Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to this reading lesson where we will be exploring the deeper meaning behind the story "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" and drawing our own conclusions about the text.

For this lesson, you need this copy of the book "Mischief Makers, Retold by Tony Bradman." Pause the video and go and get your copy of the book now.

Fantastic.

Now I know you have the book with you.

For this lesson, you need to be listening and looking carefully.

You need the book to refer to, and there will be lots of tasks where you need somebody to talk to, so that you can discuss all of your wonderful ideas.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can identify a moral from "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" and develop a personal response.

Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn.

Your turn.

Moral.

Personal response.

Comparisons.

Well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story or experience.

Developing a personal response involves expressing your own opinions, ideas, or feelings on what you have read.

And making comparisons means identifying the similarities and differences between two or more things.

These words will appear throughout the lesson today.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be identifying the moral of the tale.

And in the second part, you will be developing a personal response to the story.

So let's begin with identifying the moral of the tale.

What happens in "Anansi and the Antelope Baby?" Let's remind ourselves.

Anansi spun a web while relaxing in a bush and contemplating which tricks he could play on other animals next.

A fire in the forest headed towards Anansi.

Most of the animals didn't help him, but Antelope rescued him.

Anansi was grateful.

One day, Antelope left her baby by a bush while she went to get food, and hunters spotted them and plotted to catch them.

Anansi saw what was happening and tricked the hunters by spinning a web to hide baby so they wouldn't catch her.

Anansi protected Baby Antelope, and when her mother returned, she felt immense gratitude.

A special friendship was forged.

We have now recapped the story of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following does the story of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" focus on? A, what different characters look like? B, how different characters treat each other, or C, what different characters sound like? Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is B.

The story explores how different characters treat each other.

Well done.

A moral is a key feature of Anansi folktales.

Anansi stories explore themes relating to character and good v.

evil in order to teach an important moral.

A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story or experience.

We can draw conclusions about a moral based on themes that emerge through the character's actions.

So we can analyse the character's actions and consider the different qualities they show and what's right and wrong and draw meaning or a lesson from it.

That is how we identify a moral.

The following character traits are key themes within "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." Trickery, the practise of deception.

Kindness, the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Strength, the quality or state of being strong.

By exploring how these character traits appear in the folk tale, we can draw conclusions to infer a moral from the story.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Exploring character traits within a folktale can help me infer the moral of the story.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is true.

Well done.

Time to justify your answer.

A, there is always one good character that we learn a lesson from.

Or B, considering the traits of different characters and their impact can teach us important lessons.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

The answer is B.

Considering the traits of different characters and their impact on others in the story can teach us important lessons.

There is not always one good character, and not all characters are simply good or bad either.

We know that Anansi shows some unkind traits in some of the tales, but he also is able to use some of his traits for good in many ways, like in "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." Readers may have different interpretations of a text and its meaning.

This means that readers may have different perspectives on a story.

Having rich discussions with other people about a text can deepen our understanding of it, and it can help us to develop our own personal response.

Discussion means the action or process of talking about something to exchange ideas.

Through doing this, you will hear different perspectives, which means personal points of view or opinion.

And you will be able to interpret the text in different ways.

Interpretation means the process of understanding and assigning meaning to something.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the vocabulary to the correct definition.

Our vocabulary is discussion, perspective and interpretation.

The definitions are a personal point of view or opinion, the action or process of talking about something to exchange ideas, and the process of understanding and assigning meaning to something.

Pause the video and match these correctly now.

Let's take a look at the answers.

Discussion is the action or process of talking about something to exchange ideas.

Perspective is a personal point of view or opinion.

And interpretation is the process of understanding and assigning meaning to something.

Well done.

You are now going to use discussion to share different perspectives and develop your own interpretation of the moral of the story.

It's time for your task.

Discuss with your partner what you think the moral of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" is.

Remember, a moral means a lesson that can be learned from a story.

Your possible sentence starters are, "I think the moral of the story is.

." "I think the story teaches an important lesson about.

." And, "I learnt that.

." Pause the video, discuss with your partner now, and identify what you think the moral of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" is.

Welcome back.

It was wonderful to hear you sharing your different perspectives with one another and developing your interpretation of the story and the moral behind it.

Let's take a look at some examples of what I heard.

