Lesson video

Hi everybody, I'm Ms. Gardner, and welcome to the next lesson from our unit, Jabberwocky Narrative Writing.

I really hope you enjoyed reading the poem in the previous lesson and I'm really looking forward to today's lesson 'cause we're going to be thinking about what vocabulary we can include when writing our own narrative version of Jabberwocky.

So thank you for joining and let's get started.

In today's lesson from our unit, Jabberwocky Narrative Writing, we are going to be thinking about what vocabulary we can include in our writing.

So the learning outcome is I can generate precise vocabulary to use in my narrative based on Jabberwocky.

So let's start by looking at the key words.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Noun.

Adjective.

Verb.

Character.

Setting.

Let's have a look at what these mean.

A noun is a person, place, or thing.

An adjective describes a noun.

A verb is a doing, being or having word.

A character is a person, animal, or thing in a story.

And the setting is where a story is set, so the location.

So there are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first we'll be thinking about generating vocabulary for a setting description, and the second we'll be thinking about it for a character description.

So let's start with looking at a setting description.

So first, let's review what we know about Jabberwocky.

Jabberwocky was written by Lewis Carroll in 1871.

Jabberwocky is a narrative poem set in a mythical forest.

It tells the story of a young boy who sets out to slay the fearsome creature called the Jabberwock.

There are lots of nonsense words in the poem, and these are words that are not real and are not familiar to us from our usual reading.

Despite its nonsensical nature, the poem is still structured with a clear narrative structure.

We have an opening, a buildup, a climax, and the resolution.

So here are the key moments of Jabberwocky in the order in which they happen.

A father warns his son about a dangerous creature, the Jabberwock.

The boy looks in the woods for the Jabberwock.

The boy beheads the Jabberwock in a vicious fight.

And the boy returns home to his delighted father.

I want you now to think about this question and discuss it with your partner or whoever you're with.

Which section of the story staircase, so the opening buildup, climax, or resolution, do each of these moments belong to? Pause the video now.

Okay, let's go through it.

So in the opening, we have the moment that the father warns his son about a dangerous creature, the Jabberwock.

Then the buildup where we are building up the suspense and the excitement the boy is looking in the words for the Jabberwock.

Then the climax, the most exciting moment, the boy beheads the Jabberwock in the vicious fight.

And then finally in the resolution where we bring the story to a close, the boy returns home to his delighted father.

So we are going to be writing an opening, a buildup, a climax, and a resolution as a narrative story.

And we're going to be writing it in a lot more detail than in the poem.

So we need to think about including lots of ambitious and precise vocabulary so we can create vivid pictures in the reader's mind.

So just checking for understanding.

You need to match the key moments of Jabberwocky to its section in the story staircase.

So you have an opening, build up, climax and resolution.

And then you have the four key moments.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, so the opening, a father warns his son about a dangerous creature, the Jabberwock.

In the buildup, the boy looks in the woods for the Jabberwock.

Climax, the boy beheads the Jabberwock in a vicious fight.

And then the resolution, the boy returns home to his delighted father.

Great job, well done.

So in this lesson, we are going to be generating vocabulary that we can use in the opening setting description, but also we might use it as well throughout our narrative.

The purpose of the opening is to do all of these, engage the reader, introduce the characters, and introduce the setting.

So we want to be in thinking of vocabulary that we can use to describe the setting, the words and the characters so that we have a really descriptive narrative opening.

The setting is where the story takes place.

We need to describe the setting to create a vivid image in the reader's mind.

Although the poem is filled with lots of nonsense words, we do know that the setting is in a wood and we know it from this line: The Jabberwock with eyes of flame came whistling through the tulgey wood.

So from that we can interpret and understand that the setting is these mythical woods.

Stanza one in Jabberwocky is kind of a setting description, but it is filled with nonsense words.

So twas brillig, and the slithy toves.

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

All mimsy were the borogoves.

And the mome raths outgrabe.

So we can kind of that in this stanza, we know that there are strange and unknown things that move around and make noises, these creatures that the father warns his son about.

And they belong to this very different world, a very mythical enchanted world.

So check for understanding, where is Jabberwocky set? A in the mountains, B, in the woods of a mythical forest, C in a small village, or D in an underground world.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

It is in the woods of a mythical forest.

Well done.

So we are going to be, when we do our narrative opening, describing the forest of the woods.

We want to think about different ways that we can do this to make it really descriptive for the reader.

So first, let's consider some ways we can refer to the woods.

