Hello, everybody.

My name is Ms. Afzal, and I'm really, really pleased to be here with you today.

That's because we're going to be exploring a fantastic text.

It is a piece of historical fiction, and it's called, "Escape from Pompeii." This is what it looks like.

It's written and illustrated by Christina Balit.

What a talented person to do both of those things.

I'd like you to pause the video now while you go off and get your copy, because you're going to need this text for our lesson today.

So, I'll just pause here and admire this incredible front cover, while you go and get your copy of the text.

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

Oh, my goodness, look, I wonder if you have predictions about what's going to happen in this text, I wonder what you know already about this event, about Pompeii and Vesuvius, and I'm really excited for us to explore all of this together.

So, make sure you've got your thinking brain, your listening ears, your curiosity, your enthusiasm, your great ideas, your great skills, and let's get into, "Escape from Pompeii." The outcome for today's lesson is: I can identify and engage with the key themes in, "Escape from Pompeii." We have some keywords in today's lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time.

My turn, your turn.

Remembrance, fluency, expression, convey, and theme.

Fantastic, it was good to hear those keywords loud and clear.

Let's get into them a little bit more now, and find out what they mean.

Remembrance is thinking about and honouring people or events from the past.

Reading fluency refers to the ability to read a text accurately, smoothly, and with appropriate expression.

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

To convey means to communicate a message to the reader directly or indirectly, and a theme is a big idea, topic, or message that recurs within a story.

Let's make sure we are thinking about these keywords.

Let's look out for them, let's listen out for them, let's be curious about them.

They are some great words.

So, our lesson today, exploring and engaging with themes in, "Escape from Pompeii," has two parts to it.

First of all, we'll be looking at reading with fluency, and next, we'll be identifying and reflecting on themes.

So, let's begin reading with fluency.

Here is our text, "Escape from Pompeii," which is written and illustrated by Christina Balit.

What a talented person.

Look at that amazing front cover, what a book, what a cover, what an author and illustrator.

So, more words, what do we know so far? "Escape from Pompeii," is a historical fiction, picturebook text.

It's based on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The text is written from the perspective of Tranio, a young Roman boy.

Tranio and his friend, Livia, witness the destruction of their city.

They return many years later to reflect on their loss and pay their respects.

Towards the end of, "Escape from Pompeii," the reader is immersed in the climax of the text, through Christina Balit's use of descriptive language and evocative illustration.

If something is evocative, it produces an emotional response, evokes an emotional response.

So, I would like you to re-read pages 19 and 20.

What is your favourite description or phrase and why? So, pause the video here, while you reread those pages, and then talk to someone nearby and share with them what is your favourite description or phrase, and why is that? I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Hmm, what did you come up with? Maybe something like this, "I liked how the author made Mount Vesuvius roar.

"It made it seem like the mountain was a fearsome animal." Oh, yeah, really evocative.

How about this, "The verbs, 'twisting,' and, 'bubbling,' " really made me imagine the ash clouds spreading "into the sky, covering everything in darkness," yeah, fantastic use of language there, really descriptive.

In the resolution to the text the reader rejoins Tranio and Livia as older adults.

They are remembering their city and those that lost their lives in the disaster.

Remembering or remembrances, when we're bringing to mind people or events from the past.

I'd like you to re-read pages 21 and 22, and when reading this, what emotions do you feel and why? So, pause the video here, while you re-read page 21 and 22, and share with somebody, what do you feel when you're reading this and why? Okay, here's Sophia.

What does Sophia feel? "I felt sad for Tranio and Livia.

"Although they were safe, their city was buried "and forgotten by many.

"They whisper about not forgetting them, "as they lay flowers in remembrance." Yeah, thank you for sharing that.

It's so, so sad.

I really feel that, too.

Check for understanding, true or false? Tranio and Livia wanted to forget about Pompeii and their sorrowful experiences.

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

Well done, if you selected false, and now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

Tranio and Livia wonder whether anyone will ever see Pompeii again, it is buried beneath the ground, Tranio and Livia lay flowers in remembrance, they whisper that they'll always remember those that lost their lives.

