Lesson video

Hello, everybody, I'm Miss Afzal.

I'm really pleased to be here with you today, because we're going to be exploring a really fantastic verse novel called "Swallow's Kiss." You'll need a copy of this text, so I'm gonna ask you to take a moment now to go off and get your copy that looks like this one here.

What an amazing cover, look at that.

Do you spot the two swallows at the top? Yep.

Great, so I'll pause here for a moment and let you go and get your copy.

Okay, you're back, you've got your text.

You've hopefully got a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of insights and responses to share about this wonderful verse novel.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can discuss the main ideas of "Swallow's Kiss." We have a number of key words in today's lesson.

Let's go through them, my turn, your turn.

Verse novel.

Form.

Free verse.

Theme.

Migration.

Well done for joining in with those, I heard them loud and clear.

Let's make sure we listen out for them, and let's think about them, and let's be curious about them in today's lesson.

Okay, let's go into these keywords a little bit more.

A verse novel is a narrative told through poetry, blending prose and poetic elements.

Form is the way that a text can be presented.

Free verse is poetry without strict rhyme or metre.

It emphasises natural speech rhythms. A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.

And to migrate means to move from one place to another.

Our lesson today has three parts to it.

We'll begin with exploring the story, next exploring verse novels, and finally exploring themes.

Lots of exploring today.

Let's start with exploring the story.

"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 is with her mother and baby brother, Ely.

The story is told as a verse novel.

"Swallow's Kiss" is written in free verse.

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

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

Look at those amazing, colourful, beautiful birds on that front cover there.

The swallow in "Swallow's Kiss" refers to the two birds you can see on the top of the front cover.

Let's go back to them.

There they are.

Can you spot those two swallows? Swallows migrate every year.

So remember that key word, migrate? It's a verb, it means to move from one place to another.

Just like the swallows, Blessing's mother has moved from one country to another.

Migration could be considered a theme of the text.

Here's my first question for you.

Why is this verse novel important to you? And, what was your favourite part? So pause the video now and share with someone nearby, why is this verse novel important to you, and what's your favourite part? I wonder what your response was.

Let's see what the response is from Andeep.

"'Swallow's Kiss' told me that we should care for other people who may not be as fortunate." So fortunate means lucky, to have good fortune, to have good luck.

"My favourite part is at the end when all of the community come together to support one another." Oh, that just is so lovely, isn't it? I wonder, have you ever had an experience of where you've seen or where you've been with a community where everyone comes together? It's a special thing.

Check for understanding, true or false? "Swallow's Kiss" is written in fixed verse.

It has to rhyme.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false, that is not the case.

It's not written in fixed verse, it's written in free verse.

And justify your answer to A, like the swallows on the front cover, the text explores what it's like for people to move from one place to another to live.

"Swallow's Kiss" is a verse novel written in free verse.

It does not have to rhyme or follow any strict patterns.

Pause the video while you decide which justification best suits your answer.

Well done if you selected B, absolutely.

"Swallow's Kiss" is a verse novel written in free verse, and it doesn't have to rhyme or follow any strict patterns.

Let's remind ourselves of what happens in this fantastic text, "Swallow's Kiss." Blessing enjoys singing and listening to the birds that live in the balcony beneath where they live.

She's waiting for her father to return.

Blessing helps her mother out to Uncle Miral's cafe where she's working with Ely strapped to her.

Ely is Blessing's younger brother.

Blessing finds a bag of paper birds.

They have wishes and hopes written on them.

Blessing dreams of finding who the birds belong to.

Blessing holds onto one wish bird, which contains a wish she empathises with.

So empathise means you feel with, you feel for.

She notices a person collecting the bag.

She meets a boy called Hani who is also missing his father.

Check for understanding.

Put the following events from "Swallow's Kiss" in chronological order.

So chronological means in time order, in time sequence.

So in a sequence in which they occurred.

Use the text to support you.

