Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad that you have decided to learn with me today.

We are in the Modern Text First Study unit, and our modern text is "Leave Taking." We're gonna be looking at scene two today.

An important character is introduced, and we're gonna be looking at some important contextual information as well.

I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

Let's get started.

By the end of this lesson, you're going to be able to explain the importance of the Windrush generation in relation to "Leave Taking." We're gonna look an important piece of context in relation to this play, and then we're going to apply it to our reading of scene two.

There are some key words which are gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson, and they're gonna help unlock our learning.

They are colonisation, which is when a country establishes control over another country, exploiting it for economic gain.

The Commonwealth, established in 1926 as the British Empire declined.

This is an international association of 56 independent countries, many of which used to be British colonies.

Migrate, which is when you relocate from one country to another.

And indoctrinate, which is when you make people believe something, a less formal synonym is to brainwash.

So these key words will be referenced throughout today's lesson, and they're going to help us achieve our objective.

Our lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by looking at Windrush, an important piece of contextual detail in order to fully understand the play ""Leave Taking." And then we're going to explore scene two in light of Windrush.

Let's start off with Windrush.

I'd like you to discuss this question.

How does the blurb below speak to what we know about the characters of "Leave Taking" already? We have read scene one, so we know something of the characters, not everything.

And the blurb below says, "Two generations.

'Leave Taking' is an epic story of what we leave behind in order to find home." So how does this blurb speak to what we know about the characters of "Leave Taking" already? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Beautiful discussions there showing off your fantastic knowledge of scene one.

Here's some ideas you might have had.

So two generations, lots of you will recall that there are five characters from two generations.

We've got Mai, Enid and Brod from one generation, and Del and Viv, Enid's teenage daughters from another generation.

"What we leave behind." We know that Enid and Brod both left to Jamaica when they were younger to start a new life in England.

Viv and Del were born in London where the play is set.

So certainly Enid and Brod will have had to leave something behind in order to migrate to London.

They had to leave Jamaica, and we know that Enid still has some family in Jamaica, which must make establishing her life in London a little bit more difficult.

Now, Enid and Brod are fictional, but in the context of the play, they're part of the Windrush generation.

The Windrush generation are those who arrived in Britain from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973.

The term Windrush comes from the name of the first ship Empire Windrush, which sailed from Jamaica to Essex in 1948.

Now, this voyage has become a symbol of the migration movement from the West Indies to Britain after World War II, which ended in 1945.

The Windrush generation took up jobs in important sectors like the NHS and transport, which are affected by the post-war labour shortage.

And the 1948 British Nationality Act gave people from the Commonwealth the right live and work in Britain as British citizens.

Now, here's what Pinnock says about her own mother's journey to England.

Pinnock says, "My mother migrated from Jamaica to United Kingdom in 1959.

The shock and disappointment of those who migrated to the UK at the time has been well-documented.

My parents' generation had been indoctrinated by a colonialist education that lionised, celebrated, all things British.

Despite their disappointment on entering a country whose environment was often hostile, 'No Blacks, no dogs, no Irish,' they didn't complain and rarely discussed hardships." Let's look at some of this in a little bit more detail.

So Pinnock says, "My parents' generation had been indoctrinated by a colonialist education that lionised, celebrated, all things British." So citizens from Jamaica arrived with a sense of their British identity, an identity that had been formed through their education, but also through fighting for the mother country, Britain, in World Wars I and II, when 25,000 Caribbeans served as British troops.

So even though Pinnock's mother was born in Jamaica, she had a real sense of her British identity, and that is because the education system in Jamaica was very, very, looked exactly like the education system in Britain, because Britain had colonised Jamaica.

But it was not just this.

So many Caribbeans had fought for the mother country during World Wars I and II.

They were protecting Britain, they were protecting the mother country, and therefore they felt very keenly that sense of their British identity.

Let's look at this word "shock." So Pinnock says that there was shock when her parents' generation migrated from Jamaica to the United Kingdom.

And this shock was not just about Britain's ignorance of parts of its Commonwealth, so people in Britain not knowing anything about Jamaica, despite so many Jamaicans knowing so much about Britain.

But the shock was also about the lack of prosperity in the country.

So England was presented as this land of opportunity, but when Pinnock's parents arrived, they actually found out that there was much less opportunity, much less prosperity than they had been told.

