Hi everybody, I'm Ms. Gardner, and welcome to the next lesson from your unit "The Journey:" diary writing.

I really hope you enjoyed the first lesson of the unit where we got to read the book, and I'm really looking forward to today's learning because we are going to be exploring the key themes and characters in a little bit more detail.

So for today's lesson, you will need a copy of the book "The Journey" by Francesca Sanna.

So if you need to, you can pause the video now so you have the book ready for the lesson.

Okay, so hopefully you all have the book now, which means we are ready to get started with today's learning.

Off we go.

In today's lesson from our unit "The Journey:" diary writing, we are going to be looking at the key themes and the characters in a bit more detail.

So your learning outcome is: I can understand the key themes and the characters' emotions in "The Journey." So let's start with looking at the key words.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Theme.

Character.

Emotions.

Perspective.

Empathy.

Let's have a look at what these mean.

A theme is a bigger idea, topic or message that appears in a story.

A character is a person, being, thing or animal in a story.

Emotions are strong feelings that result from a person's circumstances, mood or relationships with others.

Perspective refers to a person's point of view.

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

So there are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be understanding and identifying themes, and in the second, we'll be understanding the characters' emotions.

So let's start with understanding and identifying themes.

So let's just first review what we already know about "The Journey." "The Journey" is a children's picture book that tells the story of two young girls, unnamed, we don't know the names of these girls, who are fleeing their war torn country to find a safe place to live.

Again, we don't know the country that they're fleeing from or that they're fleeing to.

We just know that the country that they lived in wasn't safe anymore.

The author and illustrator of "The Journey" is Francesca Sanna.

And the book is inspired by true stories of refugees that the author, Francesca Sanna, met.

Francesca Sanna wanted to share the personal stories of the refugees that we hear about on the news.

So stories often have themes that communicate a deeper message.

So the definition of a theme was that it is a big idea, or a topic or a message that appears in a story.

So these are some examples of themes that you might notice in stories and other stories that you've read.

Friendship.

Pride, so being really proud of yourself and your identity.

Good versus evil.

Family.

Resilience.

Celebration.

Suffering.

Grief.

Greed.

And hope.

So just thinking about the themes that I've just read out, do you think any of these apply to "The Journey?" So readers can interpret themes and their importance differently.

So "The Journey" conveys important messages through exploring the following themes.

Now, there are probably more themes in "The Journey" that are being explored, but I think these are the most important.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Resilience.

That means adapting to and withstanding difficulty.

So even when things get really, really tough, you're able to adapt and not give up.

War and conflict.

That is a violent dispute between states or nations.

Hope.

That is holding onto the belief that there will be a positive outcome.

Displacement.

That is the forced removal of a person from their home or country, often due to armed conflicts or natural disasters.

So if you are displaced, you do not choose to leave, you are forced to leave your home.

So just checking for understanding, match the theme to the correct definition.

You have resilience, hope, war and conflict, and displacement, and then your four definitions are on the screen.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, let's get through these.

So resilience is adapting to and withstanding difficulties.

Hope is holding on to the belief that there will be a positive outcome.

War and conflict is the violent dispute between states or nations.

And displacement is the forced removal of a person from their home or country, often due to armed conflicts or a natural disaster.

Well done, everyone.

So let's explore these themes now in further detail.

You need to reread from the beginning of the story up to page eight, and as you're reading, I want you to be thinking about this question.

How do the characters experience war and conflict in these pages? Pause the video now.

Okay, so you should have read up to page eight now, and you're going to now discuss this question with your partner, whoever you are with.

Here is a possible response.

"Everything changed for the main character and her family as soon as the war began in her country." So this is how war and conflict affected her family.

So pause the video now and off you go discussing this question in a bit more detail.

Okay, welcome back.

Here are some more possible responses.

I wonder if your responses were similar to this.

War changed everything for the family.

Her mother now worries about her family more than ever.

And they are feeling less positive and hopeful.

So you can see here that the theme of war and conflict had a really negative impact on the family.

It made them really worried and really scared, and everything changed for them as soon as their country was part of the war.

Let's now explore another theme in further detail.

You need to reread from page 9 to 18, up to the point where there is an illustration of their mother riding a bike with the girls in the trailer.

And as you're reading this, I want you to think about this question.

How does displacement affect the characters in these pages? Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

Welcome back.

Here's a thought that I had about how displacement affected the characters.

Moving country is very hard for a family.

A new place seems strange and scary.

So now, I want you to pause the video and discuss this question "How does displacement affect the characters?" with your partner or whoever you're with.

