Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

How are you doing? I hope you're really, really good.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'm feeling wonderful because today we're gonna continue exploring one of my absolute favourite examples of children's literature ever, "Varjak Paw" by SF Said.

So I'd like you to pause the video now while you go and fetch your copy of the novel.

Alright, it's good to see you again.

You have the novel.

Do you have some responses? Do you have some insights to share? I can't wait to hear from you.

Let's begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is: "I can develop my own response to 'Varjak Paw.

'" Here are some keywords in today's lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time, my turn, your turn.

Character trait.

Impression.

Connection.

Recommendation.

Fantastic.

I could hear those loud and clear.

Let's find out more about these keywords.

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

An impression refers to initial feelings about a person, place, or thing, gained from reading a text.

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

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

Let's look out for these words.

Let's listen for them.

Let's think carefully about them.

They will be coming up in today's lesson.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

First of all, exploring characters and relationships, and next, connections and recommendations.

Let's begin with the first part.

"Varjak Paw" is written by SF Said, with illustrations by Dave McKean.

And look at that incredible illustration on the cover.

Ooh, wow.

"Varjak Paw" follows a Mesopotamian Blue Kitten as he leaves his home and goes on an adventure to discover the mystery behind a series of cat disappearances.

The text is an illustrated chapter book, combining words and illustration.

SF Said uses descriptive language which explores feline culture, history, and heritage.

Dave McKean's striking and atmospheric illustrations capture the characters' personalities and emotions with great detail and expressiveness, as we can see right there.

Here's my first question for you.

Who do you think the main characters in "Varjak Paw" are? Pause the video here while you turn to someone nearby and discuss.

Let's see what responses we've got here.

Here's Lucas: "Varjak Paw, he's brave and learns the 'Way' from his ancestor, Jalal." Sam: "The Elder Paw is Varjak's grandfather.

He is wise and experienced." And Andy: "Tam and Holly help and support Varjak.

They're two street cats who are investigating the Vanishings.

Varjak also makes friends with a dog, Cludge." Okay, I wonder if you came up with any of these characters as the main one.

Varjak goes on a journey where he learns lots about who he is.

How would you describe Varjak at the beginning of the text, in the middle, and at the end? What character traits and emotions does he exhibit? Remember, here's our keyword, character traits.

That's the special things that make a character unique and interesting.

So pause the video now while you discuss this with someone nearby.

Let's have a look, so Varjak is listening to Elder Paw telling a story.

He is fascinated.

So this we have at the beginning and there's one of his character traits.

Varjak is brave.

He climbs the wall of the house and leaves for the city.

A bit later, Varjak is frightened, experiencing that emotion.

He meets stray cats who do not treat him well.

And then Varjak is a leader.

He's a role model to his family towards the end of the story.

Check for understanding.

Match the following characters to their relationship with Varjak.

So we have Sally Bones, Holly, and Cludge, two cats and a dog.

And here's the relationship to Varjak: A brave and resourceful female cat who has survived on her own in the city for some time.

She's Varjak's friend.

A cunning and manipulative cat who controls the city through fear.

She is Varjak's enemy.

A dog who lives alone in the city.

He supports Varjak in saving his family.

So pause the video here while you match the characters to their relationship with Varjak.

What did you come up with? Did you match these two? So Sally Bones is the cunning and manipulative cat, controlling the city through fear.

Holly's the brave and resourceful female cat, Varjak's friend.

And Cludge is the dog who helps and supports Varjak.

Well done if you made these connections.

At the beginning of the text, Varjak is picked on by his siblings.

Julius teases him and tries to start a fight.

Let you know to refer to pages 31 and 32.

What do you think Varjak's siblings see as things that make Varjak different? How do they see him as different? Pause the video while you share with someone nearby.

I wonder if you came up with anything like this: "Varjak has amber coloured eyes, not green like the rest of the Mesopotamian blues." Julius says that "Varjak is rude and a disgrace for sticking up for Elder Paw.

Varjak tries to stand up to his brother, but is teased instead." The Gentlemen's cat scare Elder Paw and Varjak.

Varjak flees by climbing up the walls of the house.

So reread pages 46 and 47 now and then answer the following question: How might you feel if you were Varjak at this moment in the story? Pause the video here while you reread those pages and answer the question.

I wonder if you had a response like this: "I would feel proud of what I had achieved.

Varjak is the only Paw since Jalal who has gone beyond the Contessa's house." Or maybe, "I would be worried.

The city would be a dangerous place for a house cat.

Varjak encounters lots of creatures and cars that scare him." Yeah, it's a different world outside of those walls.

Great responses there.

I wonder what yours were.

Check for understanding.

True or false? At the beginning of the text, all of Varjak's family treat him with kindness and respect.

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

Well done if you selected false.

That is not the way they treat him.

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

Is it A, Elder Paw is no longer in charge of family council, or B, Jethro and Julius both tease Varjak based on his character traits? So which of these statements justify your answer? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected B.

Indeed, Jethro and Julius are not treating Varjak with kindness and respect, and in fact they are teasing him.

Varjak finds life in the city very different to back home.

