Lesson video

Hello, welcome to history here at Oak National Academy.

My name is Mr. Newton, and I will be your teacher today, guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right.

Let's get started.

Before we begin today's story, I want you to imagine something.

Imagine living in a country where the rules are not the same for everyone.

Some children get better schools, better homes and more chances, and others do not.

Doesn't feel fair.

Today we are going to learn about Nelson Mandela, a man who sought unfairness and chose to stand up.

Not with shouting or fighting, but with bravery, patience, and forgiveness.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how Nelson Mandela worked to change unfair laws and chose forgiveness instead of anger.

Right.

Let's get our brains ready for today's learning.

We are going to learn some important words that will help us understand the story.

We will say each word together.

I'll say the word first, then it's your turn to repeat it back to me.

Ready?

My turn.

Law.

Your turn.

Good.

A law is a rule people must follow.

For example, wearing a seatbelt in the car is a law.

Laws are meant to keep people safe.

Okay, let's go onto the second word.

My turn.

Apartheid.

Your turn.

Well done.

Apartheid was a set of unfair laws in South Africa.

These laws separated people and treated Black people badly.

Those laws were not kind or fair.

My turn.

Protest.

Your turn.

Great.

A protest means showing you think something is wrong.

People might speak, march, or hold signs to share their feelings.

Protests are a way to try to change unfair rules.

My turn.

Peace.

Your turn.

Good.

Peace means when people live without fighting.

It means people feel safe and calm together.

My turn.

Forgiveness.

Your turn.

Excellent.

Forgiveness means choosing not to hate someone when they have wronged you or hurt you.

It can be hard, but it helps people move forward.

Well done for helping me to repeat those important words.

So let's see if we can spot those words in today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called "Nelson Mandela, the man who forgave," and we will split the lesson into three parts.

I'm going to tell you what they are and then we'll get started.

In the first part of the lesson, we will learn about when Mandela saw unfair laws.

This is when we find out what life was like in South Africa when he was growing up.

We'll think about what was unfair and how that made people feel.

Next, we'll move on to Mandela's years in prison.

This part of the lesson helps us understand how hard things became for him.

We'll think about how he stayed strong, even when life was very difficult.

Finally, we will learn about Mandela becoming president and working for peace.

This is where we see how Mandela helped bring people together.

We'll find out how someone who was treated unfairly chose peace instead of anger.

Right.

Let's begin with the first part of our lesson.

Mandela sees unfair laws.

Before we begin, let's quickly look at this slide together.

This long line is called a timeline.

A timeline helps us see when people lived from long ago to more recent times.

Over towards the left where you see the year 800 is a very long time ago.

And as we move towards the right, towards the year 2000, we get closer to today.

Back over here on the left, we can see Al-Razi.

He lived many, many years ago in the year 900.

As we move along the line, we can spot other important people you may already know.

Here is Nicolas Copernicus.

He lived around the 1500s.

He lived later than Al-Razi, but still a very long time ago.

Here is Ada Lovelace.

She lived around the 1800s.

And here is Marie Curie and Sophia Duleep Singh.

These people all lived at different times, but they are all remembered for doing something important.

And now if we look almost towards the end of the timeline, this is where time gets closer to the 1900s.

Here we can see Nelson Mandela, and that tells us something important.

It shows us that Nelson Mandela lived more recently than many of the other people we have learned about.

Some people alive today were even alive at the same time as him.

Now that we know when Nelson lived, we're ready to learn more about who he was and what his life was like.

The sun rose over South Africa each morning, shining on golden fields, busy towns, and long dusty roads.

Take a look at the photograph on the left.

This photo shows a busy town in South Africa a long time ago, and this is the kind of world Nelson Mandela was growing up in.

South Africa was a country full of life and color, but also deep unfairness.

That means some people were not treated kindly or fairly, and that's not right, is it?

Long ago in the mid 1900s, strict laws called apartheid controlled how people lived.

These laws said that people with white skin were treated better than people with black skin.

Black children had to go to schools with old books, crowded classrooms, and not enough desks.

While white children went to larger schools with more books and space.

Many people were told they could only live in certain neighborhoods.

On buses and park benches, signs said "whites only," and people could be punished for sitting in the wrong place.

Black people were also not allowed to vote to help choose the country's leaders.