Off you go.

So here are some more possible responses.

Feeling safe is more important than anything else.

It was horrible to say goodbye to their home.

The sisters didn't want to leave, but they knew they had no choice.

So the theme of displacement there is being explored.

They were forced to leave, they didn't want to leave, but they knew that their safety was more important than their home.

So check for understanding.

True or false, the family were happy to be displaced? Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the family chose to be displaced, as they wanted to move somewhere safer.

Or B, displacement is the forced removal of a person from their home or country, often due to armed conflicts.

Pause the video now.

That is B.

We know the family and especially the girls weren't happy or excited about moving and leaving their home, but they knew they had to, to stay safe.

Well done.

So now let's explore another theme in further detail.

You need to reread from page 19 to the end of the story, and as you're reading, you can be thinking about this question.

How do the characters show resilience in the story? So even when it gets really tough and the journey does get really challenging, how do they show resilience? Pause the video now.

Okay, welcome back everybody.

So, here are my thoughts about this question.

The journey was so challenging, but they never gave up even when they were really scared and tired.

So now pause the video and discuss this question about how the characters showed resilience with your partner or whoever you're with.

Off you go.

Well done, everybody.

Welcome back.

Here are some more possible responses to that question.

So, even when they are faced with a huge sea to cross, they don't give up.

Their mother acted bravely, even if she was scared, to protect her daughters.

And the family faced terrible hardship and challenges, but they stay strong and determined to reach safety.

So all three of these are examples of how the characters show incredible resilience.

So checking for understanding.

True or false, the girls and their mother had to show resilience throughout their journey? Pause the video now.

That is true.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, resilience means adapting to and withstanding difficulties.

The family faced extreme hardship but they remained strong.

Or B, the girls and their mother were very brave throughout their journey.

Pause the video now.

That is A, well done.

The theme of hope runs through the whole narrative.

The characters strive to overcome challenges, and they hold onto the belief that they can find a place of safety and build a new life.

So thinking about this question now, what do you think would've happened if the family had given up hope? Pause the video now.

Here is a possible response.

I think if they had given up hope, they might have returned back to their house or maybe never even have left.

Was your answer similar to that? Do you think if they'd given up hope they would've made it to the end of their journey? The girls and their mother never gave up hope, and that is a really powerful theme in "The Journey." So it's time for task A.

You need to fill in the blanks using the words below.

You have hope, war and conflict, resilience, and displaced.

And here are your sentences.

I'm going to read them out loud now, and as I'm reading, you can be thinking about which word would be the most appropriate to fill in the missing blanks.

"When the family were blank, they were forced to pack up their bags and say goodbye to everyone they knew." Two, "The girls and their mother show a lot of blank as they endure their challenging journey." Three, "The family have been devastated by blank in their country." And four, "The family hold onto blank throughout the story as they believe they will eventually find a place of safety." Pause the video now and off you go completing task A.

Well done everybody, welcome back.

So let's go through these.

When I say the missing word, I want to be able to hear you saying it really loudly too.

"When the family were displaced, they were forced to pack up their bags and say goodbye to everyone they knew." Two, "The girls and their mother show a lot of resilience as they endure their challenging journey." Three, "The family have been devastated by war and conflict in their country." And four, "The family hold onto hope throughout the story as they believe they will eventually find a place of safety." Great job, everybody.

Well done.

So it's time for the second section of our lesson, where we are now going to be understanding the character's emotions.

Understanding the narrator's perspective is important when writing a diary entry in character.

Perspective refers to a person's point of view.

By empathising with the girl's experiences, we can understand what her perspective in each situation might have been.

Let's just remind ourselves what empathy means.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

So by empathising with the main character in "The Journey," we are able to understand her feelings and emotions throughout the narrative.

So by empathising with the character will help us to develop thoughts she would share in her diary entries.

So checking for understanding.

Match the following key words to the correct definitions.

A, emotions, B, perspective, or C, empathy.

And your definitions are on the screen there.

So pause the video now and draw your lines from the definitions to the words.

Off you go.

So, emotions were, so the definition of emotions, they are strong feelings resulting from circumstances, moods, or relationships with others.

Perspective is a person's point of view.

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

Great job, everybody.

Well done.

So expressing thoughts and emotions is a key part of writing a diary entry.

And the girl's emotions change throughout the narrative.

We need to identify her key emotions at the key points of the story, and why she felt that way so we can understand how she might have been feeling, so that when we come to writing our diary entry, we know what kind of thoughts we want to be expressing in the diary.