He encounters two stray cats, Holly and Tam.

And there's our keyword, impressions, which means what were our initial feelings, responses? And refer to the text for support.

So Varjak meets Holly in chapter nine and Tam on pages 81 and 82.

Pause the video now while you refer to the text and then share your first impressions of Holly and Tam with someone nearby.

Let's see what Andik says.

"I think that Holly and Tam took pity on Varjak.

He must have been quite unusual to them.

Varjak says he is a noble cat and is wanting to talk to a dog." Did you have a similar answer to this, or maybe something different? The cats explore the city in search of a dog.

They walk into territory belonging to Sally Bones.

So territory is a noun and it means an area of land belonging to someone.

So now I'd like you to refer to chapter 23.

What impression, so what was that initial feeling you had, do you get of Sally Bones? How is she described? So pause the video now while you refer to chapter 23 and share your initial feelings, your impression of Sally Bones.

Let's see what Izzy has to say.

"Sally Bones is the leader of the gang.

She's described as fearsome and commanding.

Her ribs jutted out of her body." Ooh, wow, that's quite a fearsome description there.

Check for understanding.

Which characters in the city support Varjak in his mission? Is it Sally Bones, Holly, Razor, or Cludge? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you chose Holly and Cludge.

This cat and this dog are firm supporters of Varjak on his mission.

Several characters reappear in a sequel, "The Outlaw Varjak Paw." Perhaps you'd like to read that text to find out what happens to them.

I love it when there's a sequel.

We find out more.

Varjak has two mentors: Elder Paw and Jalal.

Mentor is a noun and it's someone who advises or trains someone else.

I wonder if you've ever had a mentor, someone that's supported, advised, or trained you in some way.

Choose one of the characters and discuss what they teach Varjak about himself and what makes them a good mentor.

So discuss these questions with your partner.

Think about internal skills, focus, concentration, mindfulness, tactics, self-belief, and think about physical skills, offensive techniques, movement.

You might like to use some of the following sentence starters, like "Varjak learnt," or "They're a good mentor because.

." So pause the video while you discuss your answers to these questions with someone nearby.

I'm really curious what you came up with.

I wonder if it's anything like this: "Varjak learns the seven skills from Jalal.

Jalal is a good mentor because he teaches Varjak how to be mindful," so how to be in the present moment, "and focus on what he must do." "Varjak learnt self-belief from Elder Paw.

Elder Paw is a good mentor because he encourages Varjak to believe in himself and become a hero." Fantastic responses.

You might like to share your response with a larger group or with the whole class.

Believe in yourself and share your responses.

And now, for the final part of our lesson, we'll be looking at connections and recommendations.

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

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

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

So 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 the text relates to another text, which could be anything you've seen, read, watched, or heard.

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

And connections can also relate to patterns that you spot that recur while reading.

The connections I make to the text are: To martial arts, including karate, taekwondo, and Brazilian jiujitsu, which require practise, focus, and skill.

And to the text "Finding Bear," an illustrated chapter book for older readers which also has the themes of courage and bravery.

How about you? What connections do you make to the text? And are they text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connections? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

I hope you enjoyed sharing your connections.

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 "Varjak Paw": "The Wild Robot," "The Outlaw Varjak Paw," "Call Me Lion," "Adventuremice: Otter Chaos," "Anisha, Accidental Detective." Let's explore these texts in a little more detail.

"The Wild Robot," a survival adventure story about a robot called Roz who wakes up on a remote island alone and with no idea how she got there.

"The Outlaw Varjak Paw" is the second adventure of "Varjak Paw." Sally Bones returns to try and control the city.

Will Varjak be able to help? "Call Me Lion." Leo loves dancing, but finds speaking incredibly challenging.

Can he overcome adversity with help of his friend, Richa? "Adventuremice: Otter Chaos." Pedro's dream is to be heroic and join the Adventuremice.

A frightening otter proves just the opportunity.

And "Anisha, Accidental Detective." Anisha must use all of her detective skills to solve a mystery and save Auntie Bindi's big day.

Don't these texts look fantastic? Which one would you recommend for Laura? So Laura says, "I want to explore an adventure story linking to technology and protecting the environment." Pause the video while you decide which recommendation you'd make.

Well done if you chose "The Wild Robot." And why does this make such a good recommendation? It'd be a good recommendation for Laura because she likes adventure stories.

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

And discuss with your partner: Which one would you like to read? And do you have a text that you would like to recommend and why? So here are those texts once again.

Pause the video now while you research these texts and answer these questions.

I wonder which text you went for.

Here's Aisha: "I really enjoy discovering more about Leo's love of dancing and how communication can be challenging." Yeah, thank you, Aisha.

And here's Izzy: "Adventuremice sounds really exciting and full of adventure." Yep, it's in the title.

"I think Pedro reminds me a little of Varjak already!" Okay, fantastic.

A good one for Varjak fans.

In today's lesson, 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 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 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.

It's been great to go on this journey of exploring our responses to "Varjak Paw" together.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for your rich, rich discussions, and I look forward to seeing you on another lesson.

Bye for now.