Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name is Ms. Smith and welcome to our new unit "Rabbit-Proof Fence." In this unit, we will use film clips, short clips from the film "Rabbit-Proof Fence" to support our writing outcomes.

And there are some sensitive topics touched on in this unit, and so you might want to make sure that you have a trusted adult nearby to support you while you're working through these lessons.

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

To start the lesson today, we will review tense level work before exploring the context of the film this unit is based on.

And finally, you'll complete a task related to this at the end of the lesson.

And so today, you'll need an exercise book or some paper to write on, a pencil to write with, and make sure you have a quiet space and a good place to work where you're able to concentrate and use your brain for the whole of the lesson.

Okay, so first, we'll start by checking our understanding of the present progressive tense.

Can you just think to yourself for a moment of what it means to write in the present progressive tense? Okay, hopefully you've had a think.

Well, the present progressive tense is used for an ongoing action in the present.

Here's an example.

They are painting the fence.

In this example, we have the helping verb, the auxiliary verb, in the present tense, are, and our main verb ends I-N-G.

When the verb ends in I-N-G, it's a really good way to spot the progressive tense.

What then does it mean to write in the past progressive tense? Can you pause and have a think? Well, the past progressive is used for an ongoing action in the past.

And so in our example on screen, are, the helping verb, is replaced with were to indicate the past tense.

They were painting the fence and actually they might still be painting the fence.

It might be something that was happening and is still ongoing.

So what we'll do now is look at converting the examples onscreen from the present progressive to the past progressive, or in one example, working other way.

So two examples in the present progressive tense: She is laughing.

They are fighting.

What would they be if they're working in the past progressive? And the final example, I was going, can you think and rewrite that in the present progressive tense? You should pause and do that now.

Okay, we're going to have a look at these, and so you might use another pencil or pen to go through these examples as I share them on screen.

She is laughing becomes she was laughing.

That helping verb moves from the present to the past tense.

And our main verb laughing still ends I-N-G.

They are fighting becomes they were fighting.

Are becomes were.

And then in the final example, We're working from the past progressive, I was going, and in the present, I am going.

Well done if you managed to work through all three of those.

We're now going to look at the context of the film this unit is based on.

And in this unit, we will use clips from the film "Rabbit-Proof Fence" to support our writing.

And here onscreen, you can see two different versions of the front cover of the film.

And what we're going to do is have a think about these front covers for a little while to start off with.

We're going to think specifically what might you infer from the film cover title images, and then for you to think about whether you have any questions about the film that hopefully will be answered during the unit.

So let's think first about that first question.

What might you infer, what might you work out from the images on the front covers? You should pause and think about that.

You might even note down some ideas on your paper now.

Now that you've done that, perhaps stop and think whether you have any questions about the images that you can see on those covers.

If you need to pause the video for longer and resume when you finished, then that's absolutely fine.

We're going to look now about what perhaps you might have inferred from these images.

And so this image on the left with two girls, one being carried, perhaps suggests an element of struggle and hardship for the girls that we can see.

At the top of the cover, we can see the line "1500 miles is a long way home." And so perhaps a hint at the story we might find out about through this unit.

And the image on the right-hand side, we can see actually there are three girls shown.

And the title "Rabbit-Proof Fence," I wondered, does it suggest a real fence? Is a rabbit-proof fence for real thing? And there's even some barbed wire above and below the title "Rabbit-Proof Fence" in those title images.

You might have other ideas, you have lots of ideas written down, some other questions, and hopefully we'll be able to answer those during the units as we work through.

We're now going to look at some important information about the plot.

And so this will help us to understand some of the video clips that we use and the story behind some of our writing.

So the "Rabbit-Proof Fence" is based on a true story, and it's from 1931, so about 80 years ago.

At that time in Australia, where the story is set, the government policy included taking children from certain mixed-race families away from their mothers.

So at that time in 1931, government policy allowed for that to happen.

And there is a very long rabbit-proof fence in this story, a real fence that was built at the time to separate rabbits from the settlements.

Because they would eat crops that were being grown, and so this fence was built to prevent them getting through to towns and settlements and disrupting the farmland and things that were being grown.

So three important points, and to know that this is based on a true story So then there's three characters that we saw on the front cover.

These three characters are really important to this story, and to our writing in this unit.

And their names are Molly, Gracie, and Daisy, and you can see a picture of each them on the screen now.

And there's a blue box around Molly and a blue box around Daisy because Molly and Daisy are sisters, and Gracie is their cousin.

So they're related to one another and we find them together in this film throughout Okay, so we have two parts to our task today.

The first is on the screen now.

Can you add any extra details to your notes? So we've explored the location of this story, the characters and the plot, and all of that's really important.

And so if you need to note down any extra details in your notes, then that's your task to do now.

When you've done that, can you make any comparisons to any other stories that you know? Perhaps you've read a story that might have a connection to one element of the context that we've looked at today.

You should note that down as well.

So pause and complete that part of the task before we move on.

Well done.

And then finally, which of these adjectives might we infer about the girls? So you've seen them on the front cover of the film.

We know a little bit about the plot.

I wonder whether you might infer from the table of adjectives those that might be used to describe the three girls in this story.

And you might even be able to add in some of your own adjectives to the list.

So the table below, we have: determined, resilient, weak, bold, heroic, lazy, mean, courageous, and brave.

Can you pause and think which of these might be used to describe the three girls based on what we know about the story so far? Okay, well done.

We're now going to have a look and see which of those on the table I believe we might be able to use, and we might use these later units to describe the girls in our writing.

So there we go, you might describe them as determined, resilient, bold, heroic, courageous, and brave.

So you might add some of these adjectives to your notes as well, so that you have them for later in this unit.

Congratulations! That's the end of the first lesson of this new unit.

In the lesson today, we've reviewed tense with present and past progressive tense.

We've begun to explore the context of the film this new unit is based on, and your task today allowed you to process lots of that new information around this new film.

So I really hope you enjoyed that first lesson of this new unit, and well done for working so hard throughout that lesson today.