Lesson video

Hello everyone, my name is Miss Weerasekara and welcome to lesson three in our unit about our discussion, deciding whether we think Ganesh did or didn't cheat.

In today's lesson, we're going to be digging deep into what makes a balanced argument and really thinking about what our points can be for and against the argument of Ganesh of being a cheater.

Now that we know our story structure really well, we want to take what we've heard and listened to and put it really clearly onto a piece of paper so that we have it for later in our writing.

But we also want to try and think of our own ideas about why we think he is or isn't someone who cheated.

We have plenty to do today, so let's get started.

In today's lesson, you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen or pencil, and of course your brain to do some deep thinking about our for and against argument.

If you do not have a pen or pencil or a piece of paper, pause the video now, go and get it, and then press play when you have everything that you need.

We're going to start off today with a spelling activity.

After that, we're going to listen to the discussion for a final time.

Then we're going to deepen the discussion and really think about how we can make our balanced argument using some of the points that we heard from my speech, but also thinking of some of your own.

You will then go to use all of that discussion to help you with your own writing task based on the for and against of this argument.

We are looking at common exception words at the moment, and these are words that are a little bit tricky because they don't follow our normal spelling rules.

This means that we just have to keep practising them, writing them, reading them, and learning them in different ways so that they stick in our head.

Today, we are going to be looking at these three common exception words, child, children, and people.

They're linked, aren't they? Because all children are people, a child is linked to children and so on, but we're going to think about one strategy that I use that's really effective.

Sometimes I think it's not the most exciting of strategies, but we can make it a little bit of a game if we do it together.

We're going to do look, cover, say, write, check.

That means together we will look at the word.

We will look at the letters in that word and say them out loud, we're then all going to cover it up on our screens at the same time, we're going to say it again.

Then we're going to write it down as best as we can.

And then we'll take our hand away and we will check the spelling together, okay? I'm going to get my pen and pencil ready so that I can do it with you.

And then we will start.

Right? So our first word, let's say it together.

My turn, child.

Your turn, fantastic.

C H I L D, my turn, C H I L D.

Your turn.

Good.

Right, let's cover it up.

Let's try to say in our heads again, say it with me, child, C H I L D.

Okay.

Now let's write it down.

Okay.

You ready? Have you written it? Let's check it.

Give each letter a tick if you've got it correct.

Any that you didn't get correct, you can change now.

How did you do? Fantastic, right? Next one, children.

Now this one, hopefully we should be able to remember because we've just done the big chunk of that word, haven't we? It's got child inside of it.

So I'm going to say it, children.

My turn, children.

Your turn.

Fantastic.

C H I L D R E N.

My turn, C H I L D R E N.

Your turn.

Fantastic.

Right? Cover it.

You're covering it too, I'm putting my hands over the screen.

Good, now we're going to say it, children.

C H I L D R E N.

Okay.

Let's write it down.

You ready? You written it? Let's check it together.

Let's give ourselves ticks for every letter that we got.

How did you do? Did you get it? With that longer word, did you notice that when I said the letters, I broke it up into chunks? I did C H I L D R E N and that helped me to remember it more easily.

Okay.

Last one.

This is a tricky one, isn't it? People, P E O P L E.

I've split it again into those two sections to help me.

So my turn, P E O P L E.

Your turn.

Good, let's cover it.

Let's say it again to ourselves, people.

P E O P L E.

Let's write it.

Let's check together.

Oh, I got my O and my E mixed up.

So I'm just going to tick my other letters and then I'm going to fix it.

Okay.

So I make mistakes too.

It's completely normal to make mistakes.

That's fine.

Especially with our tricky spellings.

Sometimes, actually, when we make a mistake with a spelling, it helps us to remember it.

I remember that's how I made the mistake, it's actually I need to swap those two letters around.

Okay.

Well done.

So that's a really good strategy if there are any spellings that you're finding difficult to help get them inside your brain and to stay there.

Okay, we're going to listen to the discussion one more time to make sure that we know it really well.

This time though, I want you to really think about what are those three arguments for and what are those three arguments against? Okay, and actually, I think if you have a pen and paper with you, you can write notes down, 'cause we're going to be using that and I'm going to be asking you what they are later in the lesson, so make sure you're listening, taking some notes as well.

I'm going to read you my discussion text now.

Was Ganesh cheating? Hello everyone.

We have an important visitor today, Judge James.

He is going to discuss the question of whether Ganesh was cheating and what should be done with it.

Here he is now.

Hello everyone.

My name is Judge James, and I'm here to decide the answer to an important question today.

Was Ganesh cheating when he said that he travelled around the world? There are three valid arguments which suggest that he did cheat.

First, to say you travelled around the world suggests physically and moving from place to place.

Ganesh did not do that, and therefore he cheated.

Second, he deliberately misled his brother by telling him about the journey, describing the things that he saw and he smelled, suggesting that he has in fact been there in person when clearly he had not.

Third, he didn't own up to his cheating until after the wedding, when it was too late.

This suggests to me that he knew he was cheating and just wanted to gloat over his brother once he was married.

But on the other hand, there are also three valid arguments that suggest that he did not cheat.

First, when Karttikeya challenged him to the race, Ganesh did ask if he could travel in any way he liked, and Karttikeya said yes.

In that case, Ganesh was free to choose his method of travel, even if it was just to using his mind.

Second, it is clearly possible to travel around the world, using your imagination and in your mind, and Ganesh proved it.

He saw the sites and heard the sounds and smelled the smells that Karttikeya did on that journey just as if he had been there.

What's the difference? Last, but certainly not least, he did tell the truth at all times.

The fact that Karttikeya misunderstood him is not Ganesh's problem.

