Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's really nice to see you here for today's lesson.

Now, we're going to be doing some drama activities today, linked to a Sherlock Holmes story, so I think you're going to really enjoy this lesson.

I'm certainly looking forward to it, so let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called understanding "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", and it comes from our unit called "Sherlock Holmes: "Descriptive and Letter Writing".

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to retell the plot of "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", and we'll consider it from different characters' perspectives.

Now in this lesson, we're going to be delving deep into a Sherlock Holmes short story.

Now, you may have already heard this story read to you, but today you're going to need access to the text, which you can find in the additional materials for this lesson.

Alternatively, you can listen to the video version from the video for the previous lesson in this unit.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Deduce.

Perspective and first person.

Well done.

So if you deduce something, you work it out by logical reasoning or thinking based on the evidence that you see.

A perspective is a point of view, and the first person referred to the point of view where the speaker, or the narrator of the story is the I character providing a personal account of events, or experiences.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by looking in detail at the narrative of "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" and then we'll do some drama activities taking on different roles from the narrative.

So, you may have already heard a version of a Sherlock Holmes short story called "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle".

And we know it involves these two main characters, Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr.

John Watson.

So the narrative is written in the first person from the perspective of Dr.

Watson Sherlock's friend and his loyal sidekick and helper.

And it's set in the Victorian era in London just after Christmas.

And in the story, Holmes is able to deduce, come to work out, certain conclusions from information he learns to help him to solve the crime.

And that's Sherlock Holmes' special skill, to be able to deduce and work out lots of information from small clues.

So because the adventure of the Blue Carbuncle was first published in 1892, some of the language is unusual to us.

And as well as this, the narrator of his first person narrative is Dr.

Watson, who's a well educated man, he's a doctor, so he naturally uses some quite complex language.

So we're going to investigate that language at each section of the story.

And then I'll tell you to read a section of the story after we've explored the vocabulary together.

So here's some vocabulary we're going to see in the first part of the story.

We're going to see the phrase maintain a semblance of dignity.

So it says, if you maintain a semblance of dignity, you're trying to keep your self respect in a difficult situation.

So you're kind of staying strong, staying dignified, and if you're struggling for money, you're in reduced circumstances.

So someone in the story is in reduced circumstances, it suggests they used to have more money, and now they have less.

So their circumstances, their wealth has been reduced.

So we've talked about those two phrases, or ideas.

I'd like you to now go and read the section of the the story, which is titled "Peterson's Discovery".

So pause the video and go and read that section.

Well done, great reading.

So let's check our understanding.

What did each feature of the hat allow Holmes to deduce about its owner? We had our hat brought in and Holmes was able to work out lots of information about the owner of the hat just by looking at it.

So how did these pieces of information match up? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good effort.

So A says that the hat was large and Holmes deduced from that, that the owner was intelligent.

Now we know that there's no real connection between those two things, but in Victorian times they did believe that.

B says the hat was worn and faded and from that Holmes deduced that the owner no longer has much money, so he can't afford a new hat.

And C says the owner had tried to keep the hat in good condition.

And from that Holmes deduced that the owner has self-respect, even hard in times.

He still wants to look good, maintain the appearance of his hat, even though he's in more financially difficult circumstances.

Really well done, if you match those up correctly.

Now let's have a look at some false statements about the story so far.

I've got three here.

Can you pause the video and try and correct them with the correct information? Have a go.

Well done.

Let's take a look.

So A says the goose was stolen from Peterson.

That's not right, is it? In fact the goose was stolen from the owner of the hat.

B says the goose is still alive.

No, Peterson ate the goose, didn't he? And C says, Peterson found a small blue stone inside the hat.

No, that's not right.

Peterson found that stone inside the goose.

So we've corrected that incorrect information, really well done.

So, we've seen homes deduce information by examining the hat carefully, and as I said before, that's one of his trademark special skills.

Here's some more vocabulary we're gonna see in the next part of the story now.

