Lesson video

Welcome to today's lesson.

I will be your Citizenship teacher today, and my name is Mrs. Barry, and we are going to be looking at, what are our identities and communities.

And this is a series of six lessons and we're going to start with lesson one.

Today we're looking at 'what does identity mean?' For today's lesson, what you're going to need is hopefully your brain, which you've got with you and something to write with such as a pen or a pencil and some paper or something to write on.

If you've got some kind of pens to hand that might be useful for one of the activities we do, but if not, and that's not worry and make sure that you are okay from any distractions.

And if you've got any notification of apps that are likely to pop up, then turn those off if you know how to, and genuinely get yourself somewhere that you won't be disturbed for our lesson today.

So when you're ready to begin, then we will get started.

So we're going to have a look then at how the lesson will go and we're going to also, what does identity really mean through a variety of different activities? And we're going to start by thinking about the definition of identity and what does identity actually mean in itself.

And then we can reflect upon our own identities and who we are and what we perceive ourselves to be.

And then we can think about the impact that different types of identities have on us and the fact that it's not just our personal identity, but there are lots of things around us that impact who we are, and then I will make sure that we do some activities to check that you've understood everything and that you can explain what identity really means.

So to start yourself, we're going to think about the concept, the key term of identity and the fact that identity impacts everyone around the world.

And we all have an identity and it can be represented in different ways.

So the example I like to use is the fact that when you are very, very young, your first words are often things to help you identify objects.

So for example, it could be something like train, or bus and then you do develop to be able to describe that a little bit more.

So it might be things like, you would use colour.

So a red train or a blue bus, and you are using those words to identify an object.

And we do that with ourselves, thinking about who we are.

So identity Identifying something is really important and in the United Kingdom, we currently use passports as our main form of identification.

If you want to go abroad, then you would need a passport and they authenticate who we are.

So they help someone else to perhaps say, yep, that's the person I'm looking for, that's the person on this documentation, I can see through the picture, for example, that that's that person I can check their birth date, their name, and their sex, and that identifies who they are.

And that's the main form that we use in the United Kingdom.

Previously we've had identity cards, so a bit of plastic with similar information on it.

We used those in the World Wars and they were re-introduced in 2006, but actually they became quite expensive.

And we have this system of passports already in the United Kingdom so they were stopped in 2010, but it's something that is so important and it keep coming back and people keep looking at them.

So one of the other things you might think about when we talk about identity is the use of fingerprints.

Fingerprints are a symbol of our identity.

And it's one of the ways in which the police used to identify different people, 'cause we all have unique fingerprints.

So it's a really good way of locating an individual that they might be looking into.

Thinking about the actual definition of what identity is, it's defined in the Cambridge Dictionary, as who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others.

So it's really about that being unique and having those features that make you who you are, be it like that fingerprint, which is personal to you.

So we are going to do a task just to start us thinking about who we are.

And I want you to do a mind map, please, that looks at some of your key features.

So I put some examples on there, like, what is my first language? What hobbies do I have? Where do I live? How old am I? And you might use some other things that you're aware of, for example, so the categories on the passport, if you can remember any of those, then you could add those to your mind map too, so I'm going to ask you to pause the video now and when you've completed that task, which will probably take you about five minutes, then just press play.

Okay, welcome back.

And I hope you've enjoyed doing that task.

And we are going to have a look at what I would have put for myself.

So you can just check if you're along the right lines.

So my first language is English.

Some of my hobbies are running, baking, walking my dog.

I live in the South East of England and I'm not going to tell you my age, but I think you can work out that I am most definitely older than you.

I'm sure you've put a number there, but there are other things that obviously you could have on here.

When we talked about passport earlier on in the lesson, we talked about sex, birth date and so those might have been some of the things you added, and there are other things that we could add to.

So you might have added your hair colour or your eye colour.

You might have added a religion or a belief if you have one, or if you don't then equally, you might've put that on there.

You might have added your nationality or might have been more specific about where you live in terms of your geographical location.

So there's lots of different things that you could add to your mind map.

And all of these things come into two categories and we call them nature or nurture.

And the things that are nature are basically your biological background.

So the world around us, and that might include your sex, for example.

Nurture are the things that impact us in the way that we're brought up.

So you're not born with your hobbies, you're not born liking to bake, but you might develop that, it might be nurtured within you as you grow up.