Voting means having a say and they weren't allowed a say at all.

This all happened in the time when your grandparents or great-grandparents were young.

It wasn't very long ago at all.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

That means we're just going to pause now and have a think about what we have learned.

So what I want you to do here is fill in the blank.

And I've given you a sentence here with a blank space, which you need to choose a word to put into.

Let's read the sentence.

Apartheid laws said people with, blank, skin were treated better.

And I've given you a choice of three words to choose between.

Those words are white, black, or brown.

So pause the video, choose your words to fill in the blank, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew the correct word was white.

Let's see how that sentence should have looked.

Apartheid laws said people with white skin were treated better.

Okay, let's continue the story.

Growing up in this unfair world was a young Black man named Nelson Mandela.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Nelson Mandela saw unfair laws and worked with others to protest and change them.

He studied hard and became a lawyer.

That's a person who helps people understand the law and speaks up for them.

That takes a lot of effort and bravery.

Now let's look closely at this picture.

In this image, we can see Nelson Mandela standing with a group of people.

He's holding some papers and the people around him are listening carefully.

As a lawyer, he helped people understand rules and speak up when something was wrong.

Here it looks like he is explaining, listening, or helping people who have been treated unfairly.

He used his voice, his learning, and his courage to help others.

This was one of his first big steps in standing up to unfair laws.

However, Mandela did not work alone.

He joined a group of people who wanted the laws to change and believed everyone should be treated the same.

They protested by giving speeches, holding meetings, and peacefully asking for change.

However, when peaceful protests did not work, Nelson and others decided to use stronger actions.

They created a small secret army and began damaging buildings to make the country's leaders pay attention.

This was very serious and dangerous.

At first, their aim was to avoid hurting people, but this was risky, and Nelson was soon arrested.

His choice had big consequences.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

True or false?

Nelson Mandela worked alone to change the laws.

Is that true or false?

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that was false.

Hmm.

But why is that false?

I want you to give me a reason for why that sentence was false.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that it was false, because Mandela joined a group of people who wanted the unfair laws to change.

They gave speeches, held meetings, and damaged buildings to get the leaders to listen.

Okay, what I want you to do now is put these events in the right order.

So you can number them.

Number one, number two, and number three.

And you can see I've given you three events, but they're all in a mixed-up order.

So let's read those events together.

Nelson Mandela was arrested, Nelson Mandela became a lawyer, and Nelson Mandela joined a group who protested.

So number those events into the correct order.

Pause the video, have a go, and come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's check the correct answers.

So the first event was that Nelson Mandela became a lawyer.

Number two was Nelson Mandela joined a group who protested.

And finally, number three, Nelson Mandela was arrested.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task A.

Now it's your turn to do some thinking.

Now this question asks, why did Nelson Mandela want change?

Take a moment to think about what we've learned so far.

And in a moment, you're going to tell your partner your ideas.

Remember, partner talk means we take turns and listen carefully.

To help you, we have some sentence starters.

Now, sentence starters are the beginning of a sentence that helps us know what to say next.

You don't have to remember everything, and you can use these sentence starters to help your brain remember.

So let's read the first sentence starter.

Apartheid laws meant that Black people were not allowed to, blank, and that's where you need to complete the rest of the sentence.

For example, you might say, Apartheid laws meant that Black people were not allowed to go to the same places as white people.

Okay, let's have a look at the second sentence starter.

Nelson Mandela tried to help by, blank.

And the third and final sentence starter, Nelson Mandela joined a group who, blank.

Remember, there is more than one good answer.

And we are not trying to be perfect, we are trying to explain our thinking.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done having a go at that task.

So let's come back together now and think about our ideas.

So the question was, why did Nelson Mandela wants change?

And you may have talked about some of these ideas.

Let's go through them together.

You might have said that apartheid laws meant that Black people were not allowed to vote for leaders.

That's right.

You were not allowed to have a say, and that was very unfair.

You might have also said that Nelson Mandela tried to help by becoming a lawyer and helping people with unfair laws.

As a lawyer, he helped people and spoke up for them.

Finally, some of you might have remembered that Nelson Mandela joined a group who peacefully protested by asking for change, but also damaged buildings to get leaders' attention.

Yes, at first they peacefully asked for change, but later they also damaged buildings to make leaders listen.

