Hello and welcome to your lesson today on using juxtaposition and foreshadowing in childhood accounts.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to write a childhood account using juxtaposition and foreshadowing.

We have three key words for today's lesson.

They are formative, quaint, and alight.

Formative means having a profound influence on someone's development.

Quaint means attractively unusual or old fashioned, and alight means shining brightly.

I'll give you a moment to jot down these keywords or have a reread of them now.

Let's move on to our learning cycles for today.

In our first learning cycle, we'll be exploring the structure of a childhood account, and this childhood account was written by Helen Keller.

So we'll use her example of a childhood account to inspire our own.

And then in learning cycle two, we'll be writing our very own childhood account using some of the techniques that Helen Keller uses in her childhood account.

So let's get started with exploring the structure of a childhood account.

We are going to read an extract from Helen Keller's memoir, "The Story of My Life" written in 1903.

You can find the extract in your additional materials, pause the video and get reading.

I hope you enjoy reading Helen Keller's memoir.

Off you go.

Great effort in the reading there.

So today we are looking at the structure of Helen Keller's memoir.

So we are going to be looking at what Helen Keller focuses on in each paragraph.

So can you map out what Keller talks about in each of her paragraphs? Pause the video and explore the structure of that memoir.

Off you go.

There are lots of interesting details about Keller's life in that memoir, and the memoir does not necessarily take a chronological approach.

Let's look in more detail about the structure of that memoir now.

If we were to break down the gist of Keller's account, we might say that this extract is formed of three main parts.

Firstly, Helen Keller describes a vivid childhood scene, which is her being amongst the gardens of her southern home.

The second paragraph is where Keller details her background and family life.

She talks about how she was named.

She talks a bit about her mom and dad and her disposition as a toddler.

And then we could say the very last part of that memoir is Keller describing a formative moment or chapter of her life, which is the illness that interrupted her idyllic childhood.

So as discussed, Keller does not structure her memoir in a chronological way, at least not this extract because we see a description of the gardens of her childhood.

But then she goes back in time to describe her as a baby, how she was named, her on her way to her christening.

So Keller goes back in time.

And then when she describes the formative moment that interrupts her idyllic childhood, she seems to fast forward a little bit.

So we can bear that in mind when we're thinking about a structure for our own childhood account.

We can emulate Keller's structure.

We could also describe our childhood in three parts as well.

Let's dig deeper now into the structure of Keller's memoir.

Keller does not immediately give away that she became ill at the beginning of her memoir.

She first describes positive memories.

Why might she do this? Why might she first describe positive memories before she ends up telling us that she became ill? Pause the video and discuss.

Describing the positive first allows the reader to better understand the large impact of the illness which interrupted an idyllic childhood.

So us knowing what brilliant memories Keller had before she became ill allows us to understand how much her illness turned her life upside down.

So perhaps there is a deliberate choice from Keller there to start with a positive and then show the impact of the illness interrupting that positive childhood.

Instead of telling us immediately about her illness from the beginning, Keller foreshadows her illness throughout her memoir before telling us more about it.

Remember, foreshadowing is about hinting at something to come or warning at something to come.

So Keller hints that something goes wrong, but she doesn't exactly tell us what that is.

I want you to dig deeper into the memoir and find the sentences which foreshadow Keller's illness.

Pause the video and discuss which sentences foreshadow her illness.

These two sentences may foreshadow Keller's illness.

They may hint at something interrupting her idyllic childhood.

And the sentences I found are, "The beginning of my life was simple," and "These happy days did not last long." So for the first one, we get the impression that it's just the beginning of her life that was simple and later becomes more complicated, hence foreshadowing the illness.

But these happy days did not last long, also foreshadows that the happiness in Keller's childhood was short-lived because of the illness to come.

So both of those sentences or phrases could foreshadow Keller's illness.

So we could also remember these techniques when we are choosing to write our childhood accounts.

We could start with the positive and end with a negative, and we could also use foreshadowing.

Now I want you to discuss what is the effect of Keller's use of foreshadowing.

Pause the video and discuss.

So these two sentences, as we've said, could foreshadow.

"The beginning of my life was simple," and "These happy days did not last long." In both of these sentences, Keller seems to be foreshadowing her illness that interrupted her happy memories in childhood.

And these sentences allow the reader to anticipate Keller's narrative taking a different direction.

They build intrigue at the same time as signposting that the narrative might change in tone or subject matter.

So you might want to think about using foreshadowing to anticipate your narrative taking a different direction or to signpost a change of tone or subject matter in your own work.

And remember, foreshadowing could hint or warn at a negative occurrence as it does in Keller's narrative, but it also could hint or warn at a sudden change in a positive direction.

So you could use foreshadowing to hint or warn at positive or negative when it comes to your own writing.

When Keller finally describes her illness, she writes, "One brief spring, musical with the song of robin and mocking-bird, one summer rich in fruit and roses, one autumn of gold and crimson sped by and left their gifts at the feet of an eager, delighted child.

