Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown, and I'm your English teacher for today's lesson, and we are going to be generating a plan, generating a plan for a letter, and that letter is going to be written to the poet that this whole unit has all been about.

It's Joseph Coelho.

We are going to be writing to Joseph Coelho, and today we'll be generating a plan for that letter.

So, let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can generate a plan for a letter to be written to Joseph Coelho.

The keywords we'll use are letter, sender, and recipient.

Let's say this together, my turn and then your turn.

Letter, sender, recipient.

Fabulous.

Let's look at the definitions.

A letter is a piece of writing that someone sends to someone else.

Sender is the person who wrote the letter and who is sending it.

Recipient is the person who the letter is written to and who is receiving it.

We'll start today's lesson by looking at the features of a letter and then move on to generating a plan.

In this lesson, we'll be generating a plan for a letter.

A letter is a piece of writing that someone sends to someone else.

It is often sent in an envelope and by post, which is called mail.

Why do you think people write letters? Hmm.

Discuss with a partner.

Why do you think people write letters? Pause the video and discuss now.

Welcome back.

Okay, well, let's have a look, shall we? Now, there are some reasons why someone might send a letter.

They are to communicate thanks or information, to ask or answer questions, to express emotions, to maintain relationships and friendships, and to provide a formal record.

Have you ever sent a letter before? If so, for what reason? Why did you send that letter? Have a chat with your partner.

Pause the video and tell them if you've sent a letter before, why did you send it? Off you go.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look, shall we? Which of these are reasons why a person might write a letter? Is it A, to communicate information, B, to ask or answer questions, C, to order food? Why might a person write a letter? Any of these reasons? Pause the video and decide now.

And welcome back.

Let's see if you successfully found the right answers.

They were A and B.

To communicate information and to ask or answer questions, not to order food.

That might take a while.

If we are ordering food, you might use an app or the internet or a phone.

We wouldn't send a letter 'cause it would take too long.

When we are talking about letters and writing letters, there are some important words you need to know, such as sender.

So, sender is the name for the person who wrote the letter and who is sending it.

Recipient is the person who the letter is written to and is receiving it.

Address is a location at which a person lives or receives mail.

Letters follow a specific structure and layout.

The layout of a text refers to the way the information is organised on the page.

Now the sender's name and address, well, that appears at the top on the right side.

The date goes below the sender's address on the right side.

The recipient's name and address goes below the date, but this time it's on the left side, and the salutation, which means a greeting, goes below the recipient's address, again, on the left side.

I'd like you to match each layout feature to the number on the letter template to show where this should be positioned.

So the sender's address, is that positioned in number one, number two, or number three? The recipient's address, and then the date.

Match each layout feature to the number on the letter template to show where it should be positioned.

Pauses the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you managed to complete this task correctly.

So the sender's address is number one.

It goes at the top on the right side.

The recipient's address is number three, and the date is number two.

So we have the sender's address on the right side at the top.

Then the date, which goes below the sender's address on the right side too.

And then finally, the recipient's address, which goes on the left side, and that's where you then start your letter.

Time for a task.

I'd like you to fill in the missing words.

A person might write a letter to, hmm, with someone else.

What might that be? A person might write a letter to something with someone else.

A letter is usually sent in an something and mailed to someone else.

The person sending the letter is called the, hmm.

What is the person sending the letter called? The person who the letter is to is called the.

What do we call the name of the person who we send a letter to? And at the top of the letter on the right is the sender's what? Pause the video and fill in the missing words now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you found the missing words.

So a person might write a letter to communicate with someone else.

A letter is usually sent in an envelope and mailed to someone.

The person sending the letter is called the sender.

The person who the letter is to is called the recipient.

And at the top of the letter on the right is the sender's address.

Well done if you managed to get those all correct.

Let's move on to generating a plan.

We have learned about the British poet Joseph Coelho.

What information can you remember about him? Discuss with your partner to see how much you know.

So pause the video and brainstorm as much as you can.

What do you know about Joseph Coelho? What can you remember about him? Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back.

I wonder how much information you know about Joseph Coelho.

Let's now revise some of the key information about him, and revising means to go over something again to help us remember it.

So Joseph Coelho was born in Roehampton, I wonder if you remember that, which is an area in southwest London.

Coelho grew up during the 1980s and lived in a tower block with his mother and sister.

His earliest memory of writing poetry was when he was in secondary school during his time in year eight.

Joseph entered a poetry competition and wrote a poem about a performing bear called "Unbearable." He didn't win, but he kept on writing.

At university he studied archaeology, which means learning about the past using ancient things that have been left behind.

Coelho continued to write his own poetry and he joined a performance poetry course, which gave him the chance to write poems and share them on stage.

Some of Joseph's poems made people laugh, and he was asked to share his poems in schools.

He spent many years running workshops in schools and writing plays, and he slowly began to dream about becoming a published writer.

Now, in 2014, his dream came true and Joseph Coelho had his very first poetry collection published.

It was called "Werewolf Club Rules," and he's been writing and performing poetry ever since.

In 2022, Coelho received the prestigious title of Children's Laureate as he joined a long list of exceptional British writers to have held the position previously.

Let me check your understanding.

Which of these statements about Joseph Coelho are true? Is it A, he lived in a tower block with his mom and sister, B, he became a poet while at university, C, he was appointed Children's Laureate in 2022, D, he studied pottery at university.

Hmm.

Which of these statements about Joseph Coelho are true? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's have a little look, shall we? Well done if you said A, he did live in a tower block with his mom and sister, and C, he was appointed Children's Laureate in 2022.

We've read and responded to different poems by Joseph Coelho.

The poems we have read are "Miss Flotsam," "There Are Things That Look In The Library," "MORERAPS," "If All The World Were Paper," and "I Am A Writer." We are going to write a letter to Joseph Coelho.

What purpose might you have for writing a letter to Joseph Coelho? Discuss with your partner.

Why might you want to write a letter to Joseph Coelho? Pause the video and discuss now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a little look, shall we? You may want to write a letter to Joseph Coelho to praise his poetry and express how much you have enjoyed reading it.

So that's a reason why you might write to someone, to praise their work, to tell them how much you've enjoyed something they've done.

To ask him questions about his life and his career, ask for advice about writing, share a personal experience related to his poetry, or request something, such as an autograph.

So ask him for something.

What would you like to say in your letter? It might be one of these, might be all of these.

What would you like to say in your letter? Pause the video and discuss with your partner now.

Welcome back.

Which of these are possible reasons for writing to Joseph Coelho? Is it A, to tell him about something unrelated to his poetry? Is it B, to ask him questions about his life and career? Or is it C, to request something, such as an autograph? Which of these are possible reasons for writing to Joseph Coelho? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, so which of these are possible reasons? Well, it is B, to ask him questions about his life and career, and C, to request something, such as an autograph.

So A, to tell him something unrelated to poetry? You wouldn't write to Joseph Coelho just to tell him perhaps that you fell out with your friend at playtime or that it's your sister's birthday.

You would keep it related to him and his poetry.

Time for a practise task.

I would like you to write down ideas for your letter to Joseph Coelho.

If you have a different reason for writing, you can add that in too.

So I have put a table on the screen for you to see where you've got the reasons for writing, and they are, praise his poetry, ask him questions, ask him for advice, personal experience, or share a personal experience with him, or request something.

And your job is to put some notes in the ideas column.

So for my ideas for praising his poetry, I've put, loved "MORERAPS." Your poetry is so creative.

Now obviously, this is not in full sentences.

This is just a note, and that's absolutely fine, just giving you some ideas.

So pause the video and have we go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look at an example.

So like I said, praise his poetry.

I've put, loved "MORERAPS." Your poetry is so creative.

So I can already see that's a couple of sentences where I will talk about why I love "MORERAPS" so much and how creative his poetry is.

In terms of asking him questions, I've put, how do you get your ideas, and who inspired you? Ask for advice.

I've put, how can I become a writer? I think that's a question that I'd like to ask him.

Now in personal experience, I'm going to talk about when I read "If All The World Were Paper" and I felt really emotional.

I want to share that with him.

I want him to know that his poetry had such an impact on me.

That's a personal experience I'm going to share.

And requesting something.

Yeah, it's an autograph for me.

I would love an autograph.

You could request him to come to your school for a visit.

You could request him to do a call with you, perhaps online with your class.

You could request a copy of one of his books.

It's up to you.

Let's summarise the learning that we've done today.

A letter is a piece of writing that someone sends to someone else.

There are many different reasons why a person may write and send a letter.

The sender is the person who wrote the letter and is sending it.

The recipient is the person who the letter is to, who it's written to and is receiving it.

So let me just be clear on that one more time.

The sender is the person who wrote the letter and is sending it, and the recipient is the person who the letter is written to and is receiving it.

And finally, letters follow a specific structure and layout.

Well done.

I think you are prepared to write a letter to Joseph Coelho.

We will do that next lesson.

I'll see you then.