Lesson video

Hello, it's Ms. Henman.

Today we are going to be reading and learning about Walter Tull's career in football.

I know some of you are football fans, but I also know some of you aren't.

Don't worry if you're not, because it's still super interesting and definitely worth the read.

Okay, let's get going.

Let's go through our agenda for today.

First, we're going to look at the contents page.

Then we're going to look at Walter Tull's early football career.

After that we will look at Walter Tull's professional football career, and finally, we will reflect upon Walter Tull's experience in football.

In this lesson, you will need something to write with.

For example, a pencil or a pen, something to write on.

For example, an exercise book or a piece of paper, and you will need your best learning brain.

To help your learning brain, you are going to need a quiet space.

So can you pause the video and make sure you've got all of those things ready? Okay, let's get going.

We are reading about Walter's football career.

What page do you think we'll be looking at? So I want you to examine the contents page.

What page will we be turning to in our book? You can pause the video if you need to, whilst you have a look.

Are we going to be looking at page four? Mnmn.

Are we going to be looking at page six? Mnmn.

That was in his time in the orphanage.

Are we going to be looking at page seven? No, because I think that page was also about the home.

So we're going to be turning to page eight.

Fantastic.

We're also going to be reading page nine because that is about his football career.

And then we'll be looking at page 10, which is Walter Tull's time at a football club, called Tottenham Hotspurs.

Can you read the date please? Excellent, so his early football career, this period of time that we are looking at, spanned nine years.

Can you read this paragraph out loud? Before you do that, there's a word in there that I thought you might not know, which is, digs.

Digs is a synonym for accommodation or a place to sleep or a place to live.

So can you pause the video and read those first two paragraphs? Off you go.

Fantastic reading.

So my first question is, which football club did he write a letter to? You can pause the video whilst you look back, or you might already know.

Can you say it out loud please? Correct, Clapton Football Club and he's capitalised it, which makes me as the reader think that he was really excited about it.

That it was a big deal for him, which is why he wrote it in capital letters.

We are still looking at these first two paragraphs.

And I have two questions for you.

Why was the letter difficult to write? And, does this tell us anything about him? So the fact that he found it a really difficult letter to write, does it tell us anything about him? I want you to pause the video whilst you reread that second paragraph and you consider those questions.

Off you go please.

I wonder what you are thinking.

Here are some options.

Is it that he found it difficult to write because he hadn't written many letters before? Is it because he really wants to play there and really cares? Or, is it because he finds reading and writing difficult and cares what the club thinks of his education? Again, you might want to re-pause the video and look at the extract at the bottom of the screen and focus really carefully on what the text actually tells us.

Off you go.

Okay, do you have an answer? Which one do you think it is? Can you point to the screen please? Alright, lets find out.

So I think it's because he really wants to play at Clapton and really cares about being offered a trial.

Now, my reason for this is in the text.

It says, I wrote it over and over again until I got it right.

So, that makes me think that he really cared about the final product of the letter being excellent.

Now, that could be because he hasn't written letters before.

It could be because he doesn't feel competent in his reading and writing, and it could be because he really cares.

So my next clue is on the next line, which is, then it took some nerve to post it.

So, he found it a really challenging thing to go and post it because he was so nervous.

And why was he nervous? Because he cared so much.

He really wants to play there.

With a question like this, we might think that all of these answers could be correct.

However, we have to look really carefully in the text itself to be certain of the answer.

We can't just think about what we know.

So I know that some people do find it difficult to read and write, and maybe that's why it's challenging.

But we're not told that in the text.

And so it can't be the right answer.

We have to look really carefully for that word nerve, here.

This is a fantastic activity that we're going to be doing throughout the lesson.

It is an activity taken from a company called Just Imagine, and they have created this emotions chart.

Now you can see at the very top of the chart, we've got positive emotions to someone feeling really positive and happy.

And at the bottom of the chart, we've got negative emotions.

Now, our first event that we just read about was Walter Tull writing to Clapton, asking for a trial.

And you can see I've put that on the bottom of the chart, along the events axes.

Now, how do you think Walter was feeling when he wrote this letter? Was he feeling really positive or was he feeling really negative? Was he feeling a bit neutral? What do you think? Pause the video and have a think.

So, I think he's feeling somewhere in between.

He's not feeling negative because he's feeling hopeful that they might accept him for a trial.

But he's not feeling really positive because he is nervous.

He doesn't know if he's going to get one.

So he is hopeful, which brings him up, but he's nervous, that brings him down on the chart.

So that is where I have placed this event.