Then, in the dreary month of February, came the illness which closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new-born baby." Discuss which technique does Keller use in that brief passage as she describes her illness? Pause the video and discuss.

Keller uses juxtaposition to show the differences between her idyllic memories and her illness that then cast a shadow over these memories.

So we can see in that paragraph that there is some very rich imagery of an idyllic childhood with the song, with nature, with the animals, with a colour.

And that is starkly contrasted or juxtaposed with the dark, dreary, and depressing month of February, which bought with it her illness.

I now want you to discuss what is the effect of that juxtaposition.

Pause the video and discuss.

By juxtaposing the idyllic happy memories of her childhood with a description of a life-changing illness, Keller shows just how drastic the impact of this event was allowing us to understand it as a formative moment in her life.

So by placing all this colour, vibrancy and happiness side by side with the sad and dreary description of the illness, we really get to see just how impactful that illness was, just how much it interrupted happy memories.

And that allows us to understand just how life-changing and how much that illness shaped her as a person.

Let's check your understanding of what we've talked about so far.

True or false, Keller talks only of happy memories in her memoir.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and answer that question.

Off you go.

False, Keller does not only talk of happy memories in her memoir.

I want you now to pause the video and reflect upon how you know that's false.

Pause the video and justify your answer.

Off you go.

So we know that's false because Keller initially talks of happy memories but foreshadows that something interrupts her idyllic childhood.

She then juxtaposes happy, vivid memories with the debilitating illness she experienced.

So therefore, Keller talks of both happy and sad in her memoir.

And indeed, some of the best memoirs do talk about happy and sad because they're trying to show the realistic life of the writer.

They're trying to allow the reader a true insight into what their life was like, not just sugarcoating every detail.

Now we are going to start planning what our own childhood account might look like.

So first of all, discuss what memories do you have of childhood that stand out to you? And then after you finish discussing, I want you to complete this grid to map out what you would write about for your own childhood account.

Like Keller, try to make your vivid childhood scene and your formative moment contrast in the feeling they gave you.

So what you're going to be planning out are those three parts that we said Keller's memoir is made up of.

So you're going to plan a vivid childhood scene.

So that's a moment that might always replay in your head, a really clear image that you have of a moment or memory.

For Keller, it was the garden scene.

For you, it might be something different.

And then I want you to write some notes about your background and family life.

Maybe it could be where you were born.

It could be how you were named like Keller.

It could be funny stories that your family tell you of when you were a baby, what kind of baby you were.

And finally, your formative moment.

The formative moment is something that had a really big impact on you.

Something that stands out like Keller, for example, Keller wrote about her illness, but yours could be anything from moving home, to going to secondary school or taking exams, anything like that.

So pause the video and get thinking about what you might want to write about for your three part childhood account.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Thank you so much for sharing your childhood memories with me there.

Let's have a look at Izzy's plan.

Izzy's vivid childhood scene is her doing nature walks at her village primary school, knowing it would soon be followed by lemon sorbet from the ice cream van.

That is a memory that is very vivid in Izzy's head and perhaps replays when she thinks of her childhood.

For Izzy's background and family life, she's going to talk about how she was born and raised in a village just outside of Brighton, that she was named Isabel.

But Izzy stuck as she was always on the go.

She's an only child and she was an energetic, adventurous little girl growing up.

Izzy's formative moment is her moving away from her village friends and going to secondary school, which was daunting and knocked her confidence.

So there is Izzy's plan for her three-part childhood account.

Notice how her vivid childhood scene is a fond memory and her formative moment carries more negative emotion, which will allow her to create contrast and juxtaposition in her writing.

Let's look at Jun's plan now.

Jun's vivid childhood scene is being picked last for teams in PE lessons over and over again.

And that scene replays in his head.

For Jun's background and family life, he was born and raised in London.

He moved around different boroughs a lot in his childhood.

He has a younger sister and he's often found it hard to make good friends because he moved a lot.

Jun's formative moment is joining a football team outside of school and becoming the top player of the season.

And that is a formative moment for Jun because he finally felt like he had found his place.

So notice how Jun's vivid childhood scene holds a negative emotion, but his formative moment carries positive emotion.

So Izzy and Jun's plan show you that as long as you have a contrast somewhere in your writing, it doesn't necessarily matter where the positive moment is and where the negative moment is.

They could eat, the positive could be at the beginning or the end and vice versa.

So I want you now to reread your work.

Check that your vivid childhood scene and your formative moment contrast in some way.

Pause the video and check your work now.

Off you go.

Great job.

I can't wait to see your childhood accounts come to fruition and really come to life as you write them in the next learning cycle.

So let's begin now with writing our own childhood accounts.

Let's practise emulating Keller's structure for a written childhood account.

So in her childhood account, Keller uses foreshadowing and juxtaposition.

So here is Izzy beginning her childhood account.

There is a copy of this in the additional materials.

