Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to today's lesson, where we are going to be understanding the setting and characters 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 and there will also be tasks where you need somebody to talk to.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is: I can understand the setting and characters in "The Borrowers".

Here are our keywords for today's lesson: Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Setting, inference, character traits.

Great job.

Well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

The setting is where the story takes place.

Inference means to use clues from within the text to draw conclusions.

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

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be understanding the setting, and in the second part, we will be understanding the characters.

So let's begin with Understanding the setting.

What do we know about "The Borrowers"? Let's remind ourselves.

"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.

Mary Norton is the author of "The Borrowers".

The book was first published in 1952 and won the highly prestigious Carnegie Medal for children's fiction.

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 then introduced.

In the buildup: 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 "beans" 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 sewing their quilt.

Let's check your understanding.

Match each part of the narrative structure to the part of the story from "The Borrowers".

For the narrative structure parts, we have A: the opening, B: the buildup, C: the climax, and D: the resolution, and for the parts of the story, we have: the human "beans" discover items missing and think Boy is involved.

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

Mrs. May tells Kate about "The Borrowers.

The Clock family are introduced.

The story ends as it began with Mrs. May and Kate sewing their quilt as she finishes retelling events.

And Pod gets seen and Homily decides he should teach Arrietty how to borrow.

Arrietty encounters and develops a friendship with Boy.

Pause the video and match each part of the narrative structure to the part of the story from "The Borrowers" now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

In the opening of "The Borrowers", Mrs. May tells Kate about the Borrowers.

The Clock family are introduced.

In the buildup: Pod gets seen and Homily decides he should teach Arrietty how to borrow.

Arrietty encounters and develops a friendship with Boy.

In the climax, the human "beans" discover items missing and think Boy is involved.

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

And in the resolution: the story ends as it began with Mrs. May and Kate sewing their quilt as she finishes retelling events.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of the story, "The Borrowers".

In this lesson, we are going to read Chapter Two of "The Borrowers", which introduces the Clock family and the setting.

Let's remind ourselves about the Clock family.

Pod is the father and he is often on a borrowing mission.

Homily is the mother and she worries a lot.

Arrietty is their 13-year-old daughter who loves to read and write in her diary.

She's also eager to see life above the ground.

Let's remind ourselves about the setting: The Clock family live under the floorboards of a kitchen in an old, English home.

They access the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of the clock in the hallway.

It's now time for you to read or listen to the text, from the beginning of Chapter Two on page 12, up to the end of page 13.

Here is some vocabulary you will encounter on these pages: Fortress.

This means a large, strong building that can be defended from attack.

Clasps.

This is a device with interlocking parts used for fastening things together.

And grating: This is a framework of parallel or crossed bars, typically preventing access while allowing communication or ventilation.

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

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? The whole of the Clock family knew their way upstairs to borrow from the human "beans".

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A: Homily was the only borrower in the family, or B: Pod was the only one who had the knowledge to navigate the passages leading to the hole at the bottom of the clock.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Pod was the only one who had the knowledge to navigate the passages leading to the hole at the bottom of the clock.

This meant that Pod was the only member of the Clock family who went borrowing.

It's now time to continue reading.

Read or listen to the text from the beginning of page 14 up to the end of the first paragraph on page 16.

Here is some vocabulary you will encounter on these pages: Trinket box: this is a small box commonly used to store jewellery.

Settle: This is an old fashioned piece of furniture with a long, wooden seat and high back and arms. And pedestal: This is the supporting column of something.

For example, a supporting column for a statue or a tabletop.

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

Let's check your understanding of what you have read.

What was Homily proud of in her sitting room? A: it had a cosy and bright feel to it.

B: the wallpaper was made out of handwritten letters.

Or C: it was filled by natural sunlight.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Homily was really proud of the wallpaper in her sitting room, which was made out of handwritten letters that she had arranged carefully.

It's now time for your first task.

Draw a picture of the setting, showing the sitting room of the Clock family's home.

Refer to the description of this room on page 15 of the book to support you.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back.

I loved looking at your illustrations of the Clock family's living room.

It was great to see how you really paid attention to the detail being described on page 15 to support you.

It's now time for you to reflect on your drawing.

Compare your picture to your partner's.

Did you include: The fire? The letters on the walls? The stamps with Queen Victoria? The trinket box? The chest made from matchboxes? The circular table? Pause the video to reflect on your picture and share it with your partner.

Well done for discussing your drawing with your partner.

I am sure you did a fantastic job at reflecting the setting within "The Borrowers".

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where we will be understanding the characters.

Using inference skills can help us to draw greater conclusions about a text, building our understanding of it.

Inferences are not explicitly written as part of the story.

They are the meaning that we draw from words in the story.

We do this by: searching for clues within the text and asking ourselves, "what does this clue tell me?" Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Inferences are explicitly written as part of the story.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A: Inferences are predictions.

Or B: Inferences are the meaning that we make from what is written in the text.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Inferences are the meaning that we make from what is written in the text.