If you would like to join in with this activity at home, you could pause the video now and draw this chart.

We are going to look at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 events in his football career.

So you will need to have space for six events.

If you aren't able to draw this chart at home, that is okay because I will be doing it on the screen.

But you will have to think and help me place each event as we go.

We are still looking at the same page, but a different paragraph.

So I would like you to read the paragraph that the arrow is pointing to.

Before you pause the video and do that, I would like to teach you a new word that I think you might not know.

My turn, your turn.

Amateur.

I didn't hear you.

Amateur.

Excellent.

An amateur is a person who does a job and isn't paid for it.

So, Walter Tull is an amateur football player.

That means he plays football, but he isn't paid for it.

The antonym, so a word that is the opposite in meaning, is professional.

So he isn't yet a professional football player.

If he was a professional football player, he would be paid for this job.

Okay, can you pause the video now and read this paragraph? Fantastic reading.

Now I have a task for you.

Can you write down two adjectives to describe how Walter Tull might have felt at this point in his career? So we need two precise adjectives.

Can you pause the video as you do that, please? I wonder what you wrote and if we came up with the same adjectives.

I'm going to share the two that I came up with, with you.

The first one is a word that you may not know.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Ecstatic.

Ecstatic.

It means overwhelming happiness or joy.

So you might feel ecstatic if you've been training really hard for a running race and you win it.

You might feel ecstatic if you really wanted a puppy, your whole life and then you were given one.

It's when you feel so happy and so joyful, you don't know what to do with yourself.

You feel overwhelmed.

And I think Walter Tull might be feeling ecstatic at this point in his career.

Why? Because they want him and he has wanted this for so long.

He loves football.

He wrote this letter.

He was really eager that they gave him a trial.

And then they did.

You can steal and magpie my adjective if you want to write that down.

And you can also write down the definition because it might be a useful adjective later on or in your writing.

Okay, my second adjective is, proud.

I think he might be feeling quite proud of himself.

I think he's feeling proud of himself because this is a big achievement.

And also, it says the last line says, I'm training hard and making lots of progress.

And I know in my life, if I've worked really hard for something and I make progress, that I feel quite proud of myself.

And I'm sure you have experienced that before in your life with your learning.

You work really hard and you make amazing progress in your learning.

Okay, let's look at our emotions chart.

So far, we have tracked one event, which is when he wrote to Clapton FC asking for a trial.

The event that we just read about was, Walter was asked to join Clapton FC as one of their players.

Now, how do you think he's feeling? We just said he was feeling ecstatic and proud.

Are they positive emotions or negative emotions, or somewhere in between, those neutral emotions? What do you think? Hmm, maybe you can help me then.

So, should I put the event here? Is it similar to Walter writing to Clapton FC? Or, do you think it's more negative than that and it should be down here? Or do you think it should be higher up? Tell me where to stop? Here.

Going to have to say it louder, I can't hear you from over there.

Here.

I can't hear you.

Okay.

This is where I thought.

Walter was asked to join Clapton FC as one of their players.

I think it's a more positive event than the previous one.

He asked for this thing and then he got it.

So I think the fact that he was feeling ecstatic and proud is a more positive emotion than when he was feeling hopeful and a little bit nervous.

Excellent.

We are still on the same page, but this time I would like you to pause the video and read the paragraph in the pink.

Can you do that now please? Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic.

And it's written in chronological order.

So that means time order that the events happened.

The first thing was in October, 1908, then December, 1908.

And then we go into the new year.

The first question for you is, when was Walter's first match? This is a retrieval question.

Can you see it? If not, pause the video and have a look really carefully.

When was it? Say it louder.

The first trial match was in October, 1908.

Excellent retrieving, well done.

And what was the score? 6-1.

So his team won, that's fantastic.

Can you read the question I've just put up on the screen please? How do you think his career is going? Find evidence to support your answer? Do you think his career is going well? Do you think he is feeling sad about his career? What do you think? Pause the video, find the evidence and then have a think.

Off you go.

So I think it's going really well.

Do you agree? Thumbs up, thumbs down.

So I'm going to tell you why I think it's going really well, and tell you the evidence that I have found from the text.

So, the first piece of evidence is in the top line.

That score of 6-1 is an incredible score.

To win that, if I was playing in that football team, I'd feel really proud of myself that I was part of the team.

Then October, November, December.

So a few months later he played for the first team.

So that's, in a club you might have different teams and it's the top team.

So I think, again, that's really successful, isn't it? And by the following year, he's a regular player and they win everything.

