Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to this reading lesson where we are going to be building our comprehension of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" through having rich discussion about the text.

For this lesson, you need this copy of "Mischief Makers," retold by Tony Bradman.

Pause the video and go and get your copy of the book now.

Fantastic, now I know you have your book with you ready to refer to.

For this lesson, you need to be listening and looking carefully and there will be lots of tasks where you need somebody to talk to, to discuss the deeper meaning of the story.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can infer meaning from "Anansi and the Antelope Baby" through discussion.

Here are our key words.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Discussion, theme, strength, trickery, kindness, good job.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

Discussion is the process of talking about something to exchange ideas.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs in a story, strength refers to the quality of being strong, trickery refers to the practise of deception and kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

You will be hearing these words lots throughout today's lesson.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, you'll be understanding and identifying themes, and in the second part you'll be discussing the meaning behind themes in the story.

So let's begin with understanding and identifying themes.

What do we know about Anansi folktales? Let's remind ourselves.

Anansi is a smart but mischievous spider who encounters a range of tricky circumstances with other animals.

There are many Anansi folktales, which all tell a story about Anansi's interaction with another animal.

Some of these stories focus on Anansi's mischievous elements as a trickster, while others highlight his cleverness and ability to outsmart evil.

What happens in the story of "Anansi and the Antelope Baby"? I'm going to summarise this story for you in my own words.

Anansi spun a web while relaxing in a bush and contemplating which tricks he could play on other animals next.

A fire in the forest headed towards Anansi.

Most of the animals didn't help him, but Antelope rescued him.

Anansi was grateful.

One day Antelope left her baby by a bush while she went to get food, and hunters spotted them and plotted to catch them.

Anansi saw what was happening and tricked the hunters by spinning a web to hide Baby so they wouldn't catch her.

Anansi protected Baby Antelope, and when her mother returned, she felt immense gratitude.

A special friendship was forged.

We have now recapped and summarised the story "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." Let's check your understanding, true or false, Anansi and Antelope show admirable character traits in the story.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is true, well done.

Can you justify your answer? A, they work really hard to impress others, or B, they demonstrate kindness and loyalty among other traits.

Pause the video and select your justification.

The answer is B.

Both Anansi and Antelope show each other kindness and loyalty, and these are very admirable character traits, well done.

Stories often have themes which communicate a deeper message.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that appears in a story.

Examples of themes you might notice in stories are friendship, pride, good v evil, family, resilience, celebration, suffering, trickery, greed, acceptance, and I'm sure you can think of many more.

Readers can interpret themes and their importance differently.

This means that two people might read the same story, but each have a different opinion on what the most prominent or important theme is and what message the author is trying to send.

"Anansi and the Antelope Baby" conveys important messages through exploring the following themes.

Character, this refers to the qualities that make a person who they are, trickery, this is the practise of deception, kindness, the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate and loyalty, a strong feeling of support or allegiance.

The story involves exploring the character of Anansi in great detail as well as Antelope too, but it makes us consider the qualities that Anansi shows throughout the story.

We know that Anansi is a trickster and he's able to use trickery unkindly, but we see him use trickery for good in the story.

We see both Antelope and Anansi treat each other with kindness.

And Anansi treats Antelope with loyalty.

He feels indebted to her after she saved his life and he is loyal to towards her and protects her baby.

These are key themes that emerge through the story.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the theme to the correct definition.

Our themes are character, trickery, kindness, and loyalty.

The definitions are the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate, the qualities that make a person who they are, a strong feeling of support or allegiance and the act of deception.

Pause the video and match these themes to their correct definition now.

Let's take a look at the answers.

Character refers to the qualities that make a person who they are.

Trickery is the act of deception.

Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

And loyalty is a strong feeling of support or allegiance.

Well done, it's now time for a task.

We have looked at what a theme is and how they appear in the story, we have identified that character, trickery, kindness, and loyalty are key themes, and we've explored how they appear.

It's now time for you to discuss what other themes could be interpreted from the story.

Consider the meaning behind the story and the characters' actions.

Pause the video and discuss this with your partner now.

Welcome back, I loved listening to your discussions.

You identified some wonderful themes that appear in the story.

Let's take a look at some of these now.

We have protection.

Antelope protects Anansi from the fire and Anansi protects Antelope Baby from the hunters.

This is a key theme that exists throughout the story.

Integrity, this is about having really strong morals and being honest.

We know that Anansi gave his word to Antelope that he would repay the favour if she ever needed it, and he stuck by his word, he showed integrity.

Friendship, throughout the story, we see how Anansi and Antelope build a friendship.

Community, they become a community for one another, helping to protect each other and living alongside each other.

Survival, both animals help the other to survive.

They use their strength in different ways.

Support, they both offer each other support.

Good v evil and right v wrong.

Neither Antelope nor Anansi needed to help the other, but they chose to because they felt it was the right thing.

And a really important theme is strength.

It's really interesting the different ways that strength is shown in this story, and we will be exploring that more in the second part of our lesson.

Well done for identifying key themes in "Anansi and the Antelope Baby." It's now time for the second part of our lesson, discussing the meaning behind themes.

Exploring specific themes from a story in greater detail can help us uncover deeper meaning or messages.

Some themes are common to a particular genre.

Folktales often contain themes relating to character and good v evil in order to teach an important moral or lesson.

By exploring the different qualities of animals or humans and how they show them, whether they use them for good or evil, the author is able to teach a moral or lesson to the reader about what's right or wrong.

