Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

We're in the modern text first study unit and our modern text is "Leave Taking." Today we're gonna look at how to weave context into our analytical essays.

It's a thing we know we have to do, and often we have so much contextual detail.

But how, how do we actually put it into an essay? And today we're gonna learn how to do that.

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

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through this lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to understand what context is and how to weave it into your responses.

So this word weave is going to be really important for us in today's lesson.

We're gonna think about how do you put context within a main body paragraph, rather than just bolting it on at the end of a paragraph, or putting in it in its own paragraph.

And for me, this idea of weaving context into a paragraph was really important when I was learning about writing analytical essays.

And it's been something that I've relied on over and over again every time I've been doing some writing, not just about "Leave Taking," but about any text that I might be studying.

There are some key words that are gonna help unlock our learning today and help us achieve our objective.

And they are first generation migrant.

So a person who is born in one country, but moves to live and establish their life in another country.

So Enid and Brod are examples of first generation migrants in the play.

Second generation migrant, people who have grown up in a country that at least one of their parents was not born in.

So Del and Viv are examples of second generation migrants.

The Windrush scandal, when many citizens who had migrated to Britain between 1948 and 1973 were facing deportation under a discriminatory immigration system.

And weave, in relation to context when you embed it into paragraphs rather than including it as a series of isolated facts.

This is the key skill that we're gonna be looking at in today's lesson.

So our lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by thinking, well, what is context? We need to understand what it actually means before we can put it into our essays.

And then we're gonna think about, well, what makes really meaningful context? And the key is to weave it into your paragraphs.

That's what makes really meaningful context 'cause it seems part of the essay rather than just being bolted on to the end of a paragraph.

But let's start off with what is context? So we can think about context in four different ways.

Historical, so what was happening when the text was written? And how may this have influenced the text? Literary, what influenced the text's style or genre? And what do we know about its production or publication? Social, what were the shared ideas or values of the time? And how are these explored in the text? And biographical, how might the life experiences of the author have influenced the text? So four different types of context.

I'd like you to discuss.

How could you answer these questions in relation to "Leave Taking?" There's so much about this play.

Have a think, have a discussion.

How could you answer these questions, different type of context, these questions that we have in relation to "Leave Taking." Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Some really beautiful discussions there showing off your fantastic knowledge of the context of this play, showing me that you will be able to include it in any writing that you do, which we'll be doing in learning cycle two.

So some ideas that you might have had.

Historical, well, what lots of people mentioned that second generation migrants like Viv and Del were growing up in a Britain that was often still hostile.

So 1980s Britain was often still hostile to second generation migrants.

And we know that there are examples of racial discrimination in the play that Pinnock explores.

So it is important, these historical details could be included, could be relevant to an essay you are writing about "Leave Taking." Literary, well, the plays cast had to be reduced owing to budget.

Lots of people remembered that detail.

Pinnock explains herself that she had to reduce the cast from her initial cast down to just five characters.

And so this really impacts the way we might look at all of the characters 'cause we think, well, why did she, Pinnock choose to include, keep including this particular character? What's their function? And lots of people mentioned that it was also quite unusual to have a Black British cleaner as a heroine.

So Pinnock herself says that was one of the reasons that prompted her to write the play and to have Enid as the heroine because she hadn't seen a Black British cleaner as a heroine in any of the theatre that she had seen when she was younger.

Social, so there were attitudes towards migration and migrants which Pinnock very carefully explores over these eight scenes.

And lots of people also mentioned, well, there are some really important ideas about education in this play.

So Viv, a very successful academic student, but she doesn't feel connected to her education.

And so here Pinnock might be exploring the idea that education system can be quite Eurocentric, ignoring wider cultures that aren't European.

So these are some of the social ideas that are being explored in the play, just some of them.

And biographical, so the life experiences of Pinnock.

Well, we know that Pinnock's parents were first generation immigrants and she's a second generation immigrant.