So I use categories, generally are quite important because they affect the things that you can change and the things that you can't necessarily change.

And they are all part of your identity and what makes you the unique person you are.

So what I'd like you to do in this next task is to think about where they fit.

So which of these characteristics do you think are part of your nature? And which characteristics do you think are part of your identity as a result of being nurtured? So I've given you a couple of examples.

So in terms of nature I've put age in there, in terms of nurture, your education and what qualifications you get later on in life, or as a result of the world around you.

So when you're ready, you can just pause this task and make two lists.

Shouldn't take you very long, a few minutes, to see if you can put these characteristics into those two different columns.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you didn't find that too difficult, and we're going to check them anyways.

Don't worry if you've not been able to do all of them, or you're worried you've got one or two wrong because that's what we're going to have look at now.

So this is where they ideally should go.

And there's one of them in a different colour that I'll talk to you about in a moment, because sometimes there can be a little crossover between nature and nurture characteristics that make up who we are.

So under nature, we've got age, our hair and our eye colour, yes, you might die your hair a different colour, or you can wear contact lenses that will change your eye colour, but essentially you are born with one type of hair colour, or one type of eye colour.

Your sex goes into that category as well.

And then in nurture, we've got your geography, because you might move around, the hobbies change and they develop, as you develop different interests or religion and your language as well can be impacted by the environment around you.

Now, nationality we've put here under both columns because you might be born in one place, but actually later on in life, you might move somewhere else and become a dual citizen and have dual nationalities.

So you might grow up in England and identify your nationality as being British, but later on, you might decide that you're going to live in France and eventually you might meet the criteria to become a French citizen.

And so in that sense, yes you're born with a nationality, but later on, you might develop a different identification in terms of your nationality.

So that's why that one is in both columns.

Now this leads to lesson two, some different types of identities.

And one of those is multiple identities.

So sometimes we might associate with more than one thing and that in itself impacts who we see ourselves as.

So you might consider here a young person who is a big supporter of Manchester United and when they go to a Manchester United match, they adopt a group identity of that club.

So group identity is where you share your identity with a group of people.

So anyone who likes Manchester United is a group of people who like Manchester United and they identify with being a fan of that football club.

But when you think about football is played on different levels, so you might support a local club like Manchester United, but then if there's a big World Cup match with England, they might then support England in that World Cup match.

And therefore they adopt a national identity.

So because England is a nation and so that's where this concept of national identity is coming from there.

So it just depends on the different things that you identify with and sometimes how they connect you with other people.

So we're going to have to think about this concept of multiple identities in this third task.

And we've got the example here of Zayn Malik, and I've given you some information about him and some of his likes and dislikes and some of his features, characteristics that make up who he is.

And what I'd like you to do is pause the video in a minute and just create a mind map.

So you can see the image there I've shown you how this mind map might work and some of the categories that you might be able to put out after this information.

So you need to find the information, put it in a mind map, it'll take you about four or five minutes, and then just press play when you are ready.

Welcome back.

Hopefully you found that task.

And you've put out some of the information there from the text, finding out Zayn's age, gender, religion, hobbies, nationality.

And we're going to have a look at those now and I'll show you what I would have done.

So here you can see that we have got the fact that he's got two different nationalities.

He's English and Pakistani, and his age is 27, he's male, there's a religion mentioned that being of the Islamic faith so he'll be a Muslim, you've got hobbies in there, like singing, football and therefore you are looking at different football groups as well as potentially as a result of his nationality, he might support more than one football team.

Now it's really important to mention here that I've given you a piece of text of balancing, but the best way to find out about somebody is to actually ask them, because you'll note here, for example, it says the family belongs to the Muslim faith, but Zayn himself might not identify as a Muslim.

He might've moved away from that.

Or he might say, well, actually I only really identify as being English because he never leaved England and it's just because his parents are from Pakistan that you might assume he has this dual nationality.

So we have to be really careful when we presume other people's identities, because it's for us as an individual, to be able to say who we are.

But from this information, you can see that there are potentially some different multiple identities, in the sense of his nationality and potentially some multiple identities in terms of which football teams he might support.

Just so you can see a bit clear here, just made it a little bit bigger.

So with these different types of identities kind of work as like a layer cake.

So you see my picture, yummy strawberry and cream cake, and it's got different layers on it.

And that makes up what that cake is.

Without those different elements, it wouldn't be the cake that you see now, and it's like that with us.

