Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's English lesson.

It's Mrs. Butterworth here and I am ready to guide you through the learning.

Now, this lesson we'll be focusing on "The Class Game," the poem by Mary Casey.

So do make sure you have a copy of that to hand.

If you don't, you'll need to go and grab it now before we begin the lesson.

Now in this lesson, we'll be analysing the poem together.

So, when you are ready, we can get started.

Let's go.

In this lesson, you can explain how Casey uses language, form, and structure to express her viewpoint about social class.

Now, here are all important keywords today.

We have caricatures, prejudice, compelling, colloquial, and rhyming couplets.

Now as we go through the lesson, see if you can spot these coming up.

So caricatures is an exaggerated or distorted representation of people or things, so, often used for humour.

Prejudice is preconceived opinions or attitudes towards a person or group, often based on stereotypes.

So you can talk about someone being prejudiced towards someone else.

Compelling is persuasive and convincing.

Colloquial refers to language commonly used in everyday speech.

So we talk about colloquial language, and it's often specific to a particular region or social group.

So it's much more informal language.

Rhyming couplets are a pair of successive lines of verse, typically rhyming and of the same length.

Now the outline of our lesson looks like this.

We're going to begin by looking at Casey's use of language, and then move on to look at Casey's use of structure.

So let's get started with our language analysis.

Casey writes in an informal tone to replicate a working class Liverpudlian sociolect.

So let's refer to the poems, and can you identify any colloquialisms in the poem? Okay, so pause the video to give yourself time to do that and we'll feedback in a moment.

Off you go.

Okay.

Great.

So here are some examples.

We've got "Tara," "Bye," "Ma," "Mummy," "corpy," "semi," "me," "bog," "mate," and "belly." Now thinking about these words and the examples that you have also found from the poem, how might you sort these words into groups? So I'm gonna give you a little hint.

Think about what makes each quotation colloquial.

So what makes this quotation much more chatty, much more colloquial? So, as I say, use the examples there and the ones that you have gathered.

Pause the video and decide how you could possibly sort these words into groups and we'll feedback in a moment.

Off you go.

Okay, so there are lots of different ways that we could sort these words, but let's look at some examples here.

So you may have thought about contractions or abbreviations.

So "semi" and "Bye." Terms of endearment, okay, so these are quite key in the poem, we've got "Ma," "mate," and "Mummy." Non-standard English, so we get "me" instead of "my." Examples of sociolect are "Tara," "corpy," and "bog." Now, what Casey does in this poem is she uses words from both a working class and middle class sociolect.

So sociolect refers to social groups.

So in this case, she's referring to a working class and middle class sociolect.

And she compares each pair of words.

So she uses them to make comparisons.

So for example, she uses "Ma" versus "mummy." Now look at the poem and I'd like you to discuss, can you find any other examples where Casey uses words from both the working class and middle class sociolect? Okay, pause the video to get that done.

Thank you, everyone.

So what I would now like you to think about now you have chosen your examples, is to discuss what impression does Casey give of each social class here.

So by putting those words either side, what impression does Casey give of each social class here? If you're working on your own, you may wish to think quietly to yourself or jot down some ideas.

Make sure you pause the video to give yourself time to do that task.

Off you go.

So you may have considered some ideas such as, it's almost like each class has its own language.

And this gives the impression that they may not communicate with each other.

And it really emphasises how different each group is.

Middle class people have some slang, so "Mummy," but mostly there's this idea that they use standard English.

And some working class terms have connotations of being run-down in the poem.

So things like "bog" and "yard." So let's look at Casey's use of language.

Our Oak pupils are discussing the following question.

"How does the speaker convey their frustration about the class system in 'The Class Game'?" Now, Aisha says that, "Casey uses humour to convey her frustration in a playful way." And Andeep says that "Casey's rhetorical questions show her anger at how the working class are unfairly judged." I would like you to decide now whose interpretation is most compelling? Whose interpretation do you think is most compelling? So pause the video to give yourself time to discuss that question, or think quietly to yourself or even jot down some ideas.

Off you go.

Now, you may have come up with something like this.

So Andeep's interpretation is more detailed, specifically describing Casey's frustration, but he has misunderstood Casey's use of methods.

Thinking about Andeep's response, let's delve a little deeper into Casey's use of humour and rhetorical questions.

So we're gonna start by finding some examples of Casey's use of both methods.

So we're going to look at humour first.

So in the poem, class is explored in a playful way.

Judgments of the middle class are comedic, cartoonish images.

For example, the speaker says they can speak posh like they have a marble in their mouth.

