Lesson video

Hi, it's me, Ms. Henman.

We have a very exciting lesson plans today.

We're going to reread the same texts that we read yesterday.

We're going to look at some pictures and we're also going to do a little bit of writing.

Okay, let's get learning.

Let's go through our agenda for today.

First, we're going to reread the recounts and consider interviewee's experience.

Interviewee is the person who is being interviewed, which in this case is Len Phillips.

Then we're going to make inferences by looking at pictures.

Finally, we're going to write a diary entry from the perspective of the person who was interviewed.

So we're going to write a diary entry from Len Phillips's perspective.

In this lesson, you will need something to write with like a pencil or a pen, something to write on, for example, an exercise book or some paper.

And do you would also need your brain? Your brain will need a quiet space and no distractions.

So please make sure there's no music, no noise, and that your phone is turned off or far away.

Okay, thinking back, you can pause the video.

When was world war two? And I've given you three options.

Pause the video whilst you have a think, have you decided? 1939 to 1945, so it was just before the middle of the 20th century.

We're just going to revise some of our subject specific vocabulary that we looked at in the previous lesson.

Siren, your turn, tram, evacuated.

Okay, can you remember what any of those words mean? Wow, I've got some definitions here, but they're all jumbled up.

Do you think you can pause the video and see if you can match the correct word to the correct definition, off you go.

How did you get on? A good strategy for a question like this is to use a process of elimination.

So start by doing one you definitely know is correct, or you definitely know is incorrect.

So I remember that tram is a type of train, so I can link that really quickly.

Then we've got the word siren and I seem to remember that was something to do with noise, and evacuated, I've heard in modern day situations when we're talking about fire alarms. So I think that might help me as well.

A siren is a very loud alarm noise, which was sounded just before bombs were dropped to warn people to go to the air-raid shelters.

And typically these sirens were in cities because they're all populated areas.

Tram we know is a train, which leads us to the last one, the word evacuated.

Can you read out loud? Great, so who was being removed to work? Can you remember? Yes, children were being removed from cities or highly populated and dense areas, which were more typically bombed.

And they were moved out to the countryside in an attempt to keep these children safe.

Now, we're going to reread Len Phillips's recount and consider his experience.

I would like you to pause the video and reread this beginning bit, off you go.

Well done, you would have noticed that there's a bit in this blueish green colour.

I'll read it out loud.

There were quite a few hundred people there.

So where he used to sleep, there were a few hundred people.

What image does that create in your mind? Hmm, it made me think that the air-raid shelters or the underground areas might be quite cramped, which means when people are really close together and there isn't much space.

It also made me think that the air-raid shelters might be quite busy or overflowing with people.

I have put in this different colour four different things.

I want you to pause the video, read them and have a think about what these words make you think the experience might have been like for Len Phillips.

Before you pause the video, I'm going to show you my first one.

I think that people might have been scared, nervous, or apprehensive.

I want you have a go now at finding some of your own inferences, off you go.

What did you come up with? Well, it's interesting that we think people were scared and nervous and apprehensive.

There is evidence for that, for example, I think the siren itself would have been a bit scary, but you can see the next bit in the different colour, is the words you felt safe.

So I think there might be some sense of feeling safe temporarily.

So he felt safe in the tram and maybe like Phillips felt relieved to have made it to the air-raid shelter because if he was at his house and tucked up in his bed and then he had to spring out of bed and quickly gather all of his things and run down to the local underground, you might have felt a sense of relief to have arrived in time before the bomb started being dropped.

It was cold, so I think, my inference is that he might be cold.

And when it's cold, I know I find it really difficult to relax and to go to sleep.

So that was one thing that I thought might be an experience that Len Phillips had too.

Now, the last thing I thought is that when he was down in the air-raid shelter is maybe had different concerns.

So he seems to be worried about the water pipe bursting, but also he might be worried about the noise because if he's trying to sleep, that would be quite annoying.

