Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson and I'm delighted that you've decided to join me today.

We've got a great lesson lined up.

We're going to be looking at a really vivid account of a childhood memory.

So when you are ready, let's get started.

So the outcome of today's lesson is that you will be able to explore what makes a memoir particularly vivid, and then use some of those skills to emulate that craft in your own writing.

As ever, we are going to begin with the keywords.

You can see there are four keywords, all really useful for unlocking your learning.

The first one is the word memoir, and that is a written account of one's own life and experiences.

And something that is formative has a profound influence on someone's development.

A formative experience is one that really changes you.

To use the word vivid, that's to describe a powerful feeling or strong, clear images in one's mind.

So a vivid memory is one that you can recall almost like you are still living it.

And idyllic that means extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque.

Now, if you would like a little bit of time to familiarise yourself with the keywords, please feel free to pause the video and do that now, and then rejoin the lesson when you are ready.

So let's look at the outline of today's lesson.

There are two learning cycles.

We're going to start by reading an extract from this wonderful memoir by Helen Keller.

And then we are going to explore how you would craft a vivid memoir.

So let's start with Helen Keller's memoir.

So before we start reading, let's remind ourself of the keyword, memoir.

And a memoir is a historical account or biography, written from personal experience or knowledge.

It's written in the first person and it's about memories.

And reading memoirs is fascinating because they can give you an insight into the writer's life and help you get to know them.

You feel that you are really hearing the inside of their story, what motivates them.

And I'd like you to have a discussion now about what type of experiences you might expect to encounter in a memoir.

So pause the video where you have that discussion or if are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes.

Off you go.

So welcome back.

And you might say in response to that question, something like this that you might expect to read about formative experiences in a memoir.

There's another of our keywords, formative, having an effect on you, changing you.

And I think it's really important to stress here that formative experiences aren't necessarily bad ones.

They can be, but they can also be really good experiences.

The key is that they shape you in some way.

So what we're going to do now is read an extract from Helen Keller's, "The Story of my Life".

You'll find the extract in additional materials.

And as you read, I would like you to do this, to use your independent reading strategies.

Let's recap them.

Remember to circle key vocabulary that will really help you understand what you are reading and underline important words and phrases.

And on your first reading, don't overthink that, just words that seem to you important, underline those.

And then when you think you have encountered a paragraph that is particularly important, use square brackets around them so that when you are really looking at it, you can think, oh yes, I want to focus on that paragraph.

This could be a paragraph for example, that introduces a really interesting movement in the story, a kind of plot point in the narrative.

When you feel that you are being shown an idea, put a star next to it.

And write any margin notes or annotations to help you remember key in inferences and ideas.

Now you are going to need to pause the video while you read that extract.

So do that now.

And off you go, happy reading.

So welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading that extract.

I remember the first time I read it, I thought it was so moving and I just loved the way she described her environment.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What is a memoir? Is it A, a fictional tale with some characters based on real people, B, a historical account based on personal knowledge, C, an embellished account of the highlights of one's life? A, B, or C? Have a think.

Make your choice.

Are you ready for me to reveal the answer? It's B, it is about the past and it's about the writer's intimate personal knowledge of the past, of the history.

Very well done if you've got that right.

Let's move on.

Now, this is your opportunity to show your understanding of Helen Keller's memoir in a little bit more detail.

There are five questions here that I would like you to answer.

I'll read the questions to you.

Number one, what stage of her life does Keller talk about? Two, how do you think Keller feels about her early years? Three, what type of child was Keller? Number four, what happened to Keller when she was very young? And five, how does Keller show that this was a formative experience in her life? You're going to need to pause the video while you do that.

So off you go and answer those questions.

Welcome back, really good focus there for your reading.

And I'm really pleased to see the way that you remembered the reading strategies, really leaning in and making notes on the text.

I'm gonna share with you some of the things that you may have answered in response to those questions.

So for number one, what stage of her life does Keller talk about? You might have said, in this extract of the memoir, Keller describes her early childhood.

She's writing about the first year and a half of her life.

And number two, how do you think Keller feels about her early years? And you might have said, Keller seems to look back on the early years of her life with fondness as she describes idyllic scenes and amusing memories with her family.

There's all those beautiful scenes about how the garden smelled and how loving her family were.

