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 explore the character of Mulan in the traditional tale of Mulan.

If you haven't watched the previous lessons then you should stop this lesson and go back and watch those first.

If you have, then let's get started.

We're going to start today's lesson by looking at a key question.

Then we're going to look at some other questions in order to help us answer the key question and then we're going to respond to the text.

So this is your thoughts, your opinion, your ideas.

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

I really want you to be thinking carefully today.

You need to be bringing what you know already about the character of Mulan to today's lesson.

Now, it's also a really good time, if there are any distractions in the room, for instance, if there's a window open and it's noisy outside, if the TV is on, or if your phone is nearby you, like mine is, to pause the video and sort those distractions out.

So I'm going to move my phone away from me, well, I'm not going to look at it today.

So, pause video now, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, let's get started.

So we're going to think about a key question today.

Our key question is, what impression of Mulan is created in the tale? So remember, we are reading, Mulan, it's by Oxford University Press, they are the publisher.

And we're looking at their version of Mulan, the traditional tale.

What impression of Mulan is created in the tale? What do you find out about her? What picture of Mulan does this tale create in the reader's mind? So, when you imagine Mulan, what do you imagine? And that's a really big question.

And to answer it, we need to think about her character traits.

We're also going to think about ways that she is referred to in the story.

So we're going to think about what our initial impressions are.

What are our initial thoughts before we answer some more questions on her and build this bigger picture.

And we're going to use a mind map.

Mind mapping comes from, Nikki Gamble, and it helps us to make links in our reading.

We're going to think about what nouns we could use to refer to Mulan differently.

So instead of saying Mulan, or instead of saying she, what other nouns, how else could we describe her? Mulan the.

Mulan the.

How could you describe or what other nouns can she be? How else could you refer to her differently? And I just want words written down that you associate to Mulan.

So pause the video now and spend a few minutes on this.

And think carefully about Mulan as a character and then press play, when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So, I came up with some words, myself.

These are the words that I thought of when I thought of Mulan.

I thought of Mulan as a daughter, we know she is a really loyal daughter.

She's kind and caring, and she really looks after her family.

Loyal means that she puts her family first.

We know she's also a girl.

Now I think this is significant in the story, because if she wasn't a girl, her tale would not be so remarkable.

She is also a hero.

She becomes a great soldier and warrior and she fights and saves the country from war.

She is also a hero because she passed a way for future.

For the future, for girls, and proves to them, they can be whatever they want to be.

She was a soldier.

She's a clever and intelligent soldier who fights and out-tricks those around her.

And we learned she was a warrior and a leader.

She leads the way.

She fights battles.

She becomes an extremely skilled fighter.

And so, these are all the words that I think of, when I think of Mulan.

I wonder if you had any that are similar.

And if you didn't, you should pause the video now and add them to your own mind map, and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So this is what we know already about Mulan.

Now, what we're going to do, is look closer at the text for more clues on her character.

And we're going to do this through a series of questions.

Remember, we're always working back to that key question, of what's the impression of Mulan does the rea.

Does the author create in the reader's mind? To answer the questions today, we might want to use a few of these strategies.

We might want to underline the key words in the question to help us.

We might want to skim and scan the text for key information.

So that's when you search the text for key words that you think are going to help you, and then you skim and scan them in the text itself.

You use your tracking finger, I've got my I'm ready, and you track through the text.

Then, with your tracking finger, you retrieve and you pull out the information from the text itself.

These are for questions where the answer is in the text.

Sometimes, we might look back at a text and we can't find the answer.

And for these questions, we have to read between the lines for hidden clues.

So what do we know already about something? What links can we make that might help us? And reading between the lines also means you're thinking about things that you associate other words.

So, we're going to look first of all, at this Mulan as the daughter.

What is she like, when she is the daughter? So, I'm going to read you an extract first.

Then I'm going to ask you two questions and then I'll ask you to answer them.

Mulan spoke up bravely, "I want to buy a saddle and horse.

I will go to the army in Father's place." How Little Brother brother laughed, "Silly, silly, silly!" he said.

"You're only a sappy girl." Why do you think Mulan volunteers? And what does this tell us about her as a daughter? Why does she do it? What's her motive.

Pause the video here.

Motive means reason.

Pause the video here, and then press play when you're ready to discuss it.

Excellent.

So, she volunteers because her father and brother cannot go.

We know her brother is too young, and we know her father is too old.

And this shows that she is caring and brave because she risks her own life to protect her family.

Since she is caring because she wants to look after her family.

And she was brave because it will be dangerous and risky for her to go.

Now let's look at Mulan as a soldier.

So let's look here, again, I'm going to read the extract to you, read the question to you, then you're going to answer it, and then we look at the answer together.

So now we're thinking about this idea, as Mulan being a soldier.

So I'll read to you now.

From that moment on, Mulan lived in fear of her fellow soldiers discovering she was a girl.

Army life was tough and every day sights and sounds reminded her of home and her family.

The days were long.

The nights were longer.

The life was harder than hard.

That means her life was as hard as it could be, harder than hard.

They're using comparatives there and it's as hard as it can be.

What do you learn about Mulan in this section and can you describe her? If you were to look at her here, we know it's difficult but what do we know about her? Can you describe her in this section? So pause the video here, press play when you're ready to answer.

Well done.

So I think here we find that she is resilient and determined because she doesn't give up, even though it is challenging.

Say these words after me, resilient, determined.