So her experiences in Britain, her parents' experiences in Britain might be reflected in some of the moments and some of the characters in this play.

So some fantastic contextual knowledge that you already have in relation to "Leave Taking." And you can see that you don't just have one idea or one bit of contextual knowledge, but you can actually divide your contextual knowledge into these four parts, historical, literary, social, and biographical.

And any of these might be useful to an essay that you are writing on "Leave Taking." A quick check for understanding what type of context is missing.

We've got historical, social, and biographical.

What type of context is missing? Pause the video and see if you can remember what type of context is missing.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic if you said literary, what influenced the text's style or genre, and what do we know about its production or publication? And for me, this is such an interesting source of context and one that I like to try and include in any writing that I do about "Leave Taking." Now, another check for understanding, we know what the context is, but can we actually spot it in student writing? So which aspect of context does each pupil explore? We've got Lucas who says, "Just like Pinnock's mother, Enid relies on Mai, an obeah woman, in times of crisis." And Jun says, "Enid, as a Black British cleaner, was a groundbreaking heroine.

Pinnock said she had never seen such character as a lead in a British play before." So can you identify which type of context each pupil has used in their writing? Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you said that Lucas was looking at biographical information and Jun was looking at a literary context.

So two very different sentences there, but nicely woven context into those sentences about "Leave Taking." And we're gonna look at the skill, how to weave context in later in this lesson.

Now, I'd like you to re-read Pinnock's introduction to "Leave Taking." This is found in the additional materials.

And as you read, complete the table making notes about contextual details that support an understanding of the play.

And we've got our table from earlier.

So we know that context can be divided into historical detail, literary detail, social, or biographical detail.

So by the end of reading those additional materials, you will have loads and loads of different ideas of the context that you might want to include in any essay on "Leave Taking." So pause the video, re-read that introduction, and make notes as you do under these subheadings.

Pause a video and complete the task now.

Fantastic to see people reading that introduction, re-reading that introduction so carefully and really focusing, thinking about all these different types of context, and thinking, where would this most likely fall in? Where can I look at the publication history? What biographical detail might I want to include? What historical and social detail might I want to include? Let's look at some of the ideas that you might have had.

So historical details.

Remember these are just some of the ideas.

The introduction is incredibly rich.

So you might have some different ones.

You might want to add some of these ideas from the feedback session.

So what was happening when the text was written? How might this have influenced the text? Or what Pinnock calls, "this new breed of Black British women" were exploring what Britain meant to them.

So Del and Viv are coming of age in 1980s Britain.

They're coming of age, which means they're becoming adults, they want to leave the family home, and they are really exploring as young adults what Britain means to them.

We've got literary, well, it was the first play written by a Black British woman to be produced at the National Theatre in 1987.

So pretty groundbreaking and an important, exciting moment for Pinnock herself.

Social, what were the shared ideas and values at the time? How are these explored in the text? Well, when it was revived in 2018, the Windrush scandal made Brod's anger towards the Home Office yet more powerful.

And it was really interesting to see people using that keyword from earlier on in this lesson.

We find it in the introduction, Pinnock's introduction itself where she says that Brod's words about the Windrush scandal seem very timely despite the fact that the play was written many, many years before it.

And biographical, how might the life experiences of the author have influenced the text.

Well, Pinnock's parents experience a colonialist education perhaps reflected in Enid's attitudes towards Britain.

So Enid is not a match for Pinnock's mother by any means, but the idea of this colonialist education and the idea that Jamaicans were celebrating all things British, which is what Pinnock is talking about, her parents' generation celebrating all things British, we might see that reflected in some of Enid's attitudes towards Britain.

Well done for looking at that contextual detail really, really carefully.

And you've now got fantastic table, which you can rely on in this lesson of course, but actually in any writing that you're going to be doing about "Leave Taking" or any future thinking that you might be doing about "Leave Taking." So make sure you keep that table incredibly safe.

Okay, we're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

So we know what context is and we've got loads of contextual detail at our fingertips.

