Lesson video

Hi everybody, it's Ms. Gardner, and welcome to your final lesson from our unit "The Day the Crayons Quit:" Reading and Writing Persuasive Letters.

You have all done absolutely brilliantly in this unit and you should be so proud of the letters that you have produced.

In this lesson you might want to refer to the text "The Day The Crayons Quit." So if you need to, you can pause the video now to make sure you have it.

Okay, great.

We are now ready to start our lesson where we are going to be reading aloud our own persuasive letters.

Off we go.

In our final lesson from our "Day the Crayons Quit" unit, we are going to be reading aloud our persuasive letter.

So your learning outcome today is: I can read aloud a persuasive letter using expression.

Let's start with looking at the keywords.

We'll do My turn, Your turn: Rehearsing.

Expression.

Eye contact.

Body language.

Let's have a look at what these mean.

Rehearsing is practising something before it is performed in order to get better at it.

Reading with expression means reading with feelings and emotion to bring the words to life.

Eye contact involves looking into the eyes of the people in our audience.

And body language refers to how we use our posture and our gestures to communicate meaning and feelings.

So there are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first we'll be preparing to read aloud, and in the second we'll be reading aloud our persuasive letter.

So let's start with preparing to read aloud.

Reading aloud your persuasive letter can be a really important final stage of the writing process.

It is a way of showing something that you have written to other people.

And reading aloud with expression involves using your voice, body language, and facial expressions to convey emotions to make it more engaging for the listener.

When reading aloud, we need to think about all of these: volume, pace, expression, eye contact, and body language.

So let's start by thinking about volume.

It is important that when we read aloud, we speak at an appropriate volume.

So we must speak loudly enough so that the listeners can hear.

If we speak too quietly like that, it's really hard for the listener to hear.

But we must also try to not shout or speak when other people are speaking because that is less pleasant for the listener.

So if you whisper or you mumble or you mutter your words, your listeners will not be able to hear what you are saying.

So finding an appropriate volume that is not too loud or too quiet is really important.

So checking for understanding.

True or false? We should mutter when we are reading aloud to others.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A: Muttering under your breath will ensure the audience can hear you.

Or B: Talking in a loud, clear voice is important so the audience can hear you.

Pause the video now.

That is B: Talking in a loud and clear voice is really important when reading aloud.

Well done.

So when reading aloud, we also need to think about pace.

Pace refers to the speed at which we speak.

If we speak too quickly, our audience may not be able to clearly hear what we are saying.

For example, if I said this sentence like this: (racing) If-we-speak-too-quickly-our-audience-may-not be-able-to-clearly-hear-what-we-are-saying.

That's really hard for the audience to understand because I've spoken so quickly.

But also, if we speak too slowly, our audience may lose interest in what we are saying.

For example, if we speak too slowly, our audience may lose interest.

It's less engaging and less interesting if I'm speaking at that slow speed.

So speaking at the correct pace will give us more time to use an appropriate volume, speak really clearly and make eye contact.

So an appropriate pace is also really important.

So checking for understanding.

True or false? We should speak very quickly when we are reading aloud to others.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A: Speaking very slowly is engaging for the listener.

Or B: Speaking at the correct pace helps the reader to hear and understand what you are saying.

Pause the video now.

That is B.

Well done.

When reading aloud, you also need to think about expression.

Reading with expression means reading with feelings and emotions to bring the words to life.

Our persuasive letters were written to encourage the reader to change their mind.

So we want to use expression when we are reading to be able to persuade even more effectively.

Emphasising certain words and phrases, such as exaggerations, makes the reading aloud experience much more engaging for the reader.

And the exaggerated words seem even more important if you really emphasise them.

It's much more interesting for the reader if you don't say every single word and sentence in the exact same tone and way.

But using expression and putting emphasis on certain words brings the words to life and it's just much more interesting and engaging for the reader to listen to.

And we're going to practise using expression in a bit more detail in the next section of the lesson.

So checking for understanding.

True or false? Reading with expression is less engaging for the listener.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A: Reading with feelings and emotion brings the words to life.

This is more engaging for the reader.

Or B: Reading with expression conveys emotions.

Pause the video now.

That is A.

Reading with expression is much more engaging because you are bringing words to life.

Well done.

So when reading aloud, we also need to think about eye contact.