There was not just shock, but there was also disappointment, and Pinnock uses this word disappointment and also talks about the country's hostility to migrants.

So despite the comradeship and united front presented during the World Wars, Britain was less willing to accept citizens from its Commonwealth post-war.

So there's a lot of hostility despite not only the huge contribution of Jamaicans, West Indians during the World Wars, but also despite the fact that Pinnock's parents' generation were citizens of the Commonwealth.

But there was an unwillingness to accept citizens from the Commonwealth into Britain.

A check for understanding.

What did those from the Windrush generation find when they migrated to Britain post World War II? Is it, A, prosperity, B, hostility, C, jobs? Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected B and C.

Now I'd like you to read scene two of "Leave Taking" from the first stage direction "A few days later" to Enid, "Me, I don't rely on nobody but meself." I would like you, so this isn't the full scene two.

This is just a section of scene two.

And as you read, I'd like you to pause and discuss these five questions.

Who is coming over to the Matthews' family home? So Enid is Enid Matthews.

She's expecting someone to come over, and who is it? Why is Enid rightly suspicious that Del has gone to work? What does Brod reveal about Enid's life in Jamaica? Why is Brod so angry with the government? How does Enid show her devotion to England? So pause the video, read the section of scene two of "Leave Taking," and discuss these five questions as you are reading.

Pause the video now.

Beautiful reading of that section of scene two, and really nice, we've got a new character, we've got Brod.

So we've now met all of our five characters and starting to understand him, who he is, and why he's so important to the play, why he's so important to Enid.

Let's have a look at some of the discussion questions and the answers that you came up with.

So who's coming over to the Matthews' family home? A pastor is coming over, so religious person.

Why is Enid rightly suspicious that Del has gone to work? Well, Enid knows that Del has been sacked from her job, so she knows that both her daughters are lying to her, Del about where she is, and Viv is covering up for Del as well.

Three, what does Brod reveal about Enid's life in Jamaica? Brod reveals how hard Enid worked in Jamaica saying, "the amount of things she had to do before the sun even rise." And her physical and emotional strength, "she was on them feet, bare feet all day." Four, why is Brod so angry with the government? Well, Brod is angry 'cause he's always been a British subject and showed devotion to the country he thinks of as his.

He's angry at being called an alien after living in London for over 30 years.

Five, how does Enid show her devotion to England? Well, the scene begins with Enid enjoying saying Shakespeare, symbol of her love for England.

She then argues with Brod about the merits of Jamaica and calls London her home.

She's really proud that Viv is going to university, and compares her success with her sister's children in Jamaica.

So Enid seems entirely devoted to England.

Well done for looking at that opening section of scene two and answering those questions so carefully.

Really nice to see people selecting short quotations from this play, even at this early stage of reading it.

We're gonna move on to our second learning cycle now.

We're gonna explore scene two in light of Windrush.

Now, "Leave Taking" was first performed in 1987, but here is what Pinnock says about its continued relevance and topicality.

She says, "Some of the speeches feel as though they were written recently.

Brod's words about having to seek naturalisation after thinking of himself as a British citizen for his whole life echo words spoken 30 years later by victims of the 2018 Windrush scandal." So what does she mean by this? Well, the Windrush scandal.

In 2017, it was revealed that the government, in failures of record keeping and understanding of its citizens' legal rights, was attempting to deport some of those who had come to Britain during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Now, those who migrated from the Commonwealth in the decades post-war are citizens of the UK, because the 1948 British Nationality Act granted citizens of the Commonwealth the right to enter the UK, and the 1971 Immigration Act granted citizens from the Commonwealth already in the UK the right of abode.

Now, Brod is not talking about the Windrush scandal because the play was first formed in 1987, decades before the Windrush scandal came to light.

But his words about having to seek naturalisation, about having to pay to become a citizen to legalise his citizenship in the UK, Pinnock is saying that these words echo the words spoken 30 years later by victims of the Windrush scandal.

So the play seems very topical, despite being written 30 years before this event, the Windrush scandal.

A check for understanding.

Pinnock's "Leave Taking" is about the Windrush scandal.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it, A, Brod mentions the Windrush scandal, but it's not the play's central focus, or B, the play was written before the Windrush scandal, but some of its ideas explored remain topical? Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected B.

