Lesson video

Hi, and welcome to this lesson in our unit Rabbit-Proof Fence.

Today, we're going to begin planning the first scene and thinking about vocabulary to support our writing.

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

In the lesson today, we will review vocabulary before we analyse the first scene from narrative writing outcome number one, and then your task will be to generate vocabulary for that first part of the scene.

And so today you need something to write on and something to write with and make sure your brain is switched on and ready for our learning.

So let's start by thinking about some Mrs. Wordsmith words and whether you can define these Mrs. Wordsmith words, and we'll work through this to start our lesson today.

After I've said each word, you could say it back to your screen.

We've got oppressive, blistering and searing.

So three ambitious Mrs. Wordsmith words, and each image from Mrs. Wordsmith to help us remember that definition is below.

We're going to see if we can work out the definition for each in our starter activity today.

So you might look at those images now and see whether you've heard the word or seen the word before, and whether perhaps you might work out what these words might mean.

Okay, so we've got three definitions and the three words with our Mrs. Wordsmith images on the screen.

Let's just read the definition.

And as I read them, can you think which word these might define? So first of all, we have harsh or scorching; like sun so strong it makes your skin sore.

You might use those images to help you.

Heavy, harsh, or overpowering; like heat so strong you feel like it is crushing you.

And finally, burning or scorching; like a day so hot you can fry bacon and eggs on the pavement.

So just think which definition matches to which word.

Pause and match those now.

Okay, let's have a look together.

So did you match searing to the burning and scorching like a day so hot you can fry bacon and eggs on the pavement? And you can see in that image, those cats are frying their bacon.

The next, blistering means harsh or scorching; like sun so strong it makes your skin sore.

And oppressive is heavy, harsh, or overpowering; like heat so strong you feel like it's just crushing you.

These words, those were particularly helpful in our writing for this unit.

So now can you pause the video and write a sentence using one of these words.

So the words are on screen, we've got oppressive, blistering and searing.

Can you write a sentence using one of these words? And if you need to scroll back and have a look at those definitions again to help you with your sentence writing, then that would be a sensible thing to do.

Pause the video and do that now.

My sentence, the sun's heat was oppressive.

So I used the word oppressive and described how that sun's heat made me feel.

So in today's lesson, we're going to focus on generating ambitious vocabulary to describe the opening scene of this film.

And you can see two images from that opening scene on screen now.

We're going to look at these in more detail today, but first let's just review some important plot information and some vocabulary that will appear as we watch the opening film clip.

And it's important for you to understand.

So we know that this is based on a true story.

The "Rabbit-Proof Fence", the film is based on a true story.

And that story is of two sisters, Daisy and Molly, and their cousin Gracie.

Now government policy, at the time government policy was to remove some children from their parents, those children who had one white and one aboriginal parent.

Government policy allowed for that to happen at the time of this story.

We know this is set in 1931.

Jigalong is the town that the girls in our story live in and it's located along the rabbit-proof fence.

Half-caste is a term no longer used referring to those children who had mixed whites and aboriginal parentage.

An aboriginal is a person who lived on the land before other settlers arrived.

So three important pieces of vocabulary that you'll see on screen when we watch the video clip shortly.

And the story about Proof Fence details of their capture, the girls captured by the authorities and their escape from a camp where they're kept away from their mothers.

The girls follow the rabbit-proof fence all the way back to their home.

So a little bit more information there on the plot and some key vocabulary to be aware of.

So we're going to watch the clip shortly and afterwards, we'll sequence images from the scene so that we become increasingly familiar with the scene that we will be writing.

So now that we've watched that opening scene, can you sequence the images alone? So the five images are all taken from that short opening clip and your job is to put them in the right order.

Pause and do that now.

Okay, so we're going to have a look and sequence these together.

The first image is the image that looks down on the ground from above.

The second image shows the vast nature of the landscape, and you can see the cloudless sky as well as the ground below.

Image three introduces our character, Molly.

Four shows that spirit bird in the sky.

And five shows Molly and her aunt who are looking up at that bird together.

And so those images are in order on the screen now, and these are going to be really important in supporting our writing of this narrative scene for our first outcome.