Pause the video while you decide which statement best justifies your answer.

Well done, if you selected the second statement.

Yeah, absolutely, they're laying those flowers in remembrance and whispering that they'll always remember those who've lost their lives, and this really justifies your answer from earlier.

Now that we have explored the climax and resolution of the text, we can read with greater fluency.

A fluent reader can process text swiftly and efficiently, allowing for better comprehension and understanding of the material being read.

There are some key things to remember when reading aloud.

Expressive voice, that means reading with feeling, with emotion.

Vary your volume, emphasis on certain phrases or speech, and facial expressions.

Check for understanding.

Which of the following should we use when reading aloud? Similar volume throughout, emphasis on certain phrases or speech, read with appropriate expression, facial expressions.

Pause video while you decide which of these we should use when reading aloud.

Well done, if you selected the last three, we absolutely want to emphasise certain phrases, certain parts of speech that we'd read with appropriate expression and facial expressions, and we don't want to keep our volume the same throughout, we'd like to vary that.

Now that we've explored the climactic events of the text and understood the emotion that can be conveyed, so conveyed is when we're communicating something directly or indirectly, understood the emotion that can be conveyed within them, you're going to re-read pages 19 to 22 aloud to your partner using expression, so remember using feeling and emotion.

Remember to use the reading aloud tips, expressive voice, vary your volume, emphasis on certain phrases or speech, and bring some facial expressions.

Pay particular attention to the pacing, action and verbs on pages 19 and 20, and the speech and emotions on pages 21 and 22.

So, enjoy your task, and I'll look forward to seeing you when you're done.

Pause the video here.

Okay, we are back together.

How did you get on with reading these pages, 19 to 22, aloud to your partner with expression? Did you have feeling, did you have emotion? Did your partner demonstrate the reading aloud tips? Expressive voice, volume, emphasis on certain phrases or speech, and facial expressions? What went well? Let's always start with that, always start with what went well, and then, as well, maybe is there any advice that you'd give your partner to help them improve the next time? So, pause the video while you share with your partner, what did they do well? What advice could you give them, and maybe let's finish with something else that went well.

I hope you enjoyed sharing with each other your feedback, and that you can take that on board to really continue to enjoy what you're doing, and just do the best job you can at reading aloud.

Okay, now, it's time for us to identify and reflect on themes.

A theme is a big idea, topic, or message that recurs within a story.

Within literature, authors use techniques to convey themes to the reader, to communicate them directly or indirectly.

These themes often mirror issues and topics that we en encounter in our own lives, making the story relatable to the reader.

Here are some examples of themes: friendship, family, love, courage, betrayal, good versus evil, death, protection, loneliness, and survival.

Wow, these are some really, really big and powerful themes that we can see here.

I wonder if there are any of these themes that you really enjoy reading about in particular, are there any books that you've read that really hone in on one of these themes, and which theme really resonates with you? I really love reading about friendship, courage, love, family, I think those are probably some of my favourites.

How about you? Pause the video and share with someone nearby, what are some of your favourite themes to read about? Okay, good to be back.

I wonder if you had similar themes that you enjoy reading about, or maybe they were quite different, and maybe you could give each other recommendations, especially if they're different themes, you can get each other into different kinds of themes and and books.

Identifying themes within a text involves inference.

Themes are not explicitly stated within a text.

So, a text won't say, "This book is about X, Y, Z themes." Authors commonly use repetition to convey themes to the reader.

There are a few ways to identify themes: considering actions and characteristics of people within the text, identifying repetition, actions, emotions, traits that recur, searching for deeper meaning using inference, looking for the clues, and also, considering the overall message of the text.

There are many possible themes that can be drawn out from this text, and readers may interpret themes and their importance differently, because we're all different.

We all have our own experiences that we bring to things.

So, themes in, "Escape from Pompeii," friendship, yeah, absolutely key, think about our two main characters and their very strong friendship.

Survival, yeah, who survives, who doesn't? Loss, sadly, we know there was so much loss with the eruption of Vesuvius, and remembrance, remember our keyword, when we're honouring people or events from the past.

These are just some of the themes that can be inferred.