Therefore, in conclusion, I think that that is truth in both sides of this argument, I think Ganesh did deliberately mislead Karttikeya, but he did so without lying.

It is always important that relatives and friends can see things from each other's perspectives.

So therefore, my judgement and my decision today is that the brothers should meet together for mediation.

They should try and discuss together what happened and to come to a compromise and a solution.

Also given that this decision does impact Bodhi, I think she should be involved in this mediation too, to represent herself and her wishes.

Now that is my decision and it's up to them to try and find the solution.

Okay, great, so I hope you took some notes because I need your help now.

Think about what were those balanced points for our argument? So we've got a picture of a scale here and a scale measures the weight or how heavy something is.

And we have some things called balance scales, which means that when one is up and one is down, the one that is down is going to be heavier and the one that is up is going to be lighter.

And when they are equally in the middle, it means the two objects on the scale are exactly the same weight.

Now this reflects a balanced argument.

In a balanced argument, we need to have an equal amounts of points on each side.

It doesn't always need to be exactly the same, but it needs to be somewhat near the same, otherwise it's not really balanced.

It means really that you've just really preferred one side over the other.

If I just wrote a whole piece of writing about why Ganesh was a cheat, it wouldn't be a balanced argument.

Okay, so for our balanced argument, we want to have roughly the same amount of points for and against.

Now, we're going to use this to help us.

So our scale is all about Ganesh is a cheat, is the statement, okay? Now we're going to have on one side, the arguments for that.

So we're going to have the three things that we think, or more than three things, that we think prove that he is a cheat.

Then on the other side, we want to have roughly the same amount of reasons against this statement that means that he's not a cheat.

Now I asked you to write down whilst you were listening to me speaking just before the point that you noticed, can you tell me some of them now? Can you tell me whether they were points for the argument saying that Ganesh is a cheat or against the argument, saying Ganesh is not a cheat.

Great.

That's a really good one.

I can tell you what really listening.

Let's have a look through.

I've put some of those on there already.

So let's see if you found all of the same ones as me.

So for for one point was he waited to tell Karttikeya until after the wedding and that makes it seem like he's guilty because why, if he hadn't cheated, why didn't he just say straight away? He misled his brother on purpose.

By telling him that description of the whole place, he made it seem like he had been there.

He wasn't really being honest or forthcoming at the start, was he? Finally, the word said travel, and travel means that you're supposed to actually move your body.

Okay, and he didn't, he just sat in that chair and he read a book, so really he cheated.

Okay, so those are our three points saying for the argument he did cheat.

Against, he asked if he could travel how he liked.

So right at the beginning of the story, Ganesh did say, "just want to check, can I choose how I want to travel around the world?" And Karttikeya said yes, and therefore, surely that means that if he wanted to do it in his mind, then he can.

Now he also proved that you can travel using your mind.

He was able to describe all of the same things that Karttikeya had experienced.

He could do the sights, the smells, the tastes, the sounds, all of the things using his senses as if he was actually there.

Finally, he always told the truth.

There was never a time that he actually directly lied to Karttikeya.

He might have left out information and not told him until it was later, but he did tell him the truth.

So he wasn't a cheat, he just didn't get all of the information straight away.

Now, as a challenge, I want you to think about, can you think of any other points for why Ganesh is or isn't a cheat? I would love for you to use some of your creative ideas on top of the ones that I've come up with for your argument as you write it up.

So pause here, have a think.

Are there any other reasons you think he is or isn't a cheater, and then press play once you thought of some.

Oh, those are some really good suggestions.

Well done.

Okay.

So for our writing task today, you are going to be splitting your piece of paper or a page in your exercise book in half, and at the top, we're going to have the statement or the argument that we are discussing, which is Ganesh is a cheat.

We're going to have the points which are for on the left hand side and against on the right hand side.

I filled in two of them already for you, but you're going to need to fill in the rest of the ones that came from my discussion and to fill in any extra ones that you can think of.

I will be so impressed if you can add a couple of your own to there, and I can tell then that you are thinking super hard.

I'm going to show you quickly how I would set up my table on a piece of paper and then it's going to be your turn.

Unit 12 lesson three, and then LO is to explore arguments for and against.

Now I'm also going to draw a line here because I want to put what we are arguing about, so we're saying Ganesh cheated, okay? Now, underneath that, I'm going to split my table.

There we are.

Now I'm just going to draw another line here, and put for and against.

Now it might be useful at this point, you have your discussion map, 'cause that might help you to remember what the for and against points were.

So I'm just going to show you one for and one against, and then you can fill in the rest yourself.

So I'm going to choose this point, which is for, which is the instructions were to travel, which suggests you should physically move from one place to another.

Ganesh did not do this.

Okay, so that's one point for, now let's have a look at my map.

I'm going to have a look at against.

Okay, so I'm going to do this one, he asked Karttikeya "can I travel how I like?" and he said yes.

Ganesh asked if he could travel how he liked.

Karttikeya said "yes." Okay, so I'm just going to draw a line there and then underneath here, I would do another reason for, and another reason against.

Okay, and I'm going to do that until I filled it all in with all of the points that are on my discussion map, but also any extra amazing points that I can come up with too.

Fantastic, now you've seen me start you off.

It's your go to complete your table and fill in all of the missing information that you need.

Pause here and then press play when you've done that.

If you would like to share your for and against table with me today, ask a parent or carer to put it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you can tag Oak National and use the hashtag #LearnWithOak.

We have so much amazing information ready to use when we get to our writing later in this unit.

We have already really thought about the points for and against deeply.

We've managed to find a balanced argument between the two.

I hope to see you in our next lesson, where we're going to be doing a little bit of grammar that we can later use in our writing.

And then we will be moving on in the rest of the unit to write our own version of this discussion.