And this was a serious and risky choice, and it helps us understand why Mandela's life became very difficult later on.

Great.

Now that we have learned about how Mandela saw unfair laws and tried to change them, we are now ready to move on to the second part of our lesson.

This part is called Mandela's years in prison.

And this section of the story helps us understand what happened to Mandela after he stood up to unfair laws, and what life was like in prison.

One night, Nelson Mandela was taken away from his family and sent to prison.

Can you imagine saying goodbye and not knowing when you'd return?

For 27 long years, Nelson lived behind bars.

That's longer than all the years you've been alive, and more.

His prison cell was small and cold, and he had to work very hard each day.

Mandela spent long hours outside, breaking large white stones with a heavy hammer under the hot sun.

That would be exhausting, wouldn't it?

Look at the picture on the left.

In this image, we can see Mandela outside holding a heavy hammer.

He is hitting large stones again and again.

And look at the sun in the sky.

South Africa is very hot.

And we can see that Mandela had no shade, no trees, and nowhere to rest.

He had to do this every day for many years.

This work was not meant to help him.

It was meant to make him feel tired and give up, but Mandela kept going.

Even while his body was working hard, his mind was thinking about a fairer future.

This picture helps us understand that prison life was not just about being locked inside.

It was about hard work, loneliness, and patience.

He missed birthdays, family celebrations, and the chance to walk freely.

Many people would've become bitter or angry after so many years.

That would be an easy feeling to have.

But Mandela chose something different.

In prison, he thought carefully about the future.

He decided that anger would only cause more pain.

That was a very powerful choice.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

How long was Nelson Mandela in prison for?

A, two years, B, 10 years, C, 27 years?

Pause the video, choose the correct answer, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was that Mandela was in prison for, C, 27 years.

Okay, now what I want you to do is circle the things in this picture which showed life was hard in prison for Nelson Mandela.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's check through the answers.

So you might have circled the hammer or the rocks that Mandela was hitting.

And we know that this would've been back-breaking work.

You might have also circled the sun in the picture.

And we know that South Africa was very hot and working in the hot sun would've been extremely tiring.

And you might have circled his facial expression.

He looks like he's very tired and sad.

Okay, let's continue.

After many years of struggle, South Africa began to change.

The unfair apartheid laws were slowly removed.

The first time Black people were allowed to vote and help choose the country's leaders.

That meant people finally had a voice.

Because the country needed peace and change, Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Can you imagine how that moment must have felt?

His freedom was a sign that South Africa was ready to move away from unfairness and begin again.

Okay, let's check our understanding, and I want you to fill in the blank of this sentence.

The unfair apartheid laws were slowly, blank.

And your three words to choose from are, removed, made stronger, or ignored.

So pause the video, choose your word, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct word was removed.

Let's see how the sentence should have looked.

The unfair apartheid laws were slowly removed.

When Nelson Mandela was finally released, the world was watching.

Look at the picture on the left.

This shows the moment Mandela was released from prison.

In this image, we can see Nelson Mandela walking forward, holding hands with his wife.

We can see that they're surrounded by people and Mandela is raising his hand high.

This moment was shown on television screens and in newspapers all around the world.

There were cameras, reporters, and photographers watching as he walked out of prison.

People in many different countries stopped to watch and listen.

It was a very important moment.

Many people around the world had protested to help get Mandela released from prison.

After being in prison for so many years, many people expected him to be very angry at those who had locked him away for so long.

Would you expect that too?

Instead, Nelson surprised everyone.

He spoke about forgiveness.

Forgiveness means choosing not to hurt back.

Nelson knew that if he attacked his enemies, they would fight back, and then the fighting would never end.

He said South Africa could not move forward if people wanted revenge.

So, Mandela asked everyone, including his own enemies, to come and work together to build a fairer country.

That takes courage, doesn't it?

This choice helped stop violence and brought peace to millions.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

Why did Nelson Mandela choose forgiveness?

A, he wanted more fighting, B, he wanted people to feel scared, C, he wanted to stop fighting and bring peace.

Pause the video, choose the correct answer, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was C.

He wanted to stop fighting and bring peace.

Okay, what I want you to do now is complete the sentences below with one word to show how things changed.

So you can see I've given you three sentences and you need to fill in the blank for each sentence.

And you can only use one word for each sentence.