We're going to see that word carbuncle, meaning a jewel.

A ruckus is a fight.

If something is evident, it's clear, or it's obvious to us.

And if you arrive at the appointed time, you are there when you're supposed to be.

So, hopefully you arrive at school at the appointed time and if you show signs of distress, you're looking upset.

So, some really good vocabulary there.

So now I'd like you to stop, pause the video and read the section titled Mr Baker's visit.

Have a go.

Well done.

So, let's see now if we can match up some of these statements to the names of some of our key characters so far in this story.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

So A says the man who lost the hat and the goose.

That was Henry Baker, wasn't it? B says, the man who's been arrested for the theft, that's John Horner.

The man who reported John Horner to the police was James Ryder and the man who brought Holmes the hat is Peterson.

Really well done if you got those.

So, it's clear to Holmes and Watson that Mr. Baker did not know about the carbuncle being hidden in the goose, because they gave him a different goose and he was was really pleased with the outcome.

So, he didn't know the carbuncle called the jewel was there.

So, let's explore some vocabulary from the next section before we read what happens next.

If someone is slight, they are slim.

A slight person is a slim person.

A person who sells items at a market can be called a vendor.

And if you've got an air of supreme authority you appear very confident.

Maybe your head teacher at school has an air of supreme authority.

They almost seem powerful.

If you share a knowing glance with someone, you show you're sharing a thought, and I bet you've done that with someone before.

And here's a great word, a facade, it's a French word, it's a false appearance.

If it crumbles, your attempt to lie has failed.

So we might say someone's facade has crumbled, in which case they've been trying to put on a brave face maybe, and then their lies have caught up with them.

And then that facade crumbles.

You can tell that it's all fallen apart and sometimes a building can have a facade, which is like a false front to it to make it look better.

So, that's a really useful word to know.

So, can you now read the section titled, "A Chance Encounter at the Market"? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Let's try a true, or false.

So, true or false.

James Ryder is saying that he's innocent of the crime at this point in the story.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

You're right, that is false.

Now can you justify why? Pause the video and decide on the best justification here.

Well done.

You're right.

The answer is B.

He doesn't admit, he hasn't admitted the full story yet at this point has he? But we've seen that his facade has crumbled, that false appearance has crumbled.

So, he's accepting that he's lied and he's saying that he wants to talk about it in private.

So, we can tell that he's admitting that he's involved with this crime.

So, he's not still maintaining that he's innocent and he's not saying he only stole the goose.

It's clear that he's involved in this crime all the way down.

Really well done if you spotted that.

Okay, so it looks like James Ryder's a culprit, but how did his plan go so wrong? He would've wanted to keep that carbuncle but it ended up in a goose in Mr. Baker's hands and then eaten by Peterson.

So, how did it all go wrong? Well, before we find out, let's explore some vocabulary from the final section of this story.

So, we've got this word subdued.

If you have a subdued light, it's a gentle glow.

Subdued almost means pushed down, or reduced.

So, if something gets subdued, then it's kind of low level.

So, it's a low level light.

If you speak with a tremulous voice, it's trembling.

So, maybe you're very nervous.

If your plans are undone, they fail.

Something distinctive is unique, or recognisable.

If you are exacting, you take things very seriously and it's almost like you expect things to be done exactly right.

So there's a kind of link there with the meaning.

And if you can't tell what somebody's thinking, their face is inscrutable.

So, it's hard to read their emotions from their face.

So, now we've learned that vocabulary, I'd like you to go and read the section titled "Ryder's Confession".

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

So, let's do another true, or false here.

Decide if each of these statements below is true, or false.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

So A says, Ryder stole the carbuncle in hopes of paying off his debts.

That is true.

B says, Ryder hid the gem in a goose with a plain tail.

Now that's supposed to have that bar in it's tail, didn't it? The black line.

C says, Ryder framed John Horner for the theft of the carbuncle.

That's true, isn't it? He told the police that he'd let John Horner into the room just before the gem had gone missing.

