Lesson video

Hello, it's Mrs. Smart.

Welcome back to this English unit.

Today's learning objective is to plan a narrative climax.

We're going to be watching the climax from "Whale Rider" again.

And then we're going to generate all our ideas to include in our written climax in our next lesson.

Right, if you're ready, let's get started.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some lined paper, a pen or pencil to write with, and your film clip analysis from our previous lesson.

If you haven't got any of those things with you right now, just pause the recording and get yourself ready.

In today's lesson, we're going to start with a recap of the story "Whale Rider".

We're then going to focus on the narrative climax features.

Afterwards, we'll plan on narrative climax together and then you'll complete your independent task.

We have learnt a lot about the story of "Whale Rider" so far in this unit.

Can you tell me three things that you can remember about the story? It might be something about the characters, it might be something about the setting, it might be something about the culture.

Anything you've learned so far in this unit.

Pause the recording and write down three things you can remember.

Right, let's recap the story of "Whale Rider".

The opening, a girl was born and named Paikea.

Her brother and mother died, the baby's father moved away and the girl grew up with her grandparents.

The build up, we've written this section already.

Koro, Paikea's grandfather, decided to find the next chief.

He started a club to teach the first born boys to be leaders.

Paikea was desperate for her grandfather to see that she could be chief.

Koro wouldn't let her join in because she was a girl.

This part is the climax.

This is the part we're going to be planning today in preparation for writing in our next lesson.

One night some whales beached themselves on a local beach.

All the villagers tried to save the whales.

The whales started to die.

The villagers were upset and devastated.

Lastly, the end of the story is the resolution.

We're going to be planning and writing this part later on in this unit.

Paikea climbed onto the largest whale's back, she encouraged it back into the water.

All the other whales followed and swam away to safety.

It's really important when we're writing any sort of text type, that we understand the purpose.

That means why it's being written or why it's been included in a text.

I want you to think about this question, what is the purpose of a narrative climax? What are the features you would expect to see? And why is it important to have a climax within your story staircase? Pause the recording and write down your answer now.

Well done for giving that question ago, that was a really tricky one.

A climax is the highest point of tension or drama in a story.

So it can be the bit that feels the most tense or most exciting or dramatic.

Conflict, problems or actions reached their peak.

And sometimes it's the turning point in the story.

So where something changes, it might be a problem being resolved.

In the previous lesson, we discussed the atmosphere of the climax.

Let's just remind ourselves what word means.

It's the main tone or mood of a place, situation or piece of creative work.

So we're thinking about the atmosphere of the film clip but then we also want to put that atmosphere into our own writing.

What is the atmosphere of the climax? Pause the recording and answer that question.

Well done, it's really important to think about the atmosphere, the climax, because we want to create that same atmosphere in our writing.

I think the atmosphere of this film clip is very, very negative.

It's a really sad film clip or sombre film clip because the whales are really suffering and some of them are dying.

The villagers are really upset because they're desperately trying to save them, but they're not able to.

So I would say the atmosphere is very negative.

It's very sad and it's very sombre.

We're now going to watch this clip from "Whale Rider" again to remind ourselves what happens before we start to plan.

Once you've seen the clip, I'm going to ask you to retell the event so make sure you're really focused.

Remember, in this film clip, there is a whale that dies.

If you think that's something that might upset you, please make sure you're with a parent or carer that can support you in watching this film clip.

Okay, let's watch.

They were dying.

Keep the whale from blowing off.

Lets hope she has not injured herself.

You okay? I hope you were focused on that film clip so that you are now able to retell the events.

I want you to say one sentence for each picture to retell that part of the story, off you go.

In our previous lesson, we analyse the film clip in terms of the setting, the sounds, the colours and the characters.

Hopefully, you've got your notes in front of you, because they might be helpful in your planning today.

Here are the notes that I had to do with the setting.

If you want to pause them and reread them, you can.

Here are notes about colours.

Again, if you want to write any of them down and add to your notes, please do.

Then we had our notes on the sounds.

And lastly, we described the characters, we focused on all of the villages, first of all.

We then focused on Rawiri, which was Pikea's uncle.

It's time to start planning on narrative climax.

This is where we're going to generate all our ideas, which will really help us when it comes to write our narrative climax in the next lesson.

First of all, I want you to create a very simple table on your piece of paper.

You can use a ruler or straightedge or you can even just fold your piece of paper.

You need to create two columns, one column is going to be your different sections of the film and we're going to focus on three different sections of that film clip today.

And your right hand column is where you're going to make your notes about what happened.

You need a little bit more space in your right hand column, because that's when you're going to write.

Pause the recording now and get your piece of paper ready.

Okay, let's get started.

So the first section we're going to focus on is this part.

A group of whales beached themselves.

Remember that means when the whales get stuck on the beach and they can't get back into the water.

The villagers ran back and forth to the sea with buckets of water.

