Lesson video

Hello everyone.

How are you today? Hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Ms. Alfzal and I'll be your teacher for this lesson, which I am feeling very pleased about, because we are looking at one of my favorite novels today.

It's called, "Front Desk." I wonder if you know this novel by Kelly Yang.

Our lesson is called, "Understanding the Context of Front Desk," and it comes from the unit of work, Front Desk, Persuasive Letter Writing.

So if you are ready to get into this novel, "Front Desk," if you have got some focus, energy and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can develop my understanding of the authorial context, plot, and themes of 'Front Desk.

'" I hope that sounds interesting to you.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

I'd like us to go through them one at a time saying them out loud.

My turn, your turn.

Protagonist.

Immigrant.

Motel.

Plot.

Theme.

Good to hear those keywords out loud.

Let's find out what they mean.

Protagonist, this is the main character in a story.

Immigrant, a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

Motel, this is a hotel designed mainly for motorists.

They usually have rooms with parking directly outside.

Plot, the series of events that make up a story and theme, a central idea that the author intends the audience to engage deeply with.

Pause here and share with someone.

Have you heard of any of these keywords before, protagonist, immigrant, motel, plot, theme? And did you already know the meanings of any of these keywords? Thanks for sharing your experience with these keywords.

Let's look out and listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about them.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Today's lesson is called, "Understanding the Context of Front Desk," and it has two learning cycles about the author and plot and themes in, "Front Desk." Let's begin finding out about the author.

"Front Desk," is a fictional novel written by Kelly Yang.

The protagonist is Mia Tang, a 10-year-old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms. Kelly Yang based Mia's experiences on her own family's experiences of immigration when she was a child and there we can see a photo of Kelly Yang, the author of, "Front Desk." "Front Desk," was published in 2018 and has won many awards.

It was in the top 30 of BookRiot's, all time list of most influential children's books.

Personally, I can understand why it was there.

It had a big impact on me as well.

Pause here and share with someone what is a novel that you've read that's had a big impact on you, really had an influence.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Fill in the missing words.

This fictional novel is written by award-winning author.

The, of the story is Mia Tang.

So pause here while you share with someone the name of the author to complete the first sentence and the word which is missing from the second sentence.

So how did you fill in these gaps? Did you complete the sentences in this way? This fictional novel is written by award-winning author, Kelly Yang.

The protagonist of the story is Mia Tang.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember, what does protagonist mean? It's one of our keywords.

Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps you said that the protagonist is the main character in the story.

That's what protagonist means.

An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

Kelly immigrated to America from China at the age of six.

She grew up in Southern California.

So here we can see China circled on the map and America, which is where Kelly moved to, and in particular, she moved to this part of Southern California at the age of six.

In California Kelly and her parents lived in three different motels.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what is a motel? It's one of our keywords.

Thanks for sharing.

A motel is a hotel designed mainly for motorists.

They usually have rooms with parking directly outside.

Kelly overcame poverty and attended college and Harvard Law School.

She eventually gave up law to pursue her passion as a writing teacher.

She worked as a teacher for 13 years before becoming a journalist and later a children's fiction writer and shall we say, an award-winning children's fiction writer.

Here are some similarities between the author and the protagonist.

Kelly Yang, the author, she immigrated to the US from China, age six.

She lived in three different motels.

She overcame poverty in her life.

She has a passion for writing and she helps others through teaching and writing.

Now let's look at Mia Tang, the protagonist.

She also immigrated to the US from China and she was age 10 when she did this.

She lived and worked on the front desk of the Calivista Motel.

She loves writing and wants to be a writer when she grows up and she helps her parents raise money to buy the motel and overcome poverty.

Pause here and share with someone what are some of the similarities between the author, Kelly Yang and the protagonist, Mia Tang.

Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps you talked about the fact that they were both immigrated to the US from China.

That they lived in motels, overcame poverty, love writing, and were helpful to others.

Well done if you spotted these similarities between the author, Kelly Yang and the protagonist of, "Front Desk," Mia Tang.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to discuss why do you think Kelly Yang decided to reflect so many of her own personal experiences in, "Front Desk?" Consider the experiences and challenges Kelly may have faced as an immigrant and why she may have wanted to share these through Mia's story.

And you could begin your discussion like this, I think that Kelly Yang reflected many of her own experiences in, "Front Desk," because, and continue from here.

So pause here while you have this discussion about why Kelly Yang decided to reflect so many of her own personal experiences in, "Front Desk." Enjoy your discussion and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

So how did you get on with that task, having a discussion about why you think Kelly Yang decided to reflect so many of her own personal experiences in, "Front Desk." And I wondered, did you consider the experiences and challenges Kelly may have faced as an immigrant and why she may have wanted to share these through Mia's story? Let's hear some responses.

"I think that Kelly Yang reflected many of her own experiences in, "Front Desk," because she wanted to appeal to readers who may have lived similar experiences.

She wanted to raise awareness of the prejudice and challenges often faced by immigrants.