We could call it the magical forest, the mysterious woodland or an enchanted place.

And we can refer to the noun, so the words in different ways so that we are not repeating ourself again and again.

Now let's think about generating some adjectives.

So some describing words and expand noun phrases to describe what you might see or hear in these magical woods.

So pause the video now and have a go at thinking about some adjectives that you might use to describe the woods.

Off you go.

Okay, well done.

Welcome back.

Here's some of the ideas that I've come up with.

The towering, so the tall, skeletal trees, they're skeletal maybe because the branches don't have any leaves on them.

The mist that cloaked the treetops, the lurking shadows in the distance of those unknown mythical creatures.

The cascading, so the falling, rotten leaves.

An atmosphere of dark and sinister magic.

And then the gnarled, twisted branches.

So these are all quite negative images, aren't they? That this is not a really beautiful light and luscious forest.

This is a dark mythical forest with lots of strange fearsome creatures.

So we can use ambitious vocabulary to help paint vivid pictures for our reader.

So for example, rotten leaves cascaded from the trees unable to survive any longer.

Imagining colours as we write helps us to choose vocabulary.

So we've created a really negative image of the woods in this sentence.

So we can imagine almost red and orange colours to create that negative image in our mind or in the reader's mind.

So task A, we are trying to create a negative image of the forest be cause this forest is filled with fearsome creatures that the boy is being warned about.

So we don't want it to be a really positive image, a really happy, luscious, beautiful forest.

It's more negative, it's quite scary.

So you need to select the vocabulary that creates this vivid and negative image of the forest.

Here are your options.

Sinister, welcoming, lurking shadows, eerie darkness, warming sun, friendly creatures, rotting leaves, skeletal trees, lively.

So choose the word vocabulary that you think create this really negative and scary image of the forest.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, well done.

Welcome back.

Let's go through this.

Okay, so sinister, that means really dark and twisted.

Eerie darkness, eerie is quite scary, creepy.

Rotting leaves, the leaves are dying.

They're brown falling apart 'cause they can't survive in this dark wood.

The skeletal trees, they've not got any leaves covering them so they're skeletal, almost look like skeletons.

And the lurking shadows, the shadows of these fearsome creatures that are lurking, hiding in the darkness and that we should be scared of.

So these are all vocabulary that we could be including in our writing to describe the forest.

Well done everybody.

It's time for the second section of our lesson where we're gonna be looking at character description, generating vocabulary to describe the characters.

So the characters are the people, the animals, or the things in a story that the action revolves around.

There are different characters that we will need to consider when we are writing our entire narrative.

The boy, the young man, his father, and the creatures in the forest.

So that includes the Jabberwock, the Bandersnatch, and the JubJub bird.

It's important to describe the creatures in detail.

So again, the reader has a vivid image of them in their mind.

We can't just call them the Jabberwock and expect the reader to be able to then envision this Jabberwock.

We have to use vocabulary and ambitious adjectives and verbs to describe those creatures.

So you need to now refer to stanza one in the poem, Jabberwocky, which you can find in the additional materials.

Which lines include the verbs that describe how the creatures move.

Now remember, these might be nonsense words, but have a go at trying to think about which words might describe their movement.

Pause the video now and off you go.

So the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe, and all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.

These of course, are nonsense words, they don't make sense, but we can tell that they are the verbs that describe the actions of these creatures.

We know they are really mysterious, strange creatures, and we can understand from these lines that they move in really strange ways.

So now let's generate some regular verbs to describe how these strange creatures move, how they act in the forest in the opening.

Okay, because the words from the poem are nonsense words.

We want to use real regular verbs to describe these.

Describe their movements and their actions and the way they act and behave for the reader.

So pause the video now and consider of what verbs you could use to describe the creatures.

Okay, here are some of the ideas that I've come up with.

We'll do my turn.

Your turn.

Tormenting.

The mythical creatures were tormenting the forest.

They were causing pain, making everyone feel scared when they were in there in the forest.

Slithering.

So moving in a sideways motion.

You could describe them as slithering around, almost like a snake on the forest floor.

Lurking.

So lurking means to remain hidden so that you can ambush.

So again, that's why the father was warning his son because they were hiding and they could pounce at any time.

Wriggling, wriggling.

Twisting and turning with movements.

Can you imagine wriggling? Can you try wriggling on your seat? It's twisting and turning and moving around.

Writhing.

A bit like wriggling, but you're making twisting squirming movements.