There are many more.

Check for understanding.

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

So, here are some of the themes: loss, remembrance, survival, and how these are conveyed in the text.

Tranio and Livia return many years later to pay their respects to those that died.

Tranio and Livia recognised the significance of the tremors and head to the harbour.

They climb on board a cargo ship.

Many of the citizens of Pompeii lost their lives in the eruption and aftermath, the aftermath is what happened afterwards.

Okay, so I would like you to match up the themes with how they're conveyed in a text.

Pause the video while you do this.

Okay, so how did you match them up? Did you connect loss with many of the city and citizens of Pompeii losing their lives in the eruption and aftermath? Remembrance is how Tranio and Livia returned many years later to pay their respects to those that died, and survival matches with Tranio and Livia recognising the significance of the tremors and head to the harbour, and they climb on board the cargo ship.

Well done, if you matched these themes with how they're conveyed.

And now, it's time for your final task.

I would like you to discuss which other themes appear throughout the narrative.

So, we've already looked at these four very key themes, friendship, survival, loss, and remembrance, but what other themes are there? And some themes are more complex and encourage us to consider their meaning more deeply.

So, pause the video here, and share with someone nearby what could be some other themes that appear throughout the narrative.

Okay, it's good to be back with you.

I'm very curious, what did you come up with? What are some of the other themes? Let's have a look.

Courage, oh, yes, absolutely.

Our two main characters show so much courage.

Family, yeah, absolutely.

Compassion, feeling, feeling for others, feeling for those who've lost their lives, the power of nature, oh, my goodness, the power of Vesuvius.

Tragedy, such a tragedy, with so many perished.

Belonging, yeah, where do we come from, where do we belong, who do we belong to? And resilience, how we adapt in the face of stress or struggles, and now, for the next part of your final task, "Escape from Pompeii," is a fictional account of a real life historical event.

Readers can reflect on its themes today.

I'd like you to answer the following questions.

What messages or takeaway ideas do you have from reading the text? List two or three questions you'd like to explore in response to reading the text.

These could be about the event or volcanoes, and you can begin your sentence with something like this, "A takeaway idea I had after reading the text was," or, "I would like to find out more about," so what are you curious about, what do you want to explore? Pause the video while you share with someone nearby your takeaway ideas, and a few questions that you'd like to explore in response to reading the text.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, it is good to be back with you.

I'm really interested to find out what are you taking away from this incredible text, and what do you want know more about? What are you curious about? Let's have a look at some responses.

So, "Reading, 'Escape from Pompeii,' made me reflect "on a historical event through the eyes "of two fictional characters.

"It made me think about what life was like "for people during the tragedy.

"I'm interested in visiting the city in the future." Yeah, what an amazing idea.

Oh, my goodness, you've inspired me to do that.

I want to go to Pompeii.

What else? "I would like to find out about how many volcanoes "are active in the world," yeah, great question.

"When was the last time Vesuvius erupted," and, "How the scientists monitor volcanoes now," really, really interesting questions.

I hope you get to find out the answers to those, so, yeah, let's all make our travel plans, let's get down to Pompeii, and let's get down to the library or onto the Internet and find out lots more about volcanoes.

In our lesson, exploring and engaging with themes in, "Escape from Pompeii," we have covered the following, fluent readers can process text swiftly and efficiently, allowing for better comprehension and understanding of the material being read.

Reading fluency can be developed through use of expressive voice, varying the volume, emphasis on certain words, and use of facial expressions.

A theme is a big idea, topic, or message that recurs within a story.

The theme of remembrance is conveyed through Tranio and Livia's return to the mountain in a resolution.

It is one of the central themes of the text.

Historical fiction texts can encourage readers to ask questions about the wider world in response to reading them.

I am remembering how fantastic it has been to explore, "Escape from Pompeii," with you through this series of lessons, and I really hope you enjoyed this text and being together, and I really enjoyed, in particular, your fluent reading of the text.

Those expressive voices, I heard those loud and clear, and I really enjoyed that.

So, well done, everyone, for your exploration of this text, and I look forward to seeing you at another lesson.

Bye, for now.