Eye contact involves looking into the eyes of the people in the audience.

Eye contact is very important because it helps us to connect with the audience and for them to feel connected to us.

And when the audience feel connected to us, they're going to find what we have to say much more interesting and engaging.

So if you are holding a piece of paper, which you will be 'cause we don't expect you to have learned the persuasive letter off by heart, it is really important that you are still looking up at the audience as you read and not keeping your eyes fixed on your notes, because then it's much harder for you to engage with your audience.

So check for understanding.

True or False? Eye contact involves looking down at your notes when reading aloud.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A: Eye contact involves looking into the eyes of the audience when presenting.

B: Eye contact involves focusing on your notes so you know what to say.

Pause the video now.

That is A.

Eye contact involves looking into your audience's eyes.

Well done.

When reading aloud, we also need to think about body language.

So body language refers to how we hold ourselves and parts of our body when reading aloud.

Body language helps others understand how you feel and what you're saying, even if you don't say a word.

And body language is really important because it can help you to look confident even if you don't feel it.

So, strong and confident body language includes: standing with our feet shoulder width apart, speaking with our chin up, not chin down, and speaking with our shoulders back.

We don't want to be hunching our shoulders like that because that can make us look a bit more uncomfortable than we actually are.

Facial expressions are another important aspect of your body language.

We can express our emotions more clearly by changing the expressions on our face.

For example, if I was reading aloud a sentence that was really positive and exciting, I would probably be more likely to have a smile on my face than a frown.

And by having a smile on my face, I'm conveying these positive emotions even more clearly.

So just a talk task now, to discuss.

What facial expressions could you use to show you are frustrated? So you're thinking about the Red character in "The Day the Crayons Quit" that is so frustrated because it's never got a break.

What facial expressions could you use to convey that frustration? Pause the video now.

Okay, so I think if I was trying to show that I was frustrated using facial expressions, I'd scrunch up my nose, maybe furrow my eyebrows, because these show on my face that I'm feeling a little bit frustrated.

So checking for understanding.

When presenting, confident body language includes: A: speaking with our chin up, B: standing with our shoulders back, C: hunching our shoulders, or D: using facial expressions to convey emotions? Pause the video now.

We use A, B and D when we're trying to show confident body language.

Well done.

So it's time for Task A.

You need to match the key aspects of successful reading aloud to their definitions.

So the five aspects are: volume, pace, eye contact, body language and expression.

And the definitions are: the speed at which we speak, our posture, stance, and gestures which help convey meaning and emotions, how quiet or loud a sound is, reading with feelings and emotion to bring the words to life, and looking audience members in the eye.

So draw lines from the aspects of reading aloud to their definition.

Pause the video now.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's go through these.

Volume, how quiet or loud a sound is.

Pace, the speed at which we speak.

Eye contact, looking audience members in the eye.

Body language, our posture, stance and gestures, which help convey meaning and emotions.

And expression, reading with feelings and emotions to bring the words to life.

Great job, everybody.

Well done.

Okay, it's time for the second section of our lesson where we are going to be reading aloud our persuasive letters.

We are now familiar with the aspects of effective reading aloud: volume, pace, expression, eye contact and body language.

But now let's look a bit more closely at reading with expression.

So look out for the following features in a persuasive letter that you should emphasise or read with expression.

So look out for any commands, exclamation marks because that changes the way you say a sentence.

Questions, that also changes the way you say a sentence.

When you ask a question, your voice tends to go up.

For example, you don't say, "Why are you ignoring me?" You'd be more likely to say, "Why are you ignoring me?" That sounds more like a question.

And look for exaggerated words or phrases, particularly words that are in capital letters you need to emphasise.

So reading the expression conveys, shows emotions more clearly.

Let's have a look at some phrases or words in our letter that we should be trying to read with expression.

First one was, "Listen up!" That's a command.

We could just say listen up.

But if you read with expression like "Listen up!", it gets the reader's attention a little bit more.

Then reading this next sentence without expression sounds like this: "This is the saddest I have ever felt." However, if I say it with expression, it is much more effective.

"This is the saddest I have ever felt!" You can see here how powerful exaggeration here is in this sentence.

And the next one is a question.

"Remember the time we made that cool sandcastle." Without expression, it doesn't really even sound like a question.