And also he might sort of have a concern about being quite cramped and not able to move.

Okay, this time I'm going to read to you.

And we're going to work through the inferences from the words in different colours as we go.

They were the early days, so the spirit was quite good.

What inference can you make from this? We got on fairly well together and mucked in together.

pause the video and have a think, what inference can you make from those words? Did you come up with some ideas? I bet you did.

So some of mine is that if the spirit was good, maybe actually he starts to make some friends, they all got on fairly well, he started working as a team.

The Spirit's quite good, so maybe it was quite fun.

And maybe there was an element of that being comforting to him and reassuring.

Once the museum station had been made habitable, that means in livable conditions, we went down there most nights.

Hmm, what does that make you think? Pause the video and have a little bit of thinking time? It made me think that it was familiar that going down to the tube station to shelter was a familiar thing to do, and it was part of his routine.

So it says in the text, we went down there most nights and it being habitable, it was quite comfortable.

It was all right.

Okay, I'm going to read the next sentence.

The lift shaft was the washing facilities and toilets.

Hmm, they turned where the lift was into that place where people could wash.

What does that make you think? Yeah, it makes me think that too, that maybe the idea of steeping in a train track is awful, that he's kind of saying it was okay, it was habitable.

It was okay to sleep there, you could wash, you could go to the toilet.

So in a way it's familiar and it's a comforting place for him and it wasn't that bad.

Let's read the next sentence.

If the bombs were dropping, you could hear the bombs echo down the lift shaft.

What does that make you think? Imagine that you're trying to sleep and you can hear the bombs echoing down the lift shaft.

How would you feel? So you can hear those echoing bombs.

And I think that might make you feel a little bit scared and apprehensive, which we've already spoken about.

This time, I would like you to read this paragraph independently, and see if you can write down two inferences.

This time I would like you to read the paragraph and write down two inferences.

I want you to focus on the atmosphere.

to the feeling that Len Phillips may have experienced in the underground and also the time of year and the amount of time passed whilst he was sheltering general let's, off you go.

How did you get on, I reckon you've done really well.

I'm going to share with you my ideas.

So the first thing I thought was that I reckon the underground would have been quite noisy.

And it says in the text, the kids used to play.

So children playing is quite noisy.

And people were singing, and they had a little party.

So all of those things made me think it was quite noisy.

Also people would listen to Churchill prime minister and any other updates along about the war from the radio, which I said in the 1940s and 50s, they called a wireless.

So think this, the atmosphere would have been quite noisy and sometimes pretty fun.

People are playing singing and having parties that would have been quite a jovial experience.

I also made the inference that a long time had passed.

So we know that he went down every night, but also he's putting up Christmas decorations.

The bombing started in September on London.

So that's quite a long time for him to have experienced it.

And we've learned previously that actually the London blitz happened to the eight month.

So he's suggesting with his words, although he doesn't remember that clearly, that quite a lot of time had passed.

And he seems to think that after Christmas is when he was evacuated.

Hmm, what can you infer from this question? Pause the video and tell the screen.

Good answer, I think it's not just Len, but lots of people are asking themselves or asking each other, is it ever going to end? And in fact, if they kept listening to updates on the wireless from Churchill and about the war, they were probably eagerly anticipating that soon they might get news that the war was ending.

I think Len Phillips is also worried.

So he was getting fragile, he was asking himself this question, but in the last sentence, he said, but for years it was just one of those things we had to put up with.

So he is resigned, resigned? That means it's just a fact of life, and he knows there's nothing he could do about it.

So he's worried, but resigned to wait for the war to end, that he knows he just has to wait.

Now, we're going to make some inferences by looking at pictures.

I would like you to pause the video and study the picture and tell me what you can see.

Now, it's my turn.

I can see the lots of people in very close proximity to each other a little bit like sardines in a can.

