Lesson video

Hello, how are you all? I am Miss Eden and we are going to be reading Animal Farm together over the next few lessons.

I'm really, really excited to be teaching this.

It's something that I find really interesting and I'm sure that you guys will too.

We will start off by looking at the writer of Animal Farm.

So here's a guy called George Orwell, very, very famous and we're going to find out some more about both him and his life as well as his writing.

And perhaps most importantly, what was going on around him at the time he wrote Animal Farm.

It's really important that we understand why the writer chooses to write something.

And with George Orwell, he always gives us loads to think about.

So when you're ready, I would try and find somewhere that's quiet that you can concentrate.

If you haven't got anywhere like that, then just try and find somewhere that you can at least listen to the rest of the lesson and make sure you grab whatever you need.

When you're ready, let's get started.

Brilliant, well done for finding somewhere quiet or somewhere that you can work and concentrate.

This is just another opportunity for you to pause the video and make sure you have something to write with and something to write on if you need to.

If you've already got those things or as soon as you do have those things, we can get started.

So as you know the title of this lesson is who is George Orwell.

And we know that he is the writer of Animal Farm, the story that we'll be reading and exploring together.

This lesson we will find out a lot more about him and in order to do that there's some new vocabulary that we need to begin with.

Some of you might know these words already, but they are words that are very important for us to truly understand who Orwell was both as a man and a writer.

So we're going to begin with looking at new vocabulary.

We'll then move on to look at the background of George Orwell.

So where did he come from, what were his family like, et cetera, to truly understand what kind of man he was.

And finally, you will have an exit quiz.

This quiz is just an opportunity for you to really reflect on what you've learned in the lesson that will then allow you to be able to move on to lesson two feeling really confident and you can build on all of the knowledge that is going to be in your head by the end of the lesson.

So our first piece of new vocabulary is the word Liberty.

It would be wonderful if you could now repeat liberty back at the screen.

So after me, liberty.

Once more liberty.

Beautifully said, well done.

So the word liberty, this is a noun.

It is naming something.

Liberty means the state of being free in society with no one else controlling your life, behaviour or political views.

Simplifying that we could explain liberty as being free.

If you have liberty it means you have the freedom to make your own decisions in your life.

Please try your best to not confuse this with doing whatever you want.

So liberty, yes, it is being free to make your own decisions.

However, that does not mean that you can break the law, et cetera, it simply means that any decision in your life is yours to make, you control your own life.

There are some examples of liberty being used in sentences on the screen in front of you.

Number one, Martin Luther King fought for the liberty of black people in America.

So the civil rights movement in the 1960s in the United States, saw Martin Luther King trying to fight to allow black people to be able to be free, to make their own life decisions, not being controlled by things such as segregation in the government.

Number two, true liberty is having the power to make your own choices.

Again, what we've just explained, liberty is making your own decisions.

And finally number three, the more knowledge we discover, the more liberty we have.

This is the argument that the more we know about the world and the more we understand about the world, we are more free to make decisions because we have a really clear understanding, okay? Imagine you've got two bags in front of you and someone says to you, "Go on, you're free to choose a bag, you can take it home and you can keep it." Great, you have liberty 'cause you're allowed to choose a bag.

However, if you knew what was inside those bags, you would have more liberty, you are more free to choose because the decision you make, would be an informed decision.

You would choose the bag that you wanted the most.

So the more knowledge you have about things, the more you discover, the more liberty you will have in life.

Here's a quick activity for you to do to just double-check your understanding of the word liberty.

Which of the options below is the most accurate definition of liberty? We have in the first pink box, the right to say whatever you want about any topic.

In the second pink box we have freedom to make your own decisions in your life without control.

And in the third box we have freedom to behave in any way with no law.

So pause the video here, take your time.

When you've selected the most accurate definition of liberty press play and we'll get started again.

Excellent work, I'm sure all of you managed to do that perfectly and chose the green box in the middle, freedom to make your own decisions in your life without control.

Now, if you weren't quite sure on that and you went for one of the other options, it's really important that you understand why you maybe struggled with that question a little.

So the two incorrect answers are talking about freedom, yes, but not about liberty.

Liberty is still staying within the law.

Liberty is being able to make your own decisions.

So think about it as your own decision more than how you behave.

Here's a quote from George Orwell himself, "If Liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." Interesting, so this has given us a clue about the kind of thoughts and feelings George Orwell had and what caused him to write about things that were important to him.

So essentially what this quote means is that, if liberty means anything, it means that you can say what people might not agree with.

So even if the thing that you are saying is something that someone else doesn't agree with or doesn't feel comfortable with, liberty means you can still have that opinion.

Think about in your classroom at school, I'm sure many of you will have had so many conversations particularly in your English lessons, history lessons, maybe your ARI lessons where you've discussed things that not everyone in the room agrees with and yet you're still allowed to share your opinion because we have liberty.

