know what is actually growing.

And that's why I really enjoy looking at picture books because you can work out what is happening in the pictures.

Now I don't know about you, but I can see two little hands.

I can also see what looks like almost like an artichoke or a vegetable growing, doesn't it? It looks like it's growing on the water.

If I look closely, I can see that last picture that we saw is reflected in the water because the image is almost upside down.

So I noticed it's growing on water.

Hmm, now I might ask some other questions and you should do this when you read all the time.

My questions are these: Although I can see two hands, can you tell me what's strange about those two hands? Shout it out? Yeah, they're green.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a green kind of human, I think of aliens, do you? I think of aliens when I think of green humans.

So maybe this is based on like a sci-fi kind of idea or is it just green because it's growing inside what looks like a vegetable? But I've never seen human grow out of a vegetable.

So this is really strange.

And this is the front cover, so this might give you a little bit more of a clue.

Looking at the front cover, what do you think the story will be about, then? And who do you think Greenling is? So I've slowly built up to the front cover.

And this, I wonder, is this Greenling? And I want you to look at Greenling and I want you to tell me what you notice about Greenling.

Why is it called "Greenling?" Pause the video here and have a few minutes just analysing this picture and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

What did you spot, I wonder? So Greenling looks like, like I said, I always associate a green human with an alien, but I'm not sure Greenling is an alien.

I wonder what the other people in this story look like.

Is Greenling different to them or is Greenling the same as them, perhaps? But I think if Greenling is the front cover and the story's called "Greenling," then perhaps Greenling is slightly different to the other characters I'm going to meet.

Now, I've never seen anything like Greenling before.

Greenling looks like it's got like a melon for a hat or a piece of fruit for a hat, looks like someone's cut a melon in half and put it as a hat.

It's also looks like, it's almost saying hello, waving, looks quite friendly.

I don't think I'd be scared of Greenling if I met Greenling.

I might think it was a bit unusual, but Greenling looks quite friendly and happy, and like somebody who wants to say hello.

Greenling's also in lots of flowers, it looks like.

So definitely there's something to do with nature in the story, and there's lots of bees, as well.

And we know that bees are really important for sustainability, which means they help our environment, okay? 'Cause they pollinate lots of other flowers and flowering fruits, which help to produce food.

So I wonder if nature, like I said, is going to be really important in this story.

Now I don't know about you, but I can't wait to find out what happens in this story now.

It really has engaged me just by the front cover.

So this is the second page.

We're still not even beginning the story yet.

This is in the second page of the story.

Now the words and the actual story haven't started, but the pictures have, and so we should always spend time looking at the front cover and inside the front cover.

So this perhaps is where Barleycorn land is.

Where do you think the story is set? Where, what clues does this picture give you about the land and how could you describe it? Who do you think lives here as well? What type of people live here, do you think? Well, who lives here? Many people or just a few? So pause the video here.

Then have a go at asking questions and answering questions on this picture and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So I think this looks like a railway.

Now it looks like it's in some really rural place, a place where there looks, perhaps some farmland, it's definitely not a city.

There's very few houses and this is a railway station.

So perhaps this place is a place that is travelled through rather than to.

It doesn't look it like it's a destination that I would go to, so perhaps this land that you travel through.

It's quite an old railway station by the looks of it.

It's made out of wood.

It reminds me perhaps of places in southern America or perhaps places in Australia.

Also, and we're thinking about what it reminds you of is really important.

How else could I describe it? So there isn't really much land around.

I can't really see any plants.

I can't see any flowers.

I can't see any trees and there's nobody there.

It looks a bit deserted.

So I had a go at this and this type of question generation is, comes from an idea by Nikki Gamble in "Just Imagine," and they have lots of ideas about how to ask questions about pictures.

And I've thought about some words and also some of the ideas here that might help me.

And I could see that it's barren here, very little grows.

You can't see much in the land.

There's no vegetables, there's no fruit.

So if I was to have to eat food from here, I don't know how I could grow my own food.

It looks isolated and deserted because there's not many houses and there's no people.

I wonder even if the railway track is still used.

I wonder perhaps if the people have been forgotten or if they're happy.

So I've got lots and lots of questions still to ask.

Now this picture comes quite early on in the story.

I want you to tell me what questions do you have about this picture and what is the reaction of the man and the dog? Look very closely.

Pause the video here and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

Don't you think that Levi Pinfold's illustrations are fantastic? There's so much you can see in this picture here.

So what do you think their reaction of? I wonder what is this green thing? What is it and where has it come from? Was it there before the railway track or was it there first or did it come after? Has it been delivered? Who has left it there? Where did it come from? Did it come from some outer strange world? Now looking at the man, he doesn't seem that scared, does he? I think I'd be quite scared if I saw this green thing glowing in a tunnel.

The dog also doesn't seem very scared.

I wonder if they've been there before.

I'm not sure.

He also looks quite interested and intrigued and curious to find out what it is.

And really, if I look really closely, I can see a little person inside, and two little eyes popping out of the vegetable.

And underneath this comes this part of the story.

So "What is this growing on Barleycorn land? What is this standing where once stood a tree? Is it intended for Barleycorn hands? I wonder, thinks he, could this be for me?" Hmm, so he's wondering if someone has delivered it for him, if someone has sent it to him.

I wonder what he might do next.

Oh, the old man, the farmer, he brings home the Greenling, or Greenling, as you can see.

And there are his two feets.

"His wife wants to know where it came from.

He says, 'Where the wildflowers grow.

' She says, 'It belongs to the wild then, and back to the land it should go.

'" So he brings it home, 'cause remember he said, "I wonder if it is for me." So he's bringing it home to his wife.

And I wonder what her reaction is or how she might be feeling.

How do you think she's feeling? Would you have done the same? So that is just the opening pages of "Greenling" by Levi Pinfold.

In the next few lessons, we're going to read more of the story and I really hope you're intrigued to find out what happens and who Greenling is and how perhaps he changes everybody in the town.

Now I'd like you to spend a few moments thinking about what your likes are about "Greenling," your dislikes about the story so far, is there anything that puzzles you and what does it remind you of? So this idea of thinking about these four things comes from Nikki Gamble in "Just Imagine." And it's really important that as a reader, you develop your own response.

Don't just listen to me.

What do you feel about this story? Do you want to read on, do you want to find out what happens? Is there anything that puzzles you in particular for "Greenling?" There is so much that puzzled me in my first reading of it, so much so that I was so intrigued to find out who is Greenling, what does Greenling do? How does Greenling affect those around him? And it reminded me of a few other stories that I've read, as well, how a stranger comes in and helps people.

So I want you to think about your own response.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So what do you think will happen to Greenling? And will the old couple look after him? What do you think? We've already seen that perhaps the wife is a little bit reluctant, but the farmer, the father, he looks like he's quite keen to look after him.

So what do you think will happen? Will they take care of him or not? So pause video here.

Write your response.

You can use, "I think because," and then press play when you're ready to resume.

So I wonder if your predictions are going to be correct.

In the next few lessons, we will analyse more of "Greenling" by Levi Pinfold, but congratulations, you have now completed today's lesson.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today.

And I look forward to looking at more of this text with you in the future.