Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to today's lesson where you are going to be describing the setting in "The Borrowers." For this lesson, you need a copy of the 2014 Puffin Books edition of "The Borrowers" by Mary Norton.

Pause the video and get your copy of the book now.

Great.

Now I know you have the book with you.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully.

There'll be tasks where you need somebody to talk to and you will also need a piece of paper and pen or pencil for writing.

I hope you're feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can write a setting description from "The Borrowers." Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn.

Your turn.

Setting, preposition, relative complex sentence, repurposed.

Great job.

Well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

The setting is where the story takes place.

A preposition is a word or words that can tell the reader where a noun is.

A relative complex sentence is a sentence formed of a main clause and a relative subordinate clause.

And repurposed means to use something for a different purpose to the one for which it was originally intended.

There are three parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be planning a setting description.

In the second part, you will be preparing to write, and in the third part you will be writing your setting description.

So let's begin with planning a setting description.

In today's lesson, you are going to describe the setting in "The Borrowers" and introduce the main characters.

You will write two paragraphs.

In paragraph one, you will introduce the setting and describe where the Clock family home is located.

In paragraph two, you will describe details of the Clock family's living room and how they have created it from borrowed items. Let's check your understanding.

What is the main purpose of your writing today? A, to describe the setting.

B, to describe the problem encountered, or C, to build suspense for the reader.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is A, well done.

The main purpose of your writing today is to describe the setting.

In your writing, you are describing an intricate setting and the use of prepositions will be crucial for painting a clear picture.

A preposition of place is a word or words that can tell the reader where a noun is.

Let's take a look at some examples.

Below the floorboards.

At the bottom of a clock, on the walls.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following will be particularly useful for describing the setting? A, coordinating conjunctions.

B, propositions or C, proper nouns.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B, well done.

Prepositions will be particularly useful for describing the setting and explaining where all of the nouns are within it.

In paragraph one, you will introduce the setting and describe where the Clock family home is located.

What precise vocabulary would we use for paragraph one? Let's take a look.

An English countryside house, a family of clever miniature people, below the creaking kitchen floorboards, through a hole at the bottom of the clock, carefully designed underground passages.

In paragraph two, you'll describe details of the Clock family's living room and how they have created it from borrowed items. What precise vocabulary would we use for paragraph two? Let's take a look at this now.

Warm, cosy living room.

Handwritten letters artistically arranged as wallpaper, antique stamps hung on the walls.

Old velvet jewellery box used as a sofa, borrowed items lovingly repurposed.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the precise vocabulary to the paragraph it would be found in.

We have A, below the creaking kitchen floorboards.

B, in front of the warm fire.

C, through a hole in the clock, and D, unique cosy living room.

Two of these are appropriate for paragraph one where you will introduce the setting and where the clock home is located and the other two are appropriate for paragraph two where you will describe the Clock family living room.

Pause the video and match the precise vocabulary to the appropriate paragraph now.

Let's take a look at the answers.

A, below the creaking kitchen floorboards.

This would be in paragraph one because it describes where the Clock family live.

B, in front of the warm fire.

This would be found in paragraph two because it is describing part of the Clock family's living room.

C, through a hole in the clock.

This would be found in paragraph one because it describes how the Clock family make their way through the floorboards into the house upstairs.

And D, unique cosy living room.

This would be found in paragraph two because again, it is describing the Clock family living room.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of how you would use different types of precise vocabulary in your writing.

It's now time for your first task.

Complete the plan for paragraphs one and two of the setting description.

You have a section for writing prepositions and a section for writing precise vocabulary.

First, complete this plan for paragraph one where you will introduce the setting and the Clock home and then complete the plan for paragraph two where you will describe the Clock family's living room.

Pause the video and do this now.

Welcome back and well done for writing your plan for the setting description.

Let's take a look at some good examples I saw.

For paragraph one where you are going to introduce the setting and the Clock home.

Prepositions.