She wanted to show how resilience and community can help overcome challenging situations." Pause here and share with someone, did you have similar responses to these or perhaps different ones? Thanks for sharing and for having a go at this task.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle.

Plot and themes in, "Front Desk." Here's a brief summary of the plot.

Every day Mia supports her parents by running the front desk at the Calivista Motel.

Mia joins Dale Elementary School.

It is her fifth school since arriving in America.

Mia begins to understand that life is different for her compared to many of her classmates.

She notices people who are prejudiced against others.

Mia notices a writing competition where the prize is to own your very own motel.

She sets her sights on winning it.

Mia does not win the competition, but she works hard to support her parents and the weeklies.

Through her writing, she ends up securing enough investment for her family to buy the motel from the owner, Mr. Yao.

Let's have a check for understanding.

I'd like you to put the following events from, "Front Desk," in chronological order.

That's the sequence in which they happened.

Use the text to support.

Learning that a motel where they live is up for sale, Mia asks her mother to see if their family in China could help.

Mia's parents find a job advert for a motel, The Calivista.

They apply and the owner immediately accepts their offer.

Uncle Ming, a family friend, arrives at the motel.

He is fleeing from loan sharks, having borrowed money that he cannot pay back.

Hank, a weekly is accused of stealing a guest's car.

He's fired from his job.

Pause here and share with someone.

Which order do you think these events should go in so that they are in chronological order and you can use the text to support you.

Thanks for having a go at placing the events from, "Front Desk," in chronological order.

I wonder if you placed them in this order.

Number one, Mia's parents find a job advert for a motel, The Calivista.

They apply and the owner immediately accepts their offer.

Two, Uncle Ming, a family friend, arrives at the motel.

He is fleeing from loan sharks having borrowed money that he cannot pay back.

Three, Hank a weekly is accused of stealing a guest's car.

He's fired from his job.

And four, learning that the motel where they live is up for sale, Mia asks her mother to see if their family in China could help.

Well done if you placed the events from, "Front Desk," in this order.

One of the reasons for, "Front Desk's," popularity is that it examines key themes throughout the story.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what does theme mean? It's one of our keywords.

Thanks for sharing.

A theme is a central idea that the author intends the audience to engage deeply with.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Can you think of an example of themes we might encounter in a text? Pause there and share with someone.

What themes might we encounter in a text? Perhaps you said bravery, prejudice, friendship, resilience, betrayal.

Pause here and share with someone a text that you have read, which engaged with any of these themes, bravery, prejudice, friendship, resilience, or betrayal.

Thanks for sharing.

And finally, share with someone, which of these themes would you be most interested in exploring further, perhaps through another novel or indeed through your own writing.

Thanks for sharing.

I think my top ones would be bravery and friendship.

I would love to read a novel exploring those themes.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to identify one key theme explored in, "Front Desk," and explain how this theme is illustrated in the story.

And you could begin your answer in this way.

One theme explored in, "Front Desk," is, say the name of the theme and then I think this because in the story, and then tell us how this theme is illustrated in the story.

So pause here while you have a go at this task, identifying a key theme from, "Front Desk," and explaining how it's illustrated in the story.

Enjoy your task and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task of identifying one key theme, explored in, "Front Desk," and explaining how this theme is illustrated in the story? Let's take a look at your response.

"One theme explored in, "Front Desk," is resilience.

I think this because in this story, Mia remains resilient when learning to write in English despite it not being her first language.

She continues to work hard and develop her writing skills when trying to win the essay writing competition." That's a really great example of a key theme and how it's illustrated in the story.

Pause here and share with someone a time when you've been resilient.

It's such an important theme and quality.

Thanks for sharing.

And now I'd like you to share with someone an example of somebody who inspires you who's been really resilient and what did they do that showed their resilience? Thanks for sharing.

I'd like to give the example of my parents who, like Kelly Yang and Mia were immigrants.

They immigrated to England from Pakistan in the 1960s and they started a new life in this country and they had to be really resilient to do that, to leave their families behind and start again in a very new country.

I'm always inspired by their resilience.

Thanks for having a go at this task everyone, and for exploring themes in, "Front Desk," and especially exploring the theme of resilience.

In our lesson, "Understanding the context of, 'Front Desk,'" we've covered the following.

"Front Desk," is a children's fictional text written by Kelly Yang.

There are many parallels between the life of Mia, the stories protagonist, and that of Kelly Yang, the author.

"Front Desk," explores many themes such as resilience, friendship, immigration, courage and community.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

It was so wonderful to explore the context of this novel, "Front Desk." It's really one of my absolute favorites.

So I was so pleased to get to explore it together with you.

It was interesting to compare the life of Kelly Yang and Mia, the protagonist and to explore those really inspiring themes.

Perhaps you'll continue to read novels with some of these themes if they have touched or inspired you.

As you may be able to tell I really enjoyed teaching this lesson, and I hope you enjoyed it too.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.