So let me read through these events.

A, Blessing sprints after Hani, wanting to return the wish bird she has looked after for her father.

B, Blessing borrows the wish bird bag, which is decorated in Kobu print.

C, Blessing is remembering a time when she was younger with birds flying across the sky.

D, Blessing's father returns.

He hugs Blessing and supports Hani.

So pause the video while you put these events in chronological order.

Okay, so we're back together.

Let's see.

Did you come up with the first event out of these four being Blessing remembering when she was younger? Next, Blessing borrows the wish bird bag.

After that, Blessing sprints after Hani.

And finally, Blessing's father returns.

Well done if you put them in this order.

And now it's time for our task.

Now that we've explored the story, we're going to discuss our own thoughts and our feelings about the text.

We'll do this in quite a specific way using a grid.

So I'd like to answer the questions in a grid that will appear in a moment with your partner.

Be honest about your thoughts and make sure you listen to your partner's opinion.

So really listening with with your heart, with some presence and with care.

So here's our grid that we're going to use to help us explore our responses to the story.

So we're gonna do three things.

We're gonna share our likes, dislikes, and puzzles.

So first of all, likes.

What caught your attention? What made you want to keep on reading, keep turning those pages, keep reading this free verse? And you could use some sentence stems, such as I enjoyed, or my favourite part was.

Next, dislikes.

Is there anything you didn't understand and you might say I was unsure about or I wanted to know more about? And finally, puzzles.

Is there anything you found strange or surprising, puzzling? I wondered, or you could say, I noticed.

So pause the video now and share with the person next to you your likes, dislikes, and puzzles.

Great to be back with you.

I'd like to share with you my likes, dislikes, and puzzles, and I wonder if you had anything similar to these.

So I enjoyed looking at and reading the different wishes on page 12 and 13.

Lots of the wishes celebrate different languages and cultures and I love seeing different writing and hearing different languages so I really loved that one.

Dislikes, I was unsure who was going to collect the bag or if they would remember where they left it.

I was happy when someone returned the next day with Hani.

Puzzles, I noticed that the words Sita Brahmachari uses were really descriptive.

Unlike some other forms of poetry, this text did not use rhyme.

It was really musical and full of feeling.

So I love that kind of rhythm that this text had.

For the next part of our lesson, we'll be exploring verse novels.

Verse novels are a type of narrative where the story is told primarily through poetry.

Poets can use poetic language, line breaks and other poetic devices to convey the plot, characters and emotions of the story.

Some features of verse novels include, visual appeal and we can see that with the text on the screen right there in front of us, "Creeping Beauty." Look at that.

I'm really instantly drawn in by that image.

Figurative language such as similes and metaphors.

A range of forms, so different ways in which the text is presented.

Line breaks and stanzas, which is when lines of the poem are grouped together.

A bit like a paragraph in narrative writing.

So we talked about forms and fixed verse poems can take many forms including, couplets, that's two lines together.

A haiku, special kind of poem, written in three lines, five, seven, and five syllables in each.

Acrostic poems where the first letter of each line spells a word as you go down.

Shape poems where a poem is in a specific shape.

And there are many other poetry forms in other cultures and languages, each with its unique characteristics and traditions.

Free verse poetry does not adhere to specific rhyme or metre patterns, hence the word free.

"Swallow's Kiss" is written in free verse.

Check for understanding.

Which of the following are fixed verse forms of poems? Acrostic, non-fiction, haiku, shape.

Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected acrostic, haiku and shape.

These are all fixed verse forms of poetry.

Non-fiction is a genre of writing.

Poems can include facts about real events, information and knowledge.

One of my favourite sections from the text is when Blessing opens the bag of wish birds on page 10 and 11.

It is effective not only because of the vibrant illustrations, but also how it describes the paper birds pecking their way out of the bag, fluttering then landing on her bed.

What is your favourite part of the text and why? Pause the video and share this with someone nearby.