So the first sentence is, "Before apartheid ended, Black people could not, blank.

" Choose a word to put into there.

The second sentence, "After Mandela became president, South Africa became more, blank.

" And finally, sentence number three, "Mandela showed that instead of fighting, people can choose, blank.

" Pause the video, fill in the blanks, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's go through the answers together.

And I've got some examples here of the words you could have used to fill in the blank.

Now you might have slightly different answers to me, and that's okay, as long as they explain the right way in which South Africa changed.

So for number one, you could have used the word vote.

Let's see how the sentence could have looked.

Before apartheid ended, Black people could not vote.

For the second one, you might have used the word fair.

After Mandela became president, South Africa became more fair.

And for the third sentence, you might have used the word like peace, or maybe you even chose the word like forgiveness.

So for number three, you could have, Mandela showed that instead of fighting, people can choose peace.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task B.

This task asks you to use the questions to help label each picture.

Let's look at the pictures first.

The picture on the left shows Nelson Mandela when he was in prison.

And the questions that go with this picture are, how long was Nelson Mandela in prison?

What was his prison life like?

And how might he have felt after being there for so long?

So think about what you can see.

He's working very hard, he is outside in the hot sun, and that helps us remember what life was like in prison for him.

Now let's look at the picture on the right.

This picture shows Nelson Mandela after he was released from prison.

And the questions that go with this picture are, why was Nelson Mandela released from prison?

What choice did Nelson Mandela make when he was free?

And why did he choose forgiveness instead of fighting?

Okay, great.

Use the questions to label each picture.

And remember, there can be more than one good idea.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Well done having a go at that task.

Let's come back together and look at how this task might look when it's finished.

Remember, your work does not have to look exactly the same.

This is just one good example I'm going to show you.

So this picture shows Nelson Mandela when he was in prison.

And let's read what has been labeled.

So you could have written something like, "Life in prison was difficult for Nelson, his cell was small and cold, and he had to work very hard breaking rocks under the hot sun.

" That's a good label because it matches what we can see in the picture too.

In the next label, you could have written something like, "Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years.

" And that shows you remembered an important fact from the lesson.

And finally, you could have written, "Nelson might have felt sad and angry after being in prison for so long.

" Okay, let's look at another example of how you might have labeled your picture.

So this picture shows Nelson Mandela after he was released from prison.

Let's look at the labels together.

So you might have written for this label, Nelson Mandela was released from prison because the apartheid laws were removed.

That's a strong answer because it shows you remembered important reason and understood that a country was starting to change.

And in this label, you could have written, Nelson chose forgiveness instead of fighting because he knew that if he attacked his enemies, they would fight back, and the fighting would never end.

And that shows careful thinking.

It tells us that Nelson Mandela was thinking about the future of the whole country, not just himself.

And for the final label, Nelson chose peace and forgiveness when he was freed.

And that's really important.

Even after many hard years, he did not choose anger.

He chose to help people come together.

Great.

So if your labels explained why Mandela was released, describe the choice he made, or explain why forgiveness mattered, then you have done excellent history thinking.

Okay, great.

So we started by learning about Mandela seeing unfair laws and how he tried to change them.

Then we learned about Mandela's years in prison, how life was hard, lonely, and very unfair.

And now we are ready for the final part of our lesson.

And this part is called becoming president and working for peace.

And this is where the story begins to change.

In this part, we will learn what Nelson Mandela did after prison, and we'll find out what role he took in his country, how he treated people who had been his enemies, and how he helped with South Africa move forward.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black president.

That's an incredible change.

A man who had once been a prisoner was now leading his country.

Have a look at the picture on the left.

In this image, we can see Nelson Mandela standing at a desk, raising his hand.

And this shows he is making a promise, a promise to do his best for his country.

This picture shows the moment when Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.

After spending many years in prison, he was now trusted to lead the whole country.

And this moment shows just how much life can change from being locked away to standing proudly as a leader who wanted peace and fairness for everyone.

As president, Mandela works to bring people together, not to divide them.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

What important job did Nelson Mandela start doing in 1994?

A, judge, B, king, C, president.

Pause the video, choose the correct answer, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that Nelson Mandela became, C, president.

Nelson Mandela's ideas traveled far beyond South Africa.

People around the world learn that listening, talking, and working together can heal even deep hurts.