So George Orwell was very, very passionate about people being able to express themselves, being able to share their thoughts and opinions and that everyone could do that.

It was available to everyone.

Let's move on to our second piece of vocabulary.

This new word is colonisation and we'll definitely do a bit of practising with this one as it's a little bit longer than the previous word.

So repeat after me, colonisation.

I want to hear some more shouting at the screen.

Repeat after me colonisation.

Beautifully done, I'm sure there was lots of shouting all over the place with that.

So colonisation is a noun.

It's the action or the process of settling among and taking control of an area.

We've also got on the screen, just underneath the definition the verb, which is to colonise.

So you might recognise the verb more than the noun.

The best example I can give you to explain this is in sentence number one, the colonisation of the Americas began in the 16th century.

Now, the United States of America as we know it today is obviously American and that's what we see it as.

However, in the 16th century, the United States of America was made up of many, many, many different tiny little countries where Native Americans already lived.

So there were people already on the land before anyone else got there.

And what happened was a lot of European people found this giant country, this giant piece of land and they colonised it.

So they arrived, they settled there, they thought, "Well, yeah, this land looks pretty good.

I can build on it, I can grow food on it, there's loads of space for us.

Yeah, we like it here, we'll stay here." So they started to settle and then they discovered that there are people already there and they think, "Hold on, there are people already on this wonderful land but I want to keep this wonderful land." And that's where the taking control comes in.

So the Europeans who arrived in the Americas settled because they wanted to live there and then they took control.

And often that control results in violence.

Sometimes it can be friendly, but it's very rare and it often has to be taken by violence.

So number two is a more recent example of colonisation, India was colonised after Britain realised how much wealth the country had.

So we're talking about within the last 100 years, okay? So this isn't that long ago that Britain, some British people visited India realised how much opportunity there was to make money with the things in the country that they could farm and sell and so Britain decided, "Oh yeah, we like it here, we'll stay here." But then they took control of it as well.

So the Indian people had to follow all of the rules that British people put into place.

India was colonised.

It was under British rule, even though it was their country.

And then number three is similar to the Indian example because this is also fairly recent, colonisation left African countries dependent on other nations.

So Africa, a huge continent used to be made up of again, many, many, many different countries similar to the Americas and Europeans came over, discovered how much diamond and gold and all of this amazing stuff was there and they decided to settle, take control and then African people had to follow the rules of European people.

So colonisation is all about the actual process of settling and then taking control of, okay? It's really important that you remember those two parts.

So, an outsider comes into a new place and they settle in the new place before ultimately taking complete control of the new place.

I've just given you a lot of information so now it's over to you to have a go at answering this question.

Feel free to press the pause button and take your time to answer this question, which of the options below is the most accurate definition of colonisation? And you have option one, the action or process of joining another area peacefully.

Option two, the action or process of finding gold and starting war on a community.

Or option three, the action or process of taking over an area and forcing new religion or culture upon the people there.

Have a think about that, press the pause button and then press play when you're ready.

How did you do with that one? This one was definitely a bit more tricky than the liberty question.

So the correct answer is box three, the action or process of taking over an area and forcing new religion or culture upon the people there.

Now, the first one is incorrect because it is usually not peaceful.

The second one, although it can be correct that answer is much too narrow.

It doesn't necessarily mean that gold has been found and it doesn't really mean that a war is started straight away.

A lot of the time the intentions, so the reason for people colonising is a positive one and then violence comes afterwards as a, an unfortunate side effect.

So it doesn't mean that people colonising want to start a war necessarily.

And that leaves us with the final one, we know that it's an action or process of taking over and we know that if the new person settling makes all the rules, then it's very likely that they are going to force the place to take on their religion, their culture upon people who already live there.

So your correct answer is number three.

Huge well done to those of you who've got that correct.

Really, really impressive.

Give yourselves a pat on the back or a round of applause or just a big smile 'cause you've done really well.

Now let's get to the really interesting and fascinating story of Mr. George Orwell, our writer of Animal Farm.

Now, this is a lot of writing, so what we are going to do, you have two options, option number one, I am going to read this out to you, as I'm reading, you have the option to make notes.

Now, what I mean by making notes is just jotting down little chunks of what I am saying that you think are really important.

If you do not feel confident enough to do that and you'd like more help, listen to me read this out and then on the next slide, I will tell you what the key bits of information are that you definitely need and you can pause the video on the next slide to make sure you've got those down.

So option one, you can listen to me carefully and make notes of the important points at the same time as listening.

Option two, if that's a little bit too much for you, wait until we've read this slide and then when the next one appears you can pause it there to copy down the key information.

So who was George Orwell? Orwell was born in India in 1903.

His parents had little money, but acted as though they were from a higher class.

Orwell and his mother moved back to England when he was a boy.

Orwell went to a boarding school where he stood out from the rest of the boys for two reasons, his poverty and his intelligence.