So whereas Andeep was saying it's quite angry and there's frustration there, actually Casey presents her ideas in quite a humorous, playful, lighthearted way.

There are 12 rhetorical questions, and Casey uses a variety of question stems. So "How," "Why," "Have," "Don't." And "How" the question is repeated throughout the poem.

So what is the effect of each method and how does it convey the speaker's feeling? Okay, I'd like you to take a moment to pause the video and discuss that question, "What is the effect of each method?" "How does it convey the speaker's feeling?" Off you go.

Okay, some really great suggestions there.

Let's share some responses.

So in terms of humour, Casey emphasises the differences between the classes by portraying them as caricatures, playing on stereotypes.

And the questions and second person pronouns, so "you," encourage the reader to question their own class prejudices.

So we can see here how Casey effectively uses both humour and rhetorical questions.

Now I'd like you to discuss, "What is the effect of combining both techniques?" So how are these methods working together? So I'd like you to pause the video to give yourself time to discuss that question.

Off you go.

So you may have come up with something like this.

The poem is arguably a gentle and playful reminder of an important issue.

The rhetorical questions serve as a reminder of the poem's serious message of class prejudice, whereas the humour softens the overall sense of conflict.

Okay, so now you need to pick the correct answers.

So which of these words are colloquialisms? Pause the video and come up with your answer.

Okay, so are we feeling confident? Okay, let's see.

So which of these words are colloquialisms? Well done to everyone that picked A and D, "Ma" and "Mummy," because B and C, "gullet" and "toil" are not colloquialisms, they are standard English words.

So in the poem, Casey does acknowledge that both working class and middle class people use different colloquialisms. However, overall, middle class people use far more standard English terms. We have reached our first practise task.

And for this task, I would like you please to complete the following single paragraph outline, answering the following question.

"How does Casey explore the conflict between social classes in 'The Class Game'?" So here is your single paragraph outline.

You've got your topic sentence.

This needs to be a full sentence and you need to lead with key ideas and inferences, not methods.

You need up to four pieces of accurate, relevant, and judiciously chosen evidence from the poem.

So you need to copy those and annotate them.

And then also your concluding sentence needs to be a full sentence and it will summarise your argument and link to Casey's intentions and/or wider context.

So make sure you've got everything you need to complete this task, and when you are ready, pause the video and get going.

Great.

Thank you, everyone.

That's really interesting that so many of you have different ways of answering that question.

So all of your single paragraph outlines look slightly different, which is fantastic, because there are so many different ways we can answer that question.

So well done.

So I'd like you now just to self-assess your single paragraph outline.

So for your topic sentence, did you answer in a full sentence? Did you lead with key ideas and avoid feature-spotting? In your supporting detail, is your evidence copied accurately? Is it relevant to the point you made in your topic sentence? Have you judiciously selected the best pieces of evidence to support your point? And have you annotated Casey's use of language and methods? And for your concluding sentence, did you answer in a full sentence? And did you link to Casey's intentions and/or wider context? Okay, so just pause the video to give yourself that time to self-assess your paragraph outline.

Off you go.

Now you have done that, I would like you to set yourself a "what went well" and an "even better if" for next time.

Pause the video to do that now.

And a very well done, everyone.

We have reached the second part of our lesson.

So we've looked at language and now we are moving on to look at structure.

So let's explore Casey's use of structure.

So we know that Casey emphasises the differences between the classes by portraying them as characters playing on stereotypes.

So we've got an interpretation there.

Let's look at another.

This helps to create a playful, relatable tone and shows Casey doesn't take herself too seriously.

Now I'd like you to discuss, please, "How does Casey use structure to create each of the effects below?" When having this discussion, you may want to consider the following.

You may want to consider rhyme, rhythm, line breaks, punctuation, and order contrast of ideas or images.

Okay, so when you are ready, pause the video and get discussing that question.

Off you go.

So here we have those interpretations, and you may have spotted these.

So contrasting images are used to show those differences between the classes by portraying them as characters and then the rhyming couplets.

So you'll notice this talks about the playful, relatable tone and that is created by those rhyming couplets.

So can you find examples of these structural methods in the poem? So we're thinking about contrasting images and rhyming couplets.

Can you now find examples from the poem? You may want to pause the video to give yourself time to do this.

Okay, so you may have come up with these examples.

Contrasting sociolects, and comparing aspects of their lives, so houses, neighbourhoods, jobs, and possessions.

So those contrasting images, that's how that happens there.

