Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to today's lesson, where we are going to be reading and discussing a section of "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, and there will also be tasks where you need somebody to talk to.

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

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can read and discuss a section of the build-up in "The Borrowers." Here are our key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Build-up, expedition, infer.

Great job.

Well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

The build-up refers to the building of action and suspense that leads up to the climax in a narrative.

An expedition is a journey undertaken for a specific purpose.

And infer means to draw conclusions from information and evidence in the text.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be summarising events from the build-up.

And in the second part, we will be reading and discussing a section.

So let's begin with summarising events from the build-up.

What do we know about "The Borrowers"? Mary Norton is the author of "The Borrowers." "The Borrowers" is a fantasy fiction text.

Fantasy fiction means it is a story which is made up or imagined and involves magical elements and imaginary worlds.

"The Borrowers" is about miniature people who secretly live under the floorboards of an English house and borrow from the big humans in order to survive.

Let's remind ourselves of the key events of "The Borrowers." In the opening, a lady called Mrs. May tells a little girl called Kate about the Borrowers.

The Clock family are introduced.

In the build-up, Pod gets seen and Homily decides that Arrietty should be allowed to go on an expedition with him to borrow.

On this trip, Arrietty encounters Boy in the garden and they develop a friendship.

In the climax, the human beings realise their things are going missing and they think Boy is involved.

Mrs. Driver hires a rat catcher to catch the Borrowers, but Boy helps them to escape.

And in the resolution, the story ends as it began, with Mrs. May and Kate sowing their quilt.

In today's lesson, we are going to discuss the following section of the build-up, Pod gets seen and Homily decides that Arrietty should be allowed to go on an expedition with him to borrow.

What happened in this section of the build-up? Listen carefully as I summarise it for you.

Pod arrived home from a borrowing expedition and told Homily that he had been seen by a human.

Homily was very concerned this meant they were unsafe living in the house as the humans might get a cat to catch them.

However, Homily did not want to emigrate and said they must tell Arrietty about the upstairs in order to ensure she's kept safe.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? It was a concern that Pod had been seen.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is true.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, they were worried that the human beings would get a cat to catch them, or B, they were worried that the human beings knew where they lived.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is A.

Well done.

They were worried that the human beings would get a catch to catch them.

Let's continue to summarise this section of the build-up.

Pod and Homily woke Arrietty up to speak to her about the upstairs, and they were surprised she already knew about it.

They explained the dangers of the upstairs and that her cousin, Eggletina, once went upstairs and never returned, presumed eaten by the cat.

Arrietty was not put off by this.

She expressed her discontent with life trapped underground and her desire to see the world above.

Let's check your understanding.

How did Arrietty feel about the upstairs? A, she was terrified of it and wanted to underground, B, she was somewhat curious, or C, She was desperate to experience life above ground.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is C.

Well done.

Arrietty was desperate to experience life above ground.

Let's continue to summarise this section of the build-up.

Homily began to reflect on Arrietty's circumstances and suggested that Pod take her out borrowing one day as long as she was good.

Pod was alarmed by the suggestion, but Homily pointed out that Arrietty needed to know how to borrow in case anything ever happened to them.

Arrietty went to sleep while her parents discussed the idea of her borrowing.

Her mother appeared firm and convincing.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Pod and Homily had the same opinion about Arrietty going borrowing.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, Pod was alarmed by the idea, but Homily was firm about it being the right thing, or B, Homily thought it was a dreadful idea, but Pod was all for it.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is A.

Well done.

Pod was alarmed by the idea, but Homily was firm about it being the right thing.

It's now time for your first task.

Number the events from the build-up one to six to show their order.

I will read them to you.

Pod was alarmed by the idea, but Homily was firm that it was right.

Homily began to reflect and said that Pod should take Arrietty borrowing.

Pod was seen by the human beings upstairs and he told Homily.

Arrietty was not put off and she was desperate to see the world above.

They were concerned for their safety and decided they must tell Arrietty.

Pod and Homily explained the dangers of the upstairs to Arrietty.

Pause the video and number these one to six now to show their order.

Welcome back.

Let's go over the answers together.

Number one, Pod was seen by the human beings upstairs and he told Homily.

Two, they were concerned for their safety and decided they must tell Arrietty.