He went on to study in excellent schools, but did not attend university as he could not afford the fees.

Instead Orwell returned to India where he worked for the Indian police.

He slowly realised how much the Indian people did not like British control.

Ashamed, he left the job and decided to chase his dream of becoming a writer.

Upon returning to England, he tried to get rid of his guilt by living as a homeless person in Paris and London.

Absolutely brilliant listening there guys, well done.

So as you can see on the screen in front of you now, there are a few things there that are in bold.

So if you didn't quite finish the note taking before or if you just listened before, now is your opportunity to pause the video, keep it on this slide and copy down the bold parts.

I will go through them one by one now and then feel free to pause the video when I'm finished.

So he was born in India in 1903.

This is important because it tells us that he was born in a place that had been colonised, okay? So he was living in somewhere where colonisation had happened and it was 1903.

So over a 100 years ago, he was born.

Second bold piece is that he stood out from the rest of the boys at school because of his poverty.

So that's the fact that he was poor, his family had little money, so that's why he stood out, number one, his poverty.

Number two, his intelligence.

He was super duper clever, okay? He really stood out from the rest of the kids.

So two reasons, the fact that he was poor, so his poverty but also how super-duper intelligent he was.

The next part is that he worked for the Indian police.

So after school, he went back to India and he worked for the police there.

However, next part that's in bald, in bold sorry, he discovered in that role that the Indian people really didn't like the fact that the British people were in charge.

They did not like being colonised.

And he discovered that while he was working for the police.

So the next part in bold that you need to remember, and need to note down is that he lived as a homeless person in Paris and London.

So he quit his job with the police in India and then he decided, so he chose to do this, he lived as a homeless person in Paris and London.

So please feel free to pause the video, if you would like to jot down those bold type notes, press play when you're ready, if you're already ready then let's keep going.

Here is an opportunity for you to check your understanding and make sure you're on track.

What made Orwell stand out from the other boys at school? Was it option one, because he was a writer, was it option two, because he was Indian, was it option three, because he stood out, he stood out because he was poor, or was option four, because he was intelligent? There is more than one correct answer here, so pause the video, select the two correct answers and then press play when you're ready.

Brilliant work, how did everyone do? Option three and option four are the correct answers.

Orwell stood out from the other boys because he was poor and because he was intelligent.

Option one would be incorrect because he was not a published famous writer when he was at school and option two is incorrect because Orwell was not Indian, okay? He was English, his mother and father were both British.

They moved, they were living in India when George Orwell was born, but they moved back to England when he went to school.

So George Orwell was not Indian he was simply born in India because that's where his mom and dad were living at the time he was born.

This is our final activity of the lesson.

This is a really nice opportunity for you guys to express your learning and share everything that you found out today.

There are three questions on the board.

They are sentence starters, so I've given you the first chunk of the sentence and you need to complete that sentence.

So number one, Orwell went back to India to become a policeman because.

And you can complete that.

Number two, Orwell went back to India to become a policeman but.

And finally, Orwell went back to India to become a policeman so.

And you will finish that off.

So please pause the video.

Take your time.

Have a look through the notes that you've made.

Rewind the video if you need to.

When you have completed all three sentences, press play again and we'll have a look at some potential answers that you may have written, good luck.

Excellent writing there, well done.

You should be super proud of yourselves because I definitely am.

Here on the screen, you can see some possible answers.

Now, if you do not have the exact same as what you can see on the screen that does not necessarily mean that yours are incorrect, okay? So these answers are just possible ones.

If you have used slightly different words that's okay as long as your ideas are kind of the same as what we have.

So for number one, we have Orwell went back to India to become a policeman because he could not afford university fees.

So Orwell left school, couldn't afford university because of his poverty and so he decided to go back to India.

Number two, Orwell went back to India to become a policeman but he felt ashamed of how much Indian people did not like being ruled by the British.

So even though he went back to India, he felt ashamed of how much Indian people did not like being ruled.

So anything that you have in your answer about his feeling of shame or guilt about him feeling bad about the colonisation of India, anything along those lines is a brilliant answer.

And then finally this one I think is probably the most challenging, so you might have needed to scratch your head a little bit about this one.

Orwell I went back to India to become a policeman so that he could give something back to society and follow in his father's footsteps.

Now, this is really interesting.

It was a challenging one for you to think about, but if you had anything about the fact that he wanted to contribute to society in some way or that he felt like being a policeman was important to his father, anything along those lines will be a brilliant answer, so well done.

A huge thank you and an even huger well done for completing lesson one with me today.

It's been really nice to work with you.

And any of the work that you have produced today, if your parent or carer would like to share that on social media there are some hashtags and handles for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on your screen now, so make sure to ask your parent or carer, if they would like to share your work, if not please do feel free to share your work with friends, family and teachers.

You've done really well and you should be very proud of it.

Hopefully see you for lesson two.