Well, what does it mean to make it really meaningful within an essay? We're gonna return to this idea of weaving context into analytical paragraphs rather than bolting it on.

So if people wanted to answer this question, how does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? And I'd like you to discuss, what context do you think might be helpful? So that table from learning cycle one, it's gonna be really important here.

You can obviously return to it, you don't need to do it from your head.

That's why we make notes so that we can use them when we get questions like this.

So I'd like you to discuss what context might be helpful in answering this question.

How does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Beautiful discussions there.

So now not just reading and taking notes, but actually applying your knowledge of context to an actual essay question which you could be faced with.

So some ideas that you might have had.

So Pinnock's exploration of what it can mean to be a second generation migrant.

That would be incredibly important because Del of course is a second generation migrant.

We know that Pinnock had to reduce the cast, so she was able to develop the relationship between Del and Enid, and it's incredibly rich relationship.

So looking at some key moments between these two characters will be a really nice thing to do in your essay, just dropping in that you know that this development of that relationship was because Pinnock had to reduce the cast is a nice contextual detail.

Del's feelings of belonging are impacted by the legacy of enslavement and colonialism, which we see in Scene Six talked about explicitly by Mai.

So here we've got some historical context that would of course be really important in understanding the character of Del.

And Del's experiences of racial discrimination evoke aspects of 1980s Britain.

And again, she talks about this explicitly in Scene Two and it was really, really nice.

People had general ideas about what could be really important to this question in terms of context, but actually pinpointing scenes that you want to talk about or particular quotations shows that you are absolutely ready to include context in your essays.

Now, Laura writes a response which includes context.

She writes, "Pinnock establishes that Del doesn't feel she belongs in the family home.

This is developed through the intergenerational conflict in Scene One, resulting in a violent fight in Scene Two.

Contextually we know that Pinnock developed Enid and Del's relationship because she had to reduce the cast list." Now, her first draught doesn't weave context into the paragraph, but just adds it at the end.

You can see this sentence.

"Contextually, we know that Pinnock developed Enid and Del's relationship because she had to reduce the cast list.

Now, this makes it a less skillful paragraph because the context is just bolted onto the end rather than woven into the paragraph.

So her second draught weaves context into the paragraph.

She gets some feedback.

Weave your context into your paragraph.

Laura takes this on board and this is what she writes.

"Pinnock establishes that Del doesn't feel she belongs in the family home.

Indeed, the intergenerational conflict between Enid and Del becomes central to the play after Pinnock was asked to reduce the cast of her original script owing to the budget of the theatre.

Enid's part to play in Del's sense of unbelonging is developed through the intergenerational conflict in Scene One, resulting in a violent fight in Scene Two." So rather than bolting on the context at the end of the paragraph, Laura's actually woven it into the middle of her paragraph.

And this makes it more skillful.

It's also great to see Laura returning to an original bit of writing and redrafting it and really lifting that.

Redrafting such an important part of the writing process.

So I'd like you to discuss this question now.

We've got a different paragraph written by Sam.

And how does Sam weave context into their paragraph? This is their paragraph.

"Pinnock presents Del's feelings of unbelonging as linked to her status as a second generation immigrant.

In Scene Two, she can't express her frustration," sorry.

"In Scene Two, she expresses her frustration at being treated like she 'can't speak English' and more than that at the 'police vans hunting us down,' the verb 'hunting' expressing Del's sense of vulnerability in the face of racial discrimination as a Black British citizen in 1980s Britain." So really nice paragraph there.

And I'd like you to discuss how does Sam weave context into their paragraph? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Some fantastic discussions there.

So she showed me in learning cycle one.

Absolutely we know what context is and we know the different types of context.

And here you are now saying, I can show you how to weave it into a paragraph.

So these two important skills marrying together to write, to get some really, really good writing and for you to be able to evaluate what makes really good writing.

So some ideas that you had.

Second generation immigrants.

So Sam is using a key word in order to weave context into their paragraph.