And you might like to use sentence starters such as, my favourite part is, and I thought it was effective because.

So pause the video here and share with someone nearby your favourite part of the text and why you selected that part.

Here are some responses.

"My favourite part is when Blessing finds the bag of wish bird feathers." "My favourite part is when Blessing finds the bag of wish bird feathers on pages eight and nine." "I thought it was effective because it describes the bag as a nest.

The patterns look beautiful." "My favourite part is when Blessing's Papa returns on page 21.

It says that Blessing flies towards him crying with happiness.

It made me feel warm inside." I wonder if you chose these parts of the text or something else.

And for the final part of our lesson, We'll be exploring themes.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs, it keeps coming up, within a story.

Identifying themes within a text involves inference.

That means looking carefully, looking between the lines.

Themes are not explicitly stated within a text, so a text will not say this text is about.

Rather, there are a few different ways for us to identify themes.

For example, considering actions and characteristics of people within the text.

Identifying repetition; actions, emotions, traits that occur again and again.

Searching for deeper meaning using inference.

Considering the overall message of the text.

One of the most prominent themes in "Swallow's Kiss" is empathy, building connection across communities.

So empathy is the ability to understand other people's feelings and points of view.

Blessing is able to understand how Hani and other children are feeling because she herself has missed her father and knows that the other children might need support.

What themes do you think are shown within the text? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

Some themes that you may have come up with might include collaboration, that means working together.

Culture, community, care.

Ooh, a lot of C's here.

Celebration of language, friendship and hope.

I'm noticing how it feels even just to hear those words.

There is something really lovely about every one of those words there.

There are many possible themes that can be drawn out in this text.

Readers may interpret themes and their importance differently because we're all different.

We're all individuals.

We all have our unique life experiences and reading identities.

Hope is the feeling of optimism and belief that things will get better even in difficult or uncertain times.

Culture refers to the shared beliefs, customs, traditions, and practises of a particular group of people.

Community is a group of people who share common interests, characteristics, or goals.

They support and interact with each other.

Check for understanding.

Match the theme with how it is conveyed in a text.

Conveyed means how it is shown or represented.

So here are our themes.

Hope, culture, and community.

How they could be conveyed in a text.

Blessing's mother sings a Lingala lullaby.

She notices the bag is made from Kobu print from her home country.

Where Blessing lives, people welcome and support each other.

They are inclusive.

Blessing places a finger to her lip and wishes for Hani's father to return.

So pause the video now while you match the theme with how it is conveyed in the text.

Let's get together again.

Did you connect hope with Blessing placing her finger to her lip? Did you connect culture to Blessing's mother singing the Lingala lullaby and noticing the bag is made from the Kobu print from her home country? Did you connect community to where Blessing lives, people welcome, support each other, they're inclusive? I hope you made those connections.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

So what are your takeaway ideas? What are you taking away from this incredible text "Swallow's Kiss?" Pause the video while you share with someone nearby.

Let's have a look at some responses.

Here is Izzy.

"We should celebrate our similarities as well as our differences." Yes.

Love that.

Thank you, Izzy.

Here's Alex.

"It's important to empathise, as to feel with, to understand others.

To look at life from a range of perspectives." Yes.

Love that one too.

Thank you, Alex.

Goodness.

Some really amazing takeaway ideas here.

I wonder what yours were.

Some that you may have mentioned could be, we should include rather than exclude.

Offering people hope is important.

We can do more when we work together.

As our reading experiences are unique, your ideas will be too.

In our lesson today, we have covered the following.

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

The story of "Swallow's Kiss" is told as a verse novel.

It is written in free verse.

One of the most prominent themes is empathy, building connection across communities.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

A key message I would like to communicate to you is that it has been lovely to spend time with you exploring this wonderful text, "Swallow's Kiss." So thank you for your contributions and your focus and all of your insights, and I look forward to seeing you at the next lesson.

Bye for now.