So today, we're going to focus on generating vocabulary to support our writing for the opening scene.

And now we know that scene, we can start to think about vocabulary.

And there are two main parts to think about in the opening scene.

We've got the setting, those first two images and the characters Molly and then her aunt and the spirit bird that appear in the second part of the scene.

And so when we think about the characters, we need to make sure we're describing not only their appearance and what we might say about how they look and what they're doing.

But we need to describe their actions and describe how they're behaving in this opening scene.

So let's take the first image and we'll do two images together before you complete your test today, which will be looking at the final images.

And so we're going to consider image 1 where we're looking down on the scene and we're focusing definitely on setting in this first image.

Can you have a think of some vocabulary to describe what you can see in this first image.

You can pause and jot down your ideas now before I share some ideas on screen.

You might aim to include two weather words, perhaps even a Mrs. Wordsmith word in your ideas for this opening image.

So pause and do that now.

Okay, well done.

Hopefully you've had a really good think.

Let's see what I thought of for this first image.

So I've used the word vast to describe the enormity of the setting.

Withered, because of the sun and the relentless heat, lots of the vegetation in the scene is withered and dried.

Sparse, so other than the bushes and the trees you can see from above, there aren't many things in this scene, it is fairly sparse.

Never ending, it seems to go on and on forever and it's relatively lifeless in that there are only trees that we could see from above.

Remote, there isn't really anything here apart from the vegetation we can see and I had a really big think to see if I could include a Mrs. Wordsmith word.

And I chose the word oppressive.

You might just remind yourself of the definition for oppressive in the beginning of this lesson.

Okay, let's move on and think about our second image.

And we're going to do the same thing.

You're going to have a think on your own first and then this image, can you consider specifically the size of the setting.

We've zoomed out on the camera shot here.

And we can see just how vast that setting scene is.

So pause and have a think of some vocabulary to describe this second image.

Okay, hopefully you've had a really good think.

I'll just share my thoughts for this second image now.

Continuous seems to go on and on.

Quite a harsh landscape in that it's dry and it would be difficult to survive out there.

It's empty, wide, endless, synonym for never ending.

The sun is blinding in the scene and the heat is blistering.

We managed to get my second Mrs. Wordsmith word into that second image picture.

So now that we've looked at and considered our planning ideas for the first two images, can you complete the remaining three images? And in these three images, you should focus on the characters rather than the setting in terms of your vocabulary and ideas.

You might want to draw a table or list your ideas in a similar box to the one that we had for the first two images, so that they're nice and organised and you have them to refer to.

So those three final images are on the screen now.

Consider the characters' expression as well as their action and what they're doing in these three images.

So pause the video and on the final three images, think about the character and the action as well as the setting.

And then we resume once you've finished.

Well done for working hard on your planning so far.

I'm going to share some ideas for these final three images.

And you might want to add some of these to your plan if you feel like they might be useful when we come to writing later in the unit.

So for image three, for our character who's introduced, I added taking in her surroundings, dreaming because she looked fairly dream-like in the film clip.

She was gazing up at the sky deep in thought and connecting with that spirit bird.

So ideas for image three, and you might add some of those to your ideas if you want to.

Let's look at image 4 and the spirit bird in that cloudless sky.

We've got a character, a spirit bird, and the setting to describe in this image.

So tracking, it may be tracking prey on the ground, following it's prey.

It is the spirit bird drifting in the sky and floating above our characters.

And image five, so finally our two characters are looking at the spirit bird and leaning together whispering to one another, listening closely and looking at that spirit bird with appreciation so you might want to add any of those ideas to your planning to support your writing later in the unit.

And congratulations, that's the end of today's lesson.

So we've reviewed some Mrs. Wordsmith vocabulary before analysing our opening scene.

And we watched that film clip.

We sequenced the scene and we've started to think of vocabulary that we can use when we come to write this opening narrative.

And you've done an excellent job generating your own vocabulary.

So well done.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

You should feel really proud of all your hard work today and all that work on vocabulary generation.

That's going to really help your writing later in this unit.