Have you ever eaten sardines? I think if I was in this underground air-raid shelter that I might feel like I was one of those sardines in a camp, cause I was in really close proximity to other people and we were all lying down like that, and it's very cramped.

I can also see a range of ages, in the, I can see a baby.

What would you hear throughout the night if there was a baby? Yeah, it's going to be crying.

So if you were in this area trying to sleep, you're going to be woken up by that baby crying and you're not going to get a very good night sleep.

I can see notice like there's a woman knitting or sewing.

So she's trying to keep herself busy and occupied.

that makes me think that maybe, being down there was a bit boring.

And so people took activities and tried to keep themselves entertained.

I can see that some people are smiling, now, I don't really know why, it might be that they were smiling because they were having their photo taken.

And when we have our photos taken, we just go, or it might be that they were enjoying themselves or trying to cheer themselves up and have a good time.

And Len Phillip says account, back to the top, He tells us that people did say that data parties and children did play.

So there was an attempt to make themselves feel more positive.

I can also see it looks quite unorganised to people have hung up their coats.

I'm wondering, when do you think this was? What time of the night do you think this was? I was thinking, it could be early evening because people haven't gone to sleep yet.

They're not tucked up, they don't have blankets around them.

So maybe they'd gone down because it was dark in London.

And so it was a time where London was likely to get bombed, but it wasn't yet time to go to sleep.

This photo on the other hand, shows me a similar amount of people and they are all really lying very close to each other, but they're tucked up.

So they all have their blankets and they're in maybe next to their family members or their friends, but it looks like they're all trying to get some sleep there.

So I think one of the photos shows what it would be like earlier in the evening.

And one of the photos shows the underground shelter, what it might be much later on in the dead of night.

So at 4:00 AM for example, but that's just my idea.

I want you to pause the video and study this photo and tell me what you can see.

So I can see a lot of destroyed houses and debris.

I can see four people sitting on a bench, two of who are children, in fact there are five because one of the older people is holding a baby.

One of the children is sitting on a woman's lap, maybe his or her mother and the other child looks really tired, is holding his or her eye and also holding his or her teddy bear.

I'm wondering, I'm thinking that might be their house behind them that was destroyed, and they've got nowhere to go, but maybe the little child has recovered their teddy bear.

I can see in the background, five people looking like they're trying to make a bit safe for that house so that it doesn't keep falling down and maybe hurt someone else.

And maybe that also trying to recover some of the people's belongings.

What can you see here? I can see a fire being put out.

And in fact, the caption of this photo tells us what it is.

It was taken by the fire brigade in the second world war.

Now, when do you think this photo was taken? I agree, I think it was taken in the middle of the night or at night time, whereas the other photo was taken in the morning.

So after a night of bombing.

So if you were Len Phillips or a child in the air-raid shelter, what might you be thinking is happening outside? I think I would be wondering if my house was going to get bombed that night.

I think I would be wondering if I had family members who were in the fire brigade, whether they're okay, whether they're busy and whether they're safe.

I think these would be some of my worries and some of my concerns.

Now, we're going to think about writing a diary entry.

So what do you already know about diary entries? What features do you typically find in a diary? Here's what I thought of.

It's always written in the first person.

Can you mind map everything you know about diaries now? Pause the video, off you go.

Now I'm going to show you what I know are features of diary entry.

So first person that means I and me.

So today I went to the shops or today I sheltered in an underground shelter.

In a diary entry, you have a range of tenses.

You have the past tense, when you're telling your diary what you did that day, you have the present tense when you are telling your diary, what you're doing right now.

So right now I'm huddled together with my mom and younger brother, and we are listening to the wireless before bed in the underground shelter.

And then you might have the future tense.

When you were telling your diary, all the things you are thinking about for the future or worried out.

So it could be a sentence like, I really hope that tomorrow morning we will go home and our house will be safe.

So the future tense there was, we'll be safe.

And often when you're talking about the future, you're talking about hopes and dreams or worries.