Izzy writes, "Some of my fondest memories as a child were between the ages of three and 10.

It has always felt like the magic of childhood started and ended with Alexandra Primary School, the quaint cove of comfort at the end of my road.

I would skip to school, book bag in one hand, the other in my mum's embrace, ready for whatever adventure awaited.

My favourite adventure was always the nature walks.

The sunlight filters through the canopy of trees and my eyes are alight with wonder.

My feet make music as they crunch the leaves underfoot.

I pick up a leaf and find its web of veins contains a map of the world.

Animal tracks lead us up to the wildflower meadow, each tiny cluster of flowers like yellow stars on the earth.

Oh, how I would love to have stayed viewing the world with this lens of wonder and enchantment.

I had always been an active child, choosing to splash in puddles and chase after squirrels rather than play with dollies or mum's makeup.

The peaceful greenery of my childhood will forever be etched into my memory despite the chaotic roar of adolescence.

Effortless ambles through pine and emerald faded, their vibrancy dissipating rapidly.

Tedious, dreary journeys, like a perpetual November, materialised as I arrived at the steely gates of my secondary school." That is an amazing start to a childhood account from Izzy.

She's really taken the fantastic parts of Keller's memoir and emulated them in her own work to create something really vivid and memorable and impactful for the reader.

Well done, Izzy.

I want you to discuss where has Izzy used the following in her account? Where has Izzy used juxtaposition and where has Izzy used foreshadowing? Pause the video and find those two techniques in Izzy's work now.

Off you go.

You may have said these quotes show Izzy's use of foreshadowing and juxtaposition.

Let's see exactly where each of those techniques occurs.

"It has always felt like the magic of childhood started and ended with Alexandra Primary School." That excerpt uses foreshadowing because Izzy says that the magic of childhood started and ended with that school.

So we can see there that Izzy is hinting that the magic of her childhood ended at one point and potentially she's going into detail about how that magic ended, why that magic ended.

So it foreshadows something perhaps negative to come.

"Oh, how I would have loved to stay viewing the world with this lens of wonder and enchantment." That uses foreshadowing too, because it implies that Izzy stopped viewing the world with a lens of wonder and enchantment.

"The peaceful green area of my childhood will forever be etched into my memory despite the chaotic roar of my teens." That uses foreshadowing and juxtaposition because it implies that her teenage years were not quite as peaceful or idyllic, but it also juxtaposes the peaceful greenery and the chaotic roar.

So we have foreshadowing and juxtaposition in the same sentence there.

And finally, "The effortless ambles through pine and emerald soon faded, their vibrancy dissipating rapidly.

Tedious, dreary journeys like a perpetual November, materialised." And that uses juxtaposition.

Izzy has clearly juxtaposed the effortless ambles, so the relaxed strolls with tedious, dreary journeys to show just how different her adolescence was from her childhood and just how different her secondary school was to her primary school.

And like Keller, Izzy has very impressively used a lot of imagery and sensory language in that paragraph there.

Great job on spotting those techniques in Izzy's work.

That's going to really help you have a better idea of how to use them in your own work and perhaps give you even more inspiration.

Let's check your understanding of what we've talked about.

"Oh, how I would love to have stayed viewing the world with this lens of Wonder and enchantment." This part of Izzy's account uses which technique? Pause the video and complete the sentence to check your understanding now.

Well done if you said that sentence uses foreshadowing.

It implies that Izzy stopped viewing the world with wonder and enchantment, which of course hints at something more negative to come.

Now it's your turn.

I want you to write your childhood account using the following structure you planned in learning cycle one.

You are going to first describe your childhood scene.

Then give a bit of background about your family life and perhaps earlier moments of your life.

And then you're going to describe your formative moment.

So you're going to use the exact same structure that Keller used and that Izzy used and that you planned for.

So you should be confident with this structure, and you're going to try and use the following methods, juxtaposition and foreshadowing.

Use Keller's example as inspiration.

Use Izzy's example as inspiration.

They're there for you to emulate and to lean on in this task.

Pause video and get writing now.

Off you go.

Excellent effort there.

Thank you so much for sharing your childhood accounts with me there.

I now want you to reread your work, highlight where you've used foreshadowing and juxtaposition.

Pause the video and reread your work now.

Off you go.

Brilliant, this is the perfect moment to add anything you've missed now and to go over any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors.

So pause the video and add in what you may have missed and what you may want to add to your work.

Off you go.

Great effort there.

I'm really impressed with the craft that you've put into your writing today.

Now let's look at what we've learned in today's lesson.

A memoir is an opportunity for someone to write about formative moments in their life.

There are three main parts of Keller's childhood account.

Keller uses contrast to show the formative impact of her childhood illness.

And Keller uses foreshadowing to build intrigue and signpost a change in the tone of her account.

And of course, you've been able to use all of Keller's techniques that she uses in her memoir, hopefully in your own.

So we've also learned, so we've also learned how to emulate a writer's craft in today's lesson.

Very well done.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.