And he says, Holmes reported Ryder to the police after his confession.

That is false, isn't it? Holmes was almost saying, we don't need to involve the police, because Ryder's going to retract his statement.

He's gonna tell the police that Horner wasn't the man who did it.

And so Holmes is saying, well, his own conscience is enough to judge him.

We don't need to involve the police at all.

Really well done if you've got all those.

So now that we've heard and read the story, we can try and retell it.

So, we're going to see if we can tell the whole story.

So we are just going to be talking in this task.

So, I'd like you to work with a partner if you've got one.

If you haven't, that's okay.

You can just do it yourself.

So working with a partner, you're going to use a pencil, or a pen as a talking stick.

So it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can pass it between you.

So partner A is gonna say the first event of the story and then pass the talking stick to partner B, who will say the next event and so on and so on.

So go backwards and forwards between A and B, swapping the talking stick for each event of the story and continue until you reach the end of the story.

And then do it all over again if you've got time with partner B starting this time.

So, you're each selling different events the second time around.

And finally, let's see if you're in class, you could try and tell the story all around the class with your teacher maybe pointing to different children at random to say the next part of the story.

If you're not in class right now, then you can't do that.

That's okay.

So pause the video now and see if you and your partner can have a go at telling your story.

If you are on your own, see if you can retell the story just by yourself.

Have a go.

Well done.

I'm sure you did a great job of retelling the story there.

Maybe your retelling included these events as you are passing your talking stick between you.

Maybe one of you said "Holmes and Watson "were examining a hat that Peter Peterson had found, "it had belonged to someone "who'd lost it along with a goose".

Then maybe someone said "Peterson burst in, he'd found a jewel inside the goose".

Then we had the jewel is the blue carbuncle and John Horner, a plumber had been arrested for stealing it on the evidence of James Ryder.

Then they find the hat's owner, but he knows nothing about the jewel.

That's Mr. Baker, isn't it? Then they trace the goose back to a market store and overhears someone asking about the goose and they realise it's James Ryder.

Ryder confesses to having stolen the jewel to pay off his debts and Holmes decides to let Ryder go free.

So, we've really quickly there summarised, haven't we? Just the main events of the story.

When we're retelling, we don't have to cover everything, we're just covering the points.

Really good job there.

So now that we've really started to understand the narrative, let's try and take on different roles in the narrative, doing some drama tasks, to see if we can get even deeper into this story.

So because "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is a first person narrative from Dr.

Watson's perspective, we're only hearing his version of events and his impressions of what's happened.

So, one way of increasing our understanding of this narrative, is to take on the roles of different characters.

So, let's think about the doorman Peterson to start with.

What was Peterson's role? Turn to a partner, or think for yourself.

What did Peterson do in the story? How was he involved in all this? Have a quick think.

Well done.

Good job.

I bet you said things like, he saw the fight and he got Mr. Baker's hat and the goose and then he brought the hat to Holmes, and took the goose home to eat.

And then he found the carbuncle and he rushed to Baker Street.

Those are the main points of Peterson's involvement, aren't they? After that, he's not involved at all, but he really gets the story going, doesn't he? So, if we take on Peterson's role, we can think about what he saw and felt and did to feed into a description from his perspective instead of Watson's perspective.

So, let's imagine Peterson seeing that fight in the street.

So, he turns the corner and he sees Mr. Baker being attacked in the street while holding his hat and his goose.

So, what might Peterson see? So he sees a gang of ruffians setting upon a man carrying a goose.

What does he feel? He feels furious that this poor gentleman's being attacked.

And what does he do? Well, he rushes towards them and he's shouting loudly, maybe trying to scare them off.

So, from his perspective, the story might look like this.

Here's his account in Peterson's voice.

Now having Peterson as the first person perspective.

So I'm saying, "As I came around the corner, "I heard a commotion "and I saw a gang of ragged looking ruffians "setting upon a respectable gentleman carrying a goose, "rushing towards them, I shouted them at them loudly "to leave him be and wave my cane at them "as menacingly as I could".