And so it's quite a strange movement.

It's not like running or sprinting or jumping.

It's more twisted and uncomfortable looking.

So check for understanding.

Which verbs could we use to describe how the creatures were moving? A: slithering, B: skipped, C: danced or D: writhing.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

We could describe the creatures as slithering A or D writhing.

It's not skipped or dance.

These feel more like human qualities and these creatures are really strange and mythical.

So they probably wouldn't skip or dance.

Well done.

So now you need to refer to the poem as a whole in Jabberwocky.

And I want you to think about which lines include adjectives that describe how the Jabberwock looked.

So you can use the poem that's in your additional materials.

Read back through it and find any words which describe the Jabberwock's appearance.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so some examples were the Jabberwock with eyes of flames.

So these red burning hot eyes.

And the jaws that bite.

So really big sharp jaws and claws that catch, these sharp claws that can have long nails that are very threatening to anyone who passes by.

So both of these create an image that the Jabberwock is something to be scared of.

But we want to think about even more descriptive and precise adjectives for the reader.

So let's generate adjectives and expanded noun phrases to describe the Jabberwock.

Have a go at doing this yourself now.

Pause the video.

Okay.

Here are some ideas that I've come up with.

The fiery burning eyes to describe how red his eyes were.

Quite a scary image.

The razor sharp claws, really sharp claws, with talons as sharp as glass shards, showing how sharp and dangerous their claws are.

The vicious beast, vicious means dangerous, aggressive.

Putrid breath, smelly, horrible smelling breath.

The savage, deadly monster.

Savage means again, dangerous, cruel.

And then the withered twisted arms that scratched through the air.

All of these create this image of this scary mythical creature.

Second check for understanding.

Which adjectives would describe the Jabberwock? A: vicious, B: excited, C: savage or D: friendly.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so we can describe that Jabberwock as A vicious or aggressive and C savage.

Again, deadly monstrous.

Definitely not excited or friendly.

That gives a really positive image of the Jabberwock.

And we don't want to create a positive image because we want to really show the reader that the boy was really brave to be going to face these creatures.

Well done.

So we can also refer to the boy in lots of different ways.

Referring to the characters in different ways avoids our writing becoming repetitive.

So we could say the boy gripped his sword tightly, but we don't want to keep saying the boy, the boy, the boy did this, the boy did that because that becomes repetitive.

So we could call him the gallant knight gripped his sword tightly.

Gallant meaning brave, strong.

The brave son.

We know he's a son because he's talking to his father in the poem.

Or just the pronoun he.

He gripped his sword tightly.

But by referring to the noun in different ways and changing the ways we refer to the boy, it means we're not repeating ourself.

So check for understanding, true or false.

This would be an appropriate way to refer to the boy.

It listened to his father intently.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, it refers to an object or thing.

B, it refers to an object or thing.

He refers to a male person.

The boy is a person, not a thing.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

It is B.

It refers to a male person and the boy is a person.

Well done.

So it's time for task B.

You needs to complete the sentences with vocabulary from the word bank.

So I'll read the sentences now and here are the words in the word bank.

And as I'm reading, you can be thinking about which word could be filling in the blanks.

One: the strange creatures blank the heart of the forest.

Two: In the dark shadows, the beasts were blank silently.

Three: The blank claws looked as if they could scratch out the eyes of any of their victims. Four: The savage blank beast could pounce at any time.

Five: The Jabberwock with its blank burning eyes lurked in the darkness.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done everybody.

Welcome back.

Let's go through these.

So as I read out the words, I want to hear you saying the missing words with me.

The strange creatures tormented the heart of the forest.

In the dark shadows, the beasts were writhing silently.

Three: The razor sharp claws looked as if they could scratch out the eyes of any of their victims. Four: The savage deadly beast could pounce at any time.

And five, the Jabberwock with its fiery burning eyes lurked in the darkness.

Well done everybody.

If you need to, you can pause the video now if you need to go and edit any of these.

But otherwise, great job.

So here's a summary of everything we've learned today.

Different nouns and adjectives are used to refer to the characters to paint the most vivid pictures of them.

Ambitious vocabulary when describing the setting and characters helps the reader imagine them all.

Some vocabulary choices are more appropriate and precise than others.

And imagining colours as we write helps us choose ambitious vocabulary that describes images positively or negatively.

Great job today, everybody.

Well done.

You'll be using lots of this vocabulary in late lessons in the unit when it comes to writing our narrative.