And what type of child was Keller? You might have said that she describes herself as a child with an eager self-asserting disposition.

As a child with confidence.

And what happened to Keller when she was very young? Well, early in childhood when she's about 19 months old, she develops an illness that resulted in her losing both her hearing and her sight.

And how does she show that this was a formative experience in her life? Well, you might have said that you know that her illness was formative because she still has recollections of it.

And she describes it with intense emotion.

She says, "It's like a nightmare." And we also know that it was formative because it left her with disabilities.

Now, if you would like a little bit of time to add some of these ideas to your answer, please do that now.

Pause the video while you do that, and then rejoin me for the second half of the lesson.

So we've been making really good progress.

You've read Helen Keller's memoir and really understood the experience that she is conveying.

And now we are going to look at ways of crafting a vivid memoir.

Now writers have this challenge, how to make their memoirs vivid so that the reader can be transported into the life of the writer.

You want that sense of being actually there with her.

It helps the writer's memories take on this tangible quality.

Tangible means you can touch it.

Allowing the reader to better connect with the story told.

And I would like you to discuss which phrases in Keller's memoir stand out to you as particularly vivid.

For me, it's the description of the plants, particularly the smell of the plants.

But you may have different ones and there's not a right or wrong.

I just want you to really lean into the memoir and respond to the memoir and discuss what is particularly vivid to you.

Now, if you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes in response to that question.

Off you go.

That was a fantastic discussion.

Let's have a very quick check for understanding.

Look at these three pictures.

A, the beach scene, B, the storm, C, the garden.

Which one of these scenes is conveyed by Keller the most vividly in her memoir? That's right, it's C, this is a very rich garden, evocative memoir.

Let's move on.

So now we are really going to hone in on some phrases.

So "Here also we're trailing clematis, drooping jessamine, and some rare sweet flowers called butterfly lilies." "Filling the whole air with their fragrance.

and in the early morning, washed in the dew, they felt so soft." And "One brief spring, musical with a song of robin and mocking-bird, one summer rich in fruit and roses, one autumn of gold and crimson sped by.

." Beautiful writing, really evocative.

She makes it really easy for me to picture what she is seeing and hearing and smelling.

Let's move on.

So now we're gonna really unpick how Keller crafts this sensory language.

Language that appeals to the senses.

Let's look at this first one again, "Here, also, were trailing clematis, drooping jessamine, and some rare sweet flowers called butterfly lilies." And notice how she uses the adjectives before the flower names to paint a vivid image of the garden scene in her heads.

You've got this sense of the clematis sort of drifting down, and so is the jessamine and the butterfly lilies are rare, which adds to the real value that they have for her.

Now let's look at a childhood memory from one of the Oak pupils.

The Oak pupil wrote, "Every weekend I'd be allowed to visit the old sweet shop east of town.

Bonbons, fudge and cola bottles line the shelves.

It was always a thrill to be allowed to fill the paper bags with treasure." Now that is a nice, clear memory, but I think we could agree that it could be better and more vivid.

And what I would like you to do is to discuss how you could add adjectives to paint a more vivid picture of the sweet shop.

So pause the video, look at where the nouns are, and think about how you could add adjectives.

If you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes.

What a fantastic discussion.

And I really, really admired how imaginative you were with the adjectives you chose and discussed.

Let me share a rewritten version with you.

"Every weekend I'd be allowed to visit the old sweet shop east of town, powdery blue bonbons, caramel fudge and giant cola bottles lined the shelves.

It was always a thrill to be allowed to fill the delicate green and white striped paper bags with treasure." So now the oak pupil has really used colour adjectives effectively to show how vivid that memory is of buying sweets at the weekend.

And Keller references smell and touch to craft sensory language here in these lines, "Filling the whole air with their fragrance.

And in the early morning washed in the dew, they felt so soft." And I would like you to discuss this.

What else does she do to add precision and detail to this sentence? Pause the video where you have that discussion, or if you're working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes.

Well, you might have said this, that here Keller uses an embedded clause, "washed in the dew", to add detail and precision to her sensory language, making the memory even more vivid for the reader.

And it's a really lovely image of washed in the dew.

It makes it seem so new and fresh and clean.

So here is another Oak pupil's memory.

Let me read it to you.

"Every summer I'd go strawberry picking where I learned to admire nature's true diversity.