So in that version, the I is Peterson, isn't it? And you're going to have a go at that now.

So, now you taking on the role of Peterson, I'd like you to describe what you saw, felt and did, when you discovered the carbuncle inside the goose? So have a go at saying it out loud, using I to mean Peterson this time.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

Maybe you thought about what he saw, felt and did like this.

Maybe you could say what he saw was an extraordinary blue gemstone.

What he felt was maybe completely flabbergasted.

What on earth was it doing inside his goose? And what did he do? Maybe he leapt up, grabbed his coat and rushed out in order to go and tell Sherlock Holmes about what he'd found.

So, maybe what you said was something like this.

"As I cut into the meat, I suddenly spotted a flash of blue, "I stopped, dropped the knife and reached into the goose.

"It was a gem.

"A shimmering blue gemstone.

"Hadn't ever seen the like of it before.

"What on earth was it doing inside the goose?" "I knew one person who would know.

"Grabbing my coat, I dashed out of the door "leaving my wife's wife gaping in confusion".

So, I've tried to kind of imagine how Peterson would describe what he felt and did on seeing that carbuncle.

And you did a great job of that too.

Well done.

So now let's consider the perspective of poor John Horner, the real victim in all of this, who was wrongly arrested for the theft of the carbuncle.

So what key events might link to John Hornet in our story? Pause the video and have a chat with the person next to you, or think for yourself.

Well done.

Good job.

So the main point for John Horner was being arrested wasn't it? Falsely arrested for a crime he did not commit.

And then what we'll see just after the story ends, would be him being released, isn't it? Now we didn't see that in our version of events, but we can imagine how he might react in that situation.

So, let's imagine Watson goes to the prison to tell Horner he's free after the events in the story.

What might Horner say out loud when he's told this? So, now I'm putting myself into Horner's shoes and think about what might his words be when Watson comes and says, "You're free to go".

So, here's what I thought he might say.

"Wait, you mean I'm free to go? "I can just leave? "Oh, thank goodness.

"I've been saying all along, it had nothing to do with me.

"All I ever did was go and fix a pipe.

"Oh, I can't wait to tell my wife.

"I dunno how to thank you doctor.

"Please pass on my greatest respects to Mr. Holmes as well.

"I can't believe I'm free".

So I'm trying to show there how he can't believe what's going on and also his excitement and in pleasure, about the fact that he's finally free to go and also his gratitude to Dr.

Watson and Mr. Holmes for having solved this problem.

So, now it's your turn.

So, I want you to take on the role of John Horner as well, but I want you to imagine that other important event.

Imagine that a police officer has come to arrest you for that theft.

What would you say as you're being arrested? Say it out loud in role.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Great ideas.

So maybe you said something like this, "Hold on, what's going on here? "Wait, stop.

"You've got the wrong man.

"I've done nothing wrong.

"What on earth is this about a gem? "I've never seen a gem in my life.

"Ryder said a pipe needed fixing and I fixed it.

"That's all.

"I dunno what you're on about.

"Please, please listen to me.

"No, please, there's no need for handcuffs.

"Can't you see my children are watching? "Please sir, have mercy".

So I've tried to show that his frustration with what's happening to him and also his confusion about what's going on, and his increasing desperation as he realises what's happening to him.

So, I hope you had a lot of fun doing that one as well.

Now let's imagine a conversation.

So, we're going to do a bit of role play here as two people.

So we're gonna imagine a conversation between Watson and Holmes after the events of the story once it's all over.

So, remember that at the end of the story, Holmes let's Ryder go without reporting him to the police.

So, do you think that was the right thing to do and why, or why not? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you, or have a think for yourself.

So, just as we had different views on that, and I'm sure you didn't all agree there, perhaps Watson did not fully understand why Holmes had let Ryder go unpunished like this.

So, we can have conversations in role by imagining different characters' perspectives on the issues.

So let's do that.