However, "Remember the time we made that cool sandcastle?" You can see the way I've changed my voice a bit, makes it clear that it is a question and that the writer is trying to directly engage with the reader.

And then the next sentence, without expression, it would sound like this: "That was so fun." But I can see I've got the word "so" in capital letters and I have an exclamation mark, so I want to use a bit more expression here.

"That was so fun!" It's emphasising just how fun that was.

And then in the next paragraph, again, "coolest" is in capital letters.

I think we need to emphasise it.

"I can do the coolest stuff too!" And then the question, instead of just saying, "Why are you forgetting about me?", when asking a question, we want to vary the way we speak.

"Why are you forgetting about me?" It's much clearer that it's a question.

And so then it's, again, directly engaging with the reader.

And then, "give me a chance" is a command.

If you say it without expression, it doesn't sound that effective or persuasive.

However, saying it with expression like, "Give me a chance!" It really makes the reader stop and listen.

So you can see here that reading with expression makes the whole listening experience much more engaging for the reader.

So let's just check for understanding now.

I want you to read aloud these words or phrases with expression to your partner or the screen.

So look out for exclamation marks, question marks, words in capital letters, commands, just like we went through.

And I want you to practise reading these words with expression before you read it out loud properly later in the lesson.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed practising those.

So rehearsing is when you practise something before you perform in order to get better at it.

If you make a mistake when you are rehearsing, you can learn from this to make your performance even better.

When you rehearse, try to think about these things like you would when performing in front of an audience: volume, pace, expression, eye contact and body language.

You almost want your rehearsal to be just like it will be when you perform it for the real thing.

So I'm going to practise reading aloud my first paragraph and you are going to help ensure that I'm using the checklist below.

So I'm thinking about volume, pace, expression, eye contact, and body language.

So first of all, body language.

I want to make sure my legs are standing.

I'm standing up with my chin up and my legs apart.

I'm also thinking about my eye contact.

So I'm gonna make sure I'm looking in the camera 'cause that's where my audience is.

And I'm going to make sure I'm not speaking too quietly but also too loudly because I don't want to be shouting.

"Dear owner, I have been thinking about whether I should say anything to you, but I just can't stay quiet any longer.

Listen up." Hm.

Actually, I just remembered that that's a command.

So I'm going to say that with a bit more expression and emphasise it a bit more.

"Listen up! This is the saddest-" That's my exaggeration.

"I have ever felt! I love being a crayon and drawing with you.

Remember the time we made that cool sandcastle." Oh, I've just remembered that's got a question at the end.

So I'm going to change the way I say it so it sounds more like a question.

"Remember the time we made that cool sandcastle? That was so fun! Although now, I have started to notice that you don't use me as much as the other crayons." Thinking about using facial expressions now.

The crayon's feeling quite sad at this point.

So I'm just going to show that on my face.

"It makes me feel a little bit underappreciated because I'm not being used for things I should be." Okay, hopefully you saw that I was using expression and facial expressions and body language to convey emotions in my persuasive letter.

Thank you for helping me check.

It is now time for Task B where you are going to read aloud your persuasive letter.

Make sure you speak at a volume that ensures all members of the audience can hear you, read with expression to bring the words to life, make eye contact with audience members in order to form connections with them as you speak, use strong body language and different facial expressions to convey emotions clearly and speak at a slow and clear pace.

So pause the video now and off you go, reading aloud your persuasive letter.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Did you remember to do all of these? Did you speak at a volume that ensures all members of the audience could hear you? Did you read with expression to bring the words to life? Did you make eye contact with audience members to form connections as you spoke? Did you use strong body language and different facial expressions to convey emotions? And did you speak at a slow, clear pace? If you think you need to have another go, you can pause the video and do that.

Otherwise, really well done.

Okay, here is a summary of everything we've learned today.

Reading aloud involves speaking in front of others.

Effective reading aloud involves using appropriate volume, speaking with expression, making eye contact with the audience, and using strong body language and different facial expressions when speaking.

Speaking at a calm, slow pace helps the audience track what we are saying.

Reading with expression means reading with feelings and emotion to bring the words to life.

And rehearsing is when you practise something before you perform, in order to get better at it.

Well done today and across this whole unit.

You've all worked so hard and done brilliantly.

Great job.