It was written before the Windrush scandal in 1987, but some of the ideas explored remain topical.

Now, three students discuss the purpose of the character of Brod, who we meet for the first time in scene two.

One student says, "Pinnock uses the character Brod to explore the theme of belonging." Another says, "Pinnock introduces the character Brod to include explicit political and social criticism." Another student says, "Pinnock introduces the character Brod to develop the character of Enid." I'd like you to discuss this question, who do you most agree with and why? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Beautiful discussion there about the character Brod, with a range of opinions about which student you agreed with most.

I really like to see people selecting moments from the text from scene two in order to support their ideas.

Some people said, well, I really agree with the idea that Brod is introduced to include explicit political and social criticism.

The speech where he expresses his disgust at having to pay for naturalisation is a really powerful moment where a character is able to criticise the government for one of its policies.

But some people saying the character of Enid seems very quiet or withdrawn about some of her experiences from the past, and so Brod is there to help us understand more fully the character of Enid.

And finally, some people saying, well, no, I think the theme of belonging is explored most powerfully through Brod, because he talks explicitly about what it means to feel at home.

And Enid and Brod have this discussion about what it means to feel at home, and that helps us understand this idea, this theme of belonging.

Really nice discussion there about these three students' ideas.

Now I'd like you to select one student statement about Brod, and I'd like you to annotate it with evidence that agrees with it.

Now, the evidence should be contextual.

So you can think about the ideas of Windrush that we looked at in learning cycle one and learning cycle two.

And you can also think about Pinnock's words, what she said about her parents' generation, and also about that speech from Brod from scene two, which she wrote before the Windrush scandal.

So you're gonna choose one student statement and annotate it with evidence that agrees with it.

The evidence should be contextual as well as from the text itself.

Pause the video and make your annotations now.

Beautiful annotations created there, so that you're really starting to flesh out these ideas that these students had, and you're able to select the evidence from the text as well as contextual.

So you've got a sort of paragraph plan, essentially, just using those annotations and using that central argument that each of these students had.

And I'd like to show you some detailed annotations from an example response, and you can compare it to your own annotations and consider, do you have enough detail for this task? So I've selected "Pinnock uses the character Brod to explore the theme of belonging," and here are some ideas that I have annotated.

So I said, "In direct contrast to Enid, who calls England home, Brod no longer feels at home in the UK.

He's angry that the government has called him an alien.

His sense of belonging has been destabilised." And Brod is a man described as in his late 40s-50s in the cast list.

He says he's lived in England for the last 30 years, and so has spent his whole adult life in England.

This is where he belongs, and yet he had to become a citizen.

In scene one, Viv tells us that Brod told her to go to the West Indies, says, "You don't know who you are unless you've been there." For Brod, belonging is about understanding your past as well as your present.

And we saw some people referring not just to scene two, but earlier moments in the play as well in order to explore the student response that they selected.

The character Brod remains topical in light of the Windrush scandal, when the status of those who had moved to England post-war as British citizens was questioned by the Home Office, and I heard lots of people bringing those contextual ideas to support their response.

Brod perhaps voices some of the frustrations and disbelief that someone who moved to England felt.

His sense of belonging and devotion to Britain has been undermined by the hostility that he has faced.

Pinnock's own parents migrated to England post-war.

Brod's account of his former love for England country, which colonised Jamaica perhaps chimes with some of her own experiences with her parents' patriotism.

And it was nice to see people bringing in some autobiographical detail about Pinnock in order to understand the character of Brod as well.

Well done for looking at the student statements, for deciding which you agreed with, and annotating with lots and lots of evidence from the text with contextual ideas and autobiographical detail, in order to prove why that student's statement is valid.

In summary, the Windrush generation are those who arrived from the Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973.

The Windrush generation took up jobs in sectors affected by the post World War II labour shortage.

At the time, the Caribbean was part of the British Commonwealth, so its citizens had the right to live and work in the United Kingdom.

In 2017, it was uncovered that many Windrush citizens were facing deportation under a discriminatory immigration system.

"Leave Taking" was written before the Windrush scandal, but remains topical, especially through the character of Brod.

It's been such a pleasure to read the opening of scene two with you, and to look at some contextual ideas, which are really important to understanding "Leave Taking." I look forward to seeing you next time.