We learn about some of the character traits of the Clock family in Chapter Two of "The Borrowers".

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

For example, brave, kind, and rude.

We can identify character traits by exploring a character's experiences and actions and making inferences.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a character trait? A: what a character looks like.

B: the emotions a character feels, or C: the special qualities that make a character unique and interesting.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is C.

Well done.

A character trait refers to the special qualities that make a character unique and interesting.

We are going to read more of the text to draw inferences about each member of the Clock family.

What do we know about the Clock family so far? Let's remind ourselves.

Pod is the father and he is often on a borrowing mission.

Homily is the mother and she worries a lot.

Arrietty is their 13-year-old daughter, who loves to read and write in her diary.

She is also eager to see life above the ground.

It's now time for you to read or listen to the story from the beginning of Chapter Three to the paragraph ending "is!" on page 24.

Chapter Two ended with Homily calling Arrietty to help in the kitchen.

Arrietty reluctantly stopped writing in her diary.

The story is carrying on from this point.

Here is some vocabulary you will encounter in Chapter Three: foraged: this means obtained, food or provisions, by searching.

Service: This refers to a set of matching crockery used for serving a particular meal.

And thimble: this is a small cap with a closed end, worn to protect the finger and push the needle in sewing.

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

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Let's check your understanding.

Why did Homily feel guilty? A: she had taken Arrietty away from her diary.

B: She had asked Pod to borrow things that might place him in danger or harm's way.

Or C: she had spoken to Arrietty unkindly.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Homily felt guilty because she had asked Pod to borrow things that might place him in danger or harm's way.

Let's continue reading.

Read or listen to the story from the last line on page 24 to the end of Chapter Three On page 26.

Here is some more vocabulary you will encounter: wanly: This means in a way that shows no effort or enthusiasm.

Heathen: This means a person that does not belong to a religion.

And haggard: This means looking exhausted and unwell, especially from fatigue, worry or suffering.

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

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Arrietty offers to help ease Homily's worries about Pod.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is true.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A: Arrietty goes in search of Pod.

Or B: Arrietty says she could help by borrowing.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Arrietty says to her mother that she could help by also borrowing.

We can analyse a character's experiences and actions to infer greater meaning about their character.

Let's look at some examples for the Clock family: We know that Homily fretted about Arrietty keeping her jersey clean.

From this, we might infer that Homily is a fussy character, which means she is concerned with unimportant details and hard to please.

We know that Arrietty stopped writing in her diary in order to help her mother.

From this, we could infer that Arrietty is a dutiful daughter.

Dutiful means obediently fulfilling one's duties.

We also know that Pod was on a mission to borrow items for the family.

From this, we might infer that he is a dependable character.

This means he is trustworthy and reliable because he wants to provide for his family.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the character trait to the correct definition.

Our character traits are: A: fussy, B: dutiful, C: dependable.

The definitions are: trustworthy and reliable, obediently fulfil one's duties, and concerned with unimportant details and hard to please.

Pause the video and match these now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

Fussy means concerned with unimportant details and hard to please.

We inferred this character trait about Homily.

Dutiful means obediently fulfilling one's duties.

We inferred this character trait in Arrietty.

And dependable means trustworthy and reliable.

We inferred this character trait about Pod.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of these character traits belonging to the characters in "The Borrowers".

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

What character traits can be inferred for each member of the Clock family from the following information? A: Homily wanted very precise items for their home, but she felt guilty for her requests.

B: Arrietty showed a desire and willingness to go borrowing.

C: Pod was willing to borrow items that were difficult to retrieve for Homily.

Pause the video now and discuss with your partner which character traits can be inferred for each member of the Clock family from this information.

Welcome back.

I loved listening to your discussions.

It was wonderful to hear how you used the clues within this information to infer character traits belonging to the characters.

Let's take a look at some examples of what I heard.

For A: Homily wanted very precise items for their home, but she felt guilty for her requests.

I heard somebody say that they inferred she is a nervous character from this information.

This means that she is easily agitated or alarmed.

For B: Arrietty showed a desire and willingness to go borrowing.

Somebody inferred from this that Arrietty is a curious character.

This means she's eager to know or learn something.

And for C: Pod was willing to borrow items that were difficult to retrieve for Homily.

One inference about his character from this was he is a resourceful character.

This means he is good at finding solutions.

These are just some examples of character traits that can be inferred from this information.

You may have come up with other ideas too.

Well done for discussing this with your partner and inferring character traits for the characters in "The Borrowers".

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

The opening introduces the Clock family as the main characters and describes the setting of their home.

The Clock family live under the kitchen floorboards and access the upstairs through a hole at the bottom of a clock.

The Clock family's home is made up of items borrowed from the human "beans", which are used in new ways.

A character trait is a special quality that makes a character in a story unique or interesting, and we can infer different character traits of Pod, Homily and Arrietty through exploring their experiences and actions.

Well done for your hard work during today's lesson, I have really enjoyed teaching you.