But they've also weaved analysis into their exploration of context.

So expressing Del's sense of vulnerability in the face of racial discrimination as a black British citizen in 1980s Britain.

They've woven those contextual ideas into their language analysis.

And so it is at the end of the paragraph, but it's not bolted on because it's woven into that language analysis.

A really, really nice evaluation of Sam's paragraph there.

Well done.

So let's have a check for understanding.

We've got two more students who again, trying to weave context into their response.

And we're gonna work out who has been successful.

We've got Andeep who says, "Del says she feels at the 'bottom of the pile' in Scene Six.

There was lots of racism in 1980s Britain.

Pinnock faced racism as a young aspiring actor." And Sofia says, "Del says she feels 'at the bottom of the pile,' perhaps reflecting the racial discrimination she faces as a Black British citizen and a second generation immigrant." Pause the video and select who do you think has woven context into their response.

Pause the video and select a response now.

Well done if you selected Sofia.

She has woven her contextual ideas into her analysis.

And I also really love that use of that tentative verb, perhaps reflecting.

So proffering an idea rather than being really, really didactic in her writing.

Andeep has some really nice contextual ideas, but they are in, they are presented as isolated facts.

There was lots of racism in 1980s Britain.

Pinnock faced racism as a young aspiring actor.

He's not wrong, but they're not woven into his analysis.

They are separate, isolated sentences.

So I would like you now to look at this question again.

How does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? And you're gonna write your own paragraph in answer to this question.

I'd like you to weave context into your response and you can use the points below if you wish.

So Pinnock's exploration of what it can mean to be a second generation migrant.

Pinnock had to reduce the cast list, so develop the relationship between Del and Enid.

Del experiences racial discrimination, sorry.

Del's experiences of racial discrimination evoke aspects of 1980s Britain, Scene Two.

And Del's feelings of belonging impacted by the legacy of enslavement and colonialism in Scene Six.

So these are ideas that you had earlier in this lesson, so you can rely on those and they're on the board to help you if you need them.

We've looked at lots of model answers and by contrast, some non-examples.

So you will have a really, really good understanding of what it means to weave context into your response.

And you've shown me with those check for understandings that you have a really secure knowledge of what that means.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing these paragraphs.

So pause the video.

I can see lots of you reaching for your text already, which is such an important first step before you start writing.

Of course, you need your text beside you.

See some people flicking to Scene Two or Scene Six already, thinking this is gonna be a really important starting point for my paragraph.

So pause the video and I'd like you to answer this question.

How does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? Weaving context in your response Pause the video and start writing now.

Beautiful to see people writing some analytical paragraphs, looking at this incredibly rich character, the character of Del, and weaving context into their responses.

Now, before we celebrate your writing, I'd like you to re-read your paragraph and self-assess using these questions.

Have you selected context relevant to the question? So not just all the context, you know.

I know you know loads of it, but is it actually relevant to the question? Is the context woven into your response rather than bolted on at the end of the paragraph? And can you identify what type of context you have included, historical, literary, social, biographical? So that'll just be a little test to see can you actually see what contextual ideas you have included? Of course, you don't need to have included all of them, but it'll be good to know, well, what have you included? Is it biographical detail? Is it social ideas about the values of the time? Is it literary, is it historical? So pause the video, re-read your paragraph, and using these questions to guide you self-assess your response.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic to see people so carefully editing their work and moving towards some of that redrafting, just like Laura did earlier in this lesson, making sure that her context was woven into her paragraph rather than just bolted on at the end.

In summary, context refers to historical, social, literary, and biographical information.

Context should not be presented as isolated facts.

Context should be work relevant to the analysis and woven in the response.

And context should develop your ideas and give an insight into the writer's purpose and intention.

It has been such a pleasure to look at this key skill weaving context into your response, and again, exploring Pinnock's ideas, all the literary, social, historical, biographical information that we looked at in learning cycle one.

I look forward to seeing you next time.