Below the floorboards, through a hole, at the bottom of the hallway clock.

For precise vocabulary, an old country home, carefully mapped passages, family of miniature people.

For paragraph two where you are going to describe the Clock family's living room.

Prepositions.

On the walls, in front of the warm fire, in the corner of the room, and for precise vocabulary, creatively arranged letters, old jewellery books, borrowed items lovingly repurposed.

Well done generating prepositions and precise vocabulary for your writing.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where you are going to be preparing to write.

Using a range of sentences in our writing helps with text flow.

Let's take a look at a model of the setting description together, and then we will see which types of sentences are within it.

Listen carefully, I will read it to you.

Below the wooden floorboards of an English country house, there lived a family of miniature humans.

They were known as borrowers and they survived by secretly borrowing items from the human beings upstairs.

Their family name was Clock because they entered the main house through a hole at the bottom of the hallway clock.

Carefully crafted passages led back to the Clock home, which lay beneath the upstairs kitchen.

Let's take a look at the different sentence types that appear in this extract.

The first sentence is an example of a simple sentence because it contains one main clause.

Now this sentence does begin with a long fronted adverbial but it is not a main clause.

It is a fronted adverbial which lets us know where this family lived.

The next sentence contains a coordinating conjunction, and, so this is a compound sentence.

The following sentence contains a subordinating conjunction because, so that is an adverbial complex sentence, and the final sentence here contains the relative pronoun, which which begins a relative clause.

So this is a relative complex sentence.

Let's take a look at the rules for simple and compound sentences first.

A sentence made of just one main clause with just one idea is called a simple sentence.

It contains one main clause.

A compound sentence is a sentence formed of two main clauses and a coordinating conjunction, main clause, coordinating conjunction and, or, or but followed by another main clause.

Let's look at the rules for an adverbial complex sentence.

When an adverbial subordinate clause is joined to a main clause, it makes an adversial complex sentence.

The main clause can come fast and be followed by the subordinate clause, or the sentence can begin with a subordinate clause, and then it needs a comma to separate it from the main clause that follows.

An adverbial clause must begin with a subordinating conjunction, for example, because or so.

These subordinating conjunctions will be useful for describing the setting in The Borrowers.

The use of relative complex sentences will be particularly helpful in your narrative opening.

A relative complex sentence is a sentence formed of a main clause and a relative subordinate clause.

The relative subordinate clause begins with one of the following relative pronouns and adds detail about the noun that precedes it.

We have the relative pronoun who, which adds detail about a person, and we also have the relative pronoun, which, and this adds detail about a thing.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the sentence type to the correct example.

The sentence types are A, simple sentence, B, compound sentence, C, adverbial complex sentence and D relative complex sentence.

The example sentences are they borrowed items from the human beings upstairs so they could survive.

There were underground passages that led to their home, which they had carefully crafted.

Under the floorboards, there lived a family of clever miniature humans.

They lived under the kitchen and they entered the upstairs through the hallway clock.

Pause the video and match the sentence type to the correct example now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

The simple sentence is under the floorboards there lived a family of clever miniature humans.

This sentence contains one main clause.

The compound sentence is they lived under the kitchen and they entered the upstairs through the hallway clock.

This sentence uses the coordinating conjunction and to join two main clauses, the adverbial complex sentence is, they borrowed items from the human beings upstairs so they could survive.

This sentence uses the subordinating conjunction, so, to begin an adverbial subordinate clause, and the relative complex sentence is there were underground passages that led to their home, which they had carefully crafted.

This sentence uses the relative pronoun, which, to begin a relative clause.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of the different sentence types.

It's now time for another task and it is a talk task.

Say the first few sentences of your setting description.

Make sure you use your plan and include the following.

Introduce the setting and the main characters, include precise vocabulary from your plan, including prepositions.

Use a range of sentence types including a relative complex sentence.

Here are some starting sentences to help you.

You could begin with a preposition as a fronted adverbial followed by there lived a family of and complete the main clause.