"I think the moral of the story is that doing good deeds for others can in return, help you when you need it." This is a really good moral that you could take away from the story.

Antelope helped Anansi, and in return, this meant that Anansi helped Antelope when she needed it.

So we know that showing kindness and doing good deeds for others can actually be beneficial to both people.

I also heard, "I think the story teaches an important lesson about treating others with the same kindness you'd like to be treated with." This was a good answer.

It really helped to think about how scary it must have been for Anansi when he thought nobody was going to save him from the fire.

He was really lucky that Antelope was able to show him kindness even though he'd been quite mean with his tricks.

Maybe this made him reflect on treating others more kindly.

I also heard, "I learned that we can use mental strength to overcome challenges and solve problems for ourselves and others." Maybe the moral you took away was that mental strength can be just as important as physical strength.

This is a really valuable lesson from the story.

Your interpretation of the moral may vary, and that is okay.

You might have something different that we haven't talked about.

As long as you can justify it with the themes that emerge in the text and the story, then that is a valid interpretation.

Well done for all of your hard work identifying a moral.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson.

Developing a personal response.

We know that interpretations of a story and the moral inferred from it may vary.

You have lots of different ideas.

This is because stories evoke different personal responses from readers based on their own life experiences.

Readers are able to make connections between stories and their own life and make comparisons.

What does it mean to make comparisons? Making comparisons means to identify the similarities and differences between two or more things.

Comparing our life experiences to those of characters in folktales can help us to reflect on our own character and actions.

We might find a similarity where we showed an admirable character trait.

We might find a difference and be inspired by the story to act differently in our own lives.

Let's check your understanding.

What does it mean to make comparisons? A, to identify a character's traits.

B, to identify differences between two or more things.

Or C, to identify the similarities and differences between two or more things.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is C.

Well done.

When we make comparisons, we are identifying both the similarities and the differences between two or more things.

It's time for your task.

Discuss the following questions to develop a personal response to the moral of the story.

Can you think of a time when you showed kindness or cleverness to solve a problem and help others? And has the moral of the story made you reflect on doing anything differently? I'm really excited to hear your different personal responses.

Pause the video and discuss these questions with your partner now.

Welcome back.

You were all so reflective when discussing these questions, and I was really impressed by your responses.

Let's take a look at some examples of what I heard in answer to the first question.

Can you think of a time when you showed kindness or cleverness to solve a problem or help others? I had, "I asked my classmate if they wanted to play, because they were alone and looked sad.

We had such a fun time and became friends.

They're always there for me when I'm sad now too." This sounds a little bit similar to the story of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." This person didn't need to offer to play with their classmate, but in the end, they forged a friendship out of it, and both of these people show one another kindness and support now.

The other answer I had was, "We couldn't see the screen in class when the sun was shining too brightly.

So we cut out pieces of black felt fabric and used Velcro strips to put them over the windows.

It was so clever." This is a really good example of using our mental strength or cleverness to solve a problem which can benefit and help everyone around us.

Using kindness and mental strength to problem solve creates a really supportive environment for the people around us.

Let's now take a look at some of the answers I heard in response to question two.

Has the moral of the story made you reflect on doing anything differently? One person said, "I'm a bit of a trickster myself, and I love playing jokes, but this story has made me consider more carefully whether my jokes are funny for the other person, because I don't want to hurt their feelings." This was so reflective and thoughtful.

Now, there's nothing wrong with being a bit of a trickster and playing jokes, but we always want to ensure it's not at another person's expense.

We want to make sure the other person would find the joke or the trick funny as well.

The other answer I had was, "When I think of strength, I mainly think of the sports I play, but this story has reminded me how strong our minds can be if we nurture them.

I want to use my cleverness for good too." This is a wonderful reflection and goal to have, because remember, mental and physical strength are equally as important, and they are often intertwined.

Well done for your fantastic discussion and developing such interesting personal responses.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story or experience.

Exploring character traits and themes within a folktale can help us infer a moral from the story.

Readers may have different interpretations of a text, its meaning, or the moral drawn from it.

Personal responses to a story may vary as a result of an individual's own life experiences.

And making comparisons between a story and our life experiences can help us reflect on our own character and actions.

Well done for your hard work and learning in this reading lesson.

I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you.