We can examine a character's qualities within a story to gain greater meaning from the story.

Let's check your understanding.

Which themes do folktales commonly explore in order to teach a moral or lesson, A, character, B, celebration, C, good v evil, D, magic? Pause the video and select your answers now.

The answers are A and C.

Character and good v evil are both themes that commonly appear in folktales, well done.

Having rich discussion about a text is beneficial in many ways for building comprehension.

It helps us clarify and understand things.

This means that if there's anything we don't understand, we have an opportunity to ask others questions and see if they can help us understand.

It also offers opportunities for hearing different perspectives and analysing the text in greater depth.

And this is the really interesting and exciting part because you and somebody else who read the same story might have different ideas about the text.

You may have drawn different meaning from it.

And sharing this with one another can help to build a richer picture of the story.

We are going to discuss the meaning behind the following three themes that are linked to character.

Trickery, which we know means the practise of deception.

Trickery is a huge part of Anansi's character.

We know that in many Anansi tales, he uses trickery to be unkind to others.

However, in "Anansi and the Antelope Baby," he uses trickery for a good reason, to outsmart the hunters and to protect Baby Antelope.

Kindness, the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

We know that Anansi and Antelope show one another kindness.

And strength, the quality or state of being strong.

Both characters in this story show strength in different ways.

Let's consider the definition of strength in more detail now.

What is strength and how can it be demonstrated? Strength is frequently used to refer to physical power and ability.

Physical strength is important and valuable for our health.

However, strength is mental as well as physical.

The two are often intertwined, which means they're connected.

Being mentally strong is just as important as being physically strong.

It is an important skill we learn in order to navigate life.

Mental strength involves elements such as problem solving, resilience, bravery, and determination.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false, strength only refers to physical power and ability.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is false, well done.

Time to justify your answer.

A, strength is mental as well as physical, or B, strength is mental? Pause now and select your answer.

The answer is A, strength is mental as well as physical, well done.

And don't forget that these two aspects can be intertwined, which means connected.

A lot of physical strength requires mental strength to achieve it, for example.

If you use running as a good example, although you need to use your body, it involves a lot of determination mentally as well.

It's time for your final task.

Discuss the following questions around the themes in the story.

How do the characters show strength in different ways? So I want you to consider how Antelope uses her strength and how Anansi uses his strength.

Do they demonstrate the same kind of strength or do they show it differently? Your second question is, is trickery always a bad thing? I would like you to consider how Anansi used trickery in this story to help you discuss this question.

And your third question is, how do acts of kindness benefit both Anansi and Antelope? I would like you to pause the video and discuss each of these questions with your partner now.

Remember to use evidence from the text to support your answer.

I am really looking forward to listening to what you all have to say.

Welcome back, you had such fantastic and thoughtful discussion where I could see you really considering the different ways in which these themes showed up in the story.

Let's take a look at some good examples of what I heard in answer to question one.

How do the characters show strength in different ways? Antelope is able to help and protect Anansi through the use of physical strength, which Anansi didn't have.

Anansi uses mental strength to trick the hunters and save Baby.

This is a really wonderful assessment of how strength appears in different ways and is demonstrated by each character differently.

Antelope uses her body to physically save Anansi.

Anansi spins his web, but that's a normal thing for him to do.

He had to use his mental strength to think of a trick that could save Baby from the hunters.

Another answer I heard was both characters demonstrate strength of character through making kind choices to protect the other when they didn't need to, and it was dangerous for them.

I loved this answer because it identified another way in which strength can be shown.

Making difficult decisions that might not put ourselves first can be described as being really strong in character, and both Anansi and Antelope did this.

Let's take a look at some answers that I heard for question two.

Is trickery always a bad thing? Anansi's strength is trickery and he uses it for good in the story.

He tricks the hunters in order to protect Baby Antelope and save her life.

Ultimately, this is a huge act of kindness.

So although trickery is often thought of as a negative thing, and it can be in lots of ways, in this story, Anansi's trickery was actually a really kind act because it saved Baby Antelope.

And I think trickery is bad if it causes other people harm or upset.

However, if trickery is used to prevent harm or protect people, then I think it is a good thing.

I would agree and and Anansi's trickery in this story didn't cause anyone any harm.

He didn't hurt the hunters, but he managed to deceive them peacefully and protect Baby Antelope.

Let's take a look finally at the answers I heard for question three.

How do acts of kindness benefit both Anansi and Antelope? Antelope's act of kindness saves Anansi's life.

This results in Anansi feeling a sense of fondness and loyalty to towards Antelope.

In return, Anansi's act of kindness saves Antelope Baby's life.

This demonstrates that when you show kindness to others, it can become reciprocal and it can benefit both people.

Through showing one another kindness, Anansi and Antelope develop a friendship which provides them with a sense of community and protection.

This was a great answer as well.

Both animals didn't need to show the kindness, but actually a beautiful friendship came out of it.

Friendships are part of what make our lives richer and more meaningful.

Well done for discussing these questions, analysing the themes within the text and responding so thoughtfully.

I am really impressed with how hard you have worked today.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs in a story.

Anansi folktales explore themes relating to character in order to teach an important moral or lesson.

"Anansi and the Antelope Baby" explores themes such as trickery, kindness, strength, and loyalty.

Exploring themes can help us infer greater meaning from a story.

And Anansi and Antelope use their strength in different ways to show one another kindness and protection.

Well done again, I have really enjoyed teaching you this lesson.