Resilient is a synonym for determined, it means you don't give up, even if things get difficult.

I really like this word.

I use resilience all the time in my own learning.

And I think it's a trait that we should all aim to and strive to have in our own learning.

It means you don't give up, even if things are difficult.

And we can see here that life is really hard for Mulan, but she won't give up because she knows she's got to save her family.

And this idea of not giving up shows that she is determined.

Again, we're going to look at her again as a soldier here.

So we know she's a resilient and determined soldier.

Let's find out a little bit more about her.

So I'm going to read the extract to you, read the question, and then you'll have a go at answering it.

She used her spear to leap over her attackers.

She danced her way past clumsy attacks which means a bit, not very good attacks.

She hid under her shield then jumped out to take her attackers by surprise.

She earned the respect of her fellow soldiers.

They still had no idea she was a young girl.

They clapped her on her back and said, "What clever tricks you use!" What is Mulan like as a soldier then? Can you describe her as a soldier? Think of two character traits and describe her using them.

And then tell me why.

So pause the video, write your answer down, and press play when you're ready to discuss.

Keep up, you're working really hard today.

So let's check the answer together.

So she was a skilled and intelligent soldier and impressed her comrades.

We know she was skilled and intelligent because she uses clever tricks against her enemies.

So she uses clever tricks outwit them.

So this shows us that she is skilled and intelligent.

Now we're going to think as Mulan the warrior.

And I've got a question for you now.

What is the difference between a soldier and a warrior? And read the text to help you.

So shall we read it together? That was the first battle of many.

She became a fine warrior.

She became a leader.

She survived one long year two years, three years, four, five, and six and seven and more.

For 10 long years, she survived.

Pause the video here.

And what do you think the difference is between a soldier and a warrior.

It's only a small difference, but what do you think it is? Why has she become a fine warrior? She's always been the soldier.

So why is she now a warrior? What has changed about her status? Pause the video here, and press play when you've answered that.

Well done.

So we are told that she's been fighting for a long, long time and that she is a leader.

So, warrior is just an experienced soldier.

They have shown their skill and bravery through years of fighting.

So she becomes a warrior because she's so successful in her fighting.

Now we're going to think about Mulan as a hero.

I'm going to read you two extracts and then we're going to answer the question, why do you think Mulan is a hero? Finally, the war was won.

The Emperor was pleased with Mulan.

"You have been brave and true," he said, "Ask for reward and you can have it.

Gold? Diamond? Palaces?" Now we'll read the second extract.

The soldiers were so amazed that they told Mulan's tale far and wide.

The story of how a young girl became a warrior spread from person to person, it crossed mountains and oceans to many different countries.

So, what is it that makes Mulan so famous? Why do you think Mulan is a hero? Press pause, and press play, when you're ready to discuss.

Well done.

So, she wins the war.

She helps to win the long, long war, it says it lasts 10 years.

And she shows the world that girls can be warriors.

So she is a hero because without that, girls could potentially never do what they wanted.

So it shows that girls can be warriors and should be allowed to do whatever they want to.

Now, we're going to respond to the text.

So this is when you bring your ideas to the text.

We're going to draw together everything we have discussed today in order to answer that first main question, what impression of Mulan do we get? So what character traits does Mulan display? A character trait is how we could describe someone, it's something you have.

So Mulan is brave, she has bravery.

So she shows bravery because.

And I want you think of another four character traits that we've talked about in the lesson today, and tell me how you know.

So, kindness because.

So pause the video, complete your mind map.

And when you've done that press play.

Okay, so this was my one.

Yours might be similar, it might be different.

That doesn't matter.

I've said she shows bravery because she risks her life for her family.

She shows determination because she doesn't give up, even when things get difficult.

She shows courage because she defies the rules and goes to war.

So even though she's told she shouldn't go to war, she still does.

Now that shows bravery as well as courage, they're similar things.

She shows intelligence because she is a skilled soldier and outwits and uses clever tricks against the other.

Against the people that she fights against.

She shows kindness because she protects her family no matter what.

So Mulan is a really interesting character with lots of layers to her.

And now I can almost see why she is a hero and such an effective leader because she demonstrates so many positive qualities.

So what impression of Mulan then is created in the tale? And I want this to be a full sentence.

You can even stretch and write me two.

And I want you to think about all the character traits that we have thought of today and bring these together to answer the question.

To pause the video here, you can start with, I think because.

And press play, when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

Hopefully that was made easier by the work that we've done in the lesson today.

I now would like you to think about your own opinion.

Do you like Mulan as a character? I've told you that I really like her as a character.

I think she's really admirable because she defies the rules and she fights for the right to go and fight as a woman.

And I really like that about her.

I also think she's a really caring character and her loyalty towards her family really motivates her to become this brilliant warrior and fighter.

She risks everything to save her family.

So I think I have a lot of respect for Mulan as a character.

What do you think? Do you like her or not? Pause the video here and write a short review of Mulan as a character, and then press play, when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

I hope that's a really detailed character description of her and I hope you've shown me lots of things and reasons as to why you like her or you don't like her as a character.

Remember it's okay not to like characters as well.

So, well done, you've worked really hard today.

I hope that's helped you understand the character Mulan.

Perhaps, now I just want you to pause once more and tell me one thing you can learn from Mulan as character, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

I think the one thing I've learned from Mulan is to have courage, even if something seems dangerous or risky, have courage, if it's what you believe in.

So, congratulations, you've now completed today's lesson and I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today.