Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to this reading lesson where you will be developing a character profile for "Mulan." For this lesson, you need this copy of "Mulan" by Michaela Morgan.

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

Great, now I know you have the book with you.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully.

There'll be tasks where you need somebody to talk to, and there'll be a task where you will need a piece of paper and pen or pencil.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is, I can understand and describe the character of Mulan.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Protagonist, character traits, role on the wall.

Great job, let's take a look at their definitions.

A protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story or narrative.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

And role on the wall is a character analysis activity which encourages readers to infer.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be exploring the character of Mulan, and in the second part, you will be creating a character profile for Mulan.

So let's begin with exploring the character of Mulan.

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

The legend of Mulan first originated in China over 8,000 years ago, and it has been orally shared and retold by many people.

Michaela Morgan is the author of this version of "Mulan," and Steve Dorado is the illustrator.

Mulan's country required a man from every family to join the army, but her father and brother were not fit to fight.

Mulan decided to disguise herself as a boy in order to fight in the army and protect her family.

She became an accomplished and respected warrior.

Many years later, she returned home and revealed her true identity as a girl.

What is a protagonist? A protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story or narrative.

Mulan is the protagonist in the legend of Mulan.

The protagonist is the character who drives the action in a story and whose fate matters most.

Fate refers to what happens to a character and how their story ends.

Mulan is introduced as the protagonist at the beginning of the story.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a protagonist? A, the first character introduced in a story, B, a main character or central figure in a story, or C, the character who has the most power.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is B, well done.

A protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story.

The success of Mulan's quest does not just impact her own fate.

It has many wider implications for her family and country.

When considering Mulan's fate, we might wonder, will she survive the war? Will she manage to keep her secret? When considering the family's fate, we might wonder, will Mulan's secret remain safe so that they are not punished? And when considering the country's fate, we might ask, will the war be won? Will Mulan's actions change the way that women are viewed and treated? Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Mulan's quest only impacts her own fate.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false, well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, it also impacts her family's fate.

Or B, Mulan's quest has implications for the fate of herself, for family and country.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is B, well done.

Mulan's quest has implications for the fate of herself, her family, and her country.

How can we build our understanding of Mulan's character? We can identify character traits by exploring a character's experiences and actions and making inferences.

Understanding a character's motives is a key part of this.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

For example, brave, kind, rude.

We can learn a lot about Mulan's character traits through her actions and experiences in the story.

We are going to identify Mulan's character traits.

Let's look at an example of something Mulan experienced and what we can learn about her character from it.

Mulan expressed worry to her family that a man from every family was required to join the war.

She considered the ways in which her father and brother weren't fit to fight and decided she should be the one to go to war instead.

When considering Mulan's actions here, we might determine that she is thoughtful, caring, protective, selfless.

It is important we use evidence from the text to support our judgments.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a character trait? A, the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

B, how a character looks, or C, the activities that a character enjoys.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is A, well done.

A character trait is a special quality that makes a character in a story unique or interesting.

It is time for a task and it is a talk task.

Discuss the following experiences or events and identify the character traits that Mulan shows in each.

A, Mulan disguised herself as a boy in order to become a soldier and set off on her quest.

How would you describe her character through thinking about these actions.

And B, Mulan trained and fought for her country for 10 years becoming an accomplished warrior and leader.

Consider what qualities Mulan would've needed to show to achieve this.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back, you did a great job at analysing these experiences or events to infer character traits that Mulan showed.

Let's take a look at some of the answers I heard.

For A, Mulan disguised herself as a boy, in order to become a soldier and set off on her quest.

We can say that Mulan demonstrates being clever, selfless, resourceful, brave, courageous, trailblazing, which means being the first person to do something.

And for B.

Mulan trained and fought for her country for 10 years, becoming an accomplished warrior and leader.

We can say that Mulan demonstrates being resilient, determined, strong-willed, hardworking, loyal, dedicated.

Mulan's quest involved deceiving others, which is often seen as a negative.

However, it's important to note that Mulan deceives others for honourable reasons within the story.

This might make us consider whether being deceptive is always a negative character trait, or whether sometimes it can be a trait that is used for good.

Well done for discussing and inferring character traits belonging to Mulan.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where you will be creating a character profile for Mulan.

You are going to create a character profile for Mulan.

You will be identifying the following, experiences and interactions that are important to Mulan and character traits and feelings belonging to Mulan.

We are going to use role on the wall to complete a character profile for Mulan.

You will use a character outline like this.

On the outside, we are going to note down experiences, actions, and interactions that are important in shaping Mulan's character to date.

And on the inside we are going to note down character traits that make Mulan who she is and important feelings she has experienced.

Let's look at an example of role on the wall for Mulan.

We know that Mulan decided she should join the war instead of her father and brother.

What can we infer about her character or feelings from this? We know that she felt very worried at the idea of her father or brother going to war, and she demonstrated protective qualities by deciding to go instead of them.

We know that Mulan trained hard to become a soldier and hid her secret.

We can infer that she was determined and brave.

Noting down Mulan's experiences and interactions on the outside will help you develop character traits and feelings to note down on the inside.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following are we going to write on the inside of the character outline? A, Mulan's character traits.

B, Mulan's interactions with other characters.

C, Mulan's experiences in life.

D, Mulan's feelings.

Pause the video and select the correct answers now.

The answers are A and D, well done.

On the inside of the character outline, you'll write down Mulan's character traits and Mulan's feelings.

It's now time for your task.

Complete a role on the wall for Mulan.

Remember, on the outside, note down experiences and interactions that are important in shaping Mulan's character.

And on the inside, note down character traits that make Mulan who she is and important feelings she has experienced.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Well done, for working hard to create a character profile for Mulan.

Let's go over some of the things that you might have written together.

On the outside, have you included Mulan's experiences and interactions? These might have been some of the following.

Decided she should join the war instead of her father and brother.

Disguised herself as a boy in order to become a soldier.

Trained incredibly hard to become a fine warrior and kept her secret, and became an accomplished and respected leader who fought for 10 years.

Using all of these experiences and interactions hopefully helped you identify a range of character traits.

So on the inside, what character traits or feelings did you identify for Mulan? Let's look at some examples.

We could say that she is thoughtful.

We know at point she felt worried.

She shows kindness.

She clearly has a very caring nature.

She is protective of her family and she is selfless.

She shows that she is clever, innovative, resourceful, brave, and courageous by embarking on her quest.

We know that at points on her quest, Mulan felt afraid and exhausted.

But she also showed in these moments that she was resilient, determined, strong-willed.

You also might have identified that Mulan showed herself to be dedicated, commanding as a leader in the army.

Honourable, confident, proud and trailblazing.

Well done for completing a role on the wall for Mulan.

We've now come to the end of our lesson.

So let's go over a summary together.

The protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story or narrative.

Mulan is the protagonist who drives the action and whose quest impacts the fate of herself, her family and her country.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

We can identify Mulan's character traits by exploring her experiences and interactions and making inferences.

And Mulan displays a range of character traits such as courage, resilience, and determination.

I hope you have enjoyed exploring Mulan's character in this lesson.

I have really enjoyed teaching you.