Three, Pod and Homily explained the dangers of the upstairs to Arrietty.

Four, Arrietty was not put off and she was desperate to see the world above.

Five, Homily began to reflect and said that Pod should take Arrietty borrowing.

Six, Pod was alarmed by the idea, but Homily was firm that it was right.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of the chronology of events in this section of the build-up.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson, where we will be reading and discussing a section of the build-up.

We are going to read and discuss the next section, which builds up to Arrietty going on her first borrowing expedition.

Read or listen to the text from the beginning of chapter 7, up to the paragraph ending see on page 60.

Here is some vocabulary you will encounter on these pages.

Essentials, this means things that are absolutely necessary.

Chute, this means a sloping channel or slide used for transporting things to a lower level.

And protested, this means express an objection to what someone said or did.

Pause the video to read this section now and come back and to press Play when you are ready.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Let's check your understanding.

How did Arrietty show her mother she was good in order to prepare for her first borrowing expedition? A, she read and wrote in her diary every day, B, She helped with lots of house chores for weeks, or C, she dressed in really smart clothes.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Arrietty helped her mother with loads of household chores in order to show that she could be really good and prepare herself for her first borrowing expedition.

True or false? Pod was enthusiastic about taking Arrietty on a borrowing expedition.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, he enjoyed going on expeditions alone, or B, he was reluctant to go borrowing since being seen and he felt uncomfortable taking Arrietty with him.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Pod was reluctant to go borrowing since he'd been seen and he felt uncomfortable taking Arrietty with him.

It's time to continue reading.

Read or listen to the text from the paragraph beginning As at the bottom of page 60 to the end of page 62.

Here are some vocabulary you'll encounter on these pages.

Hollow, this means having a hole or empty space inside.

Scrambled, this means to move or climb quickly, but with difficulty, often using your hands to help you.

And pendulum, this is a rod with a weight at the end that regulates the mechanism of a clock.

Pause the video to read this section now and come back and to press Play when you are ready.

Welcome back.

Let's check your understanding.

How did Arrietty feel as she set off on the expedition? A, terrified, B, sad, or C, excited.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is C.

Well done.

Arrietty felt excited as she set off on the expedition.

In the build-up to Arrietty's first borrowing expedition, the characters have contrasting feelings about it.

We can infer the feelings of each member of the Clock family by searching for clues in the text.

We might find clues in the following, a character's actions, a character's words, a character's expressions.

Let's check your understanding.

How can you infer a character's feelings? Select all of the correct answers.

A, from their actions, B, from the clothes they wear, C, from their words, D, from their expressions.

Pause the video and select the correct answers now.

The answers are A, C, and D.

Well done.

We can infer a character's feelings from their actions, their words, and their expressions.

It is time for a task, and it is a talk task.

How does each member of the Clock family feel about Arrietty's first borrowing expedition? I would like you to refer to page 60 of "The Borrowers" and use evidence to support your inferences when discussing this question.

Here are some sentence starters to support you.

I can infer that Homily felt, because.

I can infer that Pod felt, because.

And I can infer that Arrietty felt, because.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back.

I loved listening to your discussions.

You did a great job at using evidence from the text to support your inferences.

Let's take a look at some examples I had.

Alex said, "I can infer that Homily felt passionate about Arrietty going because it says she ignored Pod's concerns." Izzy said, "I can infer that Pod felt nervous about taking Arrietty because it says he spoke in an alarmed voice and protested." And Andeep said, "I can infer that Arrietty felt excited about going borrowing because it says she did a small skip." These are all great answers that use the character's actions, words, or expressions to draw inferences about how they were feeling.

Well done for discussing this question and using your inference skills to identify the different characters' feelings at this point in the story.

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

In the build-up, Pod is seen by a human being, and this causes concern for the Clock family's safety.

Arrietty expresses her discontent being trapped under the floorboards and her desire to experience the world above.

Homily persuades a reluctant Pod to take Arrietty borrowing.

The Clock family have contrasting feelings about Arrietty going on a borrowing expedition.

And we can infer a character's emotions from their actions, words, and expressions.

Well done again for your hard work during today's lesson.

I have really enjoyed reading and discussing this section of "The Borrowers" with you.