We're going to write down all the things that happened in that section of the film clip.

So we're going to focus on what did the whales do? And what did the people do? Think about being really ambitious with your language.

Pause the recording and write down some notes now.

Okay, I'm going to share my ideas and if you want to pause the recording at any point and copy any of them down, then please do so.

Motionless whales lay on the beach, motionless means they're not moving, there's no motion.

Gently whined and moaned, so that's describing sound they're making, obviously, they're really suffering being out of the waters.

They might whine and moan.

A bit like you might do if you're not feeling very well.

Villagers desperately charged back and forth to the sea, so that's showing they're moving really quickly.

Their feet pounded, so you think about their feet hitting the wet sand, might like it make a pounding noise.

Buckets of water filled to the brim spilled, so remember they might fill their buckets of water, they might be so full that they start to spill over.

Frantically yelled instructions to one another.

Heart thundered, now I couldn't actually hear this in the film clip but I've my own imagination.

I imagine their hearts would be really pounding because they're running back and forth.

Their adrenaline is pumping around their body, and they're really desperate to save the whales.

Waves crashed ferociously.

I've taken that idea from our film analysis from the previous lesson.

If you want to pause the recording and write down any of those ideas now, please do.

This second section we're going to focus on is this part, the villagers covered the whales in wet sheets and rubbed their skin.

Remember, whales like to live in the sea where they're wet, of course, in the water, so when they're out of the sea, their skin starts to get really dry, and that makes them feel really unwell.

And if they get too dry, then they actually die.

So what happened in this film clip? I want you to describe anything that the villagers did, or anything that the whales did.

Pause the recording and write down your notes now.

Right, I'm sure you've got lots of brilliant ideas.

I'm going to share some of mine, if you want a copy of any of them down then you can.

Bent over, so you can see that all the villagers are bent over the whales trying to save them.

Their knees sunk into the wet sand, so you can see some of them are sitting on their knees.

Poured over buckets of foaming sea water.

If you remember in our previous lesson we talked about how the water was frothy or foamy, a bit like a bubble bath, because the waves are crashing so much.

Doused the whales.

That's another word for covered the whales with water.

Splashed puddles.

So some of them are getting the water from the sand and splashing them onto the whales.

Gently caressed the whales' barnacle covered skin.

So caressed means to kind of rub or stroke them gently.

And the barnacles you might notice on the whales, their skin isn't completely smooth.

They have what look a little bit like rocks or stones attached to their skin and they're called barnacles.

Draped wet sheets over the mounds.

You can see they've wet sheets or pieces of fabric and they've draped them over the whales to try and keep them moist and wet.

If you want to steal any of those ideas and add them to your notes, then you can do so now.

The third section we're going to focus in on is this part where Rawiri noticed a whale had died.

He embraced his friends.

So he was comforting her trying to make her feel better because the whale that she was looking after had sadly died.

I want you to now write down anything that happened in this section.

Really think about Rawiri's body language and facial expressions to show how he's feeling at this point.

Pause the recording and write your notes now.

Okay, last time now I'm going to share my ideas with you.

Rawiri glanced up and noticed.

So he was really busy helping another whale and then out of the corner of his eye he just noticed his friend standing very still.

So he glanced up and looked.

His friend stood motionless, a bit like the whales were lying motionless on the sand.

His friend was standing completely still.

Shoulders slumped.

Remember we talked about that in the previous lesson, that's a really good use of body language to show how someone feels.

Head lowered, again, if you feel sad, your shoulders might slump and your head might lower.

Slowly approached.

So Rawiri didn't run over to her, he very slowly walked over.

I think it's probably 'cause he knew that the whale had died and he was really dreading getting over to them.

His heart was full of dread.

So if you're really not looking forward to finding something out, you're dreading something happening.

So his heart was full of dread as he walked over to them.

Wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace.

Comforted, gently stroked and rocked and wept sorrowfully.

So the woman wept, she cried, because the whale that she had been looking after had died.

If you want to write down any of those notes into yours, please do so now.

For today's task, I would like you to finish your narrative climax plan.

Remember, we've split the climax into three different sections, and written down ideas for what happened in each section.

Try and be really ambitious with your vocabulary choices.

And remember, the more ideas you have on your plan, the easier it will be when you come to write your narrative climax in our next lesson.

You might find it helpful to go back and watch the film clip again, or to have a look at some of my ideas and include those in your notes.

I then want you to write a sentence for each section using your ideas.

Let's have a look at the example below.

As the villages bent over the motionless whales, they gently caress their barnacle covered skin.

You can see I've taken some of my ideas from my plan and put them into a sentence.

That's going to be so helpful when I write my climax because I can use that sentence in my piece of writing.

Congratulations, you have completed your lesson for today.

Well done for all of your hard work.

I look forward to seeing you in your next lesson.

Goodbye.