Some berries were a primitive green, others were a proud red, plump and juicy." And I would like you to discuss this.

How could you add an embedded clause to make this memory of strawberry picking in the summer even more vivid? Pause the video while you have that discussion or make a few notes.

Off you go.

Great discussion.

Let me share an example with you.

You might have written this that every summer I'd go strawberry picking where I learned to admire nature's true diversity.

Some berries were a primitive green, others, and then added in this embedded clause, under the sun's beaming rays, were a proud red, plump and juicy.

And that's a lovely embedded clause because it makes it seem as if the sun is smiling down on you.

I'm giving this example to you, not because I'm saying it's perfect or the only one you could have done.

I just think it's really useful sometimes to make comparisons.

And now we're going to look at how Keller highlights her illness as interrupting her idyllic childhood.

"One brief spring musical with a song of robin and mocking-bird, one summer rich in fruit and roses, one of gold and crimsons 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." So discuss that.

I'd like you to think about how that illness is portrayed.

I find this piece of the extract so moving and so sad.

I'd like you to just talk to each other about how she shows that the illness changed everything for her.

Pause the video and have that discussion or make a few notes.

Welcome back, you might have said something like this, that she uses juxtaposition to show how her illness interrupted her rich childhood.

That was a light with colour and joy, and that it plunges her into a colourless, joyless world.

So we have the spring and the summer and the autumn.

And then we are in the deep, dreary month of February where the illness comes to cause her so much distress and leave her without hearing and sight.

Let's move on.

Now let's take a look at how we can use juxtaposition to show the difference in two of Izzy's childhood experiences.

So she writes, "I loved primary school.

I went to a village primary school at the end of my road.

I went to the park every day after school.

I remember feeling so sad about joining secondary school, it was such a big school with a 30 minute commute and I missed my friends." So it's a clear explanation of a big transition, but it's not very memorable or vivid.

Let's remind ourselves of what Keller does to make her writing vivid.

She uses words like musical and rich and gold and crimson to describe her childhood before her illness and then describing life during her illness, she uses words such as dreary and unconscious and closed.

So discuss what words could Izzy use to vividly paint a picture of primary school and which could she use for secondary school? Pause the video and have that discussion or pause the video and make a few notes.

We are looking for specific words here.

Off you go.

Welcome back.

What a brilliant discussion that was.

I heard some really imaginative word choices.

Let me share some with you.

That for primary school you might talk about it being safe and cosy and familiar, like a warm embrace, like a big hug, and that it's effortless, smooth.

And that secondary school, more threatening, lonely, alien like a sting and tedious.

Were your ideas similar? Now it's time to bring together all that you have learned about crafting a vivid memoir.

I'd like you to write about one to two of your own childhood memories using sensory language, embedded clauses and juxtaposition.

I'm gonna give you some suggestions.

You could write about places you have lived, including countries and local areas, holidays you may have had, foods that you always had as a child, experiences of different schools, games you played, television shows you watched.

And a reminder that when you use juxtaposition, ensure that you describe moments in your life that have involved two contrasting emotions like Keller did and like Izzy did.

You're going to need to pause a video while you do this.

So gather up all your thoughts and any notes you've made and off you go.

Welcome back, it's a big thumbs up from me for how well you focused there, and I hope you really enjoy deep diving into your memories and recalling vivid experiences.

So did you use adjectives in sensory language to make memory more vivid? Did you use embedded claws to add precision and detail to memory? And did you use juxtaposing sets of words to show a clear contrast between two memories or experiences? I'd like you to take a little bit of time to check over your work and then rejoin me for the end of the lesson.

So before we say goodbye, let me summarise what you have been learning today.

You have been learning that memoirs are historical accounts or biographies, written from personal experience or knowledge.

And you have been learning that Helen Keller's memoir describes an idyllic childhood juxtaposed with description of the illness that changed her life.

And that Keller uses sensory language and juxtaposition to make her childhood account more vivid.

And you've been learning that sensory language can be made more vivid if we add adjectives and embedded clauses.

And that contrasting sets of words and phrases highlight the different feelings attached to memories.

I'd like to express my appreciation for your hard work and thoughtfulness and your brilliant discussions and your great writing at the end of the lesson.

I wish you a brilliant rest of the day and I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson on nonfiction: teenage kicks.

Bye for now.