Diary entries are usually personal and they express emotions and worries.

And the way they do that might be with show not tell I'm sure you've heard this in some of your writing lessons, but in example of show not tell is rather than saying I was scared, you might say, I felt a shiver run down my spine.

That shows the reader that you were scared rather than telling the reader that.

Diary entries can be informal, so that means they can have contractions.

They can use apostrophes to combine two words.

So cannot becomes can't.

This is my example of a diary entry written from the perspective of a child in world war two, I'm using lend Phillips's account to inspire my diary entry.

What's the date I've written.

Yeah, the 20th of December, 1939.

So that would have been the first year of world war two.

And it's in that period where there's eight months of continuous bombing in London and it's five days before Christmas.

So what might be happening? Oh yeah, people might be starting to make decorations.

We always start our diary entries with dear diary comma.

And you need a capital letter for both dear and for diary.

And I can already see, I've put a contraction in my first sentence rather than I am I've written I'm.

I'm going to read to you my first, In fact, it's just one sentence.

Wow, okay, I'm going to read you my first sentence.

I'm writing from the shelter again.

And although the sound of the siren often haunts my dreams and the sound of the bombs, adequate down lift shaft sends shivers down my spine.

I must've met and starting to feel at home here.

Now, I could have put a full stop in there.

I've chosen to extend the sentence with a dash because the next sentence is closely linked.

I also just want to talk a little bit about the content of that first part.

So I'm telling my diary about all those things that put my dreams or make me feel anxious.

So the sounds of the bombs and the sound of the siren, but I'm also telling my diary, that thing that Len Phillips told us is that actually the underground is quite a familiar place now.

So I wrote, I must admit and starting to feel at home here.

I wouldn't have thought that four months ago when it all started.

So what I'm telling my diary is when did this all started, this bombing in September, I wouldn't have even believed that I could have felt at home in an underground shelter, but here I am.

I'm starting a new paragraph.

So my first paragraph I'm telling my diary where I am currently.

So I'm using the present tense and a bit of the past tense.

Now, I'm going to tell my diary what I've done that evening.

Tonight, my family and I came down at 5:00 PM to eat and get ready for bed before the bombing started, it's actually been a cheery evening, dot, dot, dot.

So then I could continue to tell my diary what I've done that evening.

So we've eaten, they've got ready for bed, but we've been busy doing other things as well, and that's all going to be in the past tense.

What might they be busy doing? Playing, singing, making Christmas decorations.

These are some of the things that you need to think about whilst you're writing your diary entry.

Where are you? How long have you been there? So my diary entry, I was in the average shelter and I'd been there throughout the evening.

What could you hear? What can you see? So I've said that in the past, I could hear the sirens of the bombs, but I might really focus in what I can hear that evening and what I could see, it might be children playing, it might be the wireless.

Who am I with? Am I with my family? Have I met any friends down there? What are you thinking about? Are you worried about anything? So you might be thinking about your house, Is it going to be okay.

Will you find it in the same place tomorrow.

Will it have been destroyed.

Are you worried about anything, you might, just Len Phillips did, be asking yourself, when is this going to end? I've also given you a word bank.

So these are some of our subjects specific words or words that I think you might use in your writing today.

And you might need a little bit of help the spelling.

You can pause the video on this page and start your diary entry.

Remembering, it needs to start off with dear diary.

I think this task is going to take you at least 15 minutes.

It's an opportunity for you to show how much you have learned about the blades and people's experience in London, just via reading.

Okay, you can start writing now.

Pause the video, good luck.

Wow, I cannot wait to seeing some of that writing.

Congratulations, you have worked incredibly hard this lesson.

I cannot believe all of that writing and your really, really good diary entries.

It just shows that from reading you can learn and understand and empathise with someone else's position, that is incredible.

You might want to show your work to your parents and cameras, and don't forget if you haven't asked them about how their family, how their relations, that time of the war.

You might want to do that too.