And that's a lesson we can all use.

Nelson Mandela showed that choosing peace can stop fighting.

Have a look at the picture on the left.

In this picture, we can see Nelson Mandela holding hands with another man.

And this man was also a leader of South Africa.

He was in charge when the apartheid laws were ending.

That means he was one of the leaders when Nelson Mandela was in prison.

So you would think that these two men would not like each other.

However, even though the country had been unfair for a long time, these two men chose to work together.

They had not always agreed, but they knew that fighting would only cause more pain.

They showed the world that peace is possible even after great unfairness.

And that is why these stories still matters today.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

And what I want you to do here is fill in the blank.

Nelson Mandela's ideas inspired people around the world to believe in, blank.

And your choices are, peace, fighting, unfairness.

Pause the video, choose the correct word, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct word was peace.

Let's see how the sentence should have looked.

Nelson Mandela's ideas inspired people around the world to believe in peace.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the final task, task C.

This task asks you to create a newspaper front page all about Nelson Mandela.

A newspaper front page tells us an important story so that other people can understand what's happened.

Let's look carefully at what your front page must include.

You need to show one unfair thing Mandela saw, one brave thing Mandela did, what happened to Mandela because of this, how long he was in prison and what it was like, what choice Mandela made when he was released, what Mandela became next, and how Mandela inspired peace around the world.

That sounds like a lot, but don't worry.

We are not writing everything at once.

You can take it one idea at a time.

Your newspaper might have a big headline, a picture or a drawing, and short sentences explaining what happened.

Your writing does not need to be long.

Clear ideas are better than lots of words.

And you can use the layout on the next slide to help you.

So this slide here shows you what your newspaper front page might look like.

At the top, we have the name of the newspaper, THE DAILY NEWS.

That's just for fun, like a real newspaper.

You can choose the name for your own newspaper if you like.

Underneath you can see the spaces for your writing.

Here is where you write the title of your article.

This should be short and exciting, something that makes people want to read on.

Next, you'll see these headings, unfair thing Mandela saw, brave thing Mandela did, what happened, his choice, and what he became.

You don't need to write lots for each one.

A short sentence or even a few good words is enough.

And over on the right, there is a big blue box.

And this is where you can draw a picture of Nelson Mandela or add a photograph.

Your picture should help tell the story, just like pictures in real newspapers do.

Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to show what you remember and understand.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done for having a go at that task.

Let's come back together and look at one example of what your newspaper front page could look like.

Remember, your work does not need to look exactly like this.

This is just showing us one clear and helpful way to tell the story.

So at the top, we can see the newspaper title, THE DAILY NEWS.

That makes it look like a real newspaper.

And on the right, we can see the picture.

This is a great choice of moments to draw or show.

This picture shows Nelson Mandela at the moment he was released from prison.

That moment was very important.

Then we can see the headline says Mandela chooses peace.

That's a great headline because it tells us the most important ideas straight away.

Now let's look at the sections underneath.

You could have written that apartheid laws treated Black people badly.

That shows you remembered what was wrong.

Next, the brave thing Mandela did, you could have written, he protested against the unfair laws.

And that tells us he didn't just stay quiet, he spoke up.

Next, for what's happened.

You could have written he was sent to prison for 27 years.

That was an important fact too.

And then for his choice, you could have written something like, when he was released, he chose forgiveness.

He wanted peace.

And this is such an important part of Mandela's story.

That shows deep thinking about his character.

Then you could have written for what he became, president of South Africa.

And that shows how his story changed in an amazing way.

Okay, great.

So let's sum up today's lesson, Nelson Mandela, the man who forgave.

In this lesson, we have learned that apartheid laws in South Africa were unfair and treated Black people worse than white people.

Nelson Mandela works to change the unfair laws.

He joined a group who protested against South Africa's leaders.

He was arrested and spent 27 years in prison.

After prison, he chose forgiveness instead of anger.

He became president and showed the world how to choose peace.

Mandela's story teaches us that one person's courage can help change the world.

Well done, everyone.

And today we have learned about how Mandela, even though he lived in an unfair world, he never gave up hope.

And instead of choosing anger, he chose forgiveness.

His story reminds us that one person's choices can change a whole country, and that peace is something we can all choose every day.

I'll see you again soon.