So we reflect on who we are as a person.

So we have our individual qualities, the bottom there, which form a personal identity.

And then we might share some of that qualities with others, like group identities.

So if you support football club of one kind or another, and you share that with someone else.

Sometimes our identities might change, depending on a situation and then that might in fact develop into changing who we are, which we will actually look at in lesson two in this series of lessons, where we live my influence part of identity as well.

And then at the top there we've got, now are qualities that might be shared around the world.

So sometimes you might have an interest that forms part of your identity that someone else does, and they might live in completely different country on the opposite side of the world and that you perhaps didn't know of, but we're all connected in that sense of identity.

But because of all these different layers means each person is unique and our identity is unique to us.

So these are the five different types of identities.

We've just had a lift cap in that layer cake example.

So we've got our person identity, who you are, and that's what we've been looking at mostly, we've got group identity.

So when we associate with someone else who belongs to the same group, or has an interest in the same group as us.

We have a global identity.

So something we share with people all over the world.

We have a national identity, which is associated with being a citizen of a specific country, for example, England, we have a multiple identity.

They are those that at different times in different situations, you might change as a result of what's going on.

And those are the different types of identity that we have had a quick look at today.

Mostly reflecting on our personal identity.

The thinking about those, I'd like you to look back to task one that you did earlier.

In task one we did a mind map and this was my example of what my mind map would have looked up in terms of my own personal identity.

But can you identify now any group national label or multiple identities? So are any of you shared or linked to the different types of identity that we've had a look at.

So I'm going to ask you to pause again, just go back to task one and add to it.

So you might do that in a different colour, if you've got some different colours and just see if you can identify any of those different types of identity within your work.

So once you're ready again and do remember to press play and we will continue.

So hopefully you've had a look at your identity and started to think about where you might have these different types of identities.

So here, for example, I've got a national identity.

So English relating to England, the nation, would be my national identity and I've got group identities because when you belong to a hobby or a club, and there are obviously other people who are part of that, and therefore you share that with other people.

So I've got a group identity in terms of running and baking and walk for my dog, because there are lots of people who do that too.

So you might have something different on yours, but you can always go back and check the different types of identities and have a think about further which ones you've got in your mind map.

So just going to do a quick couple of questions, the first one here, which of the following terms expresses how you perceive your own identity? You have option one, multiple identity, option two, group identity, option three, national identity, and option four, personal identity, which one do you think that is? So hopefully you've correctly identified that the way you express your perception of your own identity is personal identity.

And with this one, I just want you to complete this short paragraph.

Say complete the explanation of multiple identities, choosing the correct words, the words are there for you, you've just got to put them into the right place.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video and do that now.

And when you're ready, remember to press play and we can continue.

So hopefully you've been able to think about which words would work.

So I'll just read it to you now.

So multiple identity means a person can take on different identities at different times, and in different situations, for example, someone might identify with the football club, such as Liverpool, but also the England team during international games.

And that would be a good definition of multiple identities using examples to show that you've understood.

Well done.

We'll just bring you back now to that definition we started with.

So identity is who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others.

And that's what it all boils down to, it's what makes you unique.

Yes, you might share some of your identity characteristics with other people, but all those different things that make up who you are, make you a unique person.

So we have run through what identity means.

Hopefully you could give a definition of identity.

You could tell someone about what you see as your own identity.

You could explain multiple identities and possibly some of the other types of identities that we've looked up.

And you're fairly confident, you've been able to check that.

And obviously if you haven't understood anything, then you're welcome to go back, read it again and just double check anything you are not sure.

And that's the end of our lesson, but just got a takeaway task for you to have a look up.

You remember on the activity we looked at when we did Zayn Malik, there was a time when I said to you that interviews are one of the best ways you can find out about someone's identity.

Sometimes we presume other people's identities from what we see and hear about them, but actually that's second hand information and we can make incorrect judgements.

So my takeaway tasks for you is to go away and try and create some interview questions.

And then you could ask a friend or someone you live with, those questions to find out more about their identity and who they identify us.

And it would be really interesting if you wanted to share your work with Oak National, so you could ask your parent or carer to post it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging Oak National and #LearnwithOak.

And that way we get to see some of the lovely work that you have done.

So well done again, make sure that before you finish completely, you move on to the exit quiz and just make sure you have correctly understood some of the things we've done and I look forward to seeing you for another one of our Citizenship lessons in the future.