The next sentence could begin, Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock were known as borrowers because.

Here, complete the adverbial subordinate clause to finish the sentence.

Pause the video and orally rehearse your sentences now.

Welcome back.

I loved listening to you orally rehearsing your sentences for your setting description.

Let's take a look at a good example together.

Below the rustic floorboards of an English country home, there lived a family of clever miniature people named the Clocks.

Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock were known as borrowers because they borrowed items from the human beings upstairs in order to survive.

They accessed the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of a clock, which stood in the hallway.

So for introducing the setting, we can see it says below the floorboards of an English country home.

So we have introduced the settings straight away and the main characters we have said that there is a family of clever miniature people named the Clocks.

And then we have given their names, Pod, Homily, and Arietty.

For precise vocabulary, including prepositions.

We can see below the rustic floorboards.

That's a great preposition.

And the word rustic is a very precise adjective.

We can see English country home, family of clever miniature people.

It says that they borrowed items and they accessed the upstairs through a hole, through is another preposition.

So we can see lots of examples of vocabulary from our plan.

For a range of sentence types, including a relative complex sentence.

The first sentence is an example of a simple sentence because it contains one main clause.

The following sentence is an example of an adverbial complex sentence because it uses the subordinating conjunction because to begin an adverbial subordinate clause.

Because they borrowed items from the human beings upstairs in order to survive.

And the final sentence is a great example of a relative complex sentence.

They accessed the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of a clock, which stood in the hallway, here the relative pronoun, which, has been used to begin a relative clause, and it has added detail about the noun that came before it.

The clock.

Well done for orally rehearsing your sentences.

I hope you are feeling really ready to begin your writing.

It's now time for the final and the most exciting part of the lesson where you are going to be writing your setting description.

When we write, we always try to do these things, plan and say each sentence before we write it.

Use punctuation where we know the rules, vary our sentence types.

Write letters neatly on the line, enjoying handwriting, sound out words to spell them accurately and read our sentences out loud to check they make sense and edit to improve our writing if necessary.

Here is the success criteria for your writing today.

Listen carefully, I will read it to you.

I have introduced the setting and described where the Clock family home is located.

This is what you will do in paragraph one of your writing.

I have described details of the Clock family's living room, referencing borrowed items. This is what you will do for paragraph two.

I have included prepositions to tell the reader where a noun is, and I have written a range of sentence types, including at least one relative complex sentence.

I am now going to share a model of the beginning of the setting description with you.

Listen carefully.

Underneath the floorboards of a rustic English manor, there lived a family of tiny humans who secretly borrowed items from the humans upstairs.

Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock lived below the kitchen and they accessed the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of the hallway clock.

Can you now check my writing against the success criteria and see where and how I have been successful? Pause the video and discuss with your partner.

Well done.

You were great at checking my writing against the success criteria.

Let's go over it together.

So for I have introduced the setting and described where the Clock family home is located.

We can see it says underneath the floorboards of a rustic English manor.

So we know that the setting is in an English manor and something is taking place below the floorboards straight away in that first sentence.

And then it says there lived a family of tiny humans.

So we know that the Clock family home is below the floorboards of an English manor.

So we can definitely tick that first point, for I have included prepositions to tell the reader where a noun is.

We can see underneath the floorboards, we can see below the kitchen and we can also see through a hole and at the bottom of the hallway clock.

So we've definitely got a range of prepositions explaining to the reader where the nouns are.

And for I have written a range of sentence types, including at least one relative complex sentence while the first sentence here is a relative complex sentence because it uses the relative pronoun who to begin a relative clause and adds detail about the noun that came before it, the tiny humans.

And the second sentence is an example of a compound sentence because it uses the coordinating conjunction and to join two main clauses.

So we can definitely tick this point, but I would want to make sure when I continue writing that I include a simple sentence and an adverbial complex sentence too.

It's now time for you to begin your writing.