And the rhyming couplets you may have picked up, "from," "some," "hear," "dear." And the couplet emphasises the rhetorical question and how the working class are not like the middle class.

Okay, so true or false time.

Casey creates a serious, almost frustrated tone in the poem.

Is the answer true or false? Come up with your answer now, please.

Okay, well done to everyone that said false, but you now need to justify your answer by picking A or B.

Pause the video to give yourself time to do that.

Off you go.

Okay.

So, well done to everyone that's justified the answer by picking A.

The answer is false because Casey's tone is actually playful using rhyming couplets to create a driving rhythm that emphasises particular colloquialisms. So there isn't this serious, frustrated tone that the statement suggests.

It's actually playful, and one of the ways that's created is through those rhyming couplets.

So we are already at our second practise tasks.

So well done, everyone.

Now in this task, like we did in the first task, I would like you please to complete a second paragraph outline answering this question.

But this time, you are focusing on structure.

So how does Casey explore the conflict between social classes? Remember we are focusing on structure.

So we've got your topic sentence, your supporting detail, and your concluding sentence.

So before we begin that task, I just want to make sure that you can remember what you need to do for each part of that single paragraph outline.

So before we complete the task, just take a quick moment to discuss or think to yourself, what do you need to do for each part of that single paragraph outline? Pause the video to give yourself time to do that.

Okay, well done, everyone.

Should we check that we know what we are doing with that single paragraph outline? So hopefully, you remembered that a topic sentence should be a full sentence leading with key ideas, inferences, and not methods.

Your supporting detail, you need to make sure you copy and annotate up to four pieces of accurate, relevant, and judiciously chosen evidence for the poem.

So make sure when you are copying that down it's accurate but also well chosen.

And your concluding sentence is answered in a full sentence.

It summarises your argument and links to Casey's intentions and/or wider context.

Now before you jump in to complete that task, just check your "what went well" and "even better if" from task A, and make sure that you are actioning your "even better if" this time round.

So the feedback that you gave yourself in the previous task, make sure you are actioning that this time round.

Okay, so I think we have everything we need to complete this task well.

So remember, you are completing this single paragraph outline focusing on structure and the question is, "How does Casey explore the conflict between social classes?" So are we ready? Great.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Okay, well done, everyone.

That's really great.

And again, fantastic.

So many different ways to answer that question.

So I'm gonna give you an example of a paragraph here, and you can use this to compare to your own.

So the topic sentence is, "Casey creates a playful tone in the poem that effectively draws attention to class prejudice in society while helping to soften the overall sense of conflict." So you can see in that topic sentence it leads with ideas and inferences rather than methods.

The supporting detail, we've got "nelly," "belly." And these both emphasises the similarities and differences.

Both classes talk about the same topics but use different sociolects to do so.

So they're annotated.

And "from" and "some," the couplet is repeated throughout and it draws attention to the central question, "how," and implies that the class conflict works both ways.

Some seems to have negative connotations here.

So you can see how in that supporting detail it's all written in note form.

There's four accurate and judiciously chosen pieces.

There's an emphasis on structure.

So it is all there.

And finally, the concluding sentence.

"Casey was proud of her working class roots and uses the poem to humorously explore how different social classes perceive one another, highlighting the differences in their ways of life despite living in the same city." Now we have looked at an example.

I would like you to review your own work.

So I would like you to consider, did you improve on your "even better if" from last time, your EBI? Is your "what went well," the same or different from last time? What do you need to now do to improve in the future? So I'd like you to set yourself a task to practise your "even better if" skills.

So this might be something like you find relevant quotations from your poem, or you need to work on your topic sentence or your concluding sentences.

So you just need to set yourself a task to practise.

So what task will you do? How will it help you to improve for next time? And when will you do it by? So you need to set yourself a deadline.

So you will need to pause your video just to give yourself time to review your work and use these reflection questions to set some important targets for next time.

So pause the video and off you go.

Well done, everyone.

That signals the end of our lesson.

And I have been so impressed with all of the work that you have achieved.

We know that the poem is written in a deliberately colloquial manner to reflect the pride in Casey's roots.

The rhetorical questions are used, lots of rhetorical questions to force the reader to challenge their own prejudices.

Contrasting images are used throughout the poem to contrast the differences between the social classes.

The rhyming couplets used create a teasing tone.

Casey does not take herself too seriously, and humour is used to soften the sense of conflict.

So again, a very well done, everyone.

I've really enjoyed looking at this poem with you today.

I really hope to see you all again in another English lesson soon.

So I will see you then.

Goodbye.