So let's just review the story of "The Journey." Number one, the first key moment was that a war begins in the country where the girls have been living happily with their mother and father.

Two, after their father dies, their mother decides to flee their country to take them to a safer place.

Three, when they arrive at the border, they are banned from crossing, and have to hide in the forest overnight until they pay someone to help them.

Four, they have a challenging ferry crossing over rough seas with fellow refugees.

And five, they take a train through many countries and travel closer to their new, safe home.

So, let's consider the girl's emotions at the beginning of the story.

So the first key moment was that a war begins in the country where the girls have been living happily with their mother and father.

So how do you think she could express these emotions in a diary entry? What do you think she might be saying and feeling and thinking when war has broken out? Pause the video now.

Okay, here are some possible responses.

"I don't feel safe anymore." "Every day, I feel more and more scared." "How can everything change so suddenly?" So remember, these are the thoughts of the main character in "The Journey," which is why we are writing as "I" because we are writing in the first person's perspective.

We're almost pretending to be the girl.

Were these emotions and thoughts similar to what you had discussed with your partner? If you need to, you can pause the video and think about this question again.

Otherwise, let's now consider how the girl's emotions have changed at the end of the story.

So the fifth key moment was that they take a train through many countries and travel closer to their new, safe home.

How do you think she could express these emotions in a diary entry? So now she's on a train, she's got off the boat, and they're getting closer to safety.

What do you think she might be writing in her diary now? Pause the video now.

Okay, so here are some possible responses.

"I'm so relieved to be close to safety." "I am happy we are safe, but I still miss my home." And "I hope there is a place we can go to play outside in peace." So you can see here that her emotions have changed from the beginning of the story.

She's feeling a lot more hopeful and relieved.

So it's time for task B.

You need to discuss with a partner or whoever you are with, and identify a thought you think the girl had at each of the following points in the story to show her emotions.

So, you have five points to think about.

A war begins in the country where the girls have been living happily with their mother and father.

After their father dies, their mother decides to flee their country to take them to a safer place.

How do you think they're feeling about leaving their home? When they arrive at the border, they're banned from crossing and have to hide in the forest overnight, until they pay someone to help.

So how do you think she was feeling when they were being turned away by the security guard? Having to sprint through the forest and then stay the night must have been pretty scary, so we can think about that.

Then they have a challenging ferry crossing over rough seas with fellow refugees.

So thinking about how she could describe that experience on the boat.

And then they take a train through many countries and travel closer to their new safe home.

So thinking about how the character was feeling and thinking about each point in the journey.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, well done everybody.

Welcome back.

So let's go through some possible responses for the thoughts you think the girl might have had.

So part number one, when the war began, "I don't feel safe anymore." "How can everything change so suddenly? It makes me scared seeing mother so worried." Again, remembering we're writing in the first person perspective.

Then the next moment, after their father dies, their mother decides to flee their country to take them to a safer place.

What do you think the girl might, what thoughts do you think the girl might have had at this point? Here are some possible responses.

"I don't want to leave.

What about my toys and my friends?" Or "It breaks my heart to say goodbye to everybody." Then the third key moment, the moment they arrive at the border and are turned away, here are some possible responses.

"I couldn't sleep in the forest because I was so terrified." Or "I am proud of myself for how brave I had to be when we ran through the forest." And then the fourth moment, they have a challenging ferry crossing over rough seas with fellow refugees.

What do you think she might have written in her diary about this moment? Here are some possible responses.

"I loved hearing the stories of the other passengers.

They made us feel less alone." And "I was desperate to get off the boat.

My stomach was churning for three days straight." And then finally the fifth key moment when they take a train through many countries travelling closer to safety.

How do you think she might have been feeling at this moment? Here are some possible responses.

"I am happy we are safely off the boat, but I still miss my home more than anything." And "I hope we find a safe place soon.

Maybe then, I can draw more pictures, go to school and have a bed to sleep in." You might not have got exactly the same responses and thoughts as these ones and that's completely okay, but I really hope you enjoyed discussing these questions with your partner, or your class, or whoever you're with.

We're going to be thinking more about these emotions when we come to writing this diary entry.

So it's really important that we do consider and try and empathise with the main character as much as we can.

Well done, everybody.

Here is a summary of everything we've learned today.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that appears in a story.

Themes in a story are used to convey deeper meaning and messages to the reader.

"The Journey" conveys important messages through exploring the following themes, war and conflict, resilience, hope and displacement.

And the girl's emotions change throughout the narrative.

Well done, everybody.

Great job today.