Remember to indent the first sentence, use the success criteria and your plan to help you write paragraph one of your setting description.

Pause the video to do your writing now.

Welcome back and well done for working so hard on paragraph one of your setting description.

Let's take a look at a good example together and see how it meets the success criteria.

Below the creaking floorboards of a rustic English home, there lived a family of miniature people named Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock.

They were known as borrowers because they relied on secretly borrowing items from the human beings upstairs.

The Clock family lived underneath the kitchen and they accessed the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of the hallway clock.

There were underground passages that led to their home, which they had carefully crafted.

So for I am introduced the setting and described where the clock family home is located, we can see it says below the creaking floorboards of a rustic English home there lived a family of miniature people named Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock.

And then further down it adds more detail.

It says the Clock family lived underneath the kitchen.

So we can tick that point.

For prepositions to tell the reader where a noun is.

Two examples are below the creaking floorboards and underneath the kitchen.

So we can tick that.

And for a range of sentence types, including a relative complex sentence, we can see that the first sentence is an example of a simple sentence.

The following sentence uses a subordinating conjunction because, so that is an adverbial complex sentence.

The following sentence is a compound sentence using the coordinating conjunction and and that relative complex sentence we are looking for is the final sentence.

There were underground passages that led to their home, which they had carefully crafted.

Here, the relative pronoun, which, has been used to add detail to the noun that came before it.

So we can take that.

It's now time for you to continue writing and finish your setting description.

Indent the first sentence of paragraph two, use the success criteria and your plan to help you write paragraph two of your setting description.

Pause the video and do your writing now.

Welcome back and well done for working so hard on your writing.

It's now time for you to read your writing back to check it to make sense and edit any punctuation errors.

You should also check both paragraphs against the success criteria and tick each point when you are sure you have met it.

Pause the video to do this now.

Well done for reading over your writing, reflecting on it, and making any necessary edits and improvements.

I am sure you did a great job at meeting the success criteria.

Let's now take a look at a good example of paragraph two together.

Their living room was a unique, cosy place and Homily was very proud of it.

On the walls, she had artistically arranged old handwritten letters as wallpaper, British stamps with Queen Victoria's face, which Pod had borrowed years before hung on the walls as art.

As Arietty read or wrote in her diary, she sat on an old box, which had been used by humans to store jewellery.

They had lovingly built a home for themselves using all kinds of borrowed items that they repurposed.

Let's now check this writing against the success criteria.

For I have described details of the Clock family's living room referencing borrowed items. We can see it talks about old handwritten letters being used as wallpaper, British stamps being used as art on the walls and an old jewellery box being used as a seat by Arietty.

So we can definitely tick that.

For prepositions to tell the reader where a noun is, we can see on the walls, which lets the reader know where the handwritten letters have been used as wallpaper and on an old box, which lets us know where Arietty is sitting.

So we can tick that.

For a range of sentence types, including a relative complex sentence.

Let's take a look.

The first sentence is an example of a compound sentence because it uses the coordinating conjunction and to join two main clauses.

The following sentence is an example of a simple sentence because it contains one main clause.

Then we can see an example of a relative complex sentence.

And this one is interesting because the relative clause is embedded.

British stamps with Queen Victoria's face, which Pod had borrowed years before hung on the walls as art.

When the relative clause is embedded within the main clause, there must be a comma on either side of it.

And then we can see another example of a relative complex sentence.

As Arietty read or wrote in her diary, she sat on an old box, which had been used by humans to store jewellery.

Here the relative clause follows the main clause.

So we've definitely used a range of sentence types and we can take that final point on the success criteria.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

The setting of "The Borrowers" is the Clock family home, which is underneath the floorboards of an old English house.

A preposition of place is a word or words that can tell the reader where a noun is.

Prepositions and precise vocabulary are crucial for describing an intricate setting, and relative complex sentences are useful for adding details about nouns within a setting.

Well done again for your hard work in today's lesson and writing a fantastic setting description.

I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you.