In your pair, I want you to take on the roles of Holmes and Watson and if you can't agree, you might have to do a rock, paper, scissors for that one.

And have a conversation discussing the release of Ryder.

So, what does Holmes think about it? You can speak in role and what does Watson think about it? They can speak in role as well.

So, pause the video and have a go at making a conversation between Watson and Holmes.

And obviously, you're gonna have to listen to what one person says to react to them in character, until you think you've got the end of the conversation.

So, pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

So maybe your conversation went something like this.

Maybe Watson started off by saying, "Now look here Holmes, that man's a criminal".

And then maybe Holmes said, "He was a desperate man who made a mistake.

"One, I don't believe he shall make again".

Maybe Watson responds, "Well, it seems to me that he deserves "to be punished just the same, poor Horner's in jail" So, he hasn't yet been released in this version.

And then Holmes is going to say, "His own conscience will punish him Watson" by which he means, well in his head he knows he's done a bad thing.

So he's feeling very guilty about it anyway.

And we know in our version of the story, Holmes has sent him away to go and get Horner released.

So, that will help as well.

So, hopefully you had fun having a go at that dialogue together.

Really good job.

So, let's do a final task for this lesson.

We are going to now take on the role of James Ryder, the real criminal.

So, remember James Ryder's theft did not go as planned.

I want you to imagine you're Ryder before the events we see in this story.

So, I want you to write the steps you are planning to take, in order to end up with the carbuncle and escape.

So this is the best case scenario, what you want to happen.

So, you might want to use number points for this, one, two, three and so on.

And I'd like you to use imperative verbs like, put the gem.

So, it's like you're writing instructions for yourself.

So, you might want to look back at the text here to help you to think what would the best steps be for Ryder to get away with this? If it all goes to plan, what will these steps look like for him to get that money as a result of selling the carbuncle? So, pause the video and see how many steps you can come up with for Ryder's plan to work properly.

Have a go.

Okay, so I think these are some of the steps James Ryder might have planned to take, in order to make this work properly.

Number one might be, break a pipe in the hotel room on purpose.

He needs to get a plumber there, doesn't he? So then he will ask John Horner the plumber to come and fix it.

Step two.

For step three, he's gonna steal the carbuncle from the hotel room.

And then step four, he's gonna tell the police that John Horner was in the room when it was stolen.

So, actually all of that did happen, didn't it? I've guessed about number one, the breaking of the pipe.

That wasn't in our story, but we can imagine that might have happened.

And step two, three and four is what happened exactly.

What about number five? This happened too.

It said "Rush to my sister's farm, "choose a distinctive goose "and feed it the carbuncle." Now he did do that, but step six was where it went all wrong, wasn't it? Step six would be, take the goose home so no one can search me for the carbuncle.

Now in the story, he took the wrong goose, didn't he? But hopefully his real plan was to take the correct goose home.

For number seven, I've got, kill the goose, poor goose and remove the carbuncle.

Now in fact, he killed the goose and there was nothing there 'cause it was the wrong goose.

And then finally, it would be sell the carbuncle and pay off his debts.

So, this is what James Ryder would've wanted to happen.

We know that unfortunately for him it did not go to plan.

So hopefully you managed to come up with a really good list as well of what James Ryder wanted to happen.

So you've put yourself in the criminal's shoes now, thinking about what was his motivation? What was he trying to do in this story? Really good job.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We learned that the adventure of the blue carbuncle is a short Sherlock Holmes story, first published in 1892 during the Victorian era and set in London.

We know it's written in the first person from Dr.

Watson's perspective.

And we know the story describes how Holmes is able to deduce that James Ryder is the real criminal by following a series of pieces of evidence.

And by taking on the role as a characters within the story we've seen that we can deepen our understanding of their perspective.

And we've tried that with lots of different characters.

I hope you've really enjoyed this lesson and taking on the different roles in the story? And I hope you really feel now like you understand the story really well.

Really good job and I hope to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.