And then it lists all the things that he and his team have won.

So I think his career so far is pretty successful.

We are continuing to read about his early football career.

So we're still in that period of 1900 to 1908 and now something changes.

I'm going to read this paragraph to you.

Can you track with your eyes please? The newspapers are beginning to notice me, and some of the big football clubs have noticed me too.

In April, Tottenham Hotspur asked me to try for their reserve team against West Ham and then Brighton.

What a chance.

I did well.

So then I played for Spurs again in a friendly, and they have asked me to go on tour with them, to South America.

For two whole months! In 1909, I set off on an enormous ship for a football tour of South America.

Argentina and Uruguay.

And then there's an image of a ship.

And he has written, imagine me a big star on a big ship, going to Argentina.

And then very top right-hand corner, can you track your eyes up to the top right-hand corner? Walter Tull and his clever footwork is undoubtedly the catch of the season.

And that's in inverted commas which means it's a quote.

Who was it who wrote that quote? Correct, it's a newspaper.

And it's an extract from the newspaper, which is called London Football Star.

And so we know that football clubs are noticing him.

And that is one of the quotes from the newspapers who also were noticing him at the same time.

Our third event, Walter was asked to join Tottenham Hotspur, and to go on tour.

Do you think he was feeling positive emotions, negative emotions, somewhere in between? Show me.

Hmm, interesting.

Do you think he is feeling more positive than when he was asked to join Clapton FC? You do? Interesting.

Let's see where I place this event on the chart then.

So I've placed it a little bit higher.

I also think that he's feeling maybe more positive emotions than he was before, because it seems that his career is going from strength to strength.

And I think he'd be feeling really proud and really confident that he is improving and he's becoming a more well-known and successful football player.

If you are doing this activity at home, you can pause the video now and draw the rest of your chart and add in these events.

Now we are going to read about Walter Tull's professional football career.

So this means he's now going to be paid to play football.

I am going to read this to you.

Whilst I'm reading it to you, you can have to think about the question on the screen.

Was there anything that surprised you? Please track with your eyes as I read.

On 20th of July, 1909, I signed for Tottenham Hotspur.

They say I'm the first Black British professional outfield player.

I got a signing on fee.

10 pounds, 10 whole pounds, and a wage of four pounds a week.

This is the maximum and they gave it to me.

While waiting for the football season to start, I played cricket.

It's a good way to spend a sunny day.

The Spurs players took on the Chelsea team and I scored a good number of runs and took a couple of wickets.

We footballers liked to play cricket in the off season.

So, pause the video.

You can reread it, if you would like to.

Is there anything that surprised you from this extract? Pause the video and have a think.

So, I think there were two things that surprised me.

It says in the text, I'm the first Black British professional outfield player.

Now that really surprised me because when I watched football today in the Premier League, there are so many people of different ethnic backgrounds.

And so I found it quite surprising that Walter Tull was the first professional Black player.

The other thing that surprised me is how much he is being paid.

How much was he being paid to play football? Pause the video and reread the text.

He had a signing on fee, which was 10 pounds, and he's written an exclamation mark and he's written in capital letters.

And a wage, so that means a salary of four pounds a week.

Do you think that's a lot of money or a little amount of money? Hmm, well, I think today it's not very much money.

But I think for Walter Tull, it was a lot of money.

Which is why he's written it in capital letters.

And, given it an exclamation mark.

What does his pay suggest about how Tottenham felt about Walter? Reread and have a think.

Did Tottenham really want him? Or were they just thinking he's quite a good player, maybe we'll take him on? Pause the video, reread and have a think.

I think it suggests that Tottenham really wanted to hire and sign on Walter Tull.

Because it's the maximum wage that they paid at the time, and they gave it, it says, to him.

So if it's the maximum, they can offer him and that is what they gave to him.

It makes me think that they thought he was an excellent football player and really wanted him on their team.

Okay, let's look at our emotions chart.

Walter signed for Tottenham Hotspur professionally.

Do you think this is more positive than the event before or less positive, and why? Pause the video and say it out loud, please.

Off you go.

Okay now it's my turn.

I think Walter Tull would have felt more positive emotions than the previous event.

I think that because he is now a professional football player, rather than an amateur football player.

This means he's being paid, but also it means that people are acknowledging that he is a really talented football player.

So I think he is going to feel more positive.

And so I have put the event there on my emotions chart.

What do you notice about the shape of these events on our emotions chart? Are they going up? So, that suggests that Walter Tull's life and his feelings about his life are growing more and more and more positive.

So it seems that he's having a really successful and positive career so far.

I would like you to pause the video and read this small extract, which is about Walter's first match.

Off you go.

And my question is, what was the score? This is a retrieval question.

So you should be able to find the answer in the text.

If you'd like to pause the video, you may.

Ah, the final score was 2-2.

So both teams scored two goals, which means it was a draw.

So, where do you think this first match against Manchester United would go on the emotions chart? Do you think it's as high up, do you think it's a little bit lower down? What do you think? Pause the video and explain why you think that.

Off you go.

Now it's my turn.

I moved this event much further down on the emotions chart.

It's almost level to when Walter was writing his letter to Clapton FC.

And I think that's because at this point, Walter would have been feeling a range and a mix of emotions.

I think he would have been feeling a bit nervous that in his first match, they didn't manage to secure a win.

And I think he would have been apprehensive that that may have reflected upon him.

However, a draw is fairly neutral.

It's not a loss.

If they'd lost, I would have moved the event much further down.

So I think he would have felt that relief and a bit more neutral because at least they secured a draw.

They both teams got two goals.

If you're doing this at home, you can fill in your emotions chart now.

Now we are going to read more about Walter Tull's professional football career.

And at this point, really sadly, he experienced some racism whilst he was playing football.

So I'm going to go through some vocabulary that I imagine you've heard in school before.

But just to familiarise you with it.

Prejudice.

A prejudice is an opinion that is not based on reason or experience.

So if someone is prejudice, they have a viewpoint that isn't based on experience and it's not rational.

My turn, your turn.

Discrimination.

Discrimination is the unfair treatment of different groups of people.

So if you're treating people unfairly based on a person's characteristics, then you are discriminating against them.

And finally, racism.

Racism is discrimination or hatred directed against someone of a different race.

I'm going to read this to you.

I had a terrible time at the Bristol match.

Every time I got the ball, the crowd broke into jeers and insults about my skin colour.

It was hard to carry on, but I made it to the end of the game.

A journalist wrote about the match in the London Football Star.

And then there's an extract of that newspaper article.

So it seems like the match was difficult for Walter and this wasn't because the opposition was really strong, rather it was because of the racism that he experienced from the crowd.

And now I'm going to read to you what the journalist wrote.

Now, remember this was written over a hundred years ago, so some of the language is a little bit different and that's okay if we don't understand all of the words in there.

Football and Colour Prejudice.

Tull is the Hotspur's most brainy forward.

Candidly, he has much to contend with on his account of his colour.

His tactics were absolutely beyond reproach, but he became the butt of ignorant partisan.

A section of the spectators made a cowardly attack upon him in a language lower than Billingsgate.

Let me tell the Bristol hooligans that Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football.

Tull was the best forward on the field.

So the crowd were racist towards Walter Tull because of his skin colour, because of his ethnic background.

The journalist on the other hand, did not show racism and instead referred to the crowd as hooligans.

A hooligan shows disrespectful, unlawful and bullying behaviour.

And that is what these hooligans, the crowd did whilst Walter Tull was playing at Bristol.

My next question for you is, how does the journalist praise Walter Tull? Before you have a think about that question, I'm just going to tell you about one word.

Reproach.

My turn, your turn, reproach.

It means disapproval.

So I'd like you to pause the video and look through the extract from the newspaper report and see how the journalist praises Walter Tull.

I think you might find two or three pieces of evidence where he is praising Walter Tull.

Can you pause the video and do that now? I'm going to show you what I found now.

He described him as brainy.

So a foreword is his football position.

And he's saying that he's the most brainy forward.

So he's the most intelligent forward on the pitch.

His tactics, so how he played, were absolutely beyond reproach.

So they couldn't be disapproved.

They were so fantastic that no one could suggest that his tactics and how he played wasn't good.

He is so clean in mind and method has to be a model for all white men who play football.

So he, this journalist is saying that how he thinks and how he plays football is so excellent everyone else should have a look at how he plays.

And finally, he's the best forward.

Okay, so we've got our last event that we're going to read about in Walter Tull's football career for today.

And that event is Walter played against Bristol, and we just read what happened whilst he was playing that match.

Where do you think this event is going to go on our emotions chart? Can you pause the video, point to the place, and then say why? Off you go.

Okay, so I think it's going to be quite low down.

I think he's going to be feeling quite sad and quite negative because of the racism that he endured.

So I put it all the way at the bottom.

Congratulations on completing your lesson.

And I really look forward to teaching you next time.

Have a fantastic day.

Bye.