Lesson video

Hello, how are you doing today? I hope you're doing really well.

My name's Ms. Afzal, I'm doing pretty well because today we get to continue exploring the verse novel "Swallow's Kiss." We'll be exploring our responses to this novel.

We'll be getting into some rich discussions, but first of all, we need our copies of the novel, so pause the video and like you to go and fetch your copy of "Swallow's Kiss." All right, it's great to be back with you.

You have your copy of "Swallow's Kiss." Hopefully you have some ideas, some responses to share.

You got your great listening skills and I think we're about set to go.

Let's begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is "I can develop my own response to 'Swallow's Kiss.

'" There are a number of key words in today's lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time.

My turn, your turn.

Character trait, empathy, connection, recommendation.

Well done.

Let's hear more about these words.

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

Empathy is ability to experience and understand other people's feelings and points of view.

How a text relates to a reader, another text, or the wider world can be called a connection.

Recommendation is a suggestion for a text that is well suited to a reader's age and their interests.

Have you ever had a really good recommendation? Today's lesson has two parts to it: exploring characters and relationships and connections and recommendations.

Let's begin with exploring characters and relationships.

"Swallow's Kiss" is written by Sita Brahmachari, with illustrations by Jane Ray.

"Swallow's Kiss" follows Blessing as she finds some paper birds left in a bag at her uncle's cafe.

She's with her mother and baby brother, Ely.

The story is told as a verse novel.

"Swallow's Kiss" is written in free verse so it's not a fixed form of poetry.

Sita Brahmachari uses descriptive language which links to Blessing's heritage.

Jane Ray's full colour illustrations bring the birds in the text to life.

Okay, I've got my first question for you.

Who do you think the main characters in "Swallow's Kiss" are? Pause video here while you share your answer with someone nearby.

I wonder what you came up with.

Here is Laura.

What does Laura think? "We are introduced to Blessing on the front cover and on the very first page of text.

She's making a wish." Yeah, absolutely.

Blessing is for sure one of the main characters.

And what do you think, Jacob? "Blessing's mother works in a cafe.

She straps Ely to her.

Blessing's father is a lorry driver.

Blessing has not seen him for a while." Yeah, sure.

Blessing's parents are also.

Her family are really key people in the story.

And what's Suzie got to say? "Blessing recognises a lady dressed like her mother and Hani, a young refugee child." Yeah, thank you for sharing that with us too, Suzie.

Blessing demonstrates lots of positive emotions and character traits in the story.

How would you describe Blessing at the beginning of the text, in the middle, and at the end? What character traits and emotions does she exhibit? So pause the video now while you share with someone nearby how you describe Blessing at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the text, and what character traits and emotions she exhibits.

Here are some things you may have come up with.

Blessing is missing her father.

She is inquisitive.

That means that she's very curious.

She wants to know more.

Blessing is helpful and kind.

She supports her mother at the cafe.

Blessing is hopeful.

She's got a lot of hope for the future and she hopes that she's going to get to see her father.

And it's the same wish as Hani's.

Blessing is empathetic.

I mean she's thinking about others, understanding, trying to understand others, and she's selfless.

She's not just thinking of herself, she thinks of others.

I wonder if you came up with these traits and emotions.

Check for understanding.

Match the following characters to their relationship with Blessing.

So we have the characters of Ely, Uncle Miral, and Miss Afia, and how they relate to Blessing is as follows.

Someone who walks Blessing from school to her mother's workplace.

Blessing's younger brother, he's usually with Blessing's mother who cares for him.

The owner of the cafe that Blessing's mother works in.

He could be a real relative, or uncle could be a close friend.

So pause video now while you match up the characters with their relationship to Blessing.

All right, let's get together again.

Did you make the connection between Ely being Blessing's younger brother? Uncle Miral is the owner of the cafe and he may be a real relative or he could be a close friend, a family friend, who's addressed as uncle.

And Miss Afia is someone who walks Blessing from school to her mother's workplace.

Well done for making these connections.

Towards the beginning of the text, Blessing's mother links her daughter's name to singing.

There's a musical quality to the text.

I'd like you now to refer to page four and answer this question, what does Blessing say she's too old for? So pause the video now, refer to page four, and answer this question, share your answer with someone nearby.

Here is a response, "Blessing says that she's not like her baby brother, Ely, and does not need a Lingala lullaby." And here we can see some of the countries where Lingala is spoken.

So it's a Central African creole language.

Blessing remembers lots of different birds from her childhood and from the city she lives in.

Look at page four, now.

How many birds can you spot with your partner? Pause the video here.

And here's Lucas, "Blessing mentions swallows darting across the sky in her memories and in the city she hears pigeons, geese, and swans." Oh wow, I wonder if there are any birds around where you live that you notice sometimes.

And now refer to page six.

How can you tell that both Blessing and her mother are tired? And you might like to use a sentence starter such as, "I think" and then if you'll just go to "because." So pause the video and share with someone nearby.

Here's Aisha, "I think Blessing is tired because she's yawning during school time.

She's been dreaming about her father's return." Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for sharing that, Aisha.

And Sam, what have you got to say? "I think Blessing's Mama is tired because it describes her eyes as similar to a moon.

She might have been looking after Ely and working all day." Yeah, thank you for that response.

Yeah, you can imagine how tired she must be.

Check for understanding, true or false? As soon as Blessing finds the wish bird bag, she has to leave it with Uncle Miral.

Is that true or false? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected false.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Blessing is curious as to what the feathers and birds are for.

Uncle Miral says that she can borrow the bag but must return it tomorrow.

Blessing pleads with her mother to allow her to take the bag home to look at it in more detail, Mama tells her, "No." Pause video while you decide which is the most appropriate justification for your answer.

Well done if you selected the first statement, this justifies your answer more clearly.

After exploring the wish bird bag, Blessing imagines her parents in a dream.

I'd like now to refer to pages 14 and 15.

How are Blessing's parents described? What have you learned about the journeys they're taking? Pause the video here while you refer to those pages and reflect on these questions with someone nearby.

I wonder if you had a response like this one.

"Blessing's Papa is a lorry driver.

She imagines him being able to sprout wings like the swallows and fly above the lines of traffic." "Blessing's Mama has journeyed from a another country along roads and across seas.

She's described like a group of fish dipping and diving above the waves." I love the way that Sita Brahmachari has used these descriptions from nature to describe each of the parents' journeys.

Blessing notices Hani walking in the street.

She still has his wish bird cradled close to her as she hopes that it will come true for her too.

Refer to pages 18 and 19.

How can you tell that Blessing is keen to return the wish bird? Pause the video while you refer to those pages and share your reflections.

"Blessing sprints along the pavement to the blue door Hani has just walked through.

The paper bird glows." I can really see that and feel that.

I wonder if you can too? Check for understanding.

How does Blessing's father demonstrate empathy on page 21? So remember, empathy is when we are feeling with another.

We're understanding another and taking in different viewpoints.

Blessing's father knows she has missed him and he hugs her.

Blessing's father leaves Blessing at the centre.

Blessing's Father helps her friend, Hani, up.

He understands how he might be feeling.

Blessing's father makes a wish bird with his daughter.

Pause the video while you decide which statements demonstrate Blessing's father's empathy.

Well done if you selected statement A and C.

These are both showing how empathetic Blessing's Father is.

Throughout the story, Blessing's makes a wish for others by touching the mark on her lip made when she was a baby.

If you could make a wish for someone else or for a group of people, what would it be? Discuss this question with your partner.

Think about the character traits that Blessing shows.

How might your wish mirror these traits? And you could begin your sentence with, "I would wish for" and then give a justification as well, "because." So pause the video here while you reflect on what your wish would be for someone else or for a group of people.

Okay, I am really, really wondering what you came up with.

What was your wish? Here's some wishes.

"I would wish for a world where everyone is treated with kindness because it's important to be empathetic and to treat others with respect." "I would wish for people who are migrating or fleeing from their home country to find homes full of love because it's important that all families feel safe." I wonder if anyone had wishes like this or maybe your wish was something different.

I hope you enjoyed sharing your response with your partner and maybe now you could share in large group or with the whole class.

And now onto connections and recommendations.

Connections are ways in which you connect personally with a text.

The way that one reader connects might be different to another based on their own life experiences.

Connections can be made in three ways, from text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world.

Text-to-self is when the content of the text relates to personal experiences, feelings, or thoughts.

Text-to-text is when the content of a text relates to another text, including it could be something you've seen, heard, read, watched.

And text-to-the-world is when the content relates to events and issues in the real world.

Connections can also relate to patterns that you spot when you're reading.

The connections that I've made to this text are: to events happening in the real world affecting people that are migrating, and to the picturebook, "The Suitcase," which also explores themes of empathy, friendship, and the power of community.

How about you? What connections did you make to text? And were they text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-the-world connections? Pause the video while you reflect on this and maybe share with someone nearby.

I'm wondering what connections you made and I hope you enjoyed sharing them and maybe you got some great ideas from your partner too.

Making connections and recommendations can significantly enhance the reading experience and broaden our understanding of literature.

Here are some recommendations based on the themes, form, and connections in "Swallow's Kiss." "Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad," "Who are Refugees and Migrants? What Makes People Leave Their Homes? And Other Big Questions," "The Journey," "Sona Sharma: A Friend Indeed," and "Birdsong." Take a moment to look at these covers, just take them in, and just noticing what your initial response is to these texts.

Let's explore them in a bit more detail.

"Zombierella" is written in verse and offers readers a playful twist on the famous fairytale.

This nonfiction text answers lots of questions about the complex reasons why migrants move countries.

"Sona Sharma: A Friend Indeed" explores themes of family and friendship.

It is set in Chennai, India.

"The Journey" is a picturebook text which explores what can happen when people have to leave the country of their birth.

And "Birdsong" connects caring for and supporting birds to feelings and emotions within a small community.

What amazing texts.

Now, which one would you recommend for Alex? Alex says, "I really enjoyed reading in verse.

I want to explore more verse novels." Pause the video and decide which of these is gonna be a good pick for Alex.

Well done if you selected "Zombierella" and why do you think this would make such a good just recommendation for Alex? Maybe because he enjoys verse novels.

For your task, I'd like you to research one of the recommended texts.

Discuss with your partner, which one would you like to read and do you have a text that you'd like to recommend and why? Imagine it were displayed on a book place in front of you.

Which one would you like to pick up and start reading.

Pause the video while you share about this.

I hope you enjoyed researching one of the recommended texts.

Let's see what some of our other friends have to say.

Here's Jun, "I've enjoyed the Sona Sharma series.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Sona solves her friendship issues in the text." Yeah, it's great fun when you get into a series of books, isn't it? I really get that, Jun.

And here, Sophia, "Francesca Sonna based her story on conversations she had with two girls in a refugee centre in Italy." Yeah, it's so interesting when we get stories based on real experiences.

I love that too.

Thank you, Sophia.

In our lesson today, we've covered the following.

Character traits can be explored through the texts, illustrations, or words used by the characters.

Connections are ways in which you might connect personally with the text.

The way that one reader connects might be different to another based on their own life experiences.

Connections can be from text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world.

Making connections and recommendations can significantly enhance the reading experience and broaden the reader's understanding of literature.

Well, I've really enjoyed exploring this wonderful example of literature with you today, "Swallow's Kiss." So thank you